Clive’s Transformation Has Huge Implications

The time skip teased in Last Fantasy 16 raises attention-grabbing query concerning the sport’s narrative construction, pacing, and storytelling alternatives.

The look ahead to Last Fantasy 16 will probably be a troublesome one, as launch is probably going a couple of years away. Fortuitously, Sq. Enix has offered a surprisingly telling trailer and an excessive amount of ancillary details about the sport’s worlds and its characters. On this, there appears to be an obvious time skip that occurs in Final Fantasy 16, as evidenced by the presence of younger and older variations of the sport’s obvious protagonist, Clive Rosfield.

Set within the magical, medieval world of Valisthea, Final Fantasy 16 marks a return to the series’ traditional staples resembling feudal kingdoms constructed round highly effective crystals. On this sport, the crystals are known as mothercrystals and stave away an unknown drive of darkness known as Blight. Moreover, these feudal kingdoms—or realms as Sq. Enix refers to them—possess folks generally known as Dominants who harbor Eikons—highly effective spirits who will probably be acquainted to any franchise fan because the sequence’ iconic summoned creatures.

RELATED: 5 Things from Final Fantasy 7 Remake We Want Them to Keep in Final Fantasy 16 (& 5 They Need to Change)

Last Fantasy 16 Trailer

The main man, Clive, is the older brother and sworn protector of Joshua, the Dominant of the realm of Rosaria. Within the trailer, there’s two variations of Clive. In many of the footage, he seems as a good-looking teenage warrior, lower from the identical fabric as Cloud, Squall, Tidus, Noctis, and numerous different JRPG heroes. However earlier than this younger, idol-like swordsman, the trailer opens with an older model of the character sporting a facial tattoo, staring into a hearth with a brooding expression.

Joshua, as a Dominant, houses the power of the fire Eikon, Phoenix. And as Joshua’s brother, Clive can faucet into a few of that energy, as demonstrated by clips the place he conjures flaming wings to assault, sprint, and ascend into the air. However a twist seems to be so as. Late within the trailer, a traumatized, blood-soaked Joshua erupts into flames, and assume the type of Last Fantasy‘s premiere fireplace summon, Ifrit. One other unnamed character appears on in horror and exclaims “A second Eikon of fireside…However that is unimaginable!” The trailer concludes with the older Clive staring into the digital camera, vowing, “I will kill you. If it is the very last thing I do.”

A Sworn Defend or Vengeful Sword?

The important thing query right here, is “Who does Clive vow to kill?” and a vital clue might seem within the sport’s suave brand. The sequence’ brand, illustrated by the series’ signature illustrator, Yoshitaka Amano, options Phoenix facing-off towards Ifrit. Provided that matchup between Eikons, it appears attainable that Clive pulls an about-face and units out to destroy the youthful brother he as soon as vowed to guard. Is it attainable that Joshua razes the dominion of Rosaria when he loses management of Ifrit? Even within the face of concord, that may present a strong motivation for revenge.

One other key clue is Last Fantasy 16‘s obvious tagline, “We now have been dominated by the legacy of the crystals for lengthy sufficient.” Clive could also be on a quest to destroy the system of Dominants and mothercrystals to free his youthful brother from the burden of housing his Eikon, or maybe, Eikons. That would go away the id of his sworn goal a thriller. However once more, given the sport’s tagline, which seems to be immediately at odds with the setting and the epic battle scene at the start of the trailer between Shiva and Titan, it appears possible that Clive is on a quest to defeat different Dominants on the very least.

It could possibly be that Joshua was taken by one other nation, somebody Clive trusted in his youth, however all in all, there’s ton of prospects. That is as a result of the Final Fantasy 16 trailer is deceptively portraying a simplistic, medieval world with simply sufficient info for it to be interpreted in a myriad of how.

FF16: Enjoyable with Chronology?

The truth that the trailer opens with the older Clive earlier than leaping again to his youthful self doesn’t look like an accident. Studying between the traces, it appears attainable that Last Fantasy 16 will leap forwards and backwards between two time durations, telling the story out of order, in such a means that every installment in a given period informs the opposite. It could be successfully that Last Fantasy is borrowing a web page from Pulp Fiction‘s playbook. The idea is inherently promising, and whereas different Last Fantasy video games have performed with time-skips earlier than, they’ve been plot beats quite than the structural fulcrum of the sport’s narrative. However what are the mechanical implications of such an strategy?

Is it attainable that Clive’s actions prior to now will affect his sections within the sport’s obvious current? Last Fantasy is one in all comparatively few JRPG franchises that’s not recognized for having an ideal plurality of endings, however perhaps Last Fantasy 16 will buck the pattern. An modern “selections matter” system would permit the sport to inform a narrative not like anything the franchise has seen up to now, which is an especially promising prospect. For instance, selections prior to now might decide a FF16 character’s “job” in the present, and there are good causes to suspect that could be the case.

Last Fantasy 16 Faces Stiff Competitors, Competitors Makes for Innovation

Within the late 90s and early 2000s, Squaresoft (later Sq. Enix) was the uncontested king of JRPGs, however occasions are altering. The Persona series is seeing a drastic spike in popularity within the wake of Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, and Scramble. Although the sequence’ have drastically totally different fight programs, counting on the identical previous narrative components is the surest means Last Fantasy may stagnate. However actions prior to now echoing sooner or later would add a whole new dimension of replay worth and storytelling potential.

That is very true of a sport that seems to be returning to its roots. Whereas Final Fantasy‘s crystal motif is both iconic and timeless, Sq. Enix must current these concepts in a recent solution to hold the story from feeling like a rehash or nostalgia journey. Taking part in with the format of a narrative, particularly its construction, is a traditional solution to deconstruct narrative conventions. Bouncing between two time durations and offering the participant with a plurality of choices quite than a single, fated course of occasions can be a superb solution to modernize the ideas that made the Last Fantasy sequence a success to start with, whereas including a brand new degree of scrutiny to the sequence’ personal world constructing. And that is if the time manipulation that appears to happen within the trailer is not an attention-grabbing deception for one thing else.

Last Fantasy 16 is in-development for the PlayStation 5. A launch date has but to be introduced.

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