A player-favorite character featured in Final Fantasy 16 has given the development team some tangles. Naoki Yoshida and Hiroshi Minagawa give themselves up.
Impossible to imagine an episode of Final Fantasy without memorable characters. Each episode has its share of striking faces, some even remaining etched in the history of video games. Final Fantasy 16, which will be released on June 22 exclusively on PS5, will he be able to make his characters legends? For the moment, impossible to know. On the other hand, despite its confusing gameplay, far from what the series had accustomed us to, the game should still touch the hearts of fans of the Square Enix saga. Titillating the nostalgic fiber of the fans goes through details, but also through much more important choices. In an interview, Naoki Yoshida, producer of Final Fantasy 16 (and of FF 14) and Hiroshi Minagawa, artistic director, return precisely to the presence of one of the mascots of the series, which could not have been in the game.
This character who gave the Final Fantasy 16 team a hard time
Naoki Yoshida and Hiroshi Minagawa confide at length in an interview available on the Square Enix website. They evoke the implementation of a character adored by fans: the Mog! This hairy little animal was absent in FF15, which had disturbed the lovers of the saga. We have known for some time now that in Final Fantasy 16, the Mogs will be there. While one might think the choice to include them obvious, Naoki Yoshida explains that the Moogs posed major concerns for the development team. Members of Creative Business Unit 3 were concerned that they ” do not correspond to the atmosphere of the world of Final Fantasy 16 », much more realistic than the other episodes. But that wasn’t the only problem they encountered.
Our production assistant told us: “I don’t care, put them in the game!” The biggest problem with the Mog came when we implemented Performance mode, towards the end of development. It slightly changes the appearance of the polygons, and we had a lot of trouble with the Mog… It ended up with less fur.
The Moogs, a race that players have always loved
Creating the Mog was so difficult, he even ended up looking like a hedgehog. Fortunately, the development team managed to integrate them correctly into Final Fantasy 16. For the record, the little creature appears for the first time in FF3. It then occupies a central role in FF6 being a playable character for the first time. In Final Fantasy 9, the courier service offered by the Mogs also stood out. For the moment, we know that this little ball of fur will be in charge of the hunting board in FF16. Will the involvement of this fan-favorite breed be limited to this? Answer on June 22 on PS5. And in some time on PC, if we are to believe the recent words of Naoki Yoshida.