Final Fantasy XVI review for Xbox Series X

Final Fantasy XVI was released to amazing reviews when it came out in 2023 on the PlayStation 5. Last year it landed on PC, and finally Xbox Series X/S this year! While gearing up for this review on Xbox, I went back and read our FF XVI PlayStation 5 review here; Tyler did an amazing job reviewing the title, keeping it fairly surface level to avoid spoilers. In that spirit, I’m going to continue keeping the story unspoiled for our readers.

From the get-go at the title screen players are immediately treated to an amazing rendition of the prelude music. All Final Fantasy’s main theme songs are normally hopeful and melodic; however, this new rendition is dark and foreboding but easily the best version of prelude music in a Final Fantasy game. The march-like drumbeat combined with the harp and the melodic singing immediately sets the tone for the darker game.

The opening music is just a small taste of what to expect. I put this game in the same category as a great Hans Zimmer or Howard Shore movie soundtrack, and Final Fantasy XVI is no different. Masayoshi Soken, who has been involved in several Square Enix games, has done a masterful job and this has become one of my favorite soundtracks of the series.

The way the story starts will have players sitting on the edge of their seats. A fight between two giant, fiery beasts, Phoenix and Ifrit fill the screen. When players gain control of Phoenix, both of them are flying through giant underground caverns and throwing fire at one another. This fight looks incredible, the lighting from all the fire between both behemoths of the flame showcases awesome shadows and lighting effects.

Final Fantasy XVI’s story is an amazing journey. Its cast of complex and interesting characters really engage with the player. This particular entry in the flagship series covers some new ground. This is the first main game in the series to be rated as a Mature title, and with good reason for it. The opening scenes have plenty of swearing and blood. In entries past, we would get some pretty corny dialog (Tidus from Final Fantasy X’s laugh for example). This is simply not the case in this game.

The series is always trying new things from game to game, and sometimes a change works and sometimes it doesn’t. I would consider myself a purist when it comes to Final Fantasy as I grew up on Final Fantasy 4-9, which were, for the most part, turn based RPGs. They moved away from that in 12 and again in 15. Now for 16 this is a full-on action RPG and not as open world as Final Fantasy 15, since the maps for this entry are self-contained. When exploring in them monsters will show in the world, and if Clive gets too close to aggressive monsters, they will attack.

Square Enix has done something different again with the fighting in Final Fantasy XVI. The battle system plays more like a Devil May Cry game than a Final Fantasy game. Special abilities can be learned, and when these abilities are used, it starts a cooldown timer — there are no magic points or mana here. When the timer ends, the ability is ready to be used again. By using different combos and abilities players can learn or buy using ability points, Clive has many ways of bringing down his foes. While I’m not the biggest fan of a Final Fantasy game being like this, the fighting is still very fun and can be very rewarding.

While fighting larger enemies and bosses, a stagger bar will appear beneath the health bar. Each hit lowers this gauge and when it reaches the halfway mark, the enemy will stumble, interrupting whatever attack it was doing and allowing Clive to do a little bit more damage for a few seconds. When this bar gets depleted, the enemy is staggered and incapacitated, and during this period of time, the enemy is vulnerable. As Clive attacks and hits the enemy with combos, a damage multiplier will start ticking up. When the enemy recovers it will show you how much damage was done to it while it was down.

Graphically, I don’t see much difference between the PS5 version and the Xbox version of Final Fantasy XVI. There are two different settings for graphics, quality or performance, and set to performance, and I’ve only seen it stumble a couple of times. I even went online to check out some comparison videos showing the difference between the PS5 and Xbox. I don’t personally see what they are talking about on the Xbox. I’m running it on a Series X and the game still looks amazing!

Overall Final Fantasy XVI is one of the best entries in the series. While I do prefer my turn-based games, IX being my favorite, this entry is a fantastic entry into the series. Very few games are able to pull me into its story like this one did. Some of the plot points I saw coming, many of them I did not. Graphically this game is visually stunning, no matter the platform. The soundtrack for the game is also one of the best they have done. Nobuo Uematsu did an amazing job getting the series started with his music and Masayoshi Soken has done a masterful job making this soundtrack his own. If you are a fan of action games, high fantasy, great music, any or all of the above, you owe it to yourself not to miss Final Fantasy XVI.

Note: Square Enix provided us with a Final Fantasy XVI Xbox Series X code for review purposes.

Final Fantasy XVI - PlayStation 5

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