June’s IGN First is all about Final Fantasy XVI. Today, the development team at Square Enix are here to tell you all about the game’s powerful and flashy special moves, Eikonic Abilities. Check out our commentary video below, in which Director Hiroshi Takai and Combat Director Ryota Suzuki demonstrate how you can put a wide array of Eikonic Abilities to good use during battle, and read on for even more details!
During IGN’s exclusive interview with the developers of FFXVI at Square Enix’s Tokyo office, the team told us about the philosophy behind these Summon-based attacks.
As you advance through the game, main protagonist Clive will become able to use the power of new Summons, which are called Eikons in Final Fantasy XVI. Clive does not transform into these Eikons, but utilizes their power through what are called Eikonic Feats and Eikonic Abilities.
Eikonic Abilities are more like special moves that deal a lot of damage when compared with Clive’s normal melee attacks.
Eikonic Feats are actions that aid you during battle, ranging from instantly closing the gap on an enemy, blocking attacks and drawing an enemy towards yourself. Eikonic Abilities are more like special moves that deal a lot of damage when compared with Clive’s normal melee attacks. Each Eikon provides one feat, while multiple abilities can be unlocked from the Skill Tree. The Skill Tree also allows you to power up these abilities. It is up to the player to choose which Eikonic Abilities they want to use in battle, as well as how to combine them.
“Through the game’s main story, you will become able to use the power of many Eikons,” explains Combat Director Ryota Suzuki. “Since Final Fantasy XVI is an action RPG, we designed it so that the new abilities you learn change the way you play.”
Suzuki continues, “Each Eikon has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, Garuda is fast and it can deliver more attacks than most other Eikons, but its attack power is a bit weaker in return. Titan has a great counterattack that starts with a block and is good for charge attacks. As you would expect from Titan, each of its attacks are heavy hitters, but they are not as speedy. We didn’t want to make a game in which Clive simply becomes stronger as you progress, but one that provides a range of new tactics to try.”
New Eikon powers allow for new ways to tackle the next enemy. But that doesn’t mean that you will have a hard time if you don’t use a specific Eikon power against a certain enemy or boss. Suzuki says that the team strived for a game with no correct answer. “We don’t specify things like, ‘It is advised to use Ramuh’s power for this enemy’,” says Suzuki. “We wanted to leave that up to the player. Your own tactics are never wrong. That’s what we wanted to value more than anything.”
That said, depending on the enemy, certain Eikon powers may be more effective and/or easier to utilize than others. “There are definitely enemies against which certain abilities prove more effective than others,” says Suzuki. “But we didn’t want to go to the extent that they would be hard to defeat without using a certain ability or making certain tactics feel like the correct way to play. That would make it feel like we’re forcing the player to play in a certain way, which didn’t match the type of game design we were aiming for.”
While you will receive the power of many Eikons throughout the game, you can only equip up to three of them at a time. “We considered the option of allowing the player to simultaneously equip every Summon, but we chose to set a limit,” says Suzuki. “If you were able to use the powers of more than three Eikon at the same time, the amount of information you’d have to work with would become too intimidating. Since this is an action game, you have to react to the sudden attack of an enemy in real time, so we didn’t want the amount of actions you have to choose from to be too overwhelming.”
While you will receive the power of many Eikons throughout the game, you can only equip up to three of them at a time.
That means that you will have to select which Eikon powers you want to equip in advance. During battle, it all becomes a task of how you utilize each Eikon’s strengths while making up for their weaknesses by switching to the other Eikons you have equipped.
In our commentary video, Suzuki demonstrates some of the Eikonic Abilities in the game’s training mode. Here you can choose from a wide array of enemies you’ve fought throughout the game and change the settings for their behavior, attack patterns and more. Suzuki believes it’s a great mode to try out the game’s combat, especially the Eikon powers.
“With so many abilities available, not every single one of them is going to match everyone’s playstyle,” says Suzuki. “So my advice is that you first try them out in the training mode. It’s a great way to get used to the timing of these abilities. This was the main reason for us to include a training mode.” Suzuki adds that he hopes players will make active use of Ability Points to learn new Eikonic Abilities. “If it turns out that the ability is not for you, don’t worry: We give you the ability points back without any sort of penalty,” says Suzuki. “We wanted to value the player’s personal preferences, which means that not every ability is for everyone. So don’t be stingy with your Ability Points. We want you to use them without hesitation and try out a wide array of different moves. Try different abilities in the training mode, and if they’re not for you, just choose something different instead.”
Essentially, Final Fantasy XVI’s Eikonic Feats and Abilities allow players to create their own builds. Director Takai says that combining them has a similar playfeel to Final Fantasy V’s battle system. “I think that the freedom of combining different abilities however you want is similar to how Final Fantasy V allowed you to create your own builds through the many abilities in that game,” says Takai. Since user choice and freedom seem to be key to the Eikons’ powers, we asked six of the developers how they like to combine them. Let’s have a look!
Naoki Yoshida (Producer)
“I don’t really stick to a particular combination, but I can’t leave out the Phoenix. This is because I’m emotionally attached to Clive. The Phoenix is the Eikon of his younger brother, Joshua. Upon becoming the Rosarian Army’s First Shield, Clive is granted the powers of the Phoenix by Joshua. No matter how strong other Eikons and combinations might be, I just can’t go on without the Phoenix – no matter how many times I play through the game.”
Hiroshi Takai (Director)
“Shiva is very near and dear to my heart. But I think that whenever you play the game you will find new ways to play. You might find that Titan is really deep, or that Odin is much stronger than you thought.
“When it comes to combining the abilities, for me Titan, Garuda and Odin make the strongest team. Some of their abilities haven’t been revealed yet, so I can’t go into detail on how exactly I would combine them.
“As for a single Eikonic Ability, I really like Ramuh’s Lightning Rod. You can cast a floating orb onto the battlefield that emits shockwaves each time you hit it, and it feels really great to combine that with a certain ability of Bahamut.”
Ryota Suzuki (Combat Director)
“I often use Titan. Titan’s powers become effective if your reflexes are good, so it makes it fun and challenging to use.
“I often use a certain combination between Titan, Garuda and Odin. It hasn’t been revealed yet, but Odin has a very distinct ability that I think will appeal to hardcore action game fans. This ability gives Clive new tactics to fight with. I like to play with a build that makes the game feel challenging.”
Kazutoyo Maeda (Creative Director)
“I often use Garuda’s Eikonic Feat, Deadly Embrace, which allows you to draw enemies towards Clive. I’m the lazy type, so I want the enemies to come my way. Why should I have to be the one that approaches them and not the other way around? For enemies that can’t be drawn towards Clive, Deadly Embrace can still knock them down, which looks cool.
“I wrote the game’s story, so I have a lot of feelings toward our villains. In particular, Benedikta is a very important character for me, and Benedikta is the dominant of Garuda, which might be why I tend to use Garuda’s powers.
“As for combinations, I like to fight with Deadly Embrace as a base. For example, first I will draw an enemy towards Clive and then lift it up in the air with the Phoenix’s Rising Flames ability.”
Hiroshi Minagawa (Art Director)
“I like the Phoenix, partially because it took us a long time to create the visuals for this Eikon. A lot of trial and error went into creating the visuals for its flames. It’s also the first Eikon power Clive receives. I like using its powerful flame attacks.”
Michael-Christopher Koji Fox (Localization Director)
“One of my favorite moves is the Phoenix Shift, because it instantly brings you to an enemy – whether that enemy is on the ground or in the air. Combining it with abilities that knock the enemy away and using it to immediately go to where the enemy went and continuing to attack from there just feels really kick-ass.
“I also like Titan. It kind of feels similar to FromSoftware’s games, since you can get an opening if you block in just the right time. I love the Titanic Block. If you do it just right you get the three-punch combo afterwards. I’ll usually do a Titanic Block, get the three-punch combo, and then at the third punch I’ll switch my Eikon to the Phoenix to do a Rising Flame, which is the one-wing uppercut which lifts the enemy up into the air. Then, you can Phoenix Shift up to the enemy in the air and do a basic down thrust and you pound it to the ground. It’s overkill in many situations, but it just feels so good!”
It was interesting to see that many of the developers didn’t just customize their builds based on Eikonic Abilities, but also on the role that some of these Summons play in the story. If players end up doing the same, that will not only prove Final Fantasy XVI’s concept of freedom in customization, but also the quality of the story behind it.
Final Fantasy XVI releases for PlayStation 5 on June 22. Be sure to check out our exclusive Liquid Flame battle gameplay too.
Esra Krabbe is an editor at IGN Japan. He thinks he understands Yoshida’s feelings.
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