Sony started its PlayStation conference off big—Final Fantasy big. The next Final Fantasy game is officially Final Fantasy 16, and it looks dark (the last line spoken in the trailer is "I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do"). But it's still full of familiar series elements, including Chocobos, summons, and Crystals.
And it's coming to PC.
It's telling that the trailer showed the logo for Square's development team Creative Business Unit III—the VP of that department is Naoki Yoshida, who famously saved Final Fantasy 14 and led the MMO to enormous success over the last several years. There were rumors that Yoshida was helming the next mainline Final Fantasy game, and those rumors seem to now be borne out.
The Final Fantasy 16 trailer above is definitely reminiscent of the dramatic CG cutscenes Yoshida's team has created for each Final Fantasy 14 expansion, but the warring kingdom story it hints at also seems closer to Final Fantasy 12 than the other recent games in the series. It looks like there's going to be some politicking, here.
Combat, though, looks more modern and action-RPGy, though it's hard to know exactly how well it will play without UI shown on screen. The Youtube trailer description confirms this, describing it as an "action RPG."
Here are some lines of dialogue I picked out of the trailer that hint at the world Final Fantasy 16 is depicting:
"Shiva's Dominant, and only the Dominant" — who is, apparently, a girl
"Eikon" — a type of summon, or maybe the name for summons in this world
"It was the Dhalmeks who drove back the Crusaders in the battle of the Twin Realms" — Warring factions in a past battle, seemingly?
Mother Crystal — Crystals, baby! This is Final Fantasy.
"The spread of the Blight" — Sounds like some bad magic, that can only be counter-acted by the crystal.
"So they sent in the dragoons. Imperial vipers; do they really mean to invade us?" — So we've got dragoon knights and an evil, threatening empire.
"The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough" — Whatever the story is here, it seems like it's going to be about battling the power or influence of the crystals and summons on mortal lives.
The trailer in the PlayStation showcase ended with a line that Final Fantasy 16 is a console exclusive for the PlayStation 5, but also coming to PC. The trailer above adds the detail "Not available on other platforms for a limited time after release on PS5." No date was given.
