How to earn and spend renown in Final Fantasy 16

Help Valisthea, raise your renown, and unlock rewards—and a trophy.

Round flying eyeball with smooth wings, legs, and arms in Final Fantasy 16
Screenshot by Dot Esports

After entering the second time skip in Final Fantasy 16 (FF16), you’ll unlock several incredible features, including earning renown and unlocking donations through the Patron’s Whisper.

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Renown is almost like a currency you can use to claim rewards from the Patron’s Whisper. There’s even a trophy tied to these renown rewards, but it’s not entirely clear straightaway just how you earn it.

Here’s everything you need to know about renown in Final Fantasy 16, how to earn it, and how to use it.

Final Fantasy 16: What is renown and how to earn it

Renown is a currency you can earn in Final Fantasy 16 (FF16) after you’ve completed the main quest, The Gathering Storm, and can be used to unlock donations.

After completing the aforementioned quest and talking to Gav, you’ll unlock the ability to earn renown, which can be awarded from the following:  

Unfortunately, the amount of renown you earn from these quests and marks varies and isn’t a lot. Thus, you do need to complete quite a few to raise your renown. I found you can earn a decent amount of renown quickly, at least initially, because there are quite a few side quests and four Notorious Marks you can start on after unlocking these features. But once you’ve completed these, earning renown is a slow and tedious process.

However, by raising your renown, you will receive donations from the kind citizens of Valisthea, which you can obtain from the Patron’s Whisper.

Final Fantasy 16: Patron’s Whisper and how to use your renown for donations

Desiree runs the Patron’s Whisper in the mess of The Hideaway. On the map, her icon is a four-pointed star within a diamond.

Red box outlining four-pointed star in a diamond with a red arrow pointing to its location on a map in Final Fantasy 16
Desiree can be found behind the counter. Screenshot by Dot Esports

As your renown increases, people will donate reward boxes. Each reward box requires a specific amount of renown to unlock. 

To claim your donations, follow these easy steps:

  1. Talk to Desiree at the Patron’s Whisper System in the mess of The Hideaway
  2. Navigate to the donation box without the claimed check mark
  3. Hold down the “X” button to claim the rewards. A notice will appear on the screen if you’ve already claimed the donation box.
Several boxes showing renown amounts and corresponding rewards for the Patron's Whisper in Final Fantasy 16
One of my favorite features is the thankful note you receive with the donation. Screenshot by Dot Esports

These donation boxes contain incredible materials to help you upgrade and craft equipment and ability points to help you upgrade your abilities. These additional materials are an excellent addition to my growing stash, as I enjoy crafting and reinforcing my gear—and it makes killing high-level monsters much more effortless.

Even if you haven’t unlocked all the donation boxes, you can still see what rewards you can get and how much renown you need to have to unlock it.

Question marks within a donation box and the number of renown needed to unlock it in the Patron's Whisper in FF16
I need another 60 renown to unlock my next donation. Screenshot by Dot Esports via Square Enix.

Final Fantasy 16: How to get the Careful Whisper trophy

The Careful Whisper trophy is one of the 50 trophies you can earn in Final Fantasy 16. To get this trophy, you must obtain all the rewards from your patrons. 

Much like The More You Know trophy, this trophy will take some time to obtain because increasing your renown does take quite a bit of effort, given that additional side quests and Notorious marks are locked behind your progress in the main campaign.

Earning renown through side quests and Notorious Marks to claim donations and eventually get The Careful Whisper trophy is a fun but slow aspect of Final Fantasy 16.

Author
Image of Hayley Andrews
Hayley Andrews
Hayley Andrews is a staff writer for Dot Esports with a dual degree in business and human resource management. After discovering her passion for creative writing and gaming, she now writes about MOBAs, MMOs, and cozy games.