The Final Fantasy 16 demo throws up all sorts of subtle references to the series' past

gamesradar.com:

Final Fantasy 16 demo players are uncovering references to past games in the series, namely FF4 and 10.

Now that everyone's had a few days to properly sleuth through the new Final Fantasy 16 demo, eagle-eyed fans are turning up some references to past games in the series. Or rather, that should be "eagle-eared" fans in the case of the post just below, where the streamer somehow recognizes a damn whistle as a reference to the end of Final Fantasy 10.

I know that whistle....#ff16 #FFXVIDEMO pic.twitter.com/THBFY13TApJune 14, 2023

Then there's some slightly more obvious references you might recognize, like the one below. The pose the intimidating Dragoon is striking in the screenshot below brings to mind Kain Highwind of Final Fantasy 4, posing on his one foot as part of the game's logo.

Then again, there are some that think the Dragoon could be a reference to Final Fantasy 14's Estinien, a source of much fan-thirsting. The Dragoon's English voice sounds pretty similar to Estinien's admittedly, and it wouldn't be unthinkable to imagine Naoki Yoshida sneaking a Final Fantasy 14 reference into the new game.

Now we're not going to completely spoil the next reference, but there are a lot of fans who think one relatively minor character in the demo is voiced by the same actor behind Final Fantasy 14's Urianger. It'll be interesting to see if anyone can pick up on this one, since we can't really say who they are without spoiling their character's actions.

Finally, one big theory points to the battle music being a reference to Final Fantasy 8's 'Don't be Afraid' track. Final Fantasy 16's lead composer is Masayoshi Soken, and the guy loves pulling a homage or two in Final Fantasy 14's excellent soundtrack, so this isn't a great