Final Fantasy 16: Why It Became An Action Game And How Square Handled Difficulty

gameranx.com:

Naoki Yoshida went on a panel with localization director Koji Fox at the recently concluded PAX East to share information on Final Fantasy 16.

Naoki explained the battle system for Final Fantasy 16, and this is where the burning question of this new game comes in. Why did Square Enix drop the Active Time Battle system the franchise had used for so long, in favor of a real time system, making Final Fantasy 16 an action game?

Naoki explained that, of course, the Final Fantasy developers love turn based gameplay, and the Active Time Battle system. They also grew up on those kinds of games. But, they also love action games.

Square Enix’s Creative Unit 3 used Final Fantasy 16 as an opportunity to challenge themselves. Making a full action game would show the world the potential that the Final Fantasy series has.

If you think about it, this sort of genre shift isn’t unheard of or original. Nintendo, famously, turned Metroid fans on their head when they made Metroid Prime the first 3D shooter in the franchise. Similarly, Bethesda shocked the world when they turned a very rigid RPG in the Fallout games, and made it a sprawling open world shooter with Fallout 3. These risks have historically paid off, sometimes, and given us new classics.

However, Creative Unit 3 wants this game to be something that everyone can play, including people who aren’t good at action games.

To demonstrate this point, Naoki actually showed off some combat gameplay to demonstrate how the game can be made easier and more accessible for all players.

First, they demonstrated an entire battle with a Storm Panther. Naoki showed that you can easily view the gear you have equipped from the pause menu, and you can cycle through your equipped Eikons in real time