Good news for all of you Final Fantasy faithfuls out there: The pom-pom-headed mascot character of the series, Moogles, will make a triumphant return in Final Fantasy XIV.
This may sound like an obvious announcement but, believe it or not, the Final Fantasy-mainstays were not originally part of the game plan for Final Fantasy XV. The upcoming RPG from Square Enix boasts a decidedly more serious tone and, apparently, those critters that use “kupo” like a period weren’t dour enough for the new game. I mean, the entire main cast wears nothing but black, after all. I’m not sure that’s a world the fun-loving Moogles would want to hang around in anyway.
Apparently the higher ups at Square Enix decided that they might be able to make the Moogles work in FFXV, however, and decided to ask the community what they thought about their inclusion in the game. This could have all, of course, just have been a fun marketing stunt but, in the end, it looks like the community has spoken in favor of a Moogle-infested Final Fantasy XV.
Last week, the official FFXV twitter account posed a simple question: “Should Moogles be in FFXV?” The options available were “Of course, kupo!” and “No way, kupo…” Honestly, I was expecting a more divisive response, but it turns out that gamers aren’t nearly as hateful of the Moogle race as they are of, well, any number of things in the gaming world. The overwhelming majority of 78 percent of voters chimed in to say they were in favor of Moogles appearing in the next Final Fantasy. Only 22 percent of voters, it turns out, are cold-hearted monsters.
With the poll concluded, director Hajime Tabata took to Twitter to deliver the final verdict. In a series of tweets, he announced the following:
Hi Tabata here. Congrats Moogle! I’d like to thank everyone that voted. I will think of a fun little way to feature Moogles in FFXV. Imprtantly, at this stage of development I will not be making a tradeoff with the other work remaining in order to fit them in. So it won’t be a very chatty Moogle, but will be done with a suitably light level of development work as a fun little FFXV extra.
That’s probably for the best. Last we heard, Final Fantasy XV was slated to hit the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime next year. That means the game should be pretty far along in development at this point so, if Moogles weren’t already part of the design plan, it wouldn’t make sense to try to shoehorn them in through any intrusive means. A Moogle popping up in the middle of a quest or running a shop, however, doesn’t seem like too much of an ask.
