Category: IGN

Of course, the developers themselves are players and fans of the Final Fantasy series too, and finding out their favorite Final Fantasy games may offer a few hints as to the inspirations behind the new game. So during a visit to Square Enix’s Tokyo HQ, we asked six members of the dev team to tell us their Top 3 Final Fantasy games. Let’s take a look!

Naoki Yoshida (Producer)

“I’ve been a player since the NES days, so for me the original Final Fantasy was a huge deal. Partly because of (Yoshitaka) Amano’s illustrations, I was mesmerized by the game’s strong sense of fantasy. Above all, the timing of where the game’s title logo appears had a great impact on me. It only appears after you finish the first part of the story: While the characters are crossing a bridge, the title logo finally appears. It made me feel like I had just watched the prologue of a movie. The game’s cinematic approach to storytelling and presentation was very inspiring. It’s still a huge milestone that indicates what the series strives to be.

“The next title I would want to mention is Final Fantasy III. The player controls the four Warriors of Light, and their names have not been decided. Thanks to the job system, you can customize your own characters. It was also the first iteration of the Active Time Battle system. To me, Final Fantasy III solidified the series’ systems. The world is of a grand scale, and the game’s difficulty was something to remember as well. I think this title showed me that Final Fantasy is a series that needs to have both a great story as well as well designed systems.

“I also love Final Fantasy VII. This one is not about your own roleplaying experience, but a roleplay experience in which you stand in the shoes of the unique characters that are Cloud and his friends. The graphics had a great impact on me, and the game’s volume of content was almost unbelievable at the time. It had three discs, and the amount of mini games it included is almost reminiscent of the amount of content you find in an MMORPG. You can feel the incredible power of Square’s developers at the time, eager to put every interesting idea they had in there.

“Final Fantasy XVI is developed by Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III. The Final Fantasy games that have stayed with the members on this team tend to be the titles they played when they were young. In that regard, I guess you can say that the worldbuilding of the more classic Final Fantasy games until VI or VII are by far the strongest original experiences for us.”

Hiroshi Takai (Director)

“In third place, I would like to choose Final Fantasy X. I think it was a high quality, very well made Final Fantasy.

“Final Fantasy VI gets my second spot. It was the last Final Fantasy to use sprites. The vibrant sprites really show Square’s development skills at the time. This one was also very well made, especially when you take into account that it was made for the SNES.

“My No.1 is Final Fantasy V. This was also the first Final Fantasy I worked on as a developer, and I love its battle system. I think within the Final Fantasy series it is an unshakable No.1.

“As for whether any of the traits of these titles live on in Final Fantasy XVI, I think my best answer would be that creating your own character build by choosing from a set of abilities is reminiscent of Final Fantasy V.”

Kazutoyo Maehiro (Creative Director)

“It’s a bit weird to say with Takai sitting next to me (since Takai worked on the game), but for me too, Final Fantasy V is No.1.

“I played it as a student. The battle system is great, and at the end of the game pigeons fly through a scrolling overworld. It made use of Mode 7, a graphics mode of the SNES. After seeing that scene of flying pigeons I said to myself, ‘I’m going to make games one day too’. The overall game was just so well made, and it really inspired me. It is indeed an unshakable No.1.

“It might sound a bit self-flattering, but my No.2 is Final Fantasy Tactics. While not a numbered title, it was the first big game I got to work on as a game designer. Through this title, I decided what type of game developer I was going to become, and that hasn’t changed since. It’s a title near and dear to my heart. Final Fantasy V is included in the Pixel Remaster series, but Final Fantasy Tactics can be difficult to play today. I hope to be able to resurrect it someday.

“My No.3 is Final Fantasy XII, which – again – sounds like self flattery. I have worked on a number of Final Fantasy titles and worked in a different position each time. For XII, I was the Combat Director. Creating a new type of combat while making a Final Fantasy true to my own vision is something I won’t forget.”

Ryota Suzuki (Combat Director)

“My No.3 is Final Fantasy V. I really loved the battle system. There is a job type called Freelancer, which allows you to keep the traits and statuses of other jobs. This is something that lives on in Final Fantasy XVI, as you can take mastered abilities to other builds. In that sense, I think that Final Fantasy V greatly inspired our battle system.

“Final Fantasy X is my pick for second place. When X was released, I was already working as a game developer, but I got totally lost in the game’s world and lost track of time. I don’t think there’s been another game in which I wanted to see what happens next in the story as much as in Final Fantasy X. I think that Final Fantasy XVI’s story is just as appealing.

“Final Fantasy III is my No.1. It was the first Final Fantasy I played, and it gave me a huge appreciation for the RPG genre as a whole, and it encouraged me to delve into titles like Final Fantasy II. Final Fantasy III’s job system allows you to change jobs. For me, it’s the most iconic RPG out there. I think I was in elementary school at the time. I fondly remember wanting to play it as soon as I got back home from school.”

Hiroshi Minagawa (Art Director)

As a player, I like older titles such as Final Fantasy III and V. I entered the video game industry right after I moved to Tokyo, and Final Fantasy III was the first Final Fantasy I played after I started working. As a young developer, I was astonished by what the team had accomplished on the NES. Before that I was just a student, so I was only enjoying games as a player, and didn’t really realize how technically impressive they were. In that sense, Final Fantasy III showed me what I lacked as a developer at the time. I bought it right away and played it at the studio I worked at until late in the night.

“With its job system and abilities, for me Final Fantasy V established my idea of what the Final Fantasy series is.

“If I had to mention another title, I guess it would be Final Fantasy XII, a game I worked on myself. It was very challenging to develop, both in good ways and bad ways. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment, and I have a lot of memories from that title.”

Michael-Christopher Koji Fox (Localization Director)

“My favorite Final Fantasy of all time would have to be Final Fantasy V. It wasn’t the first one I played: I’ve been playing them since the first one came out in America. But V was the first one that really blew me away. Growing up in the United States, there were a lot of violent cartoons, but nobody ever died in them, at least not in the media that I consumed when I was young in the 1980s. But in Final Fantasy V – spoilers – there’s a point in which a main character dies. That got me thinking: You can do this in a game? From that point I thought this is the series that I want to stick with.

“The next one on the list for me would be Final Fantasy XI. That was the game that got me into Square Enix. I was up in Hokkaido teaching English, and when I came home at night I needed a release, which was playing Final Fantasy XI. I started playing with the beta version and I fell in love with it. It was while looking for tips for Final Fantasy XI that I found out that Square Enix was looking for localization staff, and so that’s how I got into the company. They were looking for someone to translate. I had fallen in love with Final Fantasy XI as a gamer and then was able to work on it, which was very exciting for me.

“Then I think the third title would have to be Final Fantasy XIV, just because of the natural progression of working on Final Fantasy XI and then XIV as well from the beginning. A lot of my ideas were incorporated and are still being used. I was excited to enjoy a game both as a player and a developer.

“We are using a lot of the terms of lore and terminology that we came up with in XI and XIV for XVI as well.”

As Yoshida points out, the team’s most popular Final Fantasy games are often the ones they grew up playing with. It was also interesting to learn the memories some of them shared about the titles they helped bring to life themselves.

With votes from five out of these six developers, Final Fantasy V is the team’s most popular title. Final Fantasy III gets three votes, while Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII come in at joint third place with two votes each.

According to director Takai, one thing should be noted when looking at these rankings.

“Final Fantasy XVI was obviously excluded in these rankings. If we were to include it, it would be the No.1 for all of us, which would be boring, right?” Takai says with a chuckle.

Final Fantasy XVI releases for PlayStation 5 on June 22.

Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan. His favorite Final Fantasy game is Final Fantasy X.

Star Wars Outlaws developer Massive Entertainment has revealed why it set its open world, galaxy-spanning adventure between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Speaking to IGN, Massive Entertainment creative director Julian Gerighty explained that, while this time period was chosen in part because his colleagues are all huge fans of the original trilogy, there’s a very specific reason relating to its scoundrel-led story.

The time between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is a lull for the Rebellion, meaning not just the Empire is running rampant, but the Outer Rim’s festering crime organisations are too.

“When we were starting off the discussions with Lucasfilm, it was very clear that the one year period between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, that’s where the Rebels aren’t part of the picture,” Gerighty said.

“The Empire’s taking more and more control, but the syndicates, they’re taking more power, they’re exploiting all of these weaknesses. So it really is a moment where the underworld is thriving and there’s no better situation for an established or a rookie scoundrel to cut their teeth than this particular moment.”

Ubisoft’s open world Star Wars game was finally revealed as Star Wars Outlaws at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 11, with a gameplay reveal following soon after at Ubisoft Forward.

Star Wars Outlaws follows Kay Vess as she embarks on a scrappy adventure around the galaxy, using her wits (and a blaster bolt or two) to navigate the fearsome underbelly of the Outer Rim.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Sandwiched between Nexus and Mirage at today’s Ubisoft Forward event, we got a longer look at the upcoming mobile Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade, which is preparing to enter a public testing phase ahead of launch.

Codename Jade is being made in partnership with Tencent’s Level Infinite publishing division, and is a mobile-first Assassin’s Creed game that takes place in China. It’s set during the Qin Dynasty, just after the Warring States period, and between the events of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Origins.

One notable feature shown off was the character customization. In a series first, players can fully customize the look and style of their assassin character, including gender, clothing, and other features.

During the presentation, we learned that Codename Jade is “making great progress” since it was first revealed almost a year ago, and has just wrapped up a technical alpha on iOS. Ubisoft is opening up pre-registration today for a public testing phase before the game releases on iOS and Android at a later date.

In the same presentation, we also got a look at Assassin’s Creed: Nexus for VR and Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which is out this October. For this and all things Summer of Gaming, keep an eye on IGN for the latest trailers, news, and interviews.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

If you watched the Xbox Games Showcase event yesterday, you might have noticed the t-shirt Phil Spencer was wearing was a print of the box art for Hexen: Beyond Heretic, a 90s fantasy FPS shooter. While many wondered if Spencer was teasing an impending announcement, sadly, those suspicions are not true.

Well, so he says.

In an interview with Polygon, Spencer insisted he was not teasing a revival for the game. “That wasn’t me trying to pre-announce it,” Spencer said. “But it was me recognizing the importance of some of the games in our portfolio.”

Spencer went on to explain a bit more about how Hexen was a game he “loved”, noting how the shirt was more for nostalgia with no hidden underlying meaning beyond that.

“So for me, wearing the [Hexen] shirt wasn’t as much about a tease forward as it was just about nostalgia,” Spencer explained. “I recognize that as our portfolio grows, we’ve got important [games] that we have to kind of protect and nurture and maybe bring back at some point.”

Hexen: Beyond Heretic, developed by Raven Software and published by Doom creator Id Software, was released back in 1995.

With Microsoft buying Id Software and the rest of the ZeniMax Media properties back in 2020, Xbox now owns the rights and could make another Heretic or Hexen game.

And if Xbox manages to acquire Activision-Blizzard, perhaps the company could tap Raven Software to develop it (again). We can only dream.

In case you missed it, here’s our Xbox showcase roundup, and here’s everything shown during the Starfield Direct. Check out our Summer of Gaming 2023 schedule to find out what’s coming next.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Star Wars, Cyberpunk 2077, and other major subreddits are going dark in protest against Reddit’s API price changes affecting third-party apps.

While visiting these subreddits previously would allow users to peruse all the usual conversations surrounding new reveals, highly contested topics, and so on, the Xbox, Nintendo, and PS5 pages are now blank.

Some of these subreddits are going private, meaning only invited members can access them (but no new members will be accepted), while others are closed off altogether. Some, like the Star Wars and Cyberpunk subreddits, are currently still available but won’t be soon, either temporarily or indefinitely.

The wave of subreddits going dark comes as a result of a new pricing strategy that raised the cost of Reddit’s API, the interface used by third-party developers to access and use Reddit data.

Though announced a few months ago, the severity of the changes only came to light earlier in June when the developer of Apollo, an app used by millions to browse and read Reddit posts, said it would now cost upwards of $20 million a year to run.

Apollo announced it would shut down as of June 30, 2023, prompting the Reddit community to take action. “This subreddit is temporarily private as part of a joint protest to Reddit’s recent API changes, which breaks third-party apps and moderation tools, effectively forcing users to use the official Reddit app,” reads a message on the PS5 subreddit.

“In solidarity with the rest of Reddit, we will be participating in the API protests indefinitely, at your request,” said the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit. “We were going to open up in private but many people expressed their concerns of that undermining the protest.”

It’s unclear if or when these protests will end, but Reddit CEO Steve Huffman showed no sign of changing the policy when asked about it on June 9.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Capcom has launched the Capcom Town website to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

It features playable retro games, development documents, and countless callbacks to the company’s rich history.

Since its founding on June 11 1983, Capcom has gone on to create some of the most beloved, iconic, and formative franchises in video game history, including the Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter series.

The newly-created website lets you click around a delightfully-animated metropolis made up of a colourful range of districts highlighting famous locations and scenes from Capcom’s history. Jill Valentine can be seen chased through the streets by Nemesis, while characters from Capcom’s SonSon series can be seen drifting above the cityscape on a magical cloud.

Users can click on locations marked by a pin to visit key attractions, including Merch Factory where visitors can download digital items such as Twitter icons. The newfound digital city also features a virtual museum containing a development history of the company, along with original artwork, development documents, videos, and music from classic and modern games alike.

Happy Monday everyone! We’ve just launched Capcom Town, our 40th anniversary website!

Come visit and discover lots of cool content, including free retro games and game development documents from past titles! ?✨ #Capcom40th #Capcomtown

? https://t.co/mGuXXJuj4Q pic.twitter.com/YNnxwc8gQB

— Capcom Europe (@CapcomEurope) June 12, 2023

Visitors can also jump into the Retro Games section to play a number of classic titles, including a version of the first 1987 NES Mega Man game, Street Fighter 2 (SNES 1992), Mega Man 2 (NES 1988), Final Fight (SNES 1991), and Mega Man X (SNES 1994).

Meanwhile, the towering skyscrapers at the heart of Capcom Town let fans find out more about the company’s leadership by reading bios and interview snippets with company CEO Kenzo Tsujimoto, and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto.

Capcom will hold a 36-minute showcase at 3pm PT June 12. It’s set to feature news and updates on a range of games including Exoprimal, Ghost Trick Phantom Detective, and Dragon’s Dogma 2.

Check out all 380+ games announced over the course of Summer of Gaming. Beyond that, don’t forget to stick with IGN for comprehensive coverage of June 12’s Ubisoft Forward (10am PT), and the Capcom showcase later today.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer

Image Credit: Capcom

CD Projekt Red has added a key part of the Edgerunners anime to Cyberpunk 2077 with the Phantom Liberty update.

As reported by VGC, an overhaul to the capacity system forces players to consider the risk of cyberpsychosis when installing new cyberware.

Featured as a key plot point in Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgeunners, cyberpsychosis affects people who install too much tech onto their feeble human bodies, potentially turning them into mindless killing machines.

Signs of this can perhaps be seen early on in the Phantom Liberty trailer released during the Xbox Games Showcase, where protagonist V seemingly loses control of her actions.

It’s unclear exactly how the feature will work in Cyberpunk 2077, however, though a mod released last year added the ability to turn cyberpsycho in the PC version. It’s perhaps unlikely an exact copy of this mod will be used, though CD Projekt Red isn’t against the idea of using community mods in its releases, having previously done so with The Witcher 3.

A September 26 release date for Phantom Liberty was also announced, though unlike the base game the expansion is set for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC only. It’s also worth noting this cyberpsychosis feature is seemingly a part of the general update 1.7 and won’t necessarily require the purchasing of Phantom Liberty to access.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Mortal Kombat 1’s Ed Boon has confirmed the door is not closed on Injustice 3.

IGN had the chance to speak with Boon and ask him about NetherRealm’s decision to go with another Mortal Kombat game after Mortal Kombat 11, given the studio has alternated between Mortal Kombat and Injustice since the 2013 release of Injustice: Gods Among Us.

“There were a number of factors, some of which I can talk about, some of which I probably shouldn’t,” Boon said.

Two reasons Boon was willing to discuss were the unfortunate onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the team’s choice to switch to a newer version of the Unreal game engine (Mortal Kombat 11 runs on Unreal Engine 3, whereas Mortal Kombat 1 runs on Unreal Engine 4).

“But we did go to a new graphics engine, Unreal,” Boon said. “We really wanted to be careful with COVID and all that stuff and everybody staying safe. So there were a bunch of variables involved that eventually we realised, ‘Okay, let’s do another Mortal Kombat game and hopefully we’ll get back to the Injustice games.’ ”

Just to be sure, we wanted to confirm with him directly that the door was not closed on the Injustice franchise.

“Not at all,” Boon answered.

Injustice: Gods Among Us was released in 2013 and its sequel, Injustice 2, arrived in 2017. In our Injustice 2 review, we said: “Faster, deeper action, and a wealth of content make this DC heroes fighting game feel super.”

As for Mortal Kombat 1, which is set to launch on September 19, 2023, we got a brutal new look at the game in action and the new Kameo system at Summer Game Fest. We also got a chance to get hands-on with Mortal Kombat 1, and we thought there were some exciting differences from Mortal Kombat 11 even though the gameplay felt pretty familiar.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Microsoft has insisted any similarities between inXile’s Clockwork Revolution and BioShock Infinite are “unintentional”.

Microsoft unveiled Clockwork Revolution during the Xbox Games Showcase with a reveal trailer some said looked remarkably similar to Irrational Games’ 2013 shooter adventure BioShock Infinite.

As a reminder, here’s the Clockwork Revolution reveal trailer:

And here’s a BioShock Infinite trailer:

While both games share a similar steampunk aesthetic, Twitter user Butmac hammered home the point in a series of posts that included side-by-side images lifted from both games. The shots show similar perspectives of statues, sky rails, characters, enemies, and posters.

The Daisy Fitzroy character replete with scarf really cracked me up. pic.twitter.com/t9LNxEMNQa

— Butmac (@Butmac) June 11, 2023

pic.twitter.com/YcrGXUZFfa

— Butmac (@Butmac) June 11, 2023

Clockwork Revolution is described as a “time-bending steampunk first-person RPG”.

“After stumbling across an incredible invention that allows you to travel into the past, you discover the city you call home — the vibrant steam-powered metropolis of Avalon — has been carefully crafted through the alteration of historical events,” reads the description.

“By traveling back to key moments, your interactions and choices will have a butterfly effect on the deep, narrative-driven world and characters of Avalon, causing them to change and react in unprecedented ways.”

The similarity with BioShock Infinite has become the top talking point for Clockwork Revolution in the wake of its reveal at the Xbox Games Showcase. In response, a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN:

“Any similarities are unintentional. Players will be able to fully customize their own main character in the game.”

Character customisation was one feature highlighted by inXile boss Brian Fargo in a series of tweets that stressed the RPG-ness of Clockwork Revolution.

Fargo called Clockwork Revolution a “deep RPG” with “full character creation”, a “branching dialogue system”, “awesome” steampunk weapons and “dark humour”.

Important to know that Clockwork Revolution is a true RPG with all of the stats, crunchy details and deep reactivity that we’re known for.

— Brian Fargo (@BrianFargo) June 11, 2023

These features are points of difference between Clockwork Revolution and BioShock Infinite, the latter of which is less a role-playing game, more a linear, story-based first-person shooter adventure that features lite-RPG elements.

These features are also in-keeping with the types of games inXile has made in the past, including Wasteland 3, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and The Bard’s Tale 4.

Clockwork Revolution is due out “in due time”. There is of course a new BioShock game in development from 2K’s Cloud Chamber Studios, although it has yet to be revealed.

Here’s everything Microsoft announced during its Xbox Games Showcase. And here’s the full Summer of Gaming schedule.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Think of Avowed like The Outer Worlds rather than Skyrim in terms of size and scope, developer Obsidian has said.

Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart told PC Gamer the studio’s initial pitch was for Avowed to be a bigger, sprawling open-world fantasy role-playing game like Bethesda’s Skyrim, but it ended up being smaller scale, similar to its previous sci-fi role-playing game The Outer Worlds.

After announcing Avowed three years ago during a livestream, Microsoft finally revealed gameplay during its Xbox Games Showcase event alongside a 2024 release window. It’s a first-person fantasy RPG set in Eora, the world of Pillars of Eternity, with fantastical monsters and lots of magical combat.

So, expect typical Obsidian first-person melee and magic battles, all cast in the brightly coloured and vibrant environments in a section of Eora called The Living Lands. The trailer was narrated by a character named Kai, a former soldier and one of the companions who joins the player in Avowed.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about Avowed, but it seems story and companions are very important to the game. According to PC Gamer, when Obsidian started focusing on this, Avowed’s smaller scale “came naturally”.

It’s busy times at Obsidian. It’s working on The Outer Worlds 2, continues to support Grounded and Pentiment, and of course has Avowed in development.

In case you missed it, here’s everything announced during the Xbox Games Showcase. When you’re done with that, check out our Summer of Gaming schedule to find out what’s next.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.