It’s becoming that within the yr of the thirtieth anniversary of the unique PlayStation, two of the console’s largest franchises — Tekken and Final Fantasy — are collaborating as soon as extra. The two names are practically synonymous with the PlayStation model, and greater than that share a growth historical past not many find out about.
“I suppose we will discuss [it] now since a lot time has handed. Back round Tekken 3, lots of our workers left the group and really went to Square,” Tekken government producer Katsuhiro Harada reveals in a sit down interview with IGN. Given Tekken 3 was in growth throughout 1995 and launched a yr later, there have been possible a number of ex-Tekken workers lending their 3D growth abilities to what would possible have been the one Final Fantasy recreation in manufacturing round then: the seminal PlayStation RPG, Final Fantasy 7.
“We’re each titles that had been synonymous with PlayStation and likewise the form of high-level 3D graphics [both series had] on the time had been related,” Harada continues. “And though we had been making totally different video games at that time, [the ex-Tekken developers] had been nonetheless our pals and folks we labored actually carefully with. So [at the time I thought] it will be attention-grabbing if we may work collectively once more someday sooner or later. It simply turned out that it took much more time than I initially thought.”
So right here we’re, many years later and the Tekken and Final Fantasy manufacturers are going head-to-head on friendlier phrases. Clive Rosfield, the protagonist of Final Fantasy 16, would be the newest visitor character becoming a member of the Tekken roster. He’s solely the second Final Fantasy character to ever be a part of Tekken, following after Final Fantasy 15’s Noctis, who made an look in Tekken 7.
You may be stunned to listen to that this collaboration between Final Fantasy 16 and Tekken 8 started a lot sooner than anticipated. So early, in truth, that Final Fantasy 16 was nonetheless in the midst of growth when Tekken collection producer Katsuhiro Harada reached out to FF16 producer Naoki Yoshida a couple of potential collaboration. Yoshida invited Harada and Tekken 8 director Kohei Ikeda to Square Enix to play an in-development construct of the sport and the foundations had been laid for the crossover.
Developed by the group liable for the massively well-liked Final Fantasy 14 MMORPG, Final Fantasy 16 is a stark departure for the collection so far as gameplay goes, eschewing any form of turn-based fight in favor of real-time motion the place Clive can wield his sword and chain combos collectively. Final Fantasy 16’s extra action-forward path meant that Clive may match seamlessly into Tekken. His combo-heavy assaults and skill to channel the powers of various “Eikons” — highly effective familiars like Ifrit, Phoenix, and Titan — ensures a reasonably various equipment for his Tekken 8 look..
“We wished to be sure that all the Eikons had been out there in a roundabout way whereas enjoying [as Clive in Tekken 8],” says Ikeda. Expect to see Clive use numerous elemental skills comparable to wind, lightning, ice, fireplace, and extra.
While followers of Final Fantasy 16 will discover Clive has entry to lots of the identical skills in Tekken as he does in his personal recreation, there have been some adjustments made to the character. Namely, his character mannequin.
“The director of the Final Fantasy group advised us that he would love us to regulate Clive’s body a bit as a result of our characters are fairly beefy,” Ikeda remembers. “So we did regulate his legs and decrease physique to make him extra according to our fighters after they’re each on the identical display on the identical time.”
So Clive hit the gymnasium for Tekken, however in cost for these new pecs he did should make some sacrifices elsewhere. “It’s humorous that though he’s gotten extra muscular, his sword has shrunk in measurement as a result of in a combating recreation, it will give him manner an excessive amount of of a bonus if the sword was as massive as it’s within the authentic recreation,” Harada provides.
So I suppose meaning no probability of Cloud and his colossal Buster Sword becoming a member of Tekken, then? Well, don’t suppose so quick. According to Harada, the Tekken group isn’t restricted to only one character from Final Fantasy. He says it “may be cool if we had two,” however for now it’s not one thing within the playing cards.
It’s been fairly the journey to see video games like Tekken and Final Fantasy evolve alongside one another, and now to see them crossover like this. While neither franchises are strictly unique to PlayStation anymore, their affiliation with the model means each Tekken and Final Fantasy characteristic prominently in our Top 100 PlayStation Games of All Time listing.
So after all we needed to ask the Tekken builders: “What is your favourite Final Fantasy online game?”
“I really discovered Japanese by enjoying by the Japanese model of Final Fantasy 7. I believe my girlfriend on the time hated me for asking me so many questions on stuff,” joked producer Michael Murray. “But if I needed to decide one with recollections and every part concerned, it’s most likely [Final Fantasy] 11 as a result of I believe it was round Tekken 4 everybody on the group would get up early and never go to work but and we’d meet up on-line in FF11 and play for a bit.”
For Tekken 8 director Ikeda, he says his favourite is Final Fantasy 4 as he loved feeling the collection change to be “extra narrative-based. It adopted the primary character Cecil and his transition from the Dark Knight to a paladin.”
For Harada, Final Fantasy 4 can be a favourite however, from a private perspective, there’s simply no comparability to the enduring entry: Final Fantasy 7.
“There’s so many scenes within the recreation I can nonetheless keep in mind to today,” Harada says. Perhaps his colleagues engaged on that title helped make that connection really feel even stronger, and having the ability to return the favor with Clive in Final Fantasy XVI is thanks for these recollections.
Matt Kim is IGN’s Senior Features Editor. You can attain him @lawoftd.
