Massive Final Fantasy 16 Update: Party Confirmed & Huge Story/Gameplay Breakdown 

Yoshi-p confirmed awhile ago that there will be easier difficulty settings for those who might have trouble with the faster paced action combat. He wants the game to be accessible to all players. 👍

It was mentioned in some interviews that there will be multiple systems to assist more casual players, so I think they got you covered.

There definitely will be. They know alot of there base fans are devotees like yourself that have been around a long time. They are making a game that they want people to talk about. So they definitely will make an easy mode for people that either don't have the time or that are less adept at playing challenging games.

@@Ultima_Cloud altho that is true. Once when you add an age rating to a game unfortunately it becomes less accessible.

I know people don't like to do this, but you can use cheat If the game is out on PC, and I mean reasonable cheat like x5 your defense and attack so it basically turn the game into easy mode.

He communicates more openly than most of the people in my life🤣

In Yoshi-P we trust

That's my man Yoshi P :)

He’s great, honestly love Yoshi and everything he’s done for XIV. Can’t wait to play XVI

In Yosh-P we trust, man. I think one of the reasons that so many XIV players are so nice and welcoming is because of the example Yoshida sets in his own behavior and interactions. Getting into XIV felt like coming home for me and Yoshida gave us that world, as it is now and I want to be a good, friendly player so that people will feel welcome to discover that wonderful world. I hope that made sense. I'm typing while getting ready for work and fangirling over the latest XVI news. 😅

Definitely... And with good level design and with good art design you can still have it give the same feeling as an open world of a world you can get lost in.

For sure. Linear games can be great if you know how to do them, like FFX did. Of course you could go the wrong way like FFXIII too XD. But i'm pretty confident with this team to do the right job.

Fully agree. Having open worlds just for the sake of it has become something of a trend in game design in recent years, but if it doesn't serve a purpose then open world can really restrict options for developers. I'm glad Square is thinking what the game actually needs instead of just blindly following trends.

Games like Final Fantasy aren’t limited by that in my opinion, you can have wildly diverse regions because the normal rules can be subverted with the fantasy setting

i think final fantasy games should be open world like horizon zero dawn or days gone. Open world games with a good story and side quests are what i use to dream of final fantasy games would evolve into. how ever the last good final fantasy i think was final fantasy 12, after that at least for me they have gotten worse and worse .

I prefer linear as well. I don't mind open world but what annoys me abt it is crafting. I don't like crafting.

Well, FF1 to 9 were all linear. People have a misconception that overworld map was open world. When it's basically a artsy chapter selector.

@@PetarBladeStrok Which many open world games are... a chapter selector.

I don't have a prefrence all i care about is good gameplay and getting invested in the story as well as the charachters. All three 13 games and 15 did that for me so I'm really looking forward to 16 especially now that I know there's still a party system.

They both have there merit. I’ll admit though, I have to be READY to play an open world rpg. Them shits take so damn long, I have to prepare to put aside other games to play it.

It’ll be kitase vs YoshiP, whoever wins will probably lead the battle style for the following main number game.

Totally agree with you Rogue.

@@jackadam9348 final fantasy 17 mmo

You’re most welcome Mitch!

yeah but you dont get to control them. They will be purely AI driven.

@@stuartspiker732 Honestly that’s probably for the better. Gives them more of a chance to flesh out an attach system with one specific character.

@@MyDoggiesABullyNah, I think it's just lazy. They're already focusing down by not doing an open world. They should have allowed for party control. One of the biggest draws for final fantasy for me through every single FF game has been an ensemble cast that I get to build up and use in battles, deciding what my party composition will be, micromanaging those members to use attacks how I want them to, etc. Unless they create a SUPER good version of XII's gambit system, I don't imagine I'll be satisfied with the party system in XVI

@@ecksluss I don't see that as lazy, if the battle system is as complex as a DMC (since it's DMC5's game designer behind FFXVI), just mastering Clyde to his full potential will have a big learning curve, you do not want to do complex gameplay like that with multiple characters to swap from as you take the risk to overwhelm the player. Plus according to the information we got the story will follow Clyde through something like 20 years of his life, so most of the characters that accompagny him will probably not be for the entire game only part of it, wouldn't make sense to make gameplay for temporary character, especially if it's just to have a far less polish and less rich gameplay as the main character.

@@ecksluss They still are going to let you pick you your party members attack. I don’t want another atrocious final fantasy 15. I want a good combat system, not whatever your complaining about. It’s not lazy. It’s great. Also, the world and the combat systems are two different things that have absolutely 0 correlation.

I really like the idea of watching our character beat progressively more powerful and gargantuan monsters only over the span of years of practice, combat, and war, as opposed to whimsically leveling up a bunch in a few weeks.

@@Foreck yes! also, the stories that can be told over the years are much more than the ones happening in just some weeks

70 hrs ain't long enough, needs to be like 200 or 300 to keep me invested.

@@macmarles3243 even final fantasy 15 is like 100 hours to fully complete, final fantasy 12 is my favorite and took me like 300 to 90%(I never beated yiazmat)

@@macmarles3243 I'm talking about just the game and story. Not getting all the stuff. Most games now take like 10 hours to beat. Too short.

Thank you so much for the kind words Gregory! ~Darryl

Very much so. FfX still has my favorite summon system for me personally.

Who have u seen complain about the open world because I’ve not seen one person complain yet

@@jordonrenaud1178 Just scroll through the comments. There’s quite a few on this video alone.

XIII is well-designed as well. It was just going for a different feel. Essentially the part of X where you lose Yuna and the whole world turns against you, that concept as an entire game. If you don't like that kinda concept that's fine, but how well they executed it is another story and I think they did it great

@@Ultima_Cloud I have but only seen people being skeptical about the party system. I don’t doubt that people don’t like the linear direction tho. Which I don’t get cos most open world games are boring af.

Anachronistic mixes of magic and technology have always been present in the series, but to varying degrees. To me, the right "Final Fantasy" balance is when the setting feels mostly like a high fantasy atmosphere, with castles and sorcerers and dragons and whatnot, but then there are sometimes more advanced flying ships, engines, and robots that trickle in here and there. Some games lean into the advanced tech aspect more than others, and that's okay, but I feel like Tetsuya Nomura lately has abducted the series and ran off with it in the wrong direction. When the principle theme of a game is "four dudes on a roadtrip in their car," and they've got cell phones, and a plot point is that the car breaks down so they go to a mechanic named Cindy who wears booty shorts and a ballcap, to me something is wrong. And it's not the end of the world if one game does that, but I have a suspicion that's what Nomura wants to do with the series forever, make the main characters "stylish" and put them in magazine ads for Louis Vuitton. Nomura is trying too hard to be "cool," and I'm glad he's not involved in an FF game for a change.

@@0Fyrebrand0 I get what your saying, and even though I love 15 I can see why many don't like it. As it's not very final fantasy feel and maybe too modern day.

Lol. That should've got him fired lmao. Guy's fame went to his head. Everything he worked on up until Type0 and 15 was pretty alright.

dude the musical quotation needs to die off already. It's a translation error of an interview, guys. Come on, do you really think that was honestly an option? We need better translators in the future to keep such errors in check. It's been years and I still see someone mentioning that.

@@NoctLightCloud hi Barry

@@NoctLightCloud Hey all I’m saying is that we’re blessed FF XVI isn’t taking almost 9 years to come out since its announcement in 2006.

@@Soul_Removal People surely lobe repeating the same bad stuff about Nomura on the internet... If you check out Wikipedia, Nomura was overworked. Between 2004~2011 alone, he had so many projects going on. It was the management's fault for giving him yet another project as director of a FNC game. Imo Nomura shouldn't be blamed for games not releasing in time. The day only has 24hrs and dude was clearly overloaded with projects. (In the Japanese culture, you can't say No. This is why YoshiP didn't want to direct XVI but couldn't really say No so he got to oversee it as the Producer.) Nomura is, for that exact reason, not the director of FFVIIRebirth, because he has had like 5 other projects going on. I personally have no idea how he managed his workload between 2016~2020. Heck he was even involved in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 at that time!

That's a major blow imo

The part about how they structured the story based on market research is what gets me. People are really hyping this up because of yoshi p, but he’s just one cog in the mass of corporatism that is square enix.

@@maninblack3410 Well these stars in Japan are super rare due to the dynamic. While Yoshi had heart in his 20s, he's old now.. it's just a paycheck these days. Which is understandable, but won't make a good game. Last FF game I loved was 20 years ago.. 20.. that's longer than all of the core games 1-10. I think we're holding onto a series that no longer delivers sadly

From the looks of it the character is just a red mage and the customization is mostly in the summon's stats.

I guess changing Eikons = changing jobs in FFXVI. The gameplay is slighty altered and we have skill trees for Eikons. I assume it may work that way.

@@Makuro_XIII ya maybe some trees leaning towards more magic damage, summon damage, melee etc

you can't control them, you can't even pick their skills, they are AI controlled to the end

That’s the icing on the cake a playable demo 🔥😄

Very much agreed, it's not hard to think of major examples where people have hyped over trailers and then been let down by the reality of the gameplay!

I do think the graphics could stand to have more color in them but beyond that it looked amazing. My one concern was this but that’s been fixed so I’m all on board.

I was disappointed by the lack of an open world in that game. Open worlds help make a game world immersive.

FFX was great bc of its story not bc of its corridor simulator.

@@thevirginmarty9738 Cancer Triger, debatably Battlefront 2 (EA), No Man's Sky (release), Sea of Thieves, CyberPunk 2077. Do I need to go on?

@@thevirginmarty9738 Hard disagree. Well designed linearity is much more immersive in my opinion. A well designed open world can be great, the problem is that most open world games aren’t well designed at all. Nothing reminds me that I’m playing a video game more than doing the same fetch quest 3 different ways for the same NPC model wearing a different colored shirt. That was basically FFXV in a nutshell.

Yeah, but look at VI, VII and IX...Masterpieces!

do kids these days not play gta?

We won't. It's an npc support, like guests in FFXII

It'd be great if they did one in the style of Baldur's Gate 3 / Wrath of the righteous (but with more competent programming) where you can switch between real time with pause and turn-based

Huge sigh of relief from me as well. I play FF to put myself in the hands of the director and the experience the devs lay out. FF has almost always walked the perfect line between locales intermixed with story beats.

I mean it won’t be full linear, nor will it be full open world It will be a mix of both which seems good

I hope it takes some inspiration from FF12, I really enjoyed how linear yet expansive each hub felt

I really, really liked FFXV and appreciated WoFF. But my appreciation of XV just appreciated with time. Such a great cast Nd pretty fun if a bit bloated with sidequests

@@12ealDealOfficial Funny, FFXV kind of had the opposite effect on me. I loved it at first and considered it my second favorite behind FFVII, but after a couple additional playthroughs over the last few years, I've found myself enjoying it less and less. The empty world feels evermore empty. The robotic dialogue feels evermore robotic. Certainly its graphics have held up and I love using it to see how much I can push my PC anytime I do an upgrade. FF XV was certainly ambitious and I'm sure Square learned a lot from it. Despite the game falling out of my own personal favor over the years, overall I still do think it's a good game. I'm glad you've found more love for the game over time and perhaps I will too someday.

That's because since FFXIII they have crammed that shitty ass action RPG garbage down our throats. This game will be no different. It's not a coincidence that the best Final Fantasy games were turn-based. This battle system looks terrible.

@@johnsonspark171 The best games where the best because of story. Not because they were limited to making turn based games. None of those games and I played them all were close to the turn based gameplay that OG 7 was none of them. Nobody misses having to draw magical spells from enemies in FF8 that shit was a disaster. If they remade it they definitely wouldn’t make that game turn based. 7 remakes battle system is the best the entire series has to offer and it ain’t turn based. It just came out a couple years ago.

@@johnsonspark171 Final Fantasy is not defined by its battle system. They didn't invent turn based, that was just the battle system of the time for JRPG's in the 80s and 90s. Final Fantasy has always been about being ambitious, innovative, and having a complex and deep story. Even if it is not your personal cup of tea, DMC is known for its action packed and engaging gameplay. On top of that, we've got the makings for a fantastic story with Yoshi-P directing.

I assume that the other Dominants such as Hugo or Benedikta may be temporary party members at set points during the story. :-) Others could be the mercenaries from the Awakening trailer (which makes me think of the FFT first battle/flash- forward for some reason), etc.

But you could switch and all playable in FF 15..After updates of course...Maybe they might do the same with FF16..Later down the line..Until then we have battle commands for the Doggo..Even though that very very limited..

I agree. The FF7Remake system is probably the true perfect combination of Action and JRPG. To think that is “too” like the days of old i feel is a little disingenuous. I think FF7 Remake is leagues more unique and attractive as a young player than DmC since thats essentially what this game is. Almost sounded like an excuse as to why they essentially 3rd party developed the battle system of a next main installment. That being said, Lets see what this game does on its own 2 feet.

Agreed, it would have been nice if Final Fantasy XVI iterated on Final Fantasy 7 Remake in some way with its gameplay, but as they've decided to go in a different direction we just have to hope that whatever they come up with raises the bar yet again! ~Darryl

@@frederickbingley6699 Gotta say I hate how party members AI in FF7Remake are just auto attack bots, much prefer a system like Tales where the party members can actually fight without you babysitting them.

Nah..FF7R is still too half measure....it's not as tactical as a true turn based game and the action is lacking vs more true action games... Tales of Arise Scarlet Nexus are modern JRPGS with easily better combat systems.. The Ariel combat in FF7R being the most glaringly obvious area..no dedicated jump button...or even an attack that's purpose to attack arial opponents..if you're not using projectiles..it's a guessing game if you're going to jump so your 3 hits than land.....the combat basically falls apart.

@@HikariNoMiko I think integrating something akin to the gambit system in FFXII and blending that with FFVIIR like combat would be perfect.

The game might be great, but being basically DMC/souls-like in it's mechanic and gameplay does kill off the feeling of playing a final fantasy game, I'd rather they make this as a separate title using ff ip instead of being a mainline final fantasy game

@@deanmalto1386 I feel you, but also realize at this point that keeping the main series turn based just isn't realistic. Turn based combat is just very niche these days and tbh only existed because of technological limitations in the past. Not saying that turn based isn't still enjoyable, but I've come to realize that it isn't necessary to have strategy driven gameplay. I would have loved a system similar to FFVII remake (Arguably the best hybrid of real time and turn based to date) but I'm definitely interested in seeing what they have in store for us. I really think FFXVI is going to be something special.

@@picxal1948 and yet dragon quest thrives with it even on turn based its still about execution other jrpgs become famous from it just that when they shifted to western market it became like this

@@picxal1948 I don't think it's a problem to be honest... I don't think final fantasy is defined by its combat system... I think final fantasy is more defined by a tone, a sound, an aesthetic, and it's characters... I think changing up the combat system with each title makes it fresh. Ff7R is different to this, this is different to 13 etc...

@@picxal1948 Pokémon, Dragon Quest, Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Octopath, Divinity Original Sin 2, Baldurs Gate 3, XCOM 1&2, Ogre Tactics and many others would like to have a word with you. "Isn't realistic" then I guess all these franchises some as big as the entire world cough cough Pokémon are just unrealistic and can't work. What a dumb excuse, this gameplay style is not outdated, it's not passed its prime, its here still and thriving.

These are basically npcs that assist you like guests in FFXII. Don't get your hopes up.

@@stepanbaranov8459 i know, it's still much better than having a single character all the time.

@@christhiancastillo1607 you might as well just be a single character if they are useless, probably going to be the biggest criticism in reviews

@@gvulture1277 Not for me, I still prefer useless characters than no party. I care more about the story, characters and interactions than that tbh.

@@stepanbaranov8459 There's mention of a buddy system so we may get some kind of control over them.

Final Fantasy has never had an open world, but gated content, so I’ve found the need for them to emphasize that rather strange and frankly ignorant to a series with such obvious history.

@@CancunMimosa I think they said that for the people who are dying to have an open world in every game nowadays lol. Like it's kinda oversaturated in the industry and I'd rather have linear hallways than a open world that if it were to be empty.