Final Fantasy 16 – did you like it? (pic: Square Enix)

A reader is upset about the most recent Final Fantasy game and hopes the next mainline sequel will go back to basics.

I’d like to be able to say I told you so but to be honest I didn’t know what to expect from Final Fantasy 16. The graphics were pretty and I like director Yoshi-P, but the game always seemed to have little connection to traditional Final Fantasy in terms of either gameplay or atmosphere. Game of Thrones is not an obvious source of inspiration for these kinds of games but, okay, they’re trying something different, let’s give it a chance.

I gave it a chance and it sucked.

The game’s not the worst I’ve ever played, I’m not saying that, but it really does have nothing in common with proper Final Fantasy. However, I’d argue that its problems aren’t simply that it’s too different to the previous games but that it’s not actually very good in its own right.

The positives about the game are pretty obvious: the graphics and the combat. The graphics are great and apart from certain elements of the story, such as the crystals, almost the only thing in the game that makes it seem like a Final Fantasy title. A lot of it is more grounded, when it’s just people talking, but the action and more out-there elements, most obviously the boss battles, are exactly what I’d want a next gen Final Fantasy to look like.

I think the combat is the one thing that everyone has praised but for me the problem is that it just don’t feel like Final Fantasy. It’s not necessarily that it’s real-time either. I would have preferred it had some element of turn-based action, but the real problem is that you’re only ever controlling the one guy. Having a party of characters is almost what defines a Japanese role-player and I know Yoshi-P said it wasn’t one, but… Final Fantasy is the definitive Japanese role-player.

Making it anything else is like making a mainline sequel to Mario that’s not a platformer or Halo that’s not a shooter. You can have spin-offs, sure, but this is a numbered Final Fantasy sequel, I don’t think I’m being pedantic in saying that it should at least be in the same genre as the previous games.

But the reason I say the game itself is bad is because of the story, which I just could not get on with at all. It’s far too long, far too confusing, and I don’t like hardly anyone in it, bad guy or not. It’s all trying to be very serious and grown-up, but it’s trying so hard it becomes distracting and almost kind of pathetic.

Final Fantasy 16 – the graphics are definitely good (Picture: Square Enix)

The dialogue is really not very good and the voice-acting surprisingly mediocre. I’m sure the fact that I wasn’t enjoying the rest of it is not helping, but I was never engaged with what was going on and regularly lost track of who was doing what and why.

Not only is this not a Final Fantasy game but no matter what it is, it’s too long and bloated. If it were a traditional role-player, where there’s lots of exploration and side quests, it could’ve maybe justified it but the side quests are terrible and the exploration is equally basic.

Final Fantasy 16 hasn’t been a flop but it’s obvious it hasn’t done as well as Square Enix would’ve hoped, especially for the first ever next gen entry. It’s done okay, so no one’s going to be losing their jobs over this, and that makes me feel okay to say that I’m glad it hasn’t done well.

I hope it encourages Square Enix to be more confident about keeping the series weird and wacky and Japanese, and not try and turn it into some grimdark nightmare game. It doesn’t have to be as weird as Final Fantasy 7 Remake, because that’s purposefully old school, but, in my opinion, it does have to embrace the fantasy in Final Fantasy.

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It also needs to have a proper party of characters. It’s not enough to just meet people in cut scenes, you’ve got to get to know them through the gameplay and their little comments during battles. You’ve got to feel like you’re out adventuring with a group of friends. That, to me is the essence of the series.

I hear talk of a remake of Final Fantasy 6, which I’d definitely be interested in because it’s one of the best ones, but it’s still not moving anything forward. I much prefer the weird magicpunk setting of Final Fantasy 6 to that of 16 but I’d much rather just see that inspire a new game, with new gameplay and characters.

I’m not against change but when it’s not obvious what franchise a game is even a part of, without looking at the logo on the loading screen, I think that’s a bad thing. Hopefully Square Enix has got the message though and there’ll be no Final Fantasy 16-2.

By reader Grackle

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A reader is upset about the most recent Final Fantasy game and hopes the next mainline sequel will go back to basics.