Murdok
Member
"There's very little role-playing in these mats."
As action games incorporate more RPG elements than ever, they have spent time developing systems that Square Enix could have looked to if they wanted to still call the newest Final Fantasy game an RPG. But while Final Fantasy 16’s combat is often gratifying and rewarding, it is also static for most of my playtime, with a very defined meta.
So where does that leave Final Fantasy 16? For hardcore RPG fans, not a lot, I don’t believe. It reminds me of how CD Projekt Red stealthily re-labeled Cyberpunk 2077 from RPG to Open-World Adventure before re-labeling the game an RPG following a series of gameplay updates. Square Enix’s inclusion of Role-Playing Game as the genre alongside “Action” on Final Fantasy 16’s PSN page feels almost perfunctory.
"Ironically, the RPG-ification of action games means genre staples like God of War and Ghost of Tsushima offer more opportunities for tailoring the combat to a specific playstyle than Square Enix’s latest."
As action games incorporate more RPG elements than ever, they have spent time developing systems that Square Enix could have looked to if they wanted to still call the newest Final Fantasy game an RPG. But while Final Fantasy 16’s combat is often gratifying and rewarding, it is also static for most of my playtime, with a very defined meta.
So where does that leave Final Fantasy 16? For hardcore RPG fans, not a lot, I don’t believe. It reminds me of how CD Projekt Red stealthily re-labeled Cyberpunk 2077 from RPG to Open-World Adventure before re-labeling the game an RPG following a series of gameplay updates. Square Enix’s inclusion of Role-Playing Game as the genre alongside “Action” on Final Fantasy 16’s PSN page feels almost perfunctory.
"Ironically, the RPG-ification of action games means genre staples like God of War and Ghost of Tsushima offer more opportunities for tailoring the combat to a specific playstyle than Square Enix’s latest."
God of War Is More of an RPG Than Final Fantasy 16 - IGN
Final Fantasy 16 notably went all in on the action gameplay, but aside from combat there's very little in Square Enix's newest Final Fantasy game that could be considered an RPG.
www.ign.com