A Fantasy fulfilled

AS Final Fantasy XVI’s release quickly approaches, anticipation continues to build, and rightfully so.

The last flagship Final Fantasy game, Final Fantasy XV, was released back in 2016.

On top of the usual FF hype, players are looking forward to FFXVI due to the big names involved with the game’s development, particularly producer Naoki Yoshida.

A veteran in the gaming industry, Yoshida was the chief architect behind Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, which was a revival of the original Final Fantasy XIV, a colossal train-wreck which then-Square Enix president Yoichi Wada claimed “greatly damaged” the brand.

With around three months to go, here are some games to try out to “prepare” for FFXVI as a taste for what’s to come with the game’s departure from classic and modern role-playing (action) games.

Story

For an idea on FFXVI’s story and tone, its worth checking out Yoshida’s own FFXIV, particularly the expansion Heavensward. The expansion was written by Kazutoyo Maehiro, who is on board the upcoming game as a creative director and lead writer.

As FFXVI is based on a Medieval European setting, and departs the modern FF’s settings that take place in the present (FFXV) and future (the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy), it’s highly recommended to try out the super old, but still engaging Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V.

The tone of the game will also be very different – particularly the Middle English-style of language.

It has been likened to older tactical role-playing games, such Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, and even Vagrant Story.

In case it is not obvious by now, most of these games were developed by Square Enix and pre-Enix merger, Square Co. Ltd.

More than that, a lot of the older games listed here were directed by Yasumi Matsuno, a storied game designer and developer at the old Square. Matsuno also created the fictional land of Ivalice, which is the setting of the Tactics games.

Those that are working on FFXVI have openly cited the aforementioned games as the inspiration for the upcoming game, and a lot of them have also worked on the development of those old games.

In fact, the FFXVI team are such fans of Matsuno’s games, that Yoshida had even asked Matsuno to write a storyline for Stormblood, another expansion to FFXIV.

Gameplay

FFXVI will be the biggest, and possibly true, final departure of a modern FF game from traditional turn-based RPG into all-out action RPG.

Last year, Yoshida confirmed that while the game will have party members, they will be controlled by the game’s AI, so that players can focus on solely controlling lead character Clive.

In order to develop the game’s battle system, mechanics and gameplay, Yoshida enlisted former Capcom veteran Ryota Suzuki as FFXVI’s battle designer.

It’s highly recommended that you play the previous games Suzuki worked on when he was with Capcom, to familiarise yourself with what FFXVI will contain.

These games are Dragon’s Dogma and the Devil May Cry games, particularly the most recent one, Devil May Cry V.

Devil May Cry games are known for their difficulty – and the unlockable, more punishing difficulty options – so while its recommended to play the game for a feel on how FFXVI will be, do keep in mind that the latter will not be so hard.

Despite FFXVI’s complete shift towards action, Yoshida has stressed that the game will not be so difficult that players will not be able to finish it, as that would go against the game’s central design.

In a recent exchange with Game Informer, Suzuki claimed that Clive would easily beat Devil May Cry’s iconic Dante, presumably due to the gameplay, and with what has been revealed so far, gamers will be able to experience if there is truth to this once FFXVI launches on June 22.

from Highlights https://ift.tt/Bb0Nm4t
via IFTTT