The Mothercrystal Chronicles - Everything we currently know about FFXVI

[Linnaete]

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The LEGACY of the CRYSTALS
has shaped our history
for LONG ENOUGH.

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Initially revealed at the digital PlayStation Experience Event on 16 September 2020, Final Fantasy XVI is the first offline mainline installment revealed since the E3 2013 debut showcase of Final Fantasy XV, and the first offline mainline installment revealed with a wholly brand new setting and cast of characters since Final Fantasy XIII back in E3 2006.

Prior to the company's internal restructure in 2019, Square-Enix Japan had 11 Business Divisions, each responsible for development and production (planning, concept, production and/or supervision) of internally developed projects such as Final Fantasy VII Remake and externally developed projects such as Octopath Traveler. Following the restructure there are now four larger units, now dubbed "Creative Business Units".

Final Fantasy XVI is currently in development by Creative Business Unit III, currently headed by none other than Naoki Yoshida ("Yoshi-P"), the man who garnered unrivaled prestige and adoration for his critical role in steering the Final Fantasy XIV ship from troubled and turbulent waters to the MMO powerhouse it is today.

Naoki Yoshida serves as producer for Final Fantasy XVI, with the lesser known Hiroshi Takai having the coveted (and arguably far more taxing) role as game director.

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Setting​

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The world of Valisthea
A land blessed by the light of the Mothercrystals

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Towering Mothercrystals dot the landscape of Valisthea, imbuing the lands around their mountainous forms with bountiful aether. For this reason, generations flocked to these crystalline sentinels to seek out their magical blessing, and to utilise the abundant aether to flourish and build mighty civilisations known as dominions.

Now two grave threats ominously linger over the land - a Blight threatens to engulf the land and smother the prosperity of the dominions, and in the wake of this looming threat the insatiable tensions among dominions threaten to spill over into outright war.

The world of Valisthea comprises a number of factional dominions, each possessing uncontested right to their own Mothercrystal (with perhaps the exception of the Grand Duchy of Rosaria and the Iron Kingdom). Each dominion also bears a Dominant, an individual blessed with the ability to call forth an Eikon - a deadly creature of aethereal might. While in some realms the Dominant is elevated to a position of leadership or royalty in recognition of their innate might and blessing, such as an Archduke in Rosaria, others are feared for such power and may be wielded only as a tool of war. Regardless, an individual born with the blessing of a Dominant cannot escape their fate, however cruel it may be.

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Realms of Valisthea​

The Grand Duchy of Rosaria​

Long ago, a group of small independent provinces in western Valisthea found strength in unity, and formed the Grand Duchy of Rosaria. After years of relative prosperity, the duchy now finds itself threatened by the spread of the Blight—a threat that, left unchecked, would doubtless usher the realm to ruin.

Rosaria draws its aether from Drake’s Breath, a Mothercrystal situated on a volcanic island off the coast.

The Dominant of the Phoenix, Eikon of Fire, is enthroned as Archduke when they come of age. As of available information, the assassination of the sitting Archduke means the duchy's current Dominant of the Eikon Phoenix is none other than Joshua Rosfield.

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The Dhalmekian Republic​

The Dhalmekian Republic is made up of five states, from which the members of its ruling parliament are drawn. Its Mothercrystal, Drake’s Fang, is half-hidden in the heart of a mountain range—the republic’s control over it, and its aether, securing the obedience of the large part of southern Valisthea.

The Dominant of Titan, Eikon of Earth, is installed as a special advisor to parliament and has a significant say in its decision-making.

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The Holy Empire of Sanbreque​

Sanbreque is the largest theocratic force in Valisthea. The Empire’s holy capital Oriflamme is built around Drake’s Head, the Mothercrystal that blesses the surrounding provinces with abundant aether. The people happily take advantage of this, living in comfort and security under the watchful gaze of the Holy Emperor, whom they worship as the living incarnation of the one true deity. A Dominant of a yet-to-be-revealed Eikon or element serves as the empire’s champion, taking to the field in times of war to rout its enemies.

The dragoon in the trailer is deemed an "imperial viper", which suggests Sanbreque intends on laying conquest to Rosaria.

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As I will also later speculate in the character section with Jill Warrick, the flag of Sanbreque bears a woman figure with a tiara crown. Do you know who else has a tiara crown? The Eikon Shiva - plus Sanbreque is the northern nation in Valisthea, which could suggest this icy maiden is indeed their matron Eikon.

NOTE: THIS IS CONJECTURE, NOT CONFIRMED

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The Kingdom of Waloed​

Waloed claims the entirety of Ash, the eastern half of Valisthea, as its dominion. The kingdom’s control of the continent has oft been tested by the orcs and other beastmen who make their home there, but the current ruler of the realm, a yet-to-be-revealed Dominant, has succeeded in quelling their rebellions. Using the power of the kingdom’s Mothercrystal, Drake’s Spine, this new king has built up a mighty army, with which he now seeks to test the borders of his neighbors.

Based on the kingdom's flag depiction of a six-legged horse, this corresponds with the horse Sleipnir, the companion of a classic Final Fantasy summon, Odin.

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The Iron Kingdom​

A small group of islands off the coast of Storm, the western half of Valisthea’s twin realms. Here the Crystalline Orthodox, an extreme faith that worships crystals, reigns supreme. The Iron Kingdom controls Drake’s Breath, the Mothercrystal that sits at the heart of one of their islands—long a source of contention with neighboring Rosaria. Isolated and aloof from the mainland nations, the Ironblood speak their own language. Orthodox doctrine judges Dominants to be unholy abominations, and any unlucky enough to be born on the islands are executed.

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The Crystalline Dominion​

The Crystalline Dominion sits at the heart of Valisthea, built around the tallest of all the Mothercrystals, Drake’s Tail. Many bloody battles were fought for control of this small plot of land due to its strategic importance, till the warring realms finally agreed to an armistice. As part of the peace treaty, the islands around Drake’s Tail became an autonomous dominion led by a council of representatives from the surrounding nations—each realm enjoying equal claim to the Mothercrystal’s blessing. No Dominant makes their home there.

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Confirmed Characters​

Clive Rosfield​

Clive Rosfield is the protagonist of Final Fantasy XVI and so far the only confirmed playable character. It would appear based on trailer battle footage he has the power to channel the power of Eikons into physical attacks characterised by visual cues, such as Phoenix's wings and Titan's fists. Whether this means Clive has the power to absorb the power of Dominants and/or Eikons in lieu of bearing the burden of being Dominant himself, is yet to be known.

It is LIKELY based on the trailer and released renders that a manner of time skip ensues following the traumatic episode with Joshua as Eikon of Fire evoking the incendiary power of Phoenix, turning Clive from his teenage self to an unkempt, older-looking branded man hellbent on a destructive path of revenge.

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Joshua Rosfield​

It would appear in the trailer that an assassin working for an unconfirmed foreign nation (whether Sanbreque or the Iron Kingdom) slays his father the Archduke of Rosaria, meaning Joshua by virtue of being the Dominant of Fire becomes the next archduke.

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Jill Warrick​

This is based purely on speculation, but the fact she hails from the north and is presumably an important enough of a person in her own right (that or her lineage or biological family) suggests she could in fact be a Dominant to Shiva no less?

Note her necklace somewhat resembles a snowflake.​

Again, there is no confirmation and this is purely conjecture, but I'll let you stew on this thought. Nothing on the website currently makes any mention of Shiva, and the only possible tie to this Eikon may be with Sanbreque, as their flag has a woman figure with a tiara crown who could be Shiva? And Sanbreque is the country of the north...

 

[Linnaete]

Who is FFXVI director Hiroshi Takai?​

This article by RPGSite is a helpful resource, particularly for fans of Square-Enix titles but who may not be as familiar with the SaGa series.

In short, Hiroshi Takai was hired by Squaresoft back in 1991 where he made his debut working under Akitoshi Kawazu with the Japan-exclusive Romancing SaGa for the Super Nintendo in 1992, for which he co-designed the game's monsters and battle screen backgrounds. As RPGSite notes, Takai for that project was also known for the sombre opening title movie for Romancing SaGa which truly set the tone for what kind of story the player was about to get into.

Fan translated version of the original Romancing SaGa on SNES​

From there, Takai spent the 90s involved in crafting followups to the SaGa franchise - a series that was only sporadically released in the West and nowhere near as popular on these shores as in Japan. Having Romancing SaGa 2, Romancing SaGa and SaGa Frontier under his belt, he was also called back to revisit the original Romancing SaGa in order to create an enhanced remake of the title for PlayStation 2.

Outside of SaGa, Takai became one of three battle effect designers assigned to work on Square's ambitious first MMORPG project, Final Fantasy XI. His best contribution to the game's combat was the last-minute implementation of skillchains, a mechanic wherein players would successfully chain attacks one after another for bonus damage multiplier effects.

Final Fantasy XI​

The era of HD consoles rolled in, as did Epic's Unreal Engine 3. As they did with a bevy of experienced Japanese developers, the advent of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ushered in a difficult era of HD development; adjusting from standard definition fare to high definition was a long, laborious process and coupled with internal troubles within Square-Enix of attempting to jointly develop the Crystal Tools engine and Final Fantasy XIII, something had to be done. They could not afford to avoid releasing anything for HD consoles for a while and nor could they accelerate completion of their internal engine. It was time to make a pact with Epic for usage of Unreal Engine 3.

And so Takai made his director role debut with The Last Remnant, an experimental RPG for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms released in 2008. Its development too was a difficult, laborious learning curve for the entire team, not only with regards to using an unfamiliar externally built engine that at the time lacked much in the way of Japanese documentation and usability that we see today with the current Unreal Engine 4, but also with wrestling with the fact the team's vision of a grander scope had to be tempered by their comparative lack of resources and experience.

The Last Remnant (Xbox 360, PC; later remastered for PS4 and Nintendo Switch)​

As 2010 rolled by, Naoki Yoshida and Hiroshi Takai set out to create a new gothic action project, a Bloodborne before Bloodborne, so to speak. The critical wrench in the works that would see an end to their ambitious new project came in the form of the Final Fantasy XIV ship's painful immolation. The company's second MMORPG project was so littered with problems regarding its outdated combat, interface, design and lack of quality of life features that Square-Enix was thoroughly spooked into believing the integrity of the very Final Fantasy brand was on the line. Eorzea had to be salvaged - or else. To that end, the unprecedented task to restructure the team under Naoki Yoshida was greenlit to provide emergency medical attention to the flagging MMO. This meant an effective end to the gothic action game project (which was later retooled to be Bloodmasque, a 2013 mobile game that is now no longer live) and Hiroshi Takai's ascent to the position of lead designer.

Hiroshi Takai (2nd from the right) with Naoki Yoshida (1st left) during the FFXIV August 2015 Anniversary live stream. [from RPGSite]​

He rose to the position of assistant director when it became abundantly clear that Final Fantasy XIV could not be salvaged without literally dropping an incendiary bomb on Eorzea and retooling it from near-scratch as Final Fantasy XIV 2.0: A Realm Reborn. Takai would stay in this position throughout development of the MMO's first expansion, Heavensward. It was after Heavensward's release in mid-2015 the stage was set for his next venture: the director's seat in an actual new mainline installment. He and Naoki Yoshida navigated through treacherous waters together in rebuilding the hull of a ship that was so close to outright capsizing, and with his boss now in the position of a captain on this figurative ship, it follows that the first mate be entrusted with a ship of his own.

 

[Linnaete]

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