Final Fantasy 16will be the latest mainline entry to Square Enix’s JRPG series and fans are excited about the recent reveal that the team behindFinal Fantasy 14will be involved with the new game. Despite being an MMO,Final Fantasy 14has become one of the hallmarks of storytelling in the series, and it has transformed from a failed launch to one of the most popular MMOs today.
Fans eagerly anticipating the release ofFinal Fantasy 16should look to giveFinal Fantasy 14a try. Not only hasFinal Fantasy 14become one of the most beloved entries in the series, its director, Naoki Yoshida, will also serve as the producer forFinal Fantasy 16.Fans looking to get a better idea of what Yoshida’s team offers should look no further thanFinal Fantasy 14,one of the best modern entries in the series.Moreover, there’s never been a better time to tryFinal Fantasy 14as it recently streamlined its main questline and lifted a number of restrictions on its free trial.
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The Team That Saved Final Fantasy 14
Final Fantasy 14may be one of the most popular MMOstoday but that hasn’t always been the case.Final Fantasy 14was originally launched in 2010 to an overwhelmingly negative response. The game felt unfinished, had constant interface and performance issues, and had poor pacing within its plot. The backlash forced Square Enix to suspend subscriptions and replace the development team leader with Naoki Yoshida as the new producer and director. Yoshida’s team would go on to rebuild the entire game from scratch andFinal Fantasy 14: A Realm Rebornwas released worldwide in 2013 to critical and commercial success.
Over the past few years, the mainlineFinal Fantasygames likeFinal Fantasy 13andFinal Fantasy 15have received some criticism from fans that their settings were too grounded in science-fiction rather than fantasy. Moreover,Final Fantasy 15had a number of strange choicesin delivering its narrative with DLC being required to complete certain character arcs. As a result, it seems Square Enix wantsFinal Fantasy 16to return to its roots as it goes back to the original high-fantasy setting of monsters and magic. Square Enix also appointed Yoshida as producer forFinal Fantasy 16,while his fellow team member Hiroshi Takai was recently revealed to be the director forFF16.This should be exciting news for fans as their experience in creatingFinal Fantasy 14will prove invaluable in the development ofFinal Fantasy 16.
The Writing of Final Fantasy 14
One of the biggest surprises for newcomers toFinal Fantasy 14is how well-written the story is. Featuring references and callbacks to previousFinal Fantasygames and lore, it’s clear thatFinal Fantasy 14is a love letter to the classicsof the series. In contrast to other MMOs where the focus is often shifted away from the main story,Final Fantasy 14focuses heavily on the overarching narrative that each expansion brings. With an incredible amount of voiced cutscenes and extremely detailed worldbuilding,Final Fantasy 14rarely feels like the powerlevel grind of most MMOs. In trueFinal Fantasyfashion, the story ofFinal Fantasy 14has important consequences, and each plot thread only comes full circle after an elaborate setup.
The fantastic story is often cited as the biggest reason forFinal Fantasy 14’ssuccess.Final Fantasy 14retained all of the old-schoolFinal Fantasycharm while incorporating it into an MMO. The most recent expansion,Shadowbringers,is often cited as a hallmark of storytellingin the entireFinal Fantasyfranchise. Using the setups from previous expansions,Shadowbringersis an emotional journey against one of the best villains the franchise has ever seen.Final Fantasy 14has some of the best thematic writing in the entire franchise and fans should play through the main story quests if they are curious about what Yoshida and Takai will bring toFinal Fantasy 16.
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There Has Never Been a Better Time To Start
For mostFinal Fantasyfans, the notion of playing through hundreds of hours of content and paying a monthly subscription doesn’t necessarily seem appealing. Unlike a regular RPG that’s 50 or 60 hours long,Final Fantasy 14requires a large investment before getting to the best parts of the story. WhileFinal Fantasy 14’smain story quests are the biggest draw of the game, they were also notorious for having an extremely slow start with an abundance of fetch quests and slow worldbuilding. However,Final Fantasy 14has revamped the newcomer experiencedrastically, and there has never been a better time forFinal Fantasyfans to jump in.
The base storyline, known asA Realm Reborn,was often cited as one of the biggest reasons that newcomers toFinal Fantasy 14quit the game. It featured an extremely tedious questline with hundreds of filler fetch quests and fluff content. Moreover,Final Fantasy 14revolves around its story so much of the content is locked behind the completion of the main story quests. For a long time, this was thebiggest barrier of entry forFinal Fantasy 14.
Recently however, Square Enix acknowledged thetime-consuming questline forA Realm Reborn,and decided to revamp it completely. As of patch 5.3, not only did Yoshida’s team remove a significant portion of the fluff quests, they also shortened the length of the quests that remained. In total, Yoshida’s team removed around 20% of the base storyline which means the game is now much more approachable for newcomers. Moreover, players who are fans of the worldbuilding and character interactions in these quests are still able to experience the removed quests in the form of side-quests. As a result, newcomers won’t have content locked behind these quests while still having the option to complete them if they wish.
Even with these changes, newcomers may have trouble gauging if they will enjoy the game enough to pay a monthly sub. Thankfully, Square Enix also decided to revamp the free trial system as well. Before patch 5.3, the free trial was capped at level 35 across all jobs and had a number of restrictions. With the new patch however,the free trial has been expanded all the way to theHeavenswardexpansion, meaning newcomers will be able to level all jobs to 60 and experience the first four years of content for free.
Players Should Try Final Fantasy 14 While Waiting on FF16
The announcement of Yoshida and Takai’s involvement wasexciting news for anyFinal Fantasy 14player as they already know the potential of any game with those two at the helm. For other fans ofFinal Fantasywho have never givenFinal Fantasy 14a chance because it was an MMO or required too much time investment, they’ll find that it’s surprisingly easy to jump into nowadays.
As moreinformation comes to light aboutFinal Fantasy 16,it becomes clear that Yoshida and Takai’s experience with turningFinal Fantasy 14around will play a role in the development ofFinal Fantasy 16.While the chances of connections between the two games remain slim, it’s a great idea for players excited aboutFinal Fantasy 16to see the writing and storyline development forFinal Fantasy 14in action. It’ll also give players a good idea of the direction that Yoshida and Takai will take theFinal Fantasyseries. With the recent changes toFinal Fantasy 14’snew player experience, there has never been a better time forFinal Fantasyfans to see what all the hype is about.
