• Guide

Final Fantasy 16 - Tips and Tricks

A few points to consider ahead of diving into Final Fantasy 16.

Lucas White

July 5, 2023 3:25 PM

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For the most part, Final Fantasy XVI is a pretty straightforward game. You follow waypoints, hit bad guys with your sword, buy potions at shops, and so on and so forth. Not a lot is left to players to discover on their own, but there’s still some room for a good old-fashioned tips and tricks article. Here are a few points I think help to make sure you make the most of your experience with Final Fantasy XVI.

Tips and tricks for Final Fantasy XVI

Get your bearings (zoom in on the map)

No pun intended, by the way. I figured this out going through hunts, and it ended up being a pretty crucial detail. The more zoomed in you are on the map, the more detail you get. Some of the trickier hunts give you specific locations to look around in, and sometimes you won’t see them until you zoom all the way in. Overall, it’s a good idea to fill in as much of the map as you can, so when you actually need to be somewhere specific later on, finding it won’t involve much guesswork.

Do all the side quests

This is crucial. If you don’t follow any other advice, follow this and your experience with Final Fantasy XVI will thank you for it. Early on, the side quests can seem like a waste of time, and busywork at best. But as the game goes on, the storytelling gets a massive bump in both quality and relevance. You start learning more about not just the world around you, but the characters you like the most. Side quests are optional, but the story feels more complete if you take the time to do them all. Plus, certain side quests (marked with a ‘plus’ icon) unlock stuff like a chocobo mount or increased item capacity. That stuff makes a huge difference.

Grinding works!

It may not seem like it, but grinding is actually really helpful in Final Fantasy XVI. If you find yourself struggling with a boss fight or something, going out and leveling up once or twice can give you a surprising edge. You can even use the replay feature back at the home base to get some XP along with some extra practice.

Blacksmithing & bounties

We already talked about the side quests, and you’ll be taking care of Blackthorne’s problems along the way. But we also recommend taking advantage of his services as you make your way through the game. Stats can make a big difference, and upgrading your equipment is a big part of that. Getting the best stuff requires completing hunts as well, so all the optional content really intersects in a satisfying way.

Locking on is bad, sometimes

This will most likely come up during fights against the really big enemies, like dragons and other moments that might be spoilers to name. Locking on at these moments can target spots that are hard to reach, and you’ll waste valuable time dealing with that. Instead, going free camera lets you hit the boss almost anywhere, the tradeoff being you have to keep up with the camera on your own.

Check out the rest of our Final Fantasy 16 content here on Shacknews, including our review!

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.