7.5/10
To me, FF16 suffers from three major flaws .

First, there's a disconnect between its narrative premise and the way that narrative is actually presented. Second, the pacing is wildly uneven. Third, the story itself often feels surprisingly hollow—its characters rarely receive the depth they deserve, leaving the game's ambitious themes feeling superficial instead of impactful.

That's what makes FF16 so frustrating.

It had all the ingredients to become one of the series' stronger entries, yet because of these shortcomings, its breathtaking soundtrack and spectacular cinematic set pieces ultimately end up being the game's two greatest strengths—and, unfortunately, its most memorable ones.

Producer Naoki Yoshida once described FF16 as one of the darkest and most realistic games in the franchise. In that regard, the game certainly delivers on its brutal, violent atmosphere. At its core, it's essentially Final Fantasy's take on a Renaissance-era medieval fantasy , centered on humanity breaking free from divine control and forging an era shaped by human will rather than the will of gods.

It's a compelling premise, and from a world-building perspective, the setting is thoughtfully constructed and internally consistent. That deserves genuine credit.

Stylistically, FF16 is also an interesting hybrid. It retains the DNA of a traditional JRPG while borrowing heavily from Western RPG presentation, and builds its gameplay around a character action combat system that feels genuinely enjoyable (unsurprising, considering the combat director also worked on the Devil May Cry series).

Many of the game's design choices also show admirable restraint. Rather than repeating FF15's overly ambitious yet unfinished open world, the developers opted for a region-based structure that better matched their production scope. As a result, FF16 feels like a far more polished and complete experience overall.

Unfortunately, Yoshida also falls into a trap that many Japanese developers struggle to avoid.

A dark and mature story isn't created simply by filling it with blood, death, and violence, nor merely by establishing a bleak setting. True darkness has to come from the storytelling itself—from making players genuinely feel the weight of despair.

And that's where FF16 stumbles.

The first thing it needed to abandon was the overly dramatic, distinctly "anime-style" storytelling common in many Japanese games. There's nothing inherently wrong with that style, but it has to fit the work it's used in.

When paired with a medieval fantasy that's striving for grounded brutality and political tragedy, the result feels jarringly inconsistent.

One moment Clive is drowning in grief after a devastating tragedy.

The next moment he's shouting inspirational battle speeches before transforming into an Eikon, leading to an explosive spectacle that feels more reminiscent of Naruto's giant-tailed-beast battles than the grounded tone the game initially promises.

That tonal whiplash is, in my opinion, FF16's biggest weakness. These two storytelling styles are incredibly difficult to reconcile. Some Japanese games manage that balance well.

FF16 isn't one of them.

The clearest example is Clive's constant declaration that he wants to " create a world where everyone can live with dignity. "

By the latter half of the game, what should have been the emotional core of the story gradually devolves into an anime-style slogan—grand in scale, but emotionally empty.

To be fair, the game does include several heartfelt moments about people supporting one another, and some side quests are genuinely well written.

But the majority of both the side quests and even much of the main story remain surprisingly flat, shallow, and surface-level.

As a result, the game's central message never truly lands.

Instead of becoming an earned ideal, that line simply becomes a slogan repeated over and over.

This ties directly into another major issue: the game's pacing.

Because FF16 adopts an almost relentlessly restrained and serious emotional tone, much of the story ends up feeling oddly monotonous. It's never outright boring, but it's rarely exciting either.

Ironically, the moments most players are likely to remember are the massive Eikon battles.

The problem is what comes afterward.

Once those spectacular fights are over, the game immediately returns to long stretches of forgettable main-story dialogue and filler-like side quests.

That imbalance in pacing persists throughout nearly the entire game.

Looking back after finishing it, it's surprisingly difficult to mentally reconstruct the story from beginning to end because there are so few memorable narrative milestones connecting everything together.

For me, that's a clear sign that the storytelling simply isn't strong enough.

One moment that particularly stood out occurs later in the game.

Clive has just suffered serious injuries and hasn't even fully recovered.

Naturally, you'd expect the story to maintain that urgency and push the main narrative forward.

Instead, the game suddenly dumps several ordinary side quests onto the player all at once.

It completely shattered my immersion.

The protagonist is supposedly gravely injured, yet the story abruptly expects you to run errands that have little narrative importance.

That awkward clash between gameplay structure and narrative momentum is something FF16 struggles with from beginning to end.

Honestly, if you're looking for a JRPG that explores similar themes—people standing together, breaking free from divine control, and building an era defined by humanity itself—then Xenoblade Chronicles remains, for me, the gold standard.

It accomplished those ideas brilliantly thirteen years before FF16 was even released .

Ironically, despite having plenty of criticisms of FF15, if I had to choose between the two, I'd pick 15 without hesitation.

Its portrayal of brotherhood is genuinely heartfelt.

Exploring its open world is enjoyable.

Many of its conversations and story moments are simply more fun.

Its world also left a stronger impression on me.

Overall, it's a game that's simply more enjoyable to play.

That said, I still want to emphasize that FF16 absolutely has its strengths .

By the time I'm writing this review, I've already earned every achievement in the game, so I'm fully aware of the countless thoughtful details and impressive craftsmanship the development team put into it.

But precisely because I experienced everything the game has to offer, I also became painfully aware of where it falls short.

I can clearly see just how much greater this game could have been—and that's what disappoints me the most.

Perhaps that's the truest definition of disappointment:

Not that something was bad,

but that it could have been so much better.

Even so, I'd still recommend FF16 to JRPG fans.

After all, whether we like it or not, every new Final Fantasy release is one fewer we'll ever get to experience.

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Achievement Hunter's Note :

If you're aiming for 100% completion, prepare for one of the most tedious achievement grinds I've experienced.

Three achievements require replaying the base game and both DLCs on Final Fantasy Mode (hard mode). Unfortunately, FF16's slow pacing, lengthy cutscenes, and limited gameplay variety make a second run feel exhausting.

Combat isn't much harder—enemies mostly just have far more health, turning battles into damage sponges. It doesn't add challenge, only time.

Be prepared for a long, repetitive grind.

FFXVI is my second Final Fantasy that i played (first one is FFX). I choose this because somehow i have a spot for tragic sad background event of main character, for this one is Clive (yes the very first reason i played this solely for Clive). Turns out almost everyone got their sad story, like Joshua, other knights/ally (Gav, etc), even enemies. This is personal, but it makes me wanna help them achieve either end of their suffering or their good ending. I like character development here either for main character and side characters. This certainly has the best version of Cid in all FF haha. Also, the most beautiful version of Shiva, which as beautiful as her Dominant, Jill. Not only has great visuals, but their characters also reach my heart with their resilience and grit which make the team is so cool and respected either personally or for the teamwork. My favorite is the eikon's kaiju battle cinematic scene (hope if there is next FF, they will keep this one), so magnificent and extravagant. The BGM is widening my eyes, especially for battle and emotional cutscene moments. My fav set is Garuda, Phoenix, and Ramuh haha; but Titan is epic. As someone who likes both action and turn based game, i'm okay with this game being action (only can play Clive), but i guess for the next FF i hope they can consider to give chance for turn based style (i can imagine playing Jill, Cid, or even Torgal (he is so loyal and cool) will add more pleasure to my experience). I always trust the visual and voice over for all Final Fantasy franchise, and ofc i loved it. Oh, the lore is interesting, it makes me literally read all the ATL and visit every side-quest (i did fast-forward some side-quest's dialog once in a while) for enrich my knowledge of this world.
Overall, i'm having nice time exploring the adventure and captivated by the story-line here, also symphatize with many characters and their characters development journey, engage with the extravagant cinematic moment, the realistic and sad situation huhu, to its eye-pleasing graphic. But, i'm not an expert game reviewer or critic, i just someone who simply enjoy my time playing this game and easily captivated at those moments. So forgive me if this review is not suit with everyone.

7/10.

Ah, vacation! And what doesn't fit better than playing an epic RPG while it's hot outside and even hotter inside. Since I finished FF15 a couple of months ago I figured it was time to take on the latest installment.

105 hours later, I've got to say the game left me with the strangest feeling. It's INCREDIBLY inconsistent, and I don't really know what to feel.

It starts out super strong with a story that instantly captivates you, a battle system that's fun and feels fresh, and interesting characters. I've read multiple other reviews saying that the game is great in the beginning and then declines, but even after reading it I somehow wouldn't believe it. I found myself thinking "I can't believe people think this is bad, I think it's 10 out of 10!" several times.

After about ten hours I had to admit "Hmmm okay maybe it's not perfect, but it's still a nine". Ten more hours passed, and the score in my book kept dropping.

After beating the game twice and doing absolutely everything, I can say this for certain: Square Enix makes the same mistake again - trying to turn the game into something it's not. It's obvious the developers were trying a bit too much to go for a MMORPG style - just look at the way the quests pop up when you accept them, to begin with. After finishing 163 side quests (the main game twice and the DLC side quests on New Game Plus) it's definitely the weakest part. Why make so many if they're going to be practically the same thing? Either "go fetch this" or "go kill this" - that's it! I found myself not even paying attention to the story of the last ~20% of the quests.

Secondly, enemies are too tanky. Every single mob takes a minute to kill - this is especially true in the second playthrough (the "Final Fantasy mode", basically hard mode). It would feel rewarding if you got better gear at some point, but every time you get to a new place and buy new gear, it's like you get 5% more damage while enemies get 7% more tanky. You just need to upgrade to avoid being underpowered, but nothing ever feels like an upgrade. Also, there are no fun effects on any weapons, so there's literally no point of using older gear. In fact, there are no status effects at all in the game. Just one of many classic FF aspects Final Fantasy 16 is lacking.

So yeah, I'm disappointed with another Final Fantasy. This can't be more than a seven. I know Square Enix can do better - look at FF7 Remake and Rebirth. While maybe not perfect either, you can't compare that amount of polish to this.

To finish with something positive I can name the voice acting, which is great in my opinion. Except maybe that Clive, the main character, sounds a bit like a British Batman at times.