I actually took a week of PTO from work when this released just to play through it. I barely even got halfway. This game is PACKED with stuff to do.
This may be a hot take since I've seen plenty of people hate it, but I personally thought Final Fantasy XVI was pretty damn incredible. I'll get the easy part out of the way first: The combat. The combat in this game is soooooooo much fun. Yes it's basically just DMC but with Eikons but I am super down for that, it flows super well and the magic the Eikons add can lead to some gnarly combos.
The story here is that magic users are essentially slaves, treated like second class citizens by those without magic, despite the fact that their world NEEDS Bearers to even survive. You play as Clive, Ifrit's Bearer and older brother to the heir to the throne of Rosaria. One night, your king and army are on a journey to some talks in another kingdom when... AMBUSH. King dies, Joshua dies, you're kidnapped, and that's where the prologue ends. From here on, it's a tale of figuring out what happened, as well as restoring the world's balance.
There's a wide variety of fun characters. The protagonist is one of the series' best (to look at) and kicks all sorts of ass. Jill is a great tertiary protagonist and her role in all this is great. Torgal is the best dog ever and the fact that there's a trophy for petting him brings me peace. And then there's Cid, the name that returns in every single FF game. This is the best usage of Cid in the series, hands down. The dude is straight up badass, as well as hilarious. He steals the show every time he's on screen.
I feel like writing about why I loved this game in particular is harder than most but I did love the hell outta this game and do not regret putting it this high in the slightest, lol.
OH ALSO THIS GAME HAS THE FIRST CANONICALLY GAY CHARACTER/KISS IN THE FRANCHISE, BAHAMUT IS NOW A GAY ICON
