What we’re looking forward to in Final Fantasy XVI
It seems that some outlets have had the opportunity to go hands-on with Final Fantasy XVI recently, and impressions have for the most part been very positive. With about a month to go until the release of the game on PlayStation 5 — and a public demo supposedly coming in early June — I thought I’d share some of the things I’m particularly looking forward to about this latest installment in the storied franchise.
Oh, and if anyone comes in here bitching about “Kingdom Hearts combat” they’ll get a slap. Final Fantasy hasn’t been turn-based for twenty years now. Get over it and go play the Bravely Default series. Bet you didn’t buy those games, did you? No? Then stop whingeing. Those games offer exactly what you’re after. Also Kingdom Hearts’ combat was good, anyway. And is completely unrelated to what goes on in this game.
Ahem. Anyway, I digress.
Dynamic but accessible combat
With Devil May Cry V’s combat director Ryota Suzuki working on Final Fantasy XVI’s battle system, we can expect enjoyable, flashy combat that offers considerable depth, but which remains accessible to newcomers. Early reports from the preview builds suggest that Clive is relatively limited in his moveset to begin with, but this will gradually open up as you proceed through the game and earn new abilities.
In some respects, Final Fantasy XVI’s combat sounds like it will incorporate an evolution of Final Fantasy XV’s stance-dancing. Here, though, instead of a relatively simple switch between attacking and taking a more defensive posture, protagonist Clive will have the opportunity to switch between Eikons in order to unlock various abilities. This will presumably offer a blend between the different weapon types of Final Fantasy XV and the innate abilities attached to equipment and summons found in earlier titles like Final Fantasy VI and IX.
It sounds as if there will be a lot of flexibility in terms of creating combos by switching between Eikons mid-battle, and the “Stagger” system builds on the work Final Fantasy combat systems have been doing since XIII. It looks and sounds like it will be a lot of fun.
The Japanese open world approach
While open-world design is primarily associated with western games, Japanese devs certainly aren’t averse to it, either — just look at titles like Nier Automata, Xenoblade Chronicles and, indeed, Final Fantasy XV. There’s a core difference between Japanese and western open world design philosophies, however — and the former approach inevitably makes for more tightly focused games that still feel like they have plenty of freedom.
The difference primarily stems from how the open world is designed. Western open worlds tend to be designed by starting with a big field and then plonking stuff in it, some of which will get in the way of the player. Japanese open worlds, meanwhile, tend to be designed as a series of interconnected “zones”, each of which is designed like a more conventionally designed “stage” of a game. Consequently, some people don’t describe these as “open worlds” at all — but they absolutely are, given how you can freely move between areas at any time rather than reaching “points of no return”.
You can see the difference just by looking at maps: while western open worlds tend to have vast tracts of open space with icons scattered across them, Japanese open worlds tend to look almost “labyrinthine” in some ways, with a variety of different pathways you can take across the various regions and various areas that you’re completely barred from getting into.
While this might sound more restrictive, it works so much better. It allows for the spectacular vistas and feeling of freedom that the open world structure excels at, but also completely prevents situations like when you know your objective is on the other side of the mountain you’re standing next to, but you have no idea how to get to it. Rather than spending half an hour trying to break the game’s physics and “climb” the vertical wall, in a Japanese open world there will, more often than not, be a clearly defined path for you to get to your destination.
While we’re yet to see local maps of Final Fantasy XVI’s areas in detail, producer Naoki Yoshida has confirmed that the approach is very much akin to that found in Final Fantasy X and XII — which is absolutely a good thing, as it strikes an excellent balance between providing you with a feeling of progression as you explore, but not gating you off from investigating places you just find intriguing or curious.
Another Soken soundtrack
Masayoshi Soken shot to fame with his incredible work on the Final Fantasy XIV soundtrack, and it’s a delight to know that his work will be celebrated on a non-MMO installment of the series. Nothing against Final Fantasy XIV, mind — if anything, it’s Soken’s music that keeps me coming back more than anything else — but it’s nice to know there will be a Soken-scored Final Fantasy that has more “permanence” than an online-only entry in the franchise.
The exact details of how Soken will be handling Final Fantasy XVI’s soundtrack remain to be seen, though. Will he have the same unrestrained creativity he’s clearly had with Final Fantasy XIV’s soundtrack, blending more traditional orchestral numbers with modern rock, pop and electronica? Or will the game’s focus on a medieval-esque “dark fantasy” setting constrain him somewhat?
I suspect the former, since Final Fantasy XIV also mostly unfolds in a relatively dark fantasy kind of setting, albeit with magitek and the Allagan shenanigans upping the tech level in surprising ways at various points around the world. Regardless of musical style, though, I’m expecting some truly epic musical numbers during the game’s larger-scale battles — particularly the cinematic clashes between Eikons.
Some folks are a little concerned that the Eikon battles in particular will be less about player input and more about the overall spectacle — but frankly, if they’re accompanied by a Soken soundtrack I am 100% fine with that.
Yoshi-P knows what he’s doing
If there’s one thing Final Fantasy XIV has made clear, it’s that producer Naoki Yoshida knows how to make a damn good game — and a damn good Final Fantasy. Once again, it’s a pleasure to know that he’s had the opportunity to express himself through a self-contained single-player game as well as an ongoing MMO, and I suspect that in many ways, Final Fantasy XVI will help those resistant to jumping into an online-only game feel like they’ve had a chance to enjoy Yoshi-P’s excellent work.
It also helps that, although Final Fantasy XVI has had its development setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation in Ukraine, it hasn’t been nearly as troubled as Final Fantasy XV was — which hopefully means we’ll have an altogether more solid game at launch this time around. Final Fantasy XV was good at launch, even better after several years’ worth of patches and DLC; I have a reasonable amount of confidence that Final Fantasy XVI will be in tip-top shape from day one.
And if it isn’t, well, it hopefully should be by the time the PS5 exclusivity ends!
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