There must have been a lot of lows final fantasy A series from the halcyon days of the Final Fantasy era on PS1. As soon as FF12 launched, the series began to struggle – weighed down by its own legacy, so eager to reinvent and re-establish its position as an industry leader that it kept making promises it couldn’t keep.
This preteen identity crisis was most evident in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, where Square Enix did its best to develop a game worthy of the series’ title, but ran into one problem after another – all These are underscored by the Crystal Tools engine, an incomplete and inefficient platform that hindered the development of Final Fantasy XIII and the failure of the original version of Final Fantasy XIV.
Rumor has it that after spending too much time and money getting this engine to work, Square Enix decided it needed to extract as much power as possible from Crystal Tools once it was (finally) up and running. Thus, the “Final Fantasy 13” trilogy was born. The whole thing was a bit of a farce, culminating in Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns – a game that took 18 months to develop and had a really good combat system at its core, but otherwise no nothing to write about.
There is a bit of a dichotomy in this game. On the one hand, you have lush environments, incredible pre-rendered cutscenes, and systems that seem to be actively apologizing for the dualism of previous games. On the other side, you have… this dog. The result of making an engine that wasn’t designed for open world games is… open world games. The dog isn’t just some background asset, it’s only interesting when you get close enough to actually ask it, like a cheering crowd in a racing game. No, the dog took center stage. It can be found in the hub. The whole mission revolves around it.
This little PS1-style dog is a core asset in The Flash Returns, and serves as a lightning rod (no pun intended) for the quality of the entire game. Hasty development and a glaring lack of focus on Square Enix’s prized series are extolled in this canine creature. Poor little guy.
So why take a history class? Well, because Final Fantasy XVI also has a low poly dog. The Beagle has landed again. But, compared to Lightning Returns, the low-poly dog looks a lot better–and represents how far the company has come, really. Our barking buddy in FF16 looks more like a PS4 dog from a PS5 game than a PS1 dog from a PS3 game. That’s an improvement over three entire generations of consoles!
This new dog — who’s more outcast than the one in “The Flash Returns” — is a better fit for its world. Granted, it’s a less orchestrated creature than the Torgal (below), but you only see this ear-turning creature a few times in the game; it’s not your constant companion by your side. It doesn’t look out of place or ruin your immersion; we’ve given this dog just as much care and attention as we did with the grapes you encounter early in the game.
Final Fantasy XVI is undoubtedly one of the most polished and complete games we have released. Even better, it’s a tech showcase that really outlines what the current generation is capable of. It’s a costly, well-executed example of what big-budget games can and should do in 2023.
It’s fitting that a low poly puppy is capable of showing this. Good boy.
Final Fantasy XVI is out now on PS5 and coming to PC later. perhaps. You can read our FF16 4-star review at the link.