FromSoftware’s PlayStation 4-exclusive Bloodborne was also a big hit with the Japanese publisher, but those plans ultimately didn’t materialize.
The other day, Square Enix hosted a NieR Re[in]carnation x Final Fantasy XIV Collaboration Special stream, where Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P, Final Fantasy XVI’s producer) and Saito Yosuke (the NieR series’ producer) were in conversation. “We said the next time we’d release information is in the spring… And I’m being told, ‘so when exactly is spring to you?'”, Yoshida asked Saito, who replied, “After all, the NieR Re[in]carnation collaboration with Final Fantasy XIV is supposed to be in the early summer, and that’s already next week. Right now, we’re in between spring and early summer.”
Yoshida responded with the critical information: “No, no… The trailer is already complete. But it was delayed for various reasons. I think it’ll come out soon.” Saito added, “I’ve seen some other footage as well. I was impressed by what you guys made.” “You were practically chuckling by how absurdly well-made it was. That being said, the development team has put in tremendous effort. We’re fervently playing it through, polishing, debugging, and thoroughly optimizing, so I think we’re going to take a little longer there. It’s already come together considerably. We should spend a little more time in that area,” Yoshida finished.
But here’s another topic: Yoshida has a book, Yoshida Uncensored, which was discussed on the ResetEra forum. He talks about working on a Bloodborne-like IP with Hiroshi Takai, Hiroshi Minagawa, and Kazutoyo Maehiro. The IP was eventually cancelled, and Square Enix developed the project before FromSoftware’s game was released.
Minagawa joked that he panicked about the similarity to Bloodborne. Identical weapons and firearms, all in a gothic style, Takai added. And Yoshida said that when he first saw Bloodborne, he wondered where he had seen this before? It was supposed to be a hardcore action game with sci-fi elements. There would have been a five-player multiplayer mode, wherein a 1v4 setup, the lone fighter would have had more vital abilities. But if the killer died, the character would have been deleted, and you would have had to start over. It is why Yoshida sees the system as ruthless. He believes the game would have failed if it had been released. A year into development, they were running into problems, and Takai says it took 6-8 months to see things take shape, but there was too much trial and error, which led to frustration.
Maybe that won’t be the case with Final Fantasy XVI.
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