Any RPG worth its salt should come with a certain amount of side content to help make the world feel alive, andFinal Fantasy 16hits the mark with many of its side quests. In some cases, these one-off adventures give a small insight intothe world of Valistheaand the people that inhabit it, but other examples have the player following entire story arcs that have a through-line all the way during the main adventure.
This design on side missions gives the more linearFinal Fantasy 16the feeling that comes with open-world titles by offering an extra game within a game as players follow these extra storylines. Even more impressive is how these additional adventures make themselves stand out from standard fair side quests by including unique cinematics with their cutscenes and a trail of quests that interconnect as the main plot progresses.
RELATED:Final Fantasy 16’s Romance Pales in Comparison to FF10’s Tidus and Yuna
The Storylines of Cid’s Former Contacts in Final Fantasy 16
ThroughoutFinal Fantasy 16, Clive meets with a number of contacts that Cid keeps across Valisthea, all aligning in their efforts to free and protect Bearers. These include characters like Martha of Martha’s Rest, the Dame of the Veil, and L’ubor of the Briar’s Kiss, all of which have their own questlines that have to be followed through on during the main story of the game. However, the storylines of these characters don’t simply end once the main quest is finished with them, expanding out into multiple side quests like theBlacksmith’s Blues series of questsfollowing the blacksmith Blackthorne and his best friend August.
What helps make these ongoing side quest chains even more interesting is the fact that they don’t just progress every time the last one in the chain has been completed. The player instead has to progress further into the story in order for the next part of the questline to become available, meaning that these quests follow their progression throughFinal Fantasy 16’s world of Valistheaas it evolves across the main timeline. This results in a series of quests that almost act as mini-storylines to follow across a through-line that reaches from the early sections of the game all the way to the final chapter.
Evolving Final Fantasy 16’s World Outside of the Main Quest
While the main quest ofFinal Fantasy 16is more interested in the Mothercrystalsand stopping the Blight before it rots the entire world away, some of these characters get left behind by the primary story. This is where these side quest series come in to better establish these characters with their own wants and needs, as well as follow their struggles through to the end of the game. These also impressively include entire cinematic cutscenes that go beyond the simple “talking heads” portrayal of side quests in most games.
For completing even the middle parts of these storylines, players are rewarded with more information on the backstories and previous lives of these characters before Clive ever met them. This includes some cutscenes that act as flashbacks to show this past, especially when it wants to give aview of Cid’s history inFinal Fantasy 16alongside the companions that Clive is later tasked to help. It all helps to come together to make the world feel more filled and give the characters more dimension asFinal Fantasy 16continues to expand on their individual situations and the towns they work in.
All of this side content then results in a game world that feels as open and fleshed out as any open-world title likeSkyrimorFinal Fantasy 15. Even without the ability to walk acrossFinal Fantasy 16’s mapright away, the locations that the player visits are more than just shadowboxes with a few decorations and enemies to fight. The story of these areas makes up for any lack of exploration that they might have.
Final Fantasy 16is available now for PS5.
MORE:Final Fantasy 16’s Hugo Kupka is Strikingly Similar to FC3’s Vaas
