The emphasis on Clive Rosfield as the sole player character and protagonist in a genre normally accustomed to ensemble cast stories really pays off. This feat (by which I mean my cold, jaded games media heart melting) is achieved by a story that is deeply focused on a sole character arc. It crept up on me, too I hadn’t realized Final Fantasy 16 had me in its clutches until I was feeling capital-m "Moved" by story developments unfurling during a side quest! There are certainly bumps in the road, but overall Square Enix has something special here, and I am genuinely stoked to watch the conversations to come. As the narrative developed with a level of self-restraint and respect for storytelling “prestige television” producers would balk at, I gradually found myself not just fully on board but emotionally invested. I’m grateful, though, that just as I felt enough pressure building up behind my rolling eyes to blow my brains out of my skull, the game seemed to get most of this nonsense out of its system. Sure enough, when Final Fantasy 16's opening hours erupted with edgy, dark fantasy vibes complete with shock deaths, uncanny horniness, and projectile vomited f-bombs, I was ready to perish on the spot. So when I heard one of the development team’s key inspirations was GoT, my red flags were flying at full mast. This writer thinks the past decade of Game of Thrones’ cultural impact has been one of humanity’s biggest media crimes, alongside the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To start things off, we need to make something about Final Fantasy 16's story very clear. Final Fantasy says F**k now Source: Square Enix But by the end, this one feels like Final Fantasy in as true a form as possible.
From a thoroughly M-rated tone to a balls-out “Character Action” combat system, it’s no surprise to see folks out there once again asking what it even means to be a “core” Final Fantasy. While there’s plenty of Final Fantasy 14 DNA coursing through its veins, Final Fantasy 16 takes some massive swings.
It’s a vision many long-time fans have struggled to understand, and the discourse to come will certainly sustain itself to the next game and beyond. Even so, Final Fantasy 15 proved divisive, to say the least, and 16 arrived with a very different team and vision. The last time a new numbered Final Fantasy hit was in 2016, and the world has changed so much in the time since that it feels like a lifetime ago. Square Enix has been pumping games out lately, but this is the big one.
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