For many reasons,Final Fantasy 16feels like a true PlayStation 5 exclusive. The game is visually impressive apart from some heavily criticized motion blur, with Eikon fights like the battle against Titan feeling properly next-gen due to their impressive scale. The load times are especially impressive, as after a very brief black screen transition, players will move from one aspect ofValistheato the other. However, it is the use of the DualSense that leads to some unexpectedly funny moments.
To be clear, not everything about whatFinal Fantasy 16does with the DualSense is unintentionally funny. Some nice haptic feedback details let players feel moments where Clive is hit during cutscenes and make chocobo riding more immersive, highlighting the benefits of the PlayStation 5’s controller. However, the DualSense usage that will likely come to players’ minds first is the doors and levers, and more specifically, Clive’s struggle to overcome them.
RELATED:How Final Fantasy 16’s Main Cast Body Count Compares to Game of Thrones
Final Fantasy 16’s Doors and Levers Feel Needlessly Complex
On paper, making players feel the process that goes into opening a heavy door is nothing too outlandish, but it is the way thatFinal Fantasy 16presents this door opening that makes things comedic. Clive pushing open a big gate during one ofFinal Fantasy 16’s story dungeons will require players to follow an on-screen prompt, holding down the R2 button to interact with the door. The camera shifting to make this seem like a big moment feels pretty unnecessary, as it comes off like Square Enix attempting to usethe DaulSense’s adaptive triggersjust because it can.
Having an incredibly overpowered protagonist likeClive Rosfieldstruggle to lift a large gate is fine enough, but some of the doors that require an R2 button press do not seem like they would be all that hard for Clive to open. Adding to the strangeness of the door QTEs is that Clive can actually fail them if players stop partway through the opening process, backing away like he got confused and suddenly forgot how to open them. However, doors are not the most egregious example of these adaptive trigger moments.
Even sillier are the segments where players need to hold down R2 to pull a tiny lever as Clive. Despite the character doing this task with one hand and clearly not struggling, players are being asked to watch a special animation as if the levers Clive is pulling are important in some way. While players pressing the R2 button is at least somewhat similar to Clive pushing a switch in a downward motion, it is hardly deserving of aQTE-style moment, feeling truly unnecessary in the grand scheme of things. Despite this, these doors and levers show up again and again.
Ultimately, these overly stylish door openings show that evengreat games likeFinal Fantasy 16are not perfect. While adaptive triggers were used brilliantly inReturnalandRatchet and Clank: Rift Apartto activate alternate firing modes for certain guns, here, they are used to make Clive struggle when opening certain doors. The triggers feel more like a gimmick than a cutting edge feature because of this, and it is hard not to imagine what else Square Enix could have done with this DualSense Edge feature.
Perhaps players could have activated stronger versions ofClive’s spellswhen holding down the R2 button, something that would simulate how charging up a big blast of fire or ice takes a bit more effort. Alternatively, the stronger melee slam that is tied to holding Square could have been added to one of the triggers. Though this would require a different control scheme, the approach surely would have made the adaptive triggers memorable for the right reasons. Currently, they stand out for the wrong ones, as the special animations for doors and levers feel hilariously random. While they do not take away from the game by any means, they are unintentionally humorous because they do not add much either, coming off like a waste of time and resources.
