PlayStation bet big on its upcoming PS5 exclusive, Final Fantasy XVI with a new State of Play that showed 20 minutes of new gameplay. At the event, producer Naoki Yoshida (Final Fantasy XIV’s Yoshi-P) showed details of exploration, the world, combat, and more from protagonist Clive Rosfield.
This new release has many new features both for those who have never played the game and for long-time fans, and here we tell you about the most relevant ones.
The combat will be in real time and action
Final Fantasy XVI has many veterans of the industry, and much of the talent that made FF14 a masterpiece. However, the strongest novelty is the arrival of combat designer Ryota Suzuki, famous for having worked on Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma. The combat has no menus this time but will be more like a traditional action game. Instead of choosing “attack”, you will launch yourself with a button on the enemy and fight on the ground or in the air as in an action game.
To also raise the octane, in certain parts of the game combat will include more than Clive Rosfield, our character. It will be possible to take direct control of the well-known summons and battle on battlefields of enormous dimensions like two giant beasts in a kaiju duel, the Japanese Godzilla-like monsters. Thus, we will see how blows are crossed and the dial of spectacle and destruction goes up to ten.
Game of Thrones-style plot with the passage of time
As opposed to the personalistic plot of FF13 or FF15, where the focus was on individual characters, FF16 is more like the ambitious FF12 or FF14 where particular attention is given to politics. The world of Valisthea has six nations, and Clive is the Grand Duchy Shield of Rosaria.
In order to manifest the changes in the kingdoms and the consequences of political machinations, the game will present us with three different periods in Clive’s life. as a teenager, as a twenty-something and as a thirty-something. Thus, we will see how the panorama changes and the relationships between the powers that exist in this world, giving the plot a certain amount of complexity.
A linear story in a semi-open world
What PlayStation showed from the event included moments of seeing how exploration will work in the game. This is not an open world like GTA, but more like God of War. As you traverse the world, locations will open up that will include main quests, sidequests and more to emphasize exploration and role-playing. You will be able to choose the areas to visit from a quick travel menu, and each will have things to do and places to go and explore.
The leveling system and accessibility
How deep do you want to go with your gaming experience? Final Fantasy XVI asks you straight up. You have your own leveling system with a general level of your character where you can unlock skills at will and equip weapons and accessories to build your own build. This includes the full set of armor and two slots of accessories for you to build whatever you want. But, if you’re not interested in any of that and you’re here for the story, there is a mode that equips different accessories to automate systems so you don’t have to worry about this.
Instead of giving you a difficulty setting, the game simply allows you to get stronger so you can go through the different action sequences, enjoy the show, and skip the “hardcore” part.
How long does the game last?
Two of the main heads in the development of Final Fantasy XVI gave the answer to this big question. As far as we know, the base game will last 25hs, but this is only in case you want to finish the story and skip all the additional content, which according to the developers, is vital to understand the story of the protagonist.
On the other hand, if you want to finish the game 100%, this will take a bit longer. To do so, it is expected to take about 70 hours, which includes all the side quests and additional content that will come in the DLC.
Thus, the game has an average length compared to other Final Fantasy games. Having the shortest one a duration of 16 hours (Final Fantasy 1) and the longest one a duration of 61 hours (Final Fantasy XII).
Here you can see the duration of all the Final Fantasy, from the first one to the last one that has not been released yet.
- Final Fantasy XVI – 25 hours for the main story / 70 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy VII Remake – 33 hours main story / 86 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy XV – 28 hours main storyline / 98 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns – 33 hours main story / 66 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy XIII-2 – 28 hours main story / 71 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy XIII – 48 hours main story / 105 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy XII – 61 hours main story / 160 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy X-2 – 30 hours main story / 112 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy X – 46 hours main story / 148 hours complete to everything
- Final Fantasy IX – 39 hours main story / 82 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy VIII – 40 hours main story / 80 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy VII – 36 hours main story / 82 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy VI – 35 hours main story / 63 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy V – 32 hours main story / 62 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy IV – 22 hours main story / 34 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy III – 18 hours main story / 21 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy II – 23 hours main story / 30 hours to complete everything
- Final Fantasy I – 16 hours main story / 21 hours to complete everything
This has been all the news of Final Fantasy XVI! Are you looking forward to its full release? Tell us in the comments.
