Final Fantasy XVI Trailer Analysis & Theory Crafting 

phoenix represents the life of fire while ifrit is the fire that destroys.

This Analysis Brought To You By: "This is an M-Rated Final Fantasy game"

I cant get enough FFXVI, i have been watching reactions and analysis videos all day..

I know the concept of FF16 now. "Long ago, the Eikons lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Eikon attacked."

When they say "The legacy of the crystals have shaped our history for long enough". A part of me can't help but think that's a nod to how the Fabula Nova Crystallis era is basically over.

So from what i gathered you play as the "Shield" Vassal of Joshua the son of the arch duke and holder to the Eikon Phoenix. At some point Joshua is attacked by someone and they turn into Ifrit, this is acknowledged by the guard who says "it's like a second Eikon of fire which is impossible" implying that there should only by one Eikon per element probably tying to each kingdom's mother crystal. Ifrit kills phoenix / Joshua causing the hero to vow vengeance upon the killer. At the end we see the hero as a young man and then older, this face to face cut was done to show they are the same person, same hair and eye colour along with same face shape and the same earring. That being said the Hero seems to become a mercenary on a revenge quest. When he is shown older he fights using earth powers the giant fists and wind powers the giant green claws, most likely relating to the Eikons Titan and Garuda. That's all i got so far. Thank you for reading my ted talk.

where eng says he is Joshua's shield, japanese text he explicitly states he is a knight

"A second eikon of fire...impossible" in this context would elude that Joshua should not have 2 Eikons of the same element as a dominant of fire. Ifrit's dominant might be possessing Joshua's body, making Joshua "sleep". The antagonist that protag-kun wants to kill is Joshua possessed, Joshua in his last ditch effort to his friend and shield likely granted Pheonix to protag-kun. Protag-kun will spend his life taking revenge over Joshua or even attempts to save him from "hell fire".

14:15 Actually there's a plot point in FFXIV where the realm you travel to has been plagued by light so much that it can actually infect people and turn them into these light monsters (hence the name "Shadowbringers")

So apparently the dialogue in the Japanese trailer is somewhat different? Supposedly the line "Joshua! Wake Up!" is something like "Stop! He's my brother!" in Japanese. That makes me think Joshua & Protag may be half-siblings w/ Protag being a bastard son of the Archduke. Which also makes what happens even sadder as Protag might have to watch his little brother get torn apart :(

This game seems to be heavily inspired by real medieval Europe: There are the crusaders, there is a plague and Joshua has crosses in his cloth.

13:16 One thing that Yoshida and the FFXIV team have become experts at is deceptions like this in their trailers, where they show characters saying things or referencing things while superposing with elements that seem related but you realize were totally different things in the actual game, so I would be wary to be certain about anything at this point.

Cool analysis and excellent video my guy. The only other things I noticed: -At the beginning, a face tattoo soldier says "THEY've summoned their Eikon", referencing Titan, implying the tattoo group is on neither side, and just there to kill Shiva's Dominant. -The dragoon the protagonist fights has a symbol on his cape that looks bird/phoenix like. Crazy Theory: I don't think that's a younger & older version of the protagonist. I think they're two different people, possibly twins? This trailer mentions twins twice. Once during a political discussion (battle of the TWIN realms) and the soldier remarking on ANOTHER fire Eikon (another of the same, a fire "TWIN" if you will). Also, if you've seen real life twins, while they do share the same general face "shape", they do have differences in features. If they have different diets, healthcare, and grew up in different environments, twins can actually look pretty different (including one twin looking older than the other). Just my two gil. Once again, you're awesome!! :D

26:39 What I think happens in that scene, judging by the japanese lines ""Stop, please stop!! He's my younger brother!!" is that Ifrit is actually beating the crap out of Phoenix, so Joshua is losing. That's why in english the voice screams "Please, Joshua! Wake up!" maybe he's unconscious. Also am I the only one who sees a bit of resemblance between this Shiva and the girl with gray hair? xD I feel like they look similar, especially if it's after a timeskip. The age difference between Joshua and this girl seems to be bigger than between Noctis and Luna, if anything this girl looks around the age of younger MC.

I think FFXVI logo represent: + Age of Fire, Fire VS Fire + Phoenix VS Ifrit, + Red Fire VS Blue Fire + Phoenix symbol: Dormant/Protect/Warm/Rebirth + Ifrit symbol: Rage/Attack/Cold/Death + Now there might some confusion which characters have which eikon + Shiva is also an eikon & likely from another warring kingdom, let's called it S kingdom. + Might be because of editing tricks, some says MC is the one with Phoenix, while blonde boi Joshua is the one with Ifrit. Although I do believe Joshua is the phoenix's "dominant" while MC is Ifrit's "dominant" based on its portrayal & the eikon's symbolism. + It might be also that our MC gifted some powers of phoenix while Ifrit's dominant is entirely different character. + What's clear here, there seems to be a belief that each elements represent by one eikon, so this makes having 2 eikons of fire rather extraordinary. Now, as for the combat, I actually really love if the devs actually go full hybrid hardcore action RPG instead wishy washy like FFXV & FFVIIR. The slight concern with this is if player will get companions/party or not. It could still work just fine, but so far only 4 games that I think have hardcore action RPG with companion done right: NieR Automata, Astral Chain, Ys VIII, & Ys IX. Nope, not even Dragon's Dogma have that balance with combo & party combat right imo. I am also curious if we might actually get mounting system at this point because some of the monsters looks pretty big too

Can't wait for this analysis!

The two fire eikons could also represent the two types of crystals in ff lore. With Phoenix representing the light crystals and Ifrit representing the dark crystals. Which would also make Joshua holding both Ifrit and Phoenix seemingly impossible.

Protag started as Joshua's shield. Joshua witnesses his father being murdered and transforms into Ifrit who goes on to massacre people in the kingdom and possibly kill or severely injure Phoenix. Protag narrowly survives the massacre. Over time he seeks power since he has sworn to himself to slay Ifrit by any means. Something like that. But that's probably only the initial motivation to plunge protag further into a greater story.

"he's quite a handsome fellow" 😌✨💞

That character definitely is super hot even older, just so handsome and I like his outfit also. I love the look of the chocobos.

12:22 One thing I find interesting: ever since Cloud, most FF protagonists have been spiky-haired and armed with giant swords. With this guy, however, they've dialed it back a lot; his hair isn't spiky, and the sword is actually fairly reasonable; it's a bit wide, but nowhere near as wide as even Noctis' swords in FFXV.

Drink every time he says "M-rated".

Summons is gonna be the main highlight of this game.

one thing I wanna point out is, I think that those marks could be slave brands. he says 'our kind' which to me implied that they were following orders as some sort of subservient role, and he has it when he's supposed to be older so I think his kingdom loses and they get the Mark's

I just realised that that little girl could be Shiva’s dominant

As a massive Vagrant Story fan, I've noticed several interesting nods to that game in this trailer. Whether there is any connection at all.. who knows. But: 1. There is also a character named Joshua in Vagrant Story who is also a young boy in that game, and the son of a duke. Moreover, the design for both characters is similar enough that it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine the Joshua in FF XVI is an older Joshua from Vagrant Story. See the similarities? imgur.com/AAAMy1n 2. There is also some similarity between the cigarette-wielding woman in FF XVI and one of the inquisitors in the opening movie of Vagrant Story. (imgur.com/F2VkkNE ) 3. A lot of people have also commented on the FF Tactics & FF XII vibe that they're getting from this trailer, and both of those games were the brainchild of Yasumi Matsuno, along with Vagrant Story. And all three of those games take place in Ivalice, and it was rumoured that FF XVI would take place in this same world. Of course, this has yet to be confirmed. 4. And keeping with Matsuno, he was part of the story team for the latest couple of expansions for FF XIV, so one wonder whether he is also involved in FF XVI in the story/scenario department? 5. Earlier this year for the 20th anniversary of Vagrant Story, a Twitter user asked Matsuno about the possibility of Vagrant Story 2, and his reply was "Just you wait!" (screenrant.com/vagrant-story-2-details-yasumi-matsuno-square-enix/ ) Honestly though.. it's probably just a bit of fan service if anything? It would be awesome if Matsuno was involved in the story/scenario of FF XVI, because he is a great storyteller. Maybe he's sneaking in some Vagrant Story references for fun? Although I'll take Vagrant Story 2 or a Vagrant Story remake any day, please! :)

I have been waiting for this trailer analysis!😁😁🙌🏽

This combo system gonna be dope

Good video exactly what I was looking for great job

At the end I think it's Phoenix getting torn into based on how far Ifrit's arms are apart and the big blood splatter humans are not that large. Also it appears the Dominants either transform into the Eikon or they channel them in some sort of trance like state since they said, "wake up."

Found your stuff because of your chat with Tim rogers keep it up loving your channel. You have good taste

So the MC is like the second Squall version junction by many summons inside him while using there abilities to fight and Joshua is the host of phoenix battling the ifrit guy 🤔.

I've been waiting for this!

I can hear "Beneath The Mask" on the background

Anyone else notice that Joshua and the protag have the same earring on their left ear? There's also when Joshua is healing the protag's hand, the protag doesn't have that earring, but in every other instance he does? Could Joshua give the protag that earring as a symbol of their bond in some way?

I am so excited for this game it's unreal! I'm looking forward to the more action-focused combat and I hope we get a better story than XV. Also, dat boy hot.

My interpretation on the trailer is that there are two brothers separated by war. The younger one grew up being a guard of a noble in the kingdom while the older one became a mercenary under the empire. I think Joshua gives the power of the phoenix to the mc before he passed away after Ifrit torn phoenix into pieces (something like that lol) and the start of mc's revenge. The older one undergoes some experiment to infuse summon so he can use different summons instead of one probably he is the one that summon Ifrit. Maybe the story will switch back and forth to the 2 mc. ps. I hope they don't make this into an episodic release and wait another more years to learn the conclusion of the story.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is set in Ivalice. I think the red fire guy who transforms into Ifrit is like a Lucavi demon from Final Fantasy Tactics. The development team has a history in working on Ivalice themed games as well.

Your analysis had me smiling away all the way through this vid. 😊

I love that peaceful theme from ffX playing in the back at the beginning 👌

Also NSP - thanks for noticing the Shield's NPC or switchable character in the first battle sequence like I did too- I'm hoping the blonde guy doesn't die here - he seems to have the same voice as G'raha Tia 🥰

Calling it right now, the person he wants to kill is Joshua.

Man, hitting me with that FFX music, makes me want a game like that even more! I'm excited to see more of this game though! Heard so much great stuff about the XIV story, so i hope this game will have the same kind of quality story :)

Man. That wandering flame ost in the background is nostalgic 🔥 🔥 🔥

Funfact, the producer is Yoshi.P the man who single handedly saved FFXIV. I have high hopes for this

2:20 at this part, by looking at the tatoo, it's like a Crystal and a sword, I would guess that they are Anti-Crystal hence "our kind". Would be more make sense that they are targeting the Dominant/Summoner.

What I took away from the two Eikons was that Joshua is Phoenix and the antagonist is Ifirit. Ifirit ends up possibly killing Joshua ("Please Joshua! Wake up!" dialog and while Ifirit is ripping him to pieces) leaving him the only fire Eikon. Which is why the protagonist says "I'll kill you" because he needs revenge for failing at protecting Joshua. But (I don't really have all this squared away) Phoenix still lives within the protagonist because it can be reborn.

I already posted this in another vid but I'll just copy-paste it because it's a bit lengthy: I think Joshua is a vessel for both Phoenix and Ifrit. For one elemental faction they have a guardian Eikon, which can only be wielded by their chosen evoker or "dominants". In their case, Joshua was the chosen Dominant for the faction of fire's Phoenix(life). There is supposed to be only one Eikon, one Dominant for one faction.That is why the officer was surprised when Ifrit's sillhouette appeared. I'm guessing due to trauma driven by the Empire's attack, Joshua "awakened"(hence "Awakening" trailer) a new eikon, one of death and despair- Ifrit. That is why our MC who is sworn to the archduke's son, Joshua, is now trying to kill him, to end his misery. I personally think this will be the main story for this title, but there will obviously be other subplots so I'm looking forward to that.(No Yoshi-P pun intended) Edit: I rewatched the Japanese trailer with subtitles, and since some dialogue are different from the English ones, I picked up some bits of info: -the Empire's name is Zambrek?(Zanburekku) and not Garlemald -the woman with the pipe had a pact of alliance with the arguing faction, but told them "weren't you able to hold them off just fine in the previous battle?" telling them she can't send troops -Ifrit(Joshua) was tearing off somebody's younger brother, probably the MC's

I screamed when this game was announced!

It could well be Phoenix defeated and unconscious that Ifrit is tearing into, would give a decent reason fo thn to be calling for Joshua to wake up

Looks like there might be some customization of the Eikon powers you gain or gather. Whether it's skill progression or being able to imbue the powers onto your weapons and upgrading it for different effects.

I just wanna say, the protagonist is so handsome at his youth.

I'm willing to drop ego if this game clowns me. I'm literally making no expectations, the only thing that I'm liking so far is Protag-kun 😌💞✨

1:30 I watch japanese version. The dialogue suggest different. This group targeting the Shiva dominant is means they're on a mission to assasinait her. This is an assassins group that killing summoners. So MC goes from a solo shield of phoenix dominant to join a group of assassin of shiva dominant.

My favorite action game series and my favorite RPG series coming together to make FF16, I couldn't be more excited!!!!

That "man on fire" (mgs referrence) might be Joshua's father

Man I can't wait to play this.

Here’s my theory. Two realms, one realm devastated by the blight, one blight free. Joshua and his shield are from the Phoenix empire and live in the blight free realm. However they are attacked by an imperial dragoon from the blighted realm. I think the imperials rule over all nations in the blighted realm, I think the face tattoos are the mark of the imperials. The imperials want to take the mother crystal from the unblighted realm to save their own. I think Joshua’s shield and the protagonist with tattoos are actually the same person from different realms. The one with tattoos is fighting for the imperials to save his realm from the blight, and the one without is fighting to save his realm from the imperials. The scene where phoenix and ifrit are summoned is where the unblighted realm (phoenix) first encounters the blighted realm (ifrit). They are both fire nations but have different eikons. The logo of the phoenix fighting ifrit represents both the war between realms as well as Joshua’s shield fighting his tattoo’d counterpart.

I'm so hyped for this game that It hurts. If if doesn't come out next year I'm losing my mind.

Definitely watch Final Fantasy Union's analysis video of the trailer on RU-vid. He makes some very good points!

This is totally giving off a medieval reboot of FFXV if the director of FFXIV had been in control and I'm here for it. You even have someone who looks exactly like Cor giving that speech about being shields at the beginning of the trailer.

my gosh they actually even killing chocobos.

20:40 looks like Enemy Step from DMC. Haha. Will we be able to do infinite air juggle here?

Not sure if anyone noticed this yet, but I noticed at 2:26 in the trailer, the clip where Phoenix flies down, there's a large castle-like structure behind it. Earlier, in the clip where the boulder squishes the guy, there's a similar castle structure but made of ice. I wonder if these castle-structures are either where the Eikon's are housed and they show up at the bequest of people (hence why the leader of the band at the beginning of the trailer instructs them to target only Shiva's dominant) or if they're where the mother crystals are held. Hell, it could be both. Actually, something else just occurred to me: "Dominant" sounds similar to "Domicile" which basically means a home or place to reside. Dominant could be FFXVI term for those castle structures where the Eikons and/or Mother Crystals are held. I know the soldier comments "how do we even know the girl will be among them" but that could just be clever editing.

Sorry to bother but does anyone know what song is playing through this video. I know it from somewhere but I can't seem to place it.

The tattoos gave me l’Cie vibes honestly. Type-0 has shown that Square will give Crystals some sentience. I’m getting lots of Type-0 vibes from this trailer on top of the XV vibes I get throughout.

"I like the protagonist, he's pretty handsome" >zoom in on the bangs that night sky has in common with protag-kun

I like the initial feel that I got, seemed nostalgic like, reminded me of earlier FF games with fantastic graphics.

6:25 I paused the video their but if you look at the patch the mc has when he was young, you can see a white insignia that looks similar to the middle of the tattoo he has on his cheek when he’s older.

10:55 they should add historical european martial arts, half-swording. Effective against spears and halberds and maces. Longswords can be used more practical than a katana.

Glad to see Final Fantasy story back to its root, all about high fantasy and crystals, not about futuristic fantasy world

Maybe summons work like Fighting styles here. The MC can collect fighting styles of different Eikons by receiving some sort of blessings from the Dominants.

By the way, if you want to go forward or back in the trailer frame by frame, you can use the , and . buttons, instead of going at x0,25 speed. And the part where the trailer says it's coming to pc, got removed and in an interview, yoshida said there are no details about the game coming to other platforms at the moment.

Malboro and the couerl look so good, highlights of the trailer for me, that and the badass white chocobo and iffrit. Thanks for the slow breakdown, I wasnt overly impressed with the trailer and was definitely a naysayer, the analysis helped ease my concerns. Certainly alot to be intrigued by, story wise and visually it looks fantastic. Really, my only real concern is combat and to what degree party involvement is. Ultimately it looks like controlling the main protagonist will be a mix of ff15 and nier automata, which would be fun. And lastly the blood, a mature rating and a ' grown up 'final fantasy is welcomed and I look forward to seeing what they do with it

Can't. Can't. Can't wait I will get a ps5 just for this game. Love your reaction to this.

the tattoo could be a symbol of being a combat slave (possibly those who have a connection to eikons, as some nations use them as tools while others revere them as gods or fear them as monsters) as we might assume that during iffrit's rampage the nation must have went into turmoil and then was conquered by a neighbouring country, the first two people in the trailer can also be seen through out the trailer under the same nation.

I actually think the face tattoos indicate a vassal of a Dominant who's dominant has died. Simply put it means that the dominant you followed died. Another option is that it could be the mark of the empire who is mentioned in the trailer as the tattoo looks like two spears to me and dragoons have been linked to the empire, perhaps their spears of the empire a sorta assassin group for the empire.

I think it's an incredible idea and opportunity to put some DMC love in this new FF title. This could potentially when a number of gamer awards.

Honestly, I would have preferred FF7R to be rated M, and have FF16 rated T or M, whatever, but FF7R needed to be rated M to reach full potential. Can't wait to see more of FF16

26:52 - Looks like Ifrit is pulling/ripping something, that blood looked a bit abnormal, my guess would be Phoenix's wings?

I wonder if you end up fighting Joshua as the last boss? If Joshua uses ifrit and you use phoenix in the last fight of the game, as the title screen implies.

What’s the name of the song in the end of this video please?

I'm super excited for this because just as Maximilian Dood says; "It's like Final Fantasy 1 & 2". I really like the village-like setting without too much technology. I am definitely keeping an eye on this one. Final Fantasy with more mature themes.

In a nutshell I think it's the tattoos or blood that make it where they could use the icons power so they can switch summon forms to make combo attacks I think I saw him use garudas talents in there as well

The scenes with the full moon and the house-ruins in the background, reminds me of an area, out of Dragon-Age Inquisition called Fallow Mire. And when I heard Blight, my mind wandered to the games before. From the grimy optic of most monsters ( beside the Eikons which look more fantastical and vibrant) , it seems for me, that inspiration from the Witcher or Souls-Games has been taken. Which is a sad thing, since what makes most FF-games so lively is their use of color.

He's seeking revenge on Joshua or whatever Joshua turned into. That second Eikon must have done some irreparable damage

i think this is a major step for Final fantasy to go back to the medieval fantasy setting , also i like the story focusing on the Summons

They are similar to an apostles in some fantasy game wherein they can summon whoever higher being they are praying with or be the vessel of that being and unless it's power or become that higher being.

Can i ask you? What song your using in the background?

My take on this, something will happen with Joshua, probably beaten by Ifrit, which is another icon of fire which could be leading the betrayal on the archduke, and also the little girl with Joshua could be the MCs sister, who could be caught in between. The MC, together with his "kind" or group are able to manifest icons power thus the Phoenix wings and Titans fist, and they are probably hunting the dominants to get their powers or destoy it. They are more likely a neutral party because they are hunting Shivas dominant but they are also surprised with Titan being summoned. Nice video btw. Thanks for this

I will post in this here as well, as I posted in Soldier 1st class video too: You forgot the detail that the MC and Joshua has identical earrings on their left ear. I think it's like a proof that they are both equal. I have a feeling that Joshua doesn't want to be treated as a Master but as a friend, as we can see that he is chatting with the MC and a girl, and then Joshua's mother came and scold him. I think the Mother doesn't want his son to be chatting with the commoners.

Great video as usual! :) Also, I was checking twitter and a user (@aitaikimochi) mentioned how there's a mistranslation "In the English one, when Ifrit goes berserk, someone says "Please Joshua, wake up!" but in Japanese, the person says "Stop! Please stop! He's my younger brother!"

Good things: Fantasy setting with no engines in swords and that other goofy stuff. Possibly bad things: Seemingly no party system and thus there will be less strategy. They should just roll with the exceptional FFVII Remake battle system honestly. It was nearly flawless.

When they say Joshua wake up, Ifrit is Killing Joshua. That blood splatter is Phoenix getting ripped up.

Here's a wild one, Joshua is the dominant of fire and actually has two Eikons in him, duality of fire, and it being an element of rebirth and destruction (phoenix and ifrit). Maybe Joshua even has two sides in him, not shown here, he uses the power of phoenix but actually has a dark side to him. When his father is killed in front of him he loses it, (Joshua's eyes glow yellow, the fiery man/spirit/avatar or whatever it is, kinda the same yellow eyes) and goes berserk. First the good side of him gets summoned (phoenix) and right after the dark side (ifrit). He battles with himself (like two personalities) via Eikons and Ifrit wins. Ifrit then proceeds to massacre people. And when Ifrit defeats Phoenix, Phoenix goes to a dormant state, ashes, hidden (lesser power), but that power, Eikon is transferred to the Shield protagonist, and hence able to use phoenix's powers. And because Joshua with Ifrit massacred MC's home and relatives etc. he vows to kill Joshua and Ifrit. And the mark he has on his cheek is there because he's deemed a traitor, was Joshua's shield but now wants to kill him and went against him. And somehow by Phoenix now residing in MC he becomes a vessel who can get other Eikons powers too. The power of rebirth granting him the capability to withstand the toll of many Eikons power in a single man. Not as a dominant but with granted power. Side note: cause Bahamut been my favorite since FF1 (yes not a summon in it per se but still). The MC is really the dominant of Bahamut, king of Eikons, so that's the real reason he can hold other summons powers within himself, including Phoenix. The MC will kill all the other Eikons and Bahamut getting all their powers, and thus ending the war between crystals and becomes the one true king/ruler of everything cause he's the only one left. FF goes dark :D side side note: I think the young girl with gray hair is the woman with the smoking pipe and is the dominant of shiva. Color of clothing matches, also white to shiva, Joshua has red to phoenix (ifrit possibly) and here's to hoping, MC the Shield has black (Bahamut, refer to first side note) But in all honesty probably just Joshua is Phoenix, some imperial baddy is Ifrit, kills Joshua, MC swears revenge on Ifrit, but first is forced to servitude for empire as slave, tattoo = mark of slave (used as army fodder and on suicide missions).

That make me feel like Agito FF: -Eikon COULD be the crystal and transform into it when emotion goes riot. -Eikon, are those who gives power/magic to certain guardian/knight (by lending their crystal power at small scale than the real one). Maybe a contract must be made to receive that power (just like the Crysal that Noctis' father tried to protect, giving power and all). -Every village/town/nation has their Eikon, which would lead to war between them, with different power. My opinion from what you analyze! =)

I'm ok with them not adding blood in FF7R (except for the Jenova blood trail section) but I'm glad they added blood in this one. It's like they're recognizing that the original FF fans have grown up. And they're trying something new.

I think the last opponent will be someone that transforms into eikon. Dominant supposedly "summons" eikon as depicted on Joshua summoning Phoenix when he shocked. While the protag, is a human that can wield eikon's power. So the main plot will be protag doing quest to find all eikon dominant as the clue to find the antagonist who can transform into eikon. Think the plot twist will be the protag has/will transform to eikon himself

I feel like the story might go something like this. He was meant to be Joshua's protector. But then a huge battle happened (the one with Phoenix and Ifrit) where Joshua lost control. Joshua died in that battle and now the MC wishes to kill the dominant of Ifrit or whoever is in that side.

Black and red are my fav combo. Protag kun is growing on me. :D