Final Fantasy 16’s Naoki Yoshida thinks the new action gameplay is good for the entire series

The producer of Final Fantasy 16 says that the game will lend “a helping hand” to players who aren’t fans of action games.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Naoki Yoshida explains that the breadth of combat options available throughout the entire Final Fantasy series means that “it’s impossible to put together what every single fan wants into a single Final Fantasy game.” On top of that, catering to “a completely new generation of gamers” means that Square Enix is looking to combine a classic-feeling setting with “real-time action that’s more reminiscent of modern games.”

“Of course,” Yoshida continues,” we know that there are a lot of players out there who may not excel at action games. But those players do not need to worry, because we have been developing systems and developing in-game features that will lend a helping hand to those players.”

The director didn’t outline what those features might look like, but did say that “we have a lot of confidence in these systems. And we want to get those into the hands of players. And we’re actually kind of excited to have players that maybe don’t consider themselves action game players to actually get in and try these new systems.”

“And another thing […] is that we ultimately  think that taking Final Fantasy 16 in the direction that we’ve decided is not only good for the series as a whole, but for us as developers as well.” The relative youth of the development team means that Yoshida wants to encourage his staff to go in a new direction, rather than simply relying on what’s come before.

That new direction could extend as far as Final Fantasy 17, which Yoshida also commented on during our interview.

For more of what we learned about Final Fantasy 16 , however, check out our Final Fantasy 16 Naoki Yoshida interview .