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Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida, AKA Yoshi-P, is calling out abusive feedback from fans of the venerable RPG series.
In a mini-documentary broadcast in Japan (via translator Audrey Lamsam of Aitai Japan), Yoshida is seen reacting to pre-release feedback from a Final Fantasy 16 trailer. In the clip, he admitted to feeling tired out by some of the game's more hostile critics.
"There's a lot of people who just yell at you, people I've never seen, met, or talked to before. It's weird," he said. "What did we do to them? Perhaps they just write it from a place of negativity and malice. It's tiresome."
Final Fantasy 16 has generally seen glowing reviews from critics and players alike. Our own Final Fantasy 16 review awarded Clive's debut adventure 4.5/5 stars and called it "an experience that stands alongside the series' greats." Naturally, even the most well-liked games will have their critics, and among them will inevitably be people who can't give feedback in a way that's respectful to the folks involved, which, frankly, sucks.
Every new release, no matter how universally acclaimed, will invariably spark debate among fans and critics. In Final Fantasy 16's case, players have been divided about whether it should've been more difficult. And then of course you have JRPG diehards bummed out about the noted lack of turn-based combat and other genre staples as the series completes its transition into pure action-RPG territory.
These are valid points of discussion, no doubt, but Yoshi-P is clearly coming for those voices that express their disappointment with hostility and abuse. And in fact, this isn't the first time the veteran game developer has asked fans to be decent, having clearly drawn a line in the sand between constructive criticism and straight-up toxicity in an interview from a couple of years back.
While the latest entry is different in a lot of ways, here's how Final Fantasy 16 pays homage to the history it leaves behind and is all the better for it.
