Final Fantasy 16 is a firm reminder that with RPG elements, sometimes less is more
The weeks following the release of a new Final Fantasy game are always fraught with endless, grating debate and social media in-fighting. And Final Fantasy 16, naturally, is no different. But I’d argue that this time around, people are asking the wrong questions.
A quick scan of my Twitter feed (when it works, anyway) inevitably tosses up all of the discourses one would expect; there’s hand-wringing over if this is a ‘real’ Final Fantasy game, a heavy back-and-forth about if the game’s female lead is well-written, pondering over the game’s difficulty (or lack thereof), and a relatively new debate – if FF16 is ‘enough’ of a role-playing game or not.
Now, I’ve gotta hold my hands up here: I’m as to blame for this debate as anyone participating in it. In VG247’s FF16 review, I singled out the game’s RPG credentials as a particular weakness, summarizing it as a great action game, but not really a very good RPG. So, is it enough of an RPG? I don’t know, maybe – your mileage may vary, depending on what you’re looking for. Outside of the broad strokes of critical analysis, I actually think that’s the wrong question to be asking, though.