We’re closing in now on a 12 months because the launch of Ultimate Fantasy XVI, the newest (non-remake trilogy) entry within the long-running RPG franchise. Its second DLC, The Rising Tide, is simply across the nook, and a PC model is on the docket too.

Ultimate Fantasy XVI obtained a pretty heat response at launch, although its extra action-oriented framework has actually been the subject of fervent dialogue since then. For what it’s price, I loved it, and am admittedly within the goal demographic for what’s coming subsequent: a brand new DLC framed round Leviathan, my private favourite Ultimate Fantasy summon, with extra story, quests, and extra.

At PAX East 2024, we obtained the possibility to take a seat down with the upcoming Ultimate Fantasy XVI content material drop and its leads: DLC director Takeo Kujiraoka, producer Naoki Yoshida, and localization director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. There have been just a few questions on my thoughts, starting from their perspective on XVI to this point and what they nonetheless felt they might add to the RPG, to what the longer term would possibly appear to be past the PC.

I additionally simply wished to understand how massive the sea-serpent combat can be. And the excellent news is, it sounds prefer it’s fairly massive.

Reclaiming what’s misplaced

When it got here to how the crew feels now, nearly a 12 months faraway from the preliminary launch of Ultimate Fantasy XVI, emotions appear constructive. The purpose was to convey one thing new to the sequence, whereas additionally taking it again to some fantasy roots; Yoshida famous that current Ultimate Fantasy video games had leaned a bit into the science-fiction aspect of issues.

“There was loads of strain on us,” mentioned Yoshida. “However with the launch, seeing the suggestions, seeing the participant response, seeing how individuals actually related with Clive’s story, and actually form of fell in love with Clive and these new characters, we had been very relieved at that.”

Going into this, I used to be interested by how the choice obtained made to lastly do DLC in any case. Over time, the sentiment went from no plans, to the risk, to what we’ve got now. Even then, the door hasn’t been fully shut. So I requested the crew why sentiment shifted, and the way Leviathan happened.

“We wished to make the principle recreation an ideal recreation,” Yoshida mentioned, in regards to the XVI crew’s unique plans. “That’s to not say, although, that we didn’t have an concept of what we might do in a DLC if the gamers reacted to the principle recreation effectively.”

Certainly, there was a bit of nugget left within the story, by way of the point out of “Leviathan the Misplaced,” an Eikon that mysteriously didn’t seem as a part of Clive’s journey. Because it occurs, there was some speak of Leviathan, although extraordinarily early on; Yoshida clarifies that whereas Leviathan was one thing the crew considered, it in the end turned out that the legendary serpent can be the misplaced Eikon. It wasn’t completed content material that was sliced out or something.

“The plan was all the time to do these unique Eikons and never have Leviathan in the principle recreation,” Yoshida clarifies. “After which if we had the chance, we may add it right into a DLC.”

So why Leviathan? Effectively, it helps that everybody is aware of Leviathan. It’s in loads of early Ultimate Fantasy video games, and nonetheless makes distinguished appearances in current entries like Ultimate Fantasy XV. As for what Leviathan brings to the desk?

Clive’s obtained a (water) gun

As revealed throughout the panel at PAX East 2024, Clive will get a brand new Eikonic type with The Rising Tide, primarily based round Leviathan. Apparently sufficient, its signature trait is that it’s a ranged weapon, one thing new for Clive’s arsenal. You’ll be able to see the hero of XVI capturing out varied blasts and projectiles within the DLC trailer right here:

Although it’s a slight paradigm shift for Clive, it was vital for this to really feel distinct from Clive’s different choices. Kujiraoka cites fight director Ryota Suzuki’s imaginative and prescient, of every type having its personal distinct really feel.

“The idea for creating Eikonic skills thus far has been, you don’t need overlap between the weather,” mentioned Kujiraoka. “You need every form of set to have its personal distinctive really feel. And so the idea for designing Leviathan was, once more, we wanted one thing that was going to really feel fully totally different from the prevailing skills.”

By way of enjoying and testing although, the crew at Sq. says it doesn’t really feel awkward. The ranged assaults find yourself becoming in with Clive’s playstyle and different skills, feeling fluid whereas nonetheless being fairly distinct.

“We discovered that since we’ve added it internally, loads of the dev crew members and the QA crew members have now switched one among their three, their favourite three, to Leviathan as a result of they love how this works a lot,” mentioned Kujiraoka.

Jill’s flip

These additional instruments will assist among the endgame content material coming in The Rising Tide replace. There’s set to be a brand new zone, new objects, and way more as a part of this DLC; the DLC director likens it to an enlargement for an MMO, saying you possibly can in all probability count on at the very least 10 hours of recent recreation content material, which is notably increased than the earlier DLC Echoes of the Fallen.

And one other vital word for followers of a sure ice-wielding fencer: Jill is ready to play a bigger position in The Rising Tide. The brand new space is within the Northern Territories, the place Jill hails from, and thus will incorporate a bit extra of her character.

“The theme, one of many themes for each of the DLCs, was that it’s going to be this journey with not simply Clive, however that Jill and Joshua and Torgal, we’re all going to be collectively for these two remaining quest strains earlier than the top,” mentioned Kujiraoka. “So whereas Echoes of the Fallen form of targeted a bit of bit extra on Joshua, he had much more of a ahead position throughout, in The Rising Tide it’s going to be Jill that’s going to have extra strains and extra connection to this story on this one.”

Weaving all this into the prevailing story and lore was difficult, the DLC director tells me, however in the end The Rising Tide ought to really feel prefer it slots proper in as one other a part of the principle recreation. This consists of some tougher endgame content material, too.

“As soon as he will get that remaining ingredient [from Leviathan] there, then Clive goes to have all these new skills,” mentioned Kujiraoka. “We need to have a spot for him to showcase these skills as effectively.”

In the end, that seemingly lies in not simply the hunt content material, however within the new roguelite mode that’s on the way in which too. It appears so as to add some actually high-difficulty challenges, together with one which Yoshida and Kujiraoka teased on the XVI panel at PAX East, resulting in a secret encounter.

Come to me, my Ifrit

After all, a brand new set of Eikonic skills and a brand new Eikon clearly means a brand new Eikon combat, too. Although the DLC turnaround time was tight, between the launch of XVI and the approaching arrival of The Rising Tide on April 18, the crew wished the expertise of combating Leviathan to be “equal” to the opposite huge Eikonic battles. And so they additionally wished to show one other knob, whereas they had been at it.

“The Eikon-versus-Eikon battles up till now effectively, they’re once more, these setpieces,” mentioned Kujiraoka. “We didn’t make them over-challenging, as a result of they’re components of the story and we wish individuals to have the ability to expertise them and get by way of them, to allow them to proceed the story.

“Nevertheless, this one being the ultimate Eikon battle earlier than [the finale of the game] is that we wished to make this difficult,” Kujiraoka continues. “We wished to make it form of have that worthwhile really feel, and so we wished to be targeted actually on the fight of this Eikon-versus-Eikon battle, much more so than the earlier Eikon battles, in order that gamers may have that kind of feeling of changing into Ifrit and utilizing all the talents they’ve constructed up over all the opposite Eikon battles and utilizing all of these right here to defeat this remaining Eikon.”

It’s particularly attention-grabbing to listen to that the Eikon combat will incorporate extra of Ifrit’s strikes. The crew factors to The Rising Tide because the “peak” of Ifrit-versus-Eikon fights, and contemplating how massive and beautiful the bottom recreation’s battles had been, I’m now very curious to see what they’ve put collectively for Leviathan.

A future on a brand new platform

The Rising Tide isn’t the one XVI mission within the works, although. Sq. Enix can be presently engaged on a PC port of Ultimate Fantasy XVI, which Yoshida says is “going smoother than we thought it will,” from the crew’s perspective. Presently, one mission the crew is engaged on is determining the place its optimization and technical specs will land, taking the loading velocity of the PlayStation 5 under consideration.

“It creates that seamless kind of gameplay that we had as one among our major ideas,” mentioned Yoshida. “We need to don’t have any breaks within the recreation, we wish every little thing to be seamless. And so, to duplicate that’s the factor that we’re engaged on proper now. And so to duplicate that on PC, you’re going to want a reasonably high-spec PC. So proper now, what we’re doing is we’re testing the sport, and our present optimization, on loads of totally different techniques to see, once more, what are going to be these minimal specs for enjoying the sport in a manner that’s just like the PS5 expertise.”

Yoshida confirms this does imply a demo is on the way in which, so gamers can take a look at their techniques and see if they will deal with the load. On prime of that, Sq. Enix can be engaged on customization settings, the sort that “gamers have come to count on from a PC recreation,” and ensuring these are included. Plus, making a bundle that features each base Ultimate Fantasy XVI and its DLC.

After all, with Ultimate Fantasy XIV only recently hitting Xbox Sequence consoles, I needed to broach the topic: may Ultimate Fantasy XVI see one other new platform after PC? As Yoshida characterizes it, the DLC and PC model is what’s in entrance of them proper now.

“And as soon as we get that accomplished, that’s once we begin excited about ‘okay, can we increase this to extra techniques?’ and dealing on it, as a result of once more, I don’t need this to finish with simply the PC model. I need to proceed to increase,” Yoshida mentioned.

The takeaways

Because the interview was winding down, I used to be interested by what classes every of the leads felt they’d realized from the making of Ultimate Fantasy XVI. It’s a back-pocket query I prefer to ask builders as soon as they’re on the opposite aspect of launch day, and although the XVI crew remains to be engaged on initiatives just like the PC model, I used to be curious what components of this Ultimate Fantasy they felt would carry into their future initiatives.

For Yoshida, it was in regards to the workflow and creating tales with present know-how. “There’s a lot element and so many tiny issues that you must take note of now, you understand, when creating an object, like how are you going to make use of that object? How are you going to create that object? How is it going for use in these cutscenes,” mentioned Yoshida. “And also you form of must have deliberate every little thing out forward of time, you possibly can’t simply do it as you’re going as a result of manufacturing will cease if you happen to don’t have a sure factor. And so studying what stuff you want at what cut-off date and studying to have these beforehand to make your complete course of extra environment friendly, is one thing you must keep in mind.”

He goes on to level out how having detailed plans forward of time, even for tiny little particulars, can velocity issues up, which helps with effectivity and value discount. It’s not simply in regards to the cash, although. It helps with tying every little thing again into the story, an important a part of video games like Ultimate Fantasy XVI.

“I feel one factor that Sq. Enix makes use of as a promoting level for lots of their video games is the story and that consumer expertise of the story inside the recreation,” mentioned Yoshida. “And I feel by having the ability to do that, not solely do you decrease these prices, however we’d higher tie issues into that story expertise and make it extra seamless, and that’s going to that’s going to assist us shifting ahead.”

Kujiraoka notes how the crew got here collectively to provide The Rising Tide quickly after Ultimate Fantasy XVI‘s launch, as an indication of taking data from making the sport and having the ability to make extra, quicker. The Eikon-versus-Eikon fights are a fantastic signpost of this.

“These sorts of battles take lots of people loads of time to create, and we obtained it down, we obtained it streamlined down into this course of, the place we’re capable of put this collectively shortly and effectively, due to that point that we had spent collectively, creating these earlier ones for the bottom recreation,” mentioned Kujiraoka. “And, you understand, getting this course of down the place we will create it shortly, but in addition have one thing very thrilling. One thing that loads of different initiatives would have a look at this and say, ‘No, we don’t need to do one thing that’s manner an excessive amount of work, particularly on this period of time,’ we’re ready to try this due to the work that we put in collectively.”

As for Koji Fox, the localization director, he highlights the English-first strategy to Ultimate Fantasy XVI and the shocking dynamic it created.

“This mission form of spoiled me, within the sense that we obtained to report English first,” mentioned Koji Fox. “And Sq. Enix video games by no means try this. It’s all the time, you do the Japanese first, after which the English and different languages must form of take that, do the ADR, match the motions, do every little thing afterwards.”

The localization lead goes on to level out this launched some curiously totally different obstacles, although. “I imply, there have been extra challenges as a result of now you’re creating it, you’d must work with ad-libs and you must change issues on the fly and make issues form of work, in a way that, as a result of the work isn’t already accomplished, you’re the one creating it,” mentioned Koji Fox. “However however, there’s loads of freedom there. So it’s going to be tough going again to a mission the place I’ve to go from the Japanese.”

How all of this performs into no matter these builders go on to provide, we’ll have to attend and see. It gained’t be for much longer for the subsequent stage of Ultimate Fantasy XVI, although. The Rising Tide DLC goes dwell on April 18, 2024.