The Gamer sat down with some of the key minds behind Final Fantasy XVI at PAX East 2024 to talk about the game’s future and The Rising Tide DLC, but some of the juicer interview tidbits came from responses to a few interesting fan questions. Featuring Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida aka Yoshi-P, The Rising Tide DLC director Takeo Kujiraoka, and localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, The Gamer got more details on why Final Fantasy XVI won’t be getting a direct sequel and also Yoshida’s thoughts on the possibility of a Final Fantasy Tactics set in the world of Valisthea.
The fact that Final Fantasy XVI isn’t getting a sequel has been known since the game’s two DLCs were announced last December. Except for the DLC team, the Final Fantasy XVI development team has long been disbanded and Yoshida has admitted that he’s eager to move on and leverage what he’s learned from Final Fantasy XVI on future projects. Thanks to The Gamer, we now have a little more context behind their decision to disband and look ahead.
"We’re not thinking about making a sequel in this future without magic, with people living on their own terms,” Yoshida shares. “We want people to think about what they think would happen in a world like that, and leave it up to the imagination of the player.”
Put simply, the chaos following the conclusion of the Final Fantasy XVI story is a bit too real and not very conducive to the game's medieval fantasy world and tone. Games are about escape, after all, and to play through that dark chapter of Valisthea’s history where people are coping with the loss of magic is an experience they can’t imagine being very positive for players.
Yoshida elaborates. “You have this resource, this magic, and all of a sudden, you take that away. Think about what would happen to us if we took away our technology or our internet. What would happen to the world? There’d be panic, there’d be all this chaos. But in Final Fantasy 16’s [epilogue], you have that peaceful scene of a mother and her children, but you have to think, what happened to get there? Turning that into a game, is that going to be a positive experience?”
So, no sequel, but what about something else? The Gamer broached the topic of Final Fantasy Tactics and the possibility of creating a new Tactics game set in the world of Final Fantasy XVI. Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical role-playing game released in 1997 on the PlayStation. While the original game has seen exciting updates on various platforms, like Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions on the PlayStation Portable, fans have long been crying out for a new Tactics game. Many believe that not only would Valisthea provide a perfect backdrop for a new Tactics title but that the Final Fantasy XVI team is also the best equipped to create it.
“We have a lot of our staff who worked on previous games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy 12, so you’re going to have a lot of that [Tactics] feel because a lot of the same people are on the team,” Yoshida says. “We’re very happy for you to suggest this because we’re all fans, but if we were going to make this, we wouldn’t want to do the same story that turns out to be a different story.”
Yoshida further explains how the logistics of a Final Fantasy XVI Tactics game would be tricky to deliver. “How would we even do the Eikon versus Eikon battles in that style? If you have the Eikons, how many squares is an Eikon going to be? You have more people out there as well, so what about the wait time in between?”
But there is a silver lining for Final Fantasy Tactics fans to glean from this interview: Yoshida agrees that we’re due for a new Final Fantasy Tactics game after all these years.
“...We love Tactics as well,” Yoshida tells The Gamer. “It’s probably about time that we do a new one.”
It might not be the answer we wanted, but hearing a Square Enix Executive Officer with as much clout as Naoki Yoshida say it’s time for a new Tactics game is at least promising. But, sadly, until the day we get official confirmation of a new Final Fantasy Tactics game set in the world of Final Fantasy XVI or any other of the iconic Final Fantasy worlds, The Rising Tide DLC releasing on April 18 will be Clive’s final outing as far as new content is concerned.
You can check out the full interview on TheGamer.com.
