To say that Final Fantasy 16, Square Enix’s next mainline title in the franchise, is highly anticipated would be an understatement. It features a darker tone and atmosphere, real-time combat and massive Eikon battles. Of course, the fact that Final Fantasy 14’s Naoki Yoshida is involved as a producer is also significant.
We’ve seen quite a bit of the combat, but there’s also a heavy amount of cinematic cutscenes. At a recent press event attended by publications like Gematsu, Yoshida confirmed that there are over 11 hours of cinematics in the main scenario.
“One thing that was important to us, though, was to tell a story that was complete, from beginning to end, and at that, we think we have succeeded. To facilitate this, there are over 11 hours of cinematic cutscenes in the main scenario alone, all seamlessly interwoven into the game experience, playing in-engine in real-time.”
Director Hiroshi Takai previously confirmed that the story would take about 35 to 40 hours to complete. From that perspective, 11+ hours of cutscenes seems a bit much. However, a lot of optional content, which should pump the playtime up to around the “70-hour mark or so,” is also included.
Final Fantasy 16 launches on June 22nd for PS5. Yoshida said he doesn’t anticipate any delays unless something drastic like a “meteor hitting our headquarters in Japan” occurs.