Final Fantasy 16: Don’t Worry, The Game Is Inspired By Good Seasons Of Game Of Thrones

For a few years now, we’ve heard Final Fantasy XVI is inspired by HBO’s Game of ThronesOn my trip to Tokyo to interview Creative Business Unit III for the cover of this issue, I found out more. Specifically and critically, I found out that the team had been inspired by the four first seasons of Game of Thrones. Or at least, that’s where it started. 

“Right around the start of the game’s development back when we’re in that early period is right about when [Season 4 of Game of Thrones on HBO] was airing,” FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida tells me. “We had seen it grow into this television show that was loved around the world, not just by older generations but younger generations as well. So we bought the Blu-Ray box of Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4, and made everyone on the team watch it basically to get across to developers that this is what’s trending in the world – that this is the type of fantasy that people are enjoying.”

Iron Kingdom

Yoshida claims that they took extreme care to make sure FFXVI did not feel like a carbon version of Game of Thrones. After watching and playing the game for about five hours, its influences are obvious. Plus, with everything else going on in the game – specifically the Eikon vs. Eikon combat – the team drew on other sources of inspiration like Attack on Titan, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Godzilla, UltramanYou can find out more about us by clicking here. 

It is not only that Game of ThronesAccording to Hiroshi Mnagawa, the art director of Final Fantasy XVI’s visual style is also influenced by Final Fantasy XVI.

Final Fantasy XVI Art Director Hiroshi Minagawa

“When I joined the team and spoke with Takai-san about the overall look of the game, we had that broad stroke that we wanted to have something that’s going to have that Game of Thrones feel, that kind of pure standard high fantasy that you’d see in that type of program and visual medium,” he tells me.

People still debate where to go today Game of Thrones began to falter, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks the answer is somewhere in those first four seasons. Those episodes are fantastic television, and if FFXVI’s take on fantasy comes close to rivaling them, we could be in for something special. Fortunately, we don’t have too wait long because FFXVI hits PlayStation 5 on June 22. 

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