Final Fantasy XVI DLC Could Spotlight Two Underdeveloped Characters
Give me the girl bosses.
Despite the massive amount of hype around Final Fantasy XVI, the development from Square Enix was adamant that future DLC plans would have to wait until after the game’s full release and would depend on player response. Well, Final Fantasy XVI has been about for almost three months now and the critical success of the game seems to have been enough for plans to fall into place.
During PAX West 2023, Producer Naoki Yoshida revealed the game will be receiving two paid expansions in the future. While there aren’t any concrete details on who or what these expansions will focus on in the world of Valisthea there is one group that is overdue their moment in the sun — The women of Final Fantasy XVI.
Antagonist Benedikta is a fascinating character who never reaches her potential in the main game.
The cast of Final Fantasy is full of incredible characters that players fall in love with throughout the game’s narrative, including protagonist Clive and the charming Cid. The game has a supporting cast with fascinating females who never get the spotlight, namely Benedikta and Jill. With DLC returning to Valisthea, these two are well-deserving of their own stories.
The case for a Benedikta DLC is mostly due to the massive potential she has as a character, though the main game cuts that potential short in the early hours of FF16. Benedikta is a major power player as both the Dominant of Garuda and the spymaster of Waloed. So much of the political drama and powerplays that go on in FF16 have to do with her hands directly moving pieces on the proverbial board. She also has an eventful past hinted at throughout the game, one that involves her relationship with Cid.
Benedikta may be one of FF16’s early-game antagonists, but she is one of the more complicated characters in the world. And it wouldn’t be the first time Final Fantasy gave the villain expansion, as Final Fantasy XV’s Episode Ardyn focused entirely on the game’s main antagonist. FF16 could take a similar approach, showing the sympathetic side of a character we meet as a hardened political agent.
Jill’s adventures before and/or after the events of Final Fantasy XVI are worthy subjects for DLC.
Focusing on Jill Warwick would also be a great option for FF16 DLC. Jill is in many ways the exact opposite of Benedikta in FF16, we see her plenty as she is Clive’s love interest, but she rarely has any agency of her own. Which doesn’t narratively make that much sense considering she is the Dominant of Shiva. As Clive, we rescue her from slavery and are constantly there to save her from any problem. Often, she is relegated to staying at the home base, while Clive goes off and does the fighting. Though, like Benedikta, Jill has a fascinating backstory that involves returning to her home after the chaotic events of the game’s prologue and years spent as a living weapon for the Iron Kingdom.
A second option for Jill-focused DLC could follow the aftermath of the main game. Without spoiling too much, it would make sense to give players control over another character, and Jill seems like the perfect candidate to fill that role. While the main villain is defeated by the time credits roll in FF16, the entire game focuses on large-scale political feuds that have lasted centuries, and the fallout from the game’s finale would still have major effects on Valisthea. Seeing that fallout through the eyes of another character would deepen the world’s believability and the darker story that FF16 focused on in its main quest.
FF16 DLC should be a chance for the developers to make up for things that were lacking in the main game. While the combat loop was nearly perfect, the way the game characterized its female characters and gave them agency in the story was underwhelming despite the potential in characters like Benedikta and Jill. Both are quality characters that could easily hold their own as the focus of future DLC for Final Fantasy XVI.
