Final Fantasy XVI Demo

 Hey, remember demos? They're back!

I've now played the first hour or two of Final Fantasy XVI, which releases in a little under a week.

The game has been presented as something of a return to the game's narrative roots, though the gameplay is anything but - you control a single character, and it's really more of an action game with leveling, gear, and ability builds.

Story-wise, though, for maybe the first time since before VI (I haven't played any of the older games) we're not (so far as I can tell) in a quasi-futuristic fantasy world, but more of a traditional medieval fantasy world. We still have Chocobos instead of horses, massive creatures like Shiva and Ifreet, and I'm keeping an eye out for Biggs, Wedge, and Cid, but the world seems to be one of feudal lords and unambiguously George-R-R-Martin-ian political intrigue.

Actually, at this stage I'm not super clear on all of the political entities at play, but our protagonist is Clive, the firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria, though not the heir to the throne. See, each nation, it appears, is empowered by an Eikon - the latest name for summons (my first FF game was X, so I usually think of them as Aeons) like the aforementioned Shiva, Ifreet, and, seen so far in this demo, Titan and Phoenix. Actually, it's Phoenix who is the patron of Rosaria, and Clive's little brother Joshua stand to inherit the throne because he is the Dominant of the Phoenix - blessed with the Eikon's magical powers.

Clive is a skilled swordsman, and has some Phoenix-derived magic, but when we get a glimpse of the power Joshua is capable of bringing to bear, you can see why he stands to inherit (though being a little kid when we see him, it takes a lot out of him to use it.)

Actually, the game starts in media res, where a 28-year-old (practically ancient for a Final Fantasy protagonist) Clive is on some sort of high-stakes mission to take out Shiva's Dominant during some vast and multi-fronted, poly-factional war. Shortly, though, the game jumps back 13 years to Clive as a teenager (there we go, that's a Final Fantasy protagonist!) and introduces us to his family - a thoughtful and clearly doomed father, a mother who treats him like an unwanted stepchild because the Phoenix didn't make him the Dominant, and a brother who is too good for this sinful world (whom Clive is in training to be the personal guard to). Given that our chronologically later version of Clive seems to be in a dark and gritty place, and also has a tattoo that seems to signify being a slave or prisoner, things are... probably not going to go great for him.

Now, I initially turned the gameplay style to "story," but I think I'm going to revert that, because a lot of the gameplay seems to be automated when you do this - causing you to automatically dodge attacks and charge forward. Given that we seem to be controlling a single character, I think I'll go for the higher challenge of having to do these things manually. (I was playing a bit of Elden Ring as I waited for this to download, so I think I can probably handle the challenge.)

The story promises to be complex and hopefully interesting.

There is the usual question with these post-X Final Fantasy games of just what makes Final Fantasy Final Fantasy, when you don't have party-based, menu-based, turn-based combat. I thought Final Fantasy VII Remake did a remarkable job of giving you the menu-based strategy decisions while turning up the action, but this seems like it will be more of a straight action-RPG. I'm trying to set aside franchise expectations and judge it on its own merits, and so far I'm enjoying it (though it's very heavy on cutscene-to-gameplay ratio at this stage of the game.)