The cat is finally out of the bag. Last May 2, at the invitation of SQUARE ENIXwe flew to Milan to try it out FINAL FANTASY XVI and have a very interesting chat with Naoki Yoshida, Hiroshi Minagawa And Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. The beautiful location of the Fonderia Napoleonica Eugenia which hosted the event was decorated with cartoons dedicated to some of the protagonists of the game, in order to further immerse ourselves in the world of Valisthea. After a short presentation by the development team, which gave us a small taste of what to expect, we got our hands on the controller DualSense it started our first adventure as Clive Rosfield.
Before revealing our first impressions of the game, however, we must make some clarifications. First of all this article will be dedicated exclusively to the preview on the highly anticipated sixteenth chapter of the franchise, so if you want to find out what the development team has revealed to us I refer you to our interview. And then we would like to specify that what we have tried is a special version created for the press experience and the contents may differ from the final version.
Having said that, get ready to go on a short journey with us Valisthea and find out our first impressions on FINAL FANTASY XVI.
Let’s start from the beginning. Our test with FINAL FANTASY XVI it was divided into three parts, thus allowing us to experiment with different phases of the game and be able to have a more complete opinion of the title while waiting for its release. Although it is early to make a judgment on what awaits us within the plot, the small taste received managed to arouse a lot of curiosity in usespecially the way it is told. The world of Valisthea is cruel and gory, and the Japanese publisher is not trying to sweeten the pill in any way. The choice of the rating oriented towards an adult audience is absolutely justified, we’re really curious to see how far the creative team led by has gone Yoshi-P.
One of the aspects that struck us most about the gameplay is his immediacy. In fact, it will not be too complicated to get familiar with the controls, although it has moved to a completely action-oriented style of play. The decision to implement a series of accessories that facilitate certain mechanics is certainly excellent for all those fans of FINAL FANTASY who have little confidence in titles action but they still want to enjoy the sixteenth chapter.
The fights are really fluid and are both beautiful to look at and fun to play and have at your disposal the skills of different Eikon offers ample possibilities to customize Clive by giving us the possibility of adapt the protagonist to our style of play. As anticipated, it is the fluidity that has really impressed us. Switching from one Eikon to another with the simple push of a button means that we will be able to change strategy easily and thus ensure victory in any type of clash, for example by exploiting the defensive powers of Titan when necessary to then launch a heavy offensive with the other Eikon at our disposal.
Among the elements that we were able to try during the event there is also the Cid’s Refuge, which will serve as a base for our operations during the main storyline. In this area there are a number of NPCs that will help us throughout the adventure, such as a shopkeeper from whom to buy useful supplies or a blacksmith who will be able to upgrade weapons, armor and accessories for us. As seen the crafting system is quite simpleit will be enough for us to accumulate materials by defeating the various enemies we will encounter in order to make our equipment even more powerful.
Both within the Refuge which in open areas we will happen to encounter NPCs who have special requests for us. The side missions that we faced during our test were quite linear and required the simple delivery of objects to a specific character, but despite this, thanks to the dialogues present we got to find out some details about the world of Valisthea and how people live in its lands. The software house has already anticipated that in addition to the secondary missions there will also be hunting missionsbut these hadn’t been included in the game phases we were able to try.
Another aspect of FINAL FANTASY XVI that impressed us positively is its technical sector, not only thanks to an extraordinary visual impact, but also because of the beautiful music by Masayoshi Soken and, for the first time in the saga, al Italian dubbing. Although we only played a few hours the Italian localization seemed to us very respectable, with some terms that have been adapted to be more realistic when speaking and the chosen voices go really well with the protagonists of the game. One small technical flaw concerns two specific moments where the frame rate seemed a bit of a dancerbut since this is not the final version of the game we hope that the company has all the time it needs to smooth out these small imperfections.
An epic dark fantasy world whose fate rests in the hands of the mighty Eikon and their dominant. FINAL FANTASY XVI is the story of Clive Rosfielda warrior who has been invested with the title of First Shield of Rosaria and that he swore to protect his younger brother JoshuaThe Dominant of the Phoenix.
Soon Clive will be involved in a great tragedy and will swear vengeance on the Eikon Ifrit, a dark and mysterious entity that brings with it a great calamity.
Buy FINAL FANTASY XVI For Playstation 5 following this link at the price of €79.99. Support Akiba Gamers by purchasing the game on Amazon through this box!
As much as the gameplay change makes it stand out from the rest of the saga, the sixteenth chapter, however, feels extremely familiar. The world of Valisthea fits perfectly with the typical canons of FINAL FANTASY that we have gotten to know in these thirty-five years, albeit made more modern and current. For example, we will be able to see magic also used outside of combat to facilitate everyday activities, such as pouring a simple glass of water. AND a world that really intrigued us and we can’t wait to discover all its secrets when the game launches.
Definitely our first test with FINAL FANTASY XVI it only added to the hype we already had against this sixteenth chapter. We were positively impressed with all the aspects we got to try, and it was really difficult to put the controller down once we ran out of time. We are really convinced that this highly anticipated exclusive PS5despite its diversity, will be able to make the historical fans of the saga happy and in particular those who have been waiting for more mature content within the series for a long time. Not to mention that thanks to the transition to gender action even those who have not come close to over the years FINAL FANTASY because of its game system can approach the franchise for the first time.
We’re really looking forward to getting our hands on the full version of the game, but to do that we’ll have to wait another full month. FINAL FANTASY XVI it will in fact be available to leave from next June 22 as a timed exclusive for PlayStation 5, although at the moment the company has not announced other possible platforms for the future. I assure you, however, that after trying it, waiting will be really difficult.
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