Review: Final Fantasy XVI demo showcases the new title's potential!

With just over a week to its official launch, Final Fantasy XVI received its first public demo for the PlayStation 5, with about two hours of duration, in addition to a "bonus" mode - the Eikonic Challenge -, where the player can experience another chapter, with more advanced abilities.

The demo features the first chapter of the game, which tells the beginning of the story of Clive Rosfield, the eldest son of the Archduke of Rosaria, and shield of the Phoenix and his younger brother, Joshua Rosfield, and the tragic events thirteen years prior to the first minutes of the game.

Check out, in this article, our first impressions of the new Square Enix's title!

The first ten minutes of the demo present an excellent overview of what Valisthea's social and political relations are like, with a battle between two kingdoms taking place as a small group of assassins sneak between the mountains to find their target: Shiva's Dominant.

From afar, these assassins, with Clive among them, observe the clash, and from that moment on, Final Fantasy XVI demonstrates how its developers have no fear - or shame - to approach themes in a more violent, heavy or explicit way in this title: soldiers slay each other, the blood of their enemies smeared across their armor, while behind the scenes, the Dhalmekian Republic and the King of Waloed argue over his kingdom's refusal to aid in this battle.

When Hugo Kupka, Titan's Dominant, decides that it is time for him to act, we witness what may be one of the main themes of the plot: the little to no significance of life in times of war.

As Titan and Shiva lash out at each other, countless soldiers are trampled, tumbled off cliffs, or hit by huge chunks of ice - and the band of assassins is no exception, as one of Clive's companions is crushed by a boulder in front of him.

The screen fades to black, and we go back 13 summers: the somber air gives way to a lighter mood, with a young Clive in training with his mentor, while Joshua, Jill and Torgal accompany him.

The mood exudes tranquility, but not for long, as in an hour, we understand a little more about Rosaria's geopolitical conflicts, and a surprise attack by the Holy Empire of Sanbreque leads to the Archduke's fall, and the eventual awakening and death of the Phoenix, in what we can consider one of the most brutal and tormenting scenes of violence in the entire franchise.

These first two hours serve as proof of how confident the Final Fantasy XVI team is in their work, and also in the maturity of their fans to deal with heavier themes in an era where graphics are more realistic, and the dialogue and acting of the characters brings a more tangible proximity between the player and the story.

Game of Thrones meets Attack on Titan

Two influences admitted by the game's development team are the TV series Game of Thrones and the anime Attack on Titan, and they are clear from the beginning: Final Fantasy XVI is a game very attached to its medieval tone, where kingdoms fight to conquest territories in the face of a plague, increasing the intrigue between their central figures.

The dialogues are one of the strongest points of this demo. Despite the plot seem driven by cutscenes in these initial hours, at no time do they seem tiring or tedious to follow, as the subjects addressed by the characters are thought-provoking, easy to understand, but without giving everything away to the interlocutor - the Active Time Lore, a menu that you can access by pressing the pause button during any cutscene, is responsible for contextualizing everything for us.

Voice acting and dialogue writing are crucial elements that make the story as interesting as the first four seasons of the series inspired by George R. R. Martin's books, and make not only a fascinating visual and interpretive experience, but also provide a fascinating literary experience for the player.

On the other hand, the Eikons and their Dominants are the forces that seem to move the main story, and from which the entire culture of Valisthea seems to be attached to. As central pieces, they assume a role very similar to that of the Nine Titans from Attack on Titan, especially when it comes to the military potential of each nation, and the consequences that their presence on the battlefield brings to mankind.

Both titles are also known for their violence and sense of nihilism about human nature, this being another element carried over by FFXVI, and it is clear from the way in which Valisthea has, for centuries, treated those known as Branded - people who can use magic since birth, treated like slaves by all kingdoms with such naturalness to the point that not even the protagonist seems to bother much with treating them as sub-humans at the beginning of the game, despite showing some empathy for a Branded.

Final Fantasy XVI is the first main title in the franchise to completely abandon the use of menus for abilities or items during combat, and everything is done through direct button commands by the player.

In fact, we can say that the influence of Ryota Suzuki, battle designer of Devil May Cry 5, is noticeable in the way the fights develop in the title: despite not seeming clear in the first two hours, the 'extra episode' unlocked after finishing the first chapter shows that FFXVI has a combo-based combat system, where the player must mix normal attacks, spells and special abilities of his Eikon powers to keep the pace of the battle, while learning the timing to block and/or dodge enemy attacks.

I don't think any other major Square Enix title has reached the level of speed that Final Fantasy XVI's battle system makes possible, not even other titles acclaimed for their real-time combat such as NieR: Automata and Kingdom Hearts III, and that makes the franchise's standard player experience a bit difficult, even for those who played the other real-time combat titles, Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Due to the countless possibilities that this combination allows, it takes some time for the interlocutor to get used to it and understand how to maneuver the interface. Fortunately, for those who aren't used to this fast-paced action, the game enables a series of accessories that allow you to automate certain commands, or even slow down time when you need to dodge an attack.

Unless you have a lot of trouble keeping up with the pace of the fight, or keeping track of all the button maps - and Final Fantasy players will have to get a little more used to crowd control - I don't recommend equipping them, as they standardize the gameplay and/or take the immersion out of the experience of actually fighting your enemies.

In the visual aspect, Final Fantasy XVI demonstrates much of the power and potential that PlayStation 5 brings: the scenarios are splendid and, so far, rich in detail. The characters are also rich in detail, and even the NPCs have more realistic and less generic facial expressions compared to previous titles.

However, at least on the demo version (which is 1.01, while some claim the demos used in the game's pre-launch event were on version 1.03), there were some frame drops both times we played the demo on graphics mode, especially when there are too many elements on the screen, or where the graphics are pulled due to some cutscene, like during the fight between Phoenix and Ifrit.

If these issues persist in the release version, players are recommended to opt for performance mode during their journey, to prevent their experience from being somehow ruined by an immersion drop.

Masoyashi Soken, known for his work as a composer and sound director on Final Fantasy XIV, did an impeccable job with the soundtrack for the new title. The start screen prelude, with an undertone of desolation, fits well with the game's premise, while the intro theme, which plays during the game's first part, is another reinterpretation of the classic prelude to fit perfectly with the atmosphere.

Other tracks have Soken's notorious trademarks, such as the themes for the game's first dungeon, and for the two bosses we faced in the demo. However, one of the problems we found was the relationship between the soundtrack's volume and the character's voice with the Pulse 3D headset, made for the PlayStation 5.

In it, the voice of the characters seems low compared to the music volume in the intro, at some points in this demo, and requires the player to lower the music volume in the settings to adapt the volume of the dialogues (which are already at maximum volume in default settings) to that of the soundtrack.

An update that allows for proper mixing for headsets would greatly improve the experience for gamers who prefer to hear every detail of the audio, especially for those opting for Sony's official headset.

Despite all the changes and the huge impact that having combat focused on real-time action generates, Final Fantasy XVI has all the elements that make the franchise a historic landmark in the video game industry.

Several classic elements are present in FFXVI: Eidolons, Chocobos, spells, crystals and, of course, an engaging story with innovative mechanisms that work around the classic components of the franchise.

The equipment? They're still there! The strategic content of preparing for a specific battle has real potential to show up in FFXVI, as it did in its predecessors. The level system with experience points? It's still there. What about acquiring skill points to unlock new features? It's there too!

What differentiates Final Fantasy XVI from other titles is not in its battle system, but in its writing: the first two hours that this demo presents are, by far, the best demo I've experienced of a video game since that practice became common in the market - and that thanks to the excellent storytelling work that the development team did.

This demo has been very well-thought-out, and knows where to start and where to end. It knows how to make the interlocutor get involved with the characters, while also not providing enough information to make them lose interest in the game, in addition to trying to keep the initial experience simple, to later add layers of complexity in the extra chapter.

Final Fantasy XVI comes out next Thursday, June 22nd for PlayStation 5. Like many other players and content creators, we can't wait to see how the story of Clive Rosfield and Valisthea's fate unfold in the next chapters, and you can expect the full game's review in the coming weeks!