Final Fantasy 16 deviates from what makes FF15 special

The world map of the Final Fantasy series has evolved from limited areas to an open world. It was therefore reasonable to assume that Final Fantasy 16 will continue along this path and, like its predecessor FF 15, will have a large, open map. But it seems that part 16 goes back a few steps on this point.

Final Fantasy 16 has no open world

Producer Naoki Yoshida revealed to IGNthat Final Fantasy 16 will not offer a large-scale, coherent open world. With this, the game returns to its roots and no longer takes the path that Final Fantasy 15 already took with its huge, open world.

What can we expect instead? He stated that the world is based on smaller areas where the focus is on a specific topic. In this way, the feeling of a real world should be conveyed better and the story told even better:

However, in order to tell a story that spans the globe and beyond, we chose to avoid an open world design that would confine us to a single open world space, and instead opted for an independent, zone-based one game design that can give players a better sense of a truly ‘global’ scale.

Yoshida also states that the world of Final Fantasy 16 was inspired by other AAA role-playing games. He didn’t name any names though, so we don’t have a direct idea of ​​what the game world might look like in the end.

We get a few tiny insights into the FF 16 world in the latest trailer:

2:59

Final Fantasy 16 reveals many summons and release windows with trailer

More news about FF 16 at a glance:

Inspiration from other AAA RPGs

Yoshida’s statements sound like the world is similar to that of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Here, too, there is no coherent world, but larger areas in which a defined climate prevails. So we could expect individual areas in FF 16, in which there are snow or desert landscapes, for example.

Why no hose-like levels? In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, fans could still find demarcated areas that were strongly based on the original. However, such a game world style was not an option for the FF 16 team, as Yoshida says they wanted to attract younger audiences as well. Accordingly, you have based on other AAA titles with open worlds.

Especially the younger fans who have no interest in the FF series and have never played an FF title should have a good start with the game world of FF 16.

What would you have wished for a game world for Final Fantasy 16?