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FINAL FANTASY XVI - Your hopes, dreams and fears!

Koh

Member
I'd actually be interested in a significant shift in art direction similar to FFVIII -> FFIX.

True or not, I believe their focus on graphics had a huge hand in design decisions and my distaste for FFXIII.

I'd love to see them strive for unique and playful again.
 

Philippo

Member
Make Final Fantasy Tactics 2, directed by Hiroyuki Ito, set in Ivalice, written by Yasumi Matsuno who also helps design some new systems alongside Ito and together evolve the SRPG genre. Get Hitoshi Sakimoto to compose, Akihiko Yoshida to do all of the character designs and Yoko Taro to write and direct the game's DLC.
Call it "Final Fantasy XVI". Profit.

Add to this:
Valkyrie Profile's combat system as a base
FFT:WOTL's CGI cutscenes-like graphics

GOTG
 

Pachinko

Member
I hope it actually exists as a real tangible product but I know deep down that 0 work has been done even on a hypothetical game. The reason being , Square is already loaded up with projects and spending tons of money across the board getting all of these games out.

On the online front , they only got FF14 into a good place late 2013 , it's remained there , has so far released one big expansion pack but what's next ? well I imagine they'll keep supporting that title until 2023, 2015 was major update 1 , late 2017 will probably see major update 2 , mid 2019 will see major update 3 and major update 4 will follow in spring 2021 with a final major update near the end of 2023. So if a followup to FFXIV shows up it won't likely launch until near the end of it's lifespan. Probably starts development in 2020 and it's out in 2024, maybe VR based ? who knows exactly. Square has a finite team set up to deal with FFXI/XIV stuff though so you can basically assume whoever is involved with it right now will remain involved for most of it's continued lifespan.

So what's the next major project ? FFXV obviously. People love to throw around the development hell versus XIII suffered but I've said it many times and I think most people out there finally realize it - XV despite it's many similarities and re-used art/design assets is NOT versus XIII. Versus XIII was cancelled in 2012 and from it's ashes rose the FFXV project in 2013, now , in 2016 after a little over 3 years of continuous honest to gosh work - it's finally finished and going through it's final coat of spit shine polish. The rumored september release date coupled with the potential for DLC means at least a small portion of the FFXV team will probably be tied up through to some point in 2017. Where will the rest be heading off to ? ... well -

Kingdom Hearts 3 - The next pipe dream project coming from Square is easily KH3 and once FFXV has finished up and is ready to go worldwide the bulk of the FFXV team will probably be immediately transferred to Nomura's watch to get it out the door in time for next summer. Why next summer ? well when else are they going to release it exactly ? it's the type of game that needs an entire quarter to itself so the latest I see KH3 making it out the door is probably August but July might be better. Thanks to stuff like disney infinity existing , I wouldn't be at all surprised if DLC/crossover ideas existed with KH3 going forward too. Either way, let's say by September of 2017 the 2 biggest square teams are finally free again , what's next ?

Well , right now FF7 remake episode 1 is being built externally but what if , thanks to the groundwork being laid they shifted those 2 big teams to also work on FF7R. This of course assumed the game ends up being no more then 4 episodes. Episode 1 and 4 get farmed out , episode 2 is done with the FFXV team and episode 3 is done by the KH3 team. This ties up these teams for another 3 years BUT if my theory is correct that means the the FFXV team , upon finishing FF7Re2 might just get freed up by the end of 2018. So , perhaps production on FFXVI might start by 2019 and the game itself could be out by the end of mid to late 2022 ... this would mean it's probably going to be a PS5 game obviously. Which also assumes that the PS5 is out by 2019 and that Square is still making enough money from games to bother with another big game. Of course, if FF7R ends up successful with episodes you might see FFXVI take the same route which could mean it'll start trickling out by 2020 with an annual addition. That would make FFXVII the next online installment ....

As for what form I'd want FFXVI to take ? well I don't know man, by the time it's out I'll be nearly 40 years old. I'd love a return to a more steam punk / mage punk style world like what we got with FF6 but fully realized with the power of a modern gaming console (this game would probably look better than agni's philosophy). Give me vast , immersive cities and worlds to explore , an exciting and technical battle system (go back to some form of ATB if it's required) , cool characters that aren't all 16-21 year old pop stars and an overall story that feels like an excellent original idea mixed with elements of nostalgia. Just like FF9 and FF12. What I do NOT want is any attempt at making something at all similar to FF8 / FF10 or FF13.
 
Unrealistic dreams:
-Yoko Taro as director. But the guy's sensibilities are way too dark and quirky for a mainstream audience. (Sort of like how XV is toning down some of the darker themes that Nomura's Versus had such as death-reaper worship.) So it won't happen. But I would scream if it did. And considering how camera-shy he is, would probably not translate well for promotion.
-Trope-defying characters. Make the main character an old, obese woman. Characters with mental illness. Give me a fucking canonical gay party member for the first time in the series (they cut themselves short on Fang and Vanille -- missed opportunity -- they're just good friends *wink wink*). I guess this is one of the things I love about Taro's games. I also think they cut themselves short with XV when we first thought "Cid is a woman this time!" when in fact she is just his (grrand?)daughter.
-Yasumi Matsuno story. I almost cry when I read about FFXII's postmortem and how that project must have broken this man's spirit. But I don't know the man and I guess I can't ever really know for sure.

Wants:
-A character designer other than Nomura. Don't get me wrong, Nomura is an awesome illustrator, but I feel the company as a whole is relying too much on him as a tastemaker. Not to mention he's currently occupied with two massive projects (KHIII and FFVIIR, although I suspect Tai Yasue is doing a lot of the heavy lifting on KH these days.) Speaking of Yasue, he might be one of those "fresh blood" directors that the series will need. And he's bilingual which is super-cool and would be useful for the increasingly-important fan interaction.
-Ishimoto soundtrack. I see a lot of people here agree that he's pretty much next in line for a seat on a roman numeral.
-Even more international staff. They're doing a good job with this so far with guys like Hazmer and Prasertvithyakarn
-I suspect we will get this closer to FFXV's release, but some key art from Yoshitaka Amano is always eye-pleasing.

Keep:
-Yusuke Naora and Isamu Kamikokuryo on artwork

Do not wants:
-Agni's Philosophy. Fine for a tech demo but the world just doesn't look that interesting to me. Would rather have something else.

Fears:
-Motomu Toriyama
-Watanabe
-A weak composer
-Kitase has, in my opinion, been involved in more weak titles than good as of the last few years.
-I'm a little fearful of what Tabata might do if he was given completely free reign. I know he loves war documentaries, and I fear he would try something like World War II: The JRPG.
-Square Enix utterly learning nothing from Crystal Tools and Luminous Engine's protracted development and decide to continue with time-wasting in-house tools. I understand R&D is important but no need to reinvent the wheel.
 
You don't think they made a tech demo around story ideas they already had percolating? I doubt they made that tech demo based on nothing.

Nope. I think they wanted a unique-looking and visually spectacular short story to showcase their new tech, and thus created Agni. I'll be very concerned if Square decides to chase the positivity it received into a full on RPG, instead of believing in their ability to create something for a Final Fantasy RPG from the ground up.

It's the same kind of uneasiness I feel whenever Bioware reaches out on social media to ask fans what they think Dragon Age should do next.
 

Mupod

Member
they need to prove to me that they can make a mainline FF that is worth my time first. They've got a lot of ground to cover especially since XV's gameplay based on the demos/betas/whatever looks horrendous so far.
 
..snip...

Interesting points, but why wouldn't they keep outsourcing VII-R?

With XV wrapping this year, KH3 moving well with its own team, XIV self contained, and VII-R being done by Cyber Connect, Tabata's team could be fairly free. And what has Toriyama been working on? And Ito?

I know SE have a lot on their plate, but I think it would be a mistake not to have XVI at least in meaningful pre-production. When's the last time a big FF wrapped without at least the promise of what was to come next following soon after?
 

RyoonZ

Banned
Hope it's Motomu Toriyama again. Been such a long time since the awesomeness that is Lightning Saga. No sarcasm.

Also hope for female protag again (hopefully they use Agni), in a fantasy setting like FFIX or FFXII. Only thing I dont like in FFXIII is the futuristic stuff.
 

Lynx_7

Member
An all-alien party. Humans are overrepresented in FF and I would like to see a lovecraftian cast for once. It could work like a reverse Bloodborne, with them hunting the humans. For the glory of Cthulhu.

No composer. That way you can play whatever songs you want and Square gets to save some money. Everybody wins.

Pre-historical setting mixed with the French Revolution. We've had too many medieval/cyberpunk/steampunk and futuristic settings already, time for something fresh!

In order to reach a compromise between the turn-based and real time action crowd, they could make a speed chess battle system, with the option to turn it to normal chess.

Characters are just polygons with no distinctive look to them. That way, no one can complain about character designs they don't like and you can just imagine every character just how you want them to look.

Directed by Keiji Inafune. He looks like someone that could please a large amount of fans.

I believe these propositions would please most amount of people.

Just give me something good in a reasonable amount of time and I'll be satisfied really. Surprise me.
 
I want a world that is radically different from anything we have gotten before. The world in Agni's philosophy seemed very interesting, but I doubt we'll get that at this point. As for the battle system, I want something very similar to X-2's, complete with jobs.
 
You don't think they made a tech demo around story ideas they already had percolating? I doubt they made that tech demo based on nothing.

They made a whole bunch of detailed assets for Agni -- even things like fictional insects. Here are some slides from a "making of" presentation that are totally worth checking out. Seems like an awful lot of work for what is essentially a non-profitable exercise.

287523.jpg

287506.jpg

287526.jpg
 
A great story. They haven't delivered a narrative I thought was really interesting since Kingdom Hearts 2. I am beginning to lose faith in their storytelling abilities:(
 
Speaking of Agni, the summoner looks a lot like New Regis (FFXV) to me, no? Maybe just coincidence.

287507.jpg


BTW, I'm almost sure that this character was named "Simon" or something similar in some interview. Can't find it now.
 

~Cross~

Member
The magician woman has to escape from evil empire people using her magic and cunning is a pretty standard trope within final fantasy so dont know what Agnis philosophy would add more than the realfantasy world.

I'd love to see something different, more akin to suikoden from a FF. Base building, large cast, open war with another country. Call the witch woman Mullenkamp, and the city lea monde.
 
Speaking of Agni, the summoner looks a lot like New Regis (FFXV) to me, no? Maybe just coincidence.

287507.jpg


BTW, I'm almost sure that this character was named "Simon" or something similar in some interview. Can't find it now.

Hmm you are right on that. Maybe whomever designed new Regis designed that guy. Sounds plausible. Especially if Ferraro designed people for Agni.
 

DR2K

Banned
After they finish FFVII I hope they look back at what made it so great when they finally get to 16.
 
Obligatory Verendus posts about FFXVI from 2013-2014:

Wait a minute, when Verendus said "another one which had a concept demo showcasing summons and traversal involving them and what I initially called FFXVI but now refer to as just another FF", is he referring to Agni's Philosophy!?
 

Dame

Member

Yuna is definitely likeable, and well written in some parts too.
While I do understand your view, somebody like Yuna fits waifu so hard, it was a glaring thing to me as the plot revolves a lot around protecting/guarding the woman who is introduced by fainting after a trial, then needed to be rescued from a forced marriage later. Got burned in xiii with that same thing with serah and snow needing to be the hero, with her as the plot device. She may have done a complete 180 in the sequel, but fool me once with a terrible game square. Luna? I've had my gripes about them taking out a girl who was shown in the trailers to fight noctis with one sitting down, waiting to be saved in a thread before. She probably does come off as strong and with agency...somehow I guess? Maybe I'm clearly missing how. Serah is so funny because she is Snow's literal wife who needs rescuing. somebody like Ashe was great and avoided a lot of these overdone archetypes well, in my opinion.

Video games make me cynical when deconstructing them, I guess, especially a series I care so much about to do it well.
 

Fou-Lu

Member
Like others I want to see a callback game like Final Fantasy IX. A game with tons of winks and nudges just for FF fans, a fantasy theme, enchanting story, beautiful music and ATB combat (or the FFX combat system). It's been a while and I think the old formula deserves another go. Oh and give me a new card minigame like Triple Triad and Tetra Battle!
 

Aters

Member
Yuna is definitely likeable, and well written in some parts too.
While I do understand your view, somebody like Yuna fits waifu so hard, it was a glaring thing to me as the plot revolves a lot around protecting/guarding the woman who is introduced by fainting after a trial, then needed to be rescued from a forced marriage later. Got burned in xiii with that same thing with serah and snow needing to be the hero, with her as the plot device. She may have done a complete 180 in the sequel, but fool me once with a terrible game square. Luna? I've had my gripes about them taking out a girl who was shown in the trailers to fight noctis with one sitting down, waiting to be saved in a thread before. She probably does come off as strong and with agency...somehow I guess? Maybe I'm clearly missing how. Serah is so funny because she is Snow's literal wife who needs rescuing. somebody like Ashe was great and avoided a lot of these overdone archetypes well, in my opinion.

Video games make me cynical when deconstructing them, I guess, especially a series I care so much about to do it well.

I won't defend Yuna as I hate FFX with a passion, but Sarah doesn't deserve the blame. She's been crystallized for the whole time, how's she supposed to do anything? And she's not a lead character by any means. In FFXIII-2, when Sarah actually became the main character, she turned out all right. The girl just wants to find her sister. As for Luna, we haven't known too much about her yet, but the director specifically said that the reason they've changed Stella to Luna is that they want a more determined and strong female character instead of someone waiting to be saved, so I guess she will be fine.
 

mrmickfran

Member
This is what I assumed we would've been getting this gen (if we started getting 3 mainline games a gen again):

One game is a Toriyama or Kitase Final Fantasy (turn based)
One is an MMO
And the last is an Ito Final Fantasy (Similar to XII)

This way every fanbase is covered.
 

.JayZii

Banned
This is what I assumed we would've been getting this gen (if we started getting 3 mainline games a gen again):

One game is a Toriyama or Kitase Final Fantasy (turn based)
One is an MMO
And the last is an Ito Final Fantasy (Similar to XII)

This way every fanbase is covered.
This sounds good to me. I do still wish they would just start calling their MMOs "Final Fantasy Online", "Final Fantasy Online II", etc. I know it's pedantic and probably past the point of no return, but it really does seem to throw a lot of people for a loop whenever they make an online game a roman numeral title.

I would also like to see some new faces leading the games.
 

Negator

Member
Modern Final Fantasy has pretty much killed all my hopes and dreams. If there's anything I know, it's that FFXVI will be nothing like what I actually want.
 

Aters

Member
This is what I assumed we would've been getting this gen (if we started getting 3 mainline games a gen again):

One game is a Toriyama or Kitase Final Fantasy (turn based)
One is an MMO
And the last is an Ito Final Fantasy (Similar to XII)

This way every fanbase is covered.

Where is FFXV?
I think the MMO will be next gen. FFXIV is still going strong now and if they start making a new MMO instead of making expansions for the current one, fans will be pissed.
 

Light_End

Banned
Yuna is definitely likeable, and well written in some parts too.
While I do understand your view, somebody like Yuna fits waifu so hard, it was a glaring thing to me as the plot revolves a lot around protecting/guarding the woman who is introduced by fainting after a trial, then needed to be rescued from a forced marriage later. Got burned in xiii with that same thing with serah and snow needing to be the hero, with her as the plot device. She may have done a complete 180 in the sequel, but fool me once with a terrible game square. Luna? I've had my gripes about them taking out a girl who was shown in the trailers to fight noctis with one sitting down, waiting to be saved in a thread before. She probably does come off as strong and with agency...somehow I guess? Maybe I'm clearly missing how. Serah is so funny because she is Snow's literal wife who needs rescuing. somebody like Ashe was great and avoided a lot of these overdone archetypes well, in my opinion.

Video games make me cynical when deconstructing them, I guess, especially a series I care so much about to do it well.

I really do feel like Yuna gets a pass in this case, because while it's easy to view her as fragile cargo at a glance, she's clearly proped up as the strongest character in the game, both emotionally and in ability. Everything Yuna does in FFX is by her own choice, and the cast doesn't neglect to remind you. Nothing about her being a summoner was forced upon her, and she isn't even the only summoner in Spira. And to tie it all in, she's also pretty broken on the gameplay aspect to boot. The only other summoners you encounter are a narcissist and a megalomaniac. Yuna staying reserved and selfless is just a testament to her personality, even if it was simple for them to write her that way. And as a nice bonus, Tidus came to Spira with the exact same type of legacy Yuna had -- a legendary father.


I do admit it's ironic of Square to try and paint Luna as this super strong character when this far we've only seen her act as a doll for pretty skin and hair rendering. But using Yuna as an example, I don't see why people somehow think the concept of Stella (she was not even a character yet) is somehow inherently "stronger" than Luna. We are going entirely off dialogueless appearances.


XIII though....Aside from Fang and i guess Lightning, it probably has the worst FF females ever. Lightning starts as an asshole and ends as the god of abstract wardrobes. Vanille...the game drops this huge bombshell that she's been a L'Cie way than anyone in your whole party. Here is where i was fully expecting her to drop her dainty act, gain like 10 magic spells she's been holding out on, and become a real character. But nope, she stays intentionally awkward the whole game so during endgame you can watch her mount her Eidolon like a sybian and scream. Serah was fine in XIII-2 i guess until timeaids, but lets not forget Alyssa, the girl who's super smart and helpful and a great friend to Hope, HAHA not really
, she's just been stabbing you and all of humanity in the back the whole game because she's a coward who's afraid to die
.
 
Pretty sure our wildest dreams all involve the game actually being announced and coming out in a timely fashion. I sincerely hope they've gone full Unreal Engine, maybe then we have a chance at seeing XVI this gen.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
Let's balance out FFXV's all male party members with a FFXVI all female party members!
Eventhough I would like that I doubt anyone at nowadays Square is able to write good, likeable females that are neither annoying, whiny or in fanservice costumes.
So I pass.
 

Munba

Member
Hiroyuki Itou wuold be the best choise and Nobuo Uematsu HAVE to be in the project (full OST).

A new "FF9" next-gen. Sweet dreams..
 

kromeo

Member
Doubt it will happen but no more fantasy based on reality, I don't want to see Cadillacs driving round New Zealand.

No more open world, give me something a bit more like ffxii with separate areas but still the freedom to do a bit of exploring

Most importantly no more awful boyband characters and regardless of what battle system they use please bring back character switching
 

Koozek

Member
Wait a minute, when Verendus said "another one which had a concept demo showcasing summons and traversal involving them and what I initially called FFXVI but now refer to as just another FF", is he referring to Agni's Philosophy!?

Yeah, I thought about that, too. When I asked he never responded, though.
 
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