Final Fantasy XVI – final hands-on preview and gameplay

gematsu.com:

Earlier this month, Square Enix invited members of the press to a final hands-on gameplay session with Final Fantasy XVI ahead of its June 22 launch on PlayStation 5, this time from the start of the game up until about three hours into the story. This is, of course, the most we have seen of Final Fantasy XVI so far, and quite spoiler-filled in terms of the game’s opening parts. Our final preview includes a ton of new footage—broken down into sections—as well as a write-up. Please read on at your own discretion.

After starting a new game from the title screen, the story of Final Fantasy XVI opens to a cutscene of the frontlines, with the war between nations in full effect. We see a face-tattooed adult Clive Rosfield sitting around a fire with a group of men known as The Bastards. Clive refers to one of those men as “General.” Other scenes of the frontlines depict Chocobos running through the masses, a Council meeting between the kings of the Dhalmekian Republic and Waloed, and a battle between the Dhalmekian Republic’s Eikon Titan and The Iron Kingdom’s Shiva.

The battle leads to more chaos as massive rocks rain down from the sky, and Clive and company running to evade being pulverized. More than a few “fucks” can be heard as they try to survive. Biast, one of Clive’s companions, is crushed by a flying rock in an unexpectedly gory scene as blood splatters everywhere.

The scene then shifts to a young Clive in Rosalith, on the training grounds with his mentor Rodney Murdoch. It is here players will first experience the game’s action-based combat system, learning the basics necessary to move forward. This tutorial is entirely optional and can be skipped. Considering this was my second time playing Final Fantasy XVI,