New Final Fantasy 16 Gameplay Sparks Debates

03/22/2023 05:53 pm EDT

Final Fantasy fans got another brief look at Final Fantasy 16 this week via a brief gameplay snippet shared by one of the game's Twitter accounts, and people sure did have a lot to say about the 18 seconds of footage that was shown. From music to furry companions to squeezing through tight spaces, the gameplay clip was packed with all kinds of things to talk about, and players wasted no time doing so. Some were in favor of parts of the game shown off while others criticized aspects of the clip, though most remained optimistic for what the full package would look like.

The gameplay in question showed off the game's protagonist, Clive Rosfield, hanging out in a forested area before coming across a gap in the wall and the foliage. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that Clive could squeeze through that hole to get into the seemingly hidden area beyond the wall. A simple enough feature and one that's been used a lot in games over time, but it's the frequent use of that feature that's sparked these debates.

"I really thought we were past shuffling in tight spaces," one person pondered.

"Why bother making a short clip of your game when all you're showing is a squeeze hole?" another asked.

The second point has some validity to it – the game looks great already, yet there's a particular focus put on the hidden area, and because of that, that's what players have primarily been drawn to. Games like God of War, God of War Ragnarok, and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake employed this kind of strategy to load areas of the game without actually hitting players with a traditional loading screen. It's a neat trick, but as it's become more obvious, some players seem to be growing tired of it.

Others defended this particular usage of squeezing through a small space like this by saying that it seemed like the area beyond the hole was loaded anyway and that this was just a way to reward players who searched areas thoroughly. Some weren't concerned with this part of the gameplay at all. Between the way the game looks and the music setting the mood for the gameplay, others were happy to focus on those aspects of Final Fantasy 16 instead.

Final Fantasy 16 is scheduled to release for the PlayStation 5 on June 22nd, so we'll see then just how frequent its squeeze-through moments are and how it handles loading the game.

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