Revamped Final Fantasy 16: Addressing Open World Critique

According to a recent interview with Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida, the absence of an open world in the upcoming game can be attributed to the reception of its predecessor, Final Fantasy 15. This game boasted one of the largest open-world maps in gaming history and was the first in the mainline FF series to do so. However, it seems that the team behind FF16 is looking to improve upon FF15's shortcomings while still providing a similar experience. Yoshida's interview with Game Informer sheds light on how the team's approach to FF16 was influenced by areas where FF15 fell short.

Yoshida discusses the challenges encountered in Final Fantasy 15 due to the vast open world which left some players feeling unfulfilled. He acknowledges that reducing the size of the open world is not feasible for a game in this series. Naoki elucidates, "If the open world is modeled after the 23 wards of Tokyo, the story must take place within those boundaries. Expanding beyond that requires a significant amount of resources, and the more one expands, the greater the risk of creating a barren world, which is what players dislike the most: a vast open world with nothing to do."

Final Fantasy 16 may not have a full open world, but that doesn't mean it will be a small game. The game is set to feature multiple zones, each of which is reported to be fairly large in scale and packed with quests, monsters, and other details to discover. It's worth noting that Final Fantasy 16 won't have any DLC, as the development team is focused on delivering a complete and satisfying story within the base game. This decision was likely influenced by the cancellation of planned DLC for Final Fantasy 15, which left some players feeling unsatisfied with the game's story.

Final Fantasy 16 is coming to PS5 on June 22.

Source: Game Informer