Final Fantasy XVI finally made its way to the PC platform with all the content and patches, a game that was overall praised when it originally released on the PlayStation 5 but was also a bit divisive due its pace and mission structure so I thought this was the perfect moment to make yet another lengthy review after all this time so let’s see if it was worth the time.

Valisthea is a vast but convulsive land due endless conflicts between nations as resources are getting scarce as the blight, a lifeless effect wave related to world elements, continues claiming more territories. We are Clive Rosfield, member of the Rosfield house and shield of our brother Joshua, the powerful Phoenix, Eikon of fire, and the dominant of the house Rosfield. As we get ready for Joshua’s ritual, our house gets attacked from both the inside and the outside and as we try to protect Joshua something happens after a mysterious figure appears, an unknown Eikon destroys everything and Joshua perishses after a strong battle.

Years have passed since Clive fights alongside the imperial forces but soon reunites with Jill, a childhood friend and Shiva’s dominant, and joins Cid and his people’s cause in an effort to liberate bearers (people who can dominate aether) while he pursues revenge against that unknown figure who might be the unknown’s Eikon dominant. As the story proceeds we will discover not only that the world, the crystals and Eikons might not be what they look like but also that something ancient awakened.

The Story is really good, interesting and I really enjoyed it. The world building is, in my opinion, extremely solid too. There are a lot of characters, a lot of nations with their main houses and smaller entities, the world’s lore is rich and shares a lot of common points with the rest of the saga such as the power of mothercrystals, the ecology and even the technology. The game does a great job offering tools to read and discover, at any moment, about each character, how they connect with eachother and even how the world evolved since the first chapter, this detail makes it feel more immersive as there’s a lot of detail that might get under the radar otherwise.

Something that I feel could have been better was pacing as there are some moments in which the game slows down a bit too much, for example, the errand boy missions do not really offer that much at a narrative level but once it speeds up, it continues going up until the very end.

Character wise I think they did a great job with most of them. Jill, Cid, Gav and so on are well written and the side quests go deeper on them and their individual stories. I think it's well worth it doing them because there are quite a lot of them that are really good and maybe even emotional if the characters resonated well with you.

You can really see the main influences for the game’s story and character building and background and while it’s considered an “adult experience” I don’t think it’s more adult than other previous entries just because it shows more visual violence or sexual scenes, the topics of this game can be found elsewhere in previous entries of the saga to be honest.

Visually, the team really wanted to make this a showcase for the next generation on PlayStation and it shows because the game has absolutely stunning moments, specially on cinematic scenes in which the vfx goes the extra mile (personally, the scenes where Bahamut or Odin show up, they are a blast, really). Character models (specially the main ones) do look great and the world also looks fantastic.

World building is also something I think they did really great and it shows when you explore the different Valisthea regions. The world follows a medieval-like look mixed with ancient technology based on magic and the final result is something that pursues realism with a touch of fantasy that works great with villages built inside ancient ship ruins or geological elements that highlight like the mothercrystals, which are extremely beautiful and they way they are integrated with the main cities is really interesting.

The Eikon and monster designs are superb too. We all know Ifrit, or Phoenix, or Bahamut but each entry has its own take on them and XVI sure does have some of the coolests for some of them as they follow a very clear design guideline but the integration in this world was amazing. Chocobos and other creatures had the same treatment and while it pursues a more realistic approach, the way they are integrated is solid.

Artistic direction here is great and while visuals might be a bit unbalanced depending on where you look at sometimes, the final result shows a really strong visual and artistic product.

When it comes to music, the main scores and themes are strong and memorable. In general there seems to be a general consensus that music in this game is great and I fully agree, there’s little I can add in this regard so yeah, it’s good heh. Well, a small comment is that voice acting is really well done too, both English and Japanese.

Lastly, gameplay, what can I say about this other than it was extremely fun and dynamic. Let’s be honest here, it wasn’t a challenging nor strategic approach for the game but it’s such a good looking combat system and plays extremely great. The combats weren’t particularly difficult outside, perhaps, out-of-level enemies if you decided to go against them but every single one of them ended up being a visual banger thanks to movement, effects and dynamism that allows combining different Eikon abilities and approach the situation as it fits best. I should mention I encourage you to do the hunting missions too as there are some really intense combats that are well worthy.

Would I say it was one of the game’s highlights? Actually, I think it was. It has nothing to do with previous entries and it feels like a hack & slash rather than a JRPG because, let’s be honest, gear does very little and in the end, you can exploit the gameplay loop quite a bit so it makes things easier but at the same time more visually spectacular but you know what? After 50+ hours I ended up enjoying it way more than I expected so there’s that.

I have talked about everything except performance and optimization. Final Fantasy XVI is a very demanding title and while there’s room for optimization the title runs well. In my case I was running the game on a 12700k/3080/32GB ram and everything set on High (have been playing with this preset since forever, never actually try Ultra myself) at 1440p and DLSS set on quality the game was running constantly over 60fps except some very specific sections or loading moments (this was noticeable specially inside the Eikon trials) but overall I’m happy with the final result. I do not recommend playing this on a handheld though, if your only option is a Steam Deck or similar, go ahead but I would recommend playing this on a desktop.

One thing I recommend you do is download the XVI mod for cinematics, I was running into some stutters inside the cinematics and that mod fixed it completely. It's quite a famous one so it’s easy to find.

In conclusion, Final Fantasy XVI might not be a personal favorite but I enjoyed it A LOT and I really think they did a great job. Final Fantasy might need to find a more solid identity that makes the IP stronger given the current status of the saga in terms of sales and engagement but I can safely recommend this game. I liked it enough to complete all the side quests, the hunt missions and the best gear of the game and I’m sure I will do the DLC as soon as I can so yes, this is a recommended for me and I hope this review helps you a bit deciding if you want to jump in or not.

More of an action game and less of an RPG than previous entries to this series.
Lots of cutscenes and cinematic clashes.
Very linear. Very nice graphics though.
I enjoyed playing it, but not too much.

peak

The whole scenario is very well written but the gameplay narrative is just badly put together. It's a boring game with boring characters.

Haven't quite finished, so I suppose there's room in the next few hours of gameplay for everything to tank horribly (I've been spoiled so I vaguely know how the game ends), but very fun good times all around here. 10/10 voice acting, fun gameplay, and my man Soken has done it again on the OST.

Insanely terrible performance on 3060ti. Constantly hitting the low teens ruining the cinematic experience here. Shouldn't need a mod to uncap cutscene frame rate

The gameplay is flashy but very shallow, it boils down to using your skills off cooldown most of the time, making the rest of the action combat system pretty much pointless.

The story starts off strong but it devolves into a slow slog quickly after, the plot is very predictable and the pacing is way too slow.

The whole equipment and gearing system boils down to numeric and statistical increases, making the in-game economy extremely flat and boring.

The only things that the game has going for it are the graphics and soundtracks, which suffer quite abit due to the poor optimizations of the pc port.

The game feels like it was just made purely for business. It goes through a checklist of features just for the sake of having them without any thought or soul or love.

The story is very boring and dumb. I am used to final fantasy storys being really crazy and something to think about.

The combat is like almost there but it's not there. Main problem is no enemy variety.

I was really excited for this, because I liked ff7 remake a lot. I would give that game 9.5/10. This game I would give 5/10.

10/10

This game was pretty decent at first. I played the demo and it drew me in with how it felt like a Game of Thrones mixed with Final Fantasy. Then eventually the game starting loading longer, and longer, and longer, to the point where I LITERALLY (yes used correctly), LITERALLY sit on a loading screen for FIVE MINUTES! I don't understand what the issue is, but it was enough for me to get tired of it and uninstall. It sucks too because I bought all the DLC too as a package expecting to enjoy this game lol, but that money's down the toilet now.