The tone of Final Fantasy XVI has been a hot topic since the game was first revealed. The developers at Square Enix purposely created a more mature game that also features sex scenes and gore, which immediately drew comparisons to George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Naoki Yoshida actually confirmed that the whole core team of 30 developers who began working on the game was required to get the full Blu-ray box set of Game of Thrones and watch it to replicate a similar vibe in Final Fantasy XVI.
As I've grown older, I've found that I like my fantasy based more in reality. We wanted to create something that really resonated with a lot of people. And when we saw how Game of Thrones, and before that the Song of Ice and Fire series, has really resonated with players, we knew that this was something that we wanted to do as well. When we first started creating the game, we had our core team of about 30 members very early on buy the Blu-ray box set of Game of Thrones and required everyone to watch it because we wanted this type of feel.
In the same interview, Art Director Hiroshi Minagawa added:
If we want to create something that has that kind of western feel, we have to look to the west for that kind of inspiration. And so things like Game of Thrones are things that we look to because that type of stuff does not exist where we live in Japan.
Final Fantasy XVI received a Mature (17+) rating from the ESRB. The official description says:
Blood-splatter effects frequently occur when characters are slashed and killed. Cutscenes depict additional acts of violence and blood: a character's hands severed by a sword; a guard's throat slit by a knife; a character impaled through the chest; a prisoner's shoulder stabbed and twisted by an interrogator's blade. The game contains some sexual material: a character caressing and straddling a man in bed; references to prostitution—sexual moaning sounds in a brothel; dialogue such as, “I'd be happy to show you…provided I can afford it” and “…thank you for your service. My chamber is just upstairs." Some characters are depicted with partially exposed breasts and buttocks. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” are heard in the game.
The game was also inspired by God of War, both the original and the new series, though for gameplay reasons.
Final Fantasy XVI is set to launch on June 22nd, exclusively for PlayStation 5. Check out Wccftech's final hands-on preview on this page.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
