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Ultimate Fantasy XVI is nearly upon us – and earlier than plenty of of you purchase and bounce in, we wished to take the chance to reply some burning questions concerning the nature of this rarest of issues – a brand new numbered, main-line Ultimate Fantasy sport!

After taking your questions throughout the RPG Website social media channels, we’re right here to reply your questions – spoiler-free, in fact. In these questions, we reply key questions concerning the sport’s construction, our expertise with it, and the way sure programs work.

The one potential spoiler is we point out a couple of issues that aren’t within the sport – so contemplate your self warned. If you need a full verdict on the standard of the ultimate product, you should definitely hit up our full FF16 evaluate for a verdict with out the Q&A formatting. Now, although, let’s get to your questions:

What number of hours to finish the sport?

A few RPG Website regulars have completed the sport pre-release. It took one among us a little bit bit over 51 hours to hit 100% completion on the preliminary issue mode, together with finishing all facet quests, all hunts, and all fight trials. I think about in case you selected to eschew some or all the facet content material, you can be finished in round 35 hours.

Cullen, who wrote the precise evaluate right here on RPG Website, had a barely longer play time at someplace over 60 hours. 

All of those are estimates, as for some motive there isn’t a in-game timer exhibiting your whole playtime. 

Are there cities to discover? How about cities?

The world of FF16 has some important nations with big citadels and sprawling capital cities, as proven in trailers – however you shouldn’t anticipate to discover them within the conventional RPG sense, no.

Unfold throughout the extra open zones of the sport there are a number of cities of various sizes, starting from tiny hamlets and deserted remnants to barely bigger, busier cities. All are fairly related although – every contains a store the place you’ll be able to top off on consumable objects, although apart from collectible music that’s playable in your base, few retailers carry something not already out there from the store on your house base.

A few the cities have taverns you’ll be able to enter, each of that are entered as a part of the story. Few different buildings will be entered. There’s quite a lot of ambient dialogue to be heard round, nonetheless, and often a couple of characters you’ll be able to instantly discuss to. A lot of the bigger cities have a couple of facet quests devoted to them.

However make no mistake, these are small hamlets made up of small picket shacks and buildings, not larger-scale settlements. The large cities and spectacular buildings you’ve seen in trailers do seem in FF16, however solely in cutscenes and the linear motion levels – and often underneath menace of destruction, burning and crumbling. Talking of the motion levels…

How a lot does the world open up within the sport?

It relies on the way you wish to have a look at it. To be clear, FF16 is mainly divided into three sections: First, there’s your house base. Second, there’s linear motion levels. Third, there’s ‘open zone’ areas you’ll be able to return to. You transport between all these zone through a world map, and the following ‘essential mission’ is at all times highlighted, the place heading to that location begins the following linear motion stage.

The motion levels play like ranges in titles like Satan Could Cry, with a transparent starting, center, and finish. These zones are linear, with solely minor distractions off the slender, crushed path, and don’t also have a map.

There’s 4 open zones, every masking a definite kingdom and the encircling areas, full often with a couple of cities (both populated or deserted) and different factors of curiosity, plus quick journey places. The topography of those zones varies, however they’re typically bigger areas strung collectively by slender pathways made up of forests, ravines, trenches lower into mountains, and so forth. Enemies litter these zones, plus occasional NPCs out within the wilds. These zones are additionally the place you’ll be able to journey a Chocobo, as soon as unlocked.

They’re most just like the areas present in FF12, however one other good comparability can be how Midgar feels in the direction of the top of FF7 Remake when you will have entry to all the slums for a sidequest bonanza earlier than that sport’s level of no return. .

Unusually, these open zones have a map within the menu, however no mini map or compass outdoors of it, which is usually a bit irritating.

Structurally, the sport is definitely fairly just like the ‘golden age’ BioWare RPGs. To attract a comparability to Mass Impact, Clive’s Hideaway is his Normandy, full with retailers, pleasant NPCs, and even a captain’s cabin of a form. From there, you’ll be able to head out to revisitable open zones, or one-off narrative rollercoaster missions.

How are the facet quests? How does doing them affect the story pacing? 

Truthfully, that is in all probability one of many weaker parts of the sport, although there are some gems in right here. To begin with, facet quests are mainly break up into three classes – related, in truth, to FF14.

Normal facet quests are represented with one icon, they usually present fundamental rewards. The perfect reward, in truth, is often the tidbits of world constructing and story that comes from participating with the quests. A second stripe of facet quests is marked with a Plus icon, and these characterize quests that unlock one thing important, similar to a rise to your potion storage, some new crafting recipes, and even entry to a Chocobo.

Facet quest aims are typically simply to talk to NPCs, to kill some stuff, or to choose one thing up from elsewhere and ship it. Normally any given quest is 2 or extra of those aims rolled up collectively. The rewards are fairly meager, however the factor that’ll make you wish to have interaction with the quests is the story hooked up to them and the way they flesh out the characters and world.

By way of the way it adjustments the pacing – FF16 is certainly a sport that intentionally ramps as much as excessive velocity for its huge set items after which slows proper down for a breather afterwards, and the way in which and time batches of facet quests are launched is constructed to match as much as that tempo. 

In case anybody is curious, the facet quests happen both in your hideout, or throughout the 4 bigger ‘open zone’ maps – there aren’t any ‘non-compulsory dungeons’ or something to that impact.

Lastly, there’s hunts – which get posted to a board within the hideout periodically and will be tracked down within the open zone areas.

How does magic injury work? Or magic typically? I noticed a number of the demo the place Clive makes use of Fireplace however he would not have a separate magic stat.

The brief model of this reply is that there isn’t a conventional elemental magic system in FF16. That’s why there’s no separate magic stat.

Right here’s the way it works: Clive can equip as much as three Eikons (that’s the summons), and you may cycle between which Eikon he’s at present utilizing with L2. Which Eikon he’s utilizing determines which ‘magic assault’ is on the triangle button.

So with Shiva outfitted, it’ll be Ice magic. With Ifrit, Fireplace, and so forth. Nonetheless, all of those assaults are mainly solely completely different visually – all of them perform the identical, and there’s no elemental strengths and weaknesses concerned. So switching to Ifrit and utilizing its magic bursts towards an icy enemy doesn’t do any extra injury. Actually, the magic bursts assigned to the Triangle button is functionally Clive’s model of the pistols in Satan Could Cry – a ranged choice to sustain the strain.

As well as, the Eikon’s skills and abilities are sometimes thought-about magic – so Shvia’s Diamond Mud is of course thought-about Ice magic, as an example.

Why does this matter if there’s no elemental resistance? Nicely, sure enemies will solid Defend on their allies – and when this occurs, they acquire a protect that can not be damaged with bodily assaults. It’s important to hit the protect with magic – of any factor – to shatter it, and might then resume your regular comboing. However actually, that’s essentially the most separate magic will get – in any other case it simply types a part of combos as your most flashy strikes.

Is efficiency mode fastened?

The brief reply is not any, even after the day one patch. However we aren’t hardcore {hardware} and efficiency specialists – so we hand this reply over to good friend of the location John Linneman of Digital Foundry, who can converse on this with far more authority. Over to John: 

“Each earlier than and after the patch, efficiency mode points persist. Poor picture high quality is mixed with a extremely unstable body fee that frequently falls outdoors the PS5’s VRR window, leading to noticeable judder. 

Battles carry out fairly nicely, however exploration scenes battle all through the sport. I would suggest taking part in on high quality mode; it is clearly what the builders meant.”

Is it simply weapons that change seems to be or are you able to see any of the armor items you’ll be able to equip?

Solely Clive’s weapon adjustments look; the opposite tools isn’t mirrored on his character mannequin. Clive has a few completely different hero outfits through the sport, and you’ll have seen each seems to be in pre-release materials.

Are you able to alter/select Torgal’s skills in any manner, both by means of a system just like the talent tree for the MC or by means of another mechanism?

Torgal is Torgal; his talent set doesn’t actually change. Functionally he’s an ally that may be ordered to assault enemies, and you should use him to do issues like preserve an enemy in hitstun or a juggle state to permit for extra sophisticated and prolonged combos. 

There’s no menu-related or tools choices for Torgal, save for a couple of equipment which you could equip to Clive that improve his efficiency. Torgal does have one ‘fight improve’ that happens as a part of a narrative occasion, however from the purpose it unlocks it seemingly solely triggers at random, with no participant management over it.

Will we struggle tremendous bosses?

What we don’t know is what lies in the long run sport of New Recreation Plus, as not one of the RPG Website group who’ve performed the sport have gotten that deep into NG+. 

In the principle preliminary issue mode, the one tremendous enemy factor is the hunts. There’s over 30 hunts unlocked over the course of an preliminary save 100% playthrough. Hunts are ranked C-S, and there are a handful of S-Rank hunts, that are a number of the hardest encounters within the sport. 

Hunts typically unlock the crafting supplies required to unlock the very best weapon within the sport – although there may be an much more highly effective weapon out there in NG+. So it appears secure to think about there will probably be at the very least another further Hunt that drops further supplies in that mode.

The principle factor I am nonetheless questioning about is the diploma to which it “feels” like a Ultimate Fantasy. I do know that is onerous to quantify nevertheless it’s my greatest query stepping into!

It does really feel like Ultimate Fantasy – however I’d say it’s a sense that ramps up over the course of the sport. Early on, it seems like apart from the summons and some acquainted monsters, the builders didn’t wish to get too slowed down in FF stuff. However as the sport, world, and story develops, it undoubtedly tends to development again in the direction of extra conventional FF stuff. It begins to lean on stuff like the ability of friendships in an epic gods-and-monsters battle. 

Earlier on, nonetheless, it’s undoubtedly extra grounded in that Recreation of Thrones kingdoms at warfare factor. And I’ve little question some FF followers are going to be barely delay by how bloody and brutal it’s – no sport on this sequence has been fairly like this, not even in Ivalice. The longer the story goes on, nonetheless, the extra it feels prefer it fortunately shifts again in the direction of extra acquainted territory to FF followers.

Masayoshi Soken does an excellent job of bringing extra of an FF really feel all through with the music, although. There’s some fantastic cuts, largely from the primary FF sport – I by no means knew a somber, minor key, marching model of FF1’s world map theme might be efficient, however it’s. 

Are there any Queen references? It is not a Matsuno sport with out Queen references.

Not that we noticed – however that is additionally not a Matsuno sport! Whereas FF16 clearly owes a heavy debt to Ways, FF12, and Ivalice, Yasumi Matsuno isn’t a part of the FF16 improvement group. 

The trophies and facet quest names are full of references to different FFs and popular culture at massive – referencing every part from traditional 80s motion pictures to Alice in Wonderland and so forth. 

How would you fee the sport’s music in comparison with the opposite Ultimate Fantasy video games?

Soken takes onerous swings, and anyone who is aware of his work on FF14 is aware of that he pushes and punches onerous – and this a lot is true right here. There’s some deeply hummable tunes on this sport – the higher a part of per week from finishing it and I’m nonetheless catching myself buzzing a few of them.

Cid’s Theme, and just about all the music that performs throughout Eikon battles are a spotlight. The boss battle music is nice. So, yeah, there’s lots to like. 

As in FF14, I’m not the hugest fan of a number of the synth devices Soken likes to make use of – however that’s deeply subjective. It seems like there’s lots much less ‘reside’ music on this sport than in FF15 and FF13 – however I can’t wait to listen to a few of this rating reside at Distant Worlds.

Does it characteristic Ultros? Moogles?

No. However extra typically, we wished to make use of this query to rapidly contact on FF enemies within the sport. The whole regular play-through bestiary of FF16 options 49 enemies, although there could also be some extra unique to NG+ modes.

Even of these 49, an excellent 14 discuss with bosses and different enemies you solely struggle a few times. Of the others, we’d say round ten are ‘traditional’ FF monsters with traditional FF designs – recognizably FF, like Ahriman, Behemoth, Iron Large, and so forth. We had been comparatively stunned and felt that there have been much less ‘conventional’ FF enemies than we fairly anticipated.

There’s a variety of different enemies nonetheless together with wolves, spiders, killer bees, griffins, minotaurs, and even the one second look of conventional Tolkien-esque Orcs in Ultimate Fantasy, following on from their transient outing in FF11.

There may be one Moogle, who manages the Hunts board in your base.