In Final Fantasy 16, a historical mechanic of the series will be absent, announces Hiroshi Takai, director of the game. A disappointment for lovers of old FF?

Like all video game fans, you have certainly enjoyed a large number of titles throughout your gaming life. But there’s probably a gap between what a really good game does to you and a legendary game. For millions of fans around the world, the simple words of Final Fantasy are enough to bring out indescribable emotions. The enthusiasm generated by FF16 since its announcement at PlayStation Showcase in September 2020 is proof of that. A hype that does not weaken, as shown by the reactions of fans following the trailer released, once again, during the PlayStation Showcase on May 24. Unfortunately, Hiroshi Takai somewhat cools license lovers by announcing the absence of an important mechanic in the series.

Hiroshi Takai talks about Final Fantasy 16’s means of transportation

In an interview with Game Informer, Hiroshi Takai, director of Final Fantasy 16, gives new information about the RPG. It addresses an essential element in each episode of the saga: movement. What means of transport will players have to explore Valisthea? His answer could disappoint fans of the first hour.

To tell you the truth, there will only be the Chocobos. In previous games, you could travel by canoe, boat, or car. But in Final Fantasy 16, since our game is based on the world map and fast travel from that map, we found that there wasn’t really a need for additional movement systems. So yeah, for now we only have walking and Chocobos.

In effect, Final Fantasy 15 allowed driving, but it was an open-world game, which is not the case with Final Fantasy 16. In episodes 7 to 9, there were multiple means of transport to move around the world map (boat, car, train…), but fast travel was absent. The choice of the Creative Business Unit III, division of Square Enix in charge of the development of Final Fantasy 16will it pass to the fans?

So is it still a real FF?

The FF fan community often argues over what constitutes “a good Final Fantasy “. A few months ago, producer Naoki Yoshida explained that according to him, a FF should have a deep story, a rich game design, a high quality soundtrack as well as chocobos, moogs and summons. Even without having the game in hand, we can already say that Final Fantasy 16 perfectly fulfills this last condition. The invocations, called Primordials in this opus, will be at the heart of the story in addition to their importance in the gameplay. As a reminder, the output of Final Fantasy 16 is set for June 22 exclusively on PS5.