Square Enix is talking about a particularly original new feature that could revolutionize the Final Fantasy saga, but also video games as a whole.
Final Fantasy is unquestionably one of the most popular RPG licenses of all time. This probably explains why the fan community is so demanding with the saga, she who always expects the FF to reach excellence. Final Fantasy 16, released last June on PS5, illustrates this alone, being both praised by some fans and strongly reprimanded by others. It is therefore still not this episode that will be unanimous and that will reconcile the oldest fans of the series who swear by the PS1 episodes with the saga. On the other hand, with the new functionality on which Square Enix is working, the next opuses could revolutionize the Final Fantasy series, but also the RPG genre.
A breakthrough feature in Square Enix games?
Last February, Square Enix filed a new patent that could well revolutionize the saga Final Fantasy. Concretely, the firm wants to change the way the player influences an NPC thanks to an idea by inventors Carle Côté, Ugo Louche, Eric Martel and Romain Trachel. Our impact would no longer be limited to defining their physical characteristics or their skills: it would be possible to influence their attitude thanks to our actions. The patent mentions two distinct mechanics: one named “play session” and the other “training session“.
The training session would, as the name suggests, train NPCs”to adapt their behavioral model“. This means that the player could therefore make recommendations to his ally to make him progress. The more sophisticated the training session, the more consistent the decisions made by the in-game NPC will be ” with the player’s own decision-making process, which could lead to greater satisfaction “. Concretely, during these coachings, the game would ask us (in a rather natural and immersive way, specifies the patent) to indicate to the NPC how he should behave while remaining rather vague in his proposals.
The transformed Final Fantasy saga?
Thus, the player could, for example, say to his ally ” that instead of staying close to the adversary, you have to flee in order to shape his personality to rely more on caution in combat. The patent states that multiple training sessions might be required for the player-shaped NPC behavior to finally manifest in “play session“. The NPC could even be trained by another non-player character so that the two protagonists learn new moves in a fighting game, as Square Enix explains in its patent. During a game, in addition to being influenced by the training received, our companion would also be shaped according to our own actions.
For now, it’s hard to imagine how the feature could be implemented in its games by Square Enix. If we imagine that it will be integrated in a more natural way in a fighting game, making this mechanic immersive could be a little more difficult in an RPG. Either way, it could really revolutionize the way NPCs behave in games. Final Fantasyknowing that the allied AI is often singled out by players, whether in FF7 Remake, in Final Fantasy 15 or even in the most recent Final Fantasy 16, for example. Of course, it’s worth remembering that filing for a patent doesn’t necessarily mean the feature in question will actually make it to a game one day. But Square Enix could well hold an interesting idea for its next titles and why not for possible remakes.