Final Fantasy XIV is out on June 22, however you’ll be able to play the opening prologue free of charge proper now on PlayStation 5. You ought to. It’s unbelievable and the one factor I’ve needed to play since I completed it final week.
I’m the worst sort of Final Fantasy fan: bored with what it was and offended at every thing new it tries. That’s the mindset below which I’ve digested over a 12 months of drip-fed pre-release advertising and marketing hype for Final Fantasy XVI, from gigantic Eikon summon battles to its grim-dark presentation. The sport is pitched as a return to the collection’ extra conventional medieval fantasy roots (yay!) however with a lone protagonist and real-time motion fight (boo!).
As the sport’s launch date approached, I dreaded as soon as once more feeling let down by what’s been my favourite franchise courting again to the primary time I laid eyes on Terra, Biggs, and Wedge atop that snow-covered cliff in Narshe. Then, I performed the PS5 demo and, man, I used to be not ready for simply how excited and terrified it could make for what Final Fantasy XVI would possibly really be.
[Spoiler warning: It’s only the opening of the game. But things go sideways pretty quickly, and I’m about to get into it.]
The prologue opens with Phoenix and Ifrit preventing one another as they fall via a pit into an enormous underground cavern. It’s fairly forgettable, which is one thing the sport is banking on. From there, we meet our hero, Clive Rosfield, working with a band of mercenaries to assassinate a Dominant (learn: an individual who transforms right into a summon) in the course of a sprawling battle between two warring nations.
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Eventually, a time bounce brings us again to Clive’s late childhood the place he, first-born however Eikon-less, acts as a sworn protector of his brother, Joshua, holder of the ability of the Phoenix and thus inheritor to the Rosarian throne. There’s brooding throne room discussions about the specter of impending warfare and refugee crises, emotional dumping about concern, obligation, and sibling rivalries, and a fast foray right into a swamp so Clive can struggle some goblins and kill a Malboro. There are potions to gather, a couple of talents to improve, and a few enjoyable fight timings to grasp. It’s goofy as hell at elements but in addition surprisingly endearing.
Once the sport correctly lulled me into a well-known rhythm, it then proceeded to totally demolish the small world it had simply constructed up. Feasting forward of a pre-war non secular ceremony, assassins from the empire sneak in and take the Rosarians without warning, leaving Clive, Joshua, and their father to try to flee. In basic Game of Thrones trend, the worst issues that would occur then carry on occurring (along with a lot of cursing and normal horniness).
Their father is gutted like a fish. Joshua manifests the Phoenix however can’t management it and begins raining hearth down on everybody. And Clive manifests his personal Eikon: Ifrit. The uncle-like normal that skilled him will get burnt to a crisp, and Clive will get locked in a struggle together with his brother, the exact same one which bored me from the sport’s opening. The finish is ugly. Stomach turning in reality. “Thank you for playing,” reads the ultimate message from Square Enix.
It really made me not need to play Final Fantasy XVI anymore. Until the subsequent day got here and all I needed to do was hold enjoying Final Fantasy XVI. Good job demo. Mission achieved. It jogged my memory of the Brave Fencer Musashi demo disc for Final Fantasy VIII I performed time and again again in the summertime of 1999. The demo alone might be my favourite PS5 unique of the 12 months thus far. Maybe Devil May Cry fight in a Final Fantasy Tactics-style world isn’t such a foul concept in any case.
I’ve no clue whether or not all the sport will likely be like that. I in all probability couldn’t deal with it if it was. But Final Fantasy XIV excluded, it’s probably the most invested I’ve been in a brand new mainline sport in over a decade. I hope it stays that means for the remainder of my eventual playthrough.
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