The world map featured in Square Enix’s upcoming action role-playing game, Final Fantasy XVI, bears similarities to those of Final Fantasy X and XII.
In the latest issue of PLAY magazine, Final Fantasy XVI Producer Naoki Yoshida stated that the game’s world map is comparable to those of Final Fantasy X and XII. On the world map, the player can choose an area to visit to and seamlessly travel to it. Once the main quest in the area has been completed, the player is then sent to the game’s hub area, known as The Hideaway.
In the hub area, players will have the option to buy and upgrade weapons and accept hunts. According to Yoshida, each place that the player unlocks over the course of their playthrough becomes available to visit at any time. Therefore, the player is at liberty to revisit previously visited regions of the world map. Upon revisiting some of these areas, the player will gain access to new side quests.
Unlike Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy X’s world map becomes available much later in the main story. Final Fantasy XVI appears to be more like the former in this regard, though Yoshida didn’t specify the point in the story at which the world map opens up for free travel.
The mention of seamless fast travel to previously visited areas on the world map had been hinted earlier by Yoshida during a panel dedicated to Final Fantasy XVI at PAX East 2023, where he demonstrated that the game takes advantage of the PS5 hardware to deliver near instant load times.
During the demonstration, Yoshida also revealed that Final Fantasy XVI will feature two Performance modes: a Graphics mode that targets 30fps while running at a resolution of 4K (2160p), and a Frame Rate mode that targets 60fps while compromising on resolution. While it was not explicitly stated what resolution the Frame Rate mode would run at, it’s likely to be close to 1440p.
