Poll of the Day > Finally beat Final Fantasy XVI... my review (Slight Spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

The game had it moments, with some of the best boss fights in FF via the Eikon battles. The music was very good, as expected, but everything else about the game is kinda up and down.

Minor Pros:
- Most Normal Boss fights were pretty fun for a while
- Combat is fun for the most part
- Game is very pretty,
- All the Eikonic Feats are cool, each one is unique and useful
- Landing a Zansetsuken as a finisher is very satisfying
- Clive's reactions while Ifrit are sometimes humorous. Clive is a pretty good protag
- Story is neat overall

Major Pros:

- Eikon Battles are the biggest highlight, epic and very fun. Titan Lost and Bahamut are the best fights in the game, but all vs Eikon fights were great
- Gav, Byron, and Cid are the most entertaining characters. Dion, Joshua, Clive, Mid, and Benedicta are good too.
- Music for Vs Phoenix, Titan Lost, and Un-Primed Dominants are top-tier songs.
- The Soundtrack in general is very good
- Probably the best voice acting in the series
- True Final Boss and Ending.

Minor Cons:

- Odin Boss was neat, but not as cool as previous Eikon battles, probably the weakest main boss fight sequence
- Ability Cooldowns is a big no. Also, access to only 3 Eikons/ 6 skills at a time is lame. Would prefer a Eikon Wheel
- Limit Break kinda sucks. Also I received a Accessory that pretty much does the limit break for free minus the healing almost immediately after I was able to LB.
- QTEs. Way too many. Pretty much prematurely ends fights

- Regular Enemies are dumb and not really aggressive, numerous ways to cheese because they stay punching bags
- Cid died too early, and Jill is underutilized
- Unstable framerate
- Game has too few humorous moments, pretty much only when Gav or Byron is on. Game is too serious in general
- Anabella got off easy

Major Cons:

- The Side Quests start getting very long-winded and generic. I eventually started skipping nearly every cutscene that wasn't a main one.
- Main quests start dragging until you get into the 'Action Stage', and at times feels like padding. The Action stages are super linear and basic
- Combat eventually bogs down to whittle willpower > whittle willpower while setting up for cash out > Cash out all abilities. Combat gets stale after a while.

- Enemy variety starts taking a hit hard in the last 1/2 of the game. I managed to defeat Marks, only to face them again in the story shortly after
- Main villain is only ok, Barnabus gets lamer the more he speaks
- Very empty fields, with some of the unsatisfying rewards ever when exploring. Even by endgame you come across small amounts of materials and single digit gil.
- Crafting, Shopping, Hunts, Side Quests, Equipment, etc., the RPGness of the game is very half-assed

Before this game came out, I got Tales of Arise vibes from this game, and I feel like I was sorta right in that regard. Feels like FF16 did Bosses, Music, and Story better, something Arise did poorly in, while Arise did General combat, Field Exploration, and the RPGness better than FF16

Honestly, It feels like the gameplay of FF16 was held back in all regards, from Combat to RPG mechanics. I wish the whole game was as good as its Eikon fights. Kinda like a different team made the Non-Boss fights sometimes, or the ran outta money

Final Score: 8/10

I was gonna give it a 7.5, but the last hour brought it up a bit. I pretty much feel how I felt after playing Tales of Arise; I enjoyed the game for what it was, and I'm happy to have experienced it, but I have no real desire to ever come back to it.

My Rankings:
Story: 9 > 10 > 6 > 7 = Tactics > 7 Remake > 16 > the rest > poop >> 15 > X-2

Gameplay: 10 > 7 Remake > Tactics = X-2 > 7 > 9 > 13 > the rest

Music: 9 > 10 > 7 = 7 Remake > X-2 > 6 > 15 = 13 = 16 > Tactics > 4 > 5 > The rest

Overall: 9 > 7 Remake = 10 > 7 > X-2 > Tactics > 6 > 13 > 16 > 4 >> 5 >>> 15

Now for the best songs in the game (Spoilers):

- Away -
https://youtu.be/rxb95vag_aw?si=RBH3Oze4rBaODhiF

- Find the Flame -
https://youtu.be/CeqyEzK87z4?si=GqSn_CqWbVA_cXoq

- To Sail Forbidden Seas -
https://youtu.be/okE5HXtHNiA?si=RN4xOooz5e31FAqO

- Do or Die + Titan Lost -
https://youtu.be/xf1SKnz_fnI?si=EjlzHV8Zf5p4O81R

- Forevermore -
https://youtu.be/13jfc8XZJ-8?si=ZSzWRFNVe8l58kVY

I didn't know it was out yet, I thought we only had the demo

It LOOKS good, I can't wait for PC version

MechaKirby posted... - Very empty fields, with some of the unsatisfying rewards ever when exploring.

Sounds like a problem I have, also, with XIV's zones. Sprawling areas where you can... fight generic stuff? Farm materials for a system that should have been better than it is? To see underutilized landmarks in the world?

Lokarin posted...

I didn't know it was out yet, I thought we only had the demo

It LOOKS good, I can't wait for PC version

Its worth a play, but make sure you get it on sale

Entity13 posted...

Sounds like a problem I have, also, with XIV's zones. Sprawling areas where you can... fight generic stuff? Farm materials for a system that should have been better than it is? To see underutilized landmarks in the world?

Its was so bad. Literally running across the beautiful greenery to find this nook in the map, only to find rocks and pennies, or a color swap cat or ogre

I still need to finish it. I'm only like 10 hours in and have it since day 1 and haven't played any other video games since I got it except a little of some mario platformer on the switch. I just don't got enough time lol.