Final Fantasy XVI is a wonderful game with many flaws. One of the low-key biggest is a grimy, dark pink sky that eclipses the world near the end of the game. It can make completing every side-quest and monster hunt real depressing. Fortunately, players will get a much-needed vacation from the ugliness when the Leviathan expansion rolls around in the spring.
Final Fantasy XVI fans who were playing close attention to the Square Enix RPG’s two-part DLC announcement last week noticed the second one, called “The Rising Tide,” sported surprisingly azure skies despite presumably taking place late in the game after the realm of Valisthea succumbs to a magic eclipse.
There were entire message board threads devoted to what exactly was going on. Players postulated that the DLC must take place in a new part of the world not affected by the eclipse since it, like the already-released Echoes of the Fallen DLC, takes place before the end of the game. Sure enough, this theory appears to have been correct, as recently confirmed by the Final Fantasy XVI development team in an interview with Famitsu.
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Speaking to the Japanese magazine, game director Hiroshi Takai, producer Naoki Yoshida, and DLC director Takeo Kujiraoka went into more detail about the new content and game features on the horizon. As translated and summarized by the Japanese blogger aitaikimochi, protagonists Clive, Jill, and Joshua will finally “journey together under blue skies.” It also sounds like a new photo mode option will let players replace the dark pink sky in the endgame with a blue one, whether they’re exploring in the region from the DLC or not.
I can’t really express what a relief this was. As someone who spent an extra 15 hours in the darkness completing everything in the game, the late-game aesthetic was a huge drag. It instantly felt like a huge weight was lifted when I started over again on New Game Plus and could once again enjoy Final Fantasy XVI’s beautiful detailed art direction in the bright, clean sunlight.
I’d still love for an actual settings menu option to turn off the end-game eclipse entirely, world building lore be damned. I compartmentalized and overlooked the RPG’s terrible handling of women and slavery to prevent those ruining my time with it. Players enjoying clear blue skies even while the world is ending would be the least of the game’s narrative problems.