We don’t currently have a review for this game yet, but you can view our transcripts for our podcast.
Final Fantasy XVI Podcast Transcript (Part 1)
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Not Now Mom, I’m Gaming. My name’s Kay and in this episode we’ll be doing a gameplay review of Final Fantasy XVI. I’ve been looking forward to playing this game since it came out, but I had to wait for it to come to Steam. And of course, when games come to Steam they’ll sometimes be janky and there have been complaints of the sort but…as long as nothing is game-breaking, I’m usually okay with it.
This episode is a bit different than what I was initially hoping for with future podcast episodes, but I’m still working out the kinks.
So I’d livestreamed about an hour for the podcast, but I didn’t write out a script beforehand, so I wasn’t too thrilled with the outcome since it seemed a lot more like a let’s play in that case. But still audience interaction is nice, so I did a few proper reviewing portions.
As such, I’ll implement the livestream portion into the first part of this video and then a fresh gameplay review where I read from a script and it’s not livestreamed.
It’ll give you guys a feel for what I’m going for, even if this wasn’t my best attempt.
The description for Final Fantasy XVI states:
An epic dark fantasy world where the fate of the land is decided by the mighty Eikons and the Dominants who wield them. This is the tale of Clive Rosfield, a warrior granted the title “First Shield of Rosaria” and sworn to protect his younger brother Joshua, the dominant of the Phoenix. Before long, Clive will be caught up in a great tragedy and swear revenge on the Dark Eikon Ifrit, a mysterious entity that brings calamity in its wake.
And now, we’ll be going through portions of the livestream that I hadn’t written a script for, so enjoy.
So a battle between Phoenix and Ifrit?
I will say, like, in this scene, Ifrit looks more like Godzilla. I kind of liked past Final Fantasy gameplays of Ifrit. I dunno, in some of those he looked more intimidating than this one. I mean, he’s literally Godzilla. With flames.
But the Phoenix looks amazing though. Also where did–so we knocked him into the earth. How far does the chasm go?
Like I assume the crevice was already–it had to have been already here, we just…burst through the top layer?
Also this is uh one of the scenes where you can actually fight while in kind of a cutscene, so that’s pretty cool. Shoot fireballs at Ifrit while he’s kind of bouncing back and forth. Not all fireballs hit, which is kinda nice. Plus we can evade.
I wouldn’t think fire would do much damage to Ifrit considering he’s fire-based as well.
I do really like the interaction here though, like you’ll shoot fireballs at him, he’ll jump from side to side, but he’ll also like bull-rush you? So you’ll have to evade that as the Phoenix, turn around to face him again.
Hello, Nocturne. How are you?
Dude, where is this? We literally dive-bombed Ifrit into the ground and the huge chasm that went on for a while.
I’m doing good. I played um around an hour and a half of Final Fantasy XVI, so I figured I’d try out the whole podcast situation here, see how it works.
I plan on doing normal let’s plays, and then taking the video, because this is a recorded video, and then just doing the podcast episode on the video.
Nice transition there.
They all have that symbol on their face. I don’t know what the brand means though.
“Our kind do not question orders, we follow them. Try to keep that in mind.”
Are they mercenaries then? “Our kind.”
It’s a whole lot of barren cliffsides. Not much to see. Normally with Final Fantasy stuff we get to see the beautiful landscape, you know? It’s a little bit different. It’s kind of desolate.
Also his name is Tiamat. Isn’t’ that a god? Isn’t that like a…dragon god? Five-headed, six-headed.
Wait they’re named Tiamat, a dragon god, and then we’re Wyvern, which is another dragon type.
Okay, here we get to actually move around and I get yelled at, but again there’s really not much to look at. I like it how they have it so you can tilt the left stick gently to walk and fully to run so you don’t have to click another button in order to run. It just, it frees up another button.
Even if it is not pressing the uh, pressing down on the joystick.
Republican Army Front Lines. Are the others liberals?
I feel like this is less of a podcast and more of a let’s play commentary. I’ll have to edit it. I’ll edit it.
So I assume those are…maybe ice bombs. They explode on impact?
Oh my god that music. I almost like missed it. It’s got that Final Fantasy music to it. From the past.
Lord Commander of the Royal Knights. Is he like, the same as Beatrix in Final Fantasy 9? No that was Steiner wasn’t it?
Royal Attaché.
Is that a suitcase? That’s a suitcase isn’t it? Attaché. I don’t even know how you say it.
So he’s a Dominant and they’ve spoken about a Shiva Dominant.
“Kupka…!”
Kupka. Was that an insult or a command or something, because it still says well-built man as his name.
Kupka is the profanity version of Kupo.
Well, I paused this at the right time didn’t I?
One thing I really like here is that if you run up to something that you need to climb or jump over or crawl under, you don’t even have to press a button again. He just automatically does it.
Thank you. Game developers are learning.
They’re learning that gamers are lazy! And don’t wanna press buttons.
Is that Hugo? And that’s Shiva.
So people change into Eidolons…in this game? Instead of summoning them? How does that work, like, if a human being is Shiva, and the human being dies, then there’s no more Shiva.
Shiva’s always fascinated me.
I love, like, all of her designs for the Final Fantasy games. She’s definitely less provocative in this one. Cause there’s some Final Fantasy games where she’s…she’s pretty provocative with her outfit.
I mean, I would be a little bit scared.
I wouldn’t want to be on the battlefield. At all. If you have a Titan, or er yeah a Titan on your side, why bother with foot soldiers? Or at least have them in the back line to get anyone that gets past him.
Calling in sick.
He’s super slow. Like even when he pulls his arm back and pushes it forward, it’s like he’s moving in slow motion. He’s just you know super freaking strong. Okay, yeah, I stand by what he said. He’s causing earthquakes over here and remodeling the land.
I like how they showed that, because that shows you he can kind of like teleport a little bit in battle.
He says she’s right on top of us, so I was like looking up and looking around, and I don’t, I don’t see her. She’s not really right on top of us, they’re still a ways ahead.
Also this part was a little weird for me, cause you can’t go this way, but it kinda looks like the land is falling in order to create a path for you.
Now Kay, don’t critique the narrative attempt to create urgency.
But yeah you can’t like, you can’t get on this rock to go forward, you have to jump down.
This would be horrible. Cause you’re not in control of what’s falling down around you. And you can’t avoid everything if it’s just gonna collapse on top of you.
They did Biast dirty there. I felt so bad when that rock smashed him.
I don’t know if that was actually his brother or his like brother in arms. Cause if it’s his actual brother, then that’s…damn. That sucks. But I guess either way, if it’s our brothers in arms, you don’t really want him to go out like that.
Okay, so that wasn’t the full livestream portion I did, but I decided to cu it there. Now here are the same parts of the game without the livestreaming part where I do read from a script to put my thoughts in order and better portray the game. Or so I believe.
Either way, a lot of the things that I didn’t have an explanation for before, I do now, as later in the game there’s a dictionary for terms and I never reached that point in the first portion of the livestreaming podcast test.
So here’s the fresh, more elaborate podcast review so far.
Final Fantasy XVI opens up with these lines:
It was Moss the Chronicler who said…
…that the land of Valisthea is blessed in the light of the Mothercrystals…
…and that it was this light which finally led our forebears out of the darkness.
Yet what they saw in the light gave rise to temptation.
Temptation…
…that ever lures us back into the crystals’ shadow. And thus did our journey begin.
So basically, we came out of the darkness and into the light, only for the light to make us fall back into darkness due to temptation. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Here’s a little information on some of the names mentioned in the quote.
Moss the Chronicler
Far-fabled scholar of Valisthean history and legend. Even to this day, much of the surviving knowledge of the distant antiquity of the Twins issues from his quill. In his later years, his writings attracted fierce criticism from certain scholarly circles, which resulted in him removing himself from public life.
Valisthea
A realm comprising the twin continents of Storm and Ash, over which the Mothercrystals stand timeless vigil. At the foot of each, great cities have risen up over the eons, and around them, powerful nations. Though the land has been blessed with the light of magic since time immemorial, in recent years, a creeping blackness has begun to gnaw at its borders–the Blight.
The Mothercrystals
Enormous glassy mountains, five of which tower over the lands of Valisthea. They are the source of all the crystals that the people of the Twins rely on in their everyday lives. Not only that, but the lands surrounding them are rich with aether, making the magicks the crystals cast even more potent. For these reasons, great nations have sprung up around each Mothercrystal and have long warred with each other for possession of their blessings.
And now we’re in a face-off between the Phoenix and Ifrit, two Eidolons. I have to say, the Phoenix is amazing looking because it’s not just a firebird, even though it does look like there’s liquid heat flowing through its feathers, but because its plumes, the tail feathers, have different colors to them, sort of like a peacock.
It’s not just and orange and red bird, basically. It has coloration to it, much like a flame doesn’t have to be orange, there’s also yellow and blue, though I don’t think fire’s cyan unless chemicals are involve, but that’s part of the Phoenix’s colorations too.
I can’t say the same for Ifrit.
I mean, he still looks basically the same as all the other Final Fantasy models for Ifrit, but this time he seems a bit more Godzilla like and less formidable?
Not that Godzilla wasn’t formidable, but I think even that kaiju was bigger than Ifrit’s size.
They end up pummeling through the ground and going down a long, and I do mean long chasm or tunnel, and I’m not really sure why it’s here and if the Phoenix knew the chasm would be here and it wouldn’t be just solid ground it’s wrecking into.
Something obviously tunneled it out, but the reasons are unknown to me at this point.
Instead of just watching a cinematic we do get to partake in the battle between the two Eidolons, which is nice, and we control the Phoenix in this case.
There are only two things we can do in this fight and that’s attack by firing off fireballs and evading. It’s really the only two abilities that make sense. There’s not a lot of room for movement and fancy wing-play here.
Even though there’s no aiming you have to do, Ifrit does jump back and forth between the walls and sometimes the fireballs won’t hit because the trajectory is a bit off when he does ping-pong around.
Aside from that, you can just spam Fireball.
The time when you want to evade is when Ifrit lights up with fire and pushes off the wall towards you. You’ll spin around to face him and continue the same song and dance.
It doesn’t last too long, and it does give you a look into some more interesting fight mechanics to come in this game.
The fiery scene transitions to a campfire being reflected in a man’s eye, who we’ll be playing as.
The current date is Year of the Realm 873 and we’re located in The Nysa Defile of the Dhalmekian Republic.
Some background information:
The Nysa Defile
A deep, arid valley located in the eastern part of the Dhalmekian Republic. During the Battle of the Twin Realms in 865, it was the site of repeated skirmishes as the Iron Kingdom attempted to make incursions into Dhalmekian territory.
The Dhalmekian Republic
A nation formed from a federation of five smaller states. It is located in the southern half of the continent of Storm, and has its capital at Ran’dellah. It is also home to the Mothercrystal known as Drake’s Fang. There is no official state religion, and citizens are free to worship as they please. Dhalmekia’s key political entity is the parliament, which is formed of ministers representing each of the states, with the Prime Minister at its head.
A man named Tiamat reminds us of our orders, which is the target Shiva’s Dominant and only the Dominant. He doesn’t say what we’re doing with the target so it could be either eliminate them or take them hostage.
However, due to him saying this:
“Our kind do not question orders, we follow them.”
I suspect that makes us mercenaries and most people hire mercenaries to get rid of people, not for a snatch a grab, and that’s confirmed when we look into who Tiamat is.
Tiamat
A Bearer in service of the Holy Empire of Sanbreque, Tiamat is the leader of the elite assassin squadron to which Wyvern is assigned–the Bastards. Their latest mission–to take the head of the Dominant of Shiva. To this end, they infiltrate the Nysa Defile, where the forces of the Republic of Dhalmekia and the Iron Kingdom are aligned against each other. Though none know his true name, rumor has it that the man now known as Tiamat was born a scion of a noble Sanbrequois family, and abandoned to his fate after his powers awakened.
As far as what Dominants are…
Dominant
Those within whom sleeps the power of an Eikon. Though they look and think no differently to any man or woman, they can not only cast elemental magicks without a crystal, but also transform themselves into beasts of world-shattering strength at any moment–a quality for which they are honored, worshipped, and feared the realm over.
Before we head out, Biast walks over to the first and puts it out with water magic, and seemingly without a crystal, meaning at this point with no further knowledge he’s either a Dominant and can do this, or he’s not a Dominant and can wield magic anyway through other means.
Before we take control of our character, we look out over the environment and…it’s definitely not the prettiest landscape that a Final Fantasy game has ever given us.
It’s a lot of rocks and mountains that look more like rubble strewn across the dusty land on a somewhat cloudy day. But hey…they kind of still made it screenshot-worthy if you ask me.
Tiamat recaptures our attention by saying:
“Focus, Wyvern.
“You are key to this mission’s success.”
A bit ominous without knowing actually who we are right now, but also adds a bit of intrigue to see where this is going to go.
I tried to stand where I was and look around at the environment and got scolded by Tiamat, so at this point, we just move forward with regular controls.
Fun fact: I first learned of Tiamat being a five-headed dragon goddess from Dungeons and Dragons, since I devoured a ton of the Dragonlance book series as well as the Forgotten Realms book series. Having fallen out of the fantasy book genre, I saw a Tiamat replica again by watching Yu-Gi-Oh. And here we have a man named Tiamat, and if he can turn into a five-headed dragon, I’m about to salute and say, “Sir yes sir” to everything he says from now on while trying not to piss him off.
A little further up and we learn we can run by tilting the left stick fully and walk by tilting it gently. I prefer this style of running and walking because a lot of times games will have you hold a button down to run, or press a button in order to initiate a run and seeing as this generation of gamers are lazy, the less buttons to press the better.
Eventually we see a clash of armies, stated as The Republican Army Front Lines.
You’ve got your typical armed foot soldiers, soldiers that are riding into battle on chocobos, as well as people who are manning catapults that seem to be tossing frozen water bombs that explode on impact? A nice touch.
I can kind of see who’s going to win this battle if the opposing army isn’t as equipped.
In the distance, we see The Zirnitra Stronghold of The Nysa Defile.
Fort Zirnitra
A stronghold situated at the western end of the Nysa Defile in the Dhalmekian Republic. In the year 873, it served as the site of a meeting convened by the Dhalmekians with their Waloeder allies in an attempt to enlist their aid in driving back the Ironblood, who had been a thorn in their side since the Battle of the Twin Realms eight years before.
Within, guards seem to be clearing the regular folk out of the building while a meeting is being held within.
I’m not one to look too into politics because they aren’t my strong suit, but it seems that the king of Waloed had at one point maybe decided on helping the Dhalmekians and is now deciding against it with as little words as possible–i.e. a shake of his head to his Lord Commander of the Royal Knights.
This has caused a bit of an outburst of disappointment from the Dhalmekian Chief Strategist, while the Dhalmekian Prime Minister seems to be trying to calm him down.
When a servant pours water into a cup from a crystal, we pan into a woman who pulls a pipe out and lights the end with her own magic.
I can’t tell if she did this to try and show off that fact that she’s a Dominant and finds the usage of crystals inferior, or if it was just a way to introduce her into the scene.
She’s titled as the Royal Attaché.
She seems to be against the idea of using their troops to help out the Dhalmeks because once upon a time they won the Battle of the Twin Realms. And the fact that they have a Dominant on their side they haven’t yet utilized, who’s standing against the wall. She figures once they send him out, their troops would be pointless and in the way.
However, it’s pointed out that the Ironblood now have their own Dominant, which I assume would be Shiva.
I’m a little confused on the whole ‘now have their own’ part of that statement. Have they not been keeping tabs of the Ironbloods and the Dominant and didn’t know that the person existed up until now, or did the Dominant somehow come into play not so long ago.
I thought a Dominant was born into that role and grew up with powers.
Did the Ironbloods keep their Dominant a secret until now?
The Dhalmek’s Dominant, who’s known as the “well-built man” decides it’s time to step it up and take it to the battlefield, since their knights aren’t going to do as good a job as him.
It also clues you in that not many people in this room respect the Chief Strategist.
For one, he made an outburst that the Prime Minister chided him for and the Lord Commander took a threatening step forward. Secondly, after the woman lit her pipe she blew smoke in his direction while maintaining eye contact. Third, the Dominant took a deep pull from a cigar, extinguished it in the Strategist’s cup and blew smoke directly in his face.
Yeah…nobody likes the Chief Strategist for some reason.
We find out the name of both Dominants in the next scene, when Benedikta jumps into Hugo‘s arms and he pins her against the wall. Seems someone has a thing for well-built men.
She praises him as the lion to the hare and he states this:
“I’m not afraid of a little frost, Benedikta. But I will need someone to warm me when I come home.”
Uh, yeah.
It’s interesting that on the tail end of their cozy little scene, Benedikta seems to be looking a bit on the sly side, making me think Hugo is a pawn in her plans somehow. Maybe that’s me projecting my untrusting self when I see a devious looking woman in a video game, but she truly has the look of a fox in a henhouse.
Back to us playing as Wyvern.
The front lines of the battle are gone, so we’re making our move within the chaos. As we progress forward, there’s a wall to climb and what I really like with Final Fantasy XVI is that you don’t have to press a button to climb a wall or duck under something or wedge yourself through a small crevice.
The game does it for you.
Again, props to the devs.
I say this because Horizon: Zero Dawn was killing me with all of its jumping and grappling onto things and climbing stuff. I can only take so much of manhandling a landscape.
Before we can get too far, a giant hand comes crashing down in front of us and we get our first look at Titan, who happens to be Hugo because who else would be a well-built man and well-built Eidolon.
Welcome to a cross between Final Fantasy and Attack on Titan, because that’s literally what this is right now.
And since one Eidolon is on the field, the second one comes into play as well–Shiva.
Here’s a small bit of info on the two Eidolons:
Shiva
The Warden of Ice, whose appearance on the battlefield makes her enemies’ blood run cold. The Ironblood sent Shiva against the republican forces in the Nysa Defile, where she dueled against Titan, the Eikon of Earth.
Titan
The Warden of Earth, of whom Hugo Kupka is the current Dominant. He takes the form of a stone-skinned giant, whose granite fists shake the earth with every mighty pummel. Titan’s Dominant awakens among the peoples of the Dhalmekian deserts–the recipient of his strength being granted great power and status by the republic in return for a commitment to protect the nation in times of war.
I’ve always loved Shiva as a character in the Final Fantasy series. Not only because of her provocative outfits, though they are all quite nice looking and showcase the body of an ice queen, but the way she comes into play, her opening cinematics. And even the power over ice she holds.
Her outfit in Final Fantasy XVI doesn’t showcase her body like some of the other games, but she still looks good in her attire.
I’m not sure an outfit change would make Titan think twice about smashing her into bits.
Speaking of Titan, I don’t really have anything to say on him. I don’t really recall him in the other final fantasy games I’ve played, though if he was seen in later part of the games, that’s probably why, since I haven’t finished them.
I know. First attempt at actually finishing a Final Fantasy game here and it’s the sixteenth one.
Go me.
As for the battle itself, I really don’t know why they didn’t just let Titan do his thing and waste resources on men on the field, since he’s basically going to step on people and end up killing them in the process.
I mean, he’s pretty slow when he walks so it’s possible to maybe get out of the way of his feet, but even though, leave the men on the back lines for those that bypass Titan.
When both of the Eidolons are in the frame, I feel bad for Shiva.
She’s so small compared to Titan, and I know that height doesn’t diminish strength in terms of combat, especially where magic is concerned, but it’s icicles versus a giant rock fist in this case and if she’s not evasive enough, I just feel like he’d do a lot more damage to her than she can do to him.
Just to prove my point on his strength, he stomps the ground and causes fissures in the earth and basically rearranges the landscape, causing a whole lot of death and a lot more panic from the soldiers.
Something Hugo’s personality type would probably enjoy.
Of course, since he’s rearranging the land, that means we’re in danger of being either smashed by falling debri, crushed by either Eidolons attacks, or risk falling into a crevice, meaning we have to move.
And in order to dodge a boulder, we sort of teleport ahead of it, which is a pretty cool clue that we’ll have that ability in combat.
As we run, the landscape really is changing around us, becoming dismantled and everything, so it’s pretty cool that we constantly have to change course. My only gripe is there’s a part where a boulder lodges itself between an empty section of land and looks like you could cross it as intended, but no.
Even though it looks like it’s planted there to walk over it, you have to drop down in order to continue further.
It’s just a little weird to have landed there like that if we can’t walk on it.
Thanks to a falling boulder, we’re forced to jump off a ledge and slide down a slope, avoiding falling debris. Not manual, mind you, but through the cutscene.
Unfortunately for Biast, a boulder smashes right on top of him, pulverizing his body.
We narrowly avoid being crushed and as a result are barely conscious as Tiamat drags us away saying this:
“I told you before. You do not get to die here!”
As if he has a say in whether a piece of debri lands on me or not like it did with Biast, hello? What would’ve happened if I did die here, would he have been like, “Well shit, I told him not to.”
It’s a little bit of a sad scenario because before we lose consciousness, we reach out to the bloody boulder atop Biast and say, “Brother…”
At first I thought that might’ve been his actual brother in which case that really sucks to have watched it happen like that, but having played further into the game already I knew it wasn’t. Which made me think we thought of Biast as a brother in arms, but again, I don’t think that’s the case either, due to us having a flashback incoming.
I think it’s more of him remembering having failed his actual brother by witnessing Biast die without having done anything to stop it from happening.
It’s not really meant to be a heart-tugging scene because we didn’t really get a whole lot of screen time with Biast and didn’t see the connection if there was one between him and us. I think it’s just more about having a reason for the flashback that’s about to happen.
And that ends the first portion of our podcast review of Final Fantasy XVI. The next section will result in going through our flashback.
I would like to do the next portion properly for a podcast livestream, but I’m still thinking on how to do it. Maybe I’ll record my review of the section of the game, having the commentary in there, and then livestream it as a whole while viewers can give their thoughts.
This podcast is on an entirely different channel than where I do my recordings, so there’s that.
I don’t know.
Maybe a live chat throughout it isn’t the best things, because it’ll be harder to edit the transcript for the episodes. Maybe I’ll use this layout for my let’s plays and such, instead of full screen like I’ve always done.
We shall see.
But in either case, this is the end of our first gameplay review of Final Fantasy XVI. I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you on the next episode, as long as, y’know, you don’t get in trouble for saying, Not Now Mom, I’m Gaming.
Final Fantasy XVI Podcast Transcript (Part 2)
After losing consciousness, we hear the voice of a young boy calling our name, Clive–decidedly not Wyvern.
And before we get any further, let’s take a look at who our younger Clive self is.
Clive Rosfield
Firstborn son of Archduke Elwin, ruler of Rosaria. From a young age, Clive dedicated himself to mastering the blade–and his practice paid off when he was appointed First Shield of Rosaria, tasked to guard the Phoenix and blessed with the ability to wield a part of his fire.
This scene takes place thirteen summer earlier, in the Year of the Realm 860 within Rosalith of The Grand Duchy of Rosaria.
Some tidbits about the two:
Rosalith Castle
Situated in the heart of the ducal capital of Rosalith, it is from this towering ivory fortress that the Archduke and his family rule their nation. An Architectural feat the Founder himself would be proud of, the castle has stood since the early days of the duchy, and watched over the rise of this proud nation and the people who inhabit the city beneath.
The Grand Duchy of Rosaria
A nation occupying the western reaches of the continent of Storm, with Rosalith as its capital. Rosaria was originally formed from a collection of smaller dominions, all of which now stand united under the banner of Archduke Elwin Rosfield. Not possessing a Mothercrystal of its own, the duchy has long been locked in bitter conflict with the Iron Kingdom over possession of Drake’s Breath, which lies still further to the west, in the midst of the Boiling Sea.
It seems that we’d been training and our trainer had to dump water on us to wake us up.
He mentions that we might not be cut out as a Shield, and when he states this, his name is Man. However, his next statement has his name as Lord Commander Murdoch, and I’m a little confused as how from one comment to the next he wasn’t worthy of a name, and then suddenly has one.
Our first encounter with Murdoch states this:
Rodney Murdoch
Lord Commander of the Rosarian army. Not only is he a skilled warrior and loyal guardian of the Rosfield household, he is also a fine tutor–indeed, it was he who trained Clive in the secrets of swordplay. While he may be a hard taskmaster, his belief and trust in the Shields that serve under him make him a much-loved leader.
We have an audience of three watching from the sidelines and cheering us on, the lot of them including Joshua, Jill, and an adorable puppy.
Now, listening to Joshua speak, I immediately started wondering about his voice actor because his voice was such a flashback to another game I played where I was constantly yelling at a certain boy.
Turns out, I was right in my thoughts.
Joshua’s voice actor is Logan Hannan, who also voices Hugo in the A Plague Tale series.
On top of that, I can’t fucking BELIEVE I missed the fact that Jill’s younger voice actor is Charlotte McBurney, who voices Amicia in the A Plague Tale series. I was so focused on Joshua’s VA that it just never clicked with her, although listening back to her, I can definitely hear it.
Unfortunately I don’t know who voices the puppy.
Now it’s time to enter the combat tutorial split into several sections.
The first thing you learn are melee attacks, and you can chain up to four of these attacks in total.
The second combat technique you learn is magic–in which case you can cast Fire. Unlike with a lot of Final Fantasy games that impede your magic-casting with MP, in Final Fantasy XVI, you can openly spam magic attacks all willy-nilly because MP doesn’t exist in this game.
Granted, the magic attacks don’t do a whole lot of damage on their own, so it’s not like there’s a huge benefit to spamming magic.
After lobbing fireballs, Murdoch says this:
“You wield the firebird’s flames just as a First Shield should.”
This game talks a lot about Shields, and being a First Shield means this:
First Shield
Title granted to the mightiest and most stalwart Shield of the Rosarian army. The First Shield is entrusted with the personal protection of the Dominant of the Phoenix, and is gifted a portion of the Eikon’s power of flame–a boon known as the Blessing of the Phoenix.
And while we’re on the topic, I don’t know if they bring this title up again, so we’ll just go ahead and mention it here…
The Blessing of the Phoenix
The boon Joshua bestowed upon his brother upon Clive’s ordination as First Shield, allowing him to wield fire-aspected magic without a crystal. It has long been custom in Rosaria for the Dominant of the Phoenix to share a part of their power this way, performing this “Rite of Rejuvenation” upon those they appoint as their protectors that they might serve them better.
The way it’s worded, I wonder if they can share their power with more than one person for more bodyguards, or if the power can only be shared with one.
Back to the training, our third combat technique is evading, and evade is you merely hopping away. There’s no rolling or moving a great distance away from an attack, however you are capable of precision dodging, which is dodging a moment before an attack, allowing for a follow-up counterstrike with melee or magic.
Our fourth combat technique which is an Eikonik feat known as Phoenix Shift.
Basically, with evade we put distance between our enemy and their attack, but with Phoenix Shift we close the distance between us and our enemy. It’s the opposite of an evade, and it’s worth noting that this ability does no damage, nor will it close the distance if the target is a good distance away.
It does have a threshold to how far you move forward.
Finally, our fifth combat technique is the ability to heal or boost ourselves by using consumables.
At the start, our max amount of potions is limited to four, which is a far cry from the typical 99 potions that I’m used to in Final Fantasy games–at least the older ones. It’s like the game is demanding us to learn the combat or else we’ll end up dying.
Don’t worry, it’s not the case.
Also, I didn’t realize I had to use two potions for the tutorial so I just stood there like, why the hell is nothing happening?
Now’s the time we enter combat without a tutorial in our way, and we’re taught another vital lesson of breaking an opponent’s will.
You’re basically trying to stagger the opponent by doing damage to them.
You’ll need to deplete the yellow bar underneath their health bar in order to stagger them fully, and bosses do have sections to the stagger bar. One for a partial stagger, and then the full one, but that will have more of an outcome at a later time.
The battle was a bit difficult at the start since it’s my first time learning the keybinds for what I can do, plus testing things out.
I’m really good at using Phoenix Shift at the wrong time.
I’d either mess up between pressing the evade and Phoenix Shift, or pause a moment after using the Shift because I thought it would do some damage.
Like I said, it doesn’t, but you can use either melee or magic while executing the Phoenix Shift so you don’t have to stand there like a dolt at the end of like I usually did when first learning the combat.
I’m a lot better at timing evades than the Shift, but I also kept forgetting to counter at the appropriate time.
Once Murdoch is staggered, you’re able to use Rising Flames, which is an Eikonic ability–and you don’t have to wait until an enemy is staggered to use this ability, it just dishes out a lot more damage when the enemy is staggered.
You can use it and other Eikonic abilities anytime you want as long as they’re not on cooldown.
Now it’s just a matter of beating Murdoch in battle.
Clive is a bit roughed up from the training and falls to his knee while Joshua comes over and uses the Phoenix’s ability to heal him, which is a bit interesting. I know the Phoenix can be capable of coming back from the dead by rising from the ashes in games and movies (I’m talking about you, Fawkes), but aside from Harry Potter, I don’t think I’ve known one to have healing capabilities?
Maybe I’m wrong though, because it’s been a while since I played final fantasy games with the Phoenix in them.
I guess I’m just thinking more logically at this point, with a Phoenix’s flames being able to cure wounds by cauterizing them instead of healing something like fatigue and bruises.
Anyway, after offering us some healing, Joshua starts coughing and I’m reminded of Hugo from A Plague Tale all over again. He says it’s just a cold, and there aren’t a whole lot of people freaking out over him possibly being ill with something worse, so maybe he’s right.
The next person we meet is the lovely Duchess Anabella.
Anabella Rosfield
Duchess of Rosaria, wife of Archduke Elwin, and mother to Clive and Joshua. While she adores her younger son, she treats Clive and Jill with naught but thinly veiled contemp.
It’s sort of a weird meeting here because when she approaches Joshua to speak to him she covers her mouth with her hand and I can only assume that’s because he has a cold and she doesn’t want to possibly become ill as well.
And after Clive speaks and she gives him this derisive look, she takes hold of Joshua’s hand and escorts him back to the castle.
Like, why bother covering your mouth to avoid germs when you’re just going to take his hand anyway? Unless after she looked at Clive she really didn’t care at that point and wanted to leave the area, which says a lot of the way she thinks of her eldest son.
I will say Clive seemed a whole lot like Cloud from the Final Fantasy VII Remake after his mom looked at him and he had to look away.
Even the guards think it’s disgusting how she treats her own son with these lines:
“What a way to treat your own flesh and blood.”
“I know… It’s not his fault. Not everyone can be born the Phoenix.”
And thus we know why the mother has a dislike for him. He’s not good enough.
As for Jill, the only reason for Anabella’s dislike that I can see is the fact that she grew up around the two brothers and became Clive’s friend, as well as Joshua’s, but who cares about that fact when she’s still friend with the son with no Phoenix.
Here’s what we have on Jill right now.
Jill Warrick
Born a princess of the Northern Territories, Jill was made a ward of Rosaria after her homeland’s incessant raids were quelled by the duchy. She was raised in Rosalith Castle alongside Clive and Joshua, who came to love her as a sister.
Afterwards, we see Archduke Elwin come into the scene on an armored chocobo. I have to say, armored chocobos look awesome, but I’m not too sure on their fact plate. It just looks off on them, but everything else, damn they stylin’ for war.
Let’s get some information on the father.
Archduke Elwin
Archduke of the Grand Duchy of Rosaria and father of Clive and Joshua. Loved by his people for his steadfast leadership both at home and on the battlefield–which he put to good effect in quelling the rebellious Northern Territories.
During the little reunion, the puppy we saw earlier interrupts it by weaving through the crowd and barking into Clive’s arms. His name is Torgal, and he’s the best boy.
Torgal
Clive’s faithful friend. Brought back from one of the Archduke Elwin’s expeditions to the frozen Northern Territories, where he was found half-starved and shivering in a snowfield, having presumably been separated from his pack. Elwin gifted the puppy to Clive upon his return, and the two became nigh inseparable.
You can tell that Clive’s father loves him a lot more than his mom does. Clive breaks protocol a couple times by calling Elwin “father” instead of “Your Grace,” but the man doesn’t seem to mind, even seeming playful surrounded by guards.
The next scene was a little odd to me, because you’ve got a butterfly that attracts Torgal’s attention and he starts chasing after it to a closed gate.
The camera then pans upward and out, making me think it’s going to keep backing up until we have the whole castle in view, kind of like what they did in Final Fantasy 7, panning the camera out until you see all of the reactors.
But no.
It goes back to the characters and there was no real reason Torgal had to chase the butterfly like that.
No clues as to what’s coming or anything like that.
Instead, we take control of Clive and make our way to the Archduke, and the next mechanic we learn is using your Animal Instinct which is something weird that we have. Basically, if you hit the keybind for it, the camera will point in the direction of where you need to go. It doesn’t route a path for you or anything like that.
The next companion we meet, however, is our very own chocobo named Ambrosia.
Ambrosia
Born in the stables of Rosalith Castle, Ambrosia was chosen by the young Clive Rosfield to be his personal steed and raised by him from a chick. She is a proud bird and deeply loyal to her master–quickly turning her beak upon any but he who should attempt to pet her.
I love that her and our father’s chocobo he rode in on is white and not the usual yellow color. It makes them stand out and they’re kind of prettier.
Also, I can’t imagine being bit by a large bird like this. Ouch.
During the time you run around in the game you can come across items lying around, and all you have to do to pick them up is get close enough to them. No keybind necessary.
Before we head up some steps, we’re interrupted with a cutscene between a slave who’d accidentally dropped an apple down the steps, and a slavemaster that comes around the corner chiding him for it and making sure he knows to bow to us.
Clive sort of takes it in stride, he’s not upset about the apple or the fact that the slave didn’t bow to us. I get the feeling that Clive sees all of this as unnecessary which makes me think his mother would find it absolutely necessary.
I can’t help but wonder while going through this scene if the slavemaster will punish the slave for this sort of interaction behind our back. I didn’t stick around to find out, but that’s what usually happens, even if we weren’t stern about what happened, we did address the slavemaster on the slave’s continued good fortune in serving the duchy.
The next slavemaster we come across says this:
“I’m having my Bearer fill the well, my lord. Best to save what crystals we can, eh?”
We can finally shed some light on people who have that branding on their face that we first saw at the starting section of the game, and with the slaves in the duchy.
Bearer
A person with the power to cast magicks without a crystal. In Valisthea, men and women who awaken as Bearers are enslaved. They are marked with a brand upon their cheek and used as tools–a cheaper alternative to the scarce and precious shards. This system of slavery has persisted for centuries, and has become so ingrained in Valisthean life that few take pity upon the Bearer’s plight, seeing them as less than human.
It’s a little interesting to note that they’re seen as less than human despite them being able to do things that a simple human wouldn’t be able to do–such as the whole manipulating of magicks.
And if that’s the case, why don’t they use their magic to their advantage? Obviously in the long run if you use your magic against someone and you don’t end up killing them and the guards are alerted, they’d probably die, but if they did this and there were fewer Bearers that would mean more magic wasted through crystals.
Do I sense a mutiny of Bearers rising up toward the end of this game, or is that too much wishful thinking on their behalf?
As for the crystals they’re talking about.
Crystal
One of the most valuable materials known to mankind, thanks to its ability to channel ambient aether from the air, allowing those without an innate power to do so to cast magicks–and as most Valistheans cannot live without magic, its supply and distribution is heavily regulated by governments across the Twins. A given shard can only channel a certain amount of aether before it shatters, so the need for new crystals is incessant.
The crystal hanging over the well that the Branded is supposed to be filling is called a Municipal Shard. At first I was a little confused, because I thought the slave was using the crystal to fill the well, but I think he’s doing it himself as he’s supposed to–there just happens to be a shard hanging there for future purposes.
Municipal Shards
Large shards of crystal that are entrusted to towns and cities across Valisthea in order to serve the populace. Where those shards rationed out to individuals might suffice to fill a cup or light an oven, municipal shards fill wells, fire forges, and light the streets of the great cities of the Twins.
So, still crystals, but meant for larger purposes.
