Final Fantasy 16 should bring back an element of the games that was popular during the PS1 era of the series. The Final Fantasy franchise has seen a widening gap between the releases of the mainline single-player entries in the series, with seven years separating FF16 and FF15, as well as FF15 and FF13. These gaps have been filled with spin-offs, remakes, remasters, and the growing presence of FFXIV, which is now the most profitable entry in the series.
FF16 is due to release in 2023, yet there is still a lot that hasn't been revealed about the game. The trailers have only released snippets of gamplay footage, while the cinematic footage has been focused on broadly explaining the setting and its magical concepts. Once the release date is in view, Square Enix will likely start heavily promoting FF16 and revealing more about its gameplay. Final Fantasy 16 will likely have its own minigames, and one of these should be a dedicated card game, in the vein of Triple Triad from FF8 or Tetra Master from FF9.
Final Fantasy 16 Should Have Its Own Card Game
FF8 introduced Triple Triad, which was a card game that featured characters from the story, where the numbers and powers on each card allowed the player to flip their opponent's cards, with the winner being the one with the most flipped cards. FF8's Triple Triad had rare cards with an in-game benefit, as they could be turned into powerful items and spells, which had the potential to break the game. FF9 had a similar game, called Tetra Master, where the goal was to use arrows and a card's strength values to flip enemy cards. Many a player spent hours just playing these card games, pausing the main story in the process.
FF16 is set in a dark fantasy world, where summon monsters are only able to maintain a form by using humans as catalysts and wars are fought over the dwindling magical resources. This dark tone doesn't mean that the game can't have fun minigames, as card games like Gwent only added to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and didn't diminish the tone. Gwent ended up receiving a mobile game of its own, as well as its own spin-off titles.
Triple Triad lives on as a minigame in FFXIV, but the series moved away from card-based minigames. Square Enix even has a Final Fantasy Trading Card Game in real life, but has yet to make a digital equivalent, similar to Magic: The Gathering Arena or Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel. It's been a long time since the Final Fantasy series had a new digital card game to call its own, and the land of Valisthea from Final Fantasy 16 should introduce a new one to the franchise.
