Square Enix seeks to tell the story they want without sticking to limitations.
Joshua is the brother of Clive, the protagonist of Final Fantasy XVI
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Final Fantasy XVI will hit stores in just a few days and, unlike the previous games in the Square Enix saga, it will do so with an adult rating with the +18 stamp from PEGI (European Age Rating Agency) and the M for Mature in North America from the ESRB (peer body). According to the Japanese company, the reason for this historic change lies more in its technical section and not so much in the narrative or playable proposal of the title itself.
The Final Fantasy series has always counted stories with intrigues, betrayals and the occasional death surprise, but the difference of those games with respect to Final Fantasy XVI is the aesthetics. The rating agencies do not consider the death of an ill-defined or caricatured character as shocking as that of a realistic model, just as it happens with blood and other violent elements typical of video games.
The most violent Final Fantasy to date?
Speaking to GameInformer, producer Naoki Yoshida points out that why Final Fantasy XVI is rated Mature should be found in the rating agencies themselves, and not in the game. He points out that while the industry has moved forward in terms of technology and capabilities, regulations have become increasingly restrictive.
“The problem is, over the years, as more games have come out and we’ve moved on, the regulations within them have changed a lot. We’re realizing that we can’t do as much to get the same rating we got before,” says the producer.
“With new generations of hardware and the images more and more realistic, if you want to tell a story that feels real, it must also feel real. Showing realistic images, it’s hard to keep that within the realm of a lower rating because it becomes very visceraland I think you can see this trend from PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, when the graphics became a bit more realistic.”
In such a way, it seems that yes, Final Fantasy XVI will be a more mature and violent game than previous installments of the series, or at least more blood will be seen. “By moving up to a higher rating, it allows us to tell the story we want to tell without having to pretendYoshida adds. “If you’re trying to tell a story about the war, but you can’t show blood**, it’s not going to be realistic.
Final Fantasy XVI will go on sale exclusively for PS5 on June 22, although Square Enix might be a bit fearful due to the number of current reservations for the game. At the end of this year, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, a sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, could also arrive
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