Because Final Fantasy XVI can become the best chapter of the saga of recent years

How long have you not played a final Fantasy worthy of the name? Let's face it: the last chapter that really made its mark is that Final Fantasy X with the wonderful story of Tidus and Yuna released in 2002 in Europe for the PlayStation 2. Last chapter actually made by Squaresoft before it became Square Enix in 2003. From then on, also due to the loss of several important members of the internal team, one above all the legendary Hironobu Sakaguchi, it has been a continuous decline. 

Final Fantasy XII it had great premises, but something went wrong during development and according to some rumors there was friction between the director Yasumi Matsuno (paired in the role with Hiroyuki Ito, former director of FFIX) and the management of the Japanese company. The father of masterpieces such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story stopped appearing in the works of Square Enix for a long time, returning to collaborate only on some scenarios of Final Fantasy XIV. The twelfth chapter had an interesting plot, but too political and with not very charismatic characters, especially the protagonist Vaan. Basch was originally supposed to be playing that role, but ultimately chose to focus on a teenage main character for marketing reasons.

of A new story for the crystals then we don't talk about it. The XIII, directed by Motomu Toriyama, immediately had problems in development, with a barely sketched work plan and countless problems in the creation phase. The result was a title with a mediocre story and characters with zero charisma; 90% of the game was basically a long corridor and the combat system showed potential, but very immature. 

Finally we come to Final Fantasy XV, formerly Versus XIII, released in 2016 after ten years of troubled development. The poor Hajime Tabata, director of the title, had to shoulder the responsibility of finishing a project with countless problems inherited from the previous management of the team led by Tetsuya Nomura, well-known Square Enix character designer and main figure behind the Kingdom Hearts saga. We all know the result: in about 3 years of development not even Tabata was able to work miracles and we had a game with an interesting lore but ruined by too many weft holes and important deficiencies in the gameplay, due to the short time allowed to complete it.

So dear fans, who, like me, have been fans since Squaresoft's golden age of Final Fantasy, why trust this Final Fantasy XVI? The answer lies in Creative Business Unit III led by Naoki Yoshida.

A new hope

Naoki Yoshida is the name of the person who saved the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV after its disastrous 2010 release. Under his leadership a new version came out in 2013 which featured the subtitle A Realm Reborn. Soon the new incarnation conquered even the most skeptical and disappointed fans, currently having as many as 20 million registered players all over the world. Final Fantasy XIV is in fact still today one of the most played MMORPGs and with a very high quality even in the quests dedicated to history, despite its online nature. Many players are in fact convinced that the story does not look out of place even in the face of single player chapters. In addition to the writing of new scenarios he had important guests, such as Yoko Taro, creator of Drakengard and above all of the NieR saga, and Matsuno himself, mentioned above. 

Yoshida will be the producer of Final Fantasy XVI, while at the direction of the project we find Hiroshi Takai, a veteran of the company who has been around since Final Fantasy V, who over the course of his career also found himself directing RPG The Last Remnant, before working closely with Yoshida as assistant director on FFXIV. A few months ago the rumor that Yoshida was the director of FFXVI began to circulate, but the news was denied by himself even with a certain vehemence. 

In his first statement Yoshida has reaffirmed his role as producer, underlining that the colleague will be in charge of the direction. Between the lines you can read a motivation due to not wanting to obscure Takai's role and above all the trust she places in him and in his team. 

The future of the saga

At the moment Square Enix has therefore two huge projects linked to the Final Fantasy brand, in fact we must not forget the second chapter of the Remake of Final Fantasy VII. In recent years, communication regarding the main chapters of the saga has not always been crystal clear, also due to the many problems that have occurred in the development phase, which happened for the XIII, XV and the first chapter of FFVII Remake. The latter was in fact presented for the first time in 2015 and then released this year after several difficulties during construction. 

Clarification. Someone might think that with Final Fantasy VII Remake we finally had a beautiful chapter after so many years, as I said earlier. I do not deny it at all, personally I loved it, since the seven is my absolute favorite chapter, but in this case we are talking about one of the most significant titles in the entire world of video games: it was enough to update the graphics and adapt the story to modern technologies with a few small additions to re-propose another masterpiece. And indeed the game is wonderful until the last chapter, where it then degenerates into something that looks like a totally different game born from the mind of Tetsuya Nomura, the one who also created a bad ending for Kingdom Hearts 3. If I had to list everything wrong in that final part I could write a book in which half of the pages would be full of invectives to various divinities and not very beautiful phrases, so it is better to stop here, I know very well that those who have attended that ending will understand me.

The two projects dedicated to the Final Fantasy saga currently in development under Square Enix represent two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, there is the nebulous second chapter of Final Fantasy VII Remake, of which we do not yet know the total number of episodes to reach the conclusion or other more technical details on the progression of the characters after the first chapter. The interviews released denote a confused and nebulous communication, with some statements denied or modified from one month to the next. What is certain is that we will have to tremble at the idea of ​​more substantial changes in history than those seen in the first chapter, and with Nomura in the middle there is no need to be happy.

On the other we have the presentation of Final Fantasy XVI shown during the PlayStation 5 conference surprised to be more straightforward and decisive than in the past, showing a trailer not only made of cutscene, but also with solid gameplay regarding the combat system. For the first time, therefore, we could risk a rather close release for a game made by the internal studios of Square Enix and if at 99% it will not be 2021, the likelihood of it coming out by 2022 it could be high.

A return to the past or maybe not?

The four minutes of the first Final Fantasy XVI trailer offer numerous clues and as many certainties about the direction of this new chapter. First of all, the return to a classic fantasy setting is official, made up of magic, knights, summons, chocobos, crystals and even a knight Dragoon shown in a spectacular boss battle. In short, the typical elements of each Final Fantasy are all there. Yoshida himself, in unsuspected times, had declared in an interview that he wanted a chapter of the main series with a return to the classic themes, those with which it all began. He was probably already referring to his team's work. One theory that is starting to roll is that the title could even be set in the world of Ivalice, the same as Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII. Some similarities in the settings and in the characteristics of some characters could refer to this famous setting originally conceived by Matsuno.

But one thing makes you think: the significant sentence that appears in the trailer, namely:

“The legacy of the Crystals has shaped our history for long enough”

Translated would stand for the heritage of crystals has shaped our history for far too long: a sentence that will undoubtedly have a meaning within the narrative of the title, but which, reading between the lines, it could also want to be a declaration of detachment from previous stories (including the Fabula Nova Crystallis) linked for too long to the concept of crystals, cornerstones of the universe of Final Fantasy from the beginning. So what Takai, Yoshida and their team want experience and propose something never seen before in the saga? It is still too early to say, but personally I would be curious to find out the path they intend to follow. 

The story, however, seems to refer to the importance of crystals and evocations, here called Eikon, which seem fundamental in the economy of the plot. We immediately talk about the Dominant, that is, the summoners of these ancestral creatures, even if it is necessary to understand whether each Dominant is actually linked to a single Eikon or will have the power of several. From what we can guess, the summoner seems to actually become the creature called, donating her body in the process. To this is added an apparently deeper political component and a theme of revenge linked to the protagonist, still unnamed, which already anticipates the presence of two different periods of time to live in the game. The first will see him take on the role of the baby's bodyguard Joshua, who appears to be the Dominant of Phoenix, but also of Ifrit after the terrible crime he witnesses firsthand. Ifrit, who according to a guard shouldn't even exist, seems to bring death and destruction and will probably also be linked to the protagonist's desire to kill Joshua, as evidenced by the last sentence he utters in the trailer. Stylistically, the game is more sober and classicor compared to the past, even if the characters maintain a style typical of Square Enix productions. The evocations, on the other hand, are always beautiful to look at while maintaining the style that has distinguished them from time immemorial.

Another thing that immediately catches the eye is an action component apparently even more marked than in the Remake of the VII and XV. Rumors not yet confirmed say that there is to take care of the battle Ryota Suzuki, former Capcom who worked on the combat system of Devil May Cry V, Monster Hunter World and Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, all titles with excellent battle phases to say the least. Indeed, some combos and moves seen in the trailer seem almost from Devil May Cry more than from Final Fantasy, but there is no doubt that they are exciting to watch for the speed and variety of the action. It remains to be seen if in the whole game it will be possible to use a party perhaps with a system similar to what was seen in Final Fantasy VII Remake, which I personally believe is the perfect fusion between the old ATB and the action. 

The really interesting thing, both in terms of plot and combat system, is the ability to use Eikons in battle in the form of direct attacks. In fact, we see the protagonist use the Phoenix wing in some shots, the mysterious claws that magically emerge and the fists of Titan in another scene. The idea of ​​being able to use evocation body parts in battle in this way is truly brilliant, and I can't wait to learn more about this feature that could give a unique identity to the Final Fantasy XVI combat system.

At the moment we still don't know anything about the names involved for the script and for the soundtrack, fundamental aspects in each chapter of the saga. At the moment, however, already only for what is shown and, above all, knowing who is developing it has given me again the hope of finally being able to experience a Final Fantasy worthy of the name, able to bring the name back to its ancient splendor. However, we will talk about it again only in 2021 when we finally have new information.