The latest installment of the Final Fantasy series will be available in the coming days of writing this, I, however, was extremely lucky, in that I received an early copy and got to play through the entirety of it. The only downside is I can’t talk about it, well, until now, as I dive into my experience in the story of Final Fantasy XVI. Of course, developed and published by Square Enix, but for me, the biggest news that came from the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI was the Producer, Naoki Yoshida, known more fondly as Yoshi-P, is the man behind Final Fantasy XIV, the MMORPG Final Fantasy game, and largely held as the savior of Final Fantasy XIV. I am happy to report that Yoshi-P’s magic touch, in my opinion, has helped to once again to deliver an absolute masterpiece.

His love of games and Final Fantasy as a whole shines through the entire journey of Final Fantasy XVI. From the fights to the music, even the way people speak reminds me of Final Fantasy XIV, not only that I noticed many callbacks to previous games. This is not just the latest installment of a series – this is a love letter to every Final Fantasy fan out there. Now, without further ado, let’s get into my review of Final Fantasy XVI, the reason I consider this the best game I have played in recent years, and why it will be my game of the year.

Those who have played the demo know the gist of how this story starts, and boy does it start with a bang, with an Eikon battle between Phoenix and Ifrit, and just to stoke that hype, it’s the least exciting Eikon fight. You are Clive Rosfield, and the prologue lets you play through memories of his time as a fifteen-year-old Shield of Rosaria. Now, I don’t want to reveal anything that happens, as I would not want to rob anyone of this experience, so with that, let me tell you about the world instead.

Final Fantasy XVI is set in Valisthea on two neighboring continents of Storm and Ash. Scattered around these two continents are gigantic crystals known as the Mother Crystals. Kingdoms and Empires each hold possession of a Mother Crystal filled with aether that fuels the crystals that grant the use of magick. Unless you are unlucky enough to be born with the innate gift to use magick, known as Bearers, these people are used as tools by others, branded and sold as slaves for their power for both domestic and military use.

Dominants are similar to Bearers in that they can use magick, but they also have the ability to transform into one of the Eikons, each representing an element. Eikons are powerful creatures that could decimate an entire kingdom alone, and those who host these powerful beings are treated with respect, usually holding positions of power, but they are still used to fight wars and other Dominants.

However, a blight creeps over the land, sucking the life and aether, and making it almost unliveable as the reliance on magick is so ingrained that the thought of living in a place devoid of magick is unthinkable. Tensions rise between Kingdoms and Empires as the blight continues to claim more land and with the appearance of a second Eikon of fire comes the forceful acquisition of Rosaria. Can our fallen hero, Clive, fuelled by revenge and regret, rally an entire continent and possibly save their world from the coming chaos?

One of the most talked about possible issues that people were worried about was the controls, specifically combat, but I can confirm that it plays smoothly. There are three button configurations to choose from, so try each of them out and see what works best for you. I just pretty much stuck with the default option for everything. There is no difficulty level, well not in the first playthrough at least, however, you can make it easier with the trinkets you have from the very start, but you can only equip three at a time if you choose to. I didn’t, as I wanted the pure experience of it, and I didn’t find it overly difficult.

The combat is fun, and sometimes chaotic, especially in the later stages of the game where some fights take on similar stylings of a Final Fantasy XIV instance, where there are AOE’s and abilities to dodge and mechanics to learn on the fly. The Eikon fights are definite highlights and are incredible cinematic masterpieces. I loved every single one. Just be careful not to mess up any active time events because you are too enamored by the visuals. The one thing I struggled with was accidentally using a potion instead of commanding Torgal. It never caused me any real grief, it was just annoying having to buy more potions.

The leveling system I found to be great. As you level, your base stats rise and you gain ability points to spend on new moves and Eikon abilities. You can have three Eikon magick available at a time, for example, Phoenix, Garuda, and Ramuh. This gives you fire, aero, and thunder magick to use and three abilities from the four you gain from that Eikon. If you max out an Eikon ability, you are then able to use that ability with any other Eikon.

This is extremely useful later on, so find the abilities you like the most and focus on them. At least, that’s my suggestion. The system is simple, but I prefer simple over some convoluted leveling system. This leaves your gear to directly affect your real strength. I didn’t change up my trinkets too much, but I end up with the best weapon, belt, and wrist items in the game, well, for the first playthrough at least. Once you finish the game and unlock New Game+, you also gain what I would consider the hard mode of the game, which includes new items and gear. Also, do not neglect side quests or hunts, as these all will help to unlock new item material and upgrades for your character, so do everything.

It will not disappoint, and for story lovers, some of these side quests will hit you in the feels. There is quick travel that becomes available, especially for the side quests, and this is a godsend. I wouldn’t hate having to travel everywhere but it is a time saver, especially for those who do not have all the time in the world to play games.

This is a darker-toned Final Fantasy and though the world is still beautiful and colorful, there is always that feeling of something bad can happen at any moment. A lot of the scenes are pretty dark, and one that comes is the end of the Phoenix VS Ifrit fight – it was brutal. You will see more scenes that show the dark side of society. One thing I did notice with the graphics choice of performance or visual, is that if you choose visual, the motion blur becomes pretty bad, and with no way that I have found to reduce that, I couldn’t play it in that mode.

Performance, though, was fine for me, and honestly, the better choice anyway. Hopefully, they address the motion blur issue, but using performance will get the job done. I cannot believe I am saying this about a new AAA game, but I found zero bugs or technical issues at all, or none that I remember – top marks. Lately, it seems every AAA game is riddled with issues, so it is refreshing to have quality come hand in hand with a great game, but with Yoshi-P at the helm, I shouldn’t have been worried at all.

Final Fantasy XVI is littered with nostalgic music, and at many points, I was like, “That is the same tune as Final Fantasy VIII or X.” Though, considering Yoshi-P had Masayoshi Soken heading up the music composition, there was no doubt that the music for this game would be fire. Masayoshi Soken is the lead composer and sound director of Final Fantasy XIV, working closely with Yoshi-P, so familiarity was an easy choice for the job.

The main thing Soken wanted was to use lighter Final Fantasy music, adding a darker contrast on them to help set the tone of this darker look of the series. Initially needing to provide 140 different tracks, they ended up with over 200 songs, explaining that he wanted to avoid repeating the same music too often. I also have to credit the English voice actors for a spectacular job, especially Ben Starr, the voice behind Clive, who did an amazing job of playing the classic Final Fantasy stoic main character, but then, the explosive feeling and emotion that he produces whenever Clive goes through traumatic situations is just spectacular.

This game has been a highlight of my year so far, and there is so much more I could talk about in this review, but I am already way over the usual word limit so I will wrap it up here. Final Fantasy XVI is a spectacular addition to the franchise, and it sets a new bar for future projects. It hit all the right marks and was created with care and love for both the series and the fans. Also, thank god the staff involved made them put in Chocobos and Moogles. Not having them in the game would have felt wrong somehow. This is a must-play for everyone. You will not regret it at all – unless you hate RPG and action-adventure games.

Written by: Adam Brasher