Final Fantasy XVI Preview – An Interview With Naoki Yoshida On Eikons, Boss Fights, And When We’ll See More

Square Enix debuted a brand new Final Fantasy XVI trailer throughout a latest PlayStation State of Play. It was our largest look but on the upcoming RPG and the trailer revealed that Final Fantasy XVI is due out someday in the course of the summer season of subsequent 12 months. 

Game Informer spoke with the sport’s producer, Naoki Yoshida, who can also be the director of Final Fantasy XIV, about this new “Dominance” FFXVI trailer, together with the franchise’s return to a extra medieval setting, Eikons, boss fights, and far more. 

Game Informer: Final Fantasy has a historical past of experimenting with totally different fight programs in new mainline entries and Final Fantasy XVI appears to be doing the identical, with in all probability the heaviest emphasis on motion within the mainline sequence but. How did the group arrive on this model of fight, and what’s it like seeing it come to life by the use of fight director Ryota Suzuki (a designer whose credit embrace Devil May Cry 5, Dragon’s Dogma, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2)?

Naoki Yoshida: You requested me in regards to the course with the fight system and so to reply that, so as to contribute to the general evolution of the Final Fantasy sequence, we determined that quite than constructing on previous Final Fantasy battle programs, that we as an alternative shift our focus to one in all real-time motion. And so, as soon as we had that idea down, that we have been going to go on this course, it made it simple for our director and our battle director, Ryota Suzuki, to take the reins and convey one thing that was actually action-focused. 

For the battle system, we’ve not solely given the principle character, Clive, an arsenal of highly effective assaults and skills based mostly off of those conventional Final Fantasy summons, however we’re permitting him to cycle via these assaults in real-time, to deal these assaults in real-time. [This allows] for highly effective combos and clean, fashionable gameplay that each appears and feels nice. 

An instance of that is such as you noticed in that [Dominance] trailer the place you have got one of many Garuda skills the place you elevate the enemy up into the air after which whereas within the air, Clive can swap to Titan and use one of many Titan skills to pound the enemy to the bottom. This type of seamless switching and swapping of actions and chaining them collectively to create these distinctive combos … are all as much as the gamers’ totally different playstyles. There’s numerous room for customizing these kind of builds that Clive has and the player discovering a construct that matches their playstyle is among the enjoyable issues in regards to the motion system we now have. 

Plenty of our builders in our growth group in [Creative Business Unit III] didn’t have any expertise creating an motion recreation. It was very difficult for us. And to have the immensely proficient motion veteran Ryota Suzuki  be part of our group, that has seen our growth progress, simply from the battle programs to the animation and the whole lot that he’s just about touched his palms on, remodeled and grow to be one thing past what we believed it may have been. We’re actually, actually blissful to have him and we’re blessed.

GI: Throughout the trailer, there are a selection of well being bars on the highest of the display screen, each in human vs human fights and Eikon vs Eikon battles. What’s happening with these, and are they meant to be harking back to preventing video games? 

Yoshida: Regarding the well being bars and the UI, I noticed a variety of feedback on social media after the trailer launched about how the UI is type of harking back to a preventing recreation. When we began growing the sport, and we had our “Clive versus smaller enemies” or our “Eikon versus Eikon” battles, once we have been first growing them we did them with nearly no UI on the display screen in any respect. But we discovered that via enjoying this that it was just a bit bit too little data – we wanted extra data. That stated, we did not need the display screen cluttered and so after a variety of forwards and backwards and making an attempt a variety of various things, we got here to the design…within the trailer, and that it simply occurs to appear to be a preventing recreation is simply one thing that ended up taking place. 

The general recreation design for these Eikon versus Eikon battles, nevertheless, is supposed to be distinctive and in reality, we don’t truly use the identical actual system twice. Each battle is totally distinctive in its playstyle and so we’re doing one thing that’s type of loopy. 

For instance, perhaps one Eikon versus Eikon battle, you probably have Eikon A versus Eikon B, that battle can be harking back to a 3D shooter. Whereas one other Eikon versus a unique Eikon, it’s extra like a pro wrestling match, after which perhaps even a 3rd with one Eikon versus one other Eikon will rework a complete space right into a battlefield. And so once more, we didn’t reuse these programs and every one in all these Eikon versus Eikon battles is exclusive and can change with every battle. Because of that, and since the battles are so totally different in nature, the UI has to vary for every battle. And so you will notice slight variations within the UI between these battles. However, we ended up having to chop a variety of that from the trailer as a result of it finally ends up being story spoilers and we didn’t wish to have that. 

Then you ask, “well if you’ve hidden some of the UI, why didn’t you hide all of the UI like those HP bars? Why did you leave those?” and that was just because should you take away all the HP bars and all the UI, then folks begin saying, “oh, that’s just pre-rendered, that’s not running in real-time.” We wished to point out that what you noticed within the trailer was in real-time so we decided to depart a bit of little bit of that UI in. 

GI: Plenty of gamers are excited in regards to the prospect of a single-player Final Fantasy from the builders behind FFXIV. What learnings, mechanics and programs, and storytelling strategies, if any, from FFXIV can followers anticipate to point out up not directly in FFXVI? 

Yoshida: So Final Fantasy XIV was designed as an MMORPG from the bottom up whereas Final Fantasy XVI has been designed as a single-player recreation from the bottom up, so from the get-go, you’re going to have fully totally different design ideas. MMORPGs, as you recognize, are all in regards to the lengthy haul – you’re stringing collectively experiences over an prolonged time period to keep up that person base. 

Single-player video games, alternatively, are much more about that, I assume you would say, immediate gratification. They’re speedy, they hit you with pleasure. That pleasure is concentrated right into a smaller bundle. So with that in thoughts, you possibly can think about that no less than system-wise, Final Fantasy XIV received’t have influenced Final Fantasy XVI that a lot. However, that stated, some of the distinctive issues about Final Fantasy XIV is the type of connection that the event group has with the group, [and] the quantity of communication that goes forwards and backwards between the event group and the group. In the previous 11 years, interacting with the group has given us a variety of very, very helpful data on what you recognize followers need and anticipate from the sequence. And so having this 11-year data base, that has helped us and has allowed us to place a few of these concepts in and incorporate these concepts into the event of Final Fantasy XVI. 

GI: Mainline Final Fantasy video games of late have skewed extra towards trendy timelines, with heavy emphasis on the mixing of tech with magic, however FFXVI appears decidedly extra medieval, or traditional FF. How did the group arrive at this setting and time interval when growing the sport? 

Yoshida: The reply to that’s truly type of easy: it simply occurs to be that a variety of the core members in [Creative Business Unit III] actually loved these traditional Final Fantasies in addition to that traditional medieval European fantasy really feel – myself included – and we wished to create a recreation that had that feeling. When creating this recreation, we wished to take that look, that medieval European traditional fantasy look, and meld that with our personal distinctive concept that we had, after which take all of that and attempt to categorical that with the present degree of expertise and make one thing that’s actually, actually thrilling. 

As you recognize, the Final Fantasy sequence is type of well-known, or notorious, for being totally different with every entry within the sequence. That stated, after performing some latest person analysis, we discovered that a variety of the customers have been discovering that a variety of the latest Final Fantasy [games] have been type of turning into static in that imaginative and prescient so we wished to make use of this as a chance to step again from that and check out one thing totally different; not only for us, however pondering to the way forward for Final Fantasy and forthcoming tasks, we wished to attempt one thing totally different and perhaps present that yeah, the sequence can go in numerous instructions quite than specializing in one.

While we simply launched our second trailer, we’re presently already engaged on readying a 3rd trailer for launch this fall. In that trailer, we hope to pay attention a bit of bit extra on the world and the lore and the storyline, and hopefully convey a bit of bit extra of that data to gamers, exhibiting what the story goes to be like, what the narrative goes to be like, and the way that’s going to suit into the world. 

GI: You’re clearly a really busy particular person with FFXIV, however now you’re producing FFXVI. What’s it like engaged on a brand new single-player mainline FF and what’s it like having Creative Business Unit III lead the challenge? 

Yoshida: It doesn’t actually matter what sort of challenge I’m on. Being the top of any recreation or any challenge, the stress is all the time immense. There’s all the time lots of people and cash concerned in it. As you recognize, on Final Fantasy XIV, I’m each producer and director. However, this time on XVI, I’m solely producer. So simply in that sense, it’s a variety of weight off my shoulders. 

Final Fantasy XVI being the latest entry within the sequence implies that all eyes are going to be on us as everybody just about is on the market scrambling to determine simply what sort of recreation it is going to be, and a variety of that stress goes on to the director. And so once more, with all of that stress falling not on the producer, however falling extra on, like I stated, the director, Hiroshi Takai, or the battle director, Ryota Suzuki, or our artistic director and situation author, Kazutoyo Maehiro, and even falling on me being the localization director and serving to out with the world lore and issues like that, there’s a variety of stress that falls to us. And as producer, it’s my job to see that this stress doesn’t get an excessive amount of for these folks which might be working beneath me. Being in a position to come and do these kind of interviews and speak with the media and make it possible for the vital data will get on the market in order that burden doesn’t fall on the group. It’s one thing I can do, once more, to take that burden away from them and for me, that’s rather a lot simpler than being director. 

Again, I used to be extraordinarily honored when the corporate got here to me and [Creative Business Unit III] and requested us to helm the latest numbered Final Fantasy. But once more, that chance would have by no means been attainable if it weren’t for the time that we spent on Final Fantasy XIV and the voice of the customers and the voice of the media that’s lined us. So I’d prefer to thank them for granting us this chance to create the latest Final Fantasy. 

For extra about Final Fantasy XVI, take a look at the Dominance trailer and admire the attractive landscapes in these new screenshots. After that, examine how I’m excited for the Kaiju-style fights it seems to be giving us, after which take a look at Game Informer’s rating of each mainline Final Fantasy recreation. 

What’s the factor you’re most enthusiastic about in Final Fantasy XVI?