June’s IGN First will focus on Final Fantasy 16. He’s less than a week away from the game finally coming to his PS5 on June 22nd, so it’s time for the final Final Fantasy XVI exclusive. It may sound premature, but we asked the developers of the game to tell us about New Game Plus. In New Game Plus, the challenging FINAL FANTASY mode offers returning players a whole new challenge.
In our special gameplay video (see above) Director Hiroshi Takai and Combat Director Ryota Suzuki explain how the enemies you fight will change in your second playthrough.
“In the first playthrough, you can choose between an action-focused mode and a story-focused mode,” explains Takai. “By winning the game in one of these modes, you unlock New Game Plus, which allows you to carry over your protagonist Clive’s level, equipment, and abilities to your next playthrough. There’s also a new mode called Final Fantasy Mode that makes it more personal.
“In FINAL FANTASY MODE, you can continue playing with the level and abilities you played last time, so the enemies will become stronger accordingly. Elite monsters that didn’t exist in play may suddenly appear.”
In the video, you can see examples of how enemies change in the Great Wood stage near the start of the game and in Drake Breath’s Inner Sanctuary mid-game. Wolves await you in Greatwood’s first playthrough, but Minotaurs stand in your way in New Game Plus. Chimera has replaced Fafnir, the boss you meet in the middle of the stage.
One of the most ferocious enemies you’ll face in the Inner Sanctuary of Drake’s Breath during your first playthrough is a towering foe wielding a heavy axe. Having to face two of these ferocious foes at once in New Game Plus is another matter, but one of them is instead one of Final Fantasy’s most epic characters, first appearing in 1988’s Final Fantasy. It will be replaced by one of his iconic villains, the Iron Giant. II.
“Expect a lot of surprises like that. You might say to yourself, ‘But it never happened before!
Of course, a shuffled set of enemies isn’t the only way to turn things around in Final Fantasy XVI’s New Game Plus. Also, you will be able to upgrade your weapons to higher levels. In the first playthrough, weapons can only be upgraded up to 3 tiers, but in New Game Plus, players can upgrade their weapons up to 6 tiers. After upgrading a weapon to level 6, it reaches its maximum potential and changes to a different item name.
New Game Plus also lets you synthesize accessories, which Takai says adds a whole new layer of customization.
“In order to carry over the items obtained during the first play, you will obtain the same accessories multiple times,” says Takai. “The blacksmith will combine these into a single accessory with +1 attributes, allowing you to create builds that better match your playstyle.
“For example, an accessory can reduce the recast time of an ability by 2 seconds. Combining two of these accessories to make one gives 4 seconds. You can reduce the recast time by up to 6 seconds.There are a wide variety of accessories with different effects, and by combining them, you can create even more depth in New Game Plus.”
The game’s arcade mode lets you replay previously completed stages. Here you will be given points according to your performance. With New Game Plus, you can use leaderboards to compete with players around the world for the highest score.
“Arcade mode not only lets you replay stages, but also adds scores to your performance,” says Takai. “Killing enemies or using abilities will increase your score. Trying to get higher scores may be a bit like how classic games work. Pass mid-bosses After you complete a stage, an additional results screen will display your score and grade for the entire stage, along with bonuses based on your performance. Fighting players have the potential to rack up S rank scores, but it will be interesting to see how far they can go from there.”
Regarding the reason why players’ scores and achievements are not displayed in the main part of the game, Mr. Takai says, “I didn’t feel the need to evaluate the skills of players who casually enjoy the game.”
“Above all else, we wanted to make sure that you can enjoy the story without getting in the way,” says Takai. “It’s the same with game combat. I think many players who play games just for fun don’t want to be evaluated by the game. I feel like I’ve been told over and over that I’m not good at the game, and I don’t feel the need to do that to players who just want to have fun, so players who want to compete aggressively on the leaderboards in arcade mode. I left it for
According to Mr. Takai, there is also a mode called “Ultimaniac” that is even more difficult than Final Fantasy mode. For those players up for the challenge, Arcade Mode also offers leaderboards for this difficulty.
“It’s so difficult that I don’t even know if I can beat the game on that difficulty,” admits Takai. “But if you’re an avid action game fan, it might be a welcome challenge.”
In addition to arcade mode, Chronolis Battle, a type of battle mini-game, also comes with New Game Plus leaderboards.
“There are Chronoliths hidden in various areas of Valistae (the kingdom where the game is set),” explains Takai. “At some point in the story, this standing stone will begin to glow blue. Accessing these will lead you into a special battle called the Trials of Chronolis. The main concept behind combat in Final Fantasy XVI is: It’s about allowing players to mix and match different Eikon abilities to create a build that fits their playstyle, although Battle of Chronoris limits players to specific Akon abilities and allows them to use their skills in deployments like Time Attack. I wanted to test it.”
If you’d like to learn more about Akon’s abilities in Final Fantasy XVI, be sure to check out our feature on that as well. In this feature, Takai and Combat Director Ryota Suzuki explain how they want abilities to serve as tools for players to find their own ways to deal with the game’s enemies. However, by forcing players to use specific builds, Chronolis may be more comfortable using certain Akon abilities that they previously ignored.
“The time limit for this fight is 1 minute and 20 seconds,” Takai said. “You have to defeat multiple waves of enemies in time. One of those tasks may require you to use a certain ability in the air to kill an enemy.Success will give you back a few seconds.If you want to complete the challenge before the time runs out, this is the is the key.
“After a few waves, a boss specifically designed for these challenges awaits you at the end. Defeat it within the time limit to get exclusive accessories. New game. The pluses change not only the difficulty level, but also the types of enemies you fight, as well as leaderboards.
Since Chronoris Trial is basically a time attack, Takai thinks its speed will be a good starting point to add to the leaderboard.
As explained by Takai, most of New Game Plus’ features seem to be related to the game’s combat. Takai believes that Final Fantasy XVI’s combat is highly reproducible.
“Final Fantasy XVI offers players a wide range of abilities,” he says. “As you experiment with abilities you’ve previously avoided, you should find new ways to enjoy the challenges of the game. For that reason, FINAL FANTASY XVI is designed to be enjoyed multiple times.
“On the first playthrough, Clive learns these abilities little by little, so not all of them are available from the start. will feel more diverse.
“With New Game Plus, we’ve made it possible for you to skip the first part of the game where Clive looks back on his childhood. Of course, you can also skip all the cutscenes, so you can focus on the battle.
“Final Fantasy XVI really does have a lot of replayability, so I hope people who are looking for a new challenge will want to revisit the game after the credits roll out.”
Final Fantasy XVI releases for PlayStation 5 on June 22nd. Be sure to check out the gameplay of the boss fight with Liquid Flame, the gameplay of hunting the wanted man monster in his one of the game’s Overworld, and the side of the game his quest features. Also, don’t forget to check out the classic Final Fantasy games that developers consider to be their favourites.
Esra Crabbe Editor of IGN Japan. Don’t underestimate his skill.
