Final Fantasy 16's battle director has called the upcoming RPG his "personal masterpiece," with one of his biggest priorities making the combat approachable to fans and newcomers alike.
Ryota Suzuki made an appearance on a Japanese Final Fantasy 16 livestream over the weekend, offering a message on his contribution to the game's action combat. A translation was provided by Aitakimochi on Twitter, where Suzuki told viewers "I've been making action games for the past 25 years in my career, and I truly think this game is my own personal masterpiece. We put priority in designing this game's battle system to appeal to those who previously have not played or are not well versed in action games. So I hope that those who have never played an action game before can go and try out Final Fantasy 16."
Suzuki Ryota's message from the Final Fantasy XVI Japanese live letter was enlightening- he says that throughout his entire career designing action games for the past 25 years, he truly thinks FF16 is his own personal masterpiece.I added English subs to his heartfelt message! pic.twitter.com/LlXKzAAn2CJune 18, 2023
Those are some big words coming from Suzuki, whose resume is bloody impressive. He was a Capcom veteran before being poached by Final Fantasy 16 director Naoki Yoshida for Square Enix, boasting a 20-year career with some pretty beefy games under his belt. His Mobygames credits list him as one of the designers on Devil May Cry 5 (seen by series fans as a big return to form), as well as serving as the gameplay lead on Dragon's Dogma and game design lead on its expanded release Dark Arisen. He's listed as a programmer on Monster Hunter: World and its expansion Iceborne, along with a planning credit on Devil May Cry 4.
Wes Fenlon had previously expressed his excitement about having Suzuki on board for Final Fantasy 16, and from my time with the demo I can see why. While I'm not the biggest action combat lover on the planet, I had a surprisingly good time with Final Fantasy 16 and it's been my favourite iteration of the series' modern battle direction to date. It's just a damn shame we won't be able to get our hands on a PC version anytime soon—Yoshida has already shut down speculation that we'd be getting a port as soon as Final Fantasy 16's six-month PlayStation 5 exclusivity is up.
