Summary
Taking a look back at 2023’s absolutely packed release schedule shows that there were plenty of marquis franchises that received long-awaited sequels, but perhaps none broke from the established tradition of its respective series more thanFinal Fantasy 16. The result of the many departuresFinal Fantasy 16takes is that the title continues to prove polarizing among the fanbase, with several longtime series purists expressing concern over what might end up being a new direction for the franchise. The most obvious departure thatFinal Fantasy 16makes over its predecessors is a definitive switch to real-time, action-heavy combat, but the truth is thatFinal Fantasyhad been trending in this direction for years.
The creative master mind behind bothFinal Fantasy 14andFinal Fantasy 16, Naoki Yoshida (aka “Yoshi P”), was very clear regarding Creative Business Unit 3’s desire to push the series forward and break from established tradition. Still, even preparing fans ahead of time thatFinal Fantasy 16would prove to be a very different kind of series sequel couldn’t have possibly done justice to the many ways that the game eschews several series staples that could be considered “sacred cows.“Final Fantasy 16is an excellent game, but the degree to which it’san excellentFinal Fantasyis still hotly contested among fans thanks to these critical deviations.
Series Traditions Broken by Final Fantasy 16
Abandoning Turn-Based Combat in Favor of Real-Time Action
The most obvious and drastic change thatFinal Fantasy 16makes over its predecessors is the total shift from turn-based combat to a real-time system reminiscent of what one would find in a character action game.Final Fantasyis a series that has long been synonymous with turn-based combat, dating back to the 1987 original which, along withDragon Quest, helped to establish turn-based combat systems as the norm for console RPGs. Although bothFinal Fantasy11and14have MMO-style combat andFinal Fantasy 15dabbles with combat similar to what one might find in theKingdom Heartsseries,Final Fantasy 16’s real-time combatis the first in the series to give players total control over their hero’s actions.
No More Party Management
With the change to a real-time combat system, one of the other biggest departuresFinal Fantasy 16makes over established series tradition is the complete lack of party management.Clive mostly operates solo throughoutFinal Fantasy 16’s runtime, and though he is occasionally joined by one or two companions throughout his journey, the new character progression and leveling systems are limited strictly to Clive and players can’t issue commands to party members in battle. Having no say in how party members develop and not being able to dictate their actions is a massive change over previous mainlineFinal Fantasygames.
Elimination of Status Effects
In a move that both shocked plenty of longtime series fans but also makes perfect sense in the context of the game’s new battle system,Final Fantasy 16removes the capacity for Clive or his temporary companions to be afflicted with any of the series' traditional status effects. Debuffs like sleep, paralysis, poison, confusion, and more are as much apart ofFinal Fantasy’s DNAas turn-based combat, andFinal Fantasy 16’s lack of status effects (or even elemental strengths and weaknesses among enemies) levels the combat playing field to simply be concerned with pure damage.
Clive’s Age and Lip-Sync Animations
While not quite as dramatic a change as the ways thatFinal Fantasy 16deviates from series tradition in its gameplay, there are some nuances to Clive that separate him from how the series has typically handled its protagonists. For starters,Clive is officially the oldest protagonist in the series' history, with the majority of the game taking place when the character is 33 years old. Additionally,Final Fantasy 16is the first game in the series to record its voice acting and render its lip-sync in English first, rather than starting with the native Japanese and then localizing.
Final Fantasy 16
WHERE TO PLAY
An epic dark fantasy world where the fate of the land is decided by the mighty Eikons and the Dominants who wield them.This is the tale of Clive Rosfield, a warrior granted the title “First Shield of Rosaria” and sworn to protect his younger brother Joshua, the dominant of the Phoenix. Before long, Clive will be caught up in a great tragedy and swear revenge on the Dark Eikon Ifrit, a mysterious entity that brings calamity in its wake.
