In FinalFantasy 16, you play as Clive Rosfield, the First Shield of Rosaria, who is given the responsibility of protecting Joshua, your younger brother and the Dominant of the Phoenix. You will soon find that you are clearly not trained enough to perform this task, so let us help you! These tips will help you explore the world of Valisthea and defeat your enemies with ease.
Complete the side missions
As you progress through the main story, you’ll unlock side missions marked with a green exclamation mark. These side quests will give you more knowledge about what is happening around Valisthea, and they will help you FinalFantasy 16 that’s much more immersive. Also, the rewards from these side quests often provide crafting materials for weapons and equipment that you may be missing.
Photo illustration: Johnny Yu/Polygoon | Source images: Square Enix Creative/Square Enix via Polygon
Keep an eye out side missions marked with a plus sign as these quests reward you with upgrades such as increased inventory capacity, accessory slots, and chocobo riding.
Stock up on drinks
You may be thinking to yourself that you don’t need to heal because you just don’t take any damage. I felt the same way and have survived many battles without needing one, but you start to realize that more and more bosses are thrown at you with no break in between. You start using your potions and think the battle is over, but you thought wrong! Reinforcements are on their way and another boss fight looms in the distance.
Use your skill points as soon as you get them
In FinalFantasy 16you can repay your skills at No costs. If you upgrade a skill but end up not liking it, you can get back all your spent skill points and use it to upgrade another skill. Test all skills to see which ones suit your playstyle and create your ultimate build.
Save as much as you want
Image: Square Enix Creative/Square Enix via Polygon
FinalFantasy 16 does a good job of automatically saving the game for you, but it’s still plenty of use 50 safe slots to use! There aren’t many game-changing decisions, but you’ll need to save often to revisit every point in your playthrough for at least one reason: this is the only way to see Torgal as a puppy again.
Use Active Time Lore to refresh your memory
Image: Square Enix Creative/Square Enix via Polygon
When I play story rich games like FinalFantasy 16, I will often forget who some of the characters are and their relationship with the protagonist. If you’re anything like me, Creative Business Unit III and Square Enix seem to have come up with a solution to our collective short-term memory.
Press and hold the touchpad on your PlayStation 5 controller to use the Active Time Lore feature, which contains over 2,800 different data about characters, locations and events happening around you. This is even useful during cutscenes when you see an unfamiliar face!
Do not reinforce right away in the beginning
When you first arrive at the Hideaway, you meet the blacksmith, Blackthorne. At the blacksmith you can craft new weapons and equipment or strengthen the ones you already have. It can be tempting to amp up your gear for the next big thing, but hold off on that.
You don’t get many side missions in the beginning, so all the content you can complete focuses on the main story. Once you’ve completed a main story quest, return to the Hideaway to find there’s a new large shiny toy for you to craft at the Blacksmith’s. This often happens early in life FinalFantasy 16so stick to your reinforcement materials for now.
Sell your valuables
As you browse the store menus, you may be thinking to yourself, “Why is every orchestral roll so expensive?” and “It will take me forever to get that gil!”
Image: Square Enix Creative/Square Enix via Polygon
Boy, do I have the solution for you. During your playthrough you will collect countless gil bugs, black blood, amber and empty shards. These are not crafting materials used to create your next weapon or equipment, but instead are valuables that can be traded for gil. Go to the nearest store and sell all your valuables by pressing the touchpad to make many screams at once.
Don’t just spam the melee combo
The melee combo might be the first thing the tutorial teaches you, but don’t get in the habit of spamming squarely over and over again! FinalFantasy 16 has a lot going for it in combat, and if you’re stuck with just square mashing you can quickly get bored. Weave a magical burst between your melee attacks, or take the battle to the skies with your skills. The combat can be very entertaining as long as you get creative with it and avoid the tendency for spammy melee attacks.
Play your way
If you’re here for the rich story, go for the story-oriented mode. If you want to slash and slash your way through the enemies, go ahead and spam that melee button – I mean, uhh, pick the action-oriented mode. You can always change the focus in the settings at any time in your playthrough.
For those who are concerned about combat, you can equip timely accessories that will make the fight a little less terrifying. The actual accessories are available in both modes, but will be equipped from the beginning of the story-focused mode. These accessories lower the difficulty by making combos easier, giving more time to dodge attacks, auto-dodge attacks, use a potion when your HP drops below a certain point, and automatically enter assist commands.