The conversation between Eurogamer and Naoki Yoshida, the producer of Final Fantasy XVI had already revealed Game of Thrones being one of the major influences of the game. The recently released demo of the game gives many hints from the popular novel that have convinced the fans about the series being a major inspiration for Final Fantasy XVI.

Taking all the crucial thematic aspects like murder, violence, deceit, and backstabbing from The Game of Thrones, Final Fantasy XVI offers sexual tensions, swearing, and characteristic similarity for the players, making it a mature production in the franchise.

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Naoki Yoshida’s interview with Eurogamers hints at the players’ familiarity with the novel as a key factor for the inspiration- “We wanted to create something that really resonated with a lot of people,” Yoshida said previously. He added that The Song of Ice and Fire series of books, from which the series Game of Thrones is based on, was hugely appreciated by the games which influenced his idea while developing Final Fantasy XVI- “And when we saw how Game of Thrones, and before that the Song of Ice and Fire series, has really resonated with players, we knew that this was something that we wanted to do as well.”

Fans noted the similarity between Annabella Rosfield, the mother of Clive and Joshua, with Cersei Lannister. Annabella is portrayed as a ruthless Dutchess with a special soft corner for her younger son, Joshua. The characterization of Clive has many visible similarities with Jon Snow, including his dark hair and pet wolfhound Torgal. Torgal’s story matches with Jon Snow’s Ghost, showing direct inspiration from the novel’s characters.

Read more: Final Fantasy XIV Producer Reveals Massive Plans Post Enthralling Endwalker Saga

Fans’ reactions to the revelation of Yoshida

Popular video game magazine Game Informer had tweeted about the Final Fantasy team taking major cues from R R Martin’s novel in March.

Subsequently, fans have taken to the social media platforms to show their excitement about Final Fantasy XVI having Game of Thrones elements.

Many content creators and game critics tweeted about it with screenshots from the fresh game demo that helps others to identify its link to the Game of Thrones.

Some gamers also stated their take on Final Fantasy XVI taking inspiration from Game of Thrones- “I don’t get why Final Fantasy 16 being inspired by Game of Thrones is bad when more than half of these games were inspired by Star Wars, which itself was inspired by dozens of samurai films. The Lion King is Hamlet, Joker is Taxi Driver. Popular media does this a lot.”

Despite mixed reaction among fans, we are pretty excited to see how this inspiration from Game of Thrones helps in the plot-making of Final Fantasy XVI. What are your thoughts on the same?

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