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While many great trailers were revealed during The Game Awards, few had as much emotional heft and impact as Final Fantasy XVI’s Revenge trailer. Naoki Yoshida and his team at Creative Business Unit III provided fans with another look at the next mainline entry to the Final Fantasy franchise, and it certainly did not disappoint.
If you didn’t watch the trailer all the way through or skipped it completely, we’ve got five important takeaways from Final Fantasy XVI’s latest trailer that you might have missed. This was an important trailer for the storyline, as well as, most importantly, the release date. Will fans have to wait long?
Note: The Japanese version of the trailer was used, since the American version is age-gated on YouTube.
5 major moments in the Final Fantasy XVI trailer from The Game Awards
1) One of the major themes of the story is Revenge
The Final Fantasy XVI trailer isn’t titled “Revenge” for no reason. For months, it’s been fairly clear that FFXVI was going to be a more mature story, and that it could even have a dark narrative, but nothing made that more clear than this latest trailer. It seems obvious that Clive is motivated by vengeful emotions.
Watch: Can Clive control it?
What was the reason, though? What is driving him? Was it just the attack on his home kingdom? Perhaps that’s the reason he wields Ifrit and summons him to battle in the new trailer. Ifrit has always been an aggressive and angry summon, no matter what game he’s been a part of. One thing seems to have motivated Clive to take this darker path and that’s likely Joshua.
2) Joshua dies... Does he get reborn?
At the beginning of the trailer, there's an attack on Clive’s home kingdom. As a chocobo is slain, its blood splashes across Joshua’s face. The way the trailer frames these moments implies that Joshua was killed. Perhaps he tried to activate the power of the Phoenix, but it was not successful.
Watch: The return of Joshua?
Joshua shows up again later in the trailer, but it may have simply been an apparition. Clive could be trying to bring his brother back, or perhaps they become foes in some manner. Either way, it seems like what drives Clive is the death of Joshua. While he looked like a major character in previous trailers, he's now important for another reason in Final Fantasy XVI.
3) Odin and Shiva were weapons of war
Fans got to see several Eikons in this latest Final Fantasy XVI trailer. A brief tease of Phoenix was present, and Clive summoned Ifrit onto the battlefield. Garuda shows up in an exceptional cutscene, but perhaps one of the most interesting elements was that the Eikons were being used as tools of war. In previous games, you almost never see summons/Aeons/Eikons being used on humans.
Watch: The Eikons at war.
Odin casually swings his massive blade, cutting down swathes of soldiers, while Shiva summons titanic chunks of ice to crush and freeze her foes. Interestingly, they were more than just tools to fight against the forces of evil, but were actually used to kill men.
4) The combat system was shown off in greater detail
Based on the trailer, there's bad news for fans of turn-based/ATB systems (like myself), but Final Fantasy XVI is definitely opting for the Action RPG route. While most fans already know this, there were several moments where we got a nice, clear picture of what combat looks like in-game.
Clive’s combat movements feel like a seamless blend of Noctis (FFXV) and Garland (Stranger of Paradise). He’s quick, fluid, and capable of striking multiple enemies in succession.
Watch: Zantetsuken!
He also has the sort of teleporting strike attacks that Noctis frequently used in Final Fantasy XV. From the looks of it, players only seem to control Clive, although other party members were frequently shown in cutscenes.
Furthermore, it seemed as though Clive could use a variety of the Eikons' elemental attacks. Possibly, once he defeats an Eikon, he can command its powers. In a brief scene, he's seen using a blade identical to that of Odin's, implying he likely uses all of the Eikon's key features.
5) The release date is officially confirmed
Finally, June 23, 2023 seems to be the big date, but only if you’re a PlayStation 5 owner. For the time being, the game will remain a PlayStation 5 exclusive, but like Final Fantasy VII’s remake, it’s most likely a timed exclusive. Although it's still several months away, for now, Final Fantasy XVI is confirmed to only be available on PlayStation 5.
