Final Fantasy XVI’s announcement trailer stole the show during Sony’s most recent PlayStation 5 showcase. This game is looking to be groundbreaking, from hints that the game will have a mature rating and reports that it's already four years into development.
The trailer gave fans their first taste of what to expect from the newest entry into the Final Fantasy franchise. Naoki Yoshida, the producer for hit MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV as well as FFXVI, revealed that FFXVI’s trailer was aimed at showcasing in-game footage and that the actual graphics are still being fine-tuned.
Yoshida’s pronouncement came during Square Enix’s Tokyo Game Show 2020 livestream. While Yoshida’s time was meant to be spent discussing FFXIV, Nier creator Yoko Taro, who worked closely with Yoshida to bring Nier to FFXIV, prodded him to speak about the recently announced FFXVI. Twitter user @aitaikimochi translated Yoshida’s response.
When making the trailer, Yoshida wanted to showcase in-game footage to manage players’ expectations. “This time,” Yoshida said, “we really put a lot of effort. For example, releasing a movie, like a prerendered amazing movie along with the logo was something we didn’t want to do this time around.”
The trailer definitely reflects that. While still cinematic and interspersed with what appears to be relevant story cutscenes, the announcement trailer also features the as-yet unnamed protagonist in the middle of combat with a malboro and a dragoon. Furthermore, if the gameplay shown in the trailer is reflective of what players can expect to see from FFXVI, then it would seem as though the main Final Fantasy games have well and truly abandoned the traditional turn-based format that the franchise is primarily known for.
Yoshida also poked fun at Final Fantasy fans during the panel, stating that if the team had gone the route of using prerendered footage for the trailer, players all over would be commenting, “See you in 2035!”, which Yoshida noted he had already seen from American and other fans.
By putting in-game footage into the trailer, Yoshida and the rest of the FFXVI development team can not only build up hype for the game, but also show players what FFXVI will look like in-motion. It’s a good way to manage hype, allowing fans to ruminate on the story, worldbuilding, and characters rather than speculate on gameplay.
Yoshida also noted that the development team had very little time to make alterations to the trailer, so much of what players saw would be touched up in due time. Yoshida expects to have an official teaser site up around late October.