In the end it happened, probably even sooner than people expected: to open the showcase event of the PlayStation 5 was nothing less than the announcement trailer of Final Fantasy XVI. We are talking about a full-bodied video, over four minutes long, which allowed fans to get a clear and precise idea of what the sixteenth chapter of Final Fantasy will be in terms of graphics, atmosphere, setting, music and combat system.
A trailer that however failed to excite the entire Final Fantasy community and left many doubts about the possible quality of the game. That's why this little insight into FF16 is born, with the aim of making you take a deep breath and discover what lies behind - and beyond - those 4 minutes and 2 seconds that Square Enix showed us.
When will it come out and for which platform
According to what is reported by the slide that closes the trailer, Final Fantasy XVI should be an exclusive PlayStation 5 as far as consoles are concerned, and available simultaneously also on PC. The fact is that, throughout the event, there were various misunderstandings with the slides that specified PC exclusivity, so much so that Square Enix dissociated itself from the FFXVI issue on PC. The exclusivity would therefore remain that for the Sony flagship, even if according to what was declared by analyst Piers Harding-Rolls to Eurogamer it seems that it is a temporal exclusivity of about six months before the release of the PC version and of 1 year since that Xbox. Nothing official, but it seems to us a rather credible scenario.
As for the release date, there will still be a long wait, as no details have been given regarding the possible launch windows. Wanting to play fortune tellers, probably 2022/2023 are the most eligible years to be able to get your hands on Final Fantasy XVI. The reason for this hypothesis is simple: the game is visibly dirty and not very advanced in development, as also demonstrated by the opening premise of the trailer which states that what is shown runs on a PC that emulates the performance of PS5. Furthermore, it is news of April 2019 that the Creative Business Unit 3 (which we will talk about shortly) was working on a great next gen title, which suggests that it takes at least three years to complete the work.
Naoki Yoshida, Creative Business Unit III and Final Fantasy XIV
To deal with the development of Final Fantasy XVI, is the old Business Division 5, now called Creative Business Unit III, which is the division that mainly deals with the two MMORPGs of the series, FFXI and, above all, Final Fantasy XIV. It is no coincidence that in the role of Producer of this Final Fantasy XVI there is Naoki Yoshida, the man responsible for the legendary rebirth of FFXIV and its incredible success. At the direction, however, we find his right arm Hiroshi Takai, another important figure in the team of the fourteenth chapter, who in the past has also contributed as Director in titles such as Romancing Saga and The Last Remnant. It is important to underline the project guide of these two figures because it is representative of what we have seen to date of FFXVI and, above all, of what we will see in the future.
Knowing that FFXVI is in their hands gives a great sense of security in terms of quality, content, respect, passion and love for this IP. FFXIV has proven over the years to be one of the best exponents of the series not surprisingly, giving players one of the best written stories, with extremely characterized characters and memorable villains like they have not seen for a long time. The main campaign even boasts the advantage of having a setting and quality worthy of the best Final Fantasy single player offline. In addition to this, what leaves you more and more impressed by playing FFXIV is the ability to catapult the player into the largest carousel of giveaways, referrals, fan service and cameos that can exist. Trust me, when we tell you that FFXVI is probably in the hands of the best Square-Enix talent available to date.
The legacy of crystals has shaped our history long enough
From the trailer of Final Fantasy XVI it is difficult to get a clear idea of what the story of the game will be, to the point that we do not even know the name of the protagonist. The only name we have is that of Joshua, the son of the archduke of one of the two Twin Kingdoms apparently at war. Joshua seems to be a central character in the plot of Final Fantasy XVI as he is a Dominant, or an individual able to transform (or evoke, this still needs to be clarified) into an elemental Eikon, that is, in one of the magical creatures that in the history of Final Fantasy have taken on different names, such as Summon, Esper, Eidolons, Aeons, Guardian Force etc… In Joshua's case, it seems that he is the Dominant of Phoenix, but at the same time he seems to be somehow connected with that of Ifrit as well. Yet it seems that two Eikons of fire cannot exist according to one of the characters in the trailer. Ifrit and Phoenix seem to be rivals, whether it is the struggle between the fires of resurrection and those of destruction? Time will tell.
In the meantime, we also witnessed the battle between Shiva and Titan during a clash between two warring factions (a woman mentions the battle between Dhalmek and the Crusaders), further confirming that the Eikon will have a central role in the narrative component of the game. Our protagonist is, or rather was, Joshua's bodyguard, or at least he defines himself as such by calling himself “Joshua's shield”. In fact, it seems that we will live two distinct moments in the life of the hero of this story: his youth, in the service of the archduke and his son, and the more adult one as a mercenary, whose goal will be to kill someone. What happened in the life of the protagonist? In the trailer we see a person very close to Joshua being brutally killed by showering the child with blood, apparently triggering the summoning / transformation. That Joshua has become a danger and must be stopped? Other questions whose answers will come only in the future.
The last important element to keep in mind is that of the Crystal. Final Fantasy XVI seems to carry on "the legacy of the crystal" introduced in the first Final Fantasy and found in several chapters of the series, but there seems to be some kind of meta-narrative twist, which can be guessed from a message in the trailer that contains textual words "The heritage of crystals has shaped our history long enough ”.
On the one hand we have the MotherCrystal which seems to guide the actions of one of the two warring kingdoms (as well as protecting it from a danger called Blight); on the other hand we have a message to Final Fantasy fans declaring the intent to change the concept of the classic story of the Crystals that we have always come to know. A not entirely new concept in Yoshida's games since in the latest FFXIV expansion, or Shadowbringers, an attempt has already been made to overturn the concept of light and darkness to reveal the not quite clear and not entirely benevolent will of the MotherCrystal.
Ryota Suzuki, Devil May Cry and action combat
Sadly we know, the turn-based vs. those actions will never end, also because it is such a personal thing that it makes no sense to question what is better or worse. What should count is not so much the what is proposed but the how, because there are excellent action RPGs as well as equally bad turn-based JRPGs. In the history of Final Fantasy we have already had the opportunity to have a duality in the quality of the action combat system with Final Fantasy XV and Final Fantasy VII Remake, the first sketchy, superficial and shallow, while the second incredibly inspired, well contextualized and absolutely not trivial.
We now come to that of Final Fantasy XVI: although we have only had a taste of it, what we have been able to see speaks for itself, that is a total conversion towards the pure and technical action game. We imagine that many of you will have exclaimed "but this is the Devil May Cry combat system!" and the claim is not that far from reality. The reason we tell you all this is called Ryota Suzuki, and he's the battle director of FF16. For those unfamiliar with him, Ryota Suzuki is a former Capcom developer best known for his latest work in Devil May Cry 5 as a Game Designer. Everything now comes back, especially the news a few months ago that he saw Suzuki hired by Square Enix for a great next gen project.
Suzuki's ability is indisputable if you have played even just a few minutes at the fifth chapter of Devil May Cry, able to offer an almost perfect action combat system that makes the concept of Stylish so dear to the Capcom series even more its own. Chaining of strokes, dashes, rushes, dodges, parry, key mapping, control feedback, everything is done with such synergy as to make fighting an always varied activity that rises as you gain experience and become more technical .
What we saw in the Final Fantasy XVI trailer shows all that experience integrated and perfectly contextualized with the narrative of the game. In fact, our protagonist will be able to use the power of the Eikon in real time depending on the situation and needs in combat. The power of Phoenix, for example, allows you to make uppercuts and throw enemies into the air; the fists of Titan allow you to execute counterattacks and wipe out the opponent; Garuda's claws (assuming it's her) guarantee lightning-fast aerial combos. Historically the use of summons in Final Fantasy were limited to simple summons, but here they have a much more concrete impact on gameplay and we really can't wait to find out more, as well as to know if there will also be a progression system which will allow its evolution
We just have to wait
We know that many are not happy with the graphics of the game, but we invite you to reflect on the fact that, for the first time in years, a Final Fantasy is shown at its announcement with a trailer made with the game engine, with many incipits narratives and above all with portions of gameplay. Knowing Yoshida and his working approach, surely there is the intention to be as transparent and honest as possible with the community in order to show the technical and narrative evolution through the various communication paths that we will discover starting from 2021 onwards, as Yoshida himself stated on the Playstation Blog pages.
The game is certainly in an embryonic phase, given that the trailer videos were captured by a PC that emulated the performance of PS5 and, therefore, it is certainly credible to think that already next year we will be able to see clear improvements. Trust the people who are developing it, they deserve it and have proven it.
For everything else, we just have to wait for next year for all the news on this highly anticipated Final Fantasy XVI.
► Final Fantasy XVI is an Action-RPG type game developed and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 5, The release is planned: TBA
