Fans of the iconic franchise are eagerly anticipating what will be a fresh and exciting addition to the popular series on June 22.
Final Fantasy XVI was my first experience with the game, and I had the chance to meet some of the game's key developers. I'm certain that it will become a standard PS5 game.
Final Fantasy XVI will feature a talented cast of artists who have all worked on the critically acclaimed game. Masayoshi Soken, well-known for XIV's powerful score, will direct the game's musical direction, while Hiroshi Takai, a Square Enix veteran known for his contributions to the SaGa series and the Last Remnant, will lead the project.
Below, I'll highlight a few of the games that made me smile the most, and that I believe will make this game a memorable experience for fans and newcomers of the series.
Real-time combat and high-octane Eikon fights give you the thrills of real-time combat.
Eikons are massive and powerful creatures that protect humans from the elements in Valisthea. These mighty creatures are able to summon their respective Eikon's incredible strength in battle. Each battle in Final Fantasy is unique in its setting, movement, and gameplay.
The protagonist Clive Rosfield is equipped with a variety of combat abilities as the story progresses, peppering them in battles to form stunning combos.
Ryota Suzuki says the Final Fantasy V ability system drew a bit of inspiration in the sense that Clive learns abilities from the Eikons he encounters on his journey and can combine them in numerous unique ways to create a powerful arsenal of skills.
The gameplay was fast-paced, complex, and incredibly rewarding, with this Devil May Cry 5 veteran leading the way.
A high skill ceiling yet an accessible gameplay experience
XVI's combat system is particularly pleasing and exciting since you will no longer have to choose between easy, normal, or difficult at the start of your playthrough: you will have two options: story-focused and action-focused, with the sole difference that picking story-focus gives players access to a particular set of items from the beginning of their playthrough.
Final Fantasy XVI includes a variety of helpful accessories that can help players who are new to action gaming. One accessory reduces time while another completely automates the controls of Torgal, Clive's loyal dog.
Final Fantasy XVI is intended to be accessible to a wide spectrum of players, irrespective of previous experience with action games.
'Final Fantasy' is a fantastic game that allows players to have multiple battles throughout the game.
A narrative landscape of great fantasy and political intrigue
XVI takes us on a journey back to the origins of the franchise, drawing inspiration from medieval Europe. A delicate balance emerges, punctuated by periods of precarious peace. But when the aether begins to drain, tensions escalate, and deep political conflicts threaten to tear Valisthea apart.
Players will follow Clive's journey, a tale of revenge with his own unique and personal motivations, against this backdrop of uncertainty. He will not be traveling alone.
'Every individual character is unique in their backgrounds and motivations, and each has their own unique arcs that play out throughout the story,' says Naoki Yoshida. 'We have a vast ensemble cast,' says Yoshida.
Final Fantasy XVI will include a brand-new system called Active Time Lore, or ATL for short, to support this rich narrative.
Michael-Christopher Koji Fox "We created a history that goes back over 1500 years, which influenced the narrative."
This extremely powerful feature is included throughout the game and will allow you to stop the game at any point, even mid-cutscene, and get personalized story prompts to refresh your memory of a particular character or historical event that occurred.
"We have tens of thousands of entries available," Koji Fox adds, "but players may choose to ignore them and enjoy the game without feeling clogged."
PS5's hardware is a major boost to its technical ability.
Final Fantasy XVI sets a new technical standard that cannot be ignored. Its vast and beautiful world can be explored with ease, seamlessly transitioning between battle, exploration, and cutscenes without any annoying loading times. Players can also delight themselves in a sensational rollercoaster experience thanks to the DualSense wireless controller.
"We take the sound effect data from our cutscenes and convert it into vibration data," says Hiroshi Takai. "While an explosion will obviously produce a lot of vibration, it's the smaller sounds and subtle variations that really stood out to us."
The portion of FFXVI that I got the chance to play was a vertical slice of the main questline, which came to an end just a few hours into the game. We explored a castle and encountered many enemies, culminating in two thrilling boss battles.
