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I'm not a Final Fantasy series fan. I've kept tabs on some of the games, but watching Advent Children was the closest I got to the series. Partly because I don't own a PlayStation, partly because I'm a hard sell when it comes to long JRPGs. But the story of Final Fantasy XVI caught my eye—so much so that for the first time in a while, I ended up watching a playthrough of the game on YouTube. (Or at least parts of a playthrough, since the game is so long.)
And so, here are my thoughts on the story of FFXVI.
First off...the story got me with some of my favorite tropes. "Tragic brooding hero with a traumatic past" always gets me. And I really like many of the characters and their relationships with each other. Dion was a particular standout whom I was not expecting to like and then ended up loving.
(Also, explicit queer rep in a Final Fantasy game, with Cid and Dion—especially the latter—being shown to be queer on screen??? Yes, that was definitely a standout!)
The politics were interesting and very reminiscent of Game of Thrones. But to quote a Twitter thread I agree with—the game ultimately devolves into incoherence and much of the interesting character/worldbuilding foundations were abandoned.
( SPOILERS below )
I'm just so frustrated because the premise was so fantastic and gave rise to so many interesting questions that could have led the plot to much more interesting directions. For example:
*Edit 6/24/23: So I learned that FFXVI intentionally tried to copy Game of Thrones—as in, the development team was literally told to watch the TV show—and, to be honest, I lost a lot of my respect for the game. I did think it was similar to Game of Thrones in certain ways, but being inspired by another story is different from actually copying it.
(Or, in other words: Story elements like "nobleman tragically loses his family, title, and home" or "MC has a pet wolf" or "grimdark fantasy violence" or "queer prince" are tropes that are common to multiple stories. But it's different when a creator admits those tropes are in their story because they're copying something else.)
And it also, to be honest, explains why the story eventually unravels and fails so spectacularly. FFXVI falls into the trap of copying something you don't fully understand; it starts off nailing the aesthetics and tropes of Game of Thrones but switches gears and goes JRPG-weird, and the two do not mesh at all. (And it probably explains the plot holes—the devs probably *needed* some things to happen without thinking through how those things could happen logically.)
And so, here are my thoughts on the story of FFXVI.
First off...the story got me with some of my favorite tropes. "Tragic brooding hero with a traumatic past" always gets me. And I really like many of the characters and their relationships with each other. Dion was a particular standout whom I was not expecting to like and then ended up loving.
(Also, explicit queer rep in a Final Fantasy game, with Cid and Dion—especially the latter—being shown to be queer on screen??? Yes, that was definitely a standout!)
The politics were interesting and very reminiscent of Game of Thrones. But to quote a Twitter thread I agree with—the game ultimately devolves into incoherence and much of the interesting character/worldbuilding foundations were abandoned.
( SPOILERS below )
I'm just so frustrated because the premise was so fantastic and gave rise to so many interesting questions that could have led the plot to much more interesting directions. For example:
- If Eikons function like nuclear deterrents due to their sheer destructive power, why would there be any nations that don't have an Eikon/Dominant? Wouldn't that just lead to that nation getting conquered by a nation that does have a Dominant?
- If people know there is a new Eikon/Dominant, why wouldn't that itself shift the political balance of power and cause a race for the nations to find this new Eikon/Dominant and recruit them to their side?
- If Barnabas (at one point) has three Eikons under his control, why couldn't he just wage war against everyone else to declare himself emperor?
- It's mentioned that when a Dominant dies, it can be years for a new Dominant with that Eikon to emerge. So what happens to that nation in the meantime if they've lost a major source of their power?
- How is it that the Rosfields can inherit the power of the Phoenix while no other nation has a hereditary Eikon?
*Edit 6/24/23: So I learned that FFXVI intentionally tried to copy Game of Thrones—as in, the development team was literally told to watch the TV show—and, to be honest, I lost a lot of my respect for the game. I did think it was similar to Game of Thrones in certain ways, but being inspired by another story is different from actually copying it.
(Or, in other words: Story elements like "nobleman tragically loses his family, title, and home" or "MC has a pet wolf" or "grimdark fantasy violence" or "queer prince" are tropes that are common to multiple stories. But it's different when a creator admits those tropes are in their story because they're copying something else.)
And it also, to be honest, explains why the story eventually unravels and fails so spectacularly. FFXVI falls into the trap of copying something you don't fully understand; it starts off nailing the aesthetics and tropes of Game of Thrones but switches gears and goes JRPG-weird, and the two do not mesh at all. (And it probably explains the plot holes—the devs probably *needed* some things to happen without thinking through how those things could happen logically.)
