In a new interview, the Final Fantasy 16 team explain how things old (Final Fantasy V) and new (livestreaming video games) has directed a key design decision for their gameplay.
As reported by Siliconera, on hand for the interview with magazine Dengeki Online were Producer Naoki Yoshida and Directors Hiroshi Takai and Kazutoyo Maehiro.
To understand what they mean, we first need to talk a little bit about Final Fantasy V. This Final Fantasy was originally released on the Super Famicom in 1992, and most recently has a Pixel Remaster version that is now available on Windows and mobile devices. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is coming to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2023.
Final Fantasy V’s great innovation in the franchise is the job system. In prior Final Fantasy games, you had to choose one class for each of your characters. Maximizing your character’s abilities meant planning their classes far in advance.
But in the job system, classes are now jobs, and all your characters can learn all the jobs that they want. In this new system, every character starts as a Freelancer and also has to earn their right to learn a new job. Ultimately, you can have all your characters learn and master all the jobs.
Director Maehiro mentioned the Ability Progression system of Final Fantasy V inspiring their choices in Final Fantasy 16. In Final Fantasy V, when you start learning jobs, you have to earn a new set of experience points, called Ability Points, to earn experience for that particular job.
Director Takai then mentioned the Spellblade-Dualwield-Rapidfire, which is a deep cut that only the people who finished the game would know about.
Spellblade, Dualwield, and Rapidfire are actually three different abilities you can only learn from three different jobs. However, if you play as a Mimic, you can use any ability any of the other jobs have. Playing as a Mimic lets you unlock the use of all these three abilities simultaneously.
So, when Director Takai brought this up, what he wants is for players to find these similarly inventive strategies to max out their characters abilities in Final Fantasy 16. It’s a hint that Final Fantasy 16 will have very deep, involved experience and ability systems, that players will have to study to get the most out of them.
As for livestreaming, Takai’s interest was more straightforward. He wanted people who watched livestreamers playing the game to be interested and engaged watching that gameplay, to the point that they would want to buy and play the game themselves. It sounds like they’re aiming for a system that has a lot of visual appeal, but will also visibly offer some level of personalization.
Finally, they reiterate an earlier decision not to make Final Fantasy 16 open world, but if the studio had already decided to focus on this system instead, that’s what the fans will look forward to instead.
After the mixed reception their incredibly deep, but lengthy open world in Final Fantasy XV is any indication, the Final Fantasy 16 made the right choice focusing on something else.
Final Fantasy 16 will be releasing as a timed exclusive on PlayStation 5 on June 22, 2023.
