MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Highlights
- Fans are speculating about the removal of an unusual tower in Final Fantasy 16 and its potential significance as cut content or future DLC.
- The tower was seen in a State of Play trailer, but its absence in other screenshots and the world map leaves fans curious about its purpose.
- While some fans are concerned about the possibility of removed content being repackaged as DLC, the producer's statements suggest that Final Fantasy 16 was intended to be a complete game at release.
While Final Fantasy 16 players can see an unusually shaped tower in Rosaria, they can never visit or explore it, although a prior State of Player trailer indicated it would be possible. It's clear that the location, in terms of gameplay and map representation, was removed between the two builds of Final Fantasy 16, leaving fans to speculate what this tower could have been.
Some fans seem a little upset about the removal of additional content, but as of this writing, it's not clear if that's exactly true. Others believe it was removed to be repackaged as DLC for Final Fantasy 16, but that seems even less likely. For now, fans will have to wait and see if Square Enix ever comments on this.
As seen below, screengrabs from the April 2023 State of Play trailer show the discrepancy was evident then as well. The trailer shows two different quest objectives that are part of the same quest in Final Fantasy 16: Righting Wrongs. Despite these being parts of the same quest, the Tower can be seen on the FF16 world map in one screenshot but not the other, indicating its presence in one of at least two builds used for the trailer. Notably, players will still get a camera focus on the tower when entering Three Reeds, which is unusual for a location that can't be visited. It's unclear what this tower is, as it appears to be crystalline in nature with several supporting beams near the bottom and a narrow top.
Debating this, fans believe that this was once a story location that was ultimately removed, perhaps originally being part of the Apothecary. That makes sense, while others posit that it could have been a now-removed Deep Dungeon or Bloody Palace that could return as part of a free update or as DLC. Indeed, many fans are worried that this tower represents content that was removed from Final Fantasy 16 to be brought back later as DLC. That feels unlikely, however.
Final Fantasy 16 producer Yoshi-P was adamant that the new entry be perceived as a fully fleshed title at release; in fact, while there is room to expand on the title, it doesn't seem Square Enix has any concrete plans for Final Fantasy 16 DLC quite yet. The language pre-release indicated any DLC would be contingent on how the title was received, so it's certainly more possible now. But that messaging, alongside the act of "removing content" from a game for DLC, would not line up well. If the game does get some expanded story down the line, it'll be interesting to see if it involves this tower, and that would seal the deal on the whole thing.
Final Fantasy 16 is available now for PS5.
