Final Fantasy 16 nearly didn't have moogles due to realistic style
"It kind of ended up looking like a hedgehog!"
Final Fantasy 16 almost didn't include moogles due to the game's realistic style.
Not only was the team concerned the cute characters wouldn't fit in the world, they also impacted the game's performance mode.
"Probably the greatest challenge, on a fundamental level, was the moogle," said producer Naoki Yoshida, in a new interview on the Square Enix blog.
"The development team was worried that moogles would both be too difficult to create, and wouldn't fit the feel of the world, but our assistant producer was like, 'I don't care, just put them in the game!'
"In the end, we took her advice and put one in the game but it was a lot more work than we expected."
To that assistant producer: thank you kupo.
Art director Hiroshi Minagawa continued: "The biggest moogle problem arose when we were implementing performance mode, towards the end of development.
"Performance mode alters the appearance of the polygons slightly, and we particularly struggled with the moogle...it just ended up with less fur.
"It kind of ended up looking like a hedgehog! We were like: 'Is... is this a moogle? Hmmm...' Eventually, we ended up putting in some processing specifically for the moogle."
Moogles, for the unfamiliar, are the adorable furry white creatures that have become synonymous with the Final Fantasy name and a recurring addition fans expect in each new entry.
The moogle discussion followed comments from Minagawa on blending fantasy and reality in the art style, admitting the team struggled with human characters.
"Those of us that worked on the in-game assets found it really challenging to depict their expressions, which were more realistic than what we'd previously worked on. In the end, we managed to achieve a good visual style, thanks to the help and cooperation of the team working on pre-rendered scenes," he said.
"Overall, I would say that the most significant challenge was combining photorealism and a more illustration-like feel with the increased power we had to present things - finding the right balance and making sure it didn't look unnatural."
The pair also discussed the challenge of maintaining the identity of the Final Fantasy series, of which moogles are a key part.
"This is something that Sakaguchi-san, the father of Final Fantasy, and Kitase-san (Final Fantasy Brand Manager) have both said to me: Final Fantasy is whatever the director making the latest instalment thinks is the best game, the best story at the time," said Yoshida.
"If they create a game with those points in mind, then it's a Final Fantasy - so there's no need to feel constrained by what's come before. Since they'd said that to me, I didn't really feel like this was a particular challenge."
Yoshida noted that fans are passionate about specific titles, not just the series as a whole.
"All these people have different expectations and hopes for what they want to see in a Final Fantasy game. There are some people who think: 'It has to be a turn-based game'. And there are those fans who may think: 'The recent Final Fantasy games seem a bit retro and out-dated, I just don't find myself playing them these days'," he said.
"Our decision to make Final Fantasy 16 a real-time action game means there will probably be some fans who decide to give the series another go... and there will be some people who say it's not a Final Fantasy if it's not turn-based. It's just not possible to fulfil everyone's expectations in a single game."
For more on Final Fantasy 16, check out my preview in which I discussed with Yoshida the essence of Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy 16 will release on 22nd June exclusively on PlayStation 5.