Final Fantasy 16 inspired one of Final Fantasy 14's coolest fights before it was even revealed

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The Sapphire Weapon's inspiration came from the Eikons

A mech appears in the sky during a FFXIV sidequest
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 16 has been influencing Final Fantasy 14 since before the new game was even revealed.

In a new interview with Inverse, Final Fantasy 14 director and Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida sheds some light on the shared history between the two games. August 2020 saw the launch of patch 5.3 for Final Fantasy 14, where players would take on the Sapphire Weapon in a mech called the G-Warrior, as part of the post-Shadowbringers patches. 

It's now been revealed by Yoshida that this fight was inspired by Final Fantasy 16's titanic Eikon showdowns. "It just happens that we were working on Final Fantasy 16 when the G-Warrior content came out," Yoshida tells Inverse, adding, "[It] was pretty much influenced by what we were doing in the background on Final Fantasy 16."

This all happened before Final Fantasy 16 was even revealed to the world. The new action-RPG wouldn't be revealed until the following month in September 2020, showing off its massive battles between Summons, which are renamed to Eikons in Final Fantasy 16, and are each bound to a human character that can summon them for battle.

It'd be easy to assume Final Fantasy 14 influenced Final Fantasy 16, given it's the older of the two games, and Yoshida has worked on both in leading roles. It's pretty fascinating, then, to learn that the MMO actually pulled from elements of Final Fantasy 16, before it was revealed. 

We'll get to see just how these massive Eikon fights play out next month, when Final Fantasy 16 launches on June 22 exclusively for the PS5.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.