Julius Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 (edited) Here we go! Announced at the PS5 September Showcase, being developed by Creative Business Unit III! Quote The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough. Edited March 26, 2023 by Julius
Ashley Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 I am 99% sure it said exclusive content, not exclusive game
Julius Posted September 16, 2020 Author Posted September 16, 2020 2 minutes ago, Ashley said: I am 99% sure it said exclusive content, not exclusive game Will wait for further clarification, but...
Julius Posted September 16, 2020 Author Posted September 16, 2020 Just now, Ashley said: Yeah seems I misread in my tired state. Easily done I thought I'd misread it too, was not expecting that at all!
Happenstance Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 Looking forward to a new Final Fantasy game. VII Remake has left me wanting more! 1
drahkon Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 (edited) It may not be turn based... (@Kav this is all your fault) ...but it does look freaking cool Edited September 16, 2020 by drahkon 2
Julius Posted September 16, 2020 Author Posted September 16, 2020 So just to clarify: this being worked on by Creative Business Unit III confirms that Naomi Yoshida (Yoshi-P) is working on this to some degree, as he leads that unit. It's mostly made up of the old Business Division 5, who focused on MMORPG's like Final Fantasy XI and XIV, as well as smaller titles like Dragon Quest Builders. And this is absolutely a reason to be excited by itself. Yoshi-P and his team had a massive hand in turning the shipwreck that was XIV around, and from the reviews I've seen for what XIV has been up to lately (many saying this is some of the best Final Fantasy in a long time), it's hard to not be excited! 1
Dcubed Posted September 16, 2020 Posted September 16, 2020 (edited) It's timed exclusive. Will be coming to Series X at a later date after the PS5 launch. BTW... Yeah, it shows! It might not really be an RPG anymore, but it may well just have some pretty great combat! I'm liking the look of this so far! Genuinely surprising and refreshing to see a proper medieval Final Fantasy again! Edited September 16, 2020 by Dcubed
Julius Posted September 16, 2020 Author Posted September 16, 2020 7 minutes ago, Dcubed said: It's timed exclusive. Will be coming to Series X at a later date after the PS5 launch. BTW... Yeah, it shows! It might not really be an RPG anymore, but it may well just have some pretty great combat! I'm liking the look of this so far! Genuinely surprising and refreshing to see a proper medieval Final Fantasy again! Alright yeah so that's some weird messaging, will have to update the title in a bit! If that's the case feel like they should've made that clear like they did with VII Remake, if I recall that was "Coming first to PlayStation 4". But then again, I guess Square Enix signed off on it, so Also that really does look great, haven't played any of those games it's mentioned that Suzuki worked on, but anecdotally I've only seen and heard good things from them, and it looks brilliant here, so I have high hopes!
Julius Posted September 17, 2020 Author Posted September 17, 2020 (edited) PlayStation blog has been updated and confirms that Naoki Yoshida will be serving as producer, while Hiroshi Takao will be the game's director. More information will be coming in 2021. Quote Final Fantasy XVI producer (that’s right, just producer) Naoki Yoshida here. How did you enjoy the trailer? The exclusive footage, comprised of both battles and cutscenes running in real-time, represents but a fraction of what our team has accomplished since the start of development on this, an all-new Final Fantasy game. In that span, the team’s size has grown from a handful of core members to a full-fledged unit that continues to polish and build upon what they have created so far, all to provide players an experience unmatched in terms of story and gameplay. Our next big information reveal is scheduled for 2021, so in the meantime, I expect everyone to have fun speculating, as we have a lot in store—not only for Final Fantasy XVI, but for Final Fantasy XIV, too. Needless to say, I’ll be working hard on both! — Final Fantasy XVI Producer, Naoki Yoshida Quote another player─a young student with big dreams. By the time Final Fantasy V was in the works, I had earned myself a seat at the developers’ table… albeit at the very end. From there, I moved “online” leaving my mark on both Final Fantasy XI and XIV. And now…XVI. From the establishment of an all new development environment, to learning the ins-and-outs of the PlayStation 5, the team and I have taken on countless challenges during our journey to bring you the sixteenth chapter in the storied Final Fantasy franchise. And though we’re pouring our hearts and souls into this project each and every day, it may still be some time before we can get it into your hands. However, I promise it will be worth the wait! — Final Fantasy XVI Director, Hiroshi Takai With more information coming in 2021, I think this is a sign development is going well, as has typically been the case under Yoshi-P, so wouldn't be surprised at all if it's released by the end of the next financial year (March 2022). And if they do run into development trouble, I think we can expect timely updates - they've been very transparent about how it took them roughly five months to transition to and optimise working from home because of COVID-19, and once they had finally returned to their typical workflow, announced the delay of everything in the XIV schedule by five months. Would be great if they continue that level of transparency with this project too, though I do hope they don't run into any trouble in the first place! Edited September 17, 2020 by Julius 1
Will Posted September 17, 2020 Posted September 17, 2020 I've never been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy games, just not really my thing. I really liked the look of this though, they're doing some great work on the title. Will keep up with what they're able to achieve as these titles usually give a good indication of what the hardware is capable of. Looking forward to seeing more.
Glen-i Posted September 17, 2020 Posted September 17, 2020 (edited) That voice acting is so Xenoblade, it hurts! Bravely Default is basically Turn-based Final Fantasy these days anyway, so Final Fantasy going full action is fine by me. Edited September 17, 2020 by Glen-i
Jonnas Posted September 19, 2020 Posted September 19, 2020 Haven't had a chance to comment on this yet, but I'd just like to say... This looks freaking fantastic. MMOs aside, this is the first main entry in the series since X that actually makes me think "This sure is the Final Fantasy I admire, and they're bringing it to the next level". The trailer actually had stuff I recognize as being part of the series, like Chocobos, Shiva, the Prelude theme, etc. Oh, and summons being a part of the plot, interacting with everything around them? *kisses fingers* Mwah. More of that, please. This is the first PS5 game that makes me bummed I'm not getting the console. But I can wait for a PC version. 2
Julius Posted September 20, 2020 Author Posted September 20, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, Jonnas said: Haven't had a chance to comment on this yet, but I'd just like to say... This looks freaking fantastic. MMOs aside, this is the first main entry in the series since X that actually makes me think "This sure is the Final Fantasy I admire, and they're bringing it to the next level". The trailer actually had stuff I recognize as being part of the series, like Chocobos, Shiva, the Prelude theme, etc. Oh, and summons being a part of the plot, interacting with everything around them? *kisses fingers* Mwah. More of that, please. This is the first PS5 game that makes me bummed I'm not getting the console. But I can wait for a PC version. Yeah, good point about them pushing the older and core elements of Final Fantasy to the front: chocobos; summons, with an instantly recognisable Shiva, Ifrit, and Phoenix; a Malboro; there's that Dragoon armour; medieval fantasy; the Main Theme and Prelude; crystals, and so on. I feel like instantly connects if you've played an FF game before, and you're right, I do think that the trailer having those things helped them to achieve that. It'll be really interesting to see where they go with the summons in the story, especially seeing as they seem to be using the Eikons term from XIV here too. The idea of nations being at war, with summons and chocobos around in battles, and a blight spreading sounds awesome. I feel it also did a really good job of setting up a darker FF. Can definitely see Unit III in this game with just how close to XIV's trailers the CG/cutscenes/models looked here. For reference, here's the Shadowbringers CG trailer: Word has been going around since the trailer that this game is going to be using Crystal Tools as it's engine, which would mean SE's main projects are split across three different engines: FFXVI on Crystal Tools; Project Athia on Luminous; and VII Remake, Kingdom Hearts, and potentially Dragon Quest XII all on Unreal Engine. With how XVI looks, how much in-engine footage we got, and the possibility that it's using Crystal Tools, I wouldn't be surprised if it's out next year. Square Enix has transitioned a lot of projects over to Unreal in the last few years, so if it is the case that this is in Crystal Tools, I feel it could potentially give us an idea as to how long this has been in development. Maybe they wanted to go with Crystal Tools over Unreal (I think XIV is on a revised Crystal Tools engine at this point, and if so then perhaps it's been chosen for Unit III's familiarity with it?), but I feel like that's unlikely after moving their biggest IP's over there (the only reason Athia is on Luminous is because they need to put that engine to use somehow, and they've got a dedicated team doing so). Whatever the case, from the in-engine footage here, it definitely doesn't look like Square Enix are trying to set the standard once again when it comes to visuals, so hopefully that means they have a smooth time with development. Which is great, I think, because they've probably hit that point of diminishing returns, and we could see something on a massive scale which still looks great. Whatever is the case, it seems like it's a really good time to be an FF fan. This looks relatively close, VII Remake Part II will probably release a year or two after this, and so on (now we just need that I - VI Collection!). The feeling I'm getting is that they really want to just release this game as it is and hopefully don't have too many plans for supplementary media (DLC, films, anime, etc.) right out of the gate. Oh, and here's some concept art Unit III shared of their next project (this) from last year: Going to be a long wait until next year when we find out more, but I'm very excited! Edited September 20, 2020 by Julius 1
ArtMediocre Posted September 20, 2020 Posted September 20, 2020 This looks incredible! Thank god Sony is finally easing up on exclusivity, and that more and more titles are PS5 and PC launchers. This will look crazy good on my rig with mods
Julius Posted September 24, 2020 Author Posted September 24, 2020 Jason Schreier shared on his podcast, Triple Click (link is timestamped), that he has heard that XVI has been in production for 4 years, and is coming much sooner than people think. This lines up with the rumours that were swirling last year about Unit III ramping up into full production on something, which we now know to be XVI. It also lines up fairly well with familiar names being tied to XVI who worked on XIV's Heavensward expansion, which released in 2015, stepping away from XIV after the expansion was released, and most likely being moved onto XVI. Late 2021/Early 2022 is beginning to look a bit more promising with every tidbit which trickles out about this game (I also think declaring this far out that we have news coming in 2021, and looking at VII Remake's marketing cycle after being reintroduced last year before E3, lines up with this), but of course other factors like COVID still might end up delaying the game. Or a mid-production engine swap, my gut tells me that's something Square Enix might do seems the game is in good hands!
Julius Posted September 27, 2020 Author Posted September 27, 2020 The game has a provisional PEGI rating of 18. Imagine it's based mostly on the blood splattering all over Joshua's face in the trailer, but still, it would be interesting if this game ended up actually receiving an 18 rating. Also, Yoshi-P has shared during the XIV panel at TGS that a teaser site with character and world info will be going up at the end of October, and also acknowledges the western audiences jokes about how long it might be until the game is actually released...and takes the tiniest bit of a dig at XIII/XV/VIIR too Oh, and he didn't have any plans to share any XVI info today. That lands squarely on Yoko Taro
Julius Posted October 29, 2020 Author Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) An update, at long last! Hell yeah. That artwork Official website for the game is live too! Well worth checking out, got much more information on the world and characters there than in the PlayStation Blog post! Edited October 29, 2020 by Julius 1
drahkon Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 Holy shit, the artwork Gorgeous. Cannot wait to see some gameplay. And the world map. And everything
Julius Posted October 29, 2020 Author Posted October 29, 2020 1 minute ago, drahkon said: Holy shit, the artwork Gorgeous. Cannot wait to see some gameplay. And the world map. And everything Yeah, seriously. So many great games on the way, and this is easily my most anticipated for next year! Hope SE can deliver As for the world map, we get a slice of it being teased in its stylised form at the bottom of the page on the official site for 'THE WORLD', providing a background to the Realms of Valisthea. Looks really cool.
drahkon Posted October 29, 2020 Posted October 29, 2020 2 minutes ago, Julius said: As for the world map, we get a slice of it being teased in its stylised form at the bottom of the page on the official site for 'THE WORLD', providing a background to the Realms of Valisthea. Yeah, yeah, I've seen it I wanna see it in action. If they don't let us fly over it on an airship...I will enter a state of irrationally strong rage.
Julius Posted October 29, 2020 Author Posted October 29, 2020 2 minutes ago, drahkon said: Yeah, yeah, I've seen it I wanna see it in action. If they don't let us fly over it on an airship...I will enter a state of irrationally strong rage. Yeah, same. I'm really curious about that aspect of the game, it would be pretty amazing if we could fly over a real-time Valisthea in an airship, and would love to sail the seas to some extent too! I'm also wondering about the game's world in general, is it going to be a "traditional" open world, a la XV, or are they going to go the linear and zoned open world route, like VII Remake did to some extent (though I suppose Dragon Quest XI might be a better example of what I'd want to see)? Though I love more traditional open world games, for Final Fantasy, I've got to say, I would much prefer a more focused approach. Either way, looks like we're going to be waiting until 2021 for the next update, at any rate. This should hopefully satiate our want for more...for now
Julius Posted July 10, 2021 Author Posted July 10, 2021 (edited) We finally got a small update on this from XIV's live letter: So basically, they're aiming to show something at the end of September during TGS, but they're not sure how realistic that is. It seems to me like it could get its own State of Play in October or November, as Yoshi-P also mentioned wanting to dive into the battle system next time they show it. If we are still going to get news for it in 2021...then maybe it will turn out to be a release in the first half of 2022, just based on what Yoshi-P said about not wanting to keep people waiting much longer after they next show the game? Though, I could also see them releasing a demo too. Either way, I appreciate them staying quiet if it's still a ways off, but it sounds like development is going pretty smoothly. Edited July 10, 2021 by Julius
Julius Posted October 6, 2021 Author Posted October 6, 2021 A few details were shared during Sakaguchi's and Yoshi-P's Famitsu Presents panel at TGS: Quote • Main Scenario is complete. • Models are almost complete. • They just have to brush up some of the quality a bit. • Yoshida said Square would kill him if he revealed how much time production lasted. • They started with the scenario and they didn't stop working on it. They started with a small number of people. The production period was long but they didn't want to increase manpower until they had something that was good and they decided on what they wanted to do. • They prioritized scenario and then divided the scenes. • Sakaguchi asked if he could write a quest for the game. Yoshida said he could do it for FF14 instead, he replied he doesn't want to go against Matsuno and Yoko. Seems to be coming along smoothly. With Endwalker in November, Stranger of Paradise in March, and Forspoken sometime in the spring, got to imagine this will be their big E3 blowout game next year with a potential release towards the end of 2022? Especially with next year being the 35th anniversary of the series! Which gives them plenty of time to bring the Pixel Remasters to console or put out some crazy collection of all of the games
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