Square Enix has begun detailing the endgame activities that Final Fantasy 16 players can look forward to after completing the main story. This includes New Game+ and the hardest challenges in the game.
As Game Informer reports, one of the biggest benefits of New Game+ is the addition of a new, harder difficulty called Final Fantasy Mode. This new difficulty not only allows you to bring all your skills and gear from the first playthrough like in most New Game+ modes, but also changes the placement of the monsters and displays them in different parts of the game to keep you informed to keep.
“The main philosophy of the design is that the first playthrough is about getting to know Clive, learning the controls, and then enjoying the story,” says Ryota Suzuki, Battle Director of Final Fantasy 16. “For the second playthrough, we want the focus – since the story hasn’t changed – shift to the action. For example, in story mode, players can encounter waves of enemies, but the enemies often don’t attack at the same time, allowing players to handle everything. In the game’s harder modes, we removed these restrictions, allowing multiple enemies to attack Clive at once.
“Basically what we did with [Final Fantasy] The mode makes the players controlling Clive feel like they’re always in danger, that death is imminent and that you really, really have to pay attention to sort out the content.”
The toughest challenges in Final Fantasy 16 await players in the Chronolith Trials and Ultimaniac mode
In Final Fantasy mode, players can also upgrade their weapons beyond what was possible in the first run of the story, upgrade accessories for the first time, and try out the Final Chronolith Trials.
As for these Chronolith Trials, according to Final Fantasy 16 Creative Director Hiroshi Takai, they’re the “hardest challenge in FFXVI.” Players must overcome multiple levels with four waves of enemies, each tougher than the last. In the final round, a fearsome boss faces the player.
As if that weren’t enough, these trials are limited in time and players try to gain more time by performing certain moves, combinations and completing objectives. Oh, and there’s no healing in these trials other than the healing that comes with activating a Limit Break.
Continuing the major focus that Final Fantasy 16 places on Eikons, these Chronolith Trials will each be based on one. Game Informer was able to see Phoenix’s ordeal and only gave players access to Phoenix’s Eikonic abilities. Of course, this makes things even more difficult, since in normal battles you can combine and combine the abilities of all Eikons you have encountered.
Arcade mode difficulty is also increased in New Game+’s Final Fantasy mode. For those unfamiliar, Arcade mode allows replaying previous levels with an on-screen score calculator and battle rating. If the challenge of Final Fantasy mode isn’t enough for you, there’s also an even tougher Ultimaniac mode.
The Arcade mode global leaderboard is only active in Final Fantasy mode or Ultimaniac mode, and the Chronolith Trials global leaderboard is only active in Final Fantasy mode.
If a harder difficulty setting isn’t your thing, you’ll be glad to know that you can simply play Final Fantasy 16’s New Game+ in standard story or action mode for a less stressful experience.
Final Fantasy 16 will be released on PlayStation 5 on June 22, 2023. For more information, check out our latest hands-on preview, our Final Fantasy 16 Showcase breakdown, and how Final Fantasy could potentially be dropping numbers from its titles.
Do you have a tip for us? Would you like to discuss a possible story? Please email [email protected].
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
