The Art of Final Fantasy XVI & Poster Collection impressions — A standard art book for an outstanding game

I adored Final Fantasy XVI (our review here), and I’m always a sucker for artbooks, so let’s get straight into things. The Art of Final Fantasy XVI is a massive, hardcover tome compiling officially released art and renders along with concept art. The pages, as usual for SquareEnix art books, are nice and glossy, letting you appreciate every detail of the artwork. The book begins with some key art before transitioning into design sheets for major characters like Clive and Jill. After art of more minor characters, it moves into art for the world of Valisthea which is the section I enjoyed most. After that, we have item artwork, icons for the UI, and even every frame of pixel art for Clive’s party over the course of the game.

While the art is great, just like every SE art book, I still have the same complaints I have with every SE art book. First, there are a few two page spreads which, given the book’s binding, you can’t quite see the entirety of without possibly causing damage to the book’s spine. Some of these don’t even take up the entirety of the page they start on, which is a baffling layout choice. Secondly, a great art book will also include early concept art for the game alongside developer and artist commentary detailing their thoughts and process, and sadly this book doesn’t have either of those things. I’ve covered so many of their art books by now, and it does feel like I’m repeating the same song and dance over and over, so let’s move on to the other subject of this article: the poster collection.

I’m not the biggest poster person, but the 35 removable prints this book comes with are of a high quality that, when framed, could pass for more typical artwork. It contains some pieces of key art we’ve seen in the art book and pre-release, as well as renders of each Dominant, but the highlight for me was the more atmospheric artwork. The issue I have with the former group is that they usually have text on them, which is a pet peeve of mine with artwork that’s supposed to be displayed around the home. The latter pieces have no such text and speak for themselves, with great color work and composition. In particular, the last piece in the book showing all of the game’s Dominants is one I would actually consider framing and hanging up in my room somewhere.

Overall, while both of these books have some great artwork, I am left feeling like they’re fairly low effort overall. The paper and cardboard they are printed on are of great quality, yet the layouts and artwork choses along with the lack of any insight into the development process leave me feeling like a bit more care could have been taken.