Final Fantasy XVI marks the return of a mainline installment in the series after a seven-year hiatus, not counting the relaunch of Final Fantasy VII Remake or the numerous enhancements to Final Fantasy XIV.
XVI opens with an impressive clash that other games might reserve for their climactic moments. The challenge for XVI lies in consistently outdoing its own extraordinary boss battles. When battling a massive celestial monster is not the final encounter, or even the one before it, the question arises: where can the story possibly go?
There’s a clear influence from the world of Game of Thrones in Final Fantasy XVI, a point heavily discussed around its launch. Yet, despite this homage to external sources, XVI boldly includes direct references to the series’ title within its dialogue.
However, before we dive into that memorable yet cheesy (in a good way) line, we first need to explore Clive’s conclusion.
Clive’s Journey Comes to a Close
Alert: Major spoilers for Final Fantasy XVI
The devastation caused by the Blight is ultimately traced back to the misuse of magic. It’s revealed that Ultima was one of a group of sixteen god-like beings that fled from a previously destroyed planet, also ravaged by Blight. Tragically, the Blight soon followed them to their new home.
Frustrated with the Blight’s relentless nature, Ultima and his companions made plans to create a new planet thousands of years ago. Curious about the whereabouts of the other fifteen? They abandoned their physical forms to become Mother Crystals, absorbing aether from their new home, while forming humanity in hopes that one day, one of them would evolve into the Mythos— a human capable of wielding immense magical energy. Afterward, they fell into slumber, leaving humanity to manage itself.
Clive is, of course, the Mythos. After Clive and his allies take down the Mother Crystals, an enraged Ultima sends the Origin—his and his kin’s vessel—soaring into the sky, draining aether from the earth at an alarming rate. This action sets the stage for the ultimate confrontation.
In the initial skirmishes, Dion meets his demise, and Joshua sustains such critical injuries that he chooses to transfer the power of the Phoenix—the final eikon—to his elder brother. With the consolidated strength of all eikons, Mythos transforms into the enigmatic and formidable figure depicted in ancient tapestries: Ifrit Arisen.
Meanwhile, Ultima combines with the spirits of his former allies and seeks to join forces with Clive, the Mythos, to complete the ritual of planet creation. Naturally, Clive resists this plan. They engage in combat, with Clive emerging victorious and absorbing Ultima’s power. However, even Clive finds himself overwhelmed by the sheer force of Ultima’s power, which he uses in his brief godlike form to annihilate Origin, the last Mother Crystal. This act preserves the planet but results in the loss of all magic—and seemingly, it costs Clive his life.
Conversely, the post-credits reveal hints that Joshua survived, documenting his brother’s saga in a manuscript that is later dismissed as a simple fairy tale.
To quote: “The only fantasy here is yours. And we shall be its final witness!”
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