Final Fantasy 16: The Nations Of Valisthea
Final Fantasy XVI’s decades-spanning story takes protagonist Clive Rosfield all across the continent of Valisthea. With so much space to play in, developer Creative Business Unit III created five main nations at the center of the game's story and wars.
As a primer, let's break down the key things to know about each of these kingdoms and their place in Valisthea as it relates to the heavily protected and highly sought-after Mothercrystals.
I spoke to creative director Kazutoyo Maehiro about Valisthea and its creation, and it all started with a look back at real-world history and a map.
“A lot of times in medieval history, you would have a lot of kingdoms, and we wanted to have kingdoms as well,” Maehiro says. “When we knew we were going to settle on five main nations in Valisthea, having them all be kingdoms means everything’s going to be the same – you’re always going to have a king making all the decisions, and it trickles down from there. And when telling a story, it becomes really one-sided.
“We wanted something that gave the story a little more depth to make it more interesting for players and for us writing it as well. We started out thinking we wanted to do something different for each one, maybe having one be a democracy and another being a kingdom so that we can write from the perspectives of those different governments.”
Maehiro says that after creating the world, CBUIII used the map of Valisthea to design the “givens” of this world. He tells me magic, Mothercrystals, and Eikons are all just givens because they have existed for so long they’re now simply a part of every day. Society doesn’t look at them as these amazing things – these are just the way things are.
“[Then we] think, ‘Okay, if you have these
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