Final Fantasy 16 Endgame Activities Include New Game+ and Its Most Difficult Challenges

Square Enix has begun detailing the endgame activities Final Fantasy 16 players can look forward to after finishing the main story, including New Game+ and the hardest challenge of the game.

according to reports game information provider, One of New Game+’s biggest draws is the addition of a new, harder difficulty setting called Final Fantasy Mode. As with most New Game+ modes, in addition to being able to carry over all abilities and gear from your first playthrough, this new difficulty setting also changes monster placement, allowing monsters to appear in different parts of the game. so you can always pay attention.

“The main design philosophy is that the first playthrough is to learn Clive, learn the controls, and then enjoy the story,” says Final Fantasy 16 combat director Ryota Suzuki. “For the second playthrough, the story hasn’t changed, so we want to shift the focus to the action. Enemies don’t attack at once to allow the player to handle everything.The harder modes of the game have removed these restrictions, allowing multiple enemies to attack Clive at the same time.

“Basically, what we’ve been doing is [Final Fantasy] This mode makes players controlling Clive feel that they are in constant danger, that death is imminent, and that they must be extremely careful to complete the content. is to let ”

Final Fantasy 16’s Hardest Challenges Await Players in Chronolis Trials and Ultimaniac Modes

Final Fantasy mode allows players to upgrade weapons beyond what was possible in the first run of the story, upgrade accessories for the first time, and try out the Final Chronoris Trial.

According to Hiroshi Takai, creative director of Final Fantasy 16, the Trial of Chronolis is “the most difficult trial in FFXVI.” The player must go through multiple stages, each featuring his four waves of enemies harder than the last wave. A terrifying boss will face the player in the final round.

If that’s not enough, these trials are timed and players try to gain more time by performing certain moves or combos to complete objectives. Ah, there is no healing in these trials other than the healing that comes with activating Limit Break.

Continuing Final Fantasy 16’s focus on Akon, each of these Chronoris Trials is based on one. Game Informer was able to see Phoenix’s Trial by Fire, but players could only access Phoenix’s Eikonic ability. This obviously makes things more difficult, as in normal combat you can use all the abilities you get from any Akon you encounter in combination.

Arcade mode also increases in difficulty with New Game+’s Final Fantasy mode. For those unfamiliar, Arcade Mode lets you replay previous stages using an on-screen score calculator and battle scoring features. If the challenges of Final Fantasy Mode just aren’t enough, there’s also the more difficult Ultimaniac Mode.

The Arcade Mode Global Leaderboard is only enabled in either Final Fantasy Mode or Ultimaniac Mode, and the Chronoris Trials Global Leaderboard is only enabled in Final Fantasy Mode.

If the harder difficulty isn’t Cup Noodles, you’ll be happy to know that just playing Final Fantasy 16’s New Game+ in standard story mode or action mode is a less stressful experience.

Final Fantasy 16 will release on PlayStation 5 on June 22nd, 2023. For more details, check out our latest hands-on preview, a breakdown of the Final Fantasy 16 showcase, and how Final Fantasy may drop numbers from the title. .

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @ Adam Bankhurst and further Twitching.