Fantasies collide in the trailer for Final Fantasy XIV‘s newest event, which is a collaboration with Square Enix’s own action RPG Final Fantasy XVI.
Posted on YouTube, the trailer depicts several key scenes from Final Fantasy XVI interspersed with large-scale battles and exploration scenes from XIV featuring characters and elements from the game. It also shows a wide-scale battle against FFXVI‘s version of the primal monster Ifrit, along with several cosmetic items like Clive Rosfield’s outfit and his trusty canine companion Torgal as a usable in-game mount and minion.
The event, titled FINAL FANTASY XIV x FINAL FANTASY XVI, will feature an original storyline featuring characters from both games coming together against a common threat, though Square Enix has not revealed any further details about the story. However, the trailer confirms that Ifrit features prominently as a major trial boss, which sees players team up against wide-scale super bosses with unique mechanics.
Typically, these bosses yield exclusive rewards unattainable through any other means in-game, and though the trailer does not explicitly show what the new Ifrit boss’s rewards are, the reveal of Clive’s outfit from FFXVI as a player customization option has led to speculation that the fight will yield rewards allowing access to the cosmetics. In Final Fantasy XVI, protagonist Clive Rosfield has the ability to transform into Ifrit, making the two effectively synonymous with one another and lending credence to speculation about the boss fight’s dropped rewards.
The Final Fantasy XVI collaboration is not the first time Square Enix has added crossovers or references to other franchise entries, as the game previously held a collaboration event with Final Fantasy XV that offered similar rewards. Additionally, FFXIV’s in-game shop features outfits based on the attire of other Final Fantasy protagonists like Cloud Strife and Squall Leonhart, as well as a variety of different cosmetic items based on several other franchise characters.
FFXIV also already features its own iteration of Ifrit as one of its main story bosses, making this the first time that an iteration of the same boss from another title has appeared in the game. However, the event’s version of Ifrit offers all-new mechanics and retains the design from Final Fantasy XVI, depicted as a massive kaiju-style monster with fire powers. Both games also share the same creative director, Naoki Yoshida, who was in charge of the main story for both XIV and XVI.
Square Enix has not revealed a specific start date for the event, but current fan speculation suggests that it will be part of the game’s 6.5x patch cycle, which will begin rolling out on Oct. 31.
Source: Square Enix via YouTube
