Final Fantasy XVI is, in case it wasn’t clear from the title, the sixteenth mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series, and already looks set to be one of the biggest and best game releases of 2023. We’ve seen two trailers thus far, with the second seeing a debut recently, and the fan reception has been positive.
The medieval fantasy setting looks great, and the action-heavy combat has been widely praised thus far. In a series of interviews game producer Naoki Yoshida shared a few tidbits about the game you might not be aware of, but we’ve collated them below. Here are five things you might not know about Final Fantasy XVI.
It’s not open world
Many may have assumed it would be open world – well, most modern RPGs are – but Yoshida has confirmed to IGN that this is not the case. Instead, the game will have multiple areas for the player to traverse, instead of a single all-encompassing hub.
Yoshida states: “We decided to avoid an open world design that limits us to a single open world space, and instead focus on an independent area-based game design that can give players a better feel of a truly ‘global’ scale.”
AI companions are present
We haven’t seen any shots of a full party or anything like that yet, which you would expect from a mainline single player Final Fantasy game, but it seems there will be companions for battles, though they’ll be AI controlled.
Speaking with Gamesradar, Yoshida says: “By spreading out battle controls, out across multiple party members, it can end up hindering the action – or just making things more complicated. And that’s why we decided we’d rather have players focus solely on just controlling Clive.”
Designed with action in mind
Final Fantasy is a series of RPGs, always has been, and they’ve always been linked to the idea of turn-based combat, levels, stats, resources – all things you can manage mid-battle while the action essentially pauses. Even the action-heavy Final Fantasy games have allowed some sort of pause feature. But here action wasn’t a token inclusion, it was the foundation of the game.
In a conversation with GameInformer, Yoshida talks about the early stages of FFXVI: “We decided that rather than building on past Final Fantasy battle systems, that we instead shift our focus to one of real-time action. And so, once we had that concept down, that we were going to go in this direction, it made it easy for our director and our battle director, Ryota Suzuki, to take the reins and bring something that was truly action-focused.”
Eikon battles are all unique
Eikon battles look flashy, but they’re not all for show. In fact, it looks like Eikon battles are going to showcase a variety of gameplay styles in each. How this will play out is unclear right now, but Yoshida gives us more details elsewhere in his GameInformer interview, saying: “For example, maybe one Eikon versus Eikon battle, if you have Eikon A versus Eikon B, that battle will be reminiscent of a 3D shooter.
“Whereas another Eikon versus a different Eikon, it’s more like a pro wrestling match, and then maybe even a third with one Eikon versus another Eikon will transform an entire area into a battlefield.”
Third trailer coming this Fall
One more quick fact from the GameInformer interview is that Final Fantasy 16 has a third trailer on the way later this year, set to debut in the Fall. This one promises to open up more about the narrative that drives FFXVI, instead of simply the action.
Yoshida says: “While we just released our second trailer, we’re currently already working on readying a third trailer for release this fall. In that trailer, we hope to concentrate a little bit more on the world and the lore and the storyline, and hopefully bring a little bit more of that information to players, showing what the story is going to be like, what the narrative is going to be like, and how that’s going to fit into the world.”
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
