Post Script
A quest for liberation
For all its high-fantasy flourishes and indulgences, this is a series that has often addressed more serious topics, most memorably in Final Fantasy VII’s sorrowful exploration of climate catastrophe. Final Fantasy XVI, in an effort to import some gravity, takes on several major themes: the impact on ordinary people of the vanity and vacuity of the rich and powerful; the natural consequences of unrestrained mining of the planet’s resources; the danger of becoming, through the act of opposition, that which you oppose; the risks and psychic perils of using friends to advance one’s personal ambitions; the responsibility that accompanies great power; the urge to use power for good, and the temptation to deploy it for selfish purposes, particularly when violence becomes the primary catalyst for change. The game is not always an apt vehicle to explore these ideas with appropriate gravitas. Surprisingly, however, it is at its most affecting when addressing its most fraught of subjects: slavery.