Protagonist Clive has an arsenal of powerful attacks and abilities based off traditional Final Fantasy summons, which can be cycled through in real-time, enabling powerful combination attacks. After Clive claims an Eikon's (summon's) power, he will be able to unlock its abilities in an "ability tree" through points earned in battle.

There will be times where the player controls an Eikon in real-time, battling other Eikons. Each Eikon vs. Eikon battle is unique. One may be reminiscent of a 3D shooter, while another may be more like a pro wrestling match, while a third may transform the entire arena into a battle field. Each will have slight differences in user interface as well.

Clive will be accompanied by one or more companions for most of his journey, who will participate in battle, as well as banter with Clive. These party members will be AI-controlled.

The wolf-pup from the first trailer is named Torgal. As for whether Torgal will eventually play a role in combat, Yoshida said to "wait and see."

Creative Business Unit III chose a medieval fantasy style theme for Final Fantasy XVI becasue much of its core members, including Yoshida, simply enjoyed that style the most.
The game uses an "independent area-based game design that can give players a better feel of a truly 'global' scale," and is not open-world.

The game will be "a complete experience" at launch, and there are currently no plans for other tertiary content.
Players will follow the life of Clive through three stages: his teens, his 20s, and his 30s.

Final Fantasy XVI is currently fully playable from start to finish, but voice-overs in multiple languages still need to be recorded, and as it is a very action-oriented game, much play testing is required to fine-tune difficulty, put the final touches on cutscenes, and for full-scale debugging.
A third trailer is planned for release this fall, which will concentrate more on the world, lore, and storyline.