“PSEUDO-MEDIEVAL”
Fans in other countries also rushed to download the title or purchase it at stores.
In Seoul, 23-year-old Jo Young-min said that the game should be a success because “Japanese culture is quite popular and also because Final Fantasy already has a hardcore fan base”.
Daniel Ahmad, director of research at gaming industry analysis firm Niko Partners, told AFP that Thursday’s release would be a boon for Sony.
The company’s PlayStation 5 hit shelves in November 2020 but was initially hard to get hold of because of supply chain issues, in part due to China’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
“We expect the combination of increased supply for the PS5, positive feedback for the Final Fantasy XVI demo and the release of the first major third-party exclusive title for the console to drive PS5 sales growth over the next month,” Ahmad said.
The Metacritic website, which collates reviews from critics, gave it a score of 88 per cent, lower than the 96 per cent enjoyed by The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the last blockbuster game release.
Specialist site Eurogamer gave it three stars out of five, praising the “smart combat system” but criticising the “ponderous pseudo-medieval soap opera, with some of the grandest bosses and dullest sidequests in FF history”.
Unlike the older titles, which usually feature a roster of characters who gain power and skills as the story unfolds, Final Fantasy XVI has one protagonist – called Clive.
The character’s voice actor, Ben Starr, told the Radio Times that he had “loved” the reaction to the name.
“To a lot of people, especially British people, the name Clive doesn’t necessarily feel very heroic,” he said.