Fans of the Final Fantasy universe cannot count on a story in a gigantic, large and open world. The creators of Final Fantasy 16 realized that they could not provide such a design, so they decided to divide the map into several parts.
Final Fantasy 16 will debut next summer and production is headed exclusively on PS5. The Japanese are approaching the great premiere, so the creators find time and are eager to talk about the project.
Naoki Yoshida, the game’s producer, decided to mention the most important elements of the Final Fantasy universe in an interview with the Famitsu editorial staff – the studio had to be sure that the appropriate aspects would appear in Final Fantasy 16:
“When I played the first Final Fantasy, I thought ‘this is a movie-like gaming experience. The production, the dialogue timing, the drama, the sound—they all combined to create the greatest gaming experience possible. Once a Chocobo or Moogle was included, I thought it was already a Final Fantasy experience. That game experience must be felt in Final Fantasy XVI as well.”
During the interview, the Japanese confirmed that the open world did not fit the assumptions of Final Fantasy XVI from the very beginning – Naoki Yoshida revealed the main goals of the production:
“Additionally, it is necessary to understand the overall outline of the game design by taking into account the strengths of the team itself. When thinking about it, I thought, ‘I believe an open world would not fit for what we are planning now.’”
“I want a story of a hero who saves the world, because this is Final Fantasy. I want a summon to go wild and destroy the map. I want to release this game as soon as possible. I cannot release this game in parts.”
The developers did not want to break the story into fragments, but were going to release it at the right moment, so they had to choose the right elements for Final Fantasy XVI. Naoki Yoshida quipped that it would take 15 years to develop an open world adventure …
“When considering these four main points, I believe it is practically impossible to ask for everything. If we had a development period of about 15 years, we may have had the opportunity of challenging ourselves with an open world [smiles]. After all, it’s almost impossible in terms of time and cost to create a global story within an open world. I thought that the development team would be worried about this. Delivering what we believe is the best story, in an experience that blends together games and movies, does not require an open world.”
There are many strong RPGs on the market that do not offer an open world, and there will probably be many players who will be willing to go to the position for this reason – not everyone wants to run around next giant locations, and sometimes it is worth reaching for the game, in which we are led by the hand.