I am still working my way slowly through FF16. I am enjoying it well enough; the visuals are great, the acting is good, the music is fantastic, and the story is typical FF fare with warring kingdoms “secretly” being manipulated by higher powers. I am still unsure about the overall tone as the game doesn’t really have any of the goofiness or humor present in any other FF game and the mature content is very uncharacteristic for the series. I am about halfway through at this point and I have come to realize that every single complaint levied against previous FF titles is taken to the extreme on this game and I find it curious that it has gotten the praise that it has, especially from a community that can be vocal about what they expect in their games.
Even though the game is looked upon more kindly now, I remember quite a lot of negativity towards FF12 regarding how you don’t directly control your party in combat; instead, as they level you unlock what is essentially AI programming so you can make them do what you want based on plenty of conditionals. You could, however, choose which character to play as in combat and outside of combat you had full control over their equipment and abilities. FF15 had similar complaints about the lack of control over party members but there you could issue commands to you party and, again, control their equipment and abilities outside of combat. In 16 you have zero control of any kind over your party. You can’t equip them, set abilities, use items on them, or anything. They are just along for the ride.
FF13 has a great combat system but was trashed for being too linear. I remember it being called a hallway simulator. The story is very much on rails until the end where you get a larger open area to explore. So far 16 has been the exact same. Every area I’ve been to has been more or less linear even if they try to disguise it with little branches off the main path. The game is essentially a series of hallways and when those hallways open you know there is going to be a fight. And if the opening looks bigger? It’s going to be a bigger fight. Even the small branches are predictable. If you look at your map and see an area that branches off, you 100% know you’re going to find a large monster and a treasure chest.
Speaking of treasure chests, if you love crafting materials, you’ll love the treasure chests in this game. I’ve opened every chest up to this point and a single one contained a weapon. Other than that, you’re opening chests and finding things like “3 vials of blood” or “2 sharp fangs” or some other such nonsense. It makes treasure chests unbelievably anticlimactic. As far as the crafting materials, the system is very rudimentary with the ability to craft a handful of weapons and then reinforce them to a +1, +2. Well, only standard weapons, that is. Unique weapons can’t be upgraded as far as I know. This game’s item and equipment system is very underwhelming. On top of that, it hardly feels like it makes a difference. You do gain levels and stats, and your equipment does get better, but enemies scale so every fight has felt the exact same. I never feel stronger. The game would feel exactly the same if there were no levels, stats, equipment, or enemy scaling.
And then there’s the combat. FF15 was criticized for its action-heavy combat, which was a pretty stark departure from the more traditional turn based combat of most final fantasies. When it was announced that the FF7 remake was going to have an action-based combat, many FF fans melted down. FF16 takes this to a whole new level - the game is 100% an action game. You mash buttons. Constantly. I’ve hear the game compared to Devil May Cry but I don’t get that comparison. FF16 can have flashy combat if you want to play around, but you can also play it one-handed while sipping your coffee. Seriously. I put on the ring that gives me an auto dodge and I can beat any enemy, bosses included, with one hand while mashing square.
It might sound like I’m trashing the game, but I’m not. I’m enjoying it. I’m still struggling to see how Final Fantasy turned into this, though.