Tekken 8 will introduce Final Fantasy XVI’s Clive Rosfield as its first guest character. Clive will be the final DLC character of Year 1 and release for early access on Dec. 19.
Final Fantasy XVI's protagonist Clive Rosfield was unveiled as the first guest character in Tekken 8, and the final DLC character for Year 1. Yep that's right, we had Noctis in Tekken 7 and now we have Clive in Tekken 8. Also Torgal is along for the ride.
The news of Clive Rosfield was unveiled at The Game Awards 2024, less than an hour after Tekken 8 claimed The Best Fighting Game Award.
Final Fantasy's Clive Rosfield is Tekken 8's first guest character
Final Fantasy XVI's Clive Rosfield will be the fourth and final DLC character of Year 1, filling the Winter slot. He is the first guest character of Tekken 8 - despite Game Director Harada claiming there would be no guest characters in Year 1. However, Harada also said Heihachi was dead only for the leader of the Mishima family to resurrect himself just in time for Tekken 30th Anniversary.
Clive Rosfield gameplay trailer
From the brief gameplay we saw of Clive Rosfield fighting Jin, there's a lot of references to his storyline in Final Fantasy XVI - which unsurprisingly involves a LOT of fire. Plus we get to see a brief cameo from Torgal, Clive's frost wolf companion. Bandai Namco also dropped a full gameplay trailer (above) shortly after his reveal at The Game Awards 2024.
In Clive's character gameplay trailer we see him wielding his iconic Invictus Sword from Final Fantasy XVI, plus his heat mode - essentially his Limit Break from FFXVI - will see him tap into the Fire Eikon Phoenix. However, the most impressive part of Clive's character reveal trailer was his Rage Art. His Rage Art will allow him to summon Ifrit - the fire god of the Final Fantasy universe - to level the ground with a flaming meteor... classic Ifrit.
Ahead of the announcement the Tekken 8 community had caught on that a guest character could be incoming. Bandai Namco's choice to reveal the fourth DLC character at The Game Awards 2024 instead of the Tekken World Tour finals was the clue.
Final Fantasy VII's female lead Tifa was one of the community favourites to be announced. For those new to the Tekken franchise, this is the second time a Final Fantasy character has made an appearance as a guest character. In Tekken 7, Final Fantasy XV's protagonist Noctis arrived a guest DLC character. Noctis went on to become one of the most popular characters in the title.
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Clive Rosfield Tekken 8 release date
Clive Rosfield will be released in Tekken 8 for 72-hour early access on Dec. 16. He will be purchasable for all players on Dec. 19, 2024.
To be part of the 72-hour early access you must be a Year 1 Pass holder.
What was that Clive's Rage Art?
Judging by the brief gameplay shown at The Game Awards 2024, it appears Clive's Rage Art will allow him to summon Ifrit. Ifrit is the God of Fire in the Final Fantasy universe. Ifrit appears in multiple Final Fantasy titles either as a summon - a supreme being who can perform a single devastating attack - or as a powerful controllable unit for a short period.
In Final Fantasy XVI, Ifrit plays a pivotal role in the story and is connected to Clive's backstory and character arc. (I won't go into more details to avoid spoilers)
Ifrit's special move in the Final Fantasy franchise is typically a giant meteor or a fireball. It seems Bandai Namco have embraced that.
Who is Clive Rosfield?
Clive Rosfield is the main character of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XVI, an action-RPG. He is a sword-wielding knight who can tap into the power of the Phoenix, a celestial fire-being in the world of Final Fantasy XVI. In terms of design and character development, Clive is now widely considered to be one of the best male leads in the Final Fantasy series.
