LogFAQs > #975341766

Okay, time for my Final Fantasy XVI review!

Gameplay: Probably the easiest way to summarize it is "stylish but repetitive," and this really applies to all aspects of it. The combat looks amazing, but I basically ended up doing the same things in every battle (because it worked!). The sidequests all basically operate the same way with a few exceptions (uh oh, we need to go beat up some bad guys; oh thanks, here's your reward). They do compensate for it in major storyline battles by cranking the stylishness up to 11, and they pretty much always deliver. Oh, and the game is really easy, even by FF standards. The "Final Fantasy Mode" you can unlock for NG+ promises to ratchet up the difficulty, but I doubt I'll experience it for myself anytime soon!

World: Valisthea feels like a fully realized world. It's got a ton of mysterious lore that gradually unfolds over the course of the game, a wide variety of locations (with fantastic-looking backgrounds), and all the usual country archetypes you've come to expect in a JRPG. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of places you visit only once during the main storyline, and then you get locked out of them forever. I mean, I kinda get why they do it this way, but it feels like you spend a lot of time visiting the same 4 or 5 locations over and over again when it would've been nice if they could've given us an excuse to go back to Oriflamme. It's also a sadsack world in a lot of ways, but that's kinda the point.

Story: It's a really compelling story from start to finish. I don't feel like there was really a time where I was just bored and wanted the game to move on to the next plot point. They always managed to keep me invested and wanting to find out what was going to happen next. I think the story has a good flow to it and manages to keep you on your toes, even if the basic structure is fairly predictable. Also, if you're a fan of really long cutscenes, they're back!

Characters: Man, this cast is deep, which is a nice change of pace from FFXIII and FFXV, which have good casts but feel really small. They also manage to make them feel fleshed out with sufficiently tragic backstories (seriously, it feels like most of Clive's allies manage to tug on your heartstrings at least once), which differentiates it from something like FFXII, which has a big cast but feels like most of them don't do much or you don't really get to know them. It's hard not to get attached to even the minor quest givers in the Hideaway, which gives it a Persona 4 feel for me (I loved Inaba because the small town environment made it feel like you got to know everybody and they each had their own story arcs you could follow if you wanted).

Character ranking: Clive > Cid > Joshua > Torgal > Barnabas > Gav > Jill > Mid > Dion > Martha > Blackthorne > Otto > Quinten > L'ubor > Charon > Tarja > Jote > Harpocrates > Isabelle > Goetz > Vivian > Benedikta > Kupka

Game ranking: VIII > X > VII > T > IX > XVI > VI > XV > XIII > X-2 > XII > IV > V

Protagonist ranking: Squall > Tidus > Ramza > Cloud > Clive > Zidane > Noctis > Lightning > Cecil > Bartz > Vaan

Something like that.