We played our first hours of Final Fantasy XVI to discover its promising proposal.
When Square Enix announced final fantasy 16 In September 2020 there was no special surprise due to its existence, since rumors anticipated its arrival. However, since we first saw the material from this new main installment of the saga exclusively for PlayStation 5, alarm bells went off at the possibility of being faced with a promising proposal, which confirms wanting to reach both veterans and new players, data confirmed by producer Naoki Yoshida in an event in which we have been able to test the title for the first time, focusing on its promising combat.
Produced by the one who managed to revive Final Fantasy XIV Online, the new installment of the main saga has a promising team led by Hiroshi Takai (Final Fantasy V, The Last Remnant) and with kazutoyo maehiro (Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XII) as Creative Director. They are joined by the art director Horishi Minagawa (Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy Tactics), character designer Kazuya Takahashi (Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy X) and composer masayoshi soken (Final Fantasy XIV).
More than 30 years after its inception, Final Fantasy seeks to reach new players with a unique installment comprised of a complex narrative that features politics and justice throughout the over 11 hours of cinematics. Their characters will have their own motivations, although perhaps their living combat systemrevolutionary for the saga approaching the hack’n slash genre.
Final Fantasy XVI returns through a linear story
In a special demo made for the media to test the game, with content that may differ from the final version, we have delved into a story point five hours after its start. In this way we find clive rosfielda warrior who was granted the title of “First Shield of Rosaria” but who now seeks revenge on a mysterious entity that brings calamity in its wake. It should be remembered that the story will cover both the childhood of the protagonist and his youth and adulthood.
In a castle in which Benedikta is our biggest problem, we discover what the exploration of the game will be like, which it moves away from the open world presenting large areas with a promising exploration through the chapters that will make up the story which takes place in Valisthea, a kingdom made up of six major regions (the Grand Duchy of Rosaria, the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, the Kingdom of Waloed, the Dhalmekian Republic, and the Iron Kingdom).
However, in the castle of the demo we enter into different corridors, rooms and patios in which we could explore different areas, finding chests with some objects or different classes of enemies with which to test the varied combat system. All this throughout continuous and worked kinematics adding constant dialogues.
The combat system full of possibilities has left us wanting to discover more
To understand the combat, it is necessary to clarify that the eikon they are vital in Final Fantasy XVI. They are the most powerful creatures in all of Valisthea, although each one of them is inside a human being called the Dominant, who has the power to summon it. However, it seems that Clive will be able to absorb this very special power, which grants him all kinds of moves. In the demo we had up to three eikop unlocked, each with two special abilities that add to an attack and magical power.
With each eikon equipped Clive has a series of movements, for example the circle button is used to propel you up to an enemy and attack him or to make a barrier and protect you, while powerful attack special abilities require a cooldown time, which invites you to change the eikon during combat with the press of a button to vary the moveset. The combats, one of the most frantic that we remember for the saga, also invite you to dodge with R1 or press L3+R3 to make yourself stronger for a limited time, for example.
In this first contact with Final Fantasy XVI, we were surprised that such a different combat system for the saga is so successful. The combats have endless possibilities and spectacular situations including slow motion moments to dodge and sometimes attack. In addition, the game includes a story mode in its difficulty to make the adventure easier for players who are less used to this kind of action.
Companions, level ups, skill tree…
The character design of Final Fantasy XVI is very worked
Although Clive is the only playable character, he will be accompanied by various companions throughout his adventure who will help him at all times being controlled by the console. Nevertheless, with the crosshead we can give orders to a wolf named Torcal that accompanies us at all times to bite enemies or heal us. Likewise, we can also equip objects with the crosshead.
Among the features that we were able to test, a wide range of skill tree which is developed with points that expand the abilities of each eikon and Clive’s own. In addition, the protagonist will level up to improve your vitality, attack, defense, momentum, strength, stamina and stamina. Of course, the character will develop all kinds of movements that are added to a wide repertoire of equippable objects, which gave us a glimpse of an outstanding evolution of possibility as we advance in the adventure.
Throughout the demo we were surprised by the final boss battles, some of the most spectacular combats that had brief cinematics and even QTE sequences that subtracted a greater amount of damage from the boss. In a short time we were able to experience more than one great battle, conquering each one of them, including those of Eikon against Eikon, the latter being unique.
The fights against the Eikon aim to be the most striking of the game
When a Dominant summons and transforms into an Eikon we find ourselves before a huge being that has its own movements and attacks, although what stands out is that each final battle of this class has been created in a specific way, which will offer an amazing variety. In the combat that we were able to test, we dominated Ifrit, an eikon with a fire element, in a spectacular confrontation full of powerful attacks, cinematics and the occasional QTE.
Final Fantasy returns through the front door
Although Final Fantasy XVI will not arrive dubbed into Spanish, we have been able to listen to the game in both English and Japanese, as well as Latin Spanish. The truth is that the voices are the most successful, the subtitles fulfill their function and the audiovisual result is the most spectacular on PlayStation 5console that will exclusively reach the next June 22, 2023 together with PC.
This first contact with the game has helped us to be hopeful enough with the new main installment of Final Fantasy, in fact It has become one of the most anticipated games of the year.. Retelling a deep story told in a linear fashion continues to work perfectly to this day, especially when so many players are burnt out from the vast open worlds.
Likewise, the combat system has conquered us for its multiple possibilities, approaching hack’n slash, although without being a button masher as it requires a certain technique. In short, playing Final Fantasy XVI for a few hours has given us a glimpse that the saga will return through the front door after having listened to the players, wanting to correct mistakes of the past and now wanting to reach generations far from the saga or unaware of it.
We will have to wait a few more months to verify all this, although We are very excited about the proposal that Square Enix has prepared for us in the kingdom of Valisthea thanks to a mature story with so much to offer. That said, we remember that the game will have an amazing collector’s edition.