Final Fantasy XVI [PS5]

[Mantis]

Fairly detailed showcase of the gameplay and other various aspects of the design and world has been released on the latest State of Play.



I'll always have mixed feelings about them taking the series into the blockbuster action game direction over trying to refine the classic JRPG experience, but I do think this one actually looks pretty good overall.

[Raid]

I'd really like to try it, but not owning a PS5 that's not going to happen until it's no longer an exclusive. It's undeniably spectacular, but given that trailers for it end up a blurry mess because Youtube's compression can't keep up with the amount of movement on screen, you have to wonder whether they ought to have toned it down a bit. Still, getting to see series-staples Espers/Guardian Forces/Aeons like Ifrit and Bahamut having those genuinely epic-looking confrontations is going to be a treat for long-term fans.

[Mantis]

So I tried the demo for this last night. I still think it's a shame that they've moved away from innovating the traditional format, but the action based gameplay is quite good. It's not Devil May Cry levels of combos and timings, but there is a decent groundwork there and the short bonus mission you can access which dumps you far later into the game with more abilities does show that there might be some interesting depth to it later.

Hopefully the Eikon battles are quite varied too, as the introductory one was basically a glorified cutscene that just had me mashing the X button repeatedly whilst occasionally pressing dodge. It was incredibly pretty though. The whole game is very pretty.

I'm actually quite looking forward to this now. I was quite hooked by the presentation of the plot right from the off and for the first time since FF10 it actually felt like a proper Final Fantasy game. Very good music too even without Uematsu which is always a huge factor in my enjoyment of these games.

[Lenny Solidus]