Final Fantasy XVI: a glimpse of the future, without forgetting the past

This was a version created specifically for demonstration purposes for the press, its contents may vary from the final version of the game.

A few months ago, we had the opportunity to play an exclusive demo of final fantasy 16 which was focused on combat, and this time we traveled to Los Angeles to taste a little about its story, the characters that complement it and more.

On that occasion, several people were left with questions such as: Where are the RPG mechanics? Is it similar to the others final fantasy? Is it like any other hack n’ slash? Among others, and today we will solve them, since we played many hours of this title that promises to be one of the highlights of 2023.

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A glimpse of the future, without forgetting the past

In the previous article, we told you that final fantasy 16 It will be a kind of new beginning for the franchise, because, despite the fact that it shares some details with its predecessors, the gameplay is completely redone. The combat is much more effusive, unbridled and is full of adrenaline, be it when we use the protagonist Clive in his normal form me in the battles of Eikon against Eikon.

This decision was made to make the franchise more appealing to Western audiences and people who have never played a game before. final fantasy. For many, it’s an interesting and eye-catching twist, but we did notice that longtime fans were disappointed to see that there was almost no mention of classic RPG elements.

On this occasion, we visit new locations on the map where there are merchants and merchants from whom we can buy items to create potions, cook, and improve our armor and tools. Although we could only see a little about this customization, it promises to be quite extensive.

Another classic detail present is XP and levels. After each battle, no matter how insignificant, we are given experience points, and thus Clive increases his stats. Customized weapons are very helpful, but the strength increase is much more noticeable with our improved attributes. It’s a very natural and satisfying growth curve, making every matchup relevant.

An interesting and deep story

What also makes this installment similar to the first titles in the franchise is the tone of its story. Futuristic and dystopian themes were set aside to return to a medieval era, where the continent is divided into kingdoms and royal families. The development team was inspired by game of Thrones to create very interesting meaningful conflicts.

We won’t tell too much about the story to avoid spoilers, but some moments we did see were surprising and left us wanting more. This is a great success of the team, because thus we find a modern gameplay that is different from that of its predecessors, but a more traditional tone and essence, to have the best of both worlds.

What we can comment on is that the game is divided into 3 different eras: Clive’s adolescence, his youth and his adulthood. In this demo, we played a bit of each era, which helped us get to know our protagonist more and empathize with him. Unfortunately, he’s the only playable character, but this helps us feel closer to his past.

In case you haven’t seen our first preview, we remind you that final fantasy 16 It will be the first title in the franchise to have Latin American dubbing, because Square Enix sees us as a market with a lot of potential. This time, we got to hear more characters and their performances, and they all do great. If you always play with English voices, we invite you to give this voice work a try; it’s worth it.

A world ready to be explored

Returning to the locations, we were able to see more areas of the map in addition to castles and dungeons. We play in some outdoors, like in the field and forest. We enjoy these sections because they seem to be from a different title; the contrast with what we saw before is very remarkable, mainly because the colors are more vivid and varied.

The field is a semi-open area, which, although it has its limits in the form of invisible barriers or lakes (because we cannot swim), is quite wide. In it we find chests, useful objects for customization and, above all, monsters. This section is similar to exploring Dragon Quest XIbut bigger.

The variety of enemies is wide, if we consider the size of the place, and the best thing is that, just as we can defeat some quickly, others require a lot of work. This makes battles that seem “routine” result in tougher confrontations, and therefore, fun.

One detail that we liked is that all the beasts have a similar level to us. In games like Xenoblade ChroniclesFor example, it is annoying to walk and suddenly find a monster that surpasses us by far and that eliminates us with a single blow. In final fantasy 16 all the enemies around us are even with us, so it is very possible to defeat them.

Another point to highlight is that there is not only a variety of enemies in the same area, but in all the others. For example, in urban areas and castles there are many knights with armor and swords, but in the forests there are wolves; in the field, wasps; on the coasts, giant lobsters; in the swamp, goblins and so on in each region. This makes entering a new realm very interesting and exciting.

The new generation

From the first preview we were impressed with the Eikons battles because, besides being colossal and brutal, they look beautiful. Being such explosive and fierce fights, there are many elements on the screen, and we are still surprised by the technical work involved. The frames are stable at all times, and the impacts between monsters look amazing. The heat of each flame and the force of each blow are palpable.

Much of the effort of the developers and the art team went into making the transitions between cinematics and gameplay as natural as possible, and in that aspect they got a 10. If it weren’t for the fact that our life bar appears from one moment to the next on the screen, we wouldn’t know when we’re in control again, because graphically it’s the same all the time.

We believe that we still need to see much of the world and every location in final fantasy 16, because it is a title that promises a minimum of 40 hours of gameplay, but what we have played, which has mostly been combat, we can say that the work is impeccable. Every animation, movement, skill and transition is as smooth as silk, helping to make the experience totally immersive.

Conclusion

This installment promises to present several amazing and magnificent points, and with this latest preview we rest assured that longtime fans and newbies will surely be very satisfied. There is the medieval and classic part of the story, along with the customization and strategy of our weapons, but also a fresh and fun combat that makes it an almost mandatory purchase.

final fantasy 16 It could have aimed at being a totally open and limitless world, but preferred to focus on a slightly more closed experience, which still lets us out of the hand at times so that there are elements of surprise and shock in each place and mechanics that we discover. Sometimes he directs us to focus our eyes on specific points, but he also lets us take a look around us.

We recommend that you watch the first preview we did about the game, where we talked a lot more about the combat, which is one of the main focuses of the installment. It is worth telling you that it goes far beyond any hack n’ slash or button smasher. The game is designed to be a highly entertaining and intense experience.

We are confident that final fantasy 16 It will be one of the adventures that we will remember the most from 2023, because the team behind it correctly learned what it needed to reform, but without losing what many fans fell in love with several years ago. Deep and addictive combat, a captivating story, areas worth exploring, and stunning graphics, is what graces this heavy machine.

Related video: Final Fantasy XVI: it is the revolution that the franchise needed

This is a version created specifically for demonstration purposes for the press, its contents may vary from the final version of the game.

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