Final Fantasy XVI announced; console exclusive to PS5 and also coming to PC

In E3 of 2006, Square Enix announced Final Fantasies XIII and Versus XIII. For the next fourteen years there have been no announcements of a brand new offline mainline title with a wholly original setting and cast of characters. Over eleven years if you include the original Final Fantasy XIV. That has finally changed when in the latest Sony PlayStation 5 Showcase event, Final Fantasy XVI is finally revealed, and helmed by Creative Division III, with the revered Yoshi-P (Naoki Yoshida) serving as producer in this brand new project.

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According to Yoshi-P himself on the PlayStation Blog, the next update for the game will be next year. The game's director, Hiroshi Takai, notes 'it may still be some time before we can get it into your hands'.

 

So looking up Hiroishi Takai:

Hiroshi Takai - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Hiroshi Takai - MobyGames

www.mobygames.com

He's mostly been involved with being a Project director with The Last Remnant - Which looks very similar to this in many ways & FFXIV. Not sure how I feel about this but then I haven't played much of Final Fantasy XIV due to it being an MMO (I've said enough about that...)

But overall the trailer made a good impression, it certainly has a Game of Thrones tone to it, which is not usually of my interest but I did enjoy most of the show. While I did want a mosre fantasy setting I wanted it to be sort of more upbeat like IX and have fun with the art direction. I just hope that they don't rely one politics too much and give us an uninteresting lead like Vaan from XII - Not trying to dig at XII but Vaan was the least interesting- beyond Penelo- The least interesting character in the party. The trailer indicates a Younger and Older version of a man who I assume is the protagonist ( We see him in battle during the gameplay segments a lot). This is very reassuring as considering we're going to see different parts of his life it looks like we'll get very involved with him as a character.

Summons are on an Epic scale again which makes me wonder how they will work, they seem too large to just summon at will in battle and I hope they're not sued as an emergency summon to win feature like in XV. The battle sequence reminded me a lot of IX's Alexandria vs Bahumat scene and I am all for Summons being larger than life and have a real striking presence whenever they appear - Remember the first time you saw Ramuh in XV, I reacted like he fired that staff right through my house haha!

Overall, I'm feeling pretty positive about it, it's not going to be for a while, certainly not expecting it before 2022 but that is okay, I was SO close to getting an XBox this generation and Final Fantasy as an exclusive the only thing that could have ever stopped me from jumping console - So I don't mind knowing in advance - I t is weird considering how in the last few years S-E has ported pretty much every post 16-Bit game onto Xbox One.


Still I dig it and look forward to hearing more about it.

 

I really struggled to grasp what I felt about this announcement as it was revealed, and having rewatched the trailer, I still struggle with it.

It comes across as a very generic game which is a little concerning; despite XII, XIII & XV splitting opinion, they never felt generic. Alternatively, it could be that they're simply using the footage they have available within their current development - the fact significant portions of that trailer looked very similar from start to finish does make me feel not much has been developed yet (indicated by a complete lack of release window).

I think they should have held off the reveal until next year. I don't think the trailer really did the title any favours - personally, I didn't find anything that gave me any 'wow' factor and visually it looks like a game still in development. I genuinely thought it looked like an early PS4 title that was simply going to be ported to the PS5 - I'm not actually convinced this will be next-gen exclusive. Despite flaws that Square Enix may or may note have, their games usually look visually stunning at minimum.

It feels that Sony have requested footage from Square Enix simply as a showcase to say 'we've got Final Fantasy'. It will certainly be interesting to see how XVI is developed and marketed given VII Remake will unquestionably be their money maker.

According to Yoshi-P himself on the PlayStation Blog, the next update for the game will be next year. The game's director, Hiroshi Takai, notes 'it may still be some time before we can get it into your hands'.

My absolute pet hate with the video game industry. I appreciate the reveal was probably nothing more than flexing from Sony, but 'some time' is an instant turn-off; it's completely disinteresting when you have little information and you know it is still years away.

God of War 2 did more in sixty seconds - whilst showing absolutely nothing - than the FFXVI trailer, simply be showing '2021'.

 

I love the logo! The prominence of Phoenix is wonderful and it uses a similar colour scheme to FFX.

From what I can gather, our protagonist is charged with protecting Joshua (AKA the Phoenix, or somebody capable of channelling Phoenix’s power). I wonder if they’re going down an X-Men route with that… I notice also at 1:56 (and at other points) that our protagonist can also turn his sword into Phoenix’s wing temporarily. Some Phoenix powers must have been granted to him in order to protect Joshua.

All of that stuff intrigues me.

But I’m not yet convinced I like the artistic direction. The costumes appear plain (so far), the environment seems empty and the towns and castles seem to lack any memorable features. This is, however, just a reveal trailer. I’m sure they’re still working things out and we’ll get some landmarks in the finished product.

They also have mixed together a variety of Final Fantasy tropes which, with unique aesthetic character being absent, might not be enough to get people excited. The ‘spread of the blight’ recalls Geostigma and the Starscourge amongst other plagues. The Titan vs Shiva scene resembles a number of scenes in FFXV. The merry band of assassins (or something) look and act like the Kingsglaive at the beginning of the trailer.

While I’m sad that they still haven’t decided to set a game in a more ancient inspired setting (resembling ancient Greece or Rome), I do think that the medieval fantasy setting is a good choice. It's been a while now and it is good to go back to these settings every now and then. This also seems to be more gritty, like Game of Thrones. There was even blood!

I just hope that the game still has some humour in it. If it has that magic balance of dark scenes, sad scenes, exciting scenes and light-hearted scenes then it should do okay by me.

I have confidence in Yoshida though. FFXIV’s expansions are some of the greatest Final Fantasy storylines so far. There are so many layers to those stories (Shadowbringers in particular). It’s nice that people who don’t play MMOs can hopefully experience some of their magic in this if it is good.


I guess I might need a PS5 after all. One day. Probably just before this or Remake Part 2 comes out.

 

2nd thoughts,

- When Ifrit is bashing bodies to the ground you can hear "Wake Up Joshua" (3:14 in the trailer), along with the yellows.

- Protagonist needs to be jazzed up a little more - the younger version especially looks like a FF14 NPC - Once again this could be due to early development.

-I still don't think will manually Summon monster like in earlier FF games but use their power for abilities like the Phoenix Wings & Titan Arms we see in the trailer

- True Summons will be left for spectacles like IX Alexander vs Bahamat scene:

A nice shot of the Emblem:

Speaking of combat, could we be seeing a transition to an FF without a party. XV didn't have every party member playable until years beyond release. But looking at the combat shown I'm only seeing the protagonist in battle. While I don't mind the combat I just hope the game overall doesn't lose the camaraderie & spirit in which a team brings to the experience.

 

I'm nervous about the setting and the lack of indication of a full party & different playable characters. I'm not opposed by principle to a very character action-oriented game like Devil May Cry, but it seems antithetical to the Final Fantasy DNA outside of spinoffs and MMOs to only have a single playable protagonist. At the very least I hope there are companions you can switch control of mid-battle not dissimilar to the FFVII Remake. The fact that much of the trailer is a sausage fest is another source of personal consternation, especially after what happened with FFXV and its terrible handling of female characters. That the lead protagonist visually looks very similar to the Warrior of Light/Darkness of the FFXIV CG trailers & Noctis from FFXV is another deflating point of this reveal. Suddenly Project Athia has my attention more than ever with what I hope is a PoC female lead.

The considerably drabber colour palette and low fantasy medieval fantasy (not counting the very obviously high fantasy Eikons fighting each other) really lacks the whimsical charm and flavour I was looking for. I think the fact this trailer does not do a good job of showcasing the world means what little impression I do get of the setting feels a lot more generic, uninspired and claustrophobic than it hopefully is in actuality. While the drabber artistic direction does lend itself to some aptly atmospheric moments such as the Malboro fight sequence, I don't want the entire game to be like that. Here's hoping for a good balance of vibrancy and atmospheric gloom.

That said, I'm cautiously optimistic. While Hiroshi Takai still has to prove himself, this project looks like it's in very capable hands. My criticisms aside, I'm looking forward to a darker tone that eschews the typical array of anime tropes that so plague the rest of the JRPG genre, and the fact there is a conspicuous reference to Vagrant Story - namely the fact that game also has a kid named Joshua & the son of an archduke. I know graphically this currently doesn't look like it should be a next-gen project, but I would definitely rather have a trailer that looks both feasible in the visuals & gameplay department than a heavily embellished trailer filled to the brim with elaborately beautiful target renders. In other words, this game actually looks like it could be out in say, 2022 without running into development hell.

EDIT: You know what I really don't want? A game with just the one playable lead, and your party members are only available by co-op multiplayer. I can definitely see SE pull this kind of nonsense.

EDIT 2: So at the start of the trailer, our hero here has his emblem tattoo (heh, it's like being a L'Cie again) and is with a motley band of fellow branded lads, so we can safely say this is after Joshua's...traumatic moment. They're hunting for Shiva's "Dominant", which I presume is the summoner? Or the person who turns into Shiva? Probably the latter, if Ifrit and Phoenix in this trailer are any indication. It's far easier to hunt a human before they transform than to take on their transformed Eikon self, after all.

 

I was waiting for a few responses from you guys to read on your thoughts on this as I haven't actually been able to figure out my own yet... It's kinda interesting how I felt both overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time - It was pretty awesome seeing a few of the Summons and even some monsters (like the Coeurl), but at the same time I'm not sure how I feel about the rest of it since it all seems very underdeveloped like a few others have gone into detail about. I will say that I'm pretty excited with Phoenix being a big focal point, however I really didn't care much at all for Shiva's design.

Rewatching the trailer - The presented concept of the Summons & having a 'Dominant', and them having a 'Shield' (or at least Joshua does), is fairly interesting... but that's about it for me. Couldn't agree more about the trailer being a huge sausage fest - The few female characters they did show were mostly minor characters at best, save for Cruella at about 1:37. I thought the girl in the earlier scene (1:00~ mark) idly chatting with Joshua looked somewhat interesting, but I imagine she is also very minute to the story.

I'm okay if this game is a bit darker or more serious toned... but I wasn't really left excited for this game after the trailer, which is a shame. I'm honestly easily made happy with most FF games so I'm in hope that things turn out better, but I also will be cautiously optimistic in the meantime. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!

 

As can tell from username, still on PS3. But delighted series continuing.
I did get FFX flashbacks. No idea if I'll get a PS5 (the FF on PS4 completely unknown to me). It made a change from the futuristic.
I loved FFIX, but this game looks like it hasn't got that game's fantasy, despite the brickwork.
Would love to have deeper thoughts on it... But it's a new Final Fantasy title. There'll be another Final Fantasy title released before we know it!

 

I feel like this trailer went so deep it was shallow (in a good way). Like they pulled bits from so many different parts of a huge narrative that it's impossible to put the pieces together yet. All we can do is imagine!

The foundation looks strong, though. While FFXV's re-reveal was exciting, it had little basis in actual gameplay, and oddly less story than the Versus XIII trailers. For XVI, you can really tell the studio has taken lessons learned from the past generation and benefitted by NOT simultaneously developing their own engine.

Also like that they're going with a more classic aesthetic this time. Since we'll have more FFVII Remake too, it'll be the best of both worlds this gen.

 

While FFXV's re-reveal was exciting, it had little basis in actual gameplay, and oddly less story than the Versus XIII trailers.

That's a very good point that warrants repeating.

Prior FF reveals have primarily been CG or elaborate target renders designed to be as flashy as possible, only to end up looking hilariously unrepresentative of the final product. We all remember the initial FFXIII trailer with the mocked up combat and battle animations. Versus XIII's original reveal was little more than a CG rendition of one of Nomura's daydreams in the early 2000s. FFXV's debut trailer is a masterclass in practically every way - the amount of hype and excitement it alone generated back in June of 2013 cannot be understated. It had Altissia as this incredible visual spectacle and a brief, wondrous gateway into the possibilities of this new world; the stylistic choice of character model faces dramatically lining up one by one, and that entire section with Leviathan.

And none of it was real. It remains to this day one of the best composed trailers for a video game I've ever come across (seriously, the number of times I sat through it back in the day is immeasurable...) and it was nothing but ambitious target renders that was never running on actual 8th generation console devkits. Even the accompanying "gameplay" trailer with the boys squaring against Behemoths & Iron Giants in Insomnia turned out to be fiction.

So absolutely, you make a great point that this FFXVI trailer by contrast goes a long way to redress the folly of past reveal trailers. Though it lacks the kind of insane visual fidelity people were expecting for a next-gen FF installment, it at least looks like an actual, feasible game deep into full production and coming together. I feel a lot more confident about this being able to finally break the long cycle of development troubles that plagued previous installments.

Granted, I don't know what impact Covid-19 has had. It's possible that the trailer was planned to be something a lot different, but disruption caused by the pandemic could possibly have induced the team to mash something together.

 

That's a very good point that warrants repeating.

Prior FF reveals have primarily been CG or elaborate target renders designed to be as flashy as possible, only to end up looking hilariously unrepresentative of the final product. We all remember the initial FFXIII trailer with the mocked up combat and battle animations. Versus XIII's original reveal was little more than a CG rendition of one of Nomura's daydreams in the early 2000s. FFXV's debut trailer is a masterclass in practically every way - the amount of hype and excitement it alone generated back in June of 2013 cannot be understated. It had Altissia as this incredible visual spectacle and a brief, wondrous gateway into the possibilities of this new world; the stylistic choice of character model faces dramatically lining up one by one, and that entire section with Leviathan.

And none of it was real. It remains to this day one of the best composed trailers for a video game I've ever come across (seriously, the number of times I sat through it back in the day is immeasurable...) and it was nothing but ambitious target renders that was never running on actual 8th generation console devkits. Even the accompanying "gameplay" trailer with the boys squaring against Behemoths & Iron Giants in Insomnia turned out to be fiction.

Yeah. Rewatching that trailer today is very interesting. Not only did they cut / tweak beyond recognition one of the most epic action sequences we could have ever experienced in a Final Fantasy game (Leviathan attacking Altissia), but also some tender character moments (such as the green soup scene).

Luke makes a very good point.

I do feel (and hope) that what we have with FFXVI is almost the opposite to what we experienced with FFXV. Rather than show us a lot of impressive, flashy scenes, Square Enix have showed only things that they can promise will exist in some form. The epic Phoenix and Ifrit fight in the trailer (by far the most memorable part of it for most of us) is hardly going to be cut in the final game because they're kind of committed to keeping it because they made it the game's logo. It is clearly important to the game.

But the rest? All could be changed.

The character designs, specific details of the locations, and so on. I can imagine that they simply haven't rendered them yet. It might be that the castle will have interesting architecture, statues, and so on, rather than just being a generic castle, but these elements have yet to be designed. We don't even see a UI display or any sort during the battle scenes. There's a guy fighting with the protagonist at some point who might be a party member or he might not be. At this stage they are holding this close to their chests - probably for the best at this very early stage. We don't even know the protagonist's name.

And it is quite possible that they had to hurry to show us something due to Sony wanting an announcement for PS5. When we see further details, I should expect we'd learn more and see more of the world.