I've seen a lot of positive praise and sentiment for XVI even from longtime fans and I find that worrying. I finished the game and thought it was a solid 5/10 at best and was happy for it to be over. The game felt closer to Genshin Impact than it did Final Fantasy.
The music was generally quite good and the eikon battles were a fun and new take, but just about everything else I found lacking.
spoiler
- The main story retreads themes that have been told many times and offers nothing unique. It's clear early on we are on a quest to collect the rings of power to fight the big bad who thinks the only solution to the problem is starting over.
- Most characters were flat and uninteresting
- Combat was very simple and unengaging. It was simply not fun. You can only use about a quarter of the abilities you collect (not that theres many more youd find useful enough to use anyways)
- Crafting/itemization was pointless
- MMO-tier side quests (ironic considering XIV has some interesting ones)
- Story format is lifted straight from XIV as all "engagement" quests (ones with the red crossed swords on the map) are the same as XIV dungeons (trash, minor boss, trash, minor boss, trash, major boss)
- Empty world with no incentive for exploration
- Minimal play style variety despite the different eikon flavors
- No class system (I would have expected something listed as a "role playing game" to have some sort of class system)
- No party system in any form
Overally, fairly worried about the franchise since so many people are over the moon as it implies we might be getting more of the above. It feels like XVI took heavy inspiration from XIV but did a worse job at the highlights of XIV (story, job/battle system) and straight up copied some of the bad parts of XIV.
Now that it's been a few weeks, hopefully more people have finished the game. What are your thoughts?
I'm watching a playthrough, and based on what I've seen (I'm about halfway through I suspect) I have no interest in playing the game myself. The gameplay is far, far too mash-button-make-explosion with little thought needed for strategy or intelligent-fighting. That said, the combat is quite the spectacle and I easily see why others enjoy it. More than just this though, I'm really enjoying the story.
As for your worry about the future of the franchise; who can say. I'm in the camp that argues against the "this isn't what final fantasy is" people by saying "final fantasy has always been different things". Gameplay, visuals, tone, etc has always been evolving with each game. I'll readily agree that the series has slowly been moving away from RPG mechanics though. The same thing is happening with other franchises too. I weep for what the Tales' series newest 'Tales of Arise' became. I remember Symphonia, Abyss, and Vesperia being these tastefully deep RPGs where team comp, builds, and technique were key to victory. I have little doubt the pendulum will swing the other way someday, but until then I can at least watch my Final Fantasy movie while playing other games I do enjoy.