Final Fantasy 16 is an enormous beast, as is tradition with the long-running RPG series, but just how long is it? Here we’ll let you know exactly how many hours it took different members of the IGN team to finish the story, and what they prioritised doing with their time.
How long is Final Fantasy 16?
- Our fastest player finished it in 29 hours.
- Our “slowest” player spent 60 hours before credits rolled.
Everyone plays games differently, so read on for more details about how everyone played, how long it took to reach the credits, and how much extra time players spent exploring the world. Once you’ve finished the game yourself, be sure to submit your times on How Long To Beat and see how your time compares!
Matt Purslow – News and Features Editor
Playing with a focus on the main story, it took me 46 hours to complete Final Fantasy 16. I discovered fairly early on that the side quests are a bit simple for my liking, and so by the mid-way point I was ignoring all of them aside from those which improved my gear. Overall I completed 25 side quests and a couple of the optional monster hunts, which I’d say extended my time beyond the main scenario by about eight to ten hours. I also spent quite a while reading the in-game lore entries and history lessons, which constantly update as the story progresses, and that’s likely why I’m not the fastest on this list despite more or less mainlining the story.
While I’ve missed out on the very best weapons and a variety of items that are awarded for doing side content, it didn’t affect my enjoyment and certainly didn’t hamper my ability to deal out effective damage on the action-focused difficulty mode. By sticking mostly to the main quests, when the credits rolled I’d progressed Clive up to Level 42. Even on the action-focused setting, Final Fantasy 16 isn’t a difficult game, and the final boss didn’t prove particularly challenging at this level. So if you’re planning on mainlining the story you can be reasonably confident that you won’t have to grind. Definitely do the side quests that increase the number and potency of your healing potions, though!
Mitchell Saltzman – Senior Producer
I took my time with Final Fantasy 16, systematically crossing off every green exclamation mark denoting a sidequest on the map, up until the main quest’s “point of no return,” at which point about 12 more popped up, and I decided to leave those for after I beat the final boss. All together, it took me about 60 hours before I hit credits, and that includes about half of the bounty board, roughly 60 or so sidequests, and some toying around with FF16’s arcade mode, trying to set some high scores.
I’ve also dabbled a bit with the extensive New Game+ mode, which remixes enemy locations, increases the difficulty, raises the level cap, and provides all new opportunities to upgrade your gear. I still find the difficulty pretty easy even in NG+ mode, at least at the start of the remixed campaign, so I don’t know if it’s going to carry me through a whole second playthrough, but I do envision myself going back through my main save, finishing up the rest of the sidequests, hunting down my remaining bounties, and locating and completing all of the chronolith trials.
Dale Driver – Executive Producer of Video
I stormed through the story of Final Fantasy 16 in 29 hours, taking part in a good chunk of the sidequests along the way too. Infact, I would often prioritise chipping away at my huge list of incomplete side activities before taking on some of the big bosses the game has to offer. A side effect of this was I consistently found myself overpowered and the enemies lacking much of a challenge.
After the credits rolled I still had over a dozen side quests to do, and 20 notorious marks to hunt down, so I could easily see myself sinking in another 10 hours into the world of Valisthea.
I’m a keen trophy hunter though, and I’ve already got my eyes on the platinum prize. I’m close to having the majority complete already, but they’ll be one outstanding gold that will likely double the completion time. You can have to complete the entire game again in Final Fantasy mode. Definitely set aside a minimum of 60 hours if you’re looking for that precious platty.
If you want to see how Final Fantasy 16 stacks up in length to the previous games in the series, check out our complete Playlist of Final Fantasy games. You can sort it by HLTB playtime, rating, and release date. And you can of course make your own lists and rankings, too. And if you need a little help with anything in Valisthea, be sure to check out our Final Fantasy 16 guides.
