For 3 a long time the Closing Fantasy franchise has been identified for reinventing itself, whether or not it’s the cyberpunk-esque stylings of Closing Fantasy VII or the push into on-line multiplayer with Closing Fantasy XI. The subsequent watershed second for the franchise is right here, with Closing Fantasy XVI making an attempt to push right into a extra mature and action-focused territory. Whereas it principally succeeds in its efforts, Closing Fantasy XVI has sure options that really feel like they’re in there just because any sport calling itself an “RPG” has to have them. Closing Fantasy XVI goes an extended strategy to redefine the franchise, however it must go only one step additional in leaving its RPG roots behind.
In its bid to create the primary true mainline motion RPG for Closing Fantasy, Sq. Enix employed Ryota Suzuki, the fight designer behind Satan Could Cry 5. His experience shines by way of in Closing Fantasy XVI’s fight: It has tight combos, counters, move-canceling, and a wealth of builds and play types that you just’d count on from a high-intensity motion sport.
Closing Fantasy XVI’s lingering RPG programs
However together with the newer, extra action-focused facets, FF XVI nonetheless has a variety of options that you just’d usually affiliate with the sequence, like a wide range of weapons and armor you possibly can craft and equip on protagonist Clive, a leveling system, and social gathering members which can be totally passive. These are all options that you just’d sometimes “count on” out of a Closing Fantasy sport, however the issue right here is that they’re all paper skinny. Your canine companion, Torgal, has a system for leveling up, however digging into it extra reveals there’s no participant interplay concerned. Torgal ranges because the story progresses, and all of these stats and gauges on his standing display don’t have any direct that means.
The crafting system feels equally shallow, because it throws a whole lot of supplies at you, however does a poor job of supplying you with different methods to make use of them. After a giant story second you’ll sometimes unlock new weapon and armor decisions that you would be able to craft, and at any given time there’s no purpose to picks one thing else than these new choices. The type of selection and participant alternative you see for personalisation in different RPGs, say like The Witcher 3, merely isn’t there. It looks like Closing Fantasy XVI needs the participant to really feel like they’ve alternative on the subject of armor customization, when in actuality there’s little or no.
The identical will be mentioned for each the leveling system and your social gathering members, which really feel extra like an afterthought than programs you’re really taking part in. Historically, the sequence has allow you to alter and customise a whole social gathering of characters. Even Closing Fantasy XV allow you to give equip new tools or outfits to Noctis’ associates. An absence of a customizable social gathering isn’t an issue contemplating the brand new gameplay model, however it feels odd that the sport nonetheless designates Clive’s associates as “social gathering members.” The thought of a celebration denotes some degree of customization, which isn’t current right here.
The facility of Clive’s Eikon talents
The self-love of those programs turns into much more obvious if you evaluate them to Clive’s Eikon talents, which really present genuinely deep and significant customization. Eikon units unlock incrementally at main moments within the story, and every one grants Clive a brand new Feat and three new talents. Feats are distinctive to every Eikon, for instance the Phoenix Eikon can shift ahead and teleport to an enemy immediately whereas Bahamut can cost up Megaflare to pelt all the battlefield with magic for a time period. Skills, alternatively, will be outfitted to any Eikon set when you’ve spent Ability Factors to grasp them.
The entire Eikon system is constructed round flexibility and participant alternative, supplying you with dozens of choices for various builds.It’s a dynamic system that basically makes Closing Fantasy XVI’s fight stand out, and it’s not like something the sequence has seen earlier than. It positively feels extra just like the type of talent tree you’d see out of typical motion video games like Satan Could Cry or God of Struggle. And that’s exactly the issue.
Closing Fantasy XVI shines when it breaks new floor and presents one thing completely different than its predecessors, however a variety of its RPG components really feel superfluous and pointless. Sidequests and exploration really feel significant to the narrative of Closing Fantasy XVI, enhancing the world and characters. Nonetheless, the extra mechanical rewards behind each are missing, as getting a great deal of crafting supplies simply don’t equal the narrative payoff you get. These lackluster rewards make sidequest really feel uneven as a bigger piece of the puzzle. Higher rewards might have helped create an expertise that feels satisfying on each the narrative and mechanical degree.
The sport can be stronger, as an entire, if extra of these components had been streamlined and stripped away, reinforcing its core motion expertise. Crafting is what feels essentially the most pointless in Closing Fantasy XVI, as the identical concept might have been delivered by merely awarding gamers a brand new weapon for every huge story boss, as a substitute of making one thing artificially advanced. Equally, there’s no have to create any type of social gathering label or clarification of Torgal’s stats. Complexity for the sake of it, doesn’t imply it’s good. . Closing Fantasy XVI is a unbelievable motion sport, however in the event you go into the expertise on the lookout for a fancy RPG, you is perhaps disillusioned.
In an interview on Sq. Enix’s website in Could 2023 Producer Naoki Yoshida talked about what it means to be a Closing Fantasy sport, saying “There’s no have to really feel constrained by what’s come earlier than.”
Closing Fantasy XVI feels prefer it’s at conflict with itself. When the sport shifts away to one thing contemporary and new it’s magical, however it’s arduous to miss the lingering components that really feel like they’re there just because it’s Closing Fantasy. It’s a traditional case of you possibly can’t have your cake and eat it too, and it’s change into abundantly clear Closing Fantasy goes to must make an entire break ultimately.