Everything we learned from Final Fantasy XVI’s new trailer

theverge.com:

Yesterday, Sony and Square Enix blessed us with the biggest chunk of Final Fantasy XVI news yet during the State of Play event. Square Enix released not only a new trailer but also a new blog and updates to the official Final Fantasy XVI website that has established a nice foundation upon which we can start building an idea of what this game is about and what we can expect.

Despite the number, Final Fantasy XVI is not the 16th entry in the series; it’s not even the 16th single-player mainline entry, either (thanks to FFXIII’s sequels and the FFVII Remake). There are a million and a half Final Fantasy games, far too many to count. This is simply the one that comes after the one with Noctis and his bro-dtrip.

Final Fantasy XVI takes place in the realm of Valisthea. Valisthea is home to these huge, magical superstructures called mothercrystals that grant people the power to use magick in their everyday lives. All of the major geopolitical players in Valisthea have organized their government and culture around these crystals, as they’re a major source of power and conflict.

Part and parcel to these political entities are the Dominants, who are people born with the ability to summon and control Eikons — i.e., your typical Final Fantasy summons. There’s even a nifty song at the end of the newest “Dominance” trailer to remind you who all the Eikons are.

Into this miasma of big-ass magical mommy mountains and walking weapons of mass destruction is one Clive Rosefield. He’s the oldest son of the Archduke of Rosaria and exudes the same kind of Final Fantasy main-character energy as Squall Leonhart or Noctis Lucis Caelum. Basically, he’s a sad-looking, emo boy-man who can swing a sword real good. He was expected to inherit the