things about final fantasy, there are many. Not counting the countless spin-offs and sequels, there are about 16 (at least in the mainline series), and with so many games, not all of them are going to be hits – even if many of them are. You all have a favorite title that you swear is the best, but starting with Final Fantasy XIII, this beloved series seems a little rough. The only thing is, I’m a defender of Final Fantasy 13, and as you might have guessed, I’m the same with Final Fantasy 15 – so much so that I do think it’s better than Square Enix’s latest Final Fantasy Fantasy 16″ is better.
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I finally played Final Fantasy XVI over the holidays, months after everyone else, and, well, it was good! If you like games where all the rough edges are polished off, it might not be bad, but I’m not that person. Most importantly, it’s polished, a complete picture that hasn’t been marred by years of troublesome development, and clearly shows what it wants to be: God of War, but Final Fantasy. Unfortunately, the end result is to deliver something that I ultimately felt was a bit bland compared to its predecessor, even if as a final product it was more cohesive than 15.
Clive Rosfield’s British voice actor Ben Starr’s performance is generally great and even has some wow moments, but he’s very let down by some poor writing. He’s a very uninteresting protagonist whose typical character trait is “grumpy” and it never really develops beyond that. The game also doesn’t help itself by not really developing its supporting cast, although we spent several hours of cutscenes playing with characters like Jill. It’s questions like these that really show how good 15’s writing is.
Trust me, I know how confusing 15 is as a game. The open-world portion of the game did little to advance the story, the action combat wasn’t for everyone, and half the DLC was canceled and the director left Square Enix for good. but! To this day, I still have so much love in my heart for those boys.
I do think keeping just the four main characters out of the 15 was a wise choice, as you spend a lot of time with them in the Regalia, your chosen main vehicle, and it really lets each of them shine. Snap photos of the gang as you fight off the bad guys, Ignis comes up with a new recipe, Gladio is incredibly passionate about Cup Noodles, it’s all so charming and makes them feel like the real thing people. Whenever Prompto asked to stop and take a photo, I almost never said no, and those who have beaten the game understand how important photos are to one of the most exciting moments in the game.
Aren’t these characters the most memorable for most Final Fantasy fans? Of course, there’s also things like the Eikon battle, the confusing train…blitz. None of this is as important as the characters, though, as they are the through line through it all. That’s why I still cry when I think about the ending of “15,” knowing what those boys went through, even if it was a mess, even if it didn’t live up to the promise of “Versus 13.”
I also didn’t care much for 16’s story, as it was a bit clumsy in its depiction of the slavery storyline, later chose to focus on a vague concept of free will, and had nothing insightful to say. I also don’t think the Devil May Cry-esque combat is that exciting; certainly more complex than 15, but only slightly, and the basic stuff doesn’t offer much variety. So when you put those two things together with the underwriting role, even if you can’t exactly call it bad, it’s not great.
Final Fantasy XV isn’t great in a lot of areas, but it does excel in its characterization (at least for the main boy), and in a series like Final Fantasy, that’s not only what I want, but What I want. need. So, I’m sorry for going into 2024 with some heated words, but hey, at least we can all agree that the best Final Fantasy is – Oops, sorry, no time, I’m sure we were all thinking the same thing matter!