In Final Fantasy XVI, you can choose between two difficulty modes. So, what are the major differences between Story Focused and Action Focused? You can find out in this article from Seeking Tech.
Official Descriptions
You can find Square Enix’s description of the Story Focused difficulty from the in-game menu:
Begin the game equipped with several accessories that simplify gameplay. Recommended for those players who are less comfortable with action games and wish to focus more on the game’s story elements.
You can also check out the official description for the Action Focused difficulty below:
Begin the game with standard equipment. Recommended for those players who are comfortable with action games.
Accessibility Rings
If you decided to go with the Story Focused difficulty mode at the beginning of the game, or switch over to it later on, then you will have access to five accessibility rings that makes the game easier. You will be able to equip the following:
Ring of Timely Focus – Time will automatically slow time, giving you plenty of time to dodge an evadable attack.
Ring of Timely Evasion – Your character will automatically dodge any evadable attacks. Since there is no need to manually dodge, there is no need for you to also equip the aforementioned Ring of Timely Focus.
Ring of Timely Strikes – This simplifies complex attack combinations so that you only have to press the Square button a few times.
Ring of Timely Healing – This ring will make it so that the character will automatically heal once their HP drops to a specific point. Potions will be used up before High Potions and other effective healing potions are used.
Ring of Timely Assistance – By equipping this ring, Torgal will automatically help out your character during combat and will adapt to their action. If you already have the Ring of Timely Strikes equipped, then you don’t have to equip the Ring of Timely Assistance as well since the Ring of Timely Strikes already comes with the assistance benefit.
Our Recommendations
We recommend starting with the Action Focused difficulty mode in Final Fantasy XVI as this is how the game is intended to be played.
If you find yourself constantly struggling during combat, then you should be able to switch to Story Focused mode in order to get the five accessibility rings added to your equipment.
From there, you can customize the difficulty settings to your liking. To make dodging easier, you can equip the Ring of Timely Focus or Ring of Timely Evasion. To automatically healing, you can also equip Ring of Timely Healing. To easily pull off complex attack combinations, you should consider equipping the Ring of Timely Strikes as well.