Also about the socio-political interpretation of XVI: I'll be honest, I just think that this interpretation can be abstracted and cleared of details related to economics and politics. I would highlight 3-4 layers of interpretation of the story of XVI:
1) Socio-political commentary. Include here your reasoning about capitalism, the opposition of horizontal and vertical social systems in the style of Hideaway vs any system of subjugation, environmentalism, and so on, whatever the fuck you want.
2) The pedagogical-moral layer, making the whole story like a modern bildungsroman, the story about coming of age.
3) The metaphysical layer, telling about the dynamics of categories of will and pure reason.
4) The layer of crossroads between reflexive, meta-prose-like writing about Final Fantasy AND writing about the fundamental nature fantasy per se. As has happened many times in Final Fantasy, this crossroads writing tells about the meaning and purpose of fantasy in general and about fantasy as a literary genre (hence also about Final Fantasy as a series) in particular.
(1/?)