Final Fantasy XV SPOILER THREAD

Plague that turns people into daemons and makes it eternal night. Ardyn figured out how to cure people of it, but it got him ostracized 2000 years ago, and unleashes it again during the time skip.

Also http://noctass.tumblr.com/post/153883370456/ardyn-concept-art

Yeah Ardyn was definitely the one who saved the world and then got cast out.

So Ardyn wasn't a piece of shit in his past life? who would have thought. I can understand his saltiness now though.
 
Is that real concept art? Why didn't they put that in the game?!
Same reason why the art from the Duscae teaser isn't in the game. Because why not? So Ardyn was the healer and also the king, then who was Izunia?? The wiki says that Izunia took the Caelem name, that would make him Noctis's ancestor, but Ardyn still has the power of past kings so I guess that's permanent?
 
Same reason why the art from the Duscae teaser isn't in the game. Because why not? So Ardyn was the healer and also the king, then who was Izunia??

My guess is the one he mentions who cast him out. Maybe a family member, if it was his own family who boned him then that makes his motivations make even more sense.

Or if not,and Izunia just took then name and his place as king, maybe the Astrals made the same pact with him after they cast Ardyn out.

Either way would still make Ardyn having King Powers make sense and why he wants to destroy the family so badly
 
Plague that turns people into daemons and makes it eternal night. Ardyn figured out how to cure people of it, but it got him ostracized 2000 years ago, and unleashes it again during the time skip.

Also http://noctass.tumblr.com/post/153883370456/ardyn-concept-art

Yeah Ardyn was definitely the one who saved the world and then got cast out.

Ardyn joins the large and growing pile of underutilized potential that is within XV, it's so frustrating. I'd seen the art a few days ago, and really wished we'd seen more of this in-game. Even if we got a limited cutscene while Bahamut was talking to Noctis, or something similar. The little hints here and there (like with Gentiana, Bahamut's dialogue, etc) are really intriguing. The imagery of a bound and beaten down Ardyn is particularity powerful, and the concept art for XV is so gooooooooood. Square, you've got to sell the art book separately from the UCE.

The only funny thing is that he hasn't changed his outfit since. Ardyn, you wear too many ruffles, it's honestly long past the time to move on.
 
I wouldn't mind them doing an Ardyn DLC to flesh out this background. It makes me sad they don't really go in-depth on everything I think Ardyn is super creepy and a very compelling character. I wish he would've been fully realized.
 
My guess is the one he mentions who cast him out. Maybe a family member, if it was his own family who boned him then that makes his motivations make even more sense.
I know Izunia is the person who cast him out, but it's unclear why that person would take his name as well since it seems so vague.
 
One of my biggest problems is that there IS NO EMPIRE. Iedolas, that other dude...any semblance of structure, population, influence, goals...it simply doesn't exist. It's Ardyn, and a bunch of mindless automatons, and that's it. We never see anything other than him, and it badly weakens the scope and impressiveness of the enemy, in my opinion.

So much got cut from this game, it's a nightmare.
 
Nothing in the game implies that Ardyn is still good, he's actively trying to kill Noctis at the end and hadn't done so already because he wanted Noctis at full strength instead of being a mortal. He didn't kill Noctis's friends because he legitimately didn't care about them as they weren't any sort of threat or trying to hinder his plans in anyway, like Ravus did earlier in the game. If this is the intention then like so many other things in the game, it's not conveyed well at all. As Ardyn looks absolutely demonic at the end, if it was the intention it'd be better if he accepted the 13 kings with open arms.

He was still very much demonic and "insane" by the end of the game. I don't think he was good--he was definitely evil, but there absolutely had to be something good about him at one point because he did make a massive sacrifice and was then cast out for making said sacrifice. But I don't think it's too large of a leap to say that he knew precisely what would happen if he "lost," and by letting Noctis grow to full strength he absolutely creates a scenario where he can lose. Maybe it wasn't his total intent, but if he just wanted the Plague of Stars to happen he could've just off'd Noct right then and there instead of setting things up so the Plague can be cured--which is what his original intention was back before he was demonized. I dunno, I think there's enough depth to draw various conclusions about Ardyn's "true intent" and while I wish there was more I'm also happy it wasn't a pure exposition dump about his motivation.

It is a shame that he was so underutilized because I think as it is he's one of the more compelling FF villains. If they'd put more of his motivation and backstory into the game it would've hit even harder.

I know Izunia is the person who cast him out, but it's unclear why that person would take his name as well since it seems so vague.
I think Ardyn took Izunia's name as a backhanded insult to Izunia's memory. Sort've like a, "Well you fucked me over so I'm going to drag your name through the mud even if I'm the only one that knows it."

Re: That art. The Jesus metaphor for Ardyn continues to be super strong and I sorta dig it.
 
It is a shame that he was so underutilized because I think as it is he's one of the more compelling FF villains. If they'd put more of his motivation and backstory into the game it would've hit even harder.


I think Ardyn took Izunia's name as a backhanded insult to Izunia's memory. Sort've like a, "Well you fucked me over so I'm going to drag your name through the mud even if I'm the only one that knows it."

I agree, everything he does is a middle finger to the world/family/Astrals that fucked him over, taking the name to taint it would fit right in with his spite
 
One of my biggest problems is that there IS NO EMPIRE. Iedolas, that other dude...any semblance of structure, population, influence, goals...it simply doesn't exist. It's Ardyn, and a bunch of mindless automatons, and that's it. We never see anything other than him, and it badly weakens the scope and impressiveness of the enemy, in my opinion.

So much got cut from this game, it's a nightmare.

Yeah, I was hoping the Empire might have a villain supporting cast that was a cross between VII's cast and XII's politics. The many villains in VII are quite unique, with their own definitive motivations. Instead, as you said, there is not a lot going on outside of Ardyn.

XV has an odd contrast where there is a large scale to the game in terms of area, but in terms of story it feels like it has an even smaller in narrative scope than X-2. XV has a similar scope to Crisis Core meets Type-0 now that I think about it, just less with the supporting cast. I think even X-2 had a lot more politics!
 
One of my biggest problems is that there IS NO EMPIRE. Iedolas, that other dude...any semblance of structure, population, influence, goals...it simply doesn't exist. It's Ardyn, and a bunch of mindless automatons, and that's it. We never see anything other than him, and it badly weakens the scope and impressiveness of the enemy, in my opinion.

So much got cut from this game, it's a nightmare.
Yes but Pitioss Ruins.
 
One of my biggest problems is that there IS NO EMPIRE. Iedolas, that other dude...any semblance of structure, population, influence, goals...it simply doesn't exist. It's Ardyn, and a bunch of mindless automatons, and that's it. We never see anything other than him, and it badly weakens the scope and impressiveness of the enemy, in my opinion.

So much got cut from this game, it's a nightmare.

that's how you can tell things got significantly cut down. The entire battle between countries doesnt even largely exist in the game whereas that is a major focus on the movie itself
 
I honestly wish this game had no regicide-fall-of-nations story and was just a literal hunting road trip that slowly escalated to be something serious.
 
I wouldn't mind them doing an Ardyn DLC to flesh out this background. It makes me sad they don't really go in-depth on everything I think Ardyn is super creepy and a very compelling character. I wish he would've been fully realized.

I wonder how late in the game that Ardyn was brought to the table...I don't recall seeing him in any of the Versus XIII content/information, the first time I really knew who he was was Kingsglaive. Was info released about him before that?
 
XV has an odd contrast where there is a large scale to the game in terms of area, but in terms of story it feels like it has an even smaller in narrative scope than X-2. XV has a similar scope to Crisis Core meets Type-0 now that I think about it, just less with the supporting cast. I think even X-2 had a lot more politics!

The MGS:V comparisons just keep coming...
 
I wonder how late in the game that Ardyn was brought to the table...I don't recall seeing him in any of the Versus XIII content/information, the first time I really knew who he was was Kingsglaive. Was info released about him before that?

He was designed at the end of 2011 I believe. Roberto Ferrari designed him and mentioned it when he was revealed so Ardyn has been around for a long time we just didn't know about him.
 
I can sense that there could have been a better story.


Fun game but a rather disappointing story. Hopefully for 16 they now focus on a story.
 
When you piece everything together you can tell there was probably a good story in there. Ardyn, the truth behind the Lucis line and The Scourge of the Stars had a lot of potential that was never fully realized. The origin of the Astrals and the Crystal itself was intriguing.
Even the politics were somewhat interesting, with the empire slaying the gods of this world.

They just cut so much stuff that the whole story in the game looks like an outline of the real story that exists somewhere.
 
I might have said this but I will say this again, the gameplay and the open world was their first priority when it comes to FFXV. Now it is up for debate whether it was worth it, but the story has really suffered as a result even if it as a whole is not bad at all.
 
I might have said this but I will say this again, the gameplay and the open world was their first priority when it comes to FFXV. Now it is up for debate whether it was worth it, but the story has really suffered as a result even if it as a whole is not bad at all.

I don't even think its that, you telling me that Tabata is happy people don't get to actually go to Tenebrae? The open world is limited in someways to. I think it was just wrestling with getting the game functional and straight up being told to get the game out.

I really doubt all the 2015 plot stuff was cut just to accommodate gameplay. I think there was a hard line in the sand and they just focused on what they could actually get up to snuff.
 
I don't even think its that, you telling me that Tabata is happy people don't get to actually go to Tenebrae? The open world is limited in someways to. I think it was just wrestling with getting the game functional and straight up being told to get the game out.

I really doubt all the 2015 plot stuff was cut just to accommodate gameplay. I think there was a hard line in the sand and they just focused on what they could actually get up to snuff.
The Solheim section was cut precisely because of that. They didn't have the time and budget to completely make another open world. It is not hard to figure out.

Back in 2015, Tabata said that they had the release date set along with the budget and that it is a tight budget and they won't be allowed to go above that, no way. So the way I see it, they just run out of time and money to make another open world section for the second half and instead made it full linear.

Atleast the first open world Lucis region is extremely polished and well made, so there's that. Even if it is not as big as some other open world games, I consider it one of the best open world because how good it is for exploration the first time.
 
I don't even think its that, you telling me that Tabata is happy people don't get to actually go to Tenebrae? The open world is limited in someways to. I think it was just wrestling with getting the game functional and straight up being told to get the game out.

I really doubt all the 2015 plot stuff was cut just to accommodate gameplay. I think there was a hard line in the sand and they just focused on what they could actually get up to snuff.

Another year and half to just work on the story and later half would have been great. I wouldn't be surprised if Tabata didn't want any part of the movie but Square told him that's the best they can do. I definitely don't see it being his fault, he didn't even want the original release date. I feel bad cause a lot of the blame will fall on him for taking over Nomura's position.
 
Here is the quote by Tabata on the budget of the game.

I suppose if you consider it from when we started Versus XIII, we've been at it for ten years as well. The budgets for all of our projects are controlled quite strictly, but on a company level, so it's not been allowed to go that far out.

I hope you guys are ready for the DLC since they will have time to work on it and the cut sections that weren't full polished for the final game like Tenebrae and Solheim might make their way in DLC, one form or another.

I expect Prompto DLC to take place in Solheim, that's for sure.
 
Another year and half to just work on the story and later half would have been great. I wouldn't be surprised if Tabata didn't want any part of the movie but Square told him that's the best they can do. I definitely don't see it being his fault, he didn't even want the original release date. I feel bad cause a lot of the blame will fall on him for taking over Nomura's position.

That's something I remember vividly from the Uncovered event stream with Gooch. Dude was drunk off his ass and boasting about September release and Tabata very awkwardly and clearly trying to be respectful said he would have preferred November. Dude's not perfect by any means, but it doesn't take a genius to see that the hireups weren't doing him any favors.
 
Another year and half to just work on the story and later half would have been great. I wouldn't be surprised if Tabata didn't want any part of the movie but Square told him that's the best they can do. I definitely don't see it being his fault, he didn't even want the original release date. I feel bad cause a lot of the blame will fall on him for taking over Nomura's position.

Yep i dont blame tabby for what he had to push out, nor do i envy him for the pressure him and the team must have been under. Not the way to develop a game
 
So Squall being
Laguna's son
is genius but Prompto being Verstael's son is dumb?

Squall being Laguna's son was heavily implied in the game, to the point that Kiros and Ward literally compliment Squall on looking like his parents while in the Ragnarok. If I as a dumb kid could figure it out, it absolutely was implied in the game.

Neither is exactly a "plot twist", but both Laguna and Squall are characters in their own right with interesting interactions and motivations and their relationship is definitely explored in-game. Their relationship makes sense as a thematic contrast between the "childish"-seeming/non-serious Laguna who in the end is an adult (hence him not having to pretend to be serious or stoic or whatever) and the "mature"-posturing/pseudo-competent Squall who in the end is still a kid pretending to be an adult (his whole brooding, dismissive attitude is endemic of a child's idea of adulthood).

Verstael is nobody compared to Prompto and their relationship is literally not in the game currently. Who knows though; they might add it in a patch.
It's gonna be DLC.
 
So im in chapter 9 and randomly the dog umba can make me go back in time? I have no idea how this is relevent to to the story. Do i need to go back and do stuff? Or just proceed?
 
So im in chapter 9 and randomly the dog umba can make me go back in time? I have no idea how this is relevent to to the story. Do i need to go back and do stuff? Or just proceed?
It has zero thing to do with story. It is essentially a mechanic that they implemented to go back and do sidequests since from Chapter 10 and onwards, it is a linear ride till the end of the game.
 
Everyone was underused. She's probably the only one that gets more attention than most.

True. I mean it was pretty nice to have Iris as a healer. Welp, post game time. I think there's a NPC at the Hunter base. Old lady in chair? She didn't have any quests when I went to go check it out. Something that needs to be finished?
 
I love how Ardyn takes aspects from all of the previous villains in the series. He hates mankind like Zemus, he ultimately wants to die like Exdeath, he's the lunatic right arm of an emperor like Kefka, he's a former hero like Sephiroth, he wants revenge like Ultimecia, he dresses fancily like Kuja, he's a parent of the protagonist like Jecht, he was manipulated by supernatural beings like the Shadow Lord, he thought he was the good guy like Vayne, he barely has any character development, and he is immortal like Lahabrea.
 
I love how Ardyn takes aspects from all of the previous villains in the series. He hates mankind like Zemus, he ultimately wants to die like Exdeath, he's the lunatic right arm of an emperor like Kefka, he's a former hero like Sephiroth, he wants revenge like Ultimecia, he dresses fancily like Kuja, he's a parent of the protagonist like Jecht, he was manipulated by supernatural beings like the Shadow Lord, he thought he was the good guy like Vayne, he barely has any character development, and he is immortal like Lahabrea.

Welp...you are right! Makes him a bit better.

Also it's so fucking obvious where the DLC storys will be and that makes it kinda bad for me cause it should have been all in the game. Urgh, the really needed more time for story. Such a shame.
 
End of chapter 2, a cutscene happens showing a villain inside a mech, I think "Wow, my first boss, a new character I never seen too", I fight the mech for 3 minutes, it collapses, the villain dies. Lol.
 
Why the fuck was Aranea (?) underused so much? She had such a great design. Such a damn shame.
She occasionally drops in to help in hard battles in Duscae. It's pretty awesome.

But yeah I wish she was a permanent party member. Coolest looking Dragoon in the series IMO
 
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