The Relationships In Final Fantasy XVI Feel Incredibly Modern

Clive wears his heart on his sleeve

Final Fantasy XVI is a medieval fantasy game in the series. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised to see how modern the relationships are in this game. Clive may be my favourite protagonist in the series, I am unsure yet as I have only just recently finished the game and I am waiting for the dust to settle first. A large part of this is because, unlike a lot of male protagonists, Clive wears his heart on his sleeve a lot more. His life has been quite tumultuous and difficult and instead of turning more stoic like you usually see in media Clive has done the opposite. He is incredibly open, he shows his friends how much he loves them and he makes sure he uses his pain, the baggage that he carries as a way of improving life for everyone in the world. This is shown by the incredible writing Creative Business Unit 3 have done for Clive but also the beautiful voice acting from Ben Starr where I personally feel like I can hear hardships and vulnerability in every line he delivers.

To be honest, it’s incredibly refreshing to see as well. Too often men have been told to bottle up their feelings and it has led to all sorts of mental health issues and charities and support groups being formed to give men an outlet to talk about their feelings and their problems. Death by suicide was the highest killer for men aged 45 and under in the UK in 2019. I hope the way Clive interacts with his friends encourages men or anyone really to do the same even though it isn’t easy to do, especially with life being as complicated as it is now, I feel like it’s vital to support each other. With this in mind, I thought I would share the things I like about the beautifully deep relationships Clive has with his friends. Heck, the group of friends all cry several times in this game. This is your spoiler warning for the entire game.

Image from Square Enix Press Site

Jill

Jill is a character who I sadly feel like most of the women in this game, have been hard done by. This is because I find that the characters have interesting ideas but are underutilised a lot which is saddening for me. After all, Final Fantasy VII Remake did an amazing job with Aerith, Tifa and Yuffie. XV didn’t do a good job with Lunafreya either and whilst Final Fantasy XVI has done a much better job, it’s still not amazing and for a series filled with incredible women. I am honestly saddened that we haven’t had a new memorable female character since Final Fantasy XIII.  

That all being said what I did love between Jill and Clive is how much of a partnership their relationship is. Especially considering this is a medieval-style fantasy, they didn’t make Jill subservient, they both worked together to get through the problems. Often you see male characters becoming overprotective with their partners but in Clive’s case, he constantly valued her skills as a fellow warrior and relied on her so much throughout the game. He was open with the feelings he had for her and wasn’t afraid to show it in front of anyone. I love as well how Jill sends adorable letters to Clive too. It feels to me like an equal partnership that I haven’t seen in the media too often.

Cidolfus

Moving on from a romance over to a bromance. Cidolfus is such a cool name and I refuse to shorten it to Cid because of how cool I think it sounds. He is completely enigmatic throughout the game and I love how much he takes care of Clive. There is a true brotherly love between these two. They respect and understand each other and their skills. Cidolfus is Clive’s big brother, so much so that he spends the rest of his own life trying to fulfil his mentor’s life aim. Cidolfus takes Clive under his wing and is a mentor to him. When Cidolfus is dying too, he knows Clive won’t take Ramuh off him, so he forces him to take it. He trusts Clive and Clive is in so much pain when he dies. Clive eventually becoming known as the new Cid is more than just about hiding what has happened to the original Cid, it’s out of respect and trying to keep the image truly alive.

Mid

There isn’t too much to say about the relationship between Mid and Clive but I think it comes across as very sibling-like again. I can see them teasing each other a lot and being incredibly playful with each other. I think though that part of the reason they are so close is because of Cidolfus’s death. I think Clive partly feels a little responsible for her father’s death because he wasn’t able to protect him or something and so he tries to ensure she has a comfortable life. Also with Clive and Cidolfus in effect being brothers, that makes him Mid’s Uncle so he wants to take care of her. He also wanted to make sure she processed her father’s loss properly by taking her to the grave to be a crutch for her should she need it.

Gav

Gav is very much the 3^rd wheel in the 3-way bromance with the other 2 naturally being Clive and Cidolfus. He isn’t as powerful as the others but he has in own set of skills. He is incredibly loyal to Clive and at the end of the game where I believe Clive has died, he is completely distraught, way more than I expected because Gav was quite closed off for most of the game. He just completely breaks down and is heavily crying. I feel though that when Clive wants to let off steam he would turn to Gav to have a bit of fun.

Joshua

Finally, we come to Joshua, Clive’s actual brother. The whole game is centred around Clive trying to be his bodyguard and thinking he let Joshua down in his life because he wasn’t able to protect him. Then he begins to believe he killed Joshua but when it turns out he is alive, despite it being many years since they have both seen each other, there isn’t much of an awkward spell, they reunite and rely on each working hard to take down Ultima. Clive is quite good at listening to others and taking on their opinions and this is particularly true of Joshua. For example, when Joshua states Clive can’t have his power because Clive shouldn’t have to deal with everything on his own, Clive doesn’t fight it, he just accepts what his brother says. Heck even when Joshua punches Clive in the face for taking Jill’s powers Clive just quietly takes it instead of getting back up and fighting back. I also feel like the way Joshua reacted about isn’t just about knocking some sense into his brother, it comes across to me that in this little family of theirs, Joshua sees Jill as his Sister/Sister in Law and so a part of him is frustrated at Clive for Jill. The two brothers openly tell each other several times that they care for each other too and have each other’s backs. It’s quite a beautiful relationship.

This game is ultimately Clive’s story and I do think a lot of the characters could have done with being fleshed out a little more but what I absolutely love about Clive as a protagonist is open he is. I really love this game and I can’t wait to see what is next for the franchise. Let me know what you thought in the comments below and if you have a moment, please consider following us on here and Twitter/Mastodon.