Final Fantasy 16: How Square Enix Balances So Many Different Combat Experiences In One Game

gameinformer.com:

After previewing Final Fantasy XVI for roughly two hours, which you can read about here, I’m left most interested in the different styles of combat happening throughout the game. Clive has his own style of Devil May Cry-esque combat, party members controlled by A.I. up the ante, Clive’s dog Torgal can attack enemies, Clive can fight Eikons, and there are even Eikon vs. Eikon fights. It’s a lot for one game to juggle, and after my relatively short preview, I feel that the team is confident in this balancing act. 

But I wanted to learn more, so I asked FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida, director Hiroshi Takai, and combat director Ryota Suzuki how the team manages so many unique combat experiences. 

“With regular Clive battles…this is the type of battle that players are going to be experiencing the most, and you spend most of the time controlling Clive,” Suzuki tells me. “You’re going to be playing this style of combat for the longest, and so through these battles, your character is going to be leveling up, and as you level up, the type of actions that you have will increase, and you’ll be able to upgrade those and get new ones.” 

For example, about five hours in, which is when my preview took place, Clive has access to abilities from various Eikons like the Phoenix and the Titan. At any time, Clive can press Circle to activate a special Eikon ability. The Phoenix’s Circle ability lets Clive dash-teleport to an enemy in a fiery blaze, whereas the Titan’s saw Clive summon a small rock shield on his forearm capable of blocking most incoming attacks for a short duration.

There are also two special abilities (on a timer ) that can be equipped with each Eikonic ability wheel. The Phoenix has large AOE fire attacks at this point in