When discussing Final Fantasy XVI’s combat or watching gameplay, it’s hard not to think about other action combat games, such as Capcom’s Devil May Cry series. And if its combat reminds you of DMC, it’s probably because the combat director of FFXVI is Ryota Suzuki, who helped design combat on Devil May Cry 4 and Devil May Cry 5. But he also worked on Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. 

While the DMC inspirations laced within FFXVI’s combat are hard to miss, Suzuki told me that Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 inspired some of FFXVI’s systems as well. 

Final Fantasy XVI Combat Director Ryota Suzuki

Final Fantasy XVI Combat Director Ryota Suzuki

“There’s actually something from Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 that we took and put into Final Fantasy XVI, and that is, as you may or may not know, in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, we had the Assist system where you could give orders to your partner in battle,” Suzuki says. “And by implementing that system, we were able to create the sense of not just one-on-one but multiple people fighting at the same time to create this very frenetic battle system. 

“We brought some of that knowledge into creating the system with Torgal [Clive’s companion dog that can be commanded in battle to do different things] and being able to give the pet commands where you’re by yourself but still working together.” 

He and the team at Capcom created that Assist system 22 years ago. In it, you give orders to a partner in battle. Doing so creates a period where the main character can’t act. He says Creative Business Unit III didn’t want to do that in FFXVI, so it removed that aspect of the Assist system. 

“[That way], when the player gave that order, the player would be able to continue to act, so it’d create more types of frenetic battles where both the partner [Torgal] and the player could still be playing and participating in the battle even though the commands are being given.” 

On top of that, Suzuki notes that special actions in FFXVI’s combat were inspired by Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 as well. When you time certain commands just right, it will unlock, in real-time, even more special types of moves, something players experienced with combos in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 will find feels loosely familiar. 

“[These special moves] are one of the things we wanted to implement early on […] that’s not necessary, but players, if they have the skill, would be able to pull off in of those base foundations.” 

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