What We Know So Far About Final Fantasy 16

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida let the word out that a new trailer for the game will be releasing sometime this October, so now’s a good time to review what we know so far about the upcoming release. As much as possible we will avoid speculation, but there’s enough information out there to form a solid picture of what this game will be like.

Before we start, it should be noted that a lot is riding on this latest installation in the beloved video game franchise. Yoshida himself has referred to the franchise as struggling, because of the problems with the last main numbered games in the franchise. He has even gone on record that if  Square Enix repeated the mistakes they made with Final Fantasy XIV, it would destroy the company.

So far, Final Fantasy 16 has only been confirmed for a PlayStation 5 release, coming out sometime in Summer 2023. It will be an action RPG, though Square is putting a lot of work in the story and plans to make a separate story mode for players who want to focus on that.

The game is set in the hard fantasy world of Valisthea, and you play as Clive Rosfield. Clive is the firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria and he takes care of his brother Joshua, who is one of your companion characters. They are joined by Jill Warrick, a childhood friend of the brothers.

Yoshida has revealed that Valisthea won’t be an open world. To paraphrase, Square Enix did user research and decided to go in an area-based direction so that the game would be more approachable to newer players. Yoshida has also talked about the decision to go with action gameplay, noting that this choice is mainly for younger players, who are used to action games instead of the franchise’s traditional turn based battle system.

Clive will have a party around him, and like Final Fantasy XV, they will be controlled by AI so you won’t have to worry about them during combat. While Final Fantasy XV had a cooperative attack system, it has not been revealed if that will carry over for Final Fantasy 16. We do know one major difference from its immediate predecessor is that party members will join and leave your party in accordance with where the story goes. Yoshida also says that some of the characters who will join your party will have pivotal roles in the overall story. If you think about it, this idea of characters joining your party and leaving as the story allows, would be a return to some older conventions of the franchise, so Square hasn’t forgotten its roots.

Most fans know Naoki Yoshida as the man who saved Final Fantasy XIV. Joining him as director for Final Fantasy 16 is Hiroshi Takai. Hiroshi is also a Square Enix veteran, with roots in the SaGa games. However, he also had pivotal roles in the releases of Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix’s two major attempts at making an online Final Fantasy. Both Yoshida and Takai are mindful of their history in Square, and the company’s future, as they build to the release of Final Fantasy 16.

Source: TechRadar