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Final Fantasy XVI is 'Action-Oriented,' But Will Have Story-Focused Mode

Final Fantasy XVI is 'Action-Oriented,' But Will Have Story-Focused Mode - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 March 2021 / 1,865 Views

Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida on the latest episode of Tokyo FM radio show One Morning today has discussed the upcoming and revealed some new information about it.

Yoshida says Final Fantasy XVI is "quite action-oriented. It’s a Final Fantasy featuring story and action." However, he added that players who aren't good at action games don't need to worry as there will be a story-focused mode. 

"We really want players to enjoy the story, so we’re preparing a mode for players who want to focus on story," said Yoshida. "Since we have quite the substantial support actions, we’re of course preparing something easy to operate and smooth to play. Don’t worry too much."

Final Fantasy XVI is 'Action-Oriented,' But Will Have Story-Focused Mode

"I’m from the generation that has been playing the Final Fantasy series from the first game in real-time—I’m almost in my 50s," he added. "I think the Warriors of Light have grown up in their own worlds, so I want to create a world of Final Fantasy that those who know the good and bad of reality can also be passionate about.

"I believe there are certain hardships that are experienced when becoming an adult, so I want to make the main theme of this game something that those who grew up playing Final Fantasy and understand reality can still enjoy, get something out of, and think about."

Final Fantasy XVI is in development for the PlayStation 5. 

Thanks, Gematsu.


A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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21 Comments
Link_Nines.XBC (on 22 February 2021)

REALLY hoping there's a party of characters, that's probably my favorite part of J-RPGs.

  • +7
The Fury (on 23 February 2021)

So, a mode where the game plays for you? Why bother buying? Just watch someone else play it on Twitch. FF games are good but their stories are not on the same level as the 90s story telling at all.

  • +3
Astral (on 22 February 2021)

Fingers crossed for a well-balanced hard mode as well. Like the one in FFVII remake. It made me approach the combat system differently.

  • +2
Ashadelo (on 23 February 2021)

It almost sounds like he's trying to say action games cant have good stories....

  • 0
LMU Uncle Alfred (on 22 February 2021)

I feel like a lot of this didn't translate accurately like many SE articles. It happens a lot.

  • 0
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Chazore Ka-pi96 (on 22 February 2021)

You know that gif of that dog bobbing up and down, while FF VII UI acts as the overlay?

I don't think we should want JRPG's aiming for more realistic and higher fidelity visuals, while remaining completely static, like it's a game of irl chess, but with people on the board instead of chess pieces. It'd look so out of place.

  • -1
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Chazore Ka-pi96 (on 22 February 2021)

Well I disagree, because it'd look absolutely out of place for me. We don't operate like that irl, why should a game striving for increased visual fidelity?.

Dunno why having action in a game makes it a "bad" game.

  • 0
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The Fury Ka-pi96 (on 23 February 2021)

The best example of this I usually give is if Tekken changed it's gameplay to be like SF, as in 2D plane. It's still a fighter, it's still Tekken but I'd automatically be turned off as it's not Tekken gameplay.

I haven't purchase the last 2 FF games because they seem to think action is the way forward (plus FF7R wasn't FF7). People say turn based FF games aren't doing as well when we've essentially had 1 mainline title in a decade, so there's no evidence that turn based is dead in FF when they aren't even making them anymore. Meanwhile the turn based Persona is the most success in the series.

  • +4
Random_Matt Ka-pi96 (on 22 February 2021)

Don't buy it, simples.

  • +3
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Chazore shikamaru317 (on 22 February 2021)

I don't think that they are entirely, but I do however see realistic looking games being turn based as the most glaringly borked games to exist, because it defies what we're to expect with games in that style.

Like imagine if Death Stranding was completely turn based, it'd look so jarring to look and play.

  • 0
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Chazore zero129 (on 22 February 2021)

I know, but not many RPG@s tend to do that as much, and even then, they'd still have to logically hop around in the same spot, which again would make it close to just bobbing up and down, but with extra steps.

Turn based is always beholden to the rule of being put in a single spot and staying put to that specific area.

Pulling realistic visuals just makes the whole system look out of place. Like I said before, do this with real people and employ TBS rules and they'll look funny in motion.

  • 0
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SanAndreasX zero129 (on 22 February 2021)

That's what they did with Dragon Quest XI. It was completely turn-based, but you could move characters around while waiting for their turns.

  • +3
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Ljink96 Ka-pi96 (on 22 February 2021)

Final Fantasy has become more and more directed towards western taste and that's okay I guess as Sony is also becoming more western oriented. I'll have Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, etc. to fall back on.

But yes, the Final Fantasy that we knew is long gone. Now all we get in that vein from Square are soulless Tokyo RPG Factory games, and half hearted games like Bravely Default and the HD-2D games like Octopath and Triangle Strategy. And those games are fine and all, but they're nothing close to the classic FFs in my opinion.

But we should have seen this coming. Evolution is in FF's DNA. We couldn't have expected it to stay the same after all these years.

  • -1
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