The combat director of Final Fantasy 16 and former Capcom developer, Ryota Suzuki, states that he believes the upcoming RPG is his "personal masterpiece." The RPG will finally be launching on PS5 later this June after much anticipation and overwhelming hype. Fans got an extensive demo of Final Fantasy 16 earlier this month, which allows them to try out the game's various aspects, including its new action-RPG combat approach to battles, which is very similar to games like Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry 5. Those who have been following the game for a long while will recognize the similarities are due to its combat designer, Ryota Suzuki.Suzuki's past works when he was working at Capcom include the aforementioned Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry 5, along with other titles like Marvel vs. Capcom 2. He left the rival company in 2020, joining Square Enix later that year. Final Fantasy 16 evidently shares Devil May Cry's DNA in its combat, where Clive's wolf companion shares elements with DMC5's Shadow. Building upon these previous action games, Suzuki states that the RPG is one of the best that he has worked on.This praise for the game was stated during a Japanese livestream held by Square Enix addressing the fans. Ryota Suzuki states that after 25 years of designing action games, he believes that Final Fantasy 16 is his "personal masterpiece." Most notably, he and the team at Square Enix put priority into designing the game's battle system, allowing newcomers or those not experienced in the action game genre to be eased into it.
Suzuki states that he hopes those who have never played the genre before could try out the RPG and that it will give them a chance to experience what is so appealing about the action game genre itself as well. This approach to accessibility has been provided with Final Fantasy 16's various equippable rings, which provide ways for the game to be easier such as auto-dodging most attacks or automating commands for Torgal as well.
The shift from turn-based to action for Final Fantasy 16's combat has been a divisive topic for much of the fanbase. There are many who decry this change, finding it an ill fit for the series, while others are open to seeing the franchise taking things in a different direction. At the very least this game could open the floodgates for discussions about what the genre can implement from Square Enix's RPG.
Final Fantasy 16 will launch on June 22, exclusively for PS5.
Source: VGC
