And up until now, the Eikons have never really been used, because again, they’re like nuclear bombs so you don’t use them. And this has prompted some nations to basically try to invade other nations in an attempt to wrest away control of those remaining Mother Crystals. The thing is, though, that ether that’s contained in the Crystals has begun to dry up. As you know in previous Final Fantasies, it would always be that you’d have a summoner job who would use magic to summon forth the being from a different plane, but this time that Dominant actually summons forth the Eikon’s power by becoming the Eikon themselves.Īnother key word in our story is the Mother Crystals and these realms’ Mother Crystals are what you can call kind of like oil fields – in the term that they supply the land with the ether which is basically the energy which is used to to power magic. So the person in which that Eikon dwells, we call the Dominant, and they can summon forth the Eikon’s unparalleled power by literally changing into it. And so, within the world of Valisthea, there are a lot of different nations and each nation has one of their own Eikons with the being awakening inside a single individual, although the rules as to how and within who that Eikon awakens differs between them.
Naoki Yoshida: To put it simply, the Eikons in Valisthea can kind of be compared to what you would call weapons of mass destruction or nuclear bombs. How did Eikons come to be such a big part of FFXVI’s world and what do they mean to the game’s narrative? We’ve whipped up a couple of separate pieces looking at the juicier bits of my chat with Yoshida and Fox that you can check out here, but read on for the interview in full: The recent Dominance trailer put a big focus on summons, or Eikons, which traditionally have just been supporting characters in battle. Naoki Yoshida (left) and Koji Fox (right) That makes him a pretty busy guy, but even in the short time we had to talk it’s clear the passion that Yoshida-san has for crafting something special in Final Fantasy XVI while bucking a few conventions that the franchise has long held onto. Final Fantasy fans will no doubt recognise Yoshida-san, affectionately known as Yoshi-P, and his team at Creative Business Unit III as being responsible for the mammoth success of the MMO Final Fantasy XIV and its critically-acclaimed expansions. It was with an invigorated interest in these Eikons and their place in Final Fantasy XVI’s lore and gameplay that I went into a very special chat with the game’s Producer, Naoki Yoshida, with Localisation Director, Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, alongside to translate. Most recently, the world was treated to the new Dominance trailer that gave us our best look yet at the game’s combat as well as the unique relationship between the game’s setting of Valisthea and the series’ staple summon creatures – here called Eikons. Final Fantasy XVI, the next big mainline entry in the storied franchise, is approaching its release in mid-2023 as eager fans are slowly drip-fed new information and looks at the game.