Final Fantasy XVI: The Ending Explained (Spoilers... For When You've Finished!) 

Can I just say, when Clive was holding Joshua and crying at the end, it stunned me in silence. The acting is phenomenal. Then after fighting Ultima when he heals Joshua and has the flashbacks of them as kids, that's what broke me.

The ending made me cry. The combination of Torgal howling and that side quest that showed he had looked for Clive after Phoenix gate pushed a particularly sore button of mine. I’m currently alive because I refuse to put my pupper in the situation that I die and he doesn’t know what happened to me.

Ending made me cry

I do appreciate that the ending for FFXVI is Clive and Joshua riding their technical stepbrother (through their mother marrying the emperor) in the form of bahamut into battle and then the three of them facing down Ultima as their eikons. Three brothers bound by blood and fate to challenge fate with the will to push until the end.

I'm pretty sure it was Clive who wrote the book and used Joshua's name to honor him, because the game starts with Clive (his voice) telling the story of Valisthea and the mother crystals and ends after fighting Ultima (his voice again) saying something like "and this is how our story ends". The game is just Clive telling the whole story of his book.

Whilst the writers almost definitely left things vague to stoke lots of conversation. And both Clive and Joshua have breadcrumbs hinting that they would become writers, I think that two clues suggest it might have been Clive who survived. 1) The title of the book "Final Fantasy", at the point in the story when Clive said the iconic line "The only fantasy here is yours. And we shall be its final witness!", Joshua was already dead and the battle occurred inside Clive's soul. 2) The symbol on the front of the book belongs to the original Cid. When you visit Cid's grave halfway through the game, the same symbol was emblazoned on the rock above. At least in the main story, Joshua never met Cidolfus, whilst Clive has a deep and impressionable bond and took on the same mantle. Everyone's theories are super interesting to read though!

After all that talk of not breaking promises and promising Jill that he would always come back for her, it feels like a stab in the gut from the writers to have Clive not be able to keep that last promise and have Jill just be miserable for the rest of her life. She literally told Clive that he was the half that makes her whole. The ending is hopeful for the world in general but it is hopeless for these two characters I’ve grown to care about.

Very emotional ending to the game. Whether he died or not, I find it comforting Clive got to close his eyes, looking at the new night sky, in the new world he set free from a cruel and uncaring god.

I took it as Joshua and Dion died but Clive was left stranded on a beach somewhere with his hand petrified but it stopping there with Dawn at the end showing that he'll return to Jill to fulfill his promise to her As far as I remember that's the only time Clive has promised he would live which would make his journey come through circle with his goal of living in a world of their choosing

He knows how to craft a character. It was delivered so well that i think it is much better than most of the dramas / films nowadays. This is a legendary piece to me.

My interpretation is that Clive did indeed survive. The Metia Star faded away signifying that Jill needn't wish for Clive's return anymore as now he'll be with her for the rest of their lives. Also Torgals howls werent one of sorrow, howls represent a way for lost ones to find their way home so Torgal would be howling to guide Clive home. Also during sidequests we learn that Clive indeed wanted to write a book when everything was done so I believe that Clive wrote the book using Joshua's name so his legacy would live on similarly to how he took the name of Cid. Another way to see it is that down the line Clive and Jill had a son and named him Joshua and he compiled the story listening to Clive's after all Clive is the narrator.

I really hope Clive did actually make it and survive I just want him and Jill to be happy damn it😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

It could be interpreted in many ways but people seem to forget that Cid basically had most of his arm petrified before his death. It was ailing him probably for years prior. So it is VERY possible that Clive's hand alone could have been petrified and stopped there as magic ceased to exist at that point. Also, there are many things pointing to Clive writing after his journeys. Tomes gives Clive his prized quill pen at the end of his quest line. And there is also a quest line where Clive says once his journeys are over, he may put down his sword and pick up a pen. The game's writers could have planted this into the game to make people think one way but honestly who knows. The writers leave it open-ended for interpretation because it gets people talking about the game / story. It's possible that Joshua could have survived because Clive healed him at the end. It could also be possible that Tomes or the Undying wrote the book in Joshua's name as they would have knowledge of the events due to all their research and Clive / Joshua relaying information along the way.

After looking at the Clive lives/dies camps. I came to the conclusion that Clive did live for one reason: he’s the only one that knows the complete events of his story, and thus was able to write that book. He published the book under Joshua’s name much like how he took up Cid’s name after his passing. And the side quest with harpocrates supports that he eventually put down the sword and picked up the pen. I think this is probably the true ending, but the narrative team decided to present it in a confusing way to allow multiple interpretations.

The quote that most sticks with me during the end game side quests is: "Truth" is dependent on mass belief, this also means that the "Truth" is not immutable and may be changed. Vivian is the one who states this regarding Valisthaen history and I think it was a hidden message from the developers that if the community see it fit that Clive lives then so be it. In essence it means that Clive is not uncategorically dead and that's enough for me.

"Dragoons do not suffer fall damage" 😂😂😂 that part got me. That could potential make so much sense

I literally just finished it like 20 mins ago n I honestly had a tear in my eye at the end. Haha I love final fantasy games n it always leaves me feeling alittle sad finishing one, especially if it's a good story and 16 was an incredible story. Definitely among the best in the series

The ending didn't make me cry, it just made me sad. Sad about Clive's promise to Jill that he will come back for her. I was rooting for the 2 and I was so overwhelmed with joy when they became lovers. I'm just...sad about them... I wish Clive did really comes back to Jill no matter if he's partially crystallize...

I didn't personally interpret the sunrise as hopeful. To me it was a call back to when Jill said only the stars are allowed to see her tears. In this moment she chose to stop crying and stand strong. Perhaps indicating determination that she must be steadfast or at the very least search for Joshua. Also not conviced Dion is dead. No body no kill imo. I want a Jill, Joshua, and Dion DLC.

I actually subscribe to the notion that Clive survived. The reasons being is that the whole final “arc” of side quests places a heavier emphasis on not only legacy, but book writing. Specifically when you help Harpocrates in “A Tail to Tell” Clive and Harpo have a discussion about Clive putting down his sword and picking up the quill to tell the stories he has experienced/learned along his life, to which a live responds positively to this. Moreover, we know Clive has assumed the “identities”/“names” of those deceased who mean a great deal to him before. Given his exposure to the Undying and their dedication to The Phoenix, it seems fitting that, after losing his powers, and if Joshua did die at the end of the game, that Clive would pick up both the quill and Joshua’s name to carry on in his remaining years. This serves a couple of purposes: 1. Clive chronicles the events of this time, the final age of Fantasy and Magic, which during his time with the Undying and Joshua, he is aware of the difficulty of retaining records, important facts, and details from history. 2. He honors Joshua’s memory and sacrifice by making it his “brother”, the Phoenix, the one who maintains these stories through the ages (much like the forever rising Phoenix in its nature). 3. Clive is able to live out his life not only fulfilling his own goals of putting down the sword and writing something that could benefit future generations (an ideal he came to appreciate in his growth throughout FFXVI), but also (narratively speaking) with the rest of his “family” of friends and allies (Gav, Harpo, Mid, and of course Jill) much to what Joshua wanted from Clive close to the end of the game (ceasing taking everything upon himself and doing it all alone, and instead relying on others). 4. Clive is the only character who has complete knowledge of the game’s entire events from start to finish. Joshua did not (Joshua was absent for large chunks of the game, and while he could get help filling the gaps, it makes more sense that Clive could outright complete the story by himself because he was actually there). This also ties back to point 1 above about accuracy in recording events that Clive witnessed throughout the game. This to me is the most complete narrative way to conclude the game (understanding that the developers left the ending ambiguous on purpose so as to let people decide for themselves). It completes many of Clive’s character arcs in a meaningful way, ties together many of the arcs from other Characters, and adds in the hints from the actual quest material in the game. I am hard pressed to believe, at this point Clive merely died and Joshua survived to write it all.

It's also possible that neither brother survived. One of the Undying was tasked with recording Joshua's journey. If I'm not mistaken, the were called the chronicler and they could have written the book for Joshua.

I felt like Joshua consuming ultima was pointless and got him killed.

with how the sidequests playout, I'd say its the last option being clive taking on joshua's name and write the book he tells loresman that after all this is over he wants to drop the sword and take the quill instead, we also have known that the flames of the pheonix can only heal flesh wounds, plus before collapsing joshua completly gave the pheonix to clive as to why would clive take joshua's name, its simply the same reason he took cid's name, to honor their legacy

Well, I’m more inclined to believe he’s alive now. Yoshi P himself might have let a slip of the tongue, and there isn’t any reason for me to think otherwise from this. You can find this quote on plenty of articles, but of course, as of right now there are no plans. However, depending on the overall reception, there’s a possibility. “It’s a one-off game. We’re asking players to pay the full price for this experience, and so we want an experience that’s going to equal the amount of money that players are going to be paying and we want them to have satisfaction equal to what they paid or even more than that. We have no idea if people are going to fall in love with Valisthea and fall in love with Clive’s story and want to see more of the world and more of its characters. So while we always want to consider DLC or spinoffs or those types of things where you can learn more about the game, first we want to see if Valisthea and Clive are really things players around the world want to see more of and then make that decision.”

With all the info from the side quests, I'm believing that Clive survived and took over Joshua's name and wrote Final Fantasy as he's the only one who knew the entire events until the end.

I went with Clive survived, he and Jill had a child and named him Joshua. Then the child, eventually wrote the book after being retold to him. Joshua said Phoenix could heal flesh but a few times it’s been mentioned there’s nothing he could do to those already dead. So at the end Clive was just healing his flesh so he could be pass without the damage Ultima caused to him.

Clive is definitely alive, the game devs gave all the clues throughout the story dialogues and especially in the side quests. Everyone's picking up some of the points here and there but to lay out the 7 points that basically prove Clive survived: 1. The final crying scene directly references the side quest dialogue. When is Jill crying the sun rises and she stops crying. This is after Jill and Clive have told each other how much they mean to one another in one of the side quests. During the side quest she mentioned how she would cry looking up at the stars at night during dark times. She tells him that no matter how sad and dark the night is, the sun will always return at dawn. And that she knows that Clive will always return to her. 2. Biology: Wolves howl in nature to communicate with their pack mates to tell them where they are and to guide them back. When Cid is dying in front of the group, Torguil whimpers to show remorse and sadness as but actually doesn’t howl even after Cid dies. So the fact that Torgal is howling instead of whimpering is indicative of Clive being alive. 3. The last thing Clive tells Jill is no more broken promises. He had promised her he would return to her no matter what. And we all know Clive is a man who honors his word. 4. Clive tells Harpocrates that after his quest/journey is done he will put down the sword and take up the pen 5. In the final fight with ultima at the end. Ultima tells Clive that 'this resistance is a fantasy he clings to'. Clive tells him that the only one living in a fantasy is ultima and that “this would be his final fantasy” (before Clive finally kills him). In the ending post credits scene, the book is titled “Final Fantasy”. The only one to mention that term was Clive in final battle and he was alone there. So no way Joshua would just happen by coincidence to title it the same thing considering it was based off a isolated conversation between ultima and Clive 6. When Cid died, Clive takes up his mantle and go by his name to honor the life he gave and what he stood for. So in the secret ending cutscene with the book author saying Joshua Rosfield, this would make perfect sense for Clive to do in order to honor his brothers memory. 7. If you 100% the game, the secret ending also has one dialogue line during the final fantasy book scene of audio of Clive giving the final narration saying “and that was the end of the journey”. Which is confirmation by itself that Clive lived to chronicle the story.

I was gutted thinking about Clive succumbing to the curse. That means he suffered horrible agony in his last moments…and alone😢

People in these comments are failing to acknowledge that we don’t actually know the specific contents of the Final Fantasy book. All we know about it, based on the children playing, is that it references epic tales of Phoenix, Ifrit, and Bahamut. Everyone is just assuming that it tells the entire story in detail from Clive’s perspective, when it’s entirely possible that it’s simply Joshua recounting his own version of the story from his perspective. You guys, everything that the game is doing is heavily implying that Clive died. And it falls in line with the game thematically, too. Clive chose to derail the fate set by Ultima, so that he could die on his own terms. Which, in turn, created a world where everyone could live and die on their own terms. The point is not to pander to the happy ending we all want; the point is to give us something more profound and powerful than that. It wants us to accept his sacrifice, and it wants us to appreciate Clive as a true hero in every sense of the word. I want my boy to be happy with his love for the rest of his days too, y’all. But that’s not the kind of story the writers are trying to tell; and I think that’s for the better.

There are many points that can say both, but one that can't be overlooked is that Clive is telling the story from start to finish, besides the numerous symbolism that Metia and Jill's pray give to the moon and the sun meaning his return too. Anyway, there's probably not a right answer until the producers say otherwise, just stay with how you want it to be from your beliefs. I prefer to believe everyone survived with Clive and Jill getting their so deserved happy ending 😅, but there are strong evidences to Clive being alive, which cannot be said to Joshua beside the books name and Clive healing his 'dead' body, and for Dion, he's just the fucking Bahamut, survived worst even against Ifrit reborn and could control his eikon after losing his ether by Clive, don't think he would die after just one kamehameha from Ultima.

Clive and Joshua deserved better endings. Even Dion could survive

Given Clives promises to Jill, Harpoceates gift and hopes for Clive after Origin and admittedly my own hopes for the characters my interpretation of the ending is that it was Clive who survived and wrote Final Fantasy perhaps using his brothers name as a pseudonym so that it would be known by those in future generations.

If I recall correctly, we only ever saw Clive's left hand turn to stone. There is a chance that the blight could have ended shortly after Origin's demise, leaving Clive alive only with his left hand turned to stone. The way he sheathes/unsheathes Invictus indicates he is a righty, so what if he ended up writing the book with his right hand, the one unclaimed by the blight?

I kind of like that they left it up to interpretation as to who survived and who died. You can easily make a case for either, and I suppose only the dev team knows the "true" answer. I'd like to believe that both Clive and Joshua were able to survive, and write "Final Fantasy" together. It would also be a nice touch if the family we see at the end were the descendants of Clive and Jill. Lots to speculate. The team did a phenomenal job with this game and I hope this sets the course for more great Final Fantasy games.

I bawled my eyes out during the end credits. I really really do hope all three of them survived and was able to come back. It was heartbreaking to see Jill and Torgal at the ending.

Another possible clue that Clive survived to tell the tale is the epic line during the final boss: "The only FANTASY here is yours. And we shall be its FINAL witness." Hence probably why the book is titled Final Fantasy which is the thing that only Clive knows. Regardless, that line lives rent free in my head.

As much i really enjoyed the game overall, does anyone else feel like Jill kinda got sidelined at the end? As much as it is a story about Clive and Joshua, Jill is a constant companion and practically family. And while i like that Dion got some redemption, I cant believe that he got to go to the final battle but Jill didn't... Also, nitpicking, but damn I was really hoping they'd convert the Enterprise into an airship to get to Origin. Silly, maybe, but then Cid's and Mid's creation could literally carry them all towards their future.

If you assume that the book "Final Fantasy by Joshua Rosfield" depicts the games' events, then only Clive could have written it. Only Clive can tell about the fights with Typhon, Titan, Ifrit, Ultima, Odin etc. Only Clive knows what happened at the beach with Jill or about his adventures with Cid in Lostwood. Clive's the only one who's been present for all the adventures (including side quest). Couple that with the fact that Clive is narrating the beginning and ending (Our story starts.../Thus our story ends) and you know Clive must've lived. But again, only if you assume the Book contents reflect the ingame events. Also the platinum trophy is called "Tje Chronicler". There are also the Jill and Harpocrates sidequests that hint at Clives survival.

Between the ambiguous ending, the time skips, and the unresolved threads of certain main and side characters and regions in the world, I think FF16 has room for expanded stories later down the line whether as DLC or other non video game media.

Leaving Clive, Joshua and Dion's endings so ambiguous was a bad idea.

I knew something bad was going to happen when everyone showed up the hideaway before the party went to origin, and that scene of Clive telling everyone goodbye, you just felt the foreshadowing of his death coming 😢

Well, the historian told Clive he should write a book of his adventures. If you do the side quests. So theory no.3 is the more likely scenario. Clive wrote it under his Brothers name

Clive totally lived. The curse doesn't even spread past his wrist in the scene, and what looks like his hair turning to stone is just the moonlight reflecting. Hell you can even see him crack a smile and laugh a little, probably because he just realized that he killed God, resurrected Joshua, and fixed the planet and the only thing he lost for it was his left hand. Meanwhile, Jill had a breakdown because the love of her life is fighting with the weight of the world on his shoulders and she's powerless to do anything but wait, so when there's even the vaguest sign something is wrong her anxiety takes over and she loses it, but when she sees the sun she remembers she doesn't actually know anything bad has happened and that Clive has always come back to her, like the dawn. Torgal isn't howling in mourning he's howling to call Clive home because he was worried about him too and is ready for all this to be over just like everyone else. I think we're meant to be in a similar place as Jill in that we just need to have a little faith in Clive. I think though more than anything it's simply an unstaisfying ending for Clive to die like that after everything. Of course, they left it open ended so you could decide for yourself what kind of ending you feel is right, arguably you could say he deserves to die after all the killing he's done throughout his life, or maybe the times ahead are harsher than he deserves and death is a mercy. Personally though I believe tragic endings don't suit the franchise and that a tragic ending defeats the message of the story, that the future belongs to the people who see beyond themselves and consider others, even strangers. No one embodies this idea better than Clive, and I like to think things worked out just fine for him, albeit he's probably living out his days as a retired war veteran now while everyone else rebuilds society.

Beautiful, beautiful game. 😍 Thank you so much for the breakdown! The post credit scene in the future really reminds me of Nanaki and his children from Final Fantasy VII '500 years in the future'. Such a lovely throwback! 😍😍 ❤❤

Neither Clive nor Joshua made it. Just because a character says or does something it does not mean it will become a reality...

We fight, survive ,and endure. If the player pays attention to any of the themes the game visits, its easy to assume that Clive lives. The final quest for harpocrates and Jill also confirms this.

During that entire 3v1 situation it freaking dawned to me (well it came to me earlier when Anabella married the Emperor) that it wasn't just three heroes willing to sacrifice everything for their world, but freaking 3 brothers, Clive, Joshua and Dion, the ending made me like super sad, but it was just so freaking incredible, Clive has taken the number 1 spot on my best FF Protagonist list and rightly so

Square did a damn good job with this game. I haven’t fallen in love with their characters since FFIX and so this ending hit me pretty hard.

Even after finishing the game, not only did the ending leave me somewhat torn, but there still exists too many questions that haven’t been concluded: Assuming those who watched this video also finished the game, read further. • Leviathan the Lost Eikon, meaning there exists other Eikons we haven’t seen yet. Barnabas’ profile also states that Odin, is the first of his kind of any documented Eikon • To add to that, we acquire a whetstone for Blackthorne from a distant land not of Valisthea. What, and who else is out there? • At The Dim, there is a secondary entrance leading to the Apodytory of Phoenix Gate. Why does it exist? • The medicine girl that healed Dion was shown many times. Aside from that, does she play a significant role? • The same could be said about Tyler’s character profile viewed via Vivian. Any character that has succumbed to death has their profile muted in black and white, but his remains colored Basically, I’m just begging for DLC to expand on these details and others I can’t think of at the moment. Too many lovable characters with too many loose ends left me feeling a bit empty. It’s a current love/hate relationship with this game, but leaning heavily on the former lol

By the way, Jill smiling at the end with the sun rising is not because she believed that Clive survived, but because during a side quest she told Clive that no matter how dark the night, the dawn will always come and she believes this will carry her forward. She merely was reminded of her promise to Clive that she will continue on.

Just finished the game tonight... Eyes are still really puffy. I could use a hug.

I really wanted a much more fleshed out and long rewarding ending considering how much story and cutscenes were already in the game

I wished they made a happier ending to the story exclusively for beating the FF Mode. That way it feels like the second tougher playthrough would bring its own reward story-wise, as oppose to running the sadness all over again.

Such a beautiful game. CID’s death, the music. Made me tear up. The voice acting was impeccable. Torgal was the best boy. The ending tore me up. Such a great experience

Upon seeing Ultima, Cid says "I know what you are!". And they never followed up on that as far as I know. I had hoped the ending would answer how Cid knew of Ultima before anyone else.

I will like to believe that Joshua survived and wrote the book to honor the journey of his brother, saying that... This game totally broke me... I was a sobbing mess when I finished it, and I am still sad :(... But now playing in FF mode hehe

The open ending allows us all to think up the ending together. I'd argue Vivienne's side quest with relation to the book you need to find has some of the most important dialogue in the whole game. It is stated that history and the "Truth" is "Determined by the the view the masses adhere to most" Any knowledge that may be seen as too damning is locked away, so that the masses never doubt the truth that is currently accepted. That in itself can be taken literally by the ending. We are shown only what we are allowed to see, for to be shown the whole truth, would be too damning. By that token, the same can be said for the scene when the book is revealed. Either Clive survived and penned the book himself, using Joshua's name as he used Cid's name. Or Joshua was revived using Ultima's Power and was able to write the book himself. Either way, as the content are regarded as fiction, it was never locked away. The games subject matter is very meta in how it handles certain things. The side quests allude to the fact that Clive will survive. The entire premise of Clive's story is that he keeps his promises. He failed to save Joshua in the beginning, however he was able to keep his promise to destroy the person who "Killed" him. Clive overcame the person he was and became someone better. That is the purpose of Clive's story. If Clive died, then everything in his development was actually moot, and the same can be said for Joshua, Dion, Jill etc. They fought so that they could "Live and die by their own terms" If Clive, Joshua and Dion did indeed die during their fight with Ultima, then I would argue that would be a terrible way to end their story. They wanted to "Live and Die by their own terms" The reflection of the ideal is Cid, who on the other hand "Died on his own terms"

I feel like everyone who thinks he died are the ones who skipped all of the side quests, he absolutely survived, the game gives you tons of context clues, you just have to pay attention and look for it.

Clive survived and named his son Joshua. Joshua grew up with these stories and wrote em down. Easy. It could also work if he didn't survive and Joshua is still the name of he and Jill's son from that night on the beach.

I think you missed the biggest theory here: Clive penned the book with accreditation to his brother, possibly due to his journal that Jote kept. Also, you missed the side quest point where Loresman Harpocrates rewarded Clive with his quill, to sometime put down his sword and pick up the pen, of which Clive stated that he had plenty to write about.

It's worth mentioning that Clive is the only possible person who would / could think to title a book "Final Fantasy"

The ending truly is ambiguous. Clive might be dead, or he might be alive. Maybe he revived Joshua, or maybe he just healed the injuries Joshua had taken out of respect. It seems to be truly left to the individual how they interpret the ending

I don't think we have to worry about Clive's hand. Cid had petrification up his arm and he was still active, plus with the new focus on medicine and engineering, someone is bound to figure out how to use Gold Needles. They mention a few times that Dominants can sense each other's aether so Jill was probably sad that she couldn't sense Clive and Joshua anymore. However, with Origin destroyed there's probably no aether left so it's as if they lost cell reception. It'd also be weird for Clive to use the power of Phoenix to NOT do the one thing that Phoenix does in every game. If Clive can survive that fall, then so can the boys with wings. We don't see them again because they no longer have to shape history. They're *free from their fate.*

The game literally starts with a voiceover of Clive saying “…and thus our story begins” and ends with him saying “and thus our story ends” so I take that to mean he survived and is reading this book to someone.

I want to believe that Clive survived but another option I don't see being brought up is that maybe Jill and Clive were more than a little intimate on the beach that one night and she named their child Joshua in memory of the brothers and after hearing all the stories from Jill, Gav, and the rest of the crew his whole life he wrote the book honoring his father, uncle, and all the others who fought for their freedom. Personally, I want a happier ending so I'm subscribing to the idea that Clive survived but I don't see why this couldn't be an option.

Clive didn’t die ,he is the narrator at the start of the game. Side quest showed that he was interested in writing a book when Hypocrates gave him a quil.

The ending is really well made, it makes you question it, making theories that could actually be right. My take is Clive survived and wrote the book in Joshua's name. The flashbacks at the end of him and his brother since the day of his birth, shows his undying love for him and took up his name like how he did with Cid. In one of the sidequests, he mentions to Harpocrates that he would one day give up his sword and take up a pen. In the end scene at the beach, only one hand was petrified, I'd like to think it stopped there as the Star dimmed signalling all Magics has disappeared. Jill also says, in the final moments of the game, that Clive always returns to her one way or another. I'd like to think he spent his life with Jill and wrote the book while they were together to honor his brother. Torgal howling doesnt necessarily mean Clive died but instead, is telling him to come home. I've been thinking about this ending for a while as I finished the game a few days ago and I'm happy with my theory and the conclusion. It's just a shame we don'te get any solid proof of what happens to who really, but that wouldn't make a good story would it? :D

Part of my issue with this ending is that by getting rid of magic and ensuring there were no dominants and no bearers, this makes everyone the exact same and negates much of the struggles the bearers faced throughout the game. It feels like the message is "if everyone were the exact same, we would not face these kinds of injustices", which leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because people are inherently different. It's like saying "well, if they weren't bearers/dominants, they wouldn't have been treated the way they have," which while true is besides the point. It also defeats the purpose of certain side quests, like the ones in Dalimil, where L'ubor - a bearer - becomes the mayor, on the caveat that the citizens treat bearers as they would treat regular people. Now they don't have to hold up that part of the bargain, because no one is a bearer anymore. It's the same reason why I despised the Synthesis ending from Mass Effect 3. It suggests that organics and synthetics could never ever coexist, despite Shepard having proven that they can (specifically with the events of Rannoch).

It was a beautiful game.

There is enough evidence to support a Clive lives interpretation, and his arc makes much more sense when you interpret that way.

Torn on interpretations. That quill and the book though. I dont think Clive was alone on that beach. Cheesey as it may sound. He and Jill gazed upon the moon together, even if they were apart. Making good on that final promise.

Finished last night after playing for a week straight and i had to sit with it.

I kinda felt like that book ending made me believe the story we played was that of the imagination of those kids reading the book, like it's their Lord of the Rings. The fact the mother plays it off as silly I don't believe a world altering moment would cease to be real and turn into fantasy and be dismissed, but who knows it could have been as we don't know how long has passed but all the technological advances made in the Hideaway, they're still using flint to light a fire after all that time had passed? I would happily like to be wrong, but that just makes sense in my head to explain it all

Comment section: they deserved better endings. Me: so do Guts and Casca, but we know how stories of tragedy play out.

This game DEVASTATED me. It's been days and I'm still not over it and not ready to start NG+ yet

Joshua says, and clive when visiting cid's grave that the phoenix cannot ressurect someone, so clive at the end just healed he's' corpse and saw that he did not return. Harpocrates at one point compares joshua to moss the chronicler but also gives clive a feather so that he would write a book telling he's' journey, so clive then wrote the book and honored his brother as the author so that he could be marked as the second moss the chronicler. Clive said that he would end all magic and curse, i believe his arm turned into stone but it stopped because there was no more aether inside him and the curse was removed, so he just lost his arm. On jill's sidequests she says that the sunrise represents clive returning to her, and thats why she has hope he's alive after seeing the sunrise. Also on the book, joshua's name there can also represent how clive continued cid legacy, and so he did the same to his brother marking him in history. The book's named "Final Fantasy" can only be explained by what Ultima said to clive at the final battle when joshua was already dead, that the world clive dreamed of was nothing but a fantasy, and because clive destroyed all source of power, the world could never be changed again, therefore the new world was the FINAL FANTASY.

As a younger brother with an older sibling who looked out for me during my formative years, parts of this game absolutely destroyed me emotionally. 10/10.

I might be wrong but ain't there a possibility that Clive wasn't able to withstand Ultima's power because he was missing an Eikon ? I mean, Barnabas told him he was growing stronger and more suited to become the vessel of his master with every Eikon he absorbed yet he didn't get the eighth one, "Leviathan the lost". I feel like there's so many more stories they could I've told about this world and I would've been totally on board for a DLC/follow up about old man Clive, Jill and eventually their child living some adventures on another continent. But I don't suppose it can happen now that magic was destroyed, anyway.😟

After 15 and 16 consecutively, I think it's time they go back to giving a FF game a neutral ending if a happy one is too much because my god, all that progression in Clive's relationship with his companions most especially Jill only for it to end like the way it did. Oddly enough, this actually made me appreciate FFXII a bit more, in that it wasn't really trying to tell a gripping story. It was just fun gameplay and then it ended, move on to the next one.

If Clive didn't survive then the entire point of his arc to recognize that he has value to others and that he needs to live for them is the biggest waste of time and effort and storytelling.

Square wrote the hell out of this story! I REALLY loved it!! I swear, this games story was so deep, sad and scary, at times, I had to remind myself I was playing a Final Fantasy game. THAT'S how good it is! As much as I loved the story and felt it was all connected well. I hope Square is planning to do some more DLC storylines. Nothing major, but maybe on a few things. Who knows, maybe side storylines between characters like Joshua, Jill and Cid. Showing Joshua and Jill's prospective's before they met Clive again, and before Cid met him for the first time. Yes, I know Square said Clive was going to be the only playable character. But in terms of DLC, I wouldn't mind the others being playable. Great review on the story, guys!!! I'm about to play it all over again on Final Fantasy mode!!!

The ending neither told if Clive survived/returned. It was on us to decide on what ending we think happened. Contradicting to some FF series endings with conclusions like in 8 and 9 that the main protagonist managed to return or in 10 that the main hero ended it all along his existence.

I love how the ending is so open to interpretation, personally, I like to think that Jill fears Clive is dead at first but then realizes he may have survived because Metia would fade with the destruction of magic. That doesn’t necessarily mean Clive is dead. I also like to think Clive successfully resurrected Joshua. I am choosing to interpret it as happily as possible because the thought of Torgal and Jill losing clove forever is just too much to bear. 😂

One piece of lore that had me curious is Joshua mentions "Leviathan the Lost" unless that's explained in a side quest I missed, that's really interesting that there was once an Eikon of water in this world

I've read what players all over the world think about the ending, and most players still want Clive alive. From a business point of view, it is not a good thing to fight against the majority of TAs. It just ruins everyone's mood. At least I don't want to feel anxious and depressed every time I touch Final Fantasy, it's too tiring. If you think that Clive, during the course of the plot, was constantly told by his partners to "cherish yourself" and at the end of the story, multiple important side missions appeared, and the content of the missions were all important hints and promises, if this is the death flag , that is too superficial. This does not mean that I am unwilling to accept the ending of heroic sacrifice, but that the results of the entire game experience and theme, as well as the official content provided to you, should be positive rather than poignant for the sake of poignancy The production team is generally very smart, extending the theme of "finding hope" from the inside of the game to outside the game, we tried to prove the result of Clive's survival through a lot of analysis, comparison, discussion, and so on. Are we "looking for hope"?

People's ambiguity of Clive's fate (dead or alive) funnily reminds me of people's thoughts regarding Zenos at the end of FFXIV's Endwalker.

See personally I don’t think Clive died. The star burning out could be that her prayer wasn’t answered, but to me, it signifies that she no longer NEEDS to pray. We do see Clive’s hand become stone, but Cid’s hand turned stone as well all the way up to his arm and he was fine. We also see Jill stop crying once Torgal howls - and howling for wolves is a means for them to guide their pack. So I think Torgal could still sense Clive is alive, since he howled, and not whimpered as he did when Cid died and was guiding Clive home. We also see the book Final Fantasy written by Joshua Rosfield, but Joshua wasn’t around to see how it ended; so I think Clive wrote the book with Joshua’s namesake so Joshua’s name could live on through history, the same way he did Cid. And to top it off, Clive is the one who ended the narration. There are a lot more nods to Clive being ALIVE moreso than dead. Since the ending is so open to interpretation, I’m going to go on believing he and Jill and Torgal lived happily ever after.

- When all magic vanishes Jill loses the ability to sense Clive. She is shocked and assumes he died. - Clive loses his arm/hand but survives. He eventually returns to his friends. - Clive told Joshua that he might write a book when everything's over. We do know that his writing hand wasn't petrified. Like with Cid, Clive takes Joshua's name and writes the book Final Fanatsy to honor and continue his legacy. I know it's a very common headcanon and I love it.

I kinda laugh at the Dragoon don't take fall damage part lol. But this video is great. I hope everyone enjoyed FFXVI because I did.

I want to know what happened to Gav, Uncle Byron, and Mid. I grew a lot of attachment to the cast in this game. Something that I never got out of FFXV.

I just wish there will be confirmation for the ending in future DLC or just The Developers giving a resolution

The Phoenix can mend the flesh only. This was pointed out by Joshua. So I doubt he survived when Clive tried to revive him. Leading me to belive that Clive is the author .

Given many of the story's themes, you would think Clive lived. It makes the most sense. That said, the devs have made it vague so we can form our own opinions/interpretations. Maybe they will state their own thoughts on the matter, or we will get a sequel/dlc that gives an answer, in the future.

I knew from the way they were all crying before you leave for Origin that nobody was making it back 😭😭 I really hope I’m wrong and that Clive survived. I did every side quest and it seems like he’s the only one who could’ve written that book.

thank you for your ending analysis❤ it enabled me to let go of the remaining tears i was holding onto at the ending..

Once again, an excellent vid. Insightful

I believe he did survive, but he ended becoming disabled from his left hand, which he is no longer connected to the Eikons and able to summon them. The more I watch it. The more I am connected to my brain injury and how my cest form over time, which my left side became physically disabled. In a way, Clive is no different. Yet there are many scenarios as a conclusion for the ending. There is no right or wrong answer because the ending can be based on our own personal reflection.

I’m team they all lived!!! Clive Joshua and dion. But for real I think signs point to Clive being alive but for sure but let me live my fantasy. I cried so many times in this game. Hats off to the writers and voice acting.

I didn't view Clive healing Joshua as an attempt to revive him. But rather mend his broken body out of respect.

Wasn't too psyched for this game given Square's recent track history but now I am pretty intrigued.