It’s been three weeks since we returned from a press tour in London, where we had been invited by Square Enix to take charge of the long-awaited Final Fantasy XVI. A European event of the utmost importance (the Americans had theirs on their territory), because it allowed the first feedback from journalists on a very dreaded takeover. Because even if Final Fantasy XVI has been playing cards on the table since its announcement two years ago, fully assuming its even more action orientation than episode 15, the publisher did not really know what sauce it was going to be eaten. It would seem that this radical change of tone is ultimately paying, even convincing…
Casually, this year, it will be 7 years since the very controversial Final Fantasy XV was released. A painful project which also marked the end of a chaotic development of more than 10 years, with a change of direction, orientation, objectives, even name, within a Square Enix in full mutation. We had much the same complicated pattern with Forspoken, since Hajime Tabata left Square Enix in 2018 from his position as boss of Luminous Productions. Starting off with half the talents, Tabata-san left the project unfinished and wobbly, for which Forspoken is considered a failed project today. To avoid reproducing these same pitfalls, Square Enix has decided to secure the development of Final Fantasy XVI, by entrusting the project to the Creative Business Unit III. If this name means nothing to you, it may be because you are not interested enough in MMORPGs, or rather MEUPORGs if you prefer. This is actually the team behind Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix’s goose, saved in extremis by its game director, Yoshi-P, also known as Naoki Yoshida. Having become a living god within the Japanese publisher, Yoshida had full powers for the production of Final Fantasy XVI, which decided to assume its new position: to be a real action game for the general public, even if it means deny its origins. Because yes, this Final Fantasy XVI looks more like a Devil May Cry than an episode stamped FF, and the choice of its technicians is not trivial. With Ryota Suzuki as combat director, a Capcom survivor who worked on Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Dragon’s Dogma and the latest Devil May Cry V, Kazutoyo Maehiro as screenwriter, who previously worked on The Last Remnant and Final Fantasy XII; and finally Hiroshi Takai, hired as game directorand best known for his work on Final Fantasy V, everything came together to make this Final Fantasy XVI a completely different episode.
YOSHIDA, THE UNCOMPLEXED
If Square Enix still had difficulty in accepting this position, it is today assumed and very clear, to the point that Naoki Yoshida took the liberty of explaining during our press conference that action games with combat in real time have become the norm in a mainstream market. This is what pushed Final Fantasy XVI to embrace this new combat system, even in the invocations where we can control our giant creatures in epic clashes. But before going into the details of the gameplay mechanics, a quick word on the story of this Final Fantasy XVI, which takes place in the new world of Valisthéa. It is a territory occupied mainly by mountains and crystalline plains, divided into 6 nations which each have a different Crystal-Mother: the Archduchy of Rosalia, the Holy Empire of Sangbreque, the Kingdom of Valœd, the Republic of Dalmequia, the Kingdom of Iron and the Dominion of Crystal. These 6 nations are at peace, but the balance of power is threatened by the arrival of the “Black Scourge”. Each country has its Emissary, which is the name given to the humans who shelter the Primordials, who are in fact creatures that live in the organism of these elites capable of transforming into giant monsters, capable of ravaging everything in a reverse of phalanges.
In the Final Fantasy series, it’s a classic, since they take the place of summons, which we will be able to control in combat sequences that are not necessarily interesting from a purely gameplay point of view (there are a lot of QTE ), but which have the merit of offering a thunderous show that will amaze. The story is also based on the war between the Primordials, knowing that each represents one of the four elements of fire, water, wind and earth. It is in the skin of Clive Rosfield that the player will discover Valisthéa, he who is the eldest son of the Archduke of Rosalia, and who unfortunately did not inherit the role of Phoenix Emissary. It is indeed his younger brother Joshua who got the beautiful role except that the latter lost in life in tragic circumstances which will plunge our dark hero into a deep malaise. Moreover, like the previous numbered episode, this Final Fantasy XVI will allow us to follow a Clive from adolescence to his well-packed thirty years; the opportunity to discover a little more in depth his undoubtedly tortured personality…
FINAL MAY CRY
If the story promises betrayals, sacrifices and twists worthy of the biggest psychodramas that the heroic-fantasy could have carried, the time is for the moment to fight, the big one, the real one, the one that is moreover fully assumed . There is no longer any hesitation possible with a completely uninhibited Naoki Yoshida, here, we want to please the general public and it is on the Action-RPG side, or even beat’em up that Final Fantasy XVI is eyeing. We don’t know yet if the J-RPG dimension will still have a few scraps of existence in this game, because this demo has been specially developed for the needs of this Preview Session, but in embracing this new era, Final Fantasy XVI no longer does things by halves. Finished the boys-band of 2015 to lead, Clive is the one and only character that we will apprehend, with his evolution of skills over the adventure we imagine. He will be accompanied by combat partners, but it is the AI that will take care of controlling them entirely, the player focusing on Clive and his combo possibilities.
If Square Enix still had difficulty in accepting this position, it is today assumed and very clear, to the point that Naoki Yoshida took the liberty of explaining during our press conference that action games with combat in real time have become the norm in a mainstream market. This is what prompted Final Fantasy XVI to embrace this new combat system.
To do this, the combat system is intended to be simple and easy to understand, with a button for sword strikes (Square), another for magic linked to an element according to the skills equipped (Triangle), but also the possibility to use the powers linked to Primordials (Round), subject to a cooldown to limit abuse. If it will be possible to unlock other attacks via a skill tree, only two primordials can be used in combat. The choices, the strategy, a classic. Added to this is a dodge (step aside), the possibility of parrying enemy attacks, but also of entering a kind of trans/black anger, which makes it possible to cause even more damage. Yes, there is God of War in the air, and this comparison may even make Yoshida happy. If it takes a little time to adapt before assimilating all the keys and the different gameplay possibilities, very quickly, you realize that everything is done to make the confrontations epic and spectacular. The gameplay is lively, Clive moves in all directions, while his attacks are reinforced by pyrotechnic effects of the most beautiful effect. On the other hand, we are much less attached to contextual information, such as energy points and vital gauges which are displayed and tend to overload the screen and make the action often unreadable. This is also one of the most annoying aspects of this FF XVI which tends to want to do too much to try to impress us.
WELL WELL
In this regard, just to go further in the epic and the spectacular, Final Fantasy XVI has decided to make the Primordials playable, taking the form of boss fights. Until now, summons have taken the form of support, but Yoshida clearly wants to show the West that the quality Action-RPG can also be rolled out by Japanese studios. Like Naruto, who lets Kyubi take full control, Clive can also unleash the omnipotence of his Primordial, the Ifrit, which looks like bipedal demons that rips heads off at the slightest setback. In these titanic clashes, the scale ratios are modified, the movements slower, but the attacks highly more powerful. Also, to keep this ferocity in each blow, the developers have opted for an extremely simplified gameplay, based on QTE. While Capcom has decided to ignore it in the next Resident Evil 4 Remake, Square Enix thought that taking inspiration from Naruto Ninja Storm and other Asura’as Wrath for these boss battles could make it possible to win in cinematography. And it works ! Spectacular sequences, perfect to share on social networks to promote the game, but obviously less interesting to play. Yoshida however specified that there will be 6 clashes of titans throughout the adventure, each one being different, including one which refers to a shoot’em up phase. It promises.
Like Naruto, who lets Kyubi take full control, Clive can also unleash the omnipotence of his Primordial, the Ifrit, which looks like bipedal demons that rips heads off at the slightest setback. In these titanic clashes, the scale ratios are modified, the movements slower, but the attacks highly more powerful.
There is obviously still a lot to explore in this Final Fantasy XVI, which seems to have still kept a few cartridges between now and its final release next June. Yoshida seems proud and confident of the result, to the point of having teased us some additional elements, such as movements on the back of Chocobo. The Final Fantasy spirit will still shine on a few details here and there, but it’s obvious that the time for the concession is over. The hardcore fanbase will understand, the general public will adhere, at least that’s the feeling that the savior of Final Fantasy XIV seems to imply implicitly…
