Final Fantasy 16 was revealed at the last PS5 event earlier this month, and since then, many fans have run wild speculating on its story, characters, and general themes. While certain staples from the franchise like crystals, chocobos, and crazy hair are all still present in the trailer, many fans couldn’t help but notice on major thing missing that has been a key aspect of nearly every main entry Final Fantasy game. As far as anyone can tell from the trailer, it seems that the protagonist of the game is adventuring on his own, without a party of two to three friends to aid him on his journey.
Final Fantasy 16 is still wreathed in mystery, as although fans finally know that it does exist and have a very loose idea of its setting, the trailer didn’t explain very much. This character is shown in different combat scenes numerous times, but in every instance he appears to be fighting by himself. Other NPCs interact with him throughout the trailer, but they are never shown to be fighting side by side with him. This is in stark contrast to other Final Fantasy games like Final Fantasy 15 where the relationship between party members is a fundamental part of the game.
Since the very beginning of the franchise with the release of the original Final Fantasy, players have experience these adventures with a party of three or four characters. This has been the case for every single main entry in the franchise with the exception of Final Fantasy 11 and Final Fantasy 14, but since these were MMOs, the other party members tended to be other players online. There are times in many of these games where the party splits up and the player may find themselves in control of the main character by themselves, but these moments tend to be short lived.
The party is often handled in different ways, but they are a common thing among Final Fantasy games. In early Final Fantasy games, players have control over the actions of all their party members thanks to the turn based nature of those games. More recently, games such as Final Fantasy 15 took a different approach, having players control solely Noctis and allowing him to give commands to the others in the party. Since the launch of the game, however, players can now switch freely between characters during combat. Final Fantasy 7 Remake works similarly to Final Fantasy 15, allowing players to choose which character they use in combat at any given time.
As exciting as the Final Fantasy 16 trailer is, it has left many fans with more questions than answers. The trailer introduces a lot of terminology that fans aren’t familiar with yet, such as Eikons, Dominants, the Mother Crystal, the Dalmex, the Battle of the Twin Realms, and more. Pair this with some general confusion about who Joshua is (he’s the kid), and the trailer is bewildering to say the least. Another strange thing to come from it is the seeming lack of any kind of party based battle.
The main character is shown interacting with other characters often, and another soldier even talks with him after he defeats the Dragoon in the trailer. Despite this, every combat scene shows this character doing battle by himself, with one potential exception. During the first battle scene shown in the trailer, another humanoid figure can be seen in the background walking towards the main character and the enemy. It’s too brief and difficult to see in the trailer, though, so this could very well just be another enemy in the encounter rather than a party member.
So far, the trailer hasn’t shown many potential party members either. Even if there does end up being other characters that adventure with the protagonist, it seems that they won’t be a major focus. Final Fantasy 15 trailers really made it a point to drive home the relationship between Noctis and his friends, and that ended up being a major aspect of the game. By contrast, this Final Fantasy 16 trailer doesn’t even show the main character in combat with friends, leading some to believe this may be more of a solo experience for him, which is noteworthy because the companion characters did at least appear obvious in the FF15 reveal trailer.
Of the characters shown, the aforementioned soldier seems to be the only combat-oriented character that could work as a party member. There are also others in the group with similar face tattoos at the beginning that could play a role somehow, but the main character doesn’t seem too attached to them really. Joshua is shown to have some kind of healing powers, likely linked to his connection with the Eikon Phoenix, but it seems highly unlikely that he’ll be a party member in the game, as he’ll probably end up being primarily a plot point or a source of power for the main character.
It’s no secret that the Final Fantasy franchise has been moving away from its turn-based roots for a while now, but Final Fantasy 16 seems to be putting the nail in the coffin on that matter. The combat seems quick paced and precise, and this could be the major reason for abandoning the classic party system found in other games in the franchise. Party members can often make combat more hectic, and don’t lend themselves well to precise combat.
Though Final Fantasy 7 Remake has done a great job at making combat fun and challenging even with a party of three, other titles like Final Fantasy 15 struggled with this. One of that game’s major criticisms was its simple combat system, in which the player only really needed two buttons to win most fights. By focusing on one character only, the developer can make fights specifically tailored to that character’s fighting style that will require much more skill and focus to complete.
This is just one theory and there are surely many others, but ultimately fans will have to wait and see what Final Fantasy 16 does in regards to the main character’s party of friends or lack thereof. The Final Fantasy 16 trailer could have other hidden details that shine light on this as well, but for now, fans will just have to sate their curiosity by digging through it repeatedly.
Final Fantasy 16 is in development exclusively for PS5.
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