FINAL FANTASY XVI

I love ff series, but this is so casual adn boring. The game is so afraid to be challenging, it literally picks items from the ground for you, enemies just stand and wait for you to kill them, and then the game gives special items to make it even easier! it's just a slog not worth time and money. And not worthy of final fantasy name.

If I could leave an in the middle kind of rating I would, but unfortunately this game mostly feels like a waste of time and leans more towards something you'd probably want to skip instead of play. Now that's not to say there are no positive aspects of this game. It has an incredible soundtrack, good voice acting, and the boss fights certainly deliver in terms of spectacle. Despite all of that, this game falls short in every other regard. The combat grows tedious due to its lack of depth. There really are no other combat mechanics to play into besides just staggering the enemy. To make matters worse, lots of Clive's abilities are uninspired and just amount to big damage laser. The pacing is really bad. This game has a very weird habit of forcing you into a side quest whenever you reach a new town. It makes no sense and just bogs down the progression of the main story. These side quests also usually do very little to invest the player into the world. The gear progression in this game is absolutely ABYSMAL and it's partnered with the most shallow crafting system that has no place in this game. Every time you beat a boss, it drops a material. That material lets you craft your next sword. The only thing new or different about this sword from your last one is that it does 5 more damage. That is how things will be for the rest of the game. It is really unfortunate that this game is dragged down by all of these really stupid design decisions because at its core I think the characters and the story of this game are interesting and akin to classic Final Fantasy with the setting and concepts. However, that simply isn't enough to give up time and money for when considering the overall gameplay experience being offered here. Perhaps if the game is on sale and it looks REALLY appealing to you. However, if you're looking for a traditional Final Fantasy experience or a way to get into the series or even just a fun action game to throw yourself into, you're better off passing up this game.