This Final Fantasy 16 Design Choice Was Inspired By An Older Game – And Livestreaming

gameranx.com:

In a new interview, the Final Fantasy 16 team explain how things old (Final Fantasy V) and new (livestreaming video games) has directed a key design decision for their gameplay.

As reported by Siliconera, on hand for the interview with magazine Dengeki Online were Producer Naoki Yoshida and Directors Hiroshi Takai and Kazutoyo Maehiro.

To understand what they mean, we first need to talk a little bit about Final Fantasy V. This Final Fantasy was originally released on the Super Famicom in 1992, and most recently has a Pixel Remaster version that is now available on Windows and mobile devices. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster is coming to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2023.

Final Fantasy V’s great innovation in the franchise is the job system. In prior Final Fantasy games, you had to choose one class for each of your characters. Maximizing your character’s abilities meant planning their classes far in advance.

But in the job system, classes are now jobs, and all your characters can learn all the jobs that they want. In this new system, every character starts as a Freelancer and also has to earn their right to learn a new job. Ultimately, you can have all your characters learn and master all the jobs.

Director Maehiro mentioned the Ability Progression system of Final Fantasy V inspiring their choices in Final Fantasy 16. In Final Fantasy V, when you start learning jobs, you have to earn a new set of experience points, called Ability Points, to earn experience for that particular job.

Director Takai then mentioned the Spellblade-Dualwield-Rapidfire, which is a deep cut that only the people who finished the game would know about.

Spellblade, Dualwield, and Rapidfire are actually three different abilities you can only