The recent trailers for Final Fantasy XVI have primarily shown protagonist Clive in combat, leaving many to wonder if the game would be a solo affair, similar to that of Lightning Returns.

In a new interview, producer Naoki Yoshida discussed such as combat and summons. One area he made a major reveal in was that Clive would be joined by others on his journey for “most” of his adventure.

“We didn’t want to overwhelm users in our newest trailer, so we focused solely on Clive’s battles. That said, for most of his journey, Clive will be accompanied by one or more companions,” Yoshida said to IGN.

He added, “These companions will participate in battle, as well as trade banter with Clive. That said, the party members will be AI-driven so as to allow players to focus solely on controlling Clive.”

So the way the trailers showcased combat with Clive were just a means relating to marketing rather than how it is designed. As for the potential members of the party, it is still unknown.

It’s worth mentioning there was teasing with the wolf shown in trailers, named Torgal, who could be one of those members. Other characters recently revealed such as Hugo Kupka and Beneditka Harman could be future party members for Clive during Final Fantasy XVI’s story.

Though as stated in the above comments from Yoshida, it appears all party members that are not Clive will be controlled by AI and not the player.

This is similar to how Final Fantasy XV was before later updates allowed playing the other members of the squad. How this affects managing equipment and combat remains to be seen.

Final Fantasy XVI is launching sometime in summer 2023 for PlayStation 5.