Final Fantasy XVI devs claim they won’t have boring side quests everyone hates

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XVI will feature a ton of main story content, but the devs have opened up on Final Fantasy 16’s side quests and how they will “have a lot of variety.”

A topic that has come more to the fore in recent years is the idea of side quests in games. Open-world games, in particular, are renowned for incorporating a copious amount of additional missions to help flesh out their world. Final Fantasy XVI will also be embracing this concept and it’s had fans talking.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake came in for slight criticism with feedback directed toward the game’s apparent padding. It’s an issue that’s been brought up ahead of Final Fantasy Rebirth too. In a positive move, the game’s devs have discussed the influence of side quests in the game and how they will be implemented differently this time around.

Final Fantasy XVI to avoid “unnecessary” side quests

Final Fantasy XVI Creative Director Kazutoyo Maehiro and Director Hiroshi Takai recently sat down with IGN to discuss a large number of components in the game. The subject of side quests though was very intriguing.

While Takai claims that FFXVI “has a lot of side quests,” he discussed how the team has handled them differently.

Square Enix

“I believe we have a lot of variety in our side quests. That being said, while there are a lot of them, we didn’t want any of them to feel unnecessary.”

Maehiro then chimed in and explained further: “We didn’t want to have something like an NPC telling you ‘Go and slay three monsters…Thanks!’ We have grown tired of such side quests, so we wanted a good reason for each side quest that was implemented. We wanted them to tell the player more about the game’s world and characters. I’m confident that players won’t be bored by them.”

As an example, the Final Fantasy VII Remake became notorious for a side quest in which Cloud had to run around the Slums finding cats, amongst others.

With a hefty runtime expected for the game, players will have to wait and see how side quests will play out from June 22, 2023.