6 tips I Wish I Knew Before I Started Playing Final Fantasy 16

If you have started playing Final Fantasy 16 today or you plan to do so soon, we bring you a series of tips that will be especially useful during the first hours of adventure.

Final Fantasy 16 is on sale today , the new chapter in Square Enix ‘s veteran role – playing game saga . However, this new installment reduces the RPG elements to a minimum to become an action game with combos, air attacks, dodges and counterattacks that has little to envy a Devil May Cry .

And it is not the only change: it also tells a story with a much darker tone, openly drinking from series like Game of Thrones . Now, and despite all the changes, it continues to maintain a multitude of classic elements from the Final Fantasy saga : crystals, summons, spells, a character called Cid, chocobos, moguris…

And seeing the first analyzes of the specialized press, it seems that the changes have been a success: at the moment, Final Fantasy 16 boasts an average score of 88 on Metacritic , the main aggregator of ratings for entertainment products. In HobbyConsolas we also published our analysis of Final Fantasy 16 yesterday , in case you want to take a look at it.

Since FFXVI presents a completely new game system, it does not matter if you are veterans of the saga or this is your first Final Fantasy: we are all newbies here. For this reason, we have compiled a series of tips to start playing Final Fantasy 16 that will come in handy, especially during the first hours.

1. Buy and then upgrade

During the first hours of the game Clive arrives at the lair, a place that acts as the HUB in Final Fantasy 16. The first visit serves as a tutorial to find out where Caron’s bazaar and the Black Hammer are, Blackthorne’s smithy , as well as to learn how to use his services

Actually, there is no mystery: if we have the necessary gil we can buy weapons and items, and if we have the necessary materials we can forge new weapons or improve the ones we already have. However, there is a little trick to get the most out of it, since gil and materials are not abundant during the first hours.

You will notice that the vast majority of weapons, belts, and bracelets in Final Fantasy 16 have three levels of improvement: basic, improved, and superior. As we progress through the story, the Caron bazaar is updated and sells basic versions of more powerful weapons, while in the blacksmith we can directly forge the improved version. 

Our advice is that you never do the latter . Instead, buy the base version of the weapon at Charon’s Bazaar, then upgrade it to the Black Hammer . A practical example: buy the long sword for 700 gil and then upgrade it at the blacksmith; first to the “improved” version and then to the “superior” version.

The reason for this is that forging upgraded weapons requires very valuable resources which are then needed to upgrade. However, following this process, you will always be able to go to the last in Final Fantasy 16.

2. Free Potions

As is customary in the saga, potions and ultra potions are used to restore Clive’s health. And you’re going to turn to them often if you don’t want to find yourself visiting the Game Over screen.

However, we recommend that you never buy potions or ultra potions . Contradictory? Let’s explain: first of all, during the first hours it is quite common to find potions and ultra potions on the ground (the objects with a blue glow), so you will rarely lack them.

As the game progresses this is less common, but spending gil on healing items is also not recommended. The reason is that, if we die, the game takes us to the last monolith visited and all our stocks of potions and ultra potions are recharged to the maximum . So, for the face.

3. Torgal, man’s best friend

As the story progresses, during the first few hours of the game, good old Torgal bonds with Clive and will rarely leave his side . In addition to being a formidable dog and being able to pet him at any time (please do), Torgal is a fantastic battle partner who has several mechanics that the game doesn’t explain very well.

Torgal usually attacks automatically , but we can give him a series of orders to take advantage of his canine skills: if we press the up button, he performs a basic attack. And if we press the right button, he does a howl that serves as an emergency heal (he gradually recovers Clive’s translucent health segment, but not beyond).

he interesting thing comes now: if we press the button down, Torgal performs a double attack that also has several uses. If we are facing a small enemy, this attack serves to launch them into the air , leaving them at the mercy of Clive’s air attacks. 

Try, for example, pressing the down button and when the enemy is “flying”, use the Phoenix dexterity to get up to him and give him a few blows. On the contrary, if the enemy is in the air and we press down, Torgal performs an attack that stamps them to the ground.

And there’s even more: although these attacks can be performed at any time, if we press up or down just as Clive finishes his four-hit combo, Torgal will perform a “perfect animal” , or what is the same: a more powerful attack than normal that you will recognize because it has a different animation.

If it seems too complicated or you don’t feel like handling Torgal, you can equip the support ring accessory so that Torgal uses his attacks automatically, but we recommend that you use the training function on the monolith of the earring to familiarize yourself with all its mechanics .

4. Sell items

This is basic advice, but it never hurts to mention it: there are a number of items in Final Fantasy 16 that are only good to sell in stores and earn a few gil. You will recognize them because their description includes some lines in yellow highlighting this characteristic.

Some of the items that are only good for sale are: guilopters , bestial coins , black blood , amber , and glass shards

5. Side quests with the + symbol

As you progress in Final Fantasy 16, secondary missions will begin to appear: You will recognize them immediately because they are represented by the icon of a green admiration . They are not the strong point of the game, but if you are interested in learning more about the current situation in Valisthea, they are a very valuable source of knowledge.

However, as you progress further into Final Fantasy 16, you will notice that some of the side quests still show the icon in green, but instead have a + symbol .

This serves to indicate that these side quests come with a very useful upgrade for Clive as a reward. The first of all that you will see will allow you to unlock a new “displacement method”, but there are also others that serve to increase the number of potions that we can carry, improve their effects, etc.

As you can imagine, our recommendation is that you do them as soon as you have the opportunity.

6. Do not sell accessories!

Although it is not usual, you may sometimes be tempted by the idea of ​​selling accessories that you do not use. Sometimes, you will even find two exactly the same accessories , and since the game doesn’t allow us to equip the same accessory twice… Why not sell it, right?

DON’T DO IT . We repeat: DO NOT SELL ACCESSORIES . Although Final Fantasy 16 does not mention it at any time, having several units of the same accessory is the necessary method to be able to improve them in Final Fantasy difficulty, within a new game + .

So if you plan to play this mode, we recommend that you never sell your accessories And here our ” Final Fantasy 16 basic tips “. What do you think?