I'm several hours into Final Fantasy XVI - while I was only able to play for a bit yesterday, today I've spent the better part of it hacking and slashing through the story.
The influence of Game of Thrones on the game is certainly not subtle - we have a "dung ages" medieval setting, cruelty and backstabbing, rather graphic violence (it's rated M, and while I wouldn't say it's a hard M, it definitely earns it) and a sense that innocents like children aren't safe.
The story is focused on a singular protagonist - while there are "party members" with whom you travel in the game, you don't really control them (other than your pet wolf/dog, though it's not very involved). Clive Rosfield is the player character, a firstborn son of the Archduke of Rosaria, one of the many nations in this world built around an Eikon - massively powerful magical creatures that you'll recognize as summons from earlier games. Rosaria is your classic "good" kingdom, and built around the Phoenix. But Clive is not his father's heir, because it's his younger brother, Joshua, who has inherited the full power of the Phoenix. As a Dominant, Joshua has the ability to transform into this massive, kaiju-like creature. The Eikons are basically the fantasy equivalent of nukes that let each nation-state hold its power (though they're far quicker to use them).
The status of Dominants in their respective cultures also varies - in one case, the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, the emperor's son is the Dominant of Bahamut, and the Dominant of Odin is the king of his nation. But there's also a lot of fear and resentment of magical people, and another nation uses their Dominant as a kind of warrior-slave.
Bearers, then, are people with some magical ability, but who aren't Dominants. While Dominants often play a powerful role (though there are exceptions) in their societies, Bearers are treated as inhuman slaves in most cases. When we're introduced to Clive, then, he has a portion of the Phoenix's power, but seems to be a Bearer rather than a Dominant, and only thanks to his noble birth does he seem to retain a position of privilege.
Let's get into spoiler territory.
When the game starts, we're tossed into a desperate assassination mission, where an elite group of Bearers are sent to assassinate the Dominant of Shiva, who is in the midst of a great battle against Titan. We see the destructive power of the Eikons as Titan marches through his own army, crushing dozens of his own soldiers, while Shiva inflicts massive casualties with her ice magic.
Clive, our protagonist, nearly dies in the chaos inflicted by this mythic battle, and we flash back to his youth, thirteen years ago.
We learn about his relationship with Joshua, and his role as Shield of the Phoenix - he's planning to spend his life defending his little brother. However, when they travel to Phoenix Gate - a fortress built over, we later discover ancient "Fallen" ruins (the Fallen being a magically and perhaps technologically advanced precursor civilization,) the Rosfields and their people are betrayed, and Clive's father is murdered.
In the chaos, Joshua fully awakens as Phoenix, and begins causing uncontrolled chaos. But in the midst of this, something else happens - another Dominant transforms into a second Eikon of Fire - what FF fans will recognize instantly as Ifrit. The human-level battle quickly fades from relevance as Phoenix and Ifrit battle it out, but ultimately Ifrit winds up seemingly killing Phoenix - and thus the young Joshua.
Now, the "twist" here that feels very telegraphed is that Clive is, in fact, the Dominant of Ifrit - we hear Clive calling out much as we hear Joshua's human voice crying out, but Clive cannot seem to control Ifrit's rage.
What's a little more ambiguous is how, before Clive "loses consciousness" (or, more accurately, dissociates) he glimpses first a robed figure and then a person made of fire.
Later, we'll get glimpses of this robed figure again - he's imprisoned by the Kingdom of Waloed (another vying faction with access or at least alliances to three Eikons by my count) but escapes when Clive attacks their captured fortress in hopes of getting vengeance on what he assumes to be the Dominant of Ifrit for killing his brother.
However, when we finally see him take off his hood, it appears that he is, in fact, an adult Joshua. When Clive discovers that he, in fact, is Ifrit (or Ifrit's Dominant - to the extent that there's a distinction) he goes through a great deal of angst about the fact that the person he's been seeking to take his revenge upon is, in fact, him. But if Joshua is alive, what exactly happened?
And why did the robed figure appear to him in the first place?
Later in the game, Clive explores the Fallen ruins beneath Phoenix Gate - led on by the "robed figure," and confronts various shadows and spirits that take on his own appearance. To what extent is the traveling robed figure actually Joshua?
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