Final Fantasy XVI

About the Game

• Game: Final Fantasy XVI
• Genre: Action RPG,Action-Adventure
• Consoles: PS5
• Published:Square Enix
• Developers: Square Enix
• Released: June 2023

One of the most well-known IPs to come out of Japan is Final Fantasy(FF) which was first released in 1987. Most likely you've heard the title it usually comes with a number next to it. This series has raised several generations of gamers and over the years it continues to grow. Final Fantasy are games that take place in different fantasy worlds. The numbered games differ from each other as each title (eg VII, XIV, XV etc) has its own scenario and heroes but some elements are the same since most are under the same Mythos. For example, you won't find Cloud's story from FFVii mentioned anywhere in Noctis' story from FFXV, but you will find common elements like Summons, Chocobos, Mothercrystals, Aethers, etc. Simply put, you don't need to play the FFVi to play FFVii. This series has several Spin Off games which if numbered, means they take place in that(numbered) series and follow the same story (Final Fantasy Vii Crisis Core Reunion) while others find the opportunity to bring all the main characters in one game (Final Fantasy Dissidia, FF : Opera Omnia, World of Final Fantasy etc)

In 2020 Square Enix announced that the next numbered game Final Fantasy XVI would have a more medieval tone. The previous main game (Final Fantasy XV) was released in 2016, but the various issues the game had (at launch) were obvious. Aside from the fact that the new game was highly anticipated, fan joy skyrocketed when it was announced that the game's Game Producer would be Naoki Yoshida known to fans as Yoshi P. For those who don't know him, Yoshi-P is responsible for for the great success of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, which went from a game ready to shut down its servers, to a game that has been sweeping prizes at various award shows for two years. If that wasn't enough, the game's combat director is Ryota Suzuki who is responsible for the success of Devil May Cry 5 and Monster Hunter World which are famous for their combat. And if all that wasn't enough to convince people, the Kingdom hearts team helped a lot in the combat area and the audio director is Soki Masayoshi who is in charge of final fantasy XIV. For all these reasons expectations of Final Fantasy XVI were high.

Standard

Included the game alone

Deluxe Edition

Included the game, a steelbook case and a Cloth World Map of the game.

Collector's Edition

Included the game, a Steelbook case, Bonus game content, the same cloth Map of the world and a diorama Statue of Irfit vs Phoenix.

Story of the Game

The sixteenth title in the series takes place on the world of Valistheas in a medieval era. The opening act of the game introduces us to the new protagonist of the series Clive Rosefield and his world. The land of Valistheas is divided into several kingdoms which were created based on the location of the mothercrystals. Mothercrystals are huge crystals the size of mountains and are responsible for the aether in the area. Aether is a kind of energy which is responsible for magic and also for the life of the world (fauna/flora). Without the aether or if there is any disturbance in its flow it can cause massive damage. Over the years magic began to disappear from the world and regions began to die. This phenomenon was called Blight. The Blight struck fear into the kingdoms which in order to survive, started a war with each other in order to dominate each other and take possession of each other's Mothercrystal.

From the opening act we learn that in every kingdom there is a Dominant. Dominants are the people who have within them the power of Eikons. Eikons are the well-known summons (Deities) that have terrifying powers and are worshiped by humans as deities. Dominants can not only use the powers of Eikons but can also transform into them. Clive belongs to the kingdom of Rosarias which has the power of Phoenix which has as Dominant the young prince and brother of Clive, Joshua Rosefield. In order to protect his little brother, Clive enlists in the army and because of his excellent abilities he took the position of First Shield of Rosaria with the main mission of protecting Prince Joshua. But the world of Final Fantasy XVI had other plans as a betrayal led to the death and fall of the kingdom of Rosarias. The last things Clive remembers are his brother's death at the hands of another Fire Eikon(Ifrit) who shouldn't have existed as Phoenix was the only Fire Eikon in the world, and a silhouette of a man saying something to him before the second Eikon appeared.

Thirteen years later a more mature Clive is serving and fighting for the Empire who found him passed out at the scene of the battle between the Eikon and decided but on the orders of one person (Spoilers) to take him as an ally rather than kill him. Clive now has a tattoo on his face that only Bearers have. Bearers are the few people who can use magic without the help of crystals. Despite this the people use the Bearers as slaves. Despite the fact that Clive went from a prince to a Bearer, he doesn't care as he has only one goal.To find his brother's killer and end his life. During a mission Clive discovers a childhood friend of his, Jill who learns that she is Shivas Dominant. After some events and Clive's acquaintance with Cid (a very influential character in the plot) they decide to help the each other as their goals have common interests. The story that follows is full of twists, mysteries, and moments that will leave you speechless, because the game wouldn't be Final Fantasy if you didn't end up fighting some kind of deity that threatens life in the world.

Thoughts on the story

Gameplay

Final Fantasy XVI took the game and changed the core of the games by turning the game from a turn base RPG to an Action base RPG where you control Clive Rosfield, the new protagonist of the series. Outside of combat, you can move freely in the area you are in. Unlike the previous title(FFXV) XVI did not go for an Open world approach as they returned to a world with many interconnected zones which is similar to FFVII Remake(2020). In this world you can find various NPCs, various boxes with content, items(potions, materials) and various villains. In this world you move on foot or with the help of chocobos which become available after a point and after doing the responsible side quest. Moving through the world as Clive is very slow as the sprint mechanic is random and its activations is relatively slowl. This "problem" is solved by using chocobos. When you unlock them, you can summon and ride it with the press of a button. These areas are full of monsters which when you approach will start a battle.

At the start of the battle you can use two types of attacks, close by using the sword and range by using magic. There are techniques that you can combine to create new combos. For defense purposes, Clive can avoid hits via dodge and air-dodge. Block does not exist unless you invest your points in the right attacks. Clive can control Eikons powers. For those who don't know the world of Final fantasy Eikons are the well-known Summons (from the other games) or the Primals from Final fantasy XIV such as Ifrit, Garduda, Bahamut etc. Each Eikon has its own techniques from which you can only choose three attacks. Of course if you want more attacks from an Eikon, you can master the technique and add it to another Eikon. Eg Have three Ifrit techniques in the Ifrit menu and a fourth (which you mastered) in the Garuda techniques. Clive can have three Eikon equipped at a time. Techniques you activated that you don't want can be forgotten in order to get your skill points back to use elsewhere. Finally, each Eikon changes your magic, if it's Ifrit you throw fire, if it's Ramuh you throw lightning etc.



During the story there are various boss fights. At the start of a boss battle you start as Clive where the battle follows the same logic as a normal encounter. Each boss has a stamina bar which when it reaches the center you can use the Garuda technique to bring the enemy to their knees. Usually battles go from Dominant vs Dominant to Eikon Vs Eikon. In these battles your hero transforms into Ifrit and fights the rival Eikon. As an Eikon you have fewer abilities and cannot change to another. Usually such battles are accompanied by dynamic music, quick time commands (Dodge, Attack, mash) which create epic moments during the battle that you will remember after the game. In such battles there are no companions to help you and you can only use one item to increase your life.

Square Enix's new Action RPG like any RPG and ARPG game is based at its core on numbers and "Hero stats". Clive's stats change based on your equipment but also based on your level. The more you power up by killing random enemies or doing side content the more exp you gain which will power up Clive. Hero stats are even affected by equipment such as the sword you are holding and your armor. You can use various materials and visit the blacksmith to strengthen this equipment. The materials you need can be obtained from enemies as drops, from chests as treasure and from side quests as rewards. Then there's gear that changes the cool-downs of your techniques. For example, put an accessory that reduces the cooldown of Rising flames for 12 seconds, etc. Finally, there are accessories that the creators made in order to hold the hand of players who cannot react based on their reflexes. E.g. Accessories that allow Clive to avoid attacks on his own, lose less life when hit, etc. that will make your experience with your game easier.



Finally the sixteenth title like every other main game in the series allows the player to move around the game world with company and returns the party system mechanism. Clive's main companion is his faithful dog Torgal, who will accompany you on most of your missions. When you are on the battlefield, Torgal will attack his bad guys. Using the quick menu you can give it various commands. The dog can attack, it can give you back life and also throw enemies into the air so you can attack them. In missions where you have another party member, that hero will attack on his own and unlike Torgal does not take orders from you. Torgal's command menu can be changed with the push of a button. If the button is pressed the dog's commands will change with the items menu. Battle items can be found in the world or from the shop. These items are the potions, high potions and elixirs that give life to the hero. On the other hand, there are items that will strengthen Clive by giving him extra strength etc. which will help you in battle. If you fall in battle you can restart which can bring you back. In Boss fights there are various check points that help you in the battle against the enemies.

Post Game Content

The world of Valisthea has various problems created by the war of the various camps. Civilians/innocent civilians are the ones paying the price and the only one who can help them is Clive. Scattered around the world are various NPCs who will give you Side Quests to help them. Anyone with a green exclamation point(!) needs your help. When you take on quests they will appear on the map so you know where to go and where to find it. Green quests with a (+) sign usually give rewards that will be useful in gameplay. For example, the chocobo to unlock it you have to do the side quest with the (+) symbol.

An additional form of side content is bounty hunts. Bounty hunts are missions where the Moogle will assign you a target to find and kill. Bounties give you an area without specifying the exact location in order to go to the area and search to find your target. These targets are much stronger than regular enemies (unless you fight the initial bounties much later). Each bounty has its own difficulty level from C to S. In order to unlock some hunts, some conditions and side content must be completed first. Finally, there are a total of 32 hunts which upon completion will give you various crafting materials which you can use to create the Gotterdammerung which is the strongest sword in the game.

Finally Final Fantasy XVI was released with the addition of New game plus (NG+). NG+ lets you relive Clive's adventure. At the beginning you will have your level, your equipment and all your techniques and economies, but you will lose the story key elements and the progress of the world (World Map). In NG+ there will be a new difficulty, new equipment updates, new gameplay side content and you can skip the tutorial. You increase the level of the bad guys as well as the ones that appear on the map. You can craft the Ultima weapon which is the strongest sword in this mode. Finally, you can relive the epic battles of history and try various challenges such as beat the boss in a short time or based on the ranking after you have succeeded.

Sound and Graphics

FF XVI has a beautiful world with nice graphics and nice areas. It's not the best Final fantasy in terms of Graphics but it's definitely one of the best looking ones. The characters have unique designs and the same applies to the Eikons which in each game differ but remain close to their original design for consistency. In the pause menu, the creators added Pixel sprites of the heroes that show the history of the series. During battle, there are many effects and numbers on your screen, but still the image remains clear and you know at all times where you find Clive, where the enemy is and whether you are being attacked or not. The action cutscenes and quick time events during the battle create intense moments where their choreography is excellent and will be stored in your memory.

In the sound field, the audio director as mentioned above is Soki Masayoshi, well known for his work on Final Fantasy XIV. If you have experience with FF XIV then you will know that the quality of the music has a noticeable presence. Each region has its own melody that sets it apart from the others. Each battle has its own action track that will accompany the battle. Then there are soft music that accompanies simple scenes or that will play with your emotions in important dramatic scenes. The voice acting of the actors is worth mentioning as there are performances in the game that made our hair stand up in admiration, either in emotionally intense moments or in moments that wanted us to feel sad.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Final Fantasy XVI is a game worthy of the wait and its success. The script keeps you interested from start to finish. There are various moments that will surprise you as the result was not expected. On the other hand, the script creates moments where you will be left with your mouth open and asking for more. The new characters are interesting and have their own story that you will want to hear. The gameplay of the game is divided into two categories, Clive fights and Eikon fights. In both cases the battles are nice as various action cinematics, quick time events etc. appear. The game gives you many abilities that allow you to create your own battle style with the techniques you liked.

Then the cutscenes and the sound field are of the excellent quality that the company is known for. The choreography in the action scenes will get you out of your seat as not only do they look good but the cinematography of the game elevates them to another level. The epic effect doesn't just end with the image as the musical melodies and faithful voice acting bring the scenes to life. One thing is certain, the story of Clive and his company will leave their mark in the history of Square Enix and more likely to appear in other titles in the future such as FF Dissidia, FF Opera omnia FF XIV or even in Kingdom hearts.

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