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Final Fantasy 16 is getting a full-on endgame treatment, boasting challenging content aimed at keeping even the most battle-hungry fans satisfied.
In a Game Informer report it was revealed that Final Fantasy 16 creative director Hiroshi Takai and combat director Ryota Suzuki (of Devil May Cry 5 fame) have baked plenty of features into the game designed to satisfy combat lovers in the postgame.
In addition to an Arcade Mode which allows players to run through previous missions with a score calculator and combat grader, Final Fantasy 16 offers a special version of New Game Plus, called Final Fantasy Mode.
Though Final Fantasy 16 does offer a traditional New Game Plus mode which will give you access to all of your goodies from your first playthrough, Final Fantasy Mode is something a bit different. This new mode shifts the game’s difficulty in a big way, changing monster placement and adjusting the sorts of enemies you might face in combat.
In contrast to many of its predecessors, Final Fantasy 16 has ditched turn-based combat in favor of a more fluid, action-based system reminiscent of the likes of Devil May Cry 5 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. However, it looks like Square Enix hasn’t used this as an excuse to skimp out on post-game content.
Speaking to Game Informer, Suzuki made it clear that: “what we’ve done with [Final Fantasy] Mode is give players controlling Clive the sense that they’re always in danger, that death is around the corner and that you’ll need to really, really pay attention to be able to clear the content.”
On top of these shiny new modes, Final Fantasy 16 players will also get access to Chronolith Trials in New Game Plus, with those opting for Final Fantasy Mode getting access to the especially tough Final Chronolith Trials.
The Final Chronolith Trials are the biggest challenge in the game, each offering four rounds of enemies. The first three are your standard fare of monsters, getting tougher throughout. The fourth wave, however, is always a boss. As the name implies, these are time trials but allow you to gain precious seconds by executing certain moves, depending on the trial. If that wasn’t demanding enough, Chronolith Trials don’t allow you to recover HP except via Limit Breaks, so expect every dodge and parry to count.
Each Chronolith Trial is based on one of Final Fantasy 16’s Eikons. Known as “summons” in previous Final Fantasy games, these monstrous demigods look gorgeous and seriously impressed me during my own Final Fantasy 16 hands-on. As with Arcade Mode, the Chronolith Trials have their own global leaderboard, so there’s a competitive element, too – a novelty for a Final Fantasy title.
Though these endgame trials look somewhat intimidating and are likely beyond my own abilities, it’s great to see Square Enix catering to players of all kinds with their array of different content.