Set to release for PlayStation 5 on June 22, Final Fantasy XVI is the main sequel to the Final Fantasy series, following the protagonist Clive Rosfield, as he harnesses the power of multiple summons to overcome his tragic fate. The game is the first official action RPG in the Final Fantasy series and features high-speed battles in which the player switches between the powers of various Eikon, as well as battles between Eikon and large-scale Eikon.
We spoke with lead director, Hiroshi Takai, about how the game harnesses the power of the PS5 and how the game is optimized and developed for the PS5.
As a developer, what is your first impression of the PS5’s power and technology?
Hiroshi Takai: Two things that impressed me were the size of the memory and the speed of the SSD. I’ve worked with a lot of different hardware over the years, and many of them haven’t struck the right balance between hardware capabilities and memory size. However, the PS5 is different—it has enough memory installed to make the most of the hardware. As for the SSD, when we built the game, I was simply overwhelmed by its speed.
The Final Fantasy franchise is known for its graphic quality. Final Fantasy XVI was first developed as a PS5 game, so how do you leverage the power of your hardware when it comes to graphics and gameplay?
Naturally, we wanted the graphics to be as good as possible, so we focused a lot on the fine details of the character models and environments, as well as the quality of the lights and shadows, to make them realistic. shine. . It’s really resource intensive just to render these models on screen and the light and shadow effects are then layered on top of that. We were only able to do this thanks to the memory size of the PS5. Clive, the protagonist of FFXVI, can unleash a variety of attacks, and the animations and effects for them can also fit in memory. And the way the game seamlessly moves between resource-intensive gameplay to equally intensive cutscenes and vice versa wouldn’t be possible without the SSD’s speed.
Can you explain a bit how FFXVI uses PS5 DualSense controller adaptive triggers and haptic feedback in battle and exploration?
There are certain parts where players will have to open heavy doors or lift window frames, and we use adaptive triggers there to overcome that feeling of effort and resistance. They are also used when riding chocobos. Haptic feedback can create extremely subtle vibrations that we use to create a heightened sense of presence in cutscenes. We’ve converted the sound effects used in each scene into tactile data, which allows us to portray details that we weren’t able to before, such as the movement of a person. air.
Final Fantasy XVI will be the first official action RPG in the series’ history. It was a bold move to abandon the command system altogether. What is your purpose with this?
Yes, when designing FFXVI, we wanted to see what would happen if we took it in a new direction and turned it into a full-fledged action RPG. We’ve tweaked the gameplay so that when you hold the DualSense controller in your hand, every input you take creates a response you can really feel. One of the main features of the combat system is the wide range of Eikonic abilities that Clive can unleash, and this leads to a lot of freedom in how players approach battle. There are also Eikon-on-Eikon battles, where players directly control the series’ famous summons, to add to the action. It was a non-stop, empty-handed ride from start to finish.
While the details of each Final Fantasy game may vary, they always revolve around a compelling story. The plot of Final Fantasy XVI has a sense of tragic heroism at its core, but can you tell us more about its theme?
When we started thinking about making a game for PS5, we wanted to create a world where there was no disconnect between the graphics and the story. While it can go to some pretty dark places, it’s a world where that darkness only exists because light also exists and our heroes go through the challenges they do exactly. because they hope that things can get better. A world where every man, woman, and child has his or her own perception of what a “fair” world would look like.
What other PS5 games have impressed you? From the developer’s point of view, how do you feel about how they’ve taken advantage of the PS5’s capabilities?
I think God of War Ragnarok is a great game. It was a seamless experience from start to finish and paints a perfect picture of the relationship between a father and his son.
