FINAL FANTASY XVI Review Summary

Engaging, mature story and characters: The game features a well-crafted, mature story with engaging characters, drawing comparisons to Game of Thrones in its themes and political intrigue. Side quests contribute meaningfully to world-building and character development, enhancing immersion. The narrative is praised for its emotional depth, twists, and satisfying conclusion.

Stunning graphics and world design: The game boasts stunning graphics, detailed environments, and impressive visual effects, creating a beautiful and immersive world. The art direction is consistently praised, with special attention given to character models, landscapes, and the overall aesthetic. The game's visuals contribute significantly to its atmosphere and cinematic presentation.

Fluid, dynamic, satisfying combat: The combat system is dynamic, fluid, and satisfying, offering a variety of abilities and customization options. Players can experiment with different Eikon powers and combos, creating a personalized playstyle. The action-oriented combat is often compared to Devil May Cry, emphasizing skill-based gameplay and rewarding mastery of mechanics.

Compelling protagonist and cast: Clive Rosfield is a well-developed and compelling protagonist, supported by a strong cast of memorable characters. The voice acting is consistently praised, with Ben Starr's performance as Clive being a particular highlight. The relationships between characters are explored in depth, adding emotional weight to the story.

Exceptional and memorable soundtrack: The game features an exceptional soundtrack composed by Masayoshi Soken, enhancing the emotional impact of key scenes and battles. The music is praised for its memorable melodies, diverse range, and seamless integration with the gameplay. Many reviewers consider it one of the best soundtracks in video games.

Tedious, unrewarding side content: Side quests and exploration feel unrewarding due to repetitive tasks, generic objectives (fetch quests, monster hunts), and meager rewards. The world feels empty and linear, lacking secrets or meaningful choices. This negatively impacts pacing and player engagement, making the game feel like a chore.

Poor optimization, frequent crashes: The game suffers from significant performance issues, including FPS drops, stuttering, and crashes, especially on PC. Reviewers report needing to implement various workarounds and tweaks to achieve a playable experience. These technical problems detract significantly from the overall enjoyment of the game.

Shallow RPG progression, customization: RPG elements feel tacked on and unrewarding, with minimal impact on gameplay. Crafting and equipment systems lack depth, offering only minor stat gains and limited customization options. This makes exploration and side content feel pointless, as rewards are often useless or easily outclassed.

Too easy, lacks challenge: The game is too easy, even on higher difficulty settings, with enemies being damage sponges rather than posing a strategic challenge. Combat lacks depth and complexity, often devolving into button mashing. This diminishes the sense of accomplishment and makes the game less engaging.

Poor cutscene quality, animation: Cutscenes are locked at 30fps, creating a jarring visual experience. Character animations are stiff and lip-syncing is poor, detracting from immersion. The game relies heavily on cutscenes, which can become tedious and disrupt the flow of gameplay.

Action-based combat; DMC-like: The combat system is action-oriented, drawing inspiration from games like Devil May Cry. It emphasizes fast-paced action, combos, dodging, and utilizing Eikon abilities. Some reviewers find it enjoyable but lacking depth compared to the games it imitates.

Stagger system, customizable skills: The game features a stagger system where depleting an enemy's stagger bar makes them vulnerable to increased damage. Players can customize their skill set and utilize mechanics like parrying and dodging. Accessories can simplify combat for novice players, while New Game+ and challenge modes offer increased difficulty.

Simplified RPG, action-focused: The game leans heavily into action, with simplified RPG elements. It focuses on combat and story, with a basic equipment system and limited character customization. Some reviewers feel it deviates too far from the traditional Final Fantasy formula.

Linear, unrewarding exploration: The game's world design is a mix of linear paths and semi-open zones, which some reviewers find limiting and unrewarding to explore. The game is more linear than previous entries, guiding players from marker to marker. Some reviewers feel it struggles to define itself as either an RPG or an action game.

Clive-focused; limited party control: The game focuses on controlling Clive, with party members acting as uncontrollable NPCs. Some reviewers find this limiting, as party members have minimal impact on combat and cannot be customized.

Inconsistent loading times: Loading times vary significantly, with some players experiencing long delays even on SSDs, while others report near-instantaneous loading. Fast travel can also trigger crashes for some users.

30 FPS locked cutscenes: Cutscenes are locked at 30 FPS, creating a jarring experience compared to the higher frame rates achievable during gameplay. However, a community-created mod is available to unlock the frame rate in cutscenes, addressing this issue and sometimes adding ultrawide support.

Relies on upscaling/frame generation: The game's performance often relies heavily on upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR, as well as frame generation, to achieve playable frame rates. However, these technologies can introduce visual artifacts like ghosting and may not be effective when the base frame rate is already low.

Poor level of detail (LOD): Poor level of detail (LOD) implementation causes NPCs to appear abruptly close to the player. Additionally, blurry character faces and unfinished textures are present in the game world.

Inconsistent PC port quality: The quality of the PC port is inconsistent, with some reviewers describing it as unoptimized while others find it to be well-optimized. This suggests that the game's performance and stability may vary depending on the user's hardware and software configuration.

Buy on sale only: Many reviewers suggest purchasing the game only on sale due to various flaws, including performance issues, questionable design choices, and the game not fully delivering on its promises. Some suggest waiting for a significant discount or heavy promotion before buying. This point is mentioned very frequently.

Enjoyable despite flaws: Despite its flaws, many reviewers enjoyed the game overall, citing its engaging story, impressive graphics, and fun combat. They recommend it to players who are willing to overlook its shortcomings and focus on its strengths. This point is mentioned frequently.

Divisive among Final Fantasy fans: Reviewers are divided on whether the game is a worthy entry in the Final Fantasy series, with some considering it a fresh take and others feeling it deviates too much from the core elements. Some recommend it to newcomers or those who enjoy action-oriented gameplay, while others suggest sticking to older titles or spin-offs. This point is mentioned frequently.

Lacks RPG depth: Some reviewers feel the game prioritizes action over RPG elements, resulting in a lack of depth in character customization, equipment management, and meaningful choices. They suggest it may not appeal to those seeking a traditional RPG experience. This point is mentioned multiple times.

Strong story and cinematics: Many reviewers praise the game's story, narrative, and cinematic presentation, highlighting its emotional impact and epic scale. Some recommend focusing on the main story and skipping side quests to enhance the experience. This point is mentioned multiple times.

Departure from series norms: Many reviewers noted that Final Fantasy XVI is a departure from the series' norms, with some considering it the least Final Fantasy-like game in the series. While it retains some classic elements, its mechanics and tone differ significantly from previous installments, leading to mixed reactions from long-time fans.

Extensive world-building and lore: The game features extensive world-building and lore, with tools like an in-game encyclopedia, character codex, and active time lore system to help players understand the complex world of Valisthea. This allows players to delve deeper into the story and character relationships.

Exploration of social constructs: The game addresses social constructs like racism, war, and over-dependence, prompting thought without being overt. The game's plot involves a world where people with magic powers are born as slaves and treated poorly, with average citizens committing atrocities, resulting in a dark and gloomy theme.

Reviewer context and circumstances: Some reviewers mentioned their specific circumstances, such as updating their review as they progress, receiving the game as a gift, or purchasing the game on multiple platforms. This information provides context but doesn't offer substantial feedback on the game itself.

DLC quality is inconsistent: DLC content adds new territories and challenges but doesn't significantly expand the story's lore. Some DLCs are considered unqualified or abstract, while others offer above-average writing, presentation, and gameplay.