Final Fantasy 16 almost didn’t feature the series’ best creature

If you’re a moogle lover, you’re in luck, because the adorable creatures barely make it inside. final fantasy 16.

Moogles have featured fairly consistently in the Final Fantasy series over the years, though they were conspicuously absent from the most recent numbered entry, Final Fantasy 15. They’re also easily the best creatures in the entire series, because just look at them and tell me you don’t love them But according to the producer of Final Fantasy 16, the moogles actually proved to be quite difficult on a technical level, which almost led to them being removed from the game.

about him Square Enix Bloga recent interview with some of the developers behind the RPG talked about what it really took to make the game (thanks, eurogamer). And according to Yoshida, the moogles were a real pain in the ass to get right. “Probably the biggest challenge, on a fundamental level, was the moogle,” Yoshida said. “The development team was concerned that the moogles were too difficult to create and didn’t fit the feel of the world, but our production assistant said, ‘I don’t care, just put them in the game!'”

According to art director Hiroshi Minagawa, the biggest problem actually had to do with the implementation of the performance mode. “Performance mode slightly alters the appearance of the polygons, and we had particular problems with the moogle…it just ended up with less fur,” Minagawa said, apparently causing Yoshida to let out a big laugh. “It ended up looking like a hedgehog! We thought, ‘Is… is this a moogle? Hmmm…’ Eventually, we ended up implementing moogle-specific processing.”

Thankfully, the moogles are obviously now done with the game, which means all is well with the world.

We got another look at Final Fantasy 16 last week during PlayStation Showcase, ahead of its release this month. And once it’s released, Square Enix apparently plans to work on a PC port of the game, though there’s no word yet on when that will be.