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[Yabberwocky]

Too bad it does barely any damage.

Should be a mandatory finishing move IMO.

Damn, I was hoping it would do a bit of damage, using the summons as a finishing move would have been amazing. It looks impressive, if nothing else. I haven't yet gotten to any of the post-game content myself, I'm not too excited about facing Adamantoise!

 

[Valonquar]

At least, that's how I understand it.

Where it starts to get dumb though: Knowing all this, WHY NOT JUST KILL NOCTIS WHEN THEY FIRST MET?

 

[LiK]

Adamatoise should be a summon.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Adamatoise should be a summon.

That kills the enemies with boredom.

 

[LiK]

That kills the enemies with boredom.

He would just drop straight down from the sky and flatten everything.

 

[That Dude John]

It'd be nice to get Shiva and Titan at least once before I stop playing the game entirely.

 

[nemisis0]

Anyone get the Animation when you parry the admantoise everyone goes to the top of his back then all dive from the cliff and do some kind of special attack together? That was pretty cool and would of been good for the finishing move.

 

[The Elite]

Ardyn had the potential to be up there with Kefka but the storytelling let him down. He's great in those last few chapters though.

 

[FrontalMonk]

Regarding XIII. I noticed that the people who were exposed to X onwards tend to like it. I think the favorites also depend what generation you grew up on. Those who started playing FF in the 80s-early 90s put FFVI as one of their best. Those who started late 90s-early 00s tend to love VII or X. Those who started 00 onwards tend to like X or XIII.

Real late in responding to this, but I'm a bit of a weird outlier; I grew up in the 80s-early 90s and played a good bit of FF1 and Dragon Warrior on the NES, but I didn't play FFIV and FFVI until really late, because my family got a genesis instead, and the only RPGs we had for it was Phantasy Star 2 and Super Hydlide.

I went back and played FFIV and FFVI but not until after I had already played through and beaten VII, and to this day I've still not beaten IV or VI. I respect the hell out of them, but I think my favorite is X, partially because I liked the story and setting, and partially because the turn based system and the swapping party members mid-fight mechanic combined to make probably my favorite combat system in the series.

 

[Clear]

Where it starts to get dumb though: Knowing all this, WHY NOT JUST KILL NOCTIS WHEN THEY FIRST MET?

Because its about sticking it to the Gods and Kings who've denied and demonized him. Noctis is the means by which Ardyn attains his revenge, killing him before he's fully become their "chosen" wouldn't cut it, as his vengeance would be incomplete.

 

[FrontalMonk]

Because its about sticking it to the Gods and Kings who've denied and demonized him. Noctis is the means by which Ardyn attains his revenge, killing him before he's fully become their "chosen" wouldn't cut it, as his vengeance would be incomplete.

Well, there's this, but it's also just too pragmatic and not villainous enough. This is like asking why a bond villain doesn't just shoot the secret agent when they first meet.

Remembering that Ardyn has a long grudge against the people he believes usurped his throne and everything he stood for, it's not really about killing Noctis at all. It's about building him up so you can break him down piece by piece and tear him from everything he's ever cared about. Twisting the knife and watching Noct suffer is what brings Ardyn joy.

 

[Astral]

I watched Kingsglaive last night. Luna was actually kind of interesting in that. Kind of. Not enough to care about her death in the game though. I liked her face. Every character was uninteresting actually except maybe Nyx because he was kinda cool and Regis because he was badass. The action scenes didn't really do anything for me either. The first big fight was awful actually. I'd say only the last fight is any good. In the end, the most impressive thing by far were the visuals. Goddamn did this movie look good.

 

[LiK]

I watched Kingsglaive last night. Luna was actually kind of interesting in that. Kind of. Not enough to care about her death in the game though. I liked her face. Every character was uninteresting actually except maybe Nyx because he was kinda cool and Regis because he was badass. The action scenes didn't really do anything for me either. The first big fight was awful actually. I'd say only the last fight is any good. In the end, the most impressive thing by far were the visuals. Goddamn did this movie look good.

Considering the length of the movie, I was super disappointed in the poor storytelling. They tried to focus on too many sides. Wasted a few characters. Most of the action scenes were a mess except for the finale, imo. That was just batshit insane.

I agree, Luna was much better done in the movie than the game. Didn't give a shit about Nyx and all the other outsider characters. Should've just cut all that shit out.

 

[Ishida]

Where it starts to get dumb though: Knowing all this, WHY NOT JUST KILL NOCTIS WHEN THEY FIRST MET?

Killing Noctis when they first met wouldn't have shattered the Crystal. Ardyn needed Noctis to link with the Crystal first.

 

[Astral]

Considering the length of the movie, I was super disappointed in the poor storytelling. They tried to focus on too many sides. Wasted a few characters. Most of the action scenes were a mess except for the finale, imo. That was just batshit insane.

I agree, Luna was much better done in the movie than the game. Didn't give a shit about Nyx and all the other outsider characters. Should've just cut all that shit out.

Yeah the other characters whose names I will never remember are fucking shit. They're motivations were pretty laughable too. I honestly just watched the movie for more Ardyn. Such a fun character and its a joy to hear him speak. Awesome voice acting.

 

[Lunafreya Nox Fleuret]

Everytime I load the game and listen to the new title screen theme I always get emotional. The music feels so powerful.

 

[z1ggy]

So i finished the game last night...I guess Ardyn kinda won? I mean he wanted to end the Lucis (or Izuna?) breed with Noctis being dead and well, he dies...

Well, for being a mess i liked the game, with 1 year of extra work they could have made a marterpiece.

 

[LiK]

Yeah the other characters whose names I will never remember are fucking shit. They're motivations were pretty laughable too. I honestly just watched the movie for more Ardyn. Such a fun character and its a joy to hear him speak. Awesome voice acting.

Yes, I think I can watch Regis and Ardyn all fucking day. Loved the way they animated and the VO was great. They looked so damn real.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Where it starts to get dumb though: Knowing all this, WHY NOT JUST KILL NOCTIS WHEN THEY FIRST MET?

Well, I think most of it is just Ardyn being a dramatic motherfucker and thinking it more apropos to fight Noctis at "full power" rather than just merking him as a kid. You can also make the arguement that to really "beat" the Gods and Crystal he has to not only beat their champion but also do it when they are completely invested in the fight; all in on their bet and with their full power behind it. An ideological thing and maybe also a practical one: if all the Crystal's power is in Noctis, and he dies before he beats Ardyn, who can then use it to save the world? There is a theory that you don't HAVE to be part of the Lucis Caleum bloodline to use the Crystal's magic so long as you are worthy (Nyx could do it, albeit briefly. Maybe this Izunia guy too). So best to just to make sure that Noctis is the one and only shot the Gods get.

Also, Ardyn has a dual win condition. He can beat Noctis and usher in an eternal night, but that's more Ifrit's goal than his. Ardyn just wants to fuck with Noctis, everything else is secondary. Alternatively, Noctis beats him, killing him and by extension removing his curse of immortality. Now he can die and go into the afterlife with his ancestors and lineage, like he had originally wanted to all along. So win or lose Ardyn gets something out of the fight, but Noctis has to be at full strength to do either.

 

[AdamT]

Regarding Kingsglaive, I disliked seeing Crowe disappear so quickly. If they replaced some of Libertus' screen time with hers, I wouldn't have minded. In the end, I still didn't like his character or think he redeemed himself.

Also, if they replaced Luna's cg model in the game from the one in the movie, I'd be happy (or even pay DLC).

 

[LiK]

Regarding Kingsglaive, I disliked seeing Crowe disappear so quickly. If they replaced some of Libertus' screen time with hers, I wouldn't have minded. In the end, I still didn't like his character or think he redeemed himself.

Also, if they replaced Luna's cg model in the game from the one in the movie, I'd be happy (or even pay DLC).

Libertus was such an awful character. Hated his look and his voice. Who cast that douche? I also hated his arc. He was such a dumbass. Waste of CGI resources.

 

[YankeeDonB]

From what I gather the parasite was changing people into demons. Ardyn was the prime host for the parasite since he's the one who stopped the scourge 1000 years prior. The only way to finally kill of the parasite was to kill him. I think that's it. I'm not sure why there was no sun though... magic?

I assume Noct was in some sort of Crystal stasis for 10 years. He didn't seem aware of the passage of time.

The Starscourge are magic parasites that eat light, which seems to literally mean they block out sunlight from the world (but too much hurts them, hence why demons are weak to sunlight and bright fluorescent lights). People infected by the Starscourge eventually become demons (monsters). The Starscourge was created by Ifrit, who unlike the other 5 gods who either like or tolerate humans, was a giant dick and wanted to get rid of us.

The Crystal is the source of magic and light, gifted to humanity via the Lucian kings by the gods. The other countries apparently had crystals at one point as well but they were either lost or broken. When Noct goes inside the Crystal for 10 years he is basically absorbing its power so he can fight Ardyn. Ardyn himself used to use the Crystal to heal people of the Starscourge back in his day by absorbing the evil into himself, but he did it too much and became demonic himself (which is why he was "betrayed" by the Gods/'Izunia") They made him immortal so he could never enter the afterlife and took his kingdom from him, which is why he hates Noctis and his family so much.

Ardyn then worked with Ifrit to find a way to destroy humanity and the line of Lucii via the Starscourge and eternal night. Which involved Ardyn becoming Chancellor of the Empire and convincing the Emperor to wage a giant war on everybody to get rid of the crystals and start using magitech to to jumpstart the whole demon thing.

At least, that's how I understand it.

This is helpful, but still don't quite get what Noct sacrificing himself had to do with combatting the starscourge. Why wasn't defeating Ifrit enough? And why did his bros show up right before he KotRd Ardyn? Wasn't that the afterlife? Did,they get killed by iron giants?

 

[Hasemo]

Ignis'es accessory which makes him use an Elixir on Noctis when his max HP is under 50% doesn't seem to work in the non item dungeon, despite people saying that the potion/hi potion ones work there

 

[Arkeband]

This is helpful, but still don't quite get what Noct sacrificing himself had to do with combatting the starscourge. Why wasn't defeating Ifrit enough? And why did his bros show up right before he KotRd Ardyn? Wasn't that the afterlife? Did,they get killed by iron giants?

They were there metaphorically as you brought them with you in your heart or some anime bullshit.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

This is helpful, but still don't quite get what Noct sacrificing himself had to do with combatting the starscourge. Why wasn't defeating Ifrit enough? And why did his bros show up right before he KotRd Ardyn? Wasn't that the afterlife? Did,they get killed by iron giants?

Noctis was a vessel for the Crystal's power. Using the Ring of the Lucii lets a human channel it's power directly into grand acts of magic, however, it's extremely taxing physically. Regis was aged by years maintaining the barrier that protected Insomnia, Nyx was burnt to ash after going super saiyan during the invasion. Noctis used the Ring, channeling the Crystal and his ancestors, to basically purge the entire planet of the Starscourge forever. But in the process was killed.

Ifrit created the scourge, and Ardyn was using it (maybe even making it himself/a secondary source?) but just getting rid of them didn't really get rid of the parasites that were already infesting Eos. They had to be burned away by the light of a Crystal, and thus the sacrifice.

I personally don't think that was the afterlife, the images of Noct's friends and family standing with him at the end were meant to be more metaphorical than anything. Ardyn realizing that Noct's strength didn't just come from the Crystal or magic but from the support of his friends, which Ardyn didn't have. It's anime; power of love and friendship saved the day.

That's why Stand By Me was chosen as the theme song. The lyrics quite literally spell out how it works. When the night has come/ And the land is dark/ And the moon is the only light we'll see/ No I won't be afraid/ No I won't shed a tear/ just as long as you stand, stand by me.

 

[shiba5]

I wish I would've chosen a picture of Cup Noodles to take with me to the afterlife.

Cup Noodle quest was hilarious, but I hope product placement doesn't become this blatant in more games.
Who am I kidding? Of course it will. $60 for a game with ads.
(I also saw American Express stickers on the shop doors.)

 

[naw]

Ignis'es accessory which makes him use an Elixir on Noctis when his max HP is under 50% doesn't seem to work in the non item dungeon, despite people saying that the potion/hi potion ones work there

just use healcast

 

[Grettir_the_Swole]

This is helpful, but still don't quite get what Noct sacrificing himself had to do with combatting the starscourge. Why wasn't defeating Ifrit enough? And why did his bros show up right before he KotRd Ardyn? Wasn't that the afterlife? Did,they get killed by iron giants?

It's likely his friends didn't die. Not to get too meta on the subject but those iron giants aren't that tough to beat in-game and they fought much tougher enemies when Noctis ran for the crystal a couple chapters earlier. As for Noctis, that scene was supposed to be Luna and Noctis in the afterlife. However, that's the only post-starscourge scene in the end credits as everything else, aside from watching the sun rise and looking at the 4 empty camping chairs, just about everything else happened before Noctis sacrificed himself.

 

[YankeeDonB]

Ok, the Noct anime metaphor reading of the KotR scene makes a lot of sense. I guess I would have preferred a more FF VII style scene where we also got to see more directly what was happening world wide as he cleansed the star scourge.

 

[Ferr986]

This is helpful, but still don't quite get what Noct sacrificing himself had to do with combatting the starscourge. Why wasn't defeating Ifrit enough? And why did his bros show up right before he KotRd Ardyn? Wasn't that the afterlife? Did,they get killed by iron giants?

That wasn't the afterlife but the crystal. Same place Noc takes his 10 years nap.

Noctis don't get killed when all the assholes kings stab him (that's more giving their power) but when he kills Ardyn with that beam/whatever the fuck that was.

 

[Hasemo]

just use healcast

I am, but it would be nice in critical situations.

 

[YankeeDonB]

That wasn't the afterlife but the crystal. Same place Noc takes his 10 years nap.

Noctis don't get killed when all the assholes kings stab him (that's more giving their power) but when he kills Ardyn with that beam/whatever the fuck that was.

Ah, yes, it did look exactly the same.

 

[LiK]

Remember that after Noctis really dies in the Crystal, his ring also disappears along with his body. They zoomed in right on it.

 

[Rad Shadow]

Anyone get the Animation when you parry the admantoise everyone goes to the top of his back then all dive from the cliff and do some kind of special attack together? That was pretty cool and would of been good for the finishing move.

That happened once for me.

It looked cool, then the fight took 45 more minutes before ending.

Such a crappy fight. That and leviathan were presented rather bad.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

The adamantoise fight needs work for sure.

 

[Grettir_the_Swole]

I personally don't think that was the afterlife, the images of Noct's friends and family standing with him at the end were meant to be more metaphorical than anything. Ardyn realizing that Noct's strength didn't just come from the Crystal or magic but from the support of his friends, which Ardyn didn't have. It's anime; power of love and friendship saved the day.

Are you talking about the scene at the campsite or the image of Noctis and Luna? I was confident the campsite scene happened sometime after awakening from the crystal and before the final battle. Take this source with a grain of salt but the anonymous playtester who blew 99% of the final ending on 4chan months before release bluntly stated 'he was chilling in the afterlife with his loli wife.' If that's true, this person might have actually had information from the developers or interpreted it that way when they were play testing it. There's also an active mention of the afterlife in the game. Could simply be religious banter, or quite more literal given Regis' specter was standing right next to Noctis as he was absorbing the power of the gods.

Also, in Kingsglaive, Nyx hears Regis' voice when he puts on the ring after Regis was killed. Even if it's only for royalty (the wealth disparity in this world is staggering), there seems to be an alternate reality for the dead. Aside from that, I think everything else you said was spot on.

 

[LordKasual]

Where it starts to get dumb though: Knowing all this, WHY NOT JUST KILL NOCTIS WHEN THEY FIRST MET?

Because he needed him. There are actually a few motivations here.

1) He hates the gods and he hates the Lucis line, since technically, Ardyn was the one who was usurped.

2) Ardyn couldn't destroy the crystal (which is where the Lucii line gets its power) if he just murdered Regis and Noctis. I assume the crystal would just make another chosen to carry out its will, and we're back to square one.

3) Ardyn is immortal, not by his own choice, but because the gods deny him the afterlife. If he killed Noctis before he absorbed all the power of the Old Kings, there would be nobody strong enough to actually end him.


When you think about it, FFXV's entire plot was an all-encompassing plan of Ardyns. If Nifilhiem never actually sacked Insomnia, then there's a good chance there would have never been enough conflict to require Noctis to become the True King. They'd have just beaten the Nifs, Noctis would have sat the throne and married Luna, and Ardyn would just be stuck with another few generations of accursed immortality.

 

[LiK]

Yea, let's remmeber that Ardyn helped them with their journey and they even commented on it in the game. He had a grand plan of some sort. Dude was also mad by the time we saw him in the game.

I liked his Devil May Care attitude since he knew he couldn't die no matter what.

 

[Astral]

I feel like there was a good story in here somewhere but it just needed a lot more work. It's poorly told and the characters extremely underdeveloped. It needed more scenes like the motel scene with Prompto but with all the bros, maybe some sidequests that for them that expands on their character. Iris gets kidnapped or some shit. I kinda liked the fact that Luna died without ever reuniting with Noctis. It was more sad in a way. But they needed more scenes with her. All I got from her is that she's kind and strong-willed. It wasn't enough for me to care about her. They needed a lot more scenes focused on her, something to make her actually likable. I'm sure the scenes they're adding in future patches will help but I doubt it'll be enough to make the story any less choppy. It's such a shame.

 

[Quadaess Suikun]

So I just read about the Daurell Caverns glitch. What I'm reading is if you go inside, spawn the boss and then leave without beating him, he won't respawn afterwards. Now, I went into the dungeon but didn't make it to the boss... Will mine be glitched, too?

I read somewhere that someone contacted Square-Enix support about this, and they told the person this would be fixed in the next patch. Wonder if that's true.

That happened to me, and now I can't complete the dungeon. Really hoping they fix it as soon as possibly.
I reached the boss when i was like level 20 in chapter 4, so obviously I ran away. Bad for me, now I have a glitched game. I think you should be ok if you didn't meet the boss, but I can't say for sure.
Lucky for me I'm still in chapter 9, so I have yet to finish the story, take all hunts etc, so i hope the patch arrives before that dungeon is my only opción to progress in the opcional content.

 

[Koozek]

Are you talking about the scene at the campsite or the image of Noctis and Luna? I was confident the campsite scene happened sometime after awakening from the crystal and before the final battle. Take this source with a grain of salt but the anonymous playtester who blew 99% of the final ending on 4chan months before release bluntly stated 'he was chilling in the afterlife with his loli wife.' If that's true, this person might have actually had information from the developers or interpreted it that way when they were play testing it. There's also an active mention of the afterlife in the game. Could simply be religious banter, or quite more literal given Regis' specter was standing right next to Noctis as he was absorbing the power of the gods.

Also, in Kingsglaive, Nyx hears Regis' voice when he puts on the ring after Regis was killed. Even if it's only for royalty (the wealth disparity in this world is staggering), there seems to be an alternate reality for the dead. Aside from that, I think everything else you said was spot on.

Noct's VA, Ray Chase, said this today:

[–]rychvz

When we talked about the ending during recording, we talked of it as 'the afterlife'. I'm happy with that.
​

 

[LiK]

Noct's VA, Ray Chase, said this today:

[–]rychvz

When we talked about the ending during recording, we talked of it as 'the afterlife'. I'm happy with that.
​

Thanks for confirmation Ray

 

[LordKasual]

The campfire scene was before the final battle, and Noctis had already explained he was going to die before that scene happened.

Which is why everyone knew the reason Noctis wanted a picture before the Ardyn fight.

The friends behind Noctis as he banished Ardyn is just a typical FF/Anime trope, the 4 heroes of light banishing the darkness. But notice how they didn't actually do anything but briefly appear behind him.

I guess its open for interpretation, but I highly doubt the bros were killed by a bunch of Iron Giants after surviving a battle against a full-powered Astral...


EDIT:

Does anyone know where to find in-game text that explains what Ifrit had to do with the Starscourge? I was under the impression that Ifrit either

a) helped him spread the plague

or

b) simply aligned with helping him win because fuck humans

But people keep quoting that he created it, which i saw nowhere in the game.

 

[Koozek]

Thanks for confirmation Ray

But honestly, it's pretty obvious, anyway. We can see Noctis and the ring fading away. And the whole sacrifice he and Luna had to make would lose its impact if they could just happily live after.

 

[McMoneyman]

Regarding the Adamantoise. Is there any legit strategy for it? I just spammed Warp Strikes on it's head and when I ran out of MP I got to Warp Point. Got pretty boring after awhile, I also used the blade that deals more damage the less HP you got.

 

[LiK]

But honestly, it's pretty obvious, anyway. We can see Noctis and the ring fading away. And the whole sacrifice he and Luna had to make would lose its impact if they could just happily live after.

ROFL, your avatar cracked me up

 

[The Emperor]

Honestly the OST out next week is probably gonna be the single greatest media product of 2016 released at retail lol

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Are you talking about the scene at the campsite or the image of Noctis and Luna? I was confident the campsite scene happened sometime after awakening from the crystal and before the final battle. Take this source with a grain of salt but the anonymous playtester who blew 99% of the final ending on 4chan months before release bluntly stated 'he was chilling in the afterlife with his loli wife.' If that's true, this person might have actually had information from the developers or interpreted it that way when they were play testing it. There's also an active mention of the afterlife in the game. Could simply be religious banter, or quite more literal given Regis' specter was standing right next to Noctis as he was absorbing the power of the gods.

Also, in Kingsglaive, Nyx hears Regis' voice when he puts on the ring after Regis was killed. Even if it's only for royalty (the wealth disparity in this world is staggering), there seems to be an alternate reality for the dead. Aside from that, I think everything else you said was spot on.

Oh yeah, the part at the very end with Luna and Noctis is the afterlife but I think everything up until then was still in the real world (comparing the throne room to the version Noctis and Luna sleep in). Regis' ghost I think is just meant to be a storytelling device, he turns into a more "proper" Knight version before he enters the Ring. Plus it isn't like the game isn't above using ghosts anyway, with Luna's ghost being the one who gives Noctis the Lucii ring. But the fight with Ardyn, even the part in the colorful "Crystal realm" is still part of our world. It's the same place Noct goes to during his 10 year nap. I don't necessarily think that the royalty get their own special afterlife, any more special than any normal person anyway, but there does seem to be some sort of communal, Lifestream-esque heaven that Ardyn was denied access to by the Gods that Noctis, Luna, Regis, and others visit in the end.

The campsite at the end is a flashback to the final one you visit before going into Insomnia. It happens before the final fight even takes place.

 

[Arkeband]

That wasn't the afterlife but the crystal. Same place Noc takes his 10 years nap.

Noctis don't get killed when all the assholes kings stab him (that's more giving their power) but when he kills Ardyn with that beam/whatever the fuck that was.

No - the kings stabbing him ending with Regis stabbing him (and Noctis driving his own sword into his chest) was his act of joining them in their spirit realm, where Ardyn was temporarily banished to, and they then killed him there before he could return to the corporeal realm.

Noct's VA, Ray Chase, said this today:

[–]rychvz

When we talked about the ending during recording, we talked of it as 'the afterlife'. I'm happy with that.
​

That was an annoying answer because people are going to interpret it to mean either the scene which is clearly the afterlife is the only scene that was the afterlife, or they're going to conflate all of the ending scenes to be the afterlife. Really the only answer gleaned from this is "the voice actors were not given this information".

 

[Hasemo]

No item dungeon done. Switched to easy halfway through, but if I knew that fire suits make bosses a cakewalk, I'd have stayed on normal. Especially since carbuncle didn't work there anyway. Oh well! Guess I'll finish up all the remaining hunts and chocobo races since there's not really anything else left to do (I'm not 100% fish and food, uh).