"Final Fantasy XVI" Game Review
A blend of grand spectacle and comical tedium that could have been much better.
Final Fantasy XVI is very much a mixed bag. When the game is focused on its core narrative, characters, and epic boss battles, it excels. But ultimately these moments are few and far between the many hours of tedium and filler it sports, even within the confines of the main story. Every time the game teases you with the prospects of dangerous quests and big fights, it throws up artificial narrative blockades at every turn with hours of ponderous dialogue and forgettable NPCs. What could have been a tight twenty hour experience with the firm hand of an editor is spread across twice that, even more if you take the time to step off the main path (not that there is much reason to).
FFXVI is a linear action game at heart, but is unwilling to cut away the JRPG trappings of the series entirely. What is left is window dressing. The oft-maligned side quests are exceedingly dull, never amounting to much more than fetching an item, slaying some monsters, or talking to more forgettable NPCs before you get to do either. Everything of interest is marked so there is never any reason to think about what you're doing while shuffling to the next quest marker. Exploration is the same. When you are cut free to explore, the zones are mostly flat and linear, with little to find other than the occasional crafting material or potion.
One area in which FFXVI does well is combat. While the core combos and abilities are rather simple, the game gradually rolls out new abilities to you across its runtime and allows you to mix and match to customize your playstyle. Unfortunately, you're given little reason to master these systems. Most encounters are too easy, and when you are faced with the rare challenge, you'll be topped off on healing items after death lest you face any difficulty at all. Even this is after the game attempts to throw accessories at you which negate or trivialize entire systems for accessibility. While I don't dispute these items should be available to those who need them, this is another symptom of the game being afraid to challenge the player in any way.
While I may sound very critical, I ultimately think the pros outweigh the cons here. The highs are exceedingly high, with the scale and grandeur of certain boss fights and narrative beats needing to be seen to be believed. The score is masterful and will live in my mind rent-free for months to come. While arguably a caricature in some ways, Clive is a well-developed protagonist, with the impressive narrative scope giving you the chance to see him grow and mature over time. When the game is at its best, it almost begs you to keep playing and see what happens next. Ultimately Final Fantasy XVI is a good game, but could have been so much better with more of an idea of what it wanted to be.
3/5
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