Remaining Fantasy XVI Drags the RPG Collection Into Unbelievable Motion Territory

Each important numbered Remaining Fantasy sport tells a brand new story in a contemporary universe, giving every upcoming entry a strong mystique. That sense is especially robust with Remaining Fantasy XVI, which has been teased with spectacular, overwhelming trailers since 2020.

The PS5 unique lands on June 22, and developer Sq. Enix lifted the curtain at a New York Metropolis preview occasion with a playable demo construct of the sport earlier this month. Performing as producer is Naoki Yoshida (AKA Yoshi-P), the charismatic determine credited with reviving massively multiplayer on-line RPG Remaining Fantasy XIV. He and his staff gave us a primer on the story and world earlier than letting us check out the sport for the primary time.

World at battle

This RPG takes place in Valisthea, a world divided into six nations that depend upon big magic crystals — certainly one of Remaining Fantasy’s recurring components — for vitality. As the sport kicks off, this vitality is badly depleted and battle is brewing between Valisthea’s nations. 

It is extra of a chilly battle as a result of existence of Dominants — people with the ability to summon huge magical creatures often called Eikons. Just like the dragons in Video games of Thrones, the Eikons are principally this world’s weapons of mass destruction. Besides all of the nations have them, they usually act as a deterrent to open battle.

You play as Clive Rosfield, whose youthful brother Joshua has management of the highly effective Phoenix summon. After tragedy strikes, Clive is sure to a different fiery Eikon, Ifrit, and goes on a quest for vengeance. This causes Eikons to battle one another for the primary time, throwing off Valisthea’s delicate political stability and creating numerous collateral injury. 

Clive’s journey will take him by way of Valisthea’s seven nations — that are divided into segmented open areas moderately than one massive open world — with a shifting get together of AI-controlled allies as backup (there wasn’t a lot exploration within the preview part although). You may additionally have the ability to dive into the historical past of Valisthea as a lot as you would like, Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox instructed CNET.

“Now we have a personality that gathers lore; he’ll inform you about what is going on on within the sport — characters, locations, historical past, issues like that,” stated Koji Fox, whose earlier Remaining Fantasy tasks embody IX and XIV. “It does not have an effect on the story, it does not have an effect on gameplay, however for these gamers that need to go deep and discover out what occurred 200 years in the past, why these international locations hate one another, you may go and try this.”

Dominating the Dominants

The playable part of our demo noticed Clive and his ally Cidolfus Telamon (this sport’s Cid, a recurring title within the collection) making their manner up a darkish tower on the hunt for Benedikta Harman, a spy for a rival nation. Cid is the Dominant of lightning-summoning Ramuh, whereas Benedikta is linked to terrifying wind elemental Garuda.

Cid has fantastically styled hair and his voice will probably sound acquainted — he is voiced by Ralph Ineson, who appeared in Recreation of Thrones, Chernobyl and Willow and infuses his character with superior gravitas. The fiery Benedikta is definitely essentially the most placing character design within the preview, and you realize she’s a baddy as a result of drops the f-bomb.

These Dominants humanize the political battle, and their differing statuses inside their very own kingdoms trace on the various cultures and attitudes throughout this world. This part happens a couple of hours into the sport, although there’s additionally a tutorial the place you play as a younger, fresh-faced Clive to be taught the fundamentals of fight.

The dingy tower wasn’t precisely a visible showcase for the primary PS5 Remaining Fantasy, which can allow you to select between efficiency and constancy modes within the completed sport. Nonetheless, this location did provide loads of alternatives to discover the sport’s real-time fight system as goons leapt out at each flip. In contrast to Remaining Fantasy VII Remake, you do not management your total get together instantly — solely Clive and his devoted canine companion Torgal (whom you may pet). 

Tailoring your battles

Fundamental fight matches neatly within the action-RPG mildew, with Clive capable of make use of a combination of melee assaults, magic, dodging and blocking. Remaining Fantasy XVI’s battles transfer way more rapidly than these outdated video games although, and fight director Ryota Suzuki drew on his expertise growing lightning-fast motion sport Satan Could Cry 5 for this collection evolution. 

“An important factor for Remaining Fantasy XVI was to make a system that’s accessible to numerous several types of enjoying kinds; extra technical, fashionable and for gamers that aren’t too into motion,” Suzuki stated through translator. “So we did not need it to be overwhelming.”

Including to Remaining Fantasy XVI’s accessibility are the “Well timed” equipment, which you’ll equip to simplify sure points of fight. These can allow you to pull off Clive’s most spectacular combos by tapping the identical button (as an alternative of studying particular inputs), permit for simpler dodging and make doggo pal Torgal battle mechanically.

You may tailor this aspect primarily based on which of them you equip, providing you with an opportunity to get comfy with totally different elements of the fight system at your individual tempo. The assault one had the obvious affect, since unequipping it lowered Clive’s assaults from visually gorgeous Satan Could Cry-style aerial ballets to fundamental thrusts and chops — you may must be taught a bunch of combos to attain his most fashionable strikes usually. 

Elemental Eikons

Your magical fight skills are outlined by the Eikon you’ve got geared up, with Phoenix’s hearth, Titan’s earth and Garuda’s wind had been obtainable within the demo, however it looks as if Clive absorbs or copies these from different Dominants as he encounters them (it is probably Garuda’s powers had been unlocked early for the demo model). Incomes expertise enables you to unlock or enhance Clive’s elemental abilities. 

You can too swap between Eikons in battle, basically permitting Clive to alter character lessons on the fly. It is an evolution of the beloved job system that debuted in 1992’s Remaining Fantasy V, during which you assigned roles to characters they usually be taught these job-specific skills by way of leveling up.

“It was my want to take that job system and in some way exchange jobs with Eikons, and recreate that system in a full motion setting,” sport director Hiroshi Takai, who labored on the fifth entry within the collection, stated by way of a translator.  

“Making it one thing that is very customizable and particular person to every participant … the Clive they’ve on the finish and the palette they use in that closing battle is totally different for each single individual.”

Flipping between these elemental powers grew to become more and more pure because the demo progressed, with the combination of those and the satisfying dodge system making the boss battle in opposition to Benedikta and her Eikon a pleasure to play. The graceful transitions between gameplay and cutscenes peppered the expertise with that traditional Remaining Fantasy melodrama with out pulling management away for too lengthy.

Battle of the titans

The ultimate part of the demo befell a couple of hours additional into the sport, with Ifrit going up in opposition to Benedikta’s Garuda in an epic Godzilla vs Kong-style confrontation. It is the type of sequence that may have been a cutscene in older Remaining Fantasy video games, however XVI makes it utterly playable and very enjoyable.

This battle felt utterly totally different to regular fight, conveying an superior sense of primordial energy because the Eikons lay waste to an remoted a part of Valisthea. Ifrit employs a combination of beefy melee strikes and fiery blasts in opposition to Garuda’s fast slashes and wind-based assaults. Projectiles additionally neutralize one another, which is a very cool contact.

The builders famous that the gameplay of those Eikon clashes will fluctuate, hinting that you will have to battle every one in a different way relying on their elemental prowess, distinctive attributes and Clive’s relationship with the character who’s controlling them.

Even with the shift towards action-oriented battles, Remaining Fantasy XVI appears set to be an emotional curler coaster within the collection’ grand custom. Talking by way of a translator, producer Naoki Yoshida needs gamers to really feel thrilled and hopeful by the point they’re finished with the sport.

“When these finish credit roll and the gamers expertise the entire story, I would like them to really feel that they will transfer towards tomorrow, it doesn’t matter what occurred at the moment,” he stated.