Final Fantasy XVI is one of the most anticipated games releasing this year and fans are excited to revisit a medieval fantasy setting in the franchise again. Its predecessor, Final Fantasy XV, included an open-world design that left some fans divided. However, Final Fantasy XVI‘s director says that the studio was against making another open-world game this time in order to match the pace of the game’s narrative.
When Final Fantasy XV released, it was mostly praised for its characters, visuals and freeflowing combat that deviated from the franchise’s past turn-based systems. Criticism was also aimed at its open-world template which fans felt broke up the flow of the narrative. Final Fantasy games are all about the narrative so this decision rubbed players the wrong way, though many also loved its world design which had never been attempted before in a single-player Final Fantasy title.
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Learning from past missteps, Final Fantasy XVI director Hiroshi Takai revealed that the team decided early in the game’s development to avoid making an open-world, stating that he wanted it to be a game “that pulls the player through the story” instead of having pitstops along the way. The full response from Takai reads:
“Roughly speaking, ‘I don’t want it to be an open world’, ‘I want it to be a game that pulls the player through the story’, and ‘I want it to be an action RPG that feels good, not an action-style RPG’. I was thinking. I also wanted to raise the rating of FF14, which until now was for players aged 15 and over.”
In a way, Final Fantasy XV can be seen as a road-trip story about the core cast of characters bonding along the journey, so an open-world made sense for its narrative design. Final Fantasy XVI is trying to tell a much different story about warring kingdoms and large-scaled cinematic battles. It’s easy to understand why this epic fantasy tale didn’t require an open-world to tell its story. Final Fantasy XVI will instead have several large zones for players to explore, though the focus will always be on propelling the narrative forward.
Final Fantasy XVI launches on 22 June 2023 for PS5.
Source: Dengeki Online
