Final Fantasy 16 is here and players have been heaping praise on the approach to the game’s map.
The PlayStation 5 timed exclusive ends a seven-year wait for the next entry in the series, which was released way back in 2016 and was a major disappointment among the game’s passionate player base.
Early signs for Final Fantasy 16 look a lot more promising and the game’s map has attracted vast praise, with fans agreeing that Square Enix took the correct approach with a style that is becoming increasingly rarer in modern games.
In a post on Reddit, one fan sparked an abundance of praise for the linear map design in the game, saying it “feels great to not aimlessly wander” around a vast map, which usually comes alongside collecting “a ridiculous amount of pointless little map markers.”
Signing off by saying Final Fantasy 16 feels like “a return to classic FF”, the post received over 100 upvotes and over 90 comments with fans agreeing with the point raised by the original poster.
One commenter highlighted that, while open-world games are enjoyable, they are often used in games for the sake of it, while another praised the design of being explorable “but not so much that it is overbearing”.
Although the early analysis of Final Fantasy 16 is positive, some fans are boycotting the game altogether, so it’s clear not everyone is happy.
I’m a huge fan of open-world games, but they can often feel daunting rather than exciting, particularly when a lot of a map is left as a barren landscape with few things to explore and a lot of time needed to traverse it.
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When done right, open-world games are spectacular and can utilize the full capabilities of modern-gen consoles and high-end gaming PCs, but it does feel that sometimes open-world maps are used as a selling point rather than a feature to enjoy.
A linear map style should never be overlooked, particularly as you can still leave plenty to explore without forcing players to move completely off track and can focus on making the environment perfect.
Final Fantasy 16 certainly seems to have found that balance and should serve as a lesson to other titles that are on the fence over which route to go down.
