Final Fantasy XVI is very obviously the latest installment of the FF franchise. I wasnʼt expecting to love it as much as I did but the polish — it was finished! so very finished! and the writing really drew me in. Plus it had a LATAM localization that was frankly pretty good.
You know how I mentioned I like worlds that are just on the verge of something? Yep, thatʼs why I liked the setting of this so much. I also really loved how Clive built his relationships with the quest givers and how those quest givers had arcs of their own. Both of their bases became one of my favorite hubs in games Iʼve played.
Martha is the innkeeper at Martha’s Rest (duh). I like her quiet version of duty, responsibility, and resistance. She is doing what she can to save the Bearers because she thinks it’s right and because she thinks it’s kind. She’s also deeply committed to her town. I like her straightforward attitude.
Wade is the soldier that “dies” in the prologue and then we see he’s still alive and is running the Guardians of the Flame. Eventually, he ends up in Eastpool which is just north of Martha’s Rest.
And “rebuilding a broken place” is one of my favorite tropes in the history of forever, so when she began helping him establish the new settlement and also encouraged him to fight, I became very interested in fic about these two. Something quiet, very much understated, that grows as their settlements grow.
I’d love to see them try and fight against their feelings for each other, still unsure if it’s the right time, but those defenses melting down as the situation calms down.