It may be hard to believe, but it’s been nearly seven years since the last mainline Final Fantasy title was released. In November of 2016, players were introduced to Noctis and his band of brothers on a countrywide road trip that saw the series make its first introductions into action-based combat. Still beholden to the rules of the Active Time Battle behind the scenes, there was still a framework in place that kept Final Fantasy from becoming a true character action game. Now, with a development team heralded by Ryota Suzuki, a combat designer with years of experience in the genre, Square-Enix and Creative Business Unit III have finally cracked that code with the soon-to-be-released Final Fantasy XVI.
Taking place across three distinct eras of his life, Final Fantasy XVI focuses solely on the trials and tribulations of Clive Rosfield, the eldest of two sons born to a lineage of those that embody the sacred Eikon of Phoenix. Taking the myth of summoners and l’Cie in a new direction, the Dominants that are able to summon and utilize these mythical beings are often revered (or shunned) as wielders of a source of magicks far beyond what the commonfolk can muster up. Dominants aren’t the only folks that can wield magic within the world of Final Fantasy XVI. Those branded with an auspicious marking on their left cheek are granted the power to pull magic from crystals and use them in various ways to enhance their lives, though most typically in the service of mundane tasks house servants would be wont to do. Because of their status as branded persons, the Bearers make up the uneven arrangement of a misshapen caste system.
It’s this relationship between Bearers that live their lives in servitude and the normal townsfolk that sets the stage for Final Fantasy XVI. Clive Rosfield, soon after the Phoenix Gate events that leave The Grand Duchy of Rosaria and his family either torn apart or left for dead, is branded during the five-year gap between his adolescent years and his young adulthood. In his service as a Bearer for the Republican Army, he’s tasked with assassinating the Dominant of Ice, wielder of the Eikon Shiva. In a twist, the Dominant herself is a girl from Clive’s past and best friend of his and his fallen brother Joshua. It’s during this fateful encounter that Clive is introduced to Cidolfus “Cid” Telamon, his faithful wolf Torgal (who remains the sole companion to accompany Clive across the entirety of Final Fantasy XVI) and the resistance group that Cid helms.
Final Fantasy XVI soon shifts from a story of political intrigue and convenient alliances to that of an environmental message to save the twin continents of Storm and Ash. As Clive soon discovers, the Mothercrystals that bestow magic upon the land are also leeching their energies from the soil, leaving a barren grey landscape in its wake. The power of Ifrit that awoke within Clive after the prologue and tragic events of Phoenix Gate bestowed upon him a godly power that upset the balance of power and order between the Dominants as the world was never intended to support two Dominants of Fire. Ifrit, through sheer will and chaotic strength, is the being capable of destroying those aether-leeching Mothercrystals in hopes of one day stopping the spread of blight and destruction across Valisthea.
Final Fantasy XVI revolves around the lore of eight Eikons including Leviathan the Lost, who true to his namesake is ever lost and missing from Valisthea. Already imbued with not one but two Eikons of Fire in the forms of Ifrit and Phoenix, Clive’s journey across the land has him challenge beings that can channel the might of gods themselves and take their powers for his own. While the adventure begins with only the singular fighting style augmented by the powers of channeling Phoenix, soon the powers of Ifrit awaken within him new powers and the ability to semi-prime (essentially a powered state spurred on by triggering a Limit Break, another Final Fantasy staple). As Clive Rosfield journeys across Valisthea and acts out as a morally Chaotic Good environmental terrorist, his actions of destroying the Mothercrystals and subsequently the Dominants the protect them form the nexus of the game’s third and final act.
Set five years after the defeat of Garuda and the Dominant that was granted her power, the first Mothercrystal fell and with it a plot of revenge that sees much of the resistance group forced to retreat and redouble their efforts. During this time, Clive has forcibly removed the markings of a Bearer, as have many others recruited to his cause. Fully embracing the mantle of Outlaw, the story focuses on Clive’s efforts to rid the land of the remaining Mothercrystals while political opponents and opposing countries also wage their own petty wars and skirmishes. The political intrigue never truly leaves the field of Final Fantasy XVI, although certain events veer towards catastrophic events on multiple occasions throughout. It isn’t until a common enemy is discovered by way of those who have gone Akashic: poor souls flooded with Aether and turned into shambling husks of their former selves, bereft of all free will and thought. In yet another influence drawn upon by George R.R. Martin’s signature works, there are many similarities to those that have gone Akashic with the White Walkers of the latter’s stories.
Bringing in a combat designer known for their work on Dragon’s Dogma and Devil May Cry has proven beneficial for Final Fantasy XVI’s transition into a full character action game. No longer hamstrung by wait timers (Eikon abilities do have to recharge after use, but regular attacks are fair game) or MP costs, Clive’s entire arsenal of abilities is freely available to engage enemies where every sword slash, jump, dodge, and parry all weave together in a fast-paced dance of death. With no difficulty or accessibility settings and a handful of accessories that automate some of the game’s tasks, Final Fantasy XVI is not going to be accessible to everyone that wants to see the tale of the Rosfields through to the end. The accessories equipped to the player from the journey’s beginning if they pick Story-Focused (or still available but need to be manually selected on Action-Focused) only do a half measure to make Final Fantasy XVI playable by gamers of all skill levels.
These accessories automate consuming a potion when Clive’s health gets too low, automatically commanding Torgal to attack rather than through the d-pad pallette, and a pair of accessories that automate Clive’s dodging and simplify down combos to simply pressing the Square button for flashy moves. The ultimate downside to these is that they take up precious inventory slots that could be used for reducing cooldown timers on your favorite moves or increasing damage/defenses. Fights that take 30-60 seconds to clear through still take the same amount of time and the accessory that automatically dodges still fails from time to time if Clive is caught mid-attack or in an incoming breath that he can’t get far enough away from. It’s a step in the right direction but still not quite enough to bring on new players that want to experience the brutal tale of Final Fantasy XVI without having the requisite hours of experience with other character action games.
Final Fantasy XVI is a feast for the eyes that should be experienced by as many players as possible on PlayStation 5. The facial capture and voice acting is among some of the best that Square-Enix has put out in a console game and whether you’re playing it with English, Japanese, or any of the other supported dub languages, the performances are equally as spectacular. The casting for the English voice cast hits all of the right notes and while the Japanese dub is certainly full of heavy hitters famous for other voice work, the casting of Ben Starr and Ralph Ineson each steal the show.
Save for the brief moments of taking pictures of distant vistas with rays of god shining through the clouds or the densely forested areas filled with spiders and goblins alike, there was little desire to play Final Fantasy XVI with the graphical quality present. The dip in performance and frame rate was not worth the tradeoff for a cleaner presentation, especially given the heavy focus on action in his entry. While performance mode was stable for the most part, occasional moments of heavy particle effects and screen-filling attacks would both cause noticeable drops in frame rate but could be anticipated in most instances. The camera control in Final Fantasy XVI is also far from perfect, falling into the usual issues of getting stuck in narrow pathways or being pointed away from the next available target. Initiating a manual lock-on helped the camera regain its focus on combatants but also had the single most damning issue that I see come up too often in action titles: when the enemy is too large. Massive dragons and Couerl the size of small automobiles, once locked-on and close enough to stab, would cause the camera to erratically shift with their movements. Getting too close to a fallen drake with the lock-on enabled meant sometimes being unable to focus one's attacks on its head or even see attacks coming from its various limbs as the camera moves to track its center mass. Despite the urge to lock on for boss encounters versus a single target, I found it much easier to simply control the camera manually and tilt the analog stick to angle towards the enemy with certain attacks such as a dashing punch imbued with the power of Titan.
Each of the available Eikon builds upon Clive’s basic skillset with a variety of abilities and spells unique to that summon. With magical elements bearing no impact on combat, players can freely throw lighting bolts at coeurl or rapid casts of Fira at a bomb without the usual adverse or absorbing effects. Regardless of the Eikon equipped, Clive’s primary attacks are imbued and augmented by the innate powers of Ifrit, so his charged blade attack will never emit shards of ice instead. Each Eikon comes with a core skill set to the Circle button, three various primary attacks, and a separate Ultimate skill that once mastered can be freely equipped to other Eikons. These skills bound to the Circle button are what make each Eikon unique and provide versatility and strategy as the player must decide on which three to wield at a given time. With the power of Phoenix comes a swift dash, Garuda a grappling claw that either pulls Clive towards enemies or brings himself aerial towards them (with the added effect of being able to stagger and bring a powerful enemy to their knees once their stagger gauge is half depleted), Ramuh a shotlock system where multiple lightning bolts can be fired and split up between opponents, and others. Once a skill is mastered and can be freely moved between Eikon, that’s when the strategy of Eikon composition becomes crucial to the adventure.
After the Dominant that’s been blessed with the power of Titan had been bested, that particular Eikon remained the mainstay of my combat palette for the rest of the game. His ability on the Circle button to block incoming attacks with a precisely-timed block yielding a massive counterattack was strong enough to mitigate all but sustained enemy attacks across multiple hits. Similarly, Odin remained my favorite attacking Eikon once acquired. His skill set revolved around granting Clive a second sword to wield and a variety of flourishes and spinning attacks that, while they did little damage and would not refill the Limit Break gauge, would instead fill up a separate Zansetsuken gauge. Originally capped with three levels and an upgrade that would increase it ultimately to five, attacks and dodges that filled this gauge to its various levels would be rewarded with a flurry of fast, high-damaging attacks that could wipe out an entire encounter worth of fodder enemies at the highest level.
If there’s anything that holds Final Fantasy XVI back from being a perfect experience (save for the accessibility options that can be worked out), it would be that the RPG trappings largely feel superfluous. Level-ups grant additional health and stats that work directly into how much damage Clive deals/takes and how much his attacks fill the Stagger gauges. Crafting is bog standard with most weapons/two armor accessories each having two upgrades that increased the same basic stats. Crafting materials are thrown at Clive by the dozens despite only needing a handful of each to make any gear (each time I opened a chest only to be greeted by 20 sharp fangs was met with a sigh of disappointment). Fans of FInal Fantasy XIV's sidequest format will be eager to get into the dozens of sidequests, replete with witty quest names and banter and the usual kill/collect X types that don't deviate much but offer some padding to the already 40+ hour runtime of Final Fantasy XVI. Truth be told, I was much closer to the 70-hour mark by the time I finished my first playthrough with all of the scourings about for sidequests and notorious marks to slay.
Final Fantasy XVI heralds in a new standard for Japanese role-playing games and while the RPG components themselves are limited by Square-Enix standards, it's the narrative and gameplay that exceed all expectations. What begins with kingdom-wide subterfuge and destruction ends with a world forever changed and the player, as Clive Rosfield and Ifrit together, are the driving force to see it all through until the end.
Review code provided by the publisher.
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