It’s easy to lose the thread of narrative-driven RPGs at times. With so many characters, locations, and storylines to keep track of, knowing who’s who and following the breadcrumbs of lore that developers scatter through a game can be difficult.
Often, I will find myself searching for particular aspects of a story that perhaps I don’t quite understand or looking up who is who, trying to patch the gaps of knowledge that may have resulted from me checking my phone during a cutscene or which simply weren’t explained thoroughly enough in the game. Nothing quite takes you out of your immersion like taking time to look up “Who is X” in the in-game codex or scouring the internet to understand the lore better.
As someone who has never played a Final Fantasy game to completion, I expected to have this same difficulty with Final Fantasy 16 and to be checking Google every five minutes to keep track of what’s going on in this massive JRPG. But thanks to Final Fantasy 16’s Active Time Lore feature, this hasn’t been an issue—and I wish more games used it.
The world at your fingertips
Final Fantasy 16’s Active Time Lore feature is a blessing. Given the massive JRPG is jam-packed with interesting characters, locations, and interweaving stories, each with its own background to delve into, you can easily become a bit lost in it all.
Fortunately, Active Time Lore, a feature that can only be activated during cut scenes, allows you to bring up all the relevant information you require in a scene simply by holding down the PS5 controller’s touchpad. By activating this feature, you can see information on the location you’re in, the characters in the scene and how they tie into what is currently happening, and any other information the developers think would be useful for you to know.
I’ve used it several times in my playthrough so far. I find it helps flesh out the lore of Valisthea, the land Final Fantasy 16 is set in, and its inhabitants whereas trying to include it in the game’s general narrative might’ve felt a bit shoehorned. It also just helps me keep track of who everyone is, in an easy-to-access way that doesn’t require me to pull up Google on my phone or ring up my Final Fantasy nerd friend.
Related: How to turn off motion blur in Final Fantasy 16
The more you know
Active Time Lore is the narrative tool I didn’t know I needed, but now I want it in every massive narrative-driven game. An easy-to-use lore mechanic such as this would have done wonders for me in the likes of The Witcher 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2 where, at times, I felt I had maybe missed a vital piece of information that tied the story together or simply wanted to know more about certain characters with ease.
My longing for this feature—or a version of it—in more games is not simply because I can’t follow along with a game’s events, but because I want to know more. Presenting relevant information during a scene, allows you to better understand the background of all its elements. You can better understand why a certain character is maybe a bit of a prick, or why the location they’re in is important to the overarching story. It allows us to be more invested in a game’s narrative and lore. It allows you to be more invested in its world.
As I progress through Final Fantasy 16, Active Time Lore will likely become my best friend. Who knows, maybe it’ll even make a Final Fantasy fan out of me yet.
