Final Fantasy 16 Developers Explain the Unique Eikonic Abilities – IGN First
June’s IGN First is all about Final Fantasy XVI. Today, the Square Enix development team will tell you about the game’s powerful and flashy special moves, Iconic Abilities. Watch the explainer video below. Read on for more as Director Hiroshi Takai and Combat Director Ryota Suzuki demonstrate how to utilize his various iconic abilities during combat.
In an exclusive interview with IGN’s FFXVI developers at Square Enix’s Tokyo office, the team discussed the philosophy behind these Summon-based attacks.
As the game progresses, the protagonist Clive gains access to a new summoning power called Akon in Final Fantasy XVI. Clive does not transform into these Akons, but harnesses their powers through so-called Eikonic Feet or Eikonic Abilities.
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Iconic Feet are useful actions in combat, such as instantly closing an enemy’s distance, blocking an attack, or pulling an enemy toward you. Eikonic abilities are like special moves that do a lot more damage compared to Clive’s normal melee attacks. Each Eikon offers one feat, but multiple abilities can be unlocked from the skill tree. You can also power up these abilities using the skill tree. It’s up to you which iconic abilities you use in combat and how you combine them.
“Many of Akon’s powers become available throughout the game’s main story,” explains Combat Director Ryota Suzuki. “FINAL FANTASY XVI is an action RPG, so it’s designed to change the way you play with new abilities you learn.”
“Each Eikon has its strengths and weaknesses. The Titan has a great counterattack that starts on block and is good at charging attacks.As expected Titans, all of their attacks are powerful, but they aren’t very fast.We wanted a game in which Clive just got stronger as the game progressed. I didn’t want to make it, I just wanted to make a game that allowed me to try out different new tactics.”
New Eikon powers allow new ways to counter your next foe. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll have a hard time unless you use certain Heroic Powers against certain enemies and bosses. Mr. Suzuki says that he created the team with the aim of creating a game that does not have a correct answer. “We didn’t specify that it’s recommended to use Ramu’s power against this enemy,” says Suzuki. “We wanted to leave it up to the players. Your own strategy is never wrong. That’s what we wanted above all else.”
That said, depending on the enemy, certain Eikon powers may be more effective and/or easier to utilize than others. “There are certainly enemies where certain abilities prove to be more effective than others,” Suzuki says. “But we didn’t want to go to the point where they were hard to beat unless they used certain abilities or made them feel that certain tactics were the right way to play. It felt forced and didn’t match the type of game design we were aiming for.”
You’ll receive many Akon powers throughout the game, but you can only equip up to three at a time. “We also considered the option of allowing the player to equip all summons at the same time, but decided to put a limit,” says Suzuki. “Being able to use three or more of Eikon’s powers at the same time would be too much information to navigate. Since this is an action game, we need to react in real time to sudden enemy attacks. , we didn’t want to have too many actions to choose from.”
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This means that you have to pre-select which Eikon power you want to equip. During combat, it’s all a matter of how you can take advantage of each Akon’s strengths while switching to other Akons you have equipped to compensate for their weaknesses.
In our explainer video, Suzuki demonstrates some of his iconic abilities in the game’s training mode. Here you can choose from a variety of enemies you’ve fought throughout the game, and change settings such as enemy behavior and attack patterns. Suzuki believes this mode is the best mode to test the game’s combat, especially Eikon’s powers.
“With so many abilities available, not all of them will fit everyone’s playstyle,” Suzuki says. “So my advice is to try it in training mode first. It’s a great way to get used to the timing of these abilities. This is the main reason we introduced training mode.” He added that I want you to actively use your ability points to learn new Eikonic abilities. “If the ability turns out not to be for you, don’t worry, we’ll give you the ability points back without any penalties,” says Suzuki. “We wanted to respect the personal preferences of our players, which means that not all abilities are suitable for everyone, so don’t skimp on your ability points. Try out different abilities in training mode, and if it doesn’t work for you, choose another ability instead.”
Basically, Final Fantasy XVI’s Eikonic feats and abilities allow players to create their own builds. Director Takai says that by combining these, the play feel is close to the battle system of “FINAL FANTASY V”. “I think the ability to freely combine different abilities is similar to how FINAL FANTASY V allowed you to use different abilities to create your own builds,” says Takai. User choice and freedom seems to be the key to Eikon’s power, so we asked six of his developers how they’d like to combine them. Let’s see!
Naoki Yoshida (Producer)
“I’m not too picky about a particular combination, but I can’t leave out Phoenix because I’m emotionally attached to Clive. Phoenix is my brother Joshua’s Akon. Clive, who became the first shield of the Rosaria army, , given the power of the phoenix by Joshua.No matter how powerful the other Akons and their combinations are, no matter how many games I play, I can’t do without the phoenix.”
Hiroshi Takai (Director)
“Shiva is very close and dear to my heart. But every time I play the game, I find new ways to play. Titans are really deep, or Odin is much stronger than I thought. you may notice.
“Combining abilities makes Titan, Garuda, and Odin the strongest team for me. you can’t.
“As one of its iconic abilities, I really like Ramuh’s lightning rod. .”
Ryota Suzuki (Combat Director)
“I use the Titan a lot. It’s fun and rewarding to use because the Titan’s powers are effective if you have good reflexes.
“I often use a specific combination of Titan, Garuda, and Odin. Although not yet revealed, Odin has a very distinctive ability that I think will appeal to hardcore action game fans. This ability allows Clive to fight with new tactics, and I like to play builds that make the game feel challenging.”
Kazutoyo Maeda (Creative Director)
“I often use Garuda’s iconic feat, Deadly Embrace, which allows me to pull enemies towards Clive. I’m the lazy type, so I want them to come to me.” Why do I have to be the one to get closer to them?Even if Clive doesn’t attract you, Deadly Embrace can take them down and they look cool.
“I wrote the story for the game, so I have a lot of feelings for the villains. Especially Benedicta is a very important character to me, and Benedicta is the ruler of Garuda, so I’m going to use Garuda’s powers.” may tend to use
“I like to base my fights on Deadly Embrace as a combination. For example, first pull the enemy into the Clive, then lift them into the air with Phoenix’s Rising Flame ability.”
Hiroshi Minagawa (art director)
“I like Phoenix, partly because it took me a long time to create this Eikon visual. A lot of trial and error went into creating the flame visuals. is also the first Eikon power Clive receives, I like to use my powerful fire attacks.”
Michael-Christopher Kouji Fox (Localization Director)
“One of my favorite moves is the Phoenix Shift because it allows me to instantly get close to my opponent, whether they are on the ground or in the air. Using it to quickly go where the enemy has gone and continue attacking from there is really nice.
“I like Titans too. If you block well, you can open up, so it’s kind of like FromSoftware’s games. I love Titanic Blocks. If you do it right, you get a 3-punch combo afterwards. Me.” typically performs a Titanic Block, gets a 3-punch combo, and on the third punch switches Akon to Phoenix to perform a Rising Flame, a one-winged uppercut that lifts the enemy into the air. Then do a phoenix shift at an enemy in the air and perform a basic downthrust to slam them into the ground.Overkill in many situations, but it feels great!”
It was interesting to see how many of the devs were customizing their builds not only based on their Eikonic abilities, but also the role some of these summons played in the story. If players were to do the same, it would prove not only the concept of free customization in FINAL FANTASY XVI, but also the quality of the story behind it.
Final Fantasy XVI releases for PlayStation 5 on June 22nd. Don’t forget to check out the exclusive Liquid Flame Battle gameplay as well.
Esra Crabbe Editor of IGN Japan. He thinks he understands Yoshida’s feelings.
