Game Review: Final Fantasy XVI – An Unforgettable Masterpiece

Intro
Hello, dear readers! My name is Victor, and I am a blind gaming, technology, and entertainment journalist. I am also an ambassador for universal design and an accessibility consultant. Last week, Square Enix released the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XVI exclusively for PS5, and Alina and I have spent a lot of time with this fantastic adventure, featuring remarkable characters, awesome graphics, incredible cinematics, and an epic soundtrack. The unforgettable story is set in a dark world, and the entire atmosphere is totally immersive. I guess that by the way I opened the review, you realized that we think the game to be a masterpiece, and that’s definitely the case.
Square Enix and game director Hiroshi Takai did a phenomenal job with the latest entry in the beloved Final Fantasy series. I wasn’t necessarily a fan in my youth, but lately, I started to appreciate these stories. I played FF XIII a long time ago, and more recently, I vicariously enjoyed Final Fantasy VII Remake with Alina. However, with Final Fantasy XVI, things stand differently, as I was able to play it myself. But more on that later in this review.
Story and Gameplay
FINAL FANTASY XVI features an all-new story that takes place in the realm of Valisthea, a land blessed in the light of the Mothercrystals, where peace falters as the spread of the Blight threatens everything and everyone. The fate of this land is decided by the Eikons, mighty summoned beasts and their Dominants, men and women who have been blessed with magical abilities to call upon these creatures and wield them. The tale follows Clive Rosfield, a warrior with the title of “First Shield of Rosaria” and sworn to protect his younger brother Joshua, the Dominant of the Phoenix, Eikon of Fire. Sadly, Clive will be witnessing a great tragedy and will swear revenge on the Dark Eikon known as Ifrit, a mysterious entity that brings calamity in its wake.
It can take between 30 and 40 hours to complete the main story, and that’s not even counting the over 100 side quests available. So, for those looking for an Action RPG to sink in many days of playtime, this epic dark fantasy may be just what the doctor ordered. The gameplay is great as it successfully combines RPG elements with intense action. Final Fantasy XVI also offers a lot of options to customize your experience with intuitive presets and settings.
You can modify the difficulty level to suit your liking, from easy-breezy fights that allow you to concentrate on the narrative, to action-oriented gameplay that will force you to be on your toes at every encounter. There is a way to play for everyone here. Between the main missions, you can also explore the world at your own pace, looking for secrets, completing side quests, and gathering collectibles.
Accessibility
Final Fantasy XVI also has a lot of built-in accessibility features that make it more approachable and enjoyable for everyone. There is a navigation assist feature called Animal Instinct that is helpful in finding your way through the game. This functionality is not perfect by any means, as many times it led me into the proverbial brick wall, so I needed to backtrack and stumble around in the dark searching for a break in the environment that would permit me to advance. But it still allowed me to explore a game that I had no hopes for. Luckily, I tried the demo and was blown away by the inclusion of accessible design. This, combined with specific sound cues that alert the player to important events or the need to interact with objects and other characters, as well as haptics that let you know when you are climbing stairs or find a fast travel point on the world map, is just enough to make Final Fantasy XVI the most accessible and approachable game in the series, for me at least. As I said, the accessibility is not perfect, but it was a nice surprise and I’m playing through the story with limited help from Alina when I feel like not wasting too much time in one place. She played the game so I can write this review, but I’m still making my way through it.
There is no menu narration or text-to-speech in the game, but OCR works great if you have access to it. Alternatively, you can take pictures of the TV screen when tutorial messages appear so that you don’t miss anything. The menus are easy to learn, and the abilities and equipment can be easily upgraded by just holding L3 for one of them and R3 for the other. I honestly don’t remember which is which right now, but I know it works.
My blind readers and friends can decide if they want to tackle FF 16 by trying out the excellent Demo available on the PlayStation Store for their playable pleasure.
I also used a special ability ring that, when equipped, slows down the time before an enemy attack, which easily allowed me to dodge. There are multiple such rings that created a lot of negative buzz on social media, but I have no problem with them. I just want to enjoy entertaining stories and thrilling gameplay. I’m not interested in any controversy surrounding the decisions made for this game. Maybe that was the only way they had to implement these features, so I’m glad for their availability. 🙂
Presentation
Final Fantasy XVI takes full advantage of the PlayStation 5’s power and features. It looks stunning in both performance and fidelity modes, with fast loading times, smooth transitions, and high-quality details for both characters and the environment. The levels load instantly, the transitions between cinematic and gameplay are barely noticeable, fast travel is quite fast indeed, and everything else is blazingly fast. The DualSense PS5 Controller springs to life in our hands, with the adaptive triggers used to create a sense of effort and resistance when opening heavy doors or riding chocobos. The haptic feedback produces subtle vibrations that enhance all aspects of the game, even in cutscenes and the sound effects have been converted into haptic data, which relay details like the movements of the air and other immersive elements.
The sound design is great, with excellent 3-D audio, an epic soundtrack that accentuates every moment in the adventure. The voice acting is also very well done, with the artists putting a lot of heart and soul into their performance, and those subtle sound cues mentioned above can do a lot for blind players.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Final Fantasy XVI is a game that will make any longtime fan happy and will also make everyone else fall in love with this remarkable series. We, Alina, my colleague Alex, and I, recommend Final Fantasy XVI to everyone and anyone who loves action RPGs because it is a masterpiece! I don’t know how they do it, but once again, PlayStation is the only platform that allows you to embark on such unforgettable journeys where you can discover worlds filled with brave heroes, ruthless villains, mythical creatures, dark mysteries, and powerful magic.
In a year filled with great games, Final Fantasy XVI stands as one of the best so far, if not the best! But don’t take my word for it, just download the Demo from the PS Store and try it out for yourself. You’ll get over 2 and a half hours of awesomeness!
Review copy provided by Square Enix
Victor Dima
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