FINAL FANTASY XVI

What a bittersweet experience. FFXVI is an odd game, I'll do a TLDR at the bottom. I will start with what's to be expected, the pros and cons. FFXVI is a slow starter, it's an action RPG with flashy combat centred around using abilities you gain along the way. I found combat split into two bits during actual fights. A part being using your character's basic kit of attacks & dodges. The other using abilities that are on cooldowns and dictate the flow of battle. I think Square Enix trying new modes of gameplay in the series is perfectly fine. This ISN'T your classic party based JRPG with turned based combat. It's faster paced and more a solo experience with you controlling how the fights go (you do have allies but you don't control them, they might take on one enemy but it doesn't feel like much. You can control your faithful hound to an extent). You level up like a RPG but the way the game is paced you are always on par, nothing feels to easy or hard. I will say as I did play in the storymode difficulty. Honestly though, I think it is what the game is intended to play as, making enemies have more HP doesn't make it more fun, it's just drags out combat. The boss fights are long enough without adding more to them. The game is split into cutscene and plot push (in-game or cinematic), travelling by interactive map or on foot, doing the main quest line or optional (mostly fetch quests) and fighting enemies in between with some really cool and fantastic boss battles, it's not a bad loop at all. I can imagine if you aren't into the style of combat it presents, you might dislike how the game is laid out. You have your normal tropes of equipment and consumables but it's very streamlined and I think is quite basic. Graphically it's very pretty, some environments are really cool, characters look good and there's no uncanny valley look to them which helps with the immersion. I honestly can't fault it. UI when you play is unintrsuive and informative. Soundwise I can understand why this game got awarded for the OST. It's really amazing, I am one that will turn off OSTs if they don't do anything for me but everything was spot on. For characters, they did an amazing job with the casting. I always prefer European voice actors personally so was nice to see Square Enix going with that choice. Everyone's dialogue was also incredibly well written. Couple of stodgy lines here and there. But very mature, not cringey. FFXVI's I've seen people describe it as Game of Thrones-esque and I can understand that, it is very European medieval politics mixed with themes of destiny, free will, horrors of war, slavery and overcoming trauma. It's very well written. In typical Square Enix fashion, they can't resist making a Final Fantasy without some crystal nonsense in it and I'm glad it's there. I won't put down spoilers. The ending is brutally beautiful. For pros I would say the combat is satisfying and you can invest in what abilities you want to do and can refund at no penalty so you can experiment. The plot, though initially a slow burn is really well written. Didn't find a character I hated regarding their lines or performance. OST I can't emphasise is really quality, it is perfect for the game. You also get your money's worth as it's not a short game. As a sidenote it's what I'd say is a mature game it's not ironic or too tryhard but it's not your squeaky clean affair you normally get. Characters swear, characters aren't moralists about killing, there's no ludonarrative disonance here, there are no implications with camera angles, it doesn't want to be safe for the kiddies. For cons I always say take a pinch of salt, I'd honestly watch some gameplay and maybe watch a cutscene and you'll know it's for you. I really enjoyed FFXVI, however, there are few things I didn't like. The game slowly introduces concepts to you, initally you only have a couple of abilties and your basic fighting kit and it's rough, it's not fun, I can imagine it would put people off. Once you get a new major unlock to your skills set after the first major boss fight it picks up. The basic moves your character has is also bland, it really is just a filler to build a specific bar or to use until your abilities are available. Elemental damage and weaknesses aren't in this which is a bit sad, you can fight fire with literal fire and it doesn't matter, I like using elements to get extra damage but it's not the worst thing. Side quests although give nice treats of story and occassional good rewards (I'd google essential side quests), are pretty basic and I only did what was worth it for unlocks. Your character's movement is so slow, it doesn't seem like much but if you need to run a straight path for x amount at that speed you notice it. There's an autosprint and a chocobo you can unlock but it's still slow. There are mods I'm aware of that can maybe help with these. TLDR - Loved it, really good game, almost gave up on it initally as drip fed gameplay but it does open up, is not your typical classic JRPG but it plays well.