Earlier in the year, after playing through a tailored demo designed specifically to showcase Final Fantasy 16’s combat systems, we described the action-heavy PS5 exclusive as a bonafide Game of the Year contender. With publisher Square Enix seemingly intent on showing as much of the sequel as possible, we’ve since played several more hours of the release, and our opinion largely remains unchanged. However, glowing as we were in that initial assessment, we did come away from our latest demo a little less impressed.
We got to play a lot of the game – including the entire first chapter and a meaningful chunk of the next one. As we said in our previous preview, the presentation is on par with what you’d expect from a Sony first-party, and the developer deserves credit for seriously improving the quality of the script and voice acting compared to past entries, without losing any of the distinctive anime-inspired qualities that makes Final Fantasy, well, Final Fantasy.
The opening is breathless, although we’d argue that’s to the title’s detriment. While we’re already familiar with the overarching fiction from past presentations – the world of Valisthea is broken up into several different regions, all surrounding a neutral venue named the Crystalline Dominion, which comprises the epicentre of the story – we struggled to keep up with the politics in the opening cutscenes, and frankly felt a little lost.
This is probably intentional, as the game pulls the classic story-telling trick of starting out in the middle of a massive battle, before pumping the brakes and turning back time. When you reassume control of the unfortunately named Clive Rosfield, you’ll find him training in the Grand Duchy of Rosaria, his home realm. This location has a strong European flavour to it, with medieval turrets, farming materials, and market traders.
The training you complete here, observed by engaged onlookers including Clive’s younger brother Joshua, doubles as a tutorial for the gameplay. Unlike in our past demo, this time we were able to enable the title’s performance mode, and were satisfied with the fluidity and pace of the action at 60 frames-per-second. While this is a stunning looking game throughout, its breakneck, borderline Devil May Cry-style combat deserves to be played with a more responsive refresh rate.
There is room to explore the Grand Duchy of Rosaria, and there are even NPCs you can stop and communicate with, but these opening moments largely funnel you towards the next objective marker, as the title slowly introduces you to its cast of characters. The game is not subtle at teasing its villains – you can tell within seconds that Clive’s Mum is a wrong’un – but the melodrama is appreciated, and the direction of the cutscenes definitely draws you in. It’s light-years apart from the era of Tidus guffawing like a goon.
With the tutorials out of the way, it wasn’t long before we were ushered back out into the field, this time a squelchy bog-like environment inhabited by all different kinds of triffids and organic inhabitants. The game is pretty relentless with its pacing, seguing from one set-piece encounter to another. One particular foe that lived long in our memory is named the Morbol, an enormous sentient root with chomping teeth and toxic breath.
Our biggest concern coming out of this opening sequence is that Clive is restricted to just one set of Eikon powers, with more presumably unlocked as you progress through the campaign. Without these other abilities to draw upon, however, we found the combat to quickly feel stale and one-note. We understand the developer doesn’t want to overwhelm players, but we fear the opening hours, at least until more abilities are unlocked, could quickly get repetitive.
Nevertheless, narratively, things escalate quite quickly in this opening chapter, and while we’re hesitant to outline the exact chain of events – well, let’s just say it sets up the story in pretty spectacular fashion, with some truly outlandish events, including one sequence where you’re controlling a giant fire phoenix in a Panzer Dragoon-style rails-shooter encounter. The development team has clearly taken inspiration from God of War, specifically the classic PS2 and PS3 era entries, and dreamed up some larger-than-life scenarios to anchor the campaign around.
Later on in the demo, we get to take control of an older Clive, who’s been helped by accomplice Cid into an underground hideaway. It’s here that the game does start to display some more of its cracks: in-engine cutscenes lack the same level of gloss and polish as the main cinematics, and while it’s clear that retaining consistent quality across a 50 hour adventure would have been near-impossible, the step-down in character models and animation is stark.
Still, you can explore this area as much or as little as you’d like, fashioning new equipment from raw materials and even engaging with an otherworldly training gauntlet, which allows you to practice and hone your skills. While our demo largely required us to chat with a specific string of characters, it’s easy to imagine how this will evolve into becoming one of your hubs of operation later on, as you choose to embark on different quests.
We ended up back out on the field with Cid, and our trusted dog companion Torgal, this time marching through a much more idyllic forest environment – albeit one still infested with animated plant-life and vicious wolves. One thing that continuously impressed us is how the game is consistently able to raise the stakes, with one giant enemy making way for another – in this instance, a scaled reptilian-like beast named Fafnir. All the foes are obsessively animated, and their specific attack patterns raise unique challenges.
While we were politely asked to stop playing the story at this point, Square Enix had prepared a save point later in the game, whereby we were able to engage with some of Final Fantasy 16’s more open-ended gameplay. As has been noted multiple times, the release is not open world, but there are sizeable hub-like areas you can explore. We spent a bit of time here drinking in the scenery and putting down some of the local wildlife, before picking up a side-quest in a nearby town.
If you like the freedom that sandbox games provide, then you may be disappointed with the scale of these, as the area we got to poke around in was not particularly vast. But it’s clear these sections will break up the monotony of the more linear environments, allowing you a little more room to stretch your legs. Thus, we reckon the developer has struck a nice balance by creating the illusion of some exploration without going entirely open world.
Still, even in this area we were restricted to just two of Clive’s Eikon powers, and we were starting to feel the onset of monotony at this point of our playthrough. It’s our only real niggling concern: we’re confident the complicated nature of the story will come together, but we’re worried the combat may take a little too long to truly find its feet as your options are seriously limited throughout these opening hours.
This worry may ultimately turn out to be misplaced, as our hands on was largely confined to the opening hours of the campaign, and in the tailor-made combat-focused demo from earlier in the year, we fell in love with the sheer wealth of options available to Clive, which we assume is where the system will end up once you’ve progressed beyond the opening chapters. So yes, we still very much believe there’s a Game of the Year contender looming here – but we’ve identified a couple of minor niggles that will still need to be answered by the final release.
How is your hype holding up for Final Fantasy 16 now we’re roughly a month away from launch? Feel the enthusiasm flowing through you like you’re a Dominant channelling the powers of an Eikon in the comments section below.
Comments 68
Let's go! I've played so much Final Fantasy 16! Any questions, let me know!
@get2sammyb I'm trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible so could you give a TL;DR of your critiques?
@Azex It may take a little too long to unlock the abilities that add much-needed variety to the combat.
@KaijuKaiser It feels like it totally throws you in at the deep-end. If I hadn't attended two presentations where Naoki Yoshida literally outlined the story in bullet-points, I don't think I'd have a clue what was going on.
Obviously the vast, vast majority of people playing the game will not have attended those presentations.
@PlayStationGamer3919 "a trivial criticism, discomfort, or annoyance."
@get2sammyb Hmmm, that seems fair, especially if its going for a more DMC-style combat system. I personally don't mind that as I feel Ghost of Tsushima and many turn-based RPGs have a similar problem.
A possible complicated and confusing storyline… man, is Square-Enix turning all their games into Kingdom Hearts styled narratives? 😅
@get2sammyb Regarding the combat progression, was there combat upgrade options available during your demo? I'm wo dering if they intended for unlockable upgrades to provide variety in between new eikon powers.
@3Above Yes, there's a skill tree and I was able to craft some equipment. But obviously it was still very early into the game.
The previous demo I played was tailor-made to showcase the combat system and there was a lot more going on, so I think once you've progressed through the game a bit this issue will melt away.
But it still remains to be seen how long it'll take before you start unlocking more stuff and getting to the more complex systems.
Looking forward to this. I’m hoping I can clear TotK before 16. Genuinely curious how I’ll be feeling about this title, as it will be immediately following, in my gaming timeline, what is going to be an incredibly difficult game to top in TotK.
@PlayStationGamer3919 Being American, I love learning British words/spellings I somehow never knew about. I remember a random GT7 patch notes articles I was astonished how the word "tyres" was spelled.
"...without losing any of the distinctive anime-inspired qualities that makes Final Fantasy, well, Final Fantasy."
Really? Because that is not at all the vibe I got from any of the trailers or gameplay footage I've seen. Especially compared to something like the VII Remake series.
Too bad they didn't use the ff7 remake gameplay and improved on that. Still feel that game nailed the best of two worlds.
@Ralizah It's still very anime!
@get2sammyb Did you feel there was enough to do in the world besides combat to keep it interesting? Like Finding items, secrets ect?
. Hopefully the story will be engaging enough to carry me through till more eikon powers are available. Seems they are going the FF15 route with the opening scene then a backwards time jump.
sorry dont have alot of interest in final fantasy 16
im very interested in final fantasy rebirth though
Genuinely concerning to hear. As the two things I was most worried about, are even mentioned here which is a rarity pre release.
Combat, exploration, and progression being simplified into an action game may have been a bold move for FF, but also a bad one.
Also, with all the additional footage, it's clear this isn't the next Gen showcase it was hyped early on to be. Demon souls and ratchet and clank released years ago still look far better, even most last gen first party ps titles look far better.
Glad I didn't pre order.
Almost all outlets are highlighting concerns and specifically how linear the areas are. Essentially just linear halls to the next unrealistic open arena to fight in, then watch a cut scene, with a few Short paths along the way to explore. Very basic level design. They also cite the same concern on combat being simply button mashing square, until a cool down is done and using your one or two abilities which grows stale.
Now considering that we've seen most of what this game has to offer in terms of its overall design and progression systems as they've showed so much of the game already. If you really take these previews into account, we already know what nearly the totality of its skill trees and icon abilities will be. you can already tell that this game is not going to have a very deep combat system based on the long presentation where they showed the menu. maybe at the very end you'll at least have a handful of abilities to use but they have to spread that over a 50-hour Main campaign so you're going to be drip fed this and it's all going to likely feel very monotonous because of it and the overall linearity Of it's world and story delivery design.
It's why action games like devil may cry, Bayonetta, etc do not have bloated run times, because the combat only has a certain level of legs. Before growing stale. Sure they start out with limited movesets to some degree, but are far leaner and most all have dozens of button combos that delivery different combat moves you can research in menu and execute right away at the beginning.
Normally story progression, meaningful exploration, and build customization through gear could in theory do some heavy lifting in Making up for combat shortcomings, however if those things are also lacking, this could really be a slog and a love it or hate it affair.
Not sure this level of linearity is what I want coupled with what may turn out to be an underwhelming combat system and such a simplified exploration, progression, and gear system.
This may be exciting and a day one for some, which is great. I however, I am Genuinely Looking forward to Lord's of the Fallen and Armored core far more than this now.
The honesty in your preview is greatly appreciated.
I don't know why you'd expect to have access to every single Eikon in the beginning. Your disappointments come off as ridiculous in the scheme of it all.
@jmac1686 I still think the game is going to be fantastic and I'm very excited for it, as I point out in the preview. I just felt it was getting a bit repetitive in the demo, and I hope the final game quickly adds some variety beyond what I was allowed to play through.
As I pointed out, it's a niggle. I still have full confidence in the final release.
@3Above Honestly, not really, but it was still the very beginning of the game. Far too early to make any definitive judgments!
There’s been a few games recently where I feel like they drip feed combat mechanics. Guardians of the Galaxy was another one where the combat totally improved once the first few skills were acquired but started off really repetitive in terms of combat. It’s alright if the combat has that element of being physics based like Spider-Man cause it breaks up the monotony but I can understand why it would be a bit of a worry. The first few hours of the game are the most important to grab you as well.
Have to say the early combat arguments seem a bit harsh?! Of course you won’t have everything early on. In what game do you?!
FF you don’t, DMC you don’t, GoW you don’t and so on. Seems very strange.
@KundaliniRising333 I said this before but it seems like a modern version of Streets of Rage in a fantasy setting rather than a modern version of an actual FF (or even an RPG in general). Walking through very artificial feeling linear areas with nothing to do but beat things up is not what an RPG is. It shows how much audiences have changed that FFXIII was savaged for its more action-y combat and linear areas yet people are reacting well to this game which is more linear and more action-y by a long shot.
If the beginning starts out with a limited moveset, then it's a true action jrpg for sure lol. The amount of times people complain about jrpgs feeling so button mashy and monotonous and they still haven't unlocked the combats true potential is countless. Personally I've never had a major issue with games slowly unlocking abilities as it makes later combat fights feel different from early game fights.
And it's not a sandbox game so I don't expect sandbox freedom. I just hope to run around in areas big or small, visiting towns, killing mobs, discovering stuff, and doing side quests while progressing the story like almost any other jrpg ever
Even tho Diablo 4 will take all my gaming time for a very long time. Diablo is a top 3 franchise for me. I want to give this FF a try. FF normally isn’t my thing, but this looks good and i could see myself playing through it as i love the action it has shown. Not going to say day 1 purchase, but i think i will be giving this a shot.
RPGs are almost always a bit slow in the start. Plus DMC also is a bit slow to start until you start unlocking more moves so I don't think I'll be too bothered by that criticism. Looking forward to it!
I feel a bit down reading this and other previews. Alot of the issues identified, like basic repetitive combat, not really being an rpg and level design being extremely linear corridors are things I personally hoped would be different.
As it's the only ps5 exclusive game I am hyped for this year, I have my fingers crossed it comes good. But it's been a bit disheartening reading this and all the other previews. Surprised that quite a few have mentioned that the graphics are not that amazing, after it was hailed as a true next gen showpiece. Same happened with Forspoken
@get2sammyb
Honestly, I do kind of feel like you were reaching to try to find something critical of so as not to come across as a puff piece, either that or your frustration with playing the game backwards (first play having all abilities and second restricted to early game) slightly overrode your common sense in knowing that these systems would open up.
I don’t feel criticising a game for not throwing you in at the deep end with combat is necessary warranted (remember you had already played the game before getting to this opening point, so of course you didn’t need the training or time to learn, and it felt monotonous). Nor the fear about it taking too long to open up (because you can’t know that), but you have played it and I haven’t so maybe you are hinting at things that an embargo restricts you from saying(?)
FFVII Remake was just “Okay” to me so was hoping this would be the special one. Going to play it asap regardless to get some use out of my PS5.
@PlayStationGamer3919 it is I
"As we said in our previous preview, the presentation is on par with what you’d expect from a Sony first-party"
Pretty funny that's what it's being compared to, entirely fair however 😂
Finale Fantasy 3(6) remake with Final Fantasy 12 battle system. Mhhhhhmm check please!
i'm dead set on buying this ,i might check out the demo for maybe 10-20 mins ( depending how long it actually is ) but mostly just to see how good it looks on my tv.
I think in general Final fantasy games have always thrown you in the deep end and you have no clue to what's even going on. FF7 for example starts with you hitting the mako reactor, I had no clue as to what was going on. Haha. So I'm cool with that! I love finding out as the game progresses.
"without losing any of the distinctive anime-inspired qualities"
That's surprising. It's not what any of us are seeing here, but if that's true, it's encouraging.
" the game pulls the classic story-telling trick of starting out in the middle of a massive battle, before pumping the brakes and turning back time. "
So....like XV then?
"satisfied with the fluidity and pace of the action at 60 frames-per-second. "
That's actually surprising because visually this "PS5 only" game isn't looking so impressive from actual gameplay as it did when showcased using I assume prerenders mostly. It looks....exactly like a Luminous engine game, because it more or less likely is. If they managed to give it a stable framerate at 60 without looking like a PS3 game, that's a win.
"There is room to explore the Grand Duchy of Rosaria, and there are even NPCs you can stop and communicate with, but these opening moments largely funnel you towards the next objective marker"
Aaaand....there it is. Funneling you through objectives as a linear action game..... sigh....that's not an RPG.
@Matroska I don't think audiences have changed much, W-ARPG, and turn-based JPRG audiences seem to be larger and more discerning than ever with more options available than ever. This game is simply targeting a totally different audience than the FF audience because IDK. And unfortunately it seems to be working, sales-interest-wise.
God of War in 2022: Becomes more 'party' based, rounds Kratos' character, grounds the action to more intimate settings.
FfXVI in 2023: Loses the party focus, becomes about 1 man's quest for revenge, is all about combat, and action; fights literal 'gods' (I.e. Eikons) in giant set pieces.
Did the two top titles of their respective fields just do a genre swap? 🤔
@get2sammyb did square ask for any feedback during these demo events ,or was it just a case of heres our game,now ta ta
@KundaliniRising333 All outlets have been providing praise for the game and calling it a GOTY contender. Many praising the more open zones and exploration and how beautiful they are. Amazing how you've completely twisted the narrative into your own negative fictitious take.
@jmac1686 not at all. Read between the lines man, there is only so much they can say being invited to such events. Actually read the articles. Don't cherry pick in order to confirm your bias. They all highlight concerns, and they are all varying degrees of severity regarding the same two things...
Listen. I'm not sure how many times, with how Many fanhumans this must be said. If someone has an opinion that differs from your own, it isn't wrong, nor does it mean they are negative all the time. I'm hyper critical for sure and am so because of the state of some developers, game design, unfinished releases, lies, media deception and am skeptical toward Sony's dimishes trajectory and Fan service as a whole. I am a free thinker, who is able to think outside a group think mentality.
Yet I've praised a great many things.
You already stated your piece in this thread earlier, yet you come back to refute and belittle any opinion that is different than yours. How is that not negative or ignorant for that matter.
All that aside who knows. If it turns out good I'm in for sure. I absolutely appreciate the demo offerings from square, andfv will likely be able to tell if it's for me just as I did with dodging Forspoken.
The biggest niggle they should address before launch is replacing the action combat with turn based combat.
I fear another Forspoken from reading this article.
@NEStalgia definitely looks exactly like a luminous engine game. In truth it almost just looks like a more polished, slightly higher resolution Forspoken with slightly better characvjter models. Yet apparently the npc models are pretty rough, as we saw in that extended ah showcase we watched subtitled avouolw months ago.
They seem to continue try and use particle affects to mask the otherwise drab visuals with this engine. Yet if you look at even this recent footage. The environmental detail on terrain and buildings is near identical to Forspoken's sterility. The foliage density and models look good though as well as some decent lighting and color.
Thank you so much for the write up! Easily my most anticipated games this year. Looking forward for when it comes out.
@tallythwack Well the game's finished so it wouldn't make any difference anyway.
It should be noted that I think this title will be a Game of the Year candidate, I think a few comments are taking the "niggles" a little too seriously.
I'm really confident the combat system will blossom the more you play.
I hope everyone can temper their expectations. Square Enix has a very uneven track record, and this may not be the 10/10 we are hoping it will be. In fact, it might suck.
I love you Sammy but this isn't fair,
'It’s light-years apart from the era of Tidus guffawing like a goon.'
This scene always gets taken out of context. Yuna is forcing Tidus to laugh at this point to break the tension. So they are both forcing out laughs. Which then turn into real laughter. Honestly I love that scene, amongst the backdrop of certain death for Yuna and the crew. Its not bad voice acting in context.
@get2sammyb I apologize if this has been asked already, but how does thr combat feel? Is it more like FF15 or more like FF7 Remake?
Yeah, but you say it like almost every game doesn't initially start with very basic combat and then grow as the game progresses. Final fantasy games of old gave you games where to begin with you would have 1/2 characters who can attack and maybe just about use heal for the first hour or so. It's nothing new at all, so in not worried.
@KundaliniRising333 Luminous is just such a problem engine. It has a "unique" look which is what I think they like about it, but it just.....this is definitely not the "OMG TRUE PS5 GFX" rave fest we were seeing a while back. That must have all been pre-rendered. This looks like XV/Forspoken continued, to me for sure. If Sammy's right and they got performance mode to actually hold 60 while not looking like a PS3 I think that's technical achievement of the year award material on this engine.
@themcnoisy Haha, fair. I guess I'm just saying the voice acting and writing is really good.
It appears this article is getting some serious traction on twitter due to the word niggles. I just assumed it was something everyone used.
This just reeks of DMC and that's a game I couldn't finish, depsite the popularity. If it's more Tales of Arise than DMC, maybe. it's unfortunate that the FF I grew up with decades ago, has been "improved" so much, I don't even recognize a FF game.
Love that its going to be linear with little side quests and no mini games. I just want a great story and a fairly straight shot to the end, similar to VII remake's structure. I'm getting fatigued with games that are coming out with bloat and too much pointless content
@Matroska Oh nice judgment, cause you've played the full game of FF16 right?
Anyways, every Final Fantasy game is linear, they just throw you in a explorable and interactive word where it takes you away from feeling that linearity. And by linearity that was mostly the dungeons(main story stuff), just like 16. That was not the case for FF13. The entire game consisted of walking from point A to B without any diverging paths, explorable paths, or even you interacting with the world. That's the entire game until chapter 11, a gorgeous but very repetitive and boring mess. The fact that 16 even has explorable environments already puts it above 13 as far as game design goes imo.
Don't sit here and pretend 13 didn't have way more problems than just "Linearity". That whole argument of "Well XY is linear so why do people hate 13?" Is old and debunked.
@NEStalgia You're acting like not every Final Fantasy game was linear with open world elements. The series was always go from A to B, but they allowed you the freedom to go around and explore the world and the towns. In many cases you had to in order to move along in the plot. FF16 is shaping to be no different. FF16 is shaping to be no different from literally almost every RPG. What are you on?
Even the large open area we explored, though beautiful, felt a bit empty. There were monsters to battle, chests to find, and at least one quest lurking on the map, but other than its bright scenery, it was lacklustre. Parts reminded me of Final Fantasy 15, where sometimes you’d be faced with endless spaces where nothing was going on..Another preview reviewer said..Oh no..
@get2sammyb Did you notice a way to turn off or turn down all the flashy colors when in combat. That stuff drives me crazy. I honestly dont even know If I would play a game with that much going on its completely obnoxious.
@get2sammyb I think maybe they've shown enough now ,hopefully they leave it out of the ps showcase ,a final release trailer is all thats needed now I feel.
I'm quite suprised how many people are saying it doesn't look like final fantasy ,it just looks like the kingsglaive ff movie,which I really enjoyed.
We’re a month away from launch day, and every gaming minute until then is focused on Tears of the Kingdom. Honestly, after Zelda’s insanely vast 3 layer cake of open world, I will be ready for FFXVI’s more focused style.
I'm still not sure about how much I'll enjoy the combat system but I'm excited to give it a chance.
@PlayStationGamer3919 it does make me wonder how many people look at my username in confusion
Looking forward to it. Will be here before we know it!
me being black A couple of what?! grabs my glock
@get2sammyb is the story more coherent and the characters are more engaging than FFXV? in the sense that by only playing this game the story is "complete" or understandable rather than having to read a novel, anime, film etc. if there's ever one ?
Removed - unconstructive
@Cloud39472 oh I dunno, i quite enjoyed 15 ,but i agree it hasn't reached those heights of excellence,for a long time,you're comments seem to be a bit conflicted in their views however.
@get2sammyb you got a shout out on Sacred Symbols over the article title 🤣
@KaijuKaiser yea i dont want to sound high and mighty but as an ASOIAF fanboy ( wich this game seems to be drawing from to my absolute joy, i had a big smile in my face as the combat tutorial started and you see the epithet "lord commander" above the guys head) i tought it was pretty straightforward in terms of politics, houses, kingdoms and lore
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