I wasn’t ready to care about Final Fantasy 16’s protagonist. Based on the marketing material, I was expecting a bland, unnecessarily brooding homunculus with all the charisma of rice paper. Having now played five hours of a preview build of the game, however, I can now confirm that Clive Rosfield is far more than a one-trick pony.
This is thanks, in part, to the game’s prologue, which has you play through Clive’s awkward teenage years. Here, we see a sensitive young man, forced into an uncomfortable duty as a result of his noble birth. He is, at once, a successful swordsman and a failure, often compared to his magically gifted little brother who wields the gift of the Phoenix – a profound magical power that Clive failed to master. He’s a well-meaning overachiever, lacking in self-confidence but striving to prove himself nonetheless.
