Eikonic

Final Fantasy XVI story trailer reveals new characters and conflicts

War is coming to Final Fantasy.

by Robin Bea
Square Enix

Square Enix

Final Fantasy XVI revealed some fascinating new details about its story in a surprise October trailer packed with conflict.

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Here’s everything we learned from the Final Fantasy XVI “Ambition” trailer

FFXVI’s world, Valisthea, is declining as the power of the absolutely massive crystals dotting its landscape fades.

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The crystals fading leads to magic and life itself draining from the world, which is presumably responsible for the fatal case of dry skin we see in the trailer. Valisthea sadly hasn’t discovered moisturizer yet.

Square Enix

Square Enix

Of course, the end of the world isn’t enough to stop Valisthea’s five nations from fighting to rule over the rubble.

FFXVI’s hero, Clive Rosefield, is the prince of Rosaria, called the “bastion of tradition” in the trailer.

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He’s the older brother of Joshua, the young’n who got shockingly splashed with blood in an earlier trailer. The new footage makes it even more brutal, revealing it’s from his father being run through with a sword in front of his eyes.

Square Enix

Square Enix

That seems to activate Joshua’s powers as a Dominant, letting him control the Eikon Phoenix.

The Holy Empire of Sanbreque (“where ambition is divine”) is home to an extremely smarmy king, and Crown Prince Dion Lesage.

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Lesage heads the order of dragoons —

Final Fantasy’s famed high-jump champion warriors. He’s also the Dominant of Bahamut, another mainstay of the series.

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In the Dhalmekian Republic, we meet a character who laments the start of a war, but seems plenty willing to join it.

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He appears to be the Dominant of Titan, based on his rock-like Eikon form, and his life bar in a later gameplay sequence reveals his name as Hugo.

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The straight-up creepy Iron Kingdom isn’t seen much. We just meet some kind of religious figure who’s extremely blasé about murder in the name of “cleansing corruption.”

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Finally there’s the Kingdom of Waloed, led by Barnabas Tharmr, an accomplished swordsman and Dominant of Odin.

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FFXVI’s story kicks off with Sanbreque invading Rosaria, kicking off a war that eventually drags the other nations and their Dominants in as well.

Square Enix

Square Enix

The Ambition trailer also shows some massive Eikon battles so full of effects they’re a bit hard to follow.

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We see Garuda, Shiva, Titan, and Ifrit in action...

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along with a man who’s one possible Dominant of Ramuh (the other most likely option is much fluffier).

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Final Fantasy games have always dealt with national conflict in some sense, but war is front and center in FFXVI.

Even after the latest trailer

there’s a lot left to uncover about FFXVI’s story ahead of its Summer 2023 release date.

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