Final Fantasy 16 review - easy to like, hard to adore- Eurogamer

Eurogamer's review of Square Enix action-RPG Final Fantasy 16, a sizeable medieval epic with thrilling combat let down by some tedious sidequests.

[Moegooner]

If it's anything like their HZD review, then we are about to have a blast playing the game.

[LordoftheCritics]

Eurogamer: ''All told, I still prefer the older Final Fantasies''

Ah now it all makes sense.

Good site traffic for Eurogamer tho

[VenomUK]

Eurogamer refused to cover Hogwart’s Legacy.
It proclaims it cares for diversity yet up until two years ago had NEVER had a full time person of colour.
It slammed Kingdom Come for a lack of racial diversity at a time it had all white staff. It’s that arrogance and hypocrisy that I can’t stand.

From the Eurogamer review: “The world is also conspicuous for its ethnic homogeneity, which producer Naoki Yoshida has explained as a reflection of the "geographical, technological, and geopolitical constraints" of medieval Europe. Leaving aside the fact that there were Black and brown people in medieval Europe, this justification rings hollow given that several locations take open inspiration from north Africa and the Middle East, with towns that, for example, riff on Islamic architectural traditions and attire, but are predominantly or exclusively populated by anglophone white people.”

[peppeaccardo]

To be honest I was very hyped for this game, but once I played the demo I felt something was missing.
Yes teh graphics and the moves ala DMC are cool .. but something is not there.
I have been finally playingh FF VII Remake only recently and even thought there are too many sesions which looks like pokemon i am liking it. This FF XVI is darker but the locations and overall vibe is not striking any high note for me. Something is off putting. Might get it once it goes on discount.

[PapaBop]

I generally hold older FF games in higher regard than the newer ones, I hated FF13 and thought how FF15 turned out is an insult to the franchise BUT FF16 is amazing, it's everything I had hoped Yoshi P could do to a single player FF game. Also Clive is imho one of the very best protagonists in the series. Everything about it is top notch.. apart from the side quests.

[-Foxtrot]

One of their issues is a lack of diversity

…

Kotaku did exactly the same in their review

It’s unsettling this is what it’s coming to

[NecrumOddBoy]

Kotaku “White Europeans learn that slavery is bad.”

Who could have predicted a review like that from them?

[-Foxtrot]

It's such a crazy read...like it's REALLY bad

[4Sh0w]

Man I didn't read it but I seriously I hate woke reviews. I only want to know the merits of the game based on how it plays, looks and feels...and of course the usual metrics that give me a sense of how good or bad the game itself is. If politics & social influences that the core game is NOT ABOUT become a standard part of the review process then reviews become less about how fun a game is essentially and more about, where you lean politically or socially.

From what I've seen, FF16 looks like a absolutely kick *** game, enjoy it.

[SICKINDIVIDUAL]

These guys should just stick to benchmarking and stop reviewing games as they have no clue.

[Magog]

Another garbage review from Eurogamer the most spiteful website towards Sony on earth. They gave Horizon Zero Dawn the same score and it was the best action game I've ever played. Meanwhile they praise trash like Labo and Halo Infinite

[Sonic1881]

I agree with you with the Halo-infinite review. They messed up on that review score because the game was awful at *launch*

[343_Guilty_Spark]

It wasn’t awful at launch. It was missing Forge and Co-op… the campaign, graphics, sound, and multiplayer were still great experiences. Halo infinite had a content problem not a quality problem

[Zeref]

Horizon Zero Dawn is the best action game you've ever played? Really? You need to expand your palette my guy 😂

[Magog]

Or I just have different (better) taste than you. 🙄

[SICKINDIVIDUAL]

Bud if hzd released today on Xbox nobody would remember starfield and it would be goty.

[SICKINDIVIDUAL]

They are definitely getting paid....john lineman last week "Xbox is one sick box". 🤣🤣🤣
28514;😂😂

[sparky77]

Crazy how polarizing the scores are, I wonder if this might get SE to think of going back to turned based combat.

[Magog]

https://www.metacritic.com/...

"polarizing" 🙄

[Nacho_Z]

I think it makes him feel better for some reason.

[northpaws]

@sparky77

Only see your comments in the two 7/10 reviews out of the dozens reviews on the homepage, and keep saying it is polarizing scores when it is 90 positives, 7 mixed on metacritic... does it helps you sleep at night?

[Hofstaderman]

You wish it’s polarising. This game is going to do what it was made to do; become critically acclaimed and move consoles. Show me one XBOX game from this generation that compares.

[SICKINDIVIDUAL]

*crickets*

[Flawlessmic]

😂😂 meltdown confirmed

Sleepless nights ahead for poor sparky

[potatoseal]

You're trying way too hard. Quite pathetic. Scores are not polarizing at all. The vast majority are all positive. It's an 89 metacritic

[TheKingKratos]

So a game with 90% is polarising?!
Are you that much of dense or are you complete Xbox fanboy to the point you can't even see things clearly

[andy85]

Yep the site full of Xbox shills gave a 6 and you think the scores are polarising 😂

[P_Bomb]

“ Crazy how polarizing the scores are”

Dude, stop.

[pitythefool]

Didn’t you look stupid enough saying that the first time.

[Elda]

Nope...FFXVI is GOTY contender.

[Abracadabra]

This will not go well...

[STARS]

For Xbox fanboys like yourself, yes, because you cannot play the game. Back to Redfall you go. 👋

[King Nezz]

You should have mentioned Starfield. Then you would really have that "gotcha" reply.

[Magog]

"The world is also conspicuous for its ethnic homogeneity, which producer Naoki Yoshida has explained as a reflection of the "geographical, technological, and geopolitical constraints" of medieval Europe. Leaving aside the fact that there were Black and brown people in medieval Europe, this justification rings hollow given that several locations take open inspiration from north Africa and the Middle East, with towns that, for example, riff on Islamic architectural traditions and attire, but are predominantly or exclusively populated by anglophone white people (I hedge, here, simply because I haven't been around and talked to everybody). I find the deletion of people of colour from these spaces more sinister than the racial stereotypes of older Final Fantasies, particularly in a game that wants to talk about overcoming structural injustice and bringing people together. That "togetherness" is worth fighting for, but it's characterised here by what it excludes."

Yawn. God its stupid. There was maybe one black person for every 1000 whites in middle ages northern europe. Not every game has represent every country in the UN to be not racist.

[Shane Kim]

It's ridiculous and they are really looking through a magnifying glass to find "faults".

[lucian229]

so tired of the woke police. We dont need "representation" of every dang type of person in every game, movie or media. I say this as a dark skinned hispanic man. Im so tired of forced inclusion of every type. Stop stomping creative freedom.

[Charlieboy333]

Ironically the biggest racist of all is this reviewer, who clutches their pearls as they see racism everywhere they turn and search for racist issues in a FANTASY game made by JAPANESE developers based on MEDIEVIL EUROPE. Guess what reviewer, there is nothing wrong with being white....there are in fact a shit load of us, just as there were in Medievil Europe and it is part of our historical culture ( which it sounds like you are insisting be appropriated by other cultures because skin colour is so important YOU ). If this game was set in a Final Fantasy version of central Africa around the year 890 with villages containing only white characters THEN you could moan about their prevalence and people of colour being excluded. So GTFOH with your racist views and obsession. Normal, well-adjusted, non-racist and mentally stable people like myself and a whole bunch of my mixed race and black friends are all looking forward to playing this amazing game. I think white Edwin from Eurogamer should focus on reviewing the game properly, instead of moaning about how he misses being surrounded arabs, africans, indians, mongolians, chinese, mexicans and whatever else. It is so utterly ridiculous that this crap even exists in a VIDEO GAME review. Tell me Edwin, when you look at your pale Euro skin in the mirror everyday, do you also experience disdain at your own reflection? Cos you should, you impotent virtue signalling prick

[PitbullMonster]

"I find the deletion of people of colour from these spaces more sinister than the racial stereotypes of older Final Fantasies, particularly in a game that wants to talk about overcoming structural injustice and bringing people together."

What a joke.

[Eonjay]

Lol... its funny because people should just avoid obvious troll reviews. Actually trying to unpack one just makes you feel stupid for falling for the trap. He is not even a person of color. He doesn't realize that he is the one being disrespectful to people of color by trivializing actual issues. Its actually horrible.

[Hofstaderman]

91 on Metacritic. What gives eurogamer?

[jznrpg]

Lots of paid agendas lately no surprise

[Othegamer5]

i see 88

[Goosejuice]

91 on opencritic. 88 on meta.

[Hofstaderman]

My apologies as per Goosejuice. Thanks for the correction.

[Magog]

They're Microsoft and Nintendo fan boys. That's all there is to it.

[lucian229]

if you read the review, it's because square didn't include blacks and muslims in the game LOL. So it's the only thing worse than a Nintendo or MS fanboy........a "Woke" SJW reviewer

[King_Noctis]

Lol what? They didnt’t even give Tear of the King a 5/5 (it got 4/5) when most publications gave the game 10/10. Please stop it with the BS.

[gold_drake]

ahhh Eurogamer, you never seize to amaze me how unbelievably stupid your reviews are.

"They're a pack of emotionally damaged, overgrown children who spend their days f*cking each other, f*cking with each other, and f*cking over their subjects".

seems like the Author is either jealous, deprived, and or an overgrown child' himself.

this whole review read like a theater drama lol.

[Neezaam]

I’m done with Eurogamer! not because I’m feeling salty about the review….Wait actually I am! They are meant to have some level of journalistic integrity and yet have shown a pattern of clear bias. It’s not just about this one review…. And please, the amount of Sea of Thieves fluff articles they constantly posting

[BrainSyphoned]

Watch the Eurogamer video review or the Digital Foundry video, they are totally different than this asshat.
My apologies to both asses and hats for comparing them to this journo-ist.

[PhillyDonJawn]

It's the denial for me

[talocaca]

I love comparing this kind of review with other reviews on the site..... They gave Lego 2K drive the same score 🙄🤣

Ok.....

[anast]

Eurogamer is not the place most people go to for honest reviews.

[Lightning77]

Stupid reason for a score imo. Just tell us if you like it or not instead of inserting what you want in the game. Then get mad when said things not there.

[GamingSinceForever]

Eurogamer can have their political opinions on the game but the 6/10 score is criminal. Gameplay, music, graphics, and even performance (which they mentioned was the closest to a flawless game we have had in a while) is all top notch.

[__SteakDeck__]

Not surprised that Eurogamer had this score. They already had this score for a while. Lol https://twitter.com/TWTHERE...

[Armyofdarkness]

Oh Eurogamer, classic stupid review