Prologue

The first section of the game is considered a prologue. There are several tutorials to sort your way through, and the early sections of the game, while they have some combat with enemies, are designed to be very easy to progress through.

This is a great opportunity for you to get used to some of the primary mechanics in the game, including when to dodge and how to time your dodges effectively, and learning how to use Magic Burst to create attack combos. At first, you may find some of these mechanics challenging to learn, but by the midway point through the game, you will be a professional, so don’t worry if it takes some time to get used to them.

A Flame Summoned

Eikon Battle

Your first opportunity to control the action comes during an Eikon battle in the introductory scenes between Phoenix (whom you control) and Ifrit as they barrel through a lengthy crevasse. You have two buttons to press during this sequence:

1. button to Attack:
   Use this button to throw attacks towards Ifrit while flying through the air. You can press it repeatedly to attack many times very quickly.
2. button to Evade:
   Evade attacks from Ifrit when it gets close. The easiest way to tell when to evade isn’t by following Ifrit’s actions and guessing when he is going to lunge at Phoenix; instead, keep an eye out for the screen to flash red, as shown in the screenshot below.

Timing in Final Fantasy XVI typically comes down to watching for key visible indicators like flashing screens or illuminated enemies, so get used to watching for these in-game ‘hints’ that suggest you need to take action. This is the start of the game, though, so it’s set up so that you can’t lose either way.