Square Enix has released a free update for Final Fantasy XVI, which adds a weapon-skin feature, Onion Sword weapon, and new outfits for Clive, Jill, Torgal, and other characters, as well as announced that both a PC version and two paid downloadable contents are currently in development, with more information to come before the end of 2023.
The news came via Square Enix’s “Voices from Valisthea” panel at PAX West 2023 in Seattle, which featured the English voice cast of Final Fantasy XVI. Producer Naoki Yoshida shared the announcements in a video message at the end of the panel.
The full message is as follows:
Hello, everyone. This is Naoki Yoshida, producer for Final Fantasy XVI.
It’s been just over two months since the game’s release, and we’ve received an enormous amount of feedback from players around the world. The development team and I have also been watching your streams and videos, paying special attention to what everyone thinks of Final Fantasy XVI. We put our all into creating this game, so it’s a real joy to see so many different reactions.
And so as an expression of our sincerest gratitude, we are releasing a free update available for download… today! There are two main parts to this update.
Firstly, we’re adding a weapon skin feature. This will allow you to change the appearance of Clive’s weapon to that of any other blade in your possession, while keeping the stats of the currently equipped weapon.
The second part of the update will introduce an alternate outfit for not only Clive, but also for Jill, Torgal, Ambrosia, and Joshua. You will be able to toggle between the default and additional option at any time, playing with whichever you prefer.
This free update will be available to download a few hours after this panel finishes, gradually going live around the world. Once you apply the update, you’ll be able to use these new features immediately.
I hope you’ll make use of these two new skin-change features as you continue to explore and enjoy every last corner of Valisthea.
Additionally, for those who’ll be playing Final Fantasy XVI for the first time, we’ve taken this opportunity to add in some other minor changes based on user feedback such as new controller layouts and more. So if you’ve yet to experience Final Fantasy XVI, I really encourage you to pick it up once you get your hands on a PlayStation 5.
As I mentioned earlier, we’ve seen so many opinions and reactions from our community of Final Fantasy XVI players. But one thing that came through particularly strongly was how people wanted to see more of Valisthea’s story and spend more time with her inhabitants. To accommodate, the development team has started work on two installments of paid downloadable content.
Finally, while Final Fantasy XVI was released as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, we are aware that many of you have been asking for a PC version. So, allow me to take this opportunity to officially announced that development on a PC version is curently underway. I hope to be able to give you more information on both the upcoming downloadable content and the PC version before the end of the year, so please stay tuned.
This has been Naoki Yoshida, producer for Final Fantasy XVI. Thank you so much for joining us today for this panel with Koji and our wonderful voice cast. We’ll continue doing what we can to maintain the excitement and momentum for Final Fantasy XVI, and we hope you’ll stick with us along the ride.
Goodbye for now!
Final Fantasy XVI is available now for PlayStation 5.
Watch a new trailer and the full PAX West 2023 panel below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.
Free Update Trailer
Warning: Contains spoilers.
English
Japanese
“Voices from Valisthea” PAX West 2023 Panel Archive
Screenshots
Update 09/03/23 at 12:20 a.m.: Here are the patch notes for the version 1.10 update, which is now available:
We announce the release of update 1.10, which makes a number of improvements to the game.
This update adds a feature that allows you to change certain characters’ appearances, as well as making several adjustments to game balance, including an update to how scores are calculated in Arcade Mode.
It also fixes some issues and adds new functionality based on player feedback. We recommend that you install this update before playing Final Fantasy XVI.
This update:
- Adds an Appearance feature to the Arete Stone in the hideaway.
- This allows you to change the costumes of several characters, including Clive.
- It also allows you to change the appearance of the weapon Clive wields to that of any weapon previously obtained.
- This feature is unlocked after progressing to a certain point in the story, and is not available at the start of a New Game+ playthrough until the same point is reached.
- Please note that this feature is disabled in some scenes in order to maintain loading speed.
- Awards each player an onion sword, which can be claimed by accessing Redeemable Items from the System menu.
- This allows Clive to wield the favored blade of the Warriors of Light, heroes of Final Fantasy III.
- The Redeemable Items feature is unlocked after progressing to a certain point in the story.
- The onion sword has the same attributes as the other downloadable weapons, Braveheart and the blood sword.
- Reduces the time after a successful parry at which Eikonic abilities can be activated.
- Increases the time small enemies remain vulnerable to follow-up attacks after being lifted into the air by the player, allowing for easier aerial combos.
- Adds ability cooldown times to the relevant Details pages in the Abilities menu, including information on how these are affected by currently equipped accessories.
- Makes the following changes to the training options menu in the Arete Stone’s Hall of Virtue:
- Adds several options regarding Torgal’s behavior.
- Adds an option to restart the simulation from the original settings.
- Fixes some text issues.
- Makes the following changes to Arcade Mode:
- Adds a time limit to each stage.
- This change is intended to correct an issue wherein certain abilities could be used to continually amass points over time, allowing for scores greater than envisioned.
- You can continue to play as normal after the time limit is exceeded, but any further actions will not add to your score.
- Reduces the scores awarded by the abilities Rime and Gouge.
- Please note that in this and future updates, we plan to adjust the scoring system in order to reward the creative chaining of multiple abilities. We will continue to assess how scores in Arcade Mode are calculated in order to maintain its challenge.
- Introduces a new leaderboard for players who have this update installed. Players who do not install the update can continue to view and record their high scores to the old leaderboard.
- After installing this update, you will no longer be able to view or record high scores to the old leaderboard. However, scores recorded to the previous leaderboard will not be deleted. We plan to make previous leaderboards visible to all players in a future update.
- Makes the following changes to the System menu:
- Adds an Adaptive Triggers option to the Game Settings menu, which allows you to turn the wireless controller’s trigger effect function on or off.
- Adds a Target Cycle option to the Game Settings menu, which allows you to choose one of four different methods of changing targets while locked on to an enemy.
- Adjusts the functionality of the Player Follow (Attack) option in the Camera Settings menu, in order to correct an issue wherein the camera position would reset after some attacks even when this option was turned off.
- Adds a Controller Volume option to the Sound Settings menu, which allows you to adjust the volume of sound effects played through the wireless controller’s speaker.
- Adjusts the functionality of the Visual Alerts option in the Sound Settings menu, so that a preview of the alerts is displayed when the setting is turned on, and a confirmation dialog appears when the setting is changed.
- Fixes some text issues.
- Fixes the following issues:
- An issue wherein enemies’ actions did not trigger correctly in boss encounters under certain conditions.
- An issue wherein the collision detection threshold could be crossed in boss encounters under certain conditions.
- An issue wherein certain characters’ actions did not trigger correctly.
- An issue wherein notorious marks did not appear under certain conditions.
- An issue wherein notorious marks appeared in different locations to that indicated on the hunt board. – An issue wherein holding down the touch pad button would display the local map when the Wireless Controller Layout option was set to Type F.
- An issue wherein certain weapons could not be crafted in Final Fantasy mode, as the materials required to craft them were not available in that mode.
- A multi-language issue wherein certain entries in The Thousand Tomes could not be found using the Search by Name function.
- An issue wherein game progress was not correctly carried over when transferring save data from the demo version to the full version.
- Several minor text issues.