Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy XVI is set in the fictional world of Valisthea. Scattered throughout the two continents of Ash and Storm are colossal magical crystals, known as the Mothercrystals, which provide aether energy to the various populations and drive civilization with shards mined for commercial use. There are also humans that can use magic without crystals known as Bearers who are subject to prejudice and slavery, their overuse causing them to gradually petrify.[14][15] A powerful force in Valisthea are the Eikons, magical creatures of incredible power that are utilized by hosts called Dominants. There are seven Eikons in total, one for each of the elements - Phoenix (fire), Shiva (ice), Ramuh (thunder), Titan (earth), Garuda (wind), Odin (darkness), and Bahamut (light); a seemingly impossible second Eikon of fire, Ifrit, drives the main plot by disrupting this balance.[14][15][16]

The core nations of Valisthea are the Grand Duchy of Rosaria, the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, and the Dhalmekian Republic on the Storm continent, the Kingdom of Waloed which dominates the Ash continent, and the neutral Crystalline Dominion sitting between Ash and Storm. An outlier is the Iron Kingdom, an isolated nation off the coast of Storm overseen by the Crystalline Orthodox.[15] By the game's events, Valisthea is suffering from a depletion of aether dubbed the Blight which withers all life, driving the nations into conflict with each other.[14][15] Because of their ability to manifest Eikons, Dominants play a key role in the nations' politics and military. Depending on where they are born, Dominants are hailed as political leaders, tolerated due to their power, or suffer abuse and are either killed or used as weapons of war.[15]

The game's protagonist is Clive Rosfield, firstborn son of Rosaria's ruling family who is passed over as successor when his younger brother Joshua becomes the Dominant of Phoenix; while not a Dominant, Clive can acquire and wield the power of multiple Eikons.[14][17] A future companion of Clive's is his childhood friend Jill Warrick, the eventual Dominant of Shiva who spends much of her life as a political hostage. During his travels Clive is joined by his hound, Torgal; and Cidolfus Telamon, Dominant of Ramuh who provides shelter for Bearers and Dominants, and is an incarnation of a recurring Final Fantasy character. Other prominent characters include Barnabas Tharmr, king of Waloed and Dominant of Odin; Benedikta Harman, a Waloed spy and Dominant of Garuda; Hugo Kupka, key political figure in the Dhalmekian Republic and Dominant of Titan; and Dion Lesage, crown prince of Sanbreque and Dominant of Bahamut.[17]

In his teenage years Clive serves as Joshua's bodyguard, blessed with some power from the fire Eikon Phoenix, and lives with his parents with Jill as their ward. The brothers accompany their father, Duke Elwin, to a ceremony to awaken Joshua's powers when they are ambushed by Sanbreque soldiers. Elwin's death triggers Joshua's destructive awakening as the Phoenix, and an Eikon named Ifrit emerges moments later and kills the Phoenix, with Clive swearing revenge. Clive's mother Anabella, who despises Clive's lack of blessing and betrayed Rosaria to preserve her bloodline, has him enslaved as a magical soldier in Sanbreque's army. Thirteen years later, Clive is sent behind enemy lines during a fight between the Dhalmekian Republic and the Iron Kingdom to assassinate the latter's Dominant, revealed to be an enslaved Jill. He deserts to free her, and the two are rescued by Cid, who agrees to help Clive search for Ifrit's Dominant. Tracking word of an unknown Dominant, they fight Benedikta, from whom Clive takes the power of her Eikon Garuda. A disturbed Benedikta is then attacked by bandits and transforms into a raging Garuda, which in turn triggers Clive to transform into Ifrit and kill her. While Clive briefly despairs at the fact that he is Ifrit and the one who killed Joshua, Cid encourages him to keep searching for the truth behind his transformation.

After Clive and Jill see the full oppression inflicted on Bearers and their sympathizers in occupied Rosaria, they join Cid in a quest to destroy the nations' Mothercrystals, which are causing the Blight by draining aether from the land. They infiltrate Sanbreque's capital but encounter a monster within the Mothercrystal that mortally wounds Cid before the Mothercrystal is destroyed. The monster is part of an otherworldly being called Ultima, which attempts to possess Clive. Joshua, who survived Ifrit's attack due to the Phoenix's powers, stops and contains Ultima within himself. Hugo, who was in love with Benedikta, is manipulated by Barnabas's agents into believing Cid is responsible for her death. Five years later, Clive, now using the title of "Cid" and carrying on Cid's mission, uses the war between Sanbreque and the Dhalmekian Republic over the occupied Crystalline Dominion as a cover to destroy the Iron Kingdom's Mothercrystal. Ultima continues working through the worshipping Barnabas and the form of Olivier, Anabella's son by Sanbreque's emperor. Clive later fights Hugo and reveals to him that he killed Benedikta; desperate for revenge, Hugo transforms into a raging Titan. Having gained full control of Ifrit, Clive kills Hugo and destroys the Dhalmekian Mothercrystal.

Under Joshua's advice, Dion stages a coup against Anabella but in the process accidentally kills his father and transforms into a raging Bahamut. Clive destroys the Dominion's Mothercrystal and reunites with Joshua, helping him defeat Bahamut. Dion survives and kills Olivier, causing an unhinged Anabella to kill herself. Clive then moves against Barnabas, killing him and destroying Waloed's Mothercrystal, but Ultima reveals this to be part of his plan to shape Clive into a vessel for him to inhabit through Clive absorbing Eikons. Joshua's research reveals that Ultima's people seeded Valisthea with the Mothercrystals to siphon aether for a powerful resurrection spell after succumbing to an earlier Blight, creating humans to breed a vessel powerful enough to cast it. Clive, Joshua, and Dion mount an attack on Ultima's sky fortress of Origin, where Ultima's fragments merge to enact the final phase of their plan. Dion is killed, and Joshua left mortally wounded after the Ultima fragment is forcefully removed. Joshua sacrifices himself to give Clive his Eikon. After killing Ultima, Clive heals Joshua's wounds and destroys the final Mothercrystal within Origin to remove magic from Valisthea. A post-credits scene in Valisthea's future shows a family living peacefully without magic, which is now considered a myth.[lower-alpha 3]

When choosing the game's combat system, Yoshida conducted surveys within the Final Fantasy community, finding a division between fans of action-based and more traditional turn-based combat. After considering the potential impact on sales and modern gaming trends, he opted for a real-time action-based battle system.[11] Yoshida admitted that this approach alongside other gameplay decisions risked polarizing series fans, but believed that trying to please every fan by incorporating every element possible would "run the risk of creating a half-baked compromise of a game".[24] During the game's early production, the growing team had a system of designing gameplay tests and completely scrapping those that did not work, with Square Enix's upper management getting frustrated with the team's slow pace.[29] The team decided against an open world, as it would have extended development time beyond a practical limit.[30] Clive was made the only controllable character, with other party members driven by AI to simplify the player's control needs, though commands were included to allow for limited control.[12]

Outside the Kingdom Hearts team, Square Enix had little experience designing action combat. Yoshida sought out Ryota Suzuki, a Capcom veteran who had worked on the Devil May Cry series, as battle designer.[20][24] The battle system was designed around the idea of turning the ability system of Final Fantasy V into a real-time combat system.[12] The Eikon battles all had unique mechanics that were not used again in-game.[31] One of the earliest completed Eikon battles was with Garuda, with its foundation remaining mostly unchanged throughout production.[12] There were no loading screens related to these setpiece battles, with gameplay and dialogue mixed into the final sequences. During the first half of development, an Eikon-based job system was intended for Clive, but it was dropped due to its restrictions on Clive's in-game appearance. Classic Final Fantasy jobs were used as a design inspiration for enemies and some NPCs.[32]

Yoshida brought Maehiro on board due to liking his writing style and world-building. While he accepted, Maehiro was also busy working on the Heavensward scenario, only starting full work in 2016.[12] The initial narrative drew inspiration from the early seasons of Game of Thrones, with other inspirations including classic and contemporary anime being used to prevent there being too many similarities.[33] Maehiro created the initial script, which was checked and completed by Michael-Christopher Koji Fox. The game's dialogue was written before any of the game design was finalised.[11] The script was written first in Japanese, then translated into English for initial dialogue and cutscene recording.[2] The traditional medieval setting and style was chosen due to the team liking that style from classic Final Fantasy games,[20] along with shifting away from the science fiction elements of more recent entries that was felt to be making the series "static".[32] Working from the concept of Eikons having prominence, Maehiro created the world map and based the nations around their local geography before creating the story around that setting.[34]

Yoshida always considered the game as about Clive's story and the relationships he forms with different people through the warring nations.[16] The story's central theme was the clashing of values.[19] Clive and Dion were designed as aesthetic opposites, built around the archetypes of princes of darkness and light respectively.[31] Crystals, a recurring feature in the series, were portrayed as an analogy to depleted fossil fuels, while Dominants and Eikons acted as analogies for weapons of mass destruction.[16][35] A recurring marketing tagline, "The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough", was meant to symbolise both a break from the science fiction style and a questioning of the crystal's role of bestowing power on humans. The Eikons were based on established and popular summons from across the Final Fantasy series, with Ifrit given a prominent role to contrast his earlier portrayal as a summon for beginners.[32] Most of the story was told using real-time cutscenes and in-game dialogue, though pre-rendered CGI scenes were featured. These scenes were directed by Takeshi Nozue.[11]

Masayoshi Soken served as the lead composer for the game, with additional compositions from Takafumi Imamura, Daiki Ishikawa, Saya Yasaki and Justin Frieden, and arrangements from Yoshitaka Suzuki, Ryo Furukawa, Tomolow, and Keiko, many of whom had already worked extensively with Soken on Final Fantasy XIV.[21] Soken had worked with Yoshida and Takai on Final Fantasy XIV, and was brought on board due to his familiarity with Yoshida, Takai and Maehiro's world design style.[35] He described the music as having a singular direction inspired by the overall dark fantasy setting, contrasting it against the variety and lighter tunes for XIV. Initially asked to provide 140, the game's final total was over 200 songs, including variations on established character themes. He attributed the large number of songs to the wide variety of characters and situations, wanting to avoid repeating the same music too often.[36] Having worked for a long time on Final Fantasy XIV, which used multiple styles and paid homage to the entire series, Soken had trouble adjusting to composing for a single-player with a central narrative and musical theme.[37] The music was the last element to be put in place, after the narrative and gameplay were set.[36]

One recalled episode from the music writing was a bardic song performed both in spoken and sung form by a trained singer and actor that would change depending on Clive's position in the story. The songs proved difficult as they needed localizing in several languages and recording a cappella, which resulted in issues with the pitch and tempo.[38] A problematic track to include was the recurring "Chocobo" theme, which had an established light tone at odds with the setting. Rather than a full track, it was included as a short jingle.[36] Vocal lyrics were written by Fox at Soken's request, with one of the vocal pieces being the victory theme. To create a sense of otherness without using a made-up language, Fox translated his lyrics in Ancient Greek.[39] The theme song, "Tsuki Wo Miteita – Moongazing", is being written and performed by Kenshi Yonezu. Both Yonezu and Yoshida expressed pleasure and enthusiasm at the collaboration, as each was a fan of the other's work.[40]

Final Fantasy XVI received "generally favorable reviews" based on 147 critic reviews on Metacritic.[65] According to OpenCritic, 92% of 163 critics recommend the game.[66]

In regards to the story, Michael Higham of GameSpot praised the writing's handling of its darker themes and found the cast enjoyable,[74] while IGN's Mitchell Saltzman was highly positive about the story and characters, and lauded the lead performances.[8] Game Informer's Wesley LeBlanc enjoyed the wider narrative, though he viewed a lack of diversity in the cast as undermining its themes, despite the fantasy setting.[73] Jordan Middler, writing for Video Games Chronicle, found the story well told and its cast likeable after a slow start filled with worldbuilding and unfamiliar terminology.[82] Eurogamer's Edwin Evans-Thirlwell gave praise to the handling of Clive's storyline and the narrative's examination of common series themes, though noted a tone of "wanton backstabbing and ambient misogyny" among the supporting cast and faulted the lack of ethnic diversity and representation.[71] Similarly, Zach Wilkerson of RPGFan found the female characters underdeveloped, though praised the narrative and the cast overall.[79] Giovanni Colantonio of Digital Trends found the story lacked engagement after its shift away from Clive's revenge quest, additionally finding few of the characters memorable, but praised the overall lore.[68]

Higham praised the graphics and cinematics as adding to the overall story and design,[74] while Wilkerson called the game's graphics "incredible".[79] Middler lauded the overall visual design, but noted some stilted animation for side characters in some cutscenes.[82] LeBlanc noted a lack of detail or variety in NPC designs and felt the visual effects got in the way of gameplay at times.[73] A recurring complaint among reviewers was an unstable framerate.[74][8] Soken's score for the game met with unanimous praise.[8][74][71][73][82]

Higham described Final Fantasy XVI as the series' most drastic gameplay shift to date, praising the variety of ability combinations possible later into the game.[74] Colantonio was pleased by the scale and spectacle of Eikon fights and enjoyed the combat despite it being driven by the story; he hoped the series would continue refining these elements in future installments.[68] Evans-Thirlwell noted the wide variety of special abilities and customization elements to complement the basic combat mechanics,[71] while LeBlanc called the battle system "[his] favorite action combat system to date" despite some pacing issues with quests and character progression.[73] Saltzman highlighted the focus on wearing down enemies to inflict high damage and creating combination attacks as the strongest part of the combat system.[8] Wilkerson praised the customization available to expand the combat options for new and experienced action game players, but felt the difficulty too easy overall and noted a lack of enemy variety.[79] Middler praised the action combat, positively noting its brisk pace and lack of unnecessary filler would allow players to speed through the campaign.[82] Several reviewers positively compared the scale and spectacle of Eikon battles to setpieces from God of War III and Asura's Wrath.[74][8][71] Recurring criticism was focused on the lack of mechanical depth,[8][68][82] and uninteresting side quest design.[74][71][73]

Final Fantasy XVI sold over 3 million units during its first week after launch.[86]

The game was the best-selling retail game in Japan that week, with 336,027 physical units being sold.[87]