In an absolutely surprising reveal, Square Enix shows off Final Fantasy XVI trailer as the first game announcement during today’s PlayStation 5 Showcase. It seems Final Fantasy XVI will ditch the futuristic “magitek” world used in Final Fantasy XIII and XV and taking notes from older titles instead, using classic medieval settings with Middle Age England and Middle-Eastern-inspired flair to it. But on the other hand, Square Enix is still keeping the real-time action combat system previously seen in Final Fantasy XV and 7 Remake. Man, that’s a lot of Roman numerals for just one paragraph.
At the end of the showcase trailer, it notes that the game will be a PlayStation 5 console exclusive, but with a tiny bit of disclaimer saying it will also be “available on PC”. The stand-alone ‘Awakening Trailer’ you can watch above reinforced the time-limited exclusivity deal with another disclaimer: “not available on other platforms for a limited time after release on PS5”.
Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida over on the PlayStation Blog said that both the battles and cutscenes footages are indeed running in real-time, but represents only “a fraction” of what the team has accomplished since the start of development. And they have more things coming for 2021 not just for Final Fantasy XVI, but for Final Fantasy XIV as well.
Naoki was also the producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV: The Realm Reborn and the Heavensward expansion. So it’s not really surprising that the game looks somewhat similar to the online title. Especially those scaly red armors. I genuinely thought this was going to be another XIV expansion when the trailer started. What do you think of the trailer? Sold on the visual design and combat system? Wish it was turn-based or used futuristic settings again? Tell us what you think in the comments.
