Get another look at Final Fantasy 16 in this latest trailer for the RPG, including enemies, combat, and a breakdown of what you can expect from this latest entry in the series. Final Fantasy 16 is available now on PlayStation 5.
Back in February, I was lucky enough to attend a hands-on preview event for Final Fantasy 16. I left that event ready to tell everyone who was fretting over the game’s many changes to the Final Fantasy franchise formula that there was no need to worry. What I had just seen was one of the most thrilling and beautiful demonstrations of next-gen gaming I’ve had the privilege of playing over these last few years. Maybe it wasn’t a traditional Final Fantasy game, but it was something that everyone was going to have to experience for themselves.
You can take most of the good things I had to say about that Final Fantasy 16 demo and apply them to the main game as well. Final Fantasy 16 is an achingly beautiful action game that boasts one of the best soundtracks and one of the best stories we’ve ever received from a franchise known for excelling in both of those areas.
Yet, the full version of Final Fantasy 16 reveals a painful truth that no snapshot of the experience could ever convey. For as many ways as Final Fantasy 16 justifiably challenges the Final Fantasy formula, it abandons or dilutes too many RPG concepts to the detriment of everything else the game accomplishes.
While people love to argue about the definition of an RPG, the genre is typically identified by a few key design elements. Most notably, many RPGs emphasize the process of growing your character through some kind of experience system. Most games ask you to play some kind of role, but RPGs often distinguish themselves by asking you to slowly build out that role in ways that feel representative of your choices, preferences, and experiences.
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