I’ve had the same conversation a hundred times with my friends. What if you put the Wars in Star Wars and made an ‘M’ rated Band of Brothers-style game that focused on a group from the 501st legion? Or a dark survival epic that follows the genocide of the jedi in Revenge of the Sith?
‘M’ Stands for More Fun
I’m not stopping at Star Wars.
A ‘T’ rated Pokémon game, but this time you’re a Team Rocket grunt that is running security at Cinnabar Island’s lab and witnesses the disaster that ensues when the scientists create Mewtwo.
Lord Voldemort: the game, but at his peak before touching Harry backfires.
Halo except it’s rated ‘M’ for matu- hey wait, didn’t they used to make those?
Now I’m aware that not every franchise needs a dark entry and mature content doesn’t just automatically make something good. It’s also apparent that keeping the target audience as wide as the ocean for maximum profits is the only objective sometimes, shareholders must be pleased, infinite growth must be achieved- I get it. Shoot, sometimes kids and families just need pure and wholesome entertainment and I’m all for that. There are all sorts of reasons why game franchises have had the age ratings that they’ve stuck with for so long.
Generally speaking, once a franchise commits to a rating it rarely ever changes from that point on. So, when I found out Final Fantasy was getting an ‘M’ rating after 36 years I did a spit take in disbelief. Not just once but a second time just a few days ago while playing the new Final Fantasy 16 demo. Why aren’t more people talking about this? It’s huge! We’re making history here, and while it’s been known for some time now, it’s quickly going to become a full-blow reality on June 22nd.
I’m not sitting on the fence that says FF16 is only exciting because it largely rids itself of the usual campy behavior of its eclectic cast. It also must be reiterated that dark and mature storytelling has already been seen on multiple occasions throughout the Final Fantasy franchise. What’s important here is the will to reinvent franchises that have been around for a long time that have largely been doing the same thing over and over again. Square Enix has nearly foreshadowed the coming changes with how FF7 Remake was handled, they’re not going to remake the same exact turn-based RPG from 1997, it’s going to be more than that.
FFXVI is Evolving the Franchise
Similar to God of War, Zelda, and Elden Ring, a tonal shift alongside evolved game development ideologies have graced the Square Enix dev team. It is still yet to be seen if Final Fantasy 16 will reach the same heights as those other industry-changing behemoths of course, but after what’s been displayed from this week’s demo things look promising. One thing is certain, FF16 will undoubtedly bring in a new player base that wouldn’t normally pick up a Final Fantasy game.
The demo itself is an absolute experience from start to finish and if you own a PS5 there’s no reason why you shouldn’t go check it out. Square Enix has watched all of Game of Thrones seasons and let me tell you, they’ve done their homework. The two-to-three-hour experience hits hard and pulls no punches. Combat is layered and snappy giving it a more streamlined design from what it was in FF7 Remake. The characters, story, and lore all have me engaged right out of the gate. My colleague reminded me that one of the reasons why the story comes along so seamlessly is due in part to the Active Time Lore system which is a new addition to the franchise. By pressing the dual sense’s touchpad you’ll be presented with lore information based on characters or landmarks in the immediate area.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a FF game without the music, which is nearly guaranteed to be amazing in just about every installment.
There’s just one problem with the demo. The performance mode is in incredibly rough shape swinging wildly back and forth between what feels like 30 and 60 fps on a regular basis. It’s nearly bad enough to where most players should probably just stick to the quality mode that locks the game to 30 fps. Hopefully these issues pertain specifically to the demo and will be ironed out before launch. However, with the recent trend of console games get 30 fps caps and having performance issues it’s hard to stay optimistic.
We won’t have to wait long for the quickly arriving launch date of June 22nd, and if you decide to check out the demo all of your progress will carry over to the full game.
