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Julius

Final Fantasy XVI (22nd June 2023)

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Well, here is the 2021 update -- more (hopefully) coming in Spring 2022. 

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Greetings everyone.

When we last spoke, I promised I would have more information on FINAL FANTASY XVI sometime later in 2021. However, I regret to inform you that I will be unable to keep that promise as complications stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have delayed the game's development by almost a half year.

As the latest addition to the FINAL FANTASY series being developed for the PlayStation 5, FINAL FANTASY XVI has amassed a sizeable team composed of talented creators from around the world. However, in an effort to offset the effects of COVID-19, we've had to decentralize that workforce by permitting staff to tackle their assignments from home. This has unfortunately hampered communication from the Tokyo office, which, in turn, has led to delays in - or in extreme cases, cancellations of - asset deliveries from our outsource partners.

That said, we have spent much of 2021 addressing this issue, and hope to see its impact to a minimum by the new year, allowing us to better focus on the tasks at hand: increasing graphic resource quality, refining combat mechanics, fleshing out individual battles, putting the finishing touches on cutscenes, and conduction overall graphical optimization. Our primary goal now is to be as hands on with the game as possible in order to see it fully polished.

So that leaves us with the questions, when can we expect the next round of informations? Well, I am happy to announce the current plan is to conduct our next big reveal in spring of 2022 as we seek to built excitement leading up to the game's eventual release.

I deeply apologize to all those who have been looking forward to learning more about FINAL FANTASY XVI, and thank you for your continued patience while we focus our combined efforts on development.

FINAL FANTASY XVI Producer
Naoki Yoshida

Surprised they left it this late to give an update like this, but I guess Yoshi-P and co. have also been crazy busy with Endwalker. I've mentioned before that I expected an update, and admire Yoshi-P's candidness and openness here like I do with his XIV updates, especially in calling out the specifics of what they're working on (polish). 

Seems like they'll be aiming for a late 2022 release based on this message, what they've told us previously (not wanting to show the game again until we were getting closer to release), and it being the 35th anniversary next year. Now whether or not it actually makes next year is another question entirely, COVID is still a real thing and that or a multitude of other factors could cause a further delay to production, but it's nice to think we could be in the home stretch and have a new Final Fantasy to play within a year. 

To further clarify the game's situation, Imran Khan has shared that pre-COVID, from what he heard it seemed like both Forspoken and XVI would bookend 2021:

I don't think is that surprising. Everyone and their mother is (quite understandably) ready to dunk on FF given its history of coming out with news too early, but once VII Remake was brought back into the limelight it was out within a year. Almost as if Square Enix's restructuring worked. 

And in this year's Famitsu developer comments looking ahead at 2022, Yoshi-P has seemingly clarified they are in the process of polishing the game:

I'll just be waiting here, patient but excited, until Spring I guess :D

Edited by Julius

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Naoki Yoshida was featured in Uniqlo's magazine this month to coincide with the announcement of the 35th Anniversary t-shirts, and gave a small but important update on Final Fantasy XVI: it's in the final stage of development! 

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Right now the development of FF16 is in its final stage. As a single player game, we are aiming to integrate story and gameplay even further. Different to a game where many people play online at the same time, the extent to which the game has an individual focus changes how immersed you are in the story. I think it's become a story with quite a lot of depth. To people who have grown up, entered working society and think "reality isn't as easy-going as a video game", and at some point ended up separating from Final Fantasy, we want to want them to remember their passion from back then. We're making the game with that intention.

2022 may well be back on the menu :D

Edited by Julius

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Game is pretty much complete and the trailer is ready to go, let's goooooooooo :bouncy:

Soon™. Very Soon™. 

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58 minutes ago, Julius said:

Game is pretty much complete

Get your hype levels down, please. Be sad like the rest of us. :p 

Edited by drahkon
  • Haha 1

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53 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Get your hype levels down, please. Be sad like the rest of us. :p 

In fairness, that would mean the game is pretty much complete (just not in those exact words), though that's something we kind of new anyways: it has been in the final phases/polishing phase for nearly half a year now (at the start of October the main scenario was complete and they were focusing on polishing the models). Now, just how much polishing they're doing is another question entirely - Yoshi-P cares a lot about nailing these things ::shrug:

We'll know what's going on next time we see it. It's been under wraps for over a year and a half now, they've said before that when it does come back that they want a relatively short lead time to release, and we're expecting something within the next six weeks (by the end of spring).

I think it would be silly for them to release it in Q4 of this year as things stand, what with Forspoken being right at the end of October, so I don't expect it to land until Q1 of next year. At this point, I'm genuinely more interested in seeing where it lands rather than knowing the date and being excited for that. 

The one thing that I know for certain: the next six weeks are going to be looooooong :p

Edited by Julius

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Game Informer have put out a profile piece and interview on Yoshi-P, XVI's producer:

It's a bit of a meaty one, but a recommended read while we wait for the next update on XVI :peace:

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So… this game is now Devil May Cry 6 with the serial numbers filed off?

I’m ok with this :)

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Some more details have been shared in the latest PlayStation Blog entry

Firstly: the world looks gorgeous.

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There were also some more lore details shared:

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Introduction of the Dominants of Titan and Garuda

We here on the Final Fantasy XVI team hope you enjoyed the trailer and we wanted to give our fans a little bit more information about the Dominants of Titan and Garuda that you just saw.

Permanent Economic Adviser Hugo Kupka’s meteoric rise to prominence was sudden, if not unexpected. Once a nameless foot soldier in the Republican Army, his awakening as Dominant of the Eikon Titan thrust him to the forefront of Dhalmekian politics. It was here he used his newfound position as the most powerful man in the republic to exert influence over both the nation’s armies and its policy making—amassing a personal fortune in the process. Yet while it is said that a man who has everything wants for nothing, Benedikta Harman will teach him money and power are far from all the world has to offer.

Having emerged from the storm of youth coldhearted and ruthless, Benedikta Harman—Dominant of the Eikon Garuda, Warden of the Wind—turned her talent for swordplay and subterfuge into a command of Waloed’s elite intelligencers. It is on a mission to find the elusive second Eikon of Fire that she crosses paths with a like-minded Clive and is forced to face her past.

And we also got a table with some of the key staff...

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Producer Naoki Yoshida
Main Director Hiroshi Takai
Creative Director & Original Screenplay Kazutoyo Maehiro
Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox
Art Director Hiroshi Minagawa
Combat Director Ryota Suzuki
Character Design Kazuya Takahashi
Composer Masayoshi Soken

Soken composing is perfect :bouncy:

The more I watch this trailer, like with the first, the more I can definitely see some similarities to Attack on Titan, to which I say: hell yeah :D

Edited by Julius
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There was precisely a metric butt ton of news today as Yoshi-P's interviews for the game have been published: Square Enix, PlayStation Blog, IGN, and Game Informer, amongst others. 

For a handy thread which summaries the key points:

AI-driven party members kind of sucks, but it wasn't totally unexpected. Larger zones over an open world and a trailer in the Fall though? Sign me the hell up :D 

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Somewhat surprisingly considering their plans to show the game at last year's TGS, this game skipped it this year, at least in terms of showing up in a big way.

Still, we got a couple of tidbits, like this wonderful promo art, reaffirming that Summer 2023 release window:

Yoshi-P also turned up at the TGS Japan Game Awards and revealed that he expects the next trailer for the game to come out around next month, and that in the next info drop after that, they plan to share the game's release date. 

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Can't say that the trailer leaves much of an impression on me one way or another.  I like the more grounded setting, but I can't say that leaves me feeling much of anything.  I guess I was hoping for a tone more in line with classic SNES era FF games I suppose :blank:

Also, the (ridiculously tiny!) snippets of gameplay that we got look somewhat promising, though it's definitely not an RPG anymore.  This is basically a Devil May Cry game now.

Edited by Dcubed

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Fantastic trailer. and a June release date given as well. Julius is sat somewhere getting very hyped about this announcement. Dude needs to get back on here and share his excitement. 

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On 12/9/2022 at 7:23 AM, Hero-of-Time said:

Julius is sat somewhere getting very hyped about this announcement. Dude needs to get back on here and share his excitement. 

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Fantastic trailer – gah, the music! The summons (again)! The hype! 

Roll on June I say :bouncy:

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XVI is going to seemingly be getting the XIV Live Letter treatment at it's turning up at PAX East towards the end of March! 

A lot of rumours swirling around the last week or so that a preview embargo might be lifting in the next few days, too. Seems like marketing might really be about to kick into high gear... :D

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The rumours of previews going live today were real! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Need to give these a watch first, but apparently based on a Chinese preview which went up early, this will be focused primarily on combat and some story stuff.

Bit of a shame considering I know many are a bit more concerned about the game's structure, but we've still got a bit under 4 months until release – I'm sure there's plenty we'll be seeing in the coming months! 

For now: hype :bouncy:

Edited by Julius

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I’m starting to think that there might literally be no meaningful gameplay outside of DMC combat.  They really don’t seem to want to show anything else…

I’d hope that there’s more to this game than just combat arenas and empty corridors linking them…

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4 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I’m starting to think that there might literally be no meaningful gameplay outside of DMC combat.  They really don’t seem to want to show anything else…

I’d hope that there’s more to this game than just combat arenas and empty corridors linking them…

Yeah, I do think it's a really odd decision to not show the wider structure of the game beyond what we've seen in trailers. While it's nice to hear more about combat, I feel like we could get something of an idea for it from the shots we've seen in trailers up to this point. 

The general structure and flow of the game though? No idea. I'm sure it'll be fine, but I really think they should've led with that rather than a combat focus, because while it's flashy, the exploration (or potential lack thereof) is the one thing which has me a little on edge about XVI. We've seen supposedly wider areas to explore (such as with that shot in one of the trailers where the party is riding on chocobos in the desert). Watching the previews there's definitely a few more QTEs than I would personally like to see, but I guess we'll see how that plays out too. 

Oh well, don't think it's anything to worry about yet, but yeah, I do wish they focused on that a little more here ::shrug: there are already rumours floating around about the next set of previews coming in April, though, so hopefully the wait won't be too long, and not should it now that Forspoken is out of the way and it's a pretty straight shot at focusing on XVI from now until June 22nd. Exciting times! 

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16 weeks to go...

...thankfully there are plenty of games to get to in the meantime, otherwise this would be a looooooong wait :laughing:

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Here's the environments trailer from PAX East:

And more importantly, here's the Live Letter-like panel in full: Yes, You Can Pet the Torgal

I've had a quick scan through the panel, but honestly, it goes pretty in-depth! We'll be getting more news on the RPG elements in April following the focus on combat we had a few weeks ago, and to be honest, I'm not sure I need to see much more or if I'll even watch this panel in full; they've got nothing else to sell me on. 

I have so much respect for Yoshi-P and CBUIII's transparency, I've tuned in to a few of the XIV Live Letters over the years and they always do such a terrific and charming job of so clearly communicating with their audience. There really aren't many studios like that in the industry, so kudos to them on that front :bowdown:

Anyways, loading times are super fast, music hits hard, the sprites in the save data screens are adorable, the Eikon fights look like actual boss fights (with different mechanics used in different fights), the world map looks FREAKING AWESOME with it's miniature styling, and yes, you can pet the Torgle, so...

. . . GOTY? :p

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