Why is Final Fantasy 16 more exciting than Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth?

No, This post is not here to say that Final Fantasy XVI will necessarily be better than Final Fantasy VII Rebirth which was judged to be less good, even bad. Given what we saw with Final Fantasy VII Remake, it seems impossible for this sequel to get stuck on such solid foundations. On the contrary, the purpose of this article is to highlight elements of the next numbered episode that you might have missed that are worth getting excited about before its release, a story that shares all the excitement about Rebirth the better of the two titles.

The best of the Japanese gaming world

Since its announcement, Final Fantasy XVI surprised many with its action-oriented approach. If Final Fantasy XV really took that turn with its open world, Final Fantasy VII Remake has followed suit by introducing a hybrid formula, while also introducing the ATB meter characteristic of the previous turn-based games in the franchise. But FF16 goes above and beyond by flirting with the beat. If at first glance it was surprising, then by discovering the people involved in the project, doubts were quickly dispelled. In the position of combat director, we find Ryota Suzuki who has made a large part of his career at Capcom. After becoming a combat planner in Devil May Cry 4, he became a designer on Dragon’s Dogma and Devil May Cry 5, while filling the role of programmer on Monster Hunter World in the meantime. So he is someone who knows action games and provides valuable help with the project.

With this recruiting for a combat director position, it looks like it is Final Fantasy XVI is about to bring together the best of the Japanese video game world. I’ll explain. For a long time, the name Final Fantasy was synonymous with many of the adjectives found in Japanese titles. A well-written and engaging storyline, a captivating universe and an unforgettable soundtrack. Everything we find currently in Final Fantasy XIV for example. Then it was the role-playing game that held off more than one game, partly in the West where players are less fond of this kind of experience. On the other hand, we have Devil May Cry, the benchmark action game series that continues to prove that hits aren’t dead and that it generates the most complex and visually impressive combat systems out there. You see me coming with my big hooves, but Final Fantasy XVI seems to be the sum of those two aspects of Japanese video games. from direction All the qualities of narration and writing of a role-playing game, on the other hand, the rich and advanced combat system of a hit game. And it’s a combination we’ve rarely had the chance to see, which makes Final Fantasy XVI’s release so exciting.

A project led by a lesser known FF team

beyond its combat director, Final Fantasy XVI is a title that promises to be captivating by the actors behind it. These are developers whose work is not known for licensing, but who are nonetheless at the root of many games that are considered cult. On the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth side we find it Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit 1 is led by Yoshinori Kitase, the team that has made the great hours of the saga (Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X) as well as less well-received projects (Final Fantasy X2, Final Fantasy XIII series). In the words of that The products of this section are most known to the general public And they helped build his reputation in the eyes of the world. If you want to know more about the difference distribution between FF projects, we put a small diagram below.

Final Fantasy XVI is developed by Creative Business Unit 3 headed by Naoki Yoshida. it’s a The section that looks after the MMORPG portion of Final Fantasy, namely Final Fantasy XI Online and of course Final Fantasy XIV. Moreover, under the leadership of the latter, FFXIV achieved the popularity we know today, to the point where it would compete with World of Warcraft. On the strength of this success, the division had the right to develop a new numbered episode of the franchise, the famous Final Fantasy XVI of interest to us today. Naoki Yoshida is so busy being a director and producer for FFXIV, he’s “only” a producer on FF16, who still gave him a central role in the project, make no mistake. And then we find most of the main roles of reliable guys who helped “save” FFXIV 1.0, testifying to a certain continuity between the two works.

Thus, Hiroshi Takai is the director of Final Fantasy XVIHe’s the one we know most recently because he was an assistant director on FFXIV 2.0, along with Yoshida. In the past, he had worked on Romancing SaGa battles, then on Final Fantasy XI effects, before becoming director of The Last Remnant. On the music side, we find Masayoshi Soken, the composer who created the vast majority of FFXIV’s soundtracks The quality of her work puts him alongside the great musicians of the series like Nobuo Uematsu or Masashi Hamauzu. If with all this, we’re already entitled to a great cast that makes you want to get in confidence, we’re even more so when we take a look at its creative director: Kazutoyo Maehiro.

Well, it was presented like this, This name may mean nothing to you, but the gentleman has worked on several cult games. He was responsible for the interactive novels for Final Fantasy Tactics, and was director of Vagrant Story sets, before taking on the role of chief battle designer for Final Fantasy XII, notably being the lead scenario writer for version 2.0 of FFXIV. In the process, he would also be interested in the history of the title’s first extension, Heavensward. If you’re well-informed, you’ll understand that he’s part of the close guard of Yasumi Matsuno, the Japanese developer behind most of the aforementioned projects. The latter rose to prominence in the 1990s with its titles being staged A theatrical political geography as well as philosophical reflections Which makes it a great and cult business. This legacy can be found in Final Fantasy XIV and by extension Final Fantasy XVI, with a different experience in Creative Business Unit 1 that focuses more on characters than on the game world. FFXVI is the perfect opportunity to try this way of telling a story on a AAA budget.

Finally something new, a leap into the unknown!

there where What sets Final Fantasy XVI apart from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is that it’s an entirely new experience. On the Rebirth side, this has the double cap of being a sequel, but also a remake. Suddenly, it’s less of a real novelty because we already know the game system and have an idea of ​​the scenes we’re going to find. After all, we’d be in for a great deal of ambiguity and innuendo since FFVII Remake made it clear to us that the events of Rebirth will not be identical to those of the PS1 title. Even knowing this, we have known the FFVII universe and its characters so well for twenty-five years that the game was a revolution for its time.

Around, Final Fantasy XVI brings a real breath of fresh air with an experience that only has new stuff. Well, of course, if all FF episodes were independent of each other, we would still find a certain number of similarities: chocobos, moogs, classes, charms or even invitations also play a major role in FFXVI. although, Discovering a new experience remains valuable in 2023, especially in a frigid industry which relied on the same licenses to make sequels, remakes, remakes, or even spin-offs to avoid any commercial failure. And if FFXVI can be considered as a “sequel” to a great series, since everything it presents is new, both from its gameplay and universe through its scenario, then we can accept it as a real novelty.

In short: given its unique combat system to the series, its developers’ inspiration and its original suggestion that it’s neither a sequel nor a remake, Final Fantasy XVI will have to wait steadily. exactly like me.