Final Fantasy XVI at '95%' Development Status: Director Hiroshi Takai Teases Story and Release Date

Square Enix is almost set to wrap up development and release the newest story of its most popular action RPG franchise, Final Fantasy XVI.

Final Fantasy XVI was first announced in September 2020, with its development led by main director Hiroshi Takai and producer Naoki Yoshida. The game is set to release as a timed exclusive on the PS5 before its availability on other gaming platforms.

According to Gamespot, Final Fantasy XVI is set to release sometime around summer 2023 and will be followed by the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in winter 2023, the second of the three-part remake project of the original 1997 game.

While no exact date has been revealed for the release of Final Fantasy XVI next summer, the official release date will be revealed by the end of this year.

Hiroshi Takai Teases Final Fantasy XVI Story Concept

According to game director Hiroshi Takai, Final Fantasy XVI is currently at 95% development status in a recent interview with Famitsu.

"The current situation is that we play through the game day by day, tweak the rough parts, and brush up the parts that have flaws in performance or drawing," Takai said on finishing Final Fantasy XVI. "The rest is bugfixing."

In case you missed it, the hype keeps on building as Final Fantasy XVI recently dropped its first game trailer on October 20. According to the official Final Fantasy Youtube trailer, the game is set 1,500 years after the fall of Valisthea and will take players into the warring nations that inhabit its lands, featuring massive battles between the Eikons, the summon monsters of the Final Fantasy games. Interestingly, Final Fantasy XVI also features a prominent female protagonist.

Additionally, localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox reveals that different types of media, such as Game of Thrones and The Witcher were referenced in the making of Final Fantasy XVI's character designs and narrative themes, as many of the development team are fans of these media.

Square Enix on the Making of Final Fantasy XVI

Following the game's first announcement in September 2020, Square Enix saw the start of the development of Final Fantasy XVI later that year. After the game's debut, the development team went on to complete game scenarios and "large-scale" resources such as boss battles and development tools.

In July 2021, producer Naoki Yoshida reported that the storyline was almost completed, and voice recording for English and Japanese had been in its final stages.

Destructoid reports that Final Fantasy XVI will feature a story-focused mode with a slow-motion feature to assist players in combat and an action-focused mode that allows players to customize their character and freely utilize the combat style.

Final Fantasy XVI will see the return of familiar Eikons such as Bahamut, Titan, Garuda, Shiva, Leviathan, Ifrit, and more.

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Written by: Andi C.