Today Square Enix hosted an extensive livestream dedicated to its upcoming mainline Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy XVI, and shared plenty of information and details.
First of all, we learned that, while the developers did not want to have a day-one patch (and mentioned that in interviews published last month), there will actually be one. It'll include the following:
- Fix a control flag issue that can make progress impossible under very specific circumstances.
- Fix an issue wherein the game can close unexpectedly under very specific circumstances.
- Optimize performance in several places.
- Fix some minor text errors.
The update file will be distributed on June 20 and it'll be fairly small, about 300 megabytes. It won't be required to play the game.
Speaking of spoilers, everyone is free to stream the game however they want after release. Speaking of the release, the game will unlock at 00:00 local time on June 22 in every region.
Producer Naoki Yoshida also responded to some of the feedback from the demo that is currently available on the PlayStation Store as follows (sic):
What's with all the cutscenes?
- I agree, there are a lot of cutscenes!
- It's taken from the first act of the story, so there's more scene-setting than later in the game.
- It will gradually become more like the Eikon Challenge in general!
- But there will still be long cutscenes at crucial points in the story.
- Still, we believe that the story we're telling is a compelling one, and once it grips you, you won't worry about the length of the scenes!
The Japanese lip sync looks kinda off.
- Sorry!
- We argued back and forth about it, but in the end, it would have been too much work.
- Most of the lip movements are based on facial capture data.
- We recorded the actors' expressions as well as their voices.
- Using an AI tool to adjust the lipflaps didn't produce the right results.
- Try playing with English voices and subtitles in your language. It'll give you a totally different impression!
The Frame rate keeps dropping!
- Rest assured we will be releasing updates to improve performance!
- But it looks much better in real life than it does on a live stream, so I recommend that everyone who already has a PS5 or has bought a new one gives the demo a try for themselves!
Motion blur sux!
- We are looking into adding an option to adjust motion blur and a switch to turn it off completely.
- Also options for camera movement speed and the ability to turn auto-follow off.
The battles are kinda one-note.
- I recommend playing in action-focused mode.
- If you've just been button-mashing so far, try equipping different support accessories to customize the battle system in a way that suits you.
- The Eikon challenge gives you a lot of opportunities to try out new styles.
- Check out Director Suzuki's gameplay video for inspiration.
- The opening act featured in the demo focuses on set-piece battles, including Eikon battles. As the game opens up, it won't be quite so streamlined.
Gimme more config options! And where the hell is my minimap!?
- We considered having a minimap but we decided against it.
- Having a minimap encourages players to navigate by looking at it rather than at the world around them.
- The rest of the game will feature explorable areas, so please enjoy exploring them.
- In other post-demo locations, you can view a map of the area by pressing the touchpad.
- We'll consider adding more button-binding options.
- You can switch target by pressing R3 again while you're locked on to a target. Sorry for not explaining that very well!
The demo crashes my PS5! It's gonna break it!
- We are currently investigating the cause of this issue, but we can assure you...
- The issue is extremely rare, and SIE and ourselves are working hard to discover the cause.
- Some players report being able to alleviate the issue by reviewing PS5 troubleshooting documentation. Please check the SIE website for more information.
- If you've had your PS5 for a while (perhaps using it to play Final Fantasy XIV every day) then try cleaning the console fans from dust. Some players say that doing that fixed the issue!
You said it wasn't dark! It's pretty damn dark!
- This might be because the game is optimizing the display for HDR.
- TVs and PC monitors can display two types of signal, HDR and SDR.
- Even if you have an SDR-only display, changing the brightness settings can make a big difference. Try adjusting your monitor's settings while playing the demo. If your TV comes with a "Game Mode" setting, don't forget to switch over to it.
During the livestream, Yoshida-san also explained that the team aimed for a seamless experience without long loading times, so they did not have the time to optimize the game for PC. That being said, he'll talk more about a PC version when the timing is right. Interestingly, we learned that the game was originally a 2-discs set like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but this would have complicated the printing process, so they did all they could and managed to make it fit in one disc.
Interstingly, Yoshida-san mentioned that as a member of the board of directors at Square Enix, he has felt that some of the recent games released by the publisher have not met the fans' expectations, so the stakes are high and many may have concerns while getting into the game. Yet, he hopes fans will see this release as a festival and will play just enjoy the game without worrying.
We also get the reveal of a new commercial, and you can watch it below alongside the full recording of the livestream.
Final Fantasy XVI will release for PS5 on June 22. If you'd like to learn more, you can read my preview and enjoy our interview with producer Naoki Yoshida and art director Hiroshi Minagawa.
Recently we learned that PlatinumGames and the Kingdom Hearts team at Square Enix helped out with development, albeit the specific parts of the game they worked on will remain a mystery until after its launch. We also saw the release of a lovely trailer focused on the theme song by Kenshi Yonezu.
