New Final Fantasy XVI Trailer Showcases Its Six Kingdoms
Yesterday, the official Square Enix YouTube channel dropped a new trailer for their upcoming 16th entry in the long-running Final Fantasy franchise. As teased last month, this four-and-a-half-minute preview gives a little more information on the world of Valisthea. It delves a lot more into the political and already complex lore of the game- introducing all of the major powers we had only before been able to read about on the FFXVI website. On top of this, of course, it also showcased the incredible detail and visual fidelity that Square Enix is taking with its trailers. But what did the trailer actually show, and what does it mean for the game’s broader narrative?
Titled ‘AMBITION’, this third major trailer begins with the opening of a book. This leans heavily into the idea of a final fantasy game being like an ancient tale from millions of years ago- similar to Star Wars. As the book opens, we are treated to commentary from an unknown woman’s voice highlighting the different kingdoms of FFXVI. There are six locations spoken about- which all have varying landscapes and cultures. Provided we get to travel and explore each of these (which we might not be able to, considering this has been confirmed not to be open world), the differentiation of environments is already shaping up to be exciting.
The first kingdom is the Grand Duchy of Rosaria- said to be a ‘bastion of tradition’. This is set to be the starting point of the game- and the birthplace of its main character- Clive Rosfield. Looking very medieval and fantasy-esque, this seems to be the most grounded and familiar location for players to explore. However, how long players will stay here before an inevitable tragedy strikes remains to be seen.
The second kingdom showcased was the Holy Empire of Sanbreque's, which is shaping up to be the main antagonistic force (if the title ‘empire’ didn’t make that clear). It is Sanbreque’s invasion of Rosaria that sets up the game as we know it- and it is likely that its Emperor will act as one of the main villains. Aside from this, this area looks beautiful and far more high-fantasy than the other locations, with a huge crystalline structure running alongside its capital city.
Next up is the Dhalmekian Republic- a sandy nation whose fortune and livelihood is said to ‘shift with the desert sands’. The main ruler of this kingdom puts forth a rough and hardened exterior, but he is already shaping up to be a potential ally for our main character- with him seemingly opposing the wars that the other nations are facing.
Fourth shown was the Iron Kingdom. Based on namesake alone, this seemed like it would be a mountainous and inhospitable place- which it very much seems to be. Apparently ‘ruled by faith’, the ranting of one of its leaders indicates that this nation is a cult like group that likely has its own religious ambitions at heart. To what means they will take to fulfill these ambitions, however, remains to be seen.
The kingdom of Waoled looks to be very interesting. With a backdrop of stormy shores and dark skies, the ‘isolation’ of this location indicates it is completely shut off from the outside world. The impact that this will have on exploration and movement through this area is what I consider to be the most exciting part of the trailer. Furthermore, the disdain that the (presumably) ruler has for the ‘mother crystals’ is setting up some interesting conflicts. We already know that XVI seeks to destroy the basic conventions of the series, such as the four crystals, in a similar way to how the FFVII Remake has already done. To what extent this is going to impact and drive forward the story remains to be seen.
The sixth kingdom of the Crystalline Dominion is not actually shown in the trailer- which may allude to its secrecy or relevance in the plot in some mysterious way.
The rest of the trailer plays out with some interesting gameplay and some fantastic spectable battles. The summon clashes are shaping up to be the highlights of this package, and seeing how this could be implemented into combat and the story is an exciting prospect. Overall, the ‘AMBITION’ trailer is another fantastic showcase of what XVI could be- but whether it can meet these increasingly rising expectations remains to be seen. Without an release date yet, we can only hope that this game still meets its Summer 2023 deadline.
