Final Fantasy XIV x Final Fantasy XVI crossover impressions — Finding the flame (again)

Final Fantasy XIV’s half of the crossover with XVI is finally here! While we’re still waiting on the latter half, the Warrior of Light can team up with Clive to take on Ifrit in the new questline. It’s fairly short and can go somewhat heavy on the advertisement in the final scenes, but its unique mechanics and rewards make it well worth doing.

After reaching level 50, you can head to Ul’dah to pick up the quest, in which the Wandering Minstrel will tell you about his prophetic dream. Eventually you find Clive, who has been transported to Eorzea just after exploring the ruins under Phoenix Gate in his own game. Bereft of memories, you’ll have to help him find his flame all over again. There are several scenes leading up to your encounter with Ifrit where you show Clive some of Eorzea’s sights, like the Airships or the Elder Seedseer’s place. It’s charming to see as someone who’s already played XVI and wanted to spend more time with its characters.

Eventually, you’ll be sent to the Bowl of Embers to battle Ifrit once more – though this time it’ll take on the design from XVI. This battle adopts some of XVI’s mechanics, including precision dodges and Rising Flame. Both of these actions are accessed (on a gamepad) by holding either the left or right triggers and pressing R3 just like other Duty Actions. Rising Flame is a gap closer that deals a decent amount of damage, while the dodge is a bit more complicated. Ifrit will constantly be using attacks that are unavoidable normally, but pressing the dodge button once an on screen counter reaches zero will have you deftly avoid damage. You can then press the button again for a Precision Strike counter. It’s a little janky, but very fun once you get the hang of it. All these moves are accompanied by flourishes from FFXVI’s HUD which is a nice touch.

Completing the quest will unlock a bunch of rewards. You’ll be given a Torgal puppy minion, a full grown Torgal mount, and a full set of Clive’s armor for glamoring purposes. A few more rewards, including several Orchestreon tracks and a Clive Triple Triad card, will also become available for purchase in the Gold Saucer. These are all pretty expensive, so you’d better get gambling if you want them all before the crossover leaves on May 8th. If this is anything like the XV crossover it should come back a few times. Overall, it’s a fun series of quests, and I wouldn’t mind the dodge mechanic being cleaned up and coming back in future content for XIV. Maybe in the form of a limited job that just gives you all the most broken abilities and mechanics like Noctis’ Warp Strike too.

I’ll be covering the XVI side of the crossover when that drops, but in the meantime we have even more Final Fantasy coverage coming soon including a look at XVI’s artbook.

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