July 16th 2023.
I recently finished Final Fantasy 16 and I had mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the combat was great and I was impressed with their attempt to make a more grounded Final Fantasy. On the other hand, the side quests were terrible and the world felt empty with hardly any characters around. I think the issue lies in the fact that it's not really a role-playing game in the traditional sense, but more of an action adventure.
I was also interested in the Reader’s Feature about the game. I agree with their points, but I think they exaggerated its flaws. I do think that it would have been better if it was shorter and you didn’t have to follow the developer’s breadcrumb trail throughout the game.
The discussion before release about not calling the game a Japanese role-player is something I want to comment on. It’s not really the Japanese part of the equation that's the issue, but rather that its game mechanics don’t really make it a role-playing game. It's more similar to something like God Of War or Horizon Forbidden West.
The problem is that if it wasn’t for the chocobos and all the talk about crystals, it would be unrecognisable as a Final Fantasy game. It's a real issue because the series is identified with the Japanese style and the role-playing aspects.
The other problem is that it’s just too long. 60 hours of playtime is too much for a game with mediocre characters and writing. Games are becoming too expensive to make and buy and if publishers like Square Enix release two or three underperforming games in a row, they're in trouble.
Overall, Final Fantasy 16 is neither amazing nor terrible and that is not good enough nowadays. Everyone knows how games are becoming too expensive to make and buy, but not everyone is considering what happens to publishers who make risky investments. The only way out is for publishers to get together and agree that games are going to have to be shorter and cheaper. We don’t want Sony or Microsoft to buy up everyone else and that’s why we should sacrifice 20 hours of Final Fantasy 16.
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