Elevating Final Fantasy XVI’s Difficulty and Tying Up Loose Ends

Kujiraoka goes into the difficulty, DLC expansion, music and a possibly more XVI?!

Over the weekend, Takeo Kujiraoka sat down with Micheal Higham for an interview of Final Fantasy XVI. Kujiraoka talked about the difficulty level, wrapping loose ends, the upcoming music of the DLC, and the possibility of more Final Fantasy XVI expansions. Final Fantasy XVI DLC director has some interesting yet insightful things to say about XVI. And we’ll be dissecting these things today.

"In part, this is because we had set the enemy strength a little low in the main game to ensure that as many players as possible would be able to reach the ending. But, from player reactions and streams, it seemed to me that we could maybe push that enemy strength a little higher."

Takeo Kujiraoka - FFXVI's DLC Director

The Difficulty of Final Fantasy XVI

Initially, the developers made Final Fantasy XVI’s difficulty so all players could reach the ending. While there were good intentions with this move. And having an easy mode for Final Fantasy XVI is great for players who just wanted to experience the story.

However, the balancing the harder difficulties suffered. After getting used to the game combat, you basically use a few loadouts that ensure you progress through the game smoothly. And the game has minimal challenges beyond. Even Final Fantasy Mode gets too easy after a while.

"We have intentionally changed the balancing of combat from that of the main game. Specifically, we've boosted the overall strength of the enemies in the DLC, stated Kujiraoka stated."

While watching players’ streams and reactions to the game, Kujiraoka and the team realized that they could have the enemies stronger. Taking this feedback into consideration, Kujiraoka and this team changed the balancing of the enemies in the DLC. In order to make them stronger.

The greatest example was the Omega boss fight. Omega was much more difficult than any bosses in the main game. Speaking of personal experience, it took me many tries to defeat Omega. I was pleasantly surprised and naturally flustered by the Omega fight.

Kujiraoka took inspiration from Final Fantasy XIV Savage Raids. FFXIV’s Savage Raids are known not only for their difficulty but for their process on beating bosses. Omega’s boss fight has a lot of complex mechanics. So, you really had to pay attention to the boss’s attack pattern and openings to defeat.

Omega the final boss of 'Echoes of the Fallen.'

"When speaking to Soken, I would always explain the situation where the piece would be used, places where I'd want to switch the music, etc., all whilst showing him actual gameplay. At times, I did specify particular moods and genres. But from that point onwards, the composition team--first and foremost Soken himself--had absolute freedom to work on the music."

The Savage Raids weren’t the only elements of FFXIV to be incorporated into FFXVI’s DLC. Soken also remixed some of the music from XIV into XVI. “eScape”, Omega’s theme song from XIV was remixed. The song was changed into a “chaotic trance-like drum ‘n’ bass.”

Soken and his team was deeply involved in the composition for Echoes of the Fallen. While there are a lot of remix tracks from XIV. But there are some new tracks for Echoes of the Fallen as well. As players ascend up Sagespire, you hear Soken’s composition whether the songs are remixed or brand new.

The OST of Echoes of The Fallen isn’t the only composition on the horizon. We can all possibly look forward to listening to remixed tracks of “Through the Maelstrom” and “Blinding Indigo.” There were the theme songs for Leviathan in FFXIV.

"All the loose ends from the main game that we left ourselves to make DLC with have been picked up by the first and second DLC, so I actually think that making anything else would be quite tricky."

Tying Up Loose Ends

Most players can agree that Final Fantasy XVI is a complete game. And the game wrap up the story decisively. However, some loose ends were left open so Kujiraoka and his team could make the two DLCS. In essence, Kujiraoka saw that this was a great opportunity to expand and explore Valisthea.

All the loose ends from the narrative story would be resolved. As a result, this seems like “The Rising Tide” will be the last DLC for Final Fantasy XVI. At least, it will be the case for a while. However, Kujiraoka has expressed that he would like to create more expansions to explore the outer isles across Valisthea.

"There is the question of what you might find on the outer isles, across the seas from Valisthea--that's something I'm quite interested in, from the perspective of a developer and as a player myself!"

The Rising Tide - Final Fantasy XVI's 2nd DLC

Beyond The Crystals

Crystals are a massive part of FFXVI’s narrative. Through the blessing of the crystals, FFXVI explores the theme of slavery, abolition, or uprising. But the goal of Echoes of the Fallen was to explore the history of Valisthea. An exploration that takes us through the advanced civilization of the Fallen.

Kujiraoka was asked if “The Rising Tide” would return to the previous themes of the main story. He responded that he could not reveal the themes or the story of the next DLC. However, he did mention that the underlying themes of both DLCs was to present a world with little to no crystals. And how people live in such a world without the blessing of the crystals.

Yoshi P likened the crystals to fossil fuels in the real world. Another theme of FFXVI is climate change. And developers have shown glimpses of how Valisthea survives without the crystal. And there is hope for a world without that precious resource. A precious resource that provides much utility and comfort while it slowly destroys the world.

Clive using Leviathan's Eikonic abilities.

Kujiraoka remarked that these glimpses were not a definitive resolution to the world without crystals. But they wanted to offer players some optimism that Valisthea would live on without crystals. This seems to suggest to me that we may get insight into how Valisthea moves on from the crystals.

Maybe we will even see how our favorite cast of characters get along without the Mothercrystals. And maybe we'll find out how the fates of certain characters from the final battle. However, it's good to know that loose ends will be tied up.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly excited for the Rising Tide. Hopefully, we get more FFXVI in the future as Kujiraoka left the door open. What about you? What did you think about the interview? Leave me a comment.

Sources: Game Informer- Expanding Final Fantasy 16 Meant Increasing Difficulty And Tying Loose Ends