Thanks to life happening (work, kids, drama, and so on), the blog has been a little silent, but here I am, breaking the silence with a review.

I first played Final Fantasy when I was a freshman in high school. My friend Kristie invited me over to play Final Fantasy X, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I’ve never played one that just came out. I’m always a little late to the show, but this time, I got to play the brand-new Final Fantasy XVI.

Bottom line: unless the Final Fantasy VII Remake manages to stick the landing and surpass it, Final Fantasy XVI is the greatest one they’ve ever made.

I’ll try not to spoil it, in case you haven’t played it yet, but there are a couple of things to address, based on what was circulating around social media about it for a long time.

Objection One: The director made his entire staff watch Game of Thrones for research, so therefore, this is going to be full of X-rated sexual content!

I Answer That: If he did that, it was to make sure that the staff knew what NOT to do.

There is no explicit sex in the entire game, and the movie Titanic (which got away with a PG-13 rating, not R) has more nudity in it. FFXVI has some mild side-boob, bare-back, bare-butt. That’s it. A good deal of it is completely non-sexual in nature (for example, the main character, Clive, locked in a dungeon completely nude, begging to be killed). Bare rear-end only, and nothing titillating about it.

Even the madam of the local whore house was fully clothed, and it wasn’t even an option for the characters to go inside said house of ill repute. I rest my case.

**Please note: I did not play through the entire game and do every single sidequest. I played the main plot, and the bare minimum sidequests. Eventually, when I have time, I’m going to go through and make sure that I get ALL the stuff done, but this time, I was only worried about the story (that’s how amazing it is). So, if there’s some kind of bonus scene between Clive and Jill that I didn’t get because I didn’t do all the bonus stuff, I didn’t know about it at the time of this writing.

Objection Two: There are cheater options for blocking in the combat system, and that makes the whole system bad and invalid!

I Answer That: It took me a while to get used to the battle system. I’m not usually very good at button-combination, extreme-button-mashing melee-style combat games. Final Fantasy X is more my speed, with the turn-based system, or Final Fantasy VIII with the ATB gauges.

So, yes, I used the cheats on the battle system. I didn’t want to get bogged-down in it and miss the story. BUT . . . they’re very easy to remove. They’re items that you equip to your main character, but ONLY IF YOU WANT THEM. If you’re an experienced melee-style gamer, then you won’t need them. Good for you. But I’m very glad that the designers put in the little helps for those of us less-used to that style of gameplay.

If they hadn’t, I might have left the game after a few minutes of playing, that’s how bad I am at that style. For comparison, I also recently tried God of War, and the controls are killing me. I’ve abandoned it for now, and it was only the promising story and the interesting worldbuilding that kept me on it for as long as I was. FFXVI didn’t make that same mistake.

Objection Three: There’s a gay character in it! Horrible!

I Answer That: Get over it. Yes, Dion Lesage is queer as a three-dollar-bill (to borrow an old phrase). But who cares?

The story isn’t about him being gay. It’s about him being a badass hero who is trying to save his country from the evil plaguing it. I may be Catholic, but I’m not so intolerant that I refuse to enjoy a game or TV show because there’s a gay character in it. It’s like Agent Dorneget from NCIS. Sure, he’s gay, but that’s not why you like his character. You like him for the comedy he brings, and finally for his bravery and heroism. Same for Dion.

The portrayal is very mild, and is only set up as background for the character. If you can’t put up with that, then don’t play it.

This definitely isn’t a children’s game. I’d say late high school, minimum, depending on the character and personality of the teen in question. But I guess that’s why it’s rated “M for Mature.”

Now onto the good stuff.

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The story is incredible. I was afraid, when I saw the initial announcements, that this one was going to go the way of Final Fantasy XII, which sucked. They tried to do the huge nation-versus-nation conflicts, with political intrigue, wars, and the whole nine yards, and failed miserably. FFXVI succeeded brilliantly in all the places FFFXII failed.

There’s even a helpful menu on the pause screen, so that if you get confused about who is on what side, which country or region they’re talking about, or anything like that, you can track it easily.

The characters are brilliant. I liked Final Fantasy XV for being a story about four friends and their adventures together, rather than a standard love story like most of the games. FFXVI has another new take on their usual mode. This one has a beautiful romance in it (Clive and Jill are amazing!), but the focus on the story is on the two brothers, Clive and Joshua.

I was crying at more than one point in the gameplay. The characters are compelling, and the plot around them is just as good.

It’s always refreshing to see other kinds of love in a modern story. We get so focused on romance these days, that the love between friends or family members is almost forgotten. It was great to see a story with brotherly love taking the spotlight.

Even if it isn’t the main point of the story, Clive and Jill are amazing.

They both have hidden depths to their personalities, their own demons to fight, and they help each other do it.

One complaint I heard about Clive’s character was that he basically didn’t have one. That’s only true if you didn’t actually play the game.

After a discussion about him with Husband, we figured out why he is the way he is. Clive is essentially the same basic character type as Squall from FFVIII and Cloud from FFVII. All three of them are the silent, strong, cranky type. That’s the point. They’re the loners who have to learn how to be friends, colleagues, because at the beginning of the story, they’re actually ronin.

It makes sense when you remember that this is a Japanese game. The ronin is the lone warrior, sort of like the gunfighter in old westerns. He’s the guy who has no master and is trying to find his way in the world. He should have technically committed suicide, but he didn’t, because he’s still trying to fight, either for revenge or duty or some other personal reason. If you look at Clive like that, he makes more sense. And, he doesn’t stay a ronin for long. He turns into a classic hero, with companions and allies enough to keep you interested for the whole story.

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So, if you have a PS5, you should definitely be playing FFXVI. The music is also incredible, and I can’t wait for the soundtrack to be released on Spotify. They did a brilliant job using the original Final Fantasy theme in different arrangements throughout the game, and also created unique themes for the characters, maps, and situations.

It’s worth the price tag, no doubt. It’s going to be one that I’ll play over and over again.

After the kids go to bed at night, of course.