The rumors were right. They were circulating around Twitter but everyone took them with a grain of salt. Some even denied it, thinking that it’d take a year or two before they actually announce the game. I was one of the people who had no expectations, but damn am I really glad that Final Fantasy XVI was announced. Anyways, after mulling about it for a bit, I noticed that the new Final Fantasy game has some very familiar and exciting elements to it. Here are a couple I find really interesting, and what you can expect to see.
Return to High Fantasy
Chocobo Knights
Final Fantasy has always been about a high fantasy setting until Final Fantasy 6 hit the shelves and kind of introduced a much more modern setting. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate it at all. I think Final Fantasy’s jumping around from setting to setting is really brilliant as it keeps everything fresh. But it’s REALLY been a while since we had a high fantasy setting. Sure, Final Fantasy XIV is in a high fantasy setting, but what’s sad about that is that not everyone has played it despite its greatness. So I think Final Fantasy XVI‘s return to high fantasy will rekindle something inside the fans who’ve followed the series since the start; and as someone who loves fantasy settings, I love that stuff.
Mature themes…?
Mature Themes
Recently, Final Fantasy XVI has received a provisional rating of PEGI 18. Meaning that there’ll be mature content in this one. I mean, you’d be able to tell if you watched the trailer; it reeks of dark fantasy. Oh, boy, how I wish it really is a dark fantasy take on the Final Fantasy universe, that’d be so good. Anyway, sorry for going off a tangent there. We have a familiar face in the development team and that’d be Naoki Yoshida.
Naoki Yoshida is the main guy who “saved” Final Fantasy XIV from its launch failure. He’s currently the producer of Final Fantasy XVI and is also the producer and the director of Final Fantasy XIV. Now, why am I mentioning this? It’s because he’s involved in the direction of where Final Fantasy XIV is going and it’s pretty dark. Sure, he’s not really the one directing Final Fantasy XVI but their director, Hiroshi Takai, has also worked with Yoshida in Final Fantasy XIV, which further strengthens the argument that this game may turn dark.
Music from Masayoshi Soken?!
This one’s a stretch. Square Enix hasn’t really said anything about who composed the theme of the trailers but there are speculations. Alex Moukala, a professional music producer, has drawn similarities with how the main theme sounds to Soken’s existing works. If you’re a music nerd like me and really like Final Fantasy music, check his video out.
He goes further into analyzing the trailer theme of Final Fantasy XVI to find out who actually scored it. For those of you who don’t know, Masayoshi Soken is the main composer for Final Fantasy XIV, I know you can probably see a pattern here now. Yes, I love FFXIV and I love Masayoshi Soken.
Conclusion
To close, this game will probably be something that feels familiar and refreshing at the same time. With lots of great people working at it, I think this new installment is a promising one. Final Fantasy XVI still has no release date and more information will be released in 2021, but it has been rumored that its release might be closer than we think.
