E3 2021 is looking like a fantastic time for Square Enix fans. With the confirmation of several anticipated titles (including the enigmatic Babylon's Fall), this show could be extremely impressive. It might get even better if Square Enix Japan shows up with Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker, Final Fantasy 16, Forspoken, and perhaps a word on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2. It's all quite exciting, and there's sure to be a huge influx of trailers, announcements, and footage for the gaming community to chew on for the next few months. However, it could be even better if a certain rumored title makes an appearance.
Final Fantasy Origin has been the source of much discussion in the leadup to this E3. Apparently the game is going to be a Soulslike-style title from Koei Tecmo's Team Ninja, specifically developed by a mixture of its Dissidia and Nioh teams. Final Fantasy Origin has also been said to be related to Final Fantasy 1 in some way, and is supposed to have a public alpha this summer. This sounds like someone's dream game with how well all the parts fit together, and it's made fans extremely pumped to see it. Not only is this due to the developer pedigree involved, but also because the Final Fantasy series is perfect for hosting a Soulslike.
Final Fantasy Has Roots In Dungeon-Crawling
Level design is a key part of Soulslikes. As Dark Souls and Hollow Knight have shown, good level layouts that guide the player along a sensible path, offer branches for exploration and secrets, as well as logical shortcuts can go an incredibly long way towards impressing players. Classic Final Fantasy admittedly did not have such stellar dungeons. They were extremely basic mazes, often differentiated from one another by the strength of the monsters, potency of treasure, dungeon prerequisites, and which damage floors were present. However, they were more than sufficient for what Final Fantasy wanted to do: provide a good dungeon-crawling experience.
The essence of the first few Final Fantasy games were borrowed and distilled from classic Dungeons & Dragons. That meant that a group of brave heroes would quest across obscenely dangerous terrain to gather treasure, fight evil, or fulfill some other quest. The archetypical medieval Soulslike is cut from the same cloth, even if FromSoftware's own titles tended to be a bit more vague about what their protagonists want.
With Final Fantasy 1's story being largely an excuse to send the player's chosen party on a globetrotting adventure, it's fair to say that Final Fantasy Origin doesn't have to try very hard to live up to its Soulslike peers in this respect. It even has the advantage of taking place in a very wide variety of different dungeons, from a futuristic space fortress to a demonic temple in the past. It will be interesting to see how they're handled.
Final Fantasy Has a Soulslike's Cast of Monsters
As previously mentioned, Final Fantasy and the progenitors of the Soulslike genre owe a lot to Dungeons & Dragons. In Final Fantasy's case, that means a lot of its iconic fiends are based on D&D's standard monsters. Goblins, slimes, pirates, thieves, ogres, orcs and other such standard fantasy fare are abound in classic Final Fantasy, but that wasn't all. Some of Final Fantasy's iconic beasts, like Ahrimans and Malboros, were diffused from or inspired by classic D&D poster monsters like Beholders. FF1 (and Demon's Souls) even had Mindflayers outright, though they went by a different name and were primarily spellcasters.
However, it's not just a matter of having recognizable or standard fantasy-fare monsters. Soulslikes are often defined by their oppressive nature and horror vibes, no matter how light the art style, are common. Final Fantasy has a unique advantage here, as it originally made its name with the strength of Yoshitaka Amano's excellent and unique art style. Final Fantasy art tends towards the ethereal and surreal, and it shows, even in the original 8-bit monster artwork. Final Fantasy wouldn't be where it is today without its excellent concept art. Faithfully adapting these old designs should give Final Fantasy Origin enough ammo to fascinate players.
Final Fantasy's Heroes are Perfect For a Soulslike
Nioh makes exceptions for players who are willing to stick with the games and experiment, but generally, the essence of Soulslike combat is overcoming a stiff but fair challenge with heavily customizable characters. Final Fantasy certainly delivers on that front; even from the first game, a wide variety of equipment, weapons, spells, and items were available for players to use. The famous job system, which was present to some extent even in the first Final Fantasy, let players tackle challenges in different ways, and just about anything could be made to work with mechanical knowledge and a little ingenuity.
Even ignoring the similarities possible between Soulslike and Final Fantasy create-a-characters, established Final Fantasy characters still hold a Soulslike's spirit of action and adventure in their hearts. Firion, Cecil, Bartz, and even more modern heroes like Tidus and Lightning went on the same sort of monster-slaying, world-travelling adventures of their nameless predecessors. A Soulslike format is just another way of telling the standard Final Fantasy adventure story.
Besides, the Soulslike genre is a good fit for the series now that Square Enix is shifting towards action games. For all the puzzle-solving and spelunking endemic to the genre, mastering an action RPG combat system is also part of the Souls formula, and Final Fantasy seems intent to step up to that plate. It will be an interesting experiment, but knowing Team Ninja's experience with action games, the future for this potential Final Fantasy Soulslike spin-off looks bright.
Final Fantasy Origins is rumored to be in development.