Final Fantasy 16 - Story & Ending Explained

this video will explain the story of Final Fantasy XV not only will we be talking about Clive's Journey but we'll also be discussing the ending and what it could mean for the future of the series as always think of your screenings for providing me a code early so I could have some time to dissect its narrative also if you like some informative videos like this one feel free to check out my other videos on other games like Horizon forbidden West Elden ring and God of War Ragnarok if you're interested in some story analysis on top of that though feel free to check out the rest of my catalog where we discuss a game story of also critiquing its narrative along the way and lastly spoiler warning ahead I'll be spoiling all the events of the story and we'll also be talking about some late game moments very early on in the video so please finish the game and come back with that out of the way though let's get started so before we delve into the meat of this thing I want to make it clear for the new fans of the series that you don't need to understand the previous games in order to play this one all the Final Fantasy games are independent of one another save for a few titles with dashes or additions in their name like Final Fantasy 10 and its sequel 10-2 while the games do have constant reoccurring characters like chocobos mughals and the summons it's mostly just Final Fantasy stuff and has no connection to the previous gains outside of that on top of that though I also want to take some time to talk about the world of this game usually this kind of thing is only important to those who want all the Nitty Gritty details which is why it's in the Codex but a lot of 16's plots hinge on the relationship between its kingdoms and the state of the world so to begin the world of Final Fantasy is called valessia there are also two known continents within it called storm and Ash storm is where we are for the majority of the game with Ashby in the last location we visit in the main story by saying known though because there seems to be more continents outside of these two as both Sid and Barnabas came to these lands from somewhere else but the game only talks about these two in this world is a variety of Kingdoms to the Northwest is the duchy of Rosaria home to Cloud and his family to the West is the iron Kingdom a brutish clan of Warriors who are the ones that took Jill early on in the game in the south is the dalmekian Republic whose dominant is the Titan Hugo Kuka in the Northeast is the holy Empire of sambrik a Royal Kingdom Under the rule of the emperor whose son Dion is the dominant of Bahamut and finally in the Southeast is the kingdom of welud the only Kingdom left in the continent thanks to the blight whose ruler is King Barnabas a dominant in control of Odin throughout this section I've said the word dominant a lot these are individuals who have the power to wield icons ferocious beasts that have unimaginable amounts of power despite how ass backwards this is though having magic in the world of Final Fantasy XV makes people look at you as less than human magic and valessia is generated from The Ether the essence of the world the mother crystals are the source of the crystals that people use for a variety of things like lighting lamps or lighting their smoke the world has become so dependent on them that without magic the world might delve into chaos thankfully bears exist who are humans that can cast magic without needing a crystal that's why they're used as slaves as king Villages use them for their magical needs they're also branded by a mark on their cheeks that people know that they are bearers the dominants are fortunately treated less poorly but it all depends on where they're from some like Dion and Joshua are seen as royalty in a Beacon of Hope for the lands that they're in but others like the iron Kingdom has taken to enslaving their dominance and abusing their power there is still an underlying problem though and that's the magic itself as this either has to come from somewhere which is what leads us to the blight the blight is this blackish well blight that destroys anything it touches and the more magic the people use the more the land is consumed by this blight which would start the entire plot of the game as Sid believes that the mother crystals are to blame for this this is the basic structure of Valencia there is still a lot more to discuss but we'll get to that in due time I just wanted to cover this part now so you can understand why the world is the way that it is beginning with the main story we start with our main character Clive in the year 860. there are a few scenes before this but we'll come back to them during the story anyway Clive is currently training so he could become a proper first shield Rosaria is the owner of the icon the Phoenix and given that the rossfield family has taken great strides to ensure the Phoenix stays in the bloodline Clive was set to be the next dominant of the Phoenix but it skipped him and went to his brother Joshua now we know why Clive was skipped as he has his own powers but at the time no one knows why which is why some consider him the firstborn failure within his family are his siblings Jill and Josh and his parents Arc Duke ellwin and Empress Annabella now Jill isn't actually his sister but he's always treated her like one Joe is a princess from the Northern Territories but since that land was overcome with blight they needed a new place to live which is when Elwyn took them in and made Jill a ward so while she's not a part of the royal family she's always been around them for years which is how she came to know the rossfield brothers while Elwyn loves his children unconditionally though the same cannot be said for Annabella she believes it's her duty to continue the bloodline to keep the Phoenix in their bloodline which is why she married elwin who is funny enough her cousin she loves Joshua though but doesn't care about Clive too much due to the whole firstborn failure thing since Clive didn't get to Phoenix he decided that the next best thing to do would be to become a first shield which is basically The Bodyguard of the Phoenix his entire purpose is now to make sure Joshua lives which isn't too hard given that they're siblings so he would have done that anyway Clive then goes to his father's quarters as he has a mission for him Rosaria plans to take the fight to the iron Kingdom as they have control of the mother Crystal Drake's breath and they need its power so they could fight back against the blight which is hilarious given that that's the thing that's causing the blight but no one knows that yet while that happens Clive is to handle some reports about goblins nearby and then head to Phoenix gate once he's done this gate is a holy place for Rosaria as according to the legend there is a door only accessible to the Phoenix that allows them to hear the thoughts of their previous users this doesn't seem to be true though as these Gates belong to the fallen and ancient race of beings who have long since passed not much is known about them sadly but their structures still remain regardless this is Clive's first emission so it's important that he succeeds feeds but just in case he's also given two men to help him sir Wade and Sir Tyler once they finish up and arrive at the gate the men cheer and celebrate as they talk about Clive's battle with the marble as they all head to bed the guards discover that they've been attacked by the holy Empire of Sam brick this doesn't seem to be a normal attack though as they seemed to know exactly where the group was that's because Annabella betrayed Rosaria as she determined that Sam brick were the more powerful Kingdom and decided to strike a deal with them Sandra gets the new land of Rosaria and Annabelle gets worn into the royal family thus becoming the Empress of Sam brick while attempting to defend the game from Invaders elwin is killed in front of Joshua who ends up activating his Phoenix powers in order to defend his people Clive attempts to help Joshua before being overcome by some raging force of power which activates his icon Ifrit this is literally impossible as not only are there only eight icons but there is only one of each so having a ninth icon who is also a second icon of fire is unheard of Joshua also has no idea who this icon is and Clive can't control it so Joshua has to defeat Ifrit or he'll die sadly Clive ends up winning and kills his brother although from his perspective he believes that someone else killed him Clive then transforms back into a human and is then taken by the Sam brick Army to become a bearer this then leads us to the present day where Clive and his new group are tasked with killing the dominant Shiva now that he's a bear he's forced to do with the Holy Empire tells him to do or be put to death otherwise currently the iron Kingdom and The dalmekian Republic are fighting a war and Clive and Company are being sent in as a third party to kill the Shiva dominant once they find her though Clive realized that the dominant is Jill after the attack on Phoenix gate she was taken by the iron Kingdom who decided to make a move on Rosaria now that it was weakened and in doing so they took a lot of people including Jill this is when she would awaken her powers and realize that she was the dominant of Shiva Clive obviously refused to kill her which leads to a fight with some of the group before being ambushed by more men of the iron Kingdom before they kill him though he is saved by a man named Sid who not only has their old dog torgel with him but he's also the dominant of Rama Sid used to be a part of the kingdom of willud before he eventually left the kingdom and started his own place called Sid's Hideaway this place is for dominance and bears alike to live out the rest of their lives in safety due to how the rest of the world treats them he was originally here to get Jill but he also took Clive with him seeing as he's now currently a bear once he arrives Clive talks the city about killing the man who killed Joshua during the attack there was a hooded man who appeared and Clive assumes that he was Joshua's killer going off some later dialogue it seems like Clive knew that he killed Joshua but was so traumatized by the experience that he had it buried deep in his mind and convince himself that someone else did it that's why he wants to find this man and Sid might be able to help him as a second dominant of fire was spotted nearby in a remote Village the man seems to have disappeared though as the only person of note here is benedicta someone from the kingdom of walude and the dominant of Garuda the two will end up fighting for a bit but after this we see a cutscene of benedicta torturing the hooded man the thing is though is that this is Joshua the hooded man we saw at the beginning of the game is kind of a red herring as Clive assumes that this is the second dominant to Fire Plus Joshua also wears a hooded robe this man is neither of these things as this is Ultima Ultima is a Godlike entity will talk about later but seeing as he needs Clive to complete his objective it makes sense why he's appearing to watch over him Clive assumes that this person killed Joshua when we know it was clived the whole time and this rumor about a second dominant of fire being seen at the Village was likely just Joshua seeing as he's being kept prisoner by benedicta plus yote is also next to him who we know protects Joshua with her life further confirming that this is Joshua and that the hooded man is just Ultima watching over Clive sitting Clive then appeared to fight benedicta as she is holding this supposed second dominant to fire hostage during this time we start to see some scenes of benedicta and Barnabas one thing I'm still personally confused about is benedicta herself as she seems to like Sid Barnabas and Hugo it's possible that she's just sleeping with whoever's in power but maybe she also likes them while Hugo and Barnabas are hard to pinpoint it seems pretty clear that she likes Sid at one point but felt betrayed at Sid's own betrayal when he decided to leave willuden live on his own Sid was the Lord commander of willoud so his betrayal was quite a heavy blow to their forces which is likely why Barnabas created a harbard to replace him still it seems like Sid and benedicta used to have talks about leaving willud and being free and while Sid upheld his plan it seems like benedicte didn't and decided to stay under the rule of walude and Barnabas this message of servitude vs Free Will and being able to make your own choices regardless of if they're right or wrong is a core part of this game and this is just one of the many references to it Sid wants dominance and bears to be free and not be used by those that would exploit them and while Benedictus seemed to agree she felt that it was her Duty to server Loot and also her Duty as dominant to follow barnabas's orders while she may not be as bad as a bearer You could argue that she is just like them as she is a slave to her Masters benedicta is too far gone to listen to reason so Clive and Sid have to fight her but once she's defeated Clive ends up taking some of her powers by accident Clive may not have the power of the Phoenix but he has the ability to not only conjure Ifrit but also take the powers of other dominance and use them now it doesn't seem to steal them completely nor can Clive transform into them as he's never become anything but if her throughout the rest of the game and some of the dominance like benedicta are still able to fully Prime despite having their powers taken it's a concept that is not fully understood but it seems to differ from person to person as Hugo doesn't seem to be able to become Titan anymore after Clive takes it but Dion could still become Bahamut either way after killing benedicta for real this time Clive finally realized that he was the icon that killed his brother and that the person he was chasing all this time was himself Sid also goes over to benedicta and gives her a charm the two likely shared Sid did care for her regardless of their circumstances in his sadness see that he couldn't save her from her fate we then Circle back to Clive who was in prison possibly for lashing out due to him discovered that he killed his brother Sid doesn't hold it against him though and lets him out once he's stable this whole ordeal is quite the predicament for Clive as he's only stayed alive so he could kill Joshua's killer but now that he's realized who it was he no longer has a purpose in life anymore Sid still has some work for him though as he's been having a man named gav search for the second dominant to fire just to remind you once again Clive originally believed that the hooded man was not only the second dominant to fire but also Joshua's killer the killer of Joshua was obviously Clive as we just learned but that second dominant to fire is Joshua because at the time Clive still thinks he's dead the hooded man who his Ultima has nothing to do with Joshua dying nor being the second dominant of fire but Clive doesn't know that he'll then come back to the Hideaway and get a chance to talk to the greatest character in the game nectar in all seriousness he's actually here to see Jill now that she is awake the two talk for and are very happy to see each other as it's been 13 years since the attack on Phoenix gate and both of them assume the other was dead Jill then becomes a part of the party along with torgle and ends up traveling to Martha's rest Martha's Quest was made to show the player the harsh reality of bears by having the citizens speak to Clive as if he was a slave and having him listen in on a conversation between a recent mother and her friends that talks about her new baby being a bear and how she wants nothing to do with it the mother doesn't even consider the baby her child anymore because it can use magic he'll also explore the nearby Abby said he could see the gruesome Fates that await all bearers using magic enough times caused their hands to become gray and Rocky these seem to spread all across their bodies until they shut down and die and seeing his bears are only used for their magical prowess their Fates are pretty much sealed from the beginning after Martha's rest both Clive and Joe will travel to Phoenix gates in order to find out the truth of what happened there once they arrived they will enter the structure that Joshua was supposed to enter all those years ago inside is a mural of some kind along with Ultima who is still dressed as he hooded man from before when he Reveals His Face though it's shown to be Clive now this isn't some Grand twist that Clive is the bad guy or anything as Ultima is known to transform into other people like how we change from Benedict to Hugo when talking with Barnabas way later in the game Clive then goes into his mind and attempts to defeat Ifrit what he's basically doing is Conquering effort by fighting him when Clive achieves his limit break it says accept the truth which means Clive is not only aware of the fact that he killed Joshua but that it's his sin to Bear he's no longer running away from it anymore and recognize that it's a part of him now following this Clive and Joe will then head back home to The Hideaway while we see the Hugo's getting a box of benedicta inside it's never stated or shown what's in the box but seeing as Hugo says that her body was defiled I'm assuming it's either her head or some body part this is puzzling for a few reasons as apparently the person who delivered it to him was Sid but that doesn't make any sense seeing his benedicta's body was clearly intact after she died plus of all people Sid would not dismember her and deliver it to Hugo so clearly someone is setting them up unless I'm mistaken I don't recall this ever being brought up again so it's ever confirmed who actually did this my guess though is it's either Ultima or Barnabas as we learn later Barnabas served Ultima so the two have a similar goal and I'm assuming that this was used as a way to get Hugo to fight Clive so he could claim another dominant's power as he needs all of them in order for Ultima to fulfill his plan while this happens the Emperor of Sam brick wants to expand his Empire so he plans to take down the crystalline Dominion this is one of the few Nations I didn't talk about earlier as their role isn't widely known the first time we hear of them is right now and we don't learn much about them because the emperor is going to take it over by the time we visit the nation the emperor taking this over though is a problem as all the other nations filed peace treaties with the kingdoms that it could be left out of any wars they fight due to them not owning a dominant the emperor seems to be breaking this treaty which is going to cause some problems for the rest of the world once the two return back Sid it has a conversation with them and this is when Sid tells them that the mother crystals are things that are causing the blight that engulfs valessia sidiga word that the Emperor of Sandberg would be moving his soldiers out of the Nations that they could fight so now would be a perfect time for them to sneak into the kingdom and announce and destroy the mother Crystal Sid wants to create a better world and destroying the crystals is the first step in doing that seeing as they are currently killing the world as we speak once they make it inside the kingdom they see that the minds have been overflooded with ether either is usually a harmless substance but too much of it in a concentrated area can have harmful effects on an individual as it turns them akashic which are these mindless creatures we see throughout the mines dominance embarrassing to be resistant to its effects though given that they can Channel magic naturally without the need of crystals so the party can enter without issue the trio approaches the crystal But realize that the core of the mother crystal is quite difficult to penetrate so Sid primes into Rama and destroys it with his lightning staff as a result though something appears out of a portal next to the crystal called Typhon this creature sadly never gets mentioned again outside of this but going off some late game conversations this seems to be one of ultima's Brothers defending the crystal Ultima will tell us much later that some of his kind were used to create the crystals and keep them working so it's only natural that they are also the Defenders of it too regardless once Clive defeats it Ultima arrives to take him before Sid stops him Ultima also calls him Mythos which is the name Ultima gave to the person that would become his vessel with Ultima repelled for now though the crew is safe except the damage it took is unrepairable and he's going to die it's here where he realized that Clive's idea was right Hideaway shouldn't be a place for Bears to die in peace but rather a place for them to live in peace Sid's way of thinking was yeah well life started off pretty bad but let's end down a good note whereas Clive saw it as the birth of a new life one that's not under anyone's control it's a more positive outlook on the situation and it's what changed Sid's thinking as he dies though he tells Clive to keep going and to rid the world of the crystals that the world can survive that's why Clive takes on the name Sid after this as his name being known as an outlaw with something Sid wanted plus it's also become a title now said the outlaw is no longer a person but a title given to those who uphold the same ideals as the original Sid and that's what Clive is going to do for now before they can leave though Ultima comes back to defeat them before Joshua arrives to seal him inside his body there's another confusing plot as sealing Ultima didn't really do anything seeing his Ultima still exist but there is also an Ultima in Joshua's body which we saw at the end of the game so once again it's my thinking that this is a brother of Ultima ultima's people all share one Consciousness so realistically they are all Ultima if that makes sense that's why they all have the same name and design as their under one mind this is also likely why Ultima uses we instead of i as he's referring to his other Brethren as well regardless torgle Clive and Jill leave while Joshua seals an Ultima inside him while that happens not only is the mother Crystal disappearing but the Hideaway is being attacked by the dalmekians at the order of Hugo thanks to Sid apparently killing benedicta pretty much everyone has been slaughtered but we don't see the end result yet as the game then skips five years in the future we can see that Clive and Jill are deep in the dalmekian territory the fate of the Hideaway is unknown for now but we will eventually go to the new Hideaway and see that most if not all the main members have lived like gav Goods lady Care on and many others Clive is also known as Sid the outlaw meaning that not only is he the new leader of the new Hideaway but that Sid is now known across Valencia as the person who destroyed the Sam brick mother Crystal Clive is here to continue the work of Sid by rescuing some bears but they don't seem too excited about it Sid told Clive they're reading the world of the mother crystals is likely going to make things worse before it gets better and this is an example of that Clive gave Bears a bad name so a lot of them are being treated more harshly plus anywhere that Clive is destruction is soon to follow it really weighs on him and makes him question of what he's doing is right once he returns The Hideaway Vivian his new advisor tells him what occurred in the past few years with the only notable piece of information being that the Emperor of sandbrick did indeed take over the crystalline Dominion the next thing Clive is tasked with doing is going back to Martha's as some of her bearers have been taken and killed this is because Empress Annabella has ordered her Black Knights to kill any impurities in the Rosaria area and by that she means any bears we can already see the her Knights have made quick work of most of the land as they've killed tortured and hung various Bears already along the way they will also come across sir Wade and also Clive's Uncle who was the person they came to meet in the first place as he has lots of money and a few ships that they plan to use as their next plan is to go to the iron Kingdom and destroy their mother Crystal taking down the iron Kingdom's crystal is going to be difficult for Jill at least Phoenix gate forced Clive to relive his test and this excursion is going to force Jill to do the same she's had a pretty miserable life there and witnessed things no one should ever see so doing this is not only going to be very difficult for her but should also cleanse her of the pain that she's had for years assuming they succeed this also deepens the relationship the two have as Joe was there to help Clive relive his past and now Clive is going to do the same for Jill thankfully they do end up succeeding as they make it inside the kingdom and destroy the crystal they also defeat this being called the liquid flame which is likely another one of the Crystal's defense mechanisms Joe will also killed the leader of the church here who is the one that made her do all the Unspeakable things she doesn't wish to talk about during her time here while the group leaves we see Hugo talking to some of the members of the dalmekian council they want to lay claims to the crystalline Dominion but they're struggling to take it over Hugo could help but using Titan would mean that Dion would arrive and use Bahamut and while one of them would eventually win the Dominion would likely be destroyed before that even happened so it would be pointless that's why Hugo has come up with another plan that involves Empress Annabella the dalmekian Republic and the holy Empire of Sandberg have been fighting for quite some time so the two decided to strike a deal so they could stop the unnecessary Bloodshed the empress is to allow Hugo to kill her son if she does that all meccans will stop their Siege Hugo realized that after attacking the Hideaway Sid wasn't there so now he's determined to find and kill him technically he won't find Sid since he's dead but Clive is not only the new Sid but is also the person who actually killed her so it works out anyway sitting next to her though is her new son Olivier who she claims to be the new ruler of Sam brick soon surely after this is when Hugo and his private guard away to rosalith the same place we started the game in an attempt to lure Clive to him it's very clearly a trap but Clive's gonna go anyway because he doesn't want to let him destroy his home as expected though Hugo is one step ahead of him and captures both Clive and Jill thankfully gev who might actually be the best supporting cast member in this game comes who had to break him out of his cell Jill is about to be executed and would have been had it not been for torgel activating some kind of ability and using it to take down the people around her torgle is a frost wolf from the Northern Territories and according to the legend a frost wolf was also the animal that accompanied the original Shiva dominant and years ago which is likely why Jill and torgel get along so well they will then stay behind and defend the door while Clive goes and deals with Hugo who is partially primed during the fight Clive is able to defeat him by cutting his hands off but before he can deliver the killing blow someone comes by to take him this is learned to be harbard from the kingdom of willude now that Hugo's gone though the team goes back to the Hideaway in order to figure out who and where they took Hugo as Clive needs to strike now that he's weak this is where he learns that it was walude who took them and the team assumes that they took him back to the dalmekian crystals that he may rest and gain his powers back around this time Clive will have a quick chat with mid who happens to be Sid's daughter just like her father she is eager to get working on things but she needs Clive's help to set up a workshop here so that she can get started after that's done Clive sets off to dalmekia to defeat Hugo and upon entering the castle we see that Hugo is talking to benedicta but she doesn't seem to be there this is likely Ultima influencing Hugo by making him do what he wants which is to make Hugo fight clubs that he may take his powers again what follows is a very long boss fight that sees the two fight with icons and even though Hugo literally eats a crystal to gain even more power Clive is able to defeat him and take the power of the Titan while also destroying the Kingdom's mother Crystal also mobile combine after the fight to talk to Clive and tell him that he has to serve the role he was made for Clive rejects this which is what leads Ultima to determine that he's going to need to sever the consciousness of the Mind in order to get Clive to obey simply put if he won't come willingly Ultima is going to force him to obey by breaking him after this we get a few more cutscenes one of which is between Harvard and Barnabas most of it is irrelevant except the fact that they both use the word muthos implying that they know of Ultima and his plan ends following this is a conversation with Dion and his lover Terence who are interrupted by one of his men who has a note for him which states that Olivier the new son of Annabella has taken the role of Emperor from Dion the original Emperor is fine with giving it up to his new son as he's going to be advising him until he's ready but the next in line was supposed to be Dion naturally he's pissed at the news but he's got more coming to him as Joshua arrived shortly after Joshua and Dion used to be friends for a time so Dion recognized that this is important as the dominant of the Phoenix wouldn't just stroll into their Camp just to lie to him Joshua then tells Diana about ultiman how he planned to take over the world this Sparks something in Dion's mind as he wonders if it was Ultima influencing the Emperor as his recent Conquest like the attack on the Dominion have been very uncharacteristic of him Joshua came here to hopefully recruit Dion to his cause but he has duties of his own to do as the dominant of Bahamut but his loyalty to the kingdom seems to be wavering thanks to Olivier and Annabella while that happens the crew of Hideaway is forced to do mids bidding as she wants to make a ship called the Enterprise that she needs supplies the problem is that she plans to make it with mithril engines which has been unheard of as of now it's going to take a bit of time to find the supplies and make it while this is really just a glorified fetch Quest you get the sense that mid doesn't want to see her father the plan was to gather some of the old members and then traveled to where the original Hideaway was but mid said that she would only go when she's finished and then lie to she sneaks on a boat after they help her it's not that she doesn't like her dad it's just that she doesn't want to feel sad thinking about him so she's trying to keep herself busy as much as possible even though she ended up leaving though the old crew decides to go anyway as they wanted to tell Sid that Hugo the man who destroyed the original Hideaway is dead Hugo dying is a giant weight lifted off the shoulders of the Hideaway as he caused many problems for the group and while some managed to survive a lot of them died because of him that's why Otto also instructed us to tell the other members before leaving as he sort of lifts the weight off their shoulders too killing Hugo was able to put their comrade souls to rest now that they know that their killer has been officially defeated now that that's taken care of the planets to now destroy the next Crystal which is the one in the crystalline dominion and assuming they succeeded clavel have read all of storm of the mother crystals The World Isn't completely Unbound from their power as the still one in Ash but at least one of the continents would be free of it as they arrived though the city is going up in Flames thanks to the Empire's dragoons and their leader Dion terrorizing the town this connects to a later scene where Dion will meet with his family and says that he plans to save his father he believes that his mind has been corrupted by Annabella and that's why he's Waging War for the sake of it he also attempts to put down Olivier before his father steps in front of his spear despite being a child though he doesn't seem too fazed by it as it seems like Ultima has taken control of the boy which confirms where his father's anger came from as a result Dion lashes out and goes berserk icons are powerful creatures but require immense concentration in order to use them and if too many emotions get in the way they can go berserk we saw this happen with benedicta earlier and now the same is happening to Dion which explains why he's firing at his own people despite originally trying to save them while that happens Clive and Jill attempt to fight through the havoc and end up finding Annabella in her quarters neither is happy to see the other obviously but while arguing Joshua crashes into the room thanks to him being tossed around by Bahamut the family doesn't exactly have any time to make amends not that they wanted to anyway as Bahamut needs to be put down which is why Clive summons effort and fights him Bahamut is very strong though and requires the brothers to combine their powers in order to defeat them they literally take the fight into space itself and even then Dion still requires lots of damage to fully go down somehow though even after being hit by dozens of powerful attacks and averting back to human form in space Dion has enough strength to throw his spear one last time at Olivier killing him for good I think I'm starting to understand how Joshua survive Phoenix gate if Dion tank to blow this hard for the first time though the brothers finally have time to talk now they're not being killed by someone it's good to see the family back together this scene also shows us that Ultima was indeed manipulating Dion as he throws his Spirit who he thinks his ultimate ends up being Olivier while grieving over the death of her son Annabella sees Joshua and kills herself in front of him I don't believe this to be the work of Ultima 2 as he isn't shown in the cutscene so it seems like she was just struggling to come to terms of the fact that her son is actually alive with her dead the group then leaves and takes Dion with them while the mother Crystal crumbles in the background Ultima and retaliation of this act casts a spell called primogenesis which not only blackens the sky but will eventually cause ether floods across all of Alessia which means moroccashics will soon arise this is what Clive will ultimately do battle with next there's numerous places are reporting akashic's attacking their Villages and homes one of them happens to be canvar a place at the very south edge of storm which is also where gav clives Uncle Byron and mid happen to be located despite his injuries Joshua will also be joining Jill and Clive on their Adventure as his assistant yote was told to meet him there so they get separated this is also where we learn how Joshua survived Phoenix gate and that's thanks to yote and her group called The undying the undying is basically a shadow organization within Rosaria whose sole duty is to protect the heir to the throne who in this case would be Joshua according to yote the attackers are not only an army of akashics but there are also a few eluder soldiers here which means Barnabas is planning something we saw something like this a bit earlier when trying to kill Hugo's there was an Army Of Orcs that storm in the castle despite them not even existing in storm so at the time it was assumed that walude had recruited them somehow and now used them in in their army and this new attack Alba confirms this suspicion while the group goes to the city they end up coming across Harvard again whose boss name is sleep near despite dying in this fight Harvard will appear again a bit later this is because the Lord harbored here doesn't technically exist sleep near is the name of Odin's horse within Norse mythology so it's assumed that when Barnabas transforms into Odin Harvard becomes the horse that he rides into battle somehow it seems like Barnabas was able to create harbard and use him to carry out his wishes he also seems to have an army of them as all these guards are also called Sleep near regardless once Clive defeats him the first time Barnabas will arrive shortly after in decimate Clive with a single swing of his blade Jill then decides to hold him off while they all escape with Clive which ends up succeeding but at the cost of Joe being defeated and taken by Barnabas himself Clive then eventually wakes up and decides to take the fight to Barnabas so they can get Joe back who's currently being held captive on his ship according to Barnabas Odin's Blake can cut through anything I didn't think it was literal until now as he literally Parts the entire ocean this causes his Flagship vessel to fall which is a problem for Clive as he's still on it thanks to him rescuing Jill but they seem to be unharmed at least for now anyway as Barnabas is here to fight Clive again who defeats him again Barnabas seems to be doing this in an attempt to prepare Clive to be the perfect vessel Clive is no match for him meaning he isn't ready to be a part of his plan yet so he's fighting him in order to assess his strength either way Clive is injured which is the least of their problems as the water seems to be coming back so Jill attempts to freeze a path out of there the scene then picks up a few hours later and the two are both naked likely because they're drying their clothes thanks to the water but in the meantime they talk about each other and discuss what Barnabas talked about Clive is battling with his mind and ideals as he sees the Power of Ifrit as destructive and feels like he's killed more people than he saved he questions whether or not his purpose was to kill and whether or not what Barnabas wants is the path he should take it's a very deep in personal struggle for Clive as he wants to save everyone but never thinks about saving himself Jill is there to comfort him though and decides to give him the power of shivas that Clive can do it alone she wants Clive to understand that he's not alone in this fight while he does understand that to an extent he definitely seems to put others before himself so she figured that if he's going to keep doing that he should at least have the power to do so Clive also recognizes that the sins and Sorrows he has are a part of him not just his but everyone's Powers he's taken he's basically putting the world on his shoulders and he kind of has to given he's the only one who can truly stop Ultima in his plans the two then do what probably everyone has wanted them to do at this point which is hug and embrace each other under the Moonlight which kind of Harkens back to their last conversation before Phoenix gate which was also under the Moonlight as the sun rises the two wake up and wait for Mid and the crew to come pick them up from the shore once found they make their way back to the Hideaway and come up with a plan for how to take down the last mother Crystal which is currently being guarded by The Fortress of walude the thing is though is that they just end up going back to the same Shore that got picked up from so they travel all the way back there but now with Gavin Joshua accompanying Clive Joshua will then separate from the group as there are various ruins in Ash thanks to the blight and he wonders if some of the specific ruins could give him a clue as to what the mural was about this is when Joshua realizes that the beast in the middle was not some God but rather the transformation of Ifrit and the Phoenix the same one they used against Bahamut earlier blocking their entrance to walude though is a giant wall of magic and the only way for them to cross it is for Barnabas to die so Clive goes alone to deal with him the dichotomy between Clive and Barnabas is actually really interesting is that the embodiments of two opposite Concepts Barnabas is someone who obeys unquestioningly and has no problem submitting themselves to their fate Clive is the complete opposite of that as he sees the value in Free Will and refused to let fate determine what he is meant to become this idea of Free Will is the central reason why he's even doing all this as he wants to give people the freedom to choose bears and dominance are used as tools and are given the same rights as normal humans so he wants to give them back their will he wants people to make decisions because they want to even if that choice is a bad one it's at least the choice they made Barnabas and Ultima would remove the one thing that makes us human enforce the people of Valencia to become mindless husks whose only purpose is to obey orders this is also a major reason why the two fight as it's a way to see whose will is stronger Clive of course comes out on top and defeats Barnabas but also ends up taking his power which is something he didn't seem to want Barnabas during the sea fight said that the icons are made to be used by Clive meaning they were all creators that Clive could take their power Andy unknowingly did just that is now he has every single icon under his belt with Barnabas dead though the wall of magic has been destroyed and now Joshua and Clive can destroy the crystal while this happens we see a cutscene of ultima's Destruction as hundreds of Akash chicks have taken over dalmekia Byron and some of the knights are about to be overrun before Dion and his Knights come to defeat them after being taken back to the Hideaway by Joshua and Clive Diana would eventually wake up again leave a note and then leave The Hideaway as he wanted to revisit the Dominion that he destroyed the answer to have a habit of collapsing as that's exactly what he does the moment he arrives death also seems to hate him as Dion is saved once again but this time by a nearby Village girl I was wondered why the gameplay so much importance on her and I guess this is why as she brings Dion back to her house she is extremely poor but would rather starve than see someone die so she offered to help him no matter what the unsawed this girl's poor living conditions as well as her drive to help people and decided to make the most of it by not only sending Terence to her home with a large bag of Gill but also using the second chance to do what's right which is why he's among the few people who arrive to help Clive and Josh once they become cornered thanks to their help the brothers are able to survive their recent fight they can make their way to the crystal except Ultima is here to ruin the fun as he teleports the two into an alternate Dimension this gives them the opportunity to talk to the brothers about who they are and what he wants Ultima is not a one of a kind as he is a part of a previous civilization that existed eons ago they were the ones who discovered magic and were able to harness its power until the blight came by and destroyed part of their world the surviving members then packed up and left to find a new world to live in which was valessia they traveled here via their lack of a better word ship called origin which is where his brother in our house and is that giant crystal he resurrects out of the ground they then decided to create the mother crystals as a way to harvest vast amounts of ether and also create Humanity as a way for them to find a suitable host to channel this into all this would create a spell that would revive ultima's people so Barnabas was wrong they're not going to create a new world where they serve them Ultima is just doing this to save his people he doesn't care about Humanity furthermore since he created Humanity Ultima is literally their God where Ultima failed though was right after this as he didn't realize that Humanity would commit the greatest sin of all at least to him which was free will he had hoped that they would have all bait unconditionally and serve his needs for Life oddly enough it was actually his fault that this even happened because for a time he did serve as their God but eventually stop listening to The People's cries for guidance as such they needed to turn elsewhere and think for themselves so he was technically the reason Humanity committed the greatest sin all because he saw humans as beneath him and thus decided that their issues are unimportant to him it's kind of ironic in that sense as he shunned the people he needed in order to create the spell and now his Creations are shutting him because of it Ultima that attempts to weaken Clive physically and mentally but he's unable to which is what caused him to leave and release origin from the ground while Clive and Josh would destroy the last Crystal naturally the team goes back to hide away to plan the final attack on Ultima both Clive Joshua and Dion plan to go there and take the fight to him with the hope that they win everyone is worried though as this might be a one-way trip for them but the trio knows the consequences and are willing to sacrifice their life if it means saving the world once they enter origin they meet with Ultima in the three face off against him Clive is wounded in the attack so Dion tells Joshua to save him while Dion takes the brunt of altaba's next attack which kills very surprising I know but Dion is actually dead this time he is content with that though as once again he knew the risks plus he was able to use this second chance for good and is now fully atoned for the sins he committed the brothers then make it to the inner chamber where they find Ultimus people which leads them explaining the second part of his plan which we already went over resulting in one of ultima's Brethren coming out of Joshua's chest some of ultima's people were Guardians and the life force of the crystals which is why we fought a couple of bosses when we attacked them Ultima wanted us to destroy the mother crystals that he could resurrect his people this caused Joshua to cough up blood and eventually succumb to his wounds Clive is naturally torn up over this and tries to talk to him in his last moments while it happens Ultima and his people combine to become Ultimus his people share one Consciousness so they're able to combine and become one which is what his new form is Clive then vows to kill Ultima as payment for taking his brother in the two fight in one of the most stunning Arenas I've ever seen while it is pretty par for the course as far as boss fights go one part that was rather interesting to me was when Clive and Ultima fight using the icon's abilities in Clive wins every time he he is without exaggeration the physical embodiment of the indomitable human spirit and what it means to be human he has not only taken on other people's burdens via their powers but also put the weight of the world on his shoulders he truly believes in what he is fighting for and as a human he's able to continue that Journey the most powerful thing we as humans have is Free Will the ability to make choices regardless of their outcome is what makes us human and Clive shows that not only can you achieve what you want but that Humanity isn't as fickle as Ultima thought we as humans can do anything we set our minds to and we won't stop until we get what we want even when the ice cold cruelty of the world continues to rain down upon us we get back up and try again and again until we succeed that's what Clive represents he's what it means to be human and next day's Undying Will to survive and the faith that his friends and comrades have in him he's able to defeat Ultima these few moments were the two fight using the same icons show how strong Clive's mind is and how dedicated he is to his own cause everyone believes in him and he refuses to let them down whereas Ultima was so wrapped up in his own desires that he could barely see 10 feet in front of him Ultima only cared about himself was one to cast out everyone else in service of that but it backfired as his own Creations have now put a stop to him now that Ultima is dead though Clive decides to fully complete the plan by removing all magic and Magic related abilities from the worlds that everyone is equal and able to think on their own all the mother crystals regular crystals icons ethers and everything else that Ultima created will be gone forever it would be a complete reset of the world and while it would be a rough start it would ultimately end up being a good idea in the long run as everyone would be free Magic has become so important to the world of Alessia that not only are people fighting Wars over this stuff but people are enslaved because of their magical abilities so removing it would help free the world it's the exact kind of world that Sid had envisioned removing all this also means himself though which is why he sacrificed his life for the greater good with the hope that the world can now finally be at peace Clive then lies on a beach staring at the Moon before dying it seems like Jill was able to sense Clive's death which absolutely tears her apart but deep down she knows that his death wasn't in vain as death has given birth to a new and much better world the final scene is a post-credit cutscene of two boys who look eerily similar to Clive and Joshua I don't think there's any relevance to that I just found it to be a very interesting detail their mother talks about magic only existing in fairy tales so it seems like this is a very long time in the future where magic is now just a myth to the people of the world the kids also talk about certain things from the game like magic the icons and much more which connects to what is shown after it seems like the events of the game have been turned into a fairy tale called Final Fantasy the tale seems to be written by Joshua which is a bit odd seeing as he's dead so this either means he lived which isn't exactly out of the realm of possibility given what we've talked about or someone else wrote the story using his name either way the title of the book is rather convenient as the tale of Final Fantasy also close out the story of the latest entry in Final Fantasy now that it's over though we have to ask what's next and thanks to this being a Final Fantasy game there is as likely a chance that this game gets a sequel as there is not to get one every game always seems to end differently 15 didn't get a sequel but got DLC others are like 13 and got a few sequels like 13-2 and lightning returns and then there are some that didn't get any Final Fantasy has always been a bold series that are always willing to start something new even if a sequel for a well-received game would do wonders given other games end though six team will likely not get any new content with the only option being the 15 route where it's episodic content from my perspective of another character which would likely be about Joshua or maybe the other icons outside of that though I can't imagine anything else but I do hope I'm proven wrong as I did thoroughly enjoy this game's story as for the rest of the series while we do have part 2 of the Final Fantasy 7 remake called rebirth dropping at the end of this year which I will most definitely be covering in a video like this and I'm sure 14 is going to continue to have many updates in the future due to its increasing popularity either way that brings us to the end of the video today as always thank you for watching check out my other star related content if you enjoyed this video let me know what you thought about Final Fantasy 16 in the comments down below and thank you to my returning viewers for coming back to another video take care everyone goodbye

Channel: Gingy

Views: 280,728

Keywords: final fantasy 16 gameplay, final fantasy 16 review, final fantasy 16, final fantasy 16 story, final fantasy story explained, final fantasy 16 ending, final fantasy 16 ending explained, gingy, final fantasy story, final fantasy ending, final fantasy 16 clive, final fantasy 16 hooded man, final fantasy 16 joshua, final fantasy

Id: A9DrFitidUo

Length: 39min 18sec (2358 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 25 2023