Just Let Me Be the Big Monster: A Final Fantasy 16 Rant
I want to smash wild Chocobo into oblivion!
Video games don’t typically edge players for 50 or so hours without delivering on the big payoff. It's even more infrequent one can do it and still be highly revered. And yet that's the best way I can describe Final Fantasy 16: An emotional, action-packed, memorable edging session that left me in equal states of euphoria and dissatisfaction.
On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed Clive Rosfield’s journey from a man in servitude to some unlikely Messiah forced to face his destiny as a vassal for a brutish god. On the other, the game spent so long teasing the monstrous Eikons (this game’s version of summons) as if, at some point, players would be free to control them. While Clive's Eikon Ifrit did break up the game’s more meticulous and nuanced combat with little mini-Kaiju battles, Square severely impeded the experience by reserving the fiery fiend for near-completely scripted battles.
All the while, I kept anticipating when the leash would be removed and I'd have full control of the fiery monster at my leisure. Alas, that moment never came. It’s ironic, considering a good portion of Clive’s journey is embracing the Eikon within. We follow our moody protagonist as he comes to terms with his inner demons and struggles, time and time again, for full control. In fact, that control doesn’t really come until the game’s fourth act, very near to the end.
The whole time, Clive’s internal battle was an unintentional metaphor for what it was like playing Final Fantasy 16. Always on the cusp of awesomeness, constantly hindered by tropes of the hero’s journey that dictate the need to struggle ‘til the very end.
How a Well-Crafted Combat System Adds to the Tease
There is plenty to like about Final Fantasy 16. Highest on that list is its combat, which is leagues different than its predecessors. The game veers away from slower-paced turn-based engagements in favor of a focus on action. It’s not quite a hack ‘n slash, where you can spam one button until the area is clear. You have to get to know enemy attack patterns and weaknesses, albeit not to the same degree as a Soulslike.
Sure, combat did occasionally dissolve into a flurry of button presses - typically only after squaring off against the same low-level mobs for the umpteenth time. However, it remained a well-crafted system that rewarded experimentation. With each new Eikon absorbed from some villainous caricature (who did get to summon them at will, mind you), Clive unlocked a skill tree that offered surprisingly varied offensive and defensive attacks and abilities.
Final Fantasy 16 encourages taking the time to understand how each ability changes Clive's style. Unfortunately, it also heavily teases players by assigning secondary Eikons, but never giving control over their monstrous forms. Sure, I may absorb Garuda’s wind-based parry, but at no point can I transform into the aerial giant. The science behind these godly beings remained questionable throughout the journey. While they seemed tied to an essence that Clive eventually steals, characters are still able to transform at will, despite a cutscene early in the game outright suggesting the beastly forms were separated from their Dominants (or carriers). I wholeheartedly expected that sort of ambiguity to lead to a thrilling moment where Clive cycles through each godlike being.
Need I say it again? That moment never came.
It may seem silly to be disappointed that a Final Fantasy game didn’t fork over control of all summons, as that's never been the case across the core adventures. However, 16 sets the stage immediately by introducing players to Phoenix in the very first playable segment. It was Square's way of saying, "This isn't your average Final Fantasy game!"
While that is true to a degree, particularly when it comes to the fully real-time and fluid combat, Final Fantasy 16 feels almost more inhibiting by hiding the series' classic summons behind cutscenes and incredibly easy, QTE-heavy boss segments. For those who love the deviation from a turn-based battle system, it was a big step forward with a disappointing drawback that essentially axed the series’ staple special attacks from the game when it didn't have to at all.
In Final Fantasy games, summons always either provided an unfair advantage for protagonists or even the odds against a stronger foe. The opportunity was still there to give players control of these greater beings without completely undercutting the work put into perfecting the action-focused combat. Their size seemed to fluctuate based on the needs of the scenario, so it's not even a matter of the Eikons not fitting in the confines of the battlegrounds. Heck, so much of the world was open that it seemed to be designed around the idea of bringing Eikons into the fray more. In some segments, Clive, in human form, did go toe-to-toe with the larger brutes. So, why couldn’t it go the other way?
In a way, the Eikon system chips away at some of Final Fantasy’s identity. Summons have been part of the series since Final Fantasy 3, typically always acting as a separate entity when called into battle. That was changed a little in 13 when summons became more Transformer-esque, but they still had a presence on the battlefield that wasn’t reliant on the hero’s abilities.
In Final Fantasy 16, any influence they have on combat is directly tied to a currency-based skill tree that forces players to decide which Eikon abilities are better suited to their play style. That includes the costlier “ultimate” abilities, which, whether intentional or not, act as the stand-ins for summons with their powerful attacks and longer cool-downs. Their might doesn't make up for the fact that lingering beneath all of this, is a god-like entity just begging to take center stage.
It’s the ultimate tease, and maybe my biggest gripe about Final Fantasy 16. When a game teases something and doesn't deliver, it feels like a design flaw or a feature left on the cutting room floor. I have a (final) fantasy that the Creative Business Unit III team fully intended Eikons to play a bigger role, and the mistakes or shortcomings of this release will serve as a roadmap to the inevitable Final Fantasy 17, where summons will return as a core element to combat. Except this time, whenever they're on screen, it’s my input smashing Ifrit’s Meteor Strike onto the head of a Malboro. Not because I have to, but because, like in so many previous Final Fantasy games, I can and want to.