Set to release for PlayStation 5 on June 22nd, Final Fantasy XVI is the next major installment in the Final Fantasy series, where protagonist Clive Rosfield harnesses the power of multiple summons to bring about a tragic fate. I am following the situation of overcoming This work is the first full-fledged action RPG in the Final Fantasy series, featuring high-speed battles where you fight by switching between various Akon’s powers, and large-scale battles between Akon and Akon.
We interviewed main director Hiroshi Takai about how this work utilizes the power of the PS5 and how it was optimized and developed for the PS5.
As a developer, what were your first impressions of the PS5’s power and technology?
Hiroshi Takai: What impressed me was the size of the memory and the speed of the SSD. I’ve worked with a variety of hardware over the years, many of which failed to strike the right balance between hardware capabilities and memory size. However, the PS5 is different. It comes with enough memory to get the most out of your hardware. As for the SSD, I was just blown away by how fast it was when I was building the game.
The Final Fantasy franchise is known for its graphic quality. FINAL FANTASY XVI was first and foremost developed as a PS5 game, how did you harness the power of the hardware in terms of graphics and gameplay?
Naturally, we wanted the graphics to be the best possible, so we put a lot of emphasis on detail in the character and environment models, as well as the quality of the lighting and shadows to make them really shine. Just rendering these models to the screen is resource intensive, with lighting and shadow effects layered on top of that. This is possible thanks to the size of the PS5’s memory. Clive, the main character of “FFXVI”, can unleash a wide range of attacks, and all the animations and effects are memorable. And without the speed of SSDs, the way games seamlessly flow from resource-intensive gameplay to equally intensive cutscenes and vice versa is not possible.
Can you tell us a little bit about how FFXVI leverages the PS5? DualSense controller Adaptive triggers and haptic feedback in combat and exploration?
There are certain sections where players have to open heavy doors or lift portcullis, where adaptive triggers are used to convey that effort and resistance. Also used when riding a chocobo. Haptic feedback can generate very subtle vibrations, which are used to increase your presence in cutscenes. By converting the sound effects used in each scene into haptic data, it is now possible to express details that could not be expressed before, such as the movement of air.
FINAL FANTASY XVI will be the first full-fledged action RPG in the history of the series. Abandoning the command system entirely is a bold move. What was your purpose with this?
That’s right, when it comes to FFXVI’s design, we wanted to see what would happen if we took a new direction and made it a full-action RPG. Sometimes, every input produces a response that you can actually feel. One of his main features of the combat system is the wide range of his Eikonic abilities that Clive can unleash, which gives players great freedom in how they approach combat. There are also Eikon-on-Eikon battles where players directly control famous summons from the series to add to the action. It’s a non-stop, thrilling ride from start to finish.
The details of every Final Fantasy game may vary, but they are always centered around a compelling story. Final Fantasy XVI’s story is rooted in tragic heroism. Could you elaborate on that theme?
When I thought about making a game for PS5, I wanted to create a world where graphics and story were not separated. We may go to some pretty dark places, but it’s a world where darkness exists because there’s light, and our heroes have the hope that things will get better, so the trials they do. A world where every man, woman and child has their own sense of what a “just” world should look like.
What other PS5 games have left an impression on you? From a developer’s perspective, how did it feel to take advantage of the PS5’s features?
God of War Ragnarok is a great game. It’s a seamless experience from start to finish and perfectly portrays the relationship between father and son.
