Final Fantasy 16 producer explains why they avoided open world
Square EnixFinal Fantasy 16 is shaping up to be another massive entry into the storied JRPG franchise and the game’s producer has revealed why it will not be a conventional open-world adventure.
There’s so much Final Fantasy news at the moment that it’s hard to keep up. Between news of the Final Fantasy VII Remake Part II AKA Final Fantasy Rebirth, Final Crisis Core: Fantasy VII Reunion, and even rumors that FF7 Remake Part III is underway, there’s plenty in the pipeline for Square Enix.
Final Fantasy 16 represents the next new, major entry in the JRPG series and news is finally starting to be unveiled. One of the most interesting details that has been discussed about the game is that, unlike Final Fantasy 15, the world will not be a free open-world design.
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In an interview with IGN, Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has outlined a significant change that will be introduced in the upcoming title.
“To bring a story that feels like it spans an entire globe and beyond, we decided to avoid an open-world design that limits us to a single open-world space, and instead focus on an independent area-based game design that can give players a better feel of a truly ‘global’ scale.”
One of the biggest criticisms of Final Fantasy 15 was the game’s disjointed map and its overall sense of emptiness in many parts.
Square EnixPrevious Final Fantasy games found success through having multiple large areas that were broken down into towns and cities, but the games were never truly open world and it made the game feel more alive and full.
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Yoshida has said that Final Fantasy 16 will “find inspiration from recent triple-A open-world RPGs” and this will surely mean a lot of side quests and exploration.
2023 is slated to be the release date for Square Enix’s hotly anticipated JRPG and we expect to learn a lot more about the game between now and then.