Some of the main developers behind the upcoming Final Fantasy 16 have just revealed their three favorite games in the JRPG franchise. Final Fantasy has over 35 years of history, so the franchise is old enough that most of these developers played at least some of the games in their youth, or even helped to develop a few of them, so they have pretty strong opinions about the best ones.

Games from the Final Fantasy franchise were among the best JRPGs of the 90s, but most recent titles have failed to get the same recognition. Now, the developers behind Final Fantasy 16 have the mission of recreating the success of these classic games and, while they do that, they took some time to remember some of the greatest hits in the franchise.

Recently, several of the game developers behind Final Fantasy 16 told IGN what their favorite games in the franchise were. FF 16’s director Hiroshi Takai, for instance, picked Final Fantasy 5, 6, and 10 as his top 3. According to him, the fifth entry was the first one he worked on as a developer, and he loved the battle system, which is why it was his favorite. The creative developer Kazutoyo Mehiro picked FF 5, Tactics, and 12, also praising FF 5’s battle system and defining it as inspiring. The combat director Ryota Suzuki decided on FF 3, 10, and 5. His favorite was the third game, which encouraged him to play more RPGs and also featured a system in which it was possible to change jobs for the first time.

Other developers who were also interviewed include Naoki Yoshida (producer), Hiroshi Minagawa (art director), and Michael-Christopher Koji Fox (localization director). Yoshida mentioned Final Fantasy 1, 3, and 7 as his picks, while Minagawa decided on 3, 5, and 12. Finally, Koji Fox choose FF 5, 11, and 14. Curiously, every single developer mentioned Final Fantasy 5 in their list, which could lead to questions about how much it influenced the development of Final Fantasy 16, which was excluded from their picks for obvious reasons.

Final Fantasy 16 is set to release next week, and players can already play the Final Fantasy 16 demo to check out the work of these developers before deciding whether to buy it or not. Any PS5 owner can download the demo for free, and they will get a chance to try out Clive’s abilities as well as play for around two hours.

Final Fantasy 16 will release on June 22 for PS5.​​​​​​​

Source: IGN