A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit Square Enix in Los Angeles and have a hands-on preview of Final Fantasy XVI, one of the more anticipated releases of this year. A total of six hours was spent with the game, and we have a lot to tell you about what you should expect next month with its impending release.
Before we get into some nitty-gritty specifics, you should know that this is the next evolution of gameplay for the series. It takes a page from Final Fantasy XV’s shift to more action than RPG, which means you’re going to do more button-mashing than turn-based decision-making. While Final Fantasy traditionalists out there might think that going full-action-to-QTE (Quick Time Event) might cheapen the experience, the mixture of a great story, fun lands, and massively entertaining enemies might be enough to make you forget you need turn-based RPG drama. The shift makes sense, and it works within the world that Square Enix has created with their latest title. Anyway, we’ll get more into that soon. Right now…
Let’s get going on this preview!
Dune-esque, but without the complication
The stages we played during the preview began with an older Clive (our main guy) who is marked as branded by the Imperial Army and forced to fight their wars. The opening scene has our guy trying to figure out what place the Imperial Army has in a fight between two other nations. This opening piece of the story shows us a few things about Clive. He is miserable, unmotivated, and has lost people in his life. Before we even know a thing about him, all these pieces can be heard in his voice and seen in his actions. That is a carefully crafted character that you want to know more about.
In this same introductory moment of Clive, we are introduced to dominants, massive creatures that share allegiance to their respective countries and tend to wreck everything that is in their way. While not participating in the actual war unfolding in front of them, Clive and his crew find themselves in the middle of a dominants destructive path, which leads to Clive getting smacked around by a rogue rock. Once knocked out, the preview shifted from unconscious Clive to young Clive that is still an up-and-coming soldier that has been tasked with protecting his brother Joshua, a budding dominant. I want to pump the brakes on telling you more about this story and shift back to what was going on.
The opening scene was more watched than played, though a tutorial sneakily fit in during this opening experience. The opening scene really set the tone for the story and with visuals. It could have been a movie of its own with how it cleverly set the story in motion and introduced major players along the way. Nothing seemed forced, rather it seemed all in place. Even the tutorial section seemed to go with the story and flowed well. I mean, I’m not a huge fan of tutorials in general, but I was grateful for this one. It fit with the flow of the game and built up the characters. When is the last time you could say a game’s tutorial fit perfectly within the story? Sheesh, not many.
Anyway, from what the preview showed, Final Fantasy XVI flushed out the story with simplicity and a well-crafted narrative. And with each step of the preview completed, more of what the story was about and what was at stake in Clive’s possible plight became deeper and more engaging. And things truly got going with Clive’s journey back to his childhood with his brother.
As you probably know through your own research and what you can piece together from the breadcrumbs that Square Enix has left scattered right now, some sort of tragedy befell Clive and his family. His family was royalty, he was a prince, his brother was a dominant in training, and his family’s kingdom was peaceful. Maybe a bit too peaceful for other kingdom’s tastes. Without giving spoilers away, this story seemed to have a Dune-like structure to it. If you have read or seen Dune, then you understand what that comparison could be. As equally as engaging and involved as Dune, Final Fantasy XVI will hook you hard with its storytelling. It was far better than I thought it would be and I walked away from the event wanting to know more. The preview left me on a cliffhanger and one that is well-deserved thanks to its build-up.
Just know that once you get to the journey back to Clive’s childhood and into his early 20s, you’re strapped in and on your way through a tough and interesting ride. This isn’t dribble from someone fawning over their favorite series, rather this is someone who enjoys a great story, developed characters, and a proper roller coaster ride in a multi-act narrative. Final Fantasy XVI brings all of that with it.
On that note, I will stop there with the story. I really do want to tell you about everything in the game, but it wouldn’t be right. There are some parts of the story that you need to experience to fully grasp and enjoy.
THAT experience
The six-hour experience with Final Fantasy XVI took me through different iterations of Clive’s journey, as well as mixed in some major battles with baddies. The preview introduced one of the main antagonists of the game, Benedikta Harman, a cruel woman who has just as much bark as she does bite. The preview also took us through different lands, companion creatures, and the main rest stop for everything we need to make this game big and bold. For a six-hour preview, it was obvious that there is a lot going on with FFXVI.
Let’s get through some of those happenings.
Combatting combat controls
I will start with the most talked about part of the game, how it works in an action capacity. I know the staff at Digitalchumps had discussed how interesting the game was during its online preview, but one sticking point that came up was the shift to almost total action-driven combat. To make the bougie staff even more unhinged, the simplicity of the controls that came with that combat system unnerved more than a few people. How people feel about the controls is how the rich people felt about the greasers in Dirty Dancing. They didn’t want Patrick Swayze’s group to hone in on their elegant dancing, even though it might be the best step for making a greater audience happy. Baby seemed happy when she broke away from her group and expanded her mind into a bigger dancing world. Final Fantasy traditionalists should do the same. Nobody should put Clive in a corner. Okay, how many video game articles could actually incorporate Dirty Dancing references as smoothly as this one? Not many. ANYWAY.
Final Fantasy XVI’s controls and combat are simplified for sure. I’m only guessing here, but Square Enix probably did that so they could attract a bigger audience rather than sticking to the same old fans. There’s nothing wrong with enticing folks to jump into a Final Fantasy game through accessibility and a pick-up-and-go combat system. I can tell you from the hands-on experience that this game is still entertaining as hell with pure action and Quick Time Events leading the way. This doesn’t mean that you won’t get the same backend RPG backbone, as that is very present, but it does mean that the door is open for more people to come in and experience something they might have shied away from otherwise.
Now, having said that the game’s combat controls come in two flavors – Story and Action focused. If you choose the former, then you’re in for more simplified controls, where you’re concentrating on a hack-n-slash combat system with the occasional major magic thrown into the mix. If you go with the latter, as I did when I tried out my last fight during the preview, then you get to juggle multiple dominant-led fighting styles that make for a mix-and-match good time. That last fight I went into with the more action-focused scheme was absolutely epic. I had one helluva time jumping back and forth between powers while complicating the battles a bit more without sacrificing the entertainment. The action-focused controls should satisfy traditionalists out there, while the story-driven controls will ease newcomers into the Final Fantasy mix. It’s a win-win combination that might feel different, but it’s nonetheless entertaining and engaging.
Now, while I am all-in on the idea that Square Enix made the controls the way they did because they wanted to obtain a wider audience, one could also argue that they went this route because the story asked for it. I can buy into that theory as well. The story introduces a clear world boundary with how characters function and live. Keeping them within that boundary with simplified and fun controls helps to keep them within the story itself. When a game is driven by story, you probably don’t want any unnecessary distractions, such as an action-focused combat system. Or a turn-based system that dictates the speed of the story. Whichever the reason, the combat system is good. It works with this world and story and I didn’t have one problem with either version during my preview time.
Quests and Missions
While we weren’t privy to quests in the game, probably because they were not yet fully refined (just a guess), the girth of the game was ever-present in locations, especially one that seemed like a main hub. One of the characters you meet up with during the early adventure of Final Fantasy XVI is Cidolfus Telamon. He does a great job of saving you a few times during the story and eventually, he trusts you enough to take you to a hideaway in a dead part of the FFXVI land. From what I could tell, this hideaway acts as the main hub in the game for side quests and important story missions. You can also craft in this area, upgrade weaponry, buy potions and armor/weapons, and do a bevy of other things. But the sheer number of quests that seemed to exist in this area really told the story of what is to come in the final product. It looks like you’re going to get a Skyrim-like attempt at content here and I can’t wait to try it all out, or at least exhaust it.
The preview was a wonderful tease to a bigger world filled full of meaningful tasks. There was even an open-world brief experience during the event, but not enough to satisfy my open-world tastes. It looks to be a huge explorative game. Anyway, I can’t wait to see if the girth of the game, and all its content, pays off in the end. From what the rest of the game showed off during the preview, I can’t imagine it won’t pay off.
AI leading the way – but without the ChatGPT
As the preview flew by, one of the more reassuring and reoccurring beautiful parts of the experience was my partners in crime and their AI. Generally, when a CPU-controlled character enters the field of battle, it’s more about the distraction of enemies rather than defeating them. During the preview session, I had two major characters fighting by my side – Cidolfus and my trusty doggo (and Joshua’s favorite puppy) Torgal. I was rather surprised by how useful both characters were in my fights with enemies. When we got in the mix with mid-tier or major baddies, both helped dispose of their fair share. The side characters in this preview fought like tigers/wolves when needed and contributed to Clive’s progression and success. They were well-shaped, and they helped when I needed them to help. Loved this very much and felt like the devs at Square Enix really tooled these CPU-led characters to be a part of the team and not simple enemy distractions.
In addition to their fight, characters like Torgal can act as your direction in the story as well. Literally, they will guide you. There was a scene that was so visually dark (and it was more about monitor placement than the actual game) that I really needed help finding out where to go next. By pressing L3 on the PlayStation 5 controller, Torgal jumped into action to show me the next step in the mission. I relied on that pup for a lot in the preview and there wasn’t a moment he didn’t pull through.
Anyway, love the AI and the usefulness of the CPU-led characters. The devs did great work on this aspect of the game from fights to discovery.
About those fights
I have been debating for the last couple of weeks whether to talk about who we fought with during this preview. I can say that you’re going to go up against some pretty brutal mid-tier enemies with dragons, wolves, giant buffalo-like creatures, and plenty of small-tier enemies as well. When it comes to the bigger brutes, the game doesn’t hold back its creativity or brutality. For example, within a forest stage, one of the major fights I happened upon was with a giant lizard creature named Fafnir (proper name), who was gorgeous as he was dangerous. The fighting with Fafnir was a mix of action and a shift to QTE when the moment called for it. While he didn’t give me too much of a fight, not nearly as much as other enemies in the game, he was still fun to go up against and brought the goods when they needed to be brought. This moment was also a big reveal and major story shift for Clive, but we won’t get too much into that right now.
Other fights during the preview included a Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers-like fight with a fiery demon beast and a phoenix as they were hurdling through the sky and an underground area. This part of the preview reminded me of the fighting mechanics of Panzer Dragoon, where the fighting is more on rails than true and open combat. I can dig it, as the visuals mixed with the music made the scene so overwhelmingly powerful that enjoying the beauty of it created more engagement at the moment than controlling the entire scenario. Sometimes beauty is far more important than the beast.
Anyway, as big fight payoffs go, the game hit about every correct note at the preview. The devs put us through the ropes with fighting massive characters, and it was every bit as entertaining as some of you are hoping for with Final Fantasy XVI. The flow of the action seems to hit all cylinders when compared to its predecessor.
Big world, big presence, and enormous emotion
It cannot be understated during this preview that story played a big role in the game. While most FF fans will say ‘duh’ to that statement, it seemed like every decision made from gameplay to presentation was made with the story in mind. The characters were well-developed throughout the story, so much so that their joy is your joy, and their tragedy is your motivation to get the baddies. While I wouldn’t put the latter at a John Wick-like level, it’s close. The story drives it all.
The story also creates a big world for these characters. Again, this might be a ‘duh’ moment for some of you, but world-building and feeling like places are meaningful and well-developed aren’t a dime-a-dozen for most games these days. The story helps to make the Final Fantasy XVI world seem huge and meaningful to the gamer. The story creates real stakes with its characters which affect the world they live in, and which also makes everything seem grounded and real. Sure, the magical portion of the game breaks that from time to time, but nonetheless you buy into this game thanks in part to how the story exists within it.
To help prop the story, the characters, and their world up, Final Fantasy XVI features some of the most gorgeous visuals imaginable. The build we saw had ray tracing galore in it, proper lighting techniques, and shadowing. The details the game brought during this preview helped to reinforce moments in this world and drive home whatever the story was trying to portray. They all danced beautifully together to create one of the more gorgeous Final Fantasy experiences.
Tied with amazing visuals was the music. This was like watching a Christopher Nolan film at times. Visual emotions were attached to brilliant musical compositions that will certainly put goosebumps on your arms at times. While Final Fantasy music being great isn’t a new revelation, it really stands out at important times during this game and helps pull you in and connect you with what is going on. The combo of visuals and music was truly something to behold.
More to come
At the end of the preview session, I walked away less skeptical about how this game was going to end up and more excited about diving into it again when it releases (or when we get a review copy). Having a combat system that works for everyone, a backend that still contains RPG elements that made the series epic over the last few decades, and a story and set of characters that seem memorable should put this new addition to the Final Fantasy series in the driver’s seat for success.
As of right now, we’ll have to wait and see how the entire game turns out. It certainly is showing signs of being everything most people think it might be, and maybe proving a few doubters wrong.
Anyway, more to come!
