Operation Backlog Completion 2026

FFXVI Confirms AI-Controlled Party Members, No Open World, and More

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Jun 222022
 

The awaited Final Fantasy XVI interviews have appeared and provided us with a lot of interesting new details and answers to questions we’ve had ever since the previous trailer.

Probably the most important information comes from the interview with IGN, in which Naoki Yoshida addressed the question of party members.

Final Fantasy XVI will have AI-controlled party members who “participate in battle, as well as trade banter with Clive.”

So while it sounds like there won’t be other controllable characters, fans who were mainly concerned about the lack of a party for story reasons should be pleased to know Clive won’t be a solo adventurer after all.

We’ve already speculated that Benedikta and Hugo might be party members, but another possibility is the puppy shown in the first trailer. According to Yoshida, the puppy is “more wolf than dog” and is named Torgal. He wouldn’t say if Torgal is a party member or not but said we’ll have to “wait and see.”

Curiously, a detail from the interview with Famitsu, translated here, is that you will have a “buddy” in every battle with you who can be issued commands. Right now, Torgal seems to be the best candidate for that role.

One more important answer from IGN’s interview is that Final Fantasy XVI is not open world. Instead it has an “area-based game design,” which for me brings to mind the sort of games I prefer, ones that aren’t fully open but still have large areas to explore.

Now, some story details came from GameSpot’s interview, which revealed that Final Fantasy XVI will follow Clive in his teens, in his 20s, and in his 30s. Due to these time skips, details about the world will be revealed through side quests and an in-game compendium. Final Fantasy XVI will be “a complete experience so that no other tertiary content will be required to enjoy or understand it.”

This interview also touched upon the M rating, which Yoshida said is basically so that they can explore mature themes without feeling limited.

Meanwhile, the interview with Game Informer revealed that the one-on-one Eikon battles we saw in the trailer will actually be quite unique, with each of these battles having its own system.

As examples, Yoshida suggested one Eikon versus Eikon battle might be “reminiscent of a 3D shooter,” while another could be “like a pro wrestling match,” and a third might “transform an entire area into a battlefield.” These battles all have their own UI, which was hidden in the trailer to avoid spoilers. So the Eikon battles sound like they might be quite interesting and unexpected.

The Game Informer interview also mentioned that a third trailer will be out this fall.

Finally, the PlayStation Blog interview revealed that the game is “fully playable from start to finish” and the remaining time is required for voiceovers, playtesting, and debugging.

There is a lot of information spread across all these interviews, and I didn’t cover it all, only the pieces that stood out to me the most. I’m happy to know we’ll have at least an AI-controlled party and that it isn’t an open world game. What do you think about the latest Final Fantasy XVI details?

(Meanwhile, there was a Nintendo Direct today focused on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which I didn’t watch since I don’t want to see too much of the game ahead of time, but I did see that it’ll get a story expansion DLC like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did. If it’s as good as Torna, that’s fantastic news!)

Bandai Namco Celebrates .hack’s 20th Anniversary

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with: ,
Jun 202022
 

Today is the 20th anniversary of the .hack series, which most recently saw its second trilogy remastered as .hack//GU Last Recode.

Since Bandai Namco is celebrating the anniersary, fans were hoping it might include a game announcement, either a collection of the original quadrilogy or an all-new title.

So far, however, that hasn’t happened. Bandai Namco released a video celebrating the series with a 20th Anniversary book, an art compendium, a commemorative soundtrack CD, and digital publications that will be available in Japan.

They also announced a 20th Anniversary exhibit that will be held from August 9-28.

That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re out of luck for a new game announcement, though.

As reported by Gematsu, Bandai Namco trademarked the name “Last Recollection” back in April. Due to the similarity with the title Last Recode, there’s some speculation Last Recollection will be a collection of the first four games.

.hack//GU Last Recode also had a line in Vol. 4 (an epilogue story added for the collection) that could have been a tease for a future .hack game, although it’s been several years now since Last Recode came out.

Anyway, since they’re opening the exhibit in August, it doesn’t sound like they consider today to be the conclusion of the anniversary celebration. Maybe in the weeks ahead, we’ll hear about a new .hack title after all. What do you think?

New Kingdom Hearts IV Details from Interviews

 Video games  6 Responses »
Jun 152022
 

It’s still hard to believe that Kingdom Hearts IV was announced just a few months ago, but now we have some additional details thanks to new interviews with Nomura.

In a recent interview from Game Informer, Nomura revealed several interesting things about the series and Kingdom Hearts IV in particular, including that Sora will always be the lead for numbered titles.

The part of the interview that stands out to me the most is what Nomura had to say about Quadratum. Nomura described Quadratum as “the initial base” and said “you spend time there and then go to different worlds and then go back there.” So it sounds like Quadratum will function as a hub world.

I love hub areas in games, so I like the sound of that. He also said we’ll get to see Sora’s “day-to-day routines” due to this approach in Quadratum, which is interesting.

(I still want a remake of 358/2 Days with the castle as a proper hub.)

Some other highlights are that the new enemy “has a lot to do with” the Foretellers, and that Nomura is trying to find a balance when it comes to including Final Fantasy characters. As someone who never thought the Final Fantasy characters were that important to the story, I don’t mind that, although I know a lot of people were displeased by their initial exclusion from Kingdom Hearts III.

Meanwhile, an extended interview with Nomura was also published by Famitsu, and translated by KH Insider.

One interesting thing to come from this interview is that when asked about the woman from the end of Melody of Memory, Nomura said it’s a secret as to whether she’ll appear in the game or not, but “there was a time when I wasn’t sure whether I would choose KHIV or VERUM REX as my next project. However, she is a central VERUM REX character.”

That sounds to me like we’ll probably get Verum Rex as its own game someday.

Nomura also talked about how Akiko Ishibashi, who worked on NEO: The World Ends With You, has joined the writing team for Kingdom Hearts IV. Meanwhile, Ruiko Fukazawa, who previously worked on FFXIV: Heavensward, is writing the scenario for the new mobile game Missing Link.

I can’t wait to see where they go with Kingdom Hearts IV, especially now that we know a little more about it. What do you think about the latest Kingdom Hearts IV interviews?

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