Final Fantasy 16- all or nothing (Picture: Square Enix)
A reader argues Final Fantasy 16 being anything less than a major hit is a failure for Square Enix and any publisher in a similar position.
So, I’ve just finished Final Fantasy 16 and I have a lot of things I want to say. I’ve seen many people saying it’s terrible and I’ve seen plenty of people saying it’s great but for me it was neither, it was… okay. The combat was great, and I thought the attempt at a more grounded Final Fantasy was relatively successful. They managed to mix in nonsense talk about crystals in with Game of Thrones style swearing and violence, and it kind of works.
I read with interest last week’s Reader’s Feature about the game and while I did agree with a lot of the faults listed I can’t agree that it’s as bad as they were making out. I will agree, though, that it’s not a very good role-playing game, with too much of it being just empty, linear areas with hardly any characters around. The side quests are terrible, and you never really feel like you’re doing anything but following the developer’s breadcrumb trail.
There was a lot of talk before release, about not calling the game a Japanese role-player but it’s not really the Japanese part of the equation that’s the issue, it’s just that it’s not a role-playing game. Not any more than something like God Of War or Horizon Forbidden West. In fact, I’d argue that the first God Of War is probably more of a role-player than Final Fantasy 16, which is basically just a straight action adventure.
If you’re a Final Fantasy fan this is a bit of problem, because while changing the setting and tone is one thing making the gameplay completely different as well is getting to the point where you question why the game is called Final Fantasy at all. If it wasn’t for the chocobos and all the talk about crystals it would be absolutely unrecognisable as part of the series.
The other problem is that it’s just too long. A lot has been written about how confusing the plot is, but the main issue is that it just goes on for so long. On and on without end, for 60 hours or so. I just don’t see how anyone can stay invested in a story for that long, especially one with such mediocre characters and writing as this.
And that really is the issue, Final Fantasy 16 is neither amazing nor terrible and that is not good enough nowadays, for a game that lasts so long and costs so much. Everyone knows how games are becoming too expensive to make and buy, but I think the additional problem that is not being properly considered is what happens to publishers who put out two or three underperforming games in a row, not because they were awful but because they were mediocre.
Square Enix has had Forspoken (which I haven’t played but was clearly a flop) and Final Fantasy 16 already this year and they are already sweating. Final Fantasy 16 took six or more years to make and it only did okay. If it had taken half that then it would have probably made a tidy profit, despite still being a mild disappointment, but because it’s such a massive production it’s sink or swim.
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The only way out of this problem is for publishers to get together and agree that games are just going to have to be half the length they are right now and cheaper to compensate. Because nobody is going to be able to afford having some $200+ million production, that took six years to make, only do alright. When games were cheaper you could afford more mistakes but not when the stakes are this high.
There’s already been rumours of Sony sniffing around Square Enix and if Final Fantasy 16 makes them cheap enough to buy then I don’t think you can get a bigger failure than that. The more expensive games get, and the longer it takes to make them, the bigger the risk – and no company is good enough to guarantee everything works out.
With Microsoft and Sony buying up everyone else, in a couple of years all we’re going to have is those two and indie developers, and that’ll be the games industry. I’d definitely sacrifice shaving 20 hours off Final Fantasy 16 to prevent that.
By reader Grackle
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A reader argues Final Fantasy 16 being anything less than a major hit is a failure for Square Enix and any publisher in a similar position.
