After much anticipation, the demo for Final Fantasy 16 is now available for PS5. It comes a little over a week before the full game’s release on June 22nd and is already garnering positive feedback. So what should you expect, especially since progress transfers over? How does the combat feel, and what’s the deal with the unlockable demo within the demo? Let’s go over ten things you should know.
Cutscenes
Plenty has been revealed about the setting of Valisthea and the story, and honestly, it’s best to go into the demo blind to experience the latter. Though producer Naoki Yoshida said that the Prologue is very cutscene-heavy, since it’s setting up the world, I was incredibly impressed at the level of detail. The cutscenes are lengthy, and while they tell you about the world and Clive’s past, there are also all the unspoken details via the character’s mannerisms and dialogue.
They not only do an excellent job of immersing you in the story but setting up future events, establishing relationships and connections, and offering a glimpse into the Game of Thrones-style intrigue that adorns the various factions. The Active Time Lore feature is especially useful in keeping track of everyone in this regard.
Combat is Amazing
If you looked at all the gameplay trailers and thought the combat was too good to be true, then rest assured. Everything about it, from the Precision Dodges and counterattacks for extra damage to the abilities and movement, is incredible. Your kit consists of basic attacks, a fireball spell to cast at the range, dodging, and Phoenix Shift to quickly close the distance on a target.
However, you can also mix magic into your combos, using a fiery blast at the end of Rising Flames, which lifts smaller enemies up but also deals significant damage. The fact that the overall base is solid and feels good bodes well for the rest of the experience.
Partial and Full Staggers
Like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy 16’s enemies have a stagger bar known as the Will Gauge. Breaking an opponent’s Will creates an extended period where they’re defenseless and take extra damage. However, there are also Partial Staggers, triggered in the middle of the Will Gauge. If you deal enough stagger damage, your opponent is stunned off momentarily.
It may not sound like a big deal, but it does provide some interesting decisions. A boss is winding up for a big attack, and you’re close to a Partial Stagger? Use an ability to seal the deal and interrupt them, thus creating a momentary opening. It also incentivizes using your Eikonic abilities instead of spamming them all when an enemy is staggered.
Boss Battles
You’ll encounter several bosses in the Prologue, starting with a simple Gigas. It’s a good intro to Precision Dodging, especially when you need to dodge in succession from its spinning attacks. The Morbol is the first proper boss and has a range of mechanics, from a toxic stream and tendril lashes to an area of effect stomp around it and charges. The Knight of the Blinding Dawn, aka the Dragoon, is even more intriguing due to the use of Jump – timing your Precision Dodges and counters to inflict maximum damage is important here.
However, the best part is that each fight feels unique and fun, even if your tools are limited. None of the bosses felt particularly tanky or had too much health, though you’re mostly fighting them at the required level as part of the story.
Cinematic Attacks and Dodges (aka QTEs)
When fighting the Morbol and the Knight of the Blinding Dawn, there will be Quick Time Events. Simply pressing Square will trigger a Cinematic Attack for some big damage and a Full Stagger, and R1 for a Cinematic Dodge helps avoid a big attack and open up an enemy to punishment. You’ll also have to press Triangle to throw magic at a long-range foe. While some may not like Quick Time Events, they don’t happen very often here and are meant more for creating super-hype moments instead of replacing the combat wholesale.
Eikon Battles
Of course, there’s one more boss in the Prologue: The Eikon of Fire. You play as the Phoenix and engage in a rail-shooter battle, not unlike Panzer Dragoon. While it is simple at first, trying to track the Eikon of Fire as it leaps around while dodging its attacks is exciting. Also, the setting for their battle is appropriately epic, with plenty of ebbs, flows and climactic moments. If this is just a taste of the battles to come, then we can only imagine how much more insane the other Eikon Battles will be.
Performance Issues
Perhaps the weakest part of the demo was the Performance Mode. It outputs at 1440p/60 FPS but has trouble maintaining the frame rate, even when walking around town. Even worse is that due to how the PS5 handles Variable Refresh Rate, dropping below 48 FPS can feel disruptive to the experience. Nevertheless, this is a demo – how the game will perform remains to be seen. Also, there’s still Quality Mode. It runs at 4K/30 FPS and is mostly consistent, though the motion blur feels more excessive and annoying.
Accessibility Features
In terms of accessibility features, Final Fantasy 16 offers several Timely Accessories for Clive to equip. These are present in the demo and range from auto-dodging and auto combos to slowing down time to dodge and auto-consuming potions when low on health.
There are some minor settings to mess with, like Visual Alerts. This provides an “on-screen waveform” to visually represent the sounds and music. You can customize the alert size and its opacity. There’s also Target Follow and options to customize the subtitle size and background and enable speaker names. Not the most in-depth set of options, and hopefully, they’re expanded down the line.
Eikonic Challenge
The Prologue is only one part of the demo – completing it unlocks the Eikonic Challenge, which is the same demo of Clive and Cid rampaging through Caer Norvent before the former goes up against Benedikta, Garuda’s Dominant. You’ll gain access to a range of Eikonic skills for Garuda, Phoenix and Titan, though you won’t necessarily have all of these when playing this sequence in the game. As a result, progress from the Eikonic Challenge doesn’t carry over.
Nevertheless, it offers more opponents to fight and test your skills and two additional boss battles, including Benedikta. To say that this is even more hyped than anything from the Prologue would be an understatement.
Skills and Combat Potential
The Eikonic Challenge also provides a better idea for the potential combos you can execute, and the combat opens incredibly to reveal some crazy depth. You can quickly switch between an Eikon’s set of abilities on the fly and go from closing the distance with Phoenix Shift to blocking with Titanic Block. Time your block, and you’ll be able to counterattack. If you use Raging Fist, the JoJo-esque multi-punch attack, and block an oncoming strike, its damage is increased. Likewise with Rook’s Gambit, which is a leap back into a counter, but when evading an attack, the counter’s damage is increased. You can also grapple enemies with Deadly Embrace, which pulls weaker foes from a distance.
Each skill also has different ratings for attack and stagger damage. Gouge may be weaker, but it deals exceptional damage to an enemy’s Will. On the other hand, Windup can be good for inflicting heavy damage on a staggered enemy, especially if you hold the button down to increase its attack. Combine this with Torgal, who can attack enemies, follow up on your skills and heal you, and there’s a ridiculous amount of combo potential.
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