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Square Enix veteran Michael–Christopher Koji Fox says "You can kind of tell" that Final Fantasy 14 and 16 producer Naoki' Yoshi-P' Yoshida is "done" with dark fantasy and wants to do something light again.
Talking to Hi-Fi Rush director and writer John Johanas as part of a developer one-to-one interview hosted by MinnMax, the conversation eventually shifts to the relief of taking on a game with a different tone. Hi-Fi Rush studio Tango Gameworks is more commonly seen on horror adjacent projects like The Evil Within, so a bombastic rhythm-based action game is a cool change of pace.
The team behind Final Fantasy 16 did the opposite. Square Enix's Creative Business Unit 3 is mostly known for their work on Final Fantasy 14 over the past 10 years, a sprawling MMO that's equal parts itself and a theme park dedicated to the wider series. Final Fantasy 16, meanwhile, focuses on the sort of dark fantasy that Final Fantasy 12 and Tactics director Yasumi Matsuno shoots for, with plenty of Game of Thrones thrown in.
While localization veteran and Final Fantasy 14 community favorite Koji Fox has plenty of fond memories of Final Fantasy 16, it sounds like the team is ready to return to its roots for whatever is next. Koji jokes that getting his signature humor over to Final Fantasy 16 was tricky due to the game's overall tone and that he had to make plenty of adjustments - adjustments that will likely get thrown out the window for the team's next project.
"I look over at Yoshi-P every now and then and you can kind of tell he as well is like, 'I am done with dark fantasy, I want to do something light again,'" Koji Fox says. "So I have a feeling that, whatever project I get put on next, there's going to be this paradigm shift in that direction again."
As such, Koji Fox jokes that "all this darkness and edginess fostered over the past five years" will be tossed out the window for "something more lighthearted."
Koji Fox goes on to say that's a good thing, as tackling different tones keeps the team on their toes. Whatever that project ends up being is a mystery, as Yoshi-P hasn't told him what's next. Final Fantasy 14's Dawntrail expansion is due to release this summer, though whether Creative Business Unit 3 has another game in the works remains to be seen.
