Final Fantasy 16 director wants you to fail QTEs

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Don't worry, they're still "cool" even when you fail them

Final Fantasy 16 PS5 screenshot
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 16's devs want players to fail quick time events and not stress about them.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ in a new interview, Final Fantasy 16 director Hiroshi Takai revealed the dev team's thinking behind QTEs. Takai explained that the dev team chose to put QTEs in Final Fantasy 16's cutscenes so they wouldn't be too "static" for the player, making them sit around and ultimately do nothing while a cutscene plays out.

Takai wants QTEs to feel like part of the battle. "So when Clive is going in for a punch, we wanted to use the button that you use to attack," Takai explains, also pointing to the same button for dodging in QTEs being the button the player would use to dodge while in real-time combat.

Final Fantasy 16's lead didn't want QTEs to feel like they're "designed to have players make mistakes," because that's simply too stressful. As a result, the QTEs in Square Enix's new RPG "are not too difficult," says Takai, and are even "cool and not too punishing" when players do fail them.

"What we want kind of is when players get good enough to the point where they're good enough at the rest of the battle to worry about what goes on in the QTEs, to maybe try failing it once," Takai said. "Because again, there are two different branches off whether you succeed or fail. And sometimes the failures can be just as interesting as the successes," the director continued.

Final Fantasy 16 launches later this year on June 22 as a PS5 exclusive. 

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.