Final Fantasy 16 nearly didn’t have moogles due to realistic style
Final Fantasy 16 almost didn't include moogles due to the game's realistic style.
Not only was the team concerned the cute characters wouldn't fit in the world, they also impacted the game's performance mode.
«Probably the greatest challenge, on a fundamental level, was the moogle,» said producer Naoki Yoshida, in a new interview on the Square Enix blog.
«The development team was worried that moogles would both be too difficult to create, and wouldn't fit the feel of the world, but our assistant producer was like, 'I don't care, just put them in the game!'
»In the end, we took her advice and put one in the game but it was a lot more work than we expected."
To that assistant producer: thank you kupo.
Art director Hiroshi Minagawa continued: «The biggest moogle problem arose when we were implementing performance mode, towards the end of development.
»Performance mode alters the appearance of the polygons slightly, and we particularly struggled with the moogle...it just ended up with less fur.
«It kind of ended up looking like a hedgehog! We were like: 'Is… is this a moogle? Hmmm...' Eventually, we ended up putting in some processing specifically for the moogle.»
Moogles, for the unfamiliar, are the adorable furry white creatures that have become synonymous with the Final Fantasy name and a recurring addition fans expect in each new entry.
The moogle discussion followed comments from Minagawa on blending fantasy and reality in the art style, admitting the team struggled with human characters.
«Those of us that worked on the in-game assets found it really challenging to depict their expressions, which were more realistic than what we'd previously worked on. In the end, we managed to achieve a good visual style, thanks to the
Read more on eurogamer.net
