State of Play: Final Fantasy XVI – The Epic Tale Of Clive

April 14, 2023 Toby Andersen 3 min read

Sony’s State of Play hit yesterday and what an eye-opener it was. Finger Guns is already hyped for this game, but add 25mins of incredible graphics, startling gameplay, intense action combat and mind-blowing music, and it’s fair to say there was an audibly collective jaw-drop. I’d normally summarise everything, but it’s impossible to cover these 25 minutes with anything but superlatives, and it’s easier just to watch it yourself.

Let’s try a quick bullet-point summary.

Feels like a single-player Final Fantasy XIV – same writers all over the project
Devil May Cry meets Final Fantasy XIII meets Dark Souls combat – DMC veteran combat director
Three-time periods – teenage years, twenties and thirties – a little like the time hop that ended Final Fantasy XV – one of which is a flashback
Control one main hero – Clive Rosfield – AI controls your party
You have a pet dog/wolf called Torgal
Intricate political narrative with nations vying for control of the crystal cities
Dominants – people who can command summons (or Eikons this time) to devastating effect
Eikon battles – many of the trademark Final Fantasy summons can be controlled in epic one-on-one battles employing many different gameplay elements
Your very own Base Camp – Cid’s Hideaway
Main character is called Clive
Chocobo riding/Moogle shops/Monster Hunting/Side quests
Difficulty controlling items – help you evade or block automatically or with a single button
Main Theme by popular Japanese artist Kenshi Yonezu called Tsuki Wo Miteita – Moongazing – if you don’t know him he did the Chainsaw Man anime theme, has performed massive gigs in Fortnite, and holds the record of the most-viewed music video in Japan.
Training area – High Score hunters can vy for leaderboard supremacy online

Now, I’m not sure if the name Clive is hitting differently outside the UK – here this is provoking a little eye-roll giggle as it’s not really the knightly hero name SquareEnix seem to think it is. It’s not Noctis, you know? It’s not Balthier. In the UK, Clive is the name of your dodgy mate down the pub. It’s your sister’s slightly odd first boyfriend. Maybe in other regions this is just a shrug and move on, but here we’re wondering if we can rename him already. I mean that’s not a weather system, so what’s going on? I need a Cloud, Squall or Lightning, or else I’m a bit lost. Cumulus, maybe, or Storm?

You can also check out the new theme song teaser below.

Names aside, it was an impressive showing whether you’re a Final Fantasy fan or not. In what’s already an incredible year for gaming, we have experiences like this still to come. We can’t wait.

Source: State Of Play