Final Fantasy 16 strategy guide - Beginner's tips

Our Final Fantasy 16 strategy guide will help make the game a bit easier. Given the Final Fantasy series has been going for an awful long time now, there are ways that thinking about the game will make it just a bit easier.

In this guide, we'll go over all the tips we have to help you start Final Fantasy 16 quicker and easier. Generally, they should be used to make encounters and inventory management easier. Luckily, with extensive tutorials, most of the basics are already explained by the game.

Final Fantasy 16 strategy guide

Final Fantasy 16 has a pretty long tutorial, so make sure you pay attention to everything the game throws at you. Though all that text can be a little daunting, you will grateful to have read it when you're 20 hours into the game and taking on a huge boss.

Most of the information we go over here will assume you have done the tutorial, so we won't be explaining to how basic attack, dodge, or use starting mechanics.

Be patient

Final Fantasy 16, like most of the games in the series, has a little bit of a slow start. Though combat is still fast-paced, it takes a while to fully invest in the crafting system, abilities, and loadouts. If you find you are not upgrading gear or getting side missions quickly enough, play through the main story to come across more.

• Read more: Final Fantasy 16 release time countdown

This is the same for Experience, Gil, and Ability Points. All of these can be earned through grinding but will be more efficiently earned if you just play through the main quest.

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Learn how to Stagger

Staggering is one of the most important mechanics when it comes to boss fights in Final Fantasy 16. Under boss enemy's health bars is a yellow bar. If you deplete this entirely with hits, they will become Staggered, leaving them open to attacks that deal more damage.

Special moves that hit multiple times like Gouge are particularly effective here, as they can take down that bar even quicker. Once an enemy reaches the halfway point in their Stagger, they do a small Stagger - a great chance to fire off a move that needs preparation like the Wind-up special attacks.

Upgrade

Don't feel too worried when it comes to upgrading your gear. Loot is plentiful and crafting resources come along quite a lot in Final Fantasy 16. For this reason, if a sword has a higher stat than yours and you are able to craft it with the Blacksmith, you should do it.

Later on, as you unlock hunts and do the Blacksmith's Blues quests, you will unlock special weapons that require unique resources. Unlocking these weapons will make sections of the game significantly easier, but aren't necessary to beat the game.

Complete hunts

As well as giving you unique resources for weapons, hunts are a great way to earn Experience, Gil, Ability Points, and Renown, which can be used to get special items in the Hideaway.

As well as this, they will take you to unique parts in the map which can help you discover more chests and creatures. Generally, you are incentivised to explore as much as possible.

With all these tips, you should be off to a solid start in Final Fantasy 16. If you're looking for a little more information, here are the best abilities in Final Fantasy 16, best weapons in Final Fantasy 16, and how to Limit Break in Final Fantasy 16.