Gaming Influence: Thoughts - Final Fantasy XVI State of Play
Hello everyone,
Welcome to Gaming Influence, a reboot of the same name I created in WrestleCorp. However, not only will I be giving my thoughts on certain video games and video game series, but also video game movies, video game anime, video game digital presentations, etc.
For this edition of Gaming Influence, I'll be giving my thoughts on the State of Play of Final Fantasy XVI that happened on April 13, 2023.
Anyway, let's get started!
With this game coming out in two months, did PlayStation do enough to satisfy the Final Fantasy fans as well as players who never played the series before? Well, let's find out and talked about what they've shown.
They first show the world of Final Fantasy XVI and what it will look like. The world in Final Fantasy XVI is called Valisthea and I have to say that the world looks fantastic as they have your traditional environments in a lot of JRPGs, but in a more medieval setting that definitely looks like a Western RPG instead of a JRPG. Despite that, it does look beautiful and there will be travel points on the map where even though the game isn't open world, it's definitely a game where you will travel a lot so that should be fun. The world of Valisthea is looking great and I can't wait to experience this world when playing it.
They then show the combat of Final Fantasy XVI. We have seen the combat in previous trailers in the past and the combat continues to look amazing as it looks to be a hack-and-slash similar to the style of the Devil May Cry series with RPG elements with the traditional Final Fantasy series. As usual, just like in a lot of JRPGs, there are skill trees that can enhance the skills and abilities of the protagonist, Clive. I also love the options the game has for casual and hardcore players. For casual players, they can equip the Ring of Timely Focus and the Ring of Timely Strikes which can help them evade attacks with slowdown time as well as using techniques with one button. In addition, for casual players, if they just want to focus on the story, they can just pick the story focused which is great as the more accessibility for other players, the better. Whether you're a fan of action games or not, the accessibility for this game is great, and hope for more game developers to do this for more players in the future.
Next, they gave highlights of the characters of Final Fantasy XVI. We have the protagonist, Clive, who you will start playing as in his twenties before playing as him in his thirties as the story progresses. We then have Cidolfus, a mentor to Clive who looks pretty cool in his design but also looks generic at the same time. However, he does seem to have a laidback personality which might help him a lot. We then have Jill, a friend of Clive during their time as youths. She looks to be a nice and kind character but will be serious in action which I'm totally down for. Finally, we have Torgal, a wolf that accompanies Clive on his journey where you can feed him. The fact that you can have a hound in your party and you can feed and possibly pet them is an automatic 10/10. Love it. These characters are party members for Clive where they're AI-based while the player controls Clive. It's a shame that there won't be any playable party members, but great to see them there regardless as it wouldn't be a Final Fantasy game without them. We also got Harpocrates, who can give Clive the history of Valisthea which basically shows cutscenes throughout the whole game which is quite awesome. I also like how every time you interact with Harpocrates, you get the old classic pixel art which I love. We then get Vivian who can give details on characters throughout the game which is another cool feature here. Getting more background information on these characters is always a great thing and I'm glad they added it to the game. The cast looks to be quite interesting so far with some variety so we'll see if we'll get more party members than the ones shown here.
After that, they showcased the game's side content and what they offer. They showcased Cid's Hideaway where the player can purchase equipment and items as well as upgrade weapons and armor. In addition, players can have access to The Arete Stone where they can train. Cid's Hideaway can also provide the player to do side quests and certain quests all around Valisthea. If players want to hunt down rare monsters for battle, they can speak to the Moogle in Cid's Hideaway to encounter them. This is pretty much your typical side content in JRPGs which is cool as you'll definitely have other content to do besides the main story so we'll see how this side content will turn out if we want a break from the main story.
Finally, they showcased the icon battles in the game. In other words, kaiju battles with the summons and they look freaking awesome here. Pretty much every summon in past Final Fantasy games is here and it's awesome to see. Plus, I also love how they're being given more of a focus this time around compared to Final Fantasy XV which didn't utilize summons until the very end as that was very disappointing. I'm very glad that summons or in this case, icons, will be an essential part of Final Fantasy XVI, and can't wait to experience these battles for myself.
Overall, this was a great presentation from PlayStation. This is one of the most hyped PS5-exclusive games that I'm excited for and it continues to look incredible in terms of graphics, gameplay, story, characters, and music. Everything that they've shown looks very promising, but now, the game just has to deliver and we'll see if Square Enix can return the goods when the game will be released on PS5 on June 22, 2023.
You can catch the full State of Play yourself with the link below:
Those are my thoughts on the PlayStation State of Play of Final Fantasy XVI. Did this presentation convince you to purchase the game?
Let me know in the comments below and thank you for reading.
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