Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

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Dorothy95

Sphere Hunter
Jan 5, 2018
230
398
28
Would be a bit pointless. Assumedly the rest of Insomnia has no collision detection, so even if you got outside the bounds you'd just fall straight through the ground.
ehh wheen i played it a got a glitch several times and ardyn kept on falling through the streets to the abyss under...lol
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
It actually answers questions I had even since my Reddit days. Isn't Ardyn actually following prophecy? I mean the poster is right there, Ardyn actually agreed to this. He's helping the Gods!

How are you getting back at the Gods when you're doing exactly what they told you to do? You got the king of light brought him here to do the ritual just like the Gods said that you would.

And Bahamut, using Aera to torment Ardyn. I mean he spoke through her. So is she just a puppet or what? That was kinda creepy. Does any of this even matter anymore? I mean I knew they were puppets but not literally.
The answer to the question raised by the responsibility of Ardyn in light of the prophecy depends on whether FFXV's version of predestination includes compatibilist free will (i.e., whether individuals are able to act according to their inherent natures without external constraint). As long as Ardyn has compatibilist free will, he's still responsible for his actions even if they were always set to happen... and thankfully, Episode Ardyn left that as a live option.

In any case, the credits scene makes it clear that Ardyn wants to ruin Bahamut's plan by killing Noct before he can complete the ritual, this condemning the world to eternal darkness. That he basically does what Bahamut asks anyway is intentionally ironic.

As for Aera being a puppet, it's so far out of Bahamut's existing characterization that I'm inclined to put it in the same category as Episode Ignis 3:2 -- it's Ardyn's own reflection on what could have happened if he had chosen differently.
 
Likes: Storm

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
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Switzerland
thats right, whatever you choose, he returns saying that nothing matters, neither the gods above or humans below.

considering his madness and complexity of his situation, maybe he even changed his mind midway.
 
Likes: Lord_Ham_Mork
Jun 3, 2018
53
118
Got mad XIII vibes from Episode Ardyn. He's like Caius, cursed with life eternal, doomed to suffer forever. The gods as fal'Cie, being bound by fate, the same as man, manipulating. The fal'Cie and Astrals don't work wonders, they play tricks. Ardyn even takes the form of Bhunivelze in XIII, a shape-shifting trickster god. Fang and Vanille being like Noctis and Luna, bound by the same fate, Serah and Noel also carrying the parallel. The chaos and Starscourge forcing people into a last bastion, the gang reuniting to part ways with the gods and make a world free from their influence and destiny. A calling and focus being similar, the structure of the party even resembles one another.
 

Lord_Ham_Mork

SOLDIER Second Class
Feb 23, 2018
344
587
31
Episode Ardyn introduced some elements to the plot that probably are meant to be used for Dawn of The Future.
Seeing that the cover of the book has adult Noctis. I think that the moment to choose what ending we want would have been just after the final fight.

My idea is that Noctis will use the ring to absorb the Starscourge from Ardyn so he learns every memory he collected. And use the power absorbed by the Cristal alongside the Starscourge to find a way to find another way of saving the world.
Probably Bahamut will not like that take and will do everything posible to asure Noctis doesn't go that way.
 
Likes: Storm

SonOfEtro

Warrior of Light
May 2, 2016
1,036
1,192
Episode Ardyn introduced some elements to the plot that probably are meant to be used for Dawn of The Future.
Seeing that the cover of the book has adult Noctis. I think that the moment to choose what ending we want would have been just after the final fight.

My idea is that Noctis will use the ring to absorb the Starscourge from Ardyn so he learns every memory he collected. And use the power absorbed by the Cristal alongside the Starscourge to find a way to find another way of saving the world.
Probably Bahamut will not like that take and will do everything posible to asure Noctis doesn't go that way.
I've got the feeling a separate thread for Dawn of the Future would be in order.
 
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Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0

translation of a recent Famitsu interview, lots of interesting bits like the love triangle idea with Aera that was discarded.

—In Episode Ardyn, it seems like Bahamut is the ringleader behind everything, and we’re still left with some parts that feel unresolved. May I ask about that?

Osanai: First, Bahamut did want to get rid of daemons from the world. To do so, Bahamut conferred upon Ardyn his mission to spread the Starscourge while also getting the kings of Lucis to accumulate power. Then, by having Noct take down Ardyn, he planned to eliminate the daemons in one clean sweep.

—So the Starscourge had to first be spread?

Osanai: That’s right. Bahamut isn’t directly involved with the daemon outbreak, but there’s a reason it was necessary. By the way, Episode Ardyn is the prologue of the four episodes, so we purposely tried to get players to have these questions, like “could the true mastermind be…”

Terada: You can stop there! The rest will be in the novel!

—I guess the only option is to read the book. (laughs)

Osanai: I was ordered to stop (laughs), but please read Luna’s and Noct’s sections in the novel for answers to these questions arising from Episode Ardyn.
aka a warrior of light but also a warrior of darkness were needed to restore balance.

the thing about Somnus and Aera, specially during the Resist your Fate bit when she appears as a spirit, I think its based on Ardyns thoughts, in the moment he understood Aera didnt tell him about his fate, he began to imagine her as an evil person that wanted to harm him.
 
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Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0

translation of a recent Famitsu interview, lots of interesting bits like the love triangle idea with Aera that was discarded.



aka a warrior of light but also a warrior of darkness were needed to restore balance.

the thing about Somnus and Aera, specially during the Resist your Fate bit when she appears as a spirit, I think its based on Ardyns thoughts, in the moment he understood Aera didnt tell him about his fate, he began to imagine her as an evil person that wanted to harm him.
For some reason, that website won't load on my phone, so I ripped the HTML and fixed the formatting so I can make the whole thing easily accessible:

The article is incredibly extensive so I only translated certain parts I found to contain interesting material. I may translate other passages if I have time, but I´ll put them on a separate fusetter page. I apologize in advance for mistranslations and would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know if you find any. Also, please don't repost without credit. Thank you!

Source: https://www.famitsu.com/matome/ff15/2019_03_27-2.html

Character Lore

-- *laughs* Ardyn was a good person in the anime. On the other hand, Somnus…

Osanai: Even if he is envious of his older brother, we wanted to show that Somnus has his own sense of righteousness and that he was doing it for the people, but due to length restrictions, we weren’t able to include as much of that as we would’ve liked. Both the anime and the game are centered around Ardyn, and from his perspective, Somnus is the enemy, so Somnus ended up being depicted in that manner.

—After the battle, when he began apologizing, I was like “what are you saying?!”

Terada: His apology scene left an impression on me, too.

Osanai: The scene symbolizes their relationship. Ardyn and Somnus’ passage through time are completely different. After Ardyn was gone, Somnus established a nation and spent a long time protecting his people, all while carrying feelings of guilt at having done his brother wrong. On the other hand, Ardyn was imprisoned for about 2000 years without any knowledge of this, bringing about his “what makes you think you can apologize?!” sort of reaction. His lines were intended to make the player feel the same emotions as him.

—So that’s how it went. I really empathized with Ardyn here.

Osanai: By the way, the one apologizing to him there is Somnus himself, but the Somnuses appearing in cutscenes up until that point are the “Somnus in Ardyn’s mind”—the eviler version seen through Ardyn’s eyes.

Kabe: He really looks evil. *laughs*

Osanai: In the early stages of the anime, we made Somnus a fairly good person. But if we left it that way, it would’ve been difficult to understand why Ardyn detests the royal family as much as he does. Without the establishment of a proper antagonist, Ardyn wouldn’t abhor the royal family, and so [the anime] settled into its current state.

Terada: On the other side of the spectrum, there was a time when we had something much worse. Like a love triangle with Aera. *laughs wryly* That would’ve been too much, so we had it toned down to our current backstory.

—This is related to Somnus, but there’s an event where a button-mash prompt appears. No matter how many times I try, [the dagger] still ends up hitting home. Is it possible to mash hard enough to resist?

Kabe: It is possible. For the most part, you won’t be able to, but we would love for everyone to see what happens if they manage to complete the prompt.

Osanai: We were asked by the one in charge of implementation* which one—resisting [Somnus] or not—would be better story-wise, and since we thought that more people would be shocked by what happens when he’s unable to resist, we had them make it so the majority would fail the button-mash event.

*I’m assuming design implementation

—This next question goes into the lore, but could you tell us the origins of “Adagium"?

Osanai: In Latin, it has the meaning “aphorism,” but that doesn’t hold much importance here. It’s more of a codename that the Lucian royal family assigned to conceal Ardyn’s existence. Actually, part way through the main game’s development, some of us on the team started to use the name Adagium.

—Where did Izunia, the surname Ardyn introduces himself with, come from? In the main game, he has a line insinuating that it’s someone’s surname.

Osanai: We planned to touch upon that, but if we were to give a proper explanation, it would’ve taken things off course and so we left it out. Ardyn doesn’t quite remember whose last name it is. Through daemonification, he has absorbed the memories of various people, gaining extensive knowledge but consequently falling deeper into insanity, forgetting even details pertaining to himself.

—In Episode Ardyn, Ardyn fights against young Regis. At this time, Regis sees Ardyn as a guard, right?

Osanai: As you learn at the beginning, Ardyn is seen as a guard from the perspective of those around him. When Regis meets Ardyn in Kingsglaive, he doesn’t have an over-the-top reaction because it’s his first time meeting Ardyn…or so he thinks.

Terada: The onslaught in Episode Ardyn was viewed by the Insomnians as an attack by Adagium, who appeared in the Crown City and wreaked havoc.

—While Ardyn was on his rampage, what was Verstael doing?

Osanai: The plan was to launch a surprise attack on Insomnia once Ardyn had destroyed the devices amplifying the Wall, so he was waiting on the outside. However, after destroying them, Ardyn brings up having a king to kill and goes to find Regis, losing communications and leaving Verstael's following actions unknown. Lore-wise, Verstael did proceed with the surprise attack, but the Wall was more formidable than he thought. Faced also with a counterattack launched by the Lucian army, he ends up retreating. What they learned from this experience was used in their invasion in Kingsglaive.

Terada: And as Ardyn, who headed for Regis, would ultimately be stopped by Bahamut, the operation was a complete and utter failure for Niflheim.

Scenario/Novel
About Episode Ardyn

— So it was decided from the get-go to take a darker approach. The final choice also drives the story toward a more somber tone.

Terada: What I wanted to add to the game was “no matter what option you choose, Ardyn cannot be saved.” We thought the best way to depict Ardyn’s tragedy was to have the players make the decision and find that nothing has changed. I’m curious what everyone thought about this…

Osanai: We hope everyone thinks it was cruel. *laughs*

Terada: However, the meaning of this final choice differs greatly between the game and the novel. Ardyn’s choice to “resist fate” will gain significance as it connects to the subsequent stories of Episode Aranea, Episode Lunafreya, and Episode Noctis, so please look forward to it.

—The novel also includes the story of Episode Ardyn?

Osanai: Yes, it does. I focused on how the story would develop from Ardyn’s section to Noct’s while writing the original story and passed it over to the author Eishima-sensei to turn it into a novel. The ending was decided over a year ago, and I believe it’ll prove satisfactory.

—So we can trust the novel’s cover illustration?

Osanai: Of course. We first started this series [of DLC] with the theme of a “grand finale,” and [the novel] contains the story leading up to that point. This is why we thought it’d be okay for Ardyn’s story to be on the dark side. By the way, Aranea’s is pretty light-hearted. *laughs* Luna’s and Noct’s stories are quite serious. [The novel is] a piece of work designed to “deliver a new ending for fans,” and we've worked on the scenario while carefully choosing elements that will leave an impression.

—When the new series of DLCs was first announced, an illustration of Ardyn, Noct and the others together in harmony was also revealed. Does it have any relation to the novel?

Terada: When we were drawing up a plan for the DLCs, the first thing we decided on was the ending. At that time, we asked ourselves what kind of finale to FFXV would most satisfy the players and held a competition within the art team. A game that the fans have always followed—at the end of it all, what would they want to see? One of the pieces drawn was that artwork. Then we proceeded to construct the story with it in mind. That isn’t to say that the novel will be directly connected to the illustration, but it represents the goal we had in mind.

—In Episode Ardyn, it seems like Bahamut is the ringleader behind everything, and we’re still left with some parts that feel unresolved. May I ask about that?

Osanai: First, Bahamut did want to get rid of daemons from the world. To do so, Bahamut conferred upon Ardyn his mission to spread the Starscourge while also getting the kings of Lucis to accumulate power. Then, by having Noct take down Ardyn, he planned to eliminate the daemons in one clean sweep.

—So the Starscourge had to first be spread?

Osanai: That’s right. Bahamut isn’t directly involved with the daemon outbreak, but there’s a reason it was necessary. By the way, Episode Ardyn is the prologue of the four episodes, so we purposely tried to get players to have these questions, like “could the true mastermind be…”

Terada: You can stop there! The rest will be in the novel!

—I guess the only option is to read the book. *laughs*

Osanai: I was ordered to stop *laughs*, but please read Luna’s and Noct’s sections in the novel for answers to these questions arising from Episode Ardyn.

It's interesting that they're being so circumspect about Bahamut's role. They both implied that Bahamut was acting out of necessity and that we're meant to wonder whether he's the mastermind.

I still get a bad feeling about it, though, and I wish they had left the Dawn of the Future foreshadowing out of the villain's backstory. =/

On a different note... is there a video of what happens if you succeed at the QTE in Ardyn's vision?
 

Loganight

Forest Owl
Feb 24, 2018
377
811
25
https://fusetter.com/tw/kHNU0

translation of a recent Famitsu interview, lots of interesting bits like the love triangle idea with Aera that was discarded.



aka a warrior of light but also a warrior of darkness were needed to restore balance.

the thing about Somnus and Aera, specially during the Resist your Fate bit when she appears as a spirit, I think its based on Ardyns thoughts, in the moment he understood Aera didnt tell him about his fate, he began to imagine her as an evil person that wanted to harm him.
Super intriguing read, thanks for sharing. I'm going to try my hardest to complete the QTE mentioned within, now that I know it's possible I really wanna see if for myself. I'll share a video here if I can manage it.
 

motoleo

Chocobo Knight
Jan 7, 2019
196
264
Shiva was late. Ifrit was already kidnapped and turned while she was sleeping. So in ME 740 what was she trying to save? You're too late. He was drawn away from the light years ago. And that's when the Empire got her as well.
 
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FFChocobo18

Warrior of Light
Jan 9, 2017
1,045
1,514
Why haven''t they gotten the message that we don't want a happy ending to this game? I doubt they'll even touch the main ending, but making another ending would be wasting resources. The only thing I hated about Episode Ignis was the alternative happy ending. If I was talking to Tabata, I would tell him to back away from the prospect of making an alternate happy ending, as it would ruin things and be a waste of resources, and that many of the fans don't want one. The only 'alternate ending' I would take would be Ardyn killing Noctis at the end, and keeping the World in Darkness, but I still wouldn't take a happy ending.
I just realized I kinda predicted that part I highlighted in my own reply from a year back was 'the only alternate ending I would take would be Ardyn killing Noctis', and that kinda happened in Episode Ardyn's Kingly Clash mode, though there wasn't quite an 'ending', quite ironic and quite funny when I now think about it, though. Lol
 
Likes: Storm

Storm

Warrior of Light
Oct 26, 2013
3,351
6,012
32
Switzerland
so Somnus and Ardyn liked to play chess together, according to some lore tidbits from Episode Carbuncle (which mozzafari posted regularly); heres more courtesy of ffxvcaps.tumblr and dizzymoogle
  • It is from the Fenestala Manor in Tenebrae that the sylleblossoms began being passed down as a symbol of the Oracle
  • Aera Mils Fleuret the 1st Oracle loves sylleblossoms
  • The people of Tenebrae now enjoy the sylleblossom fragrance in perfumes and potpourri
  • The sylleblossoms come in different colours, the blue sylleblossom representing Lunafreya means “heart which does not give up” and “sincerity”
  • Aera Mils Fleuret enjoyed growing sylleblossoms, studying the Solheim civilization and visiting ruins. She does not like snakes and bitter tea (which happens because she let’s her tea sit until it gets bitter as she waits for Ardyn to return from his trips of healing the people from the Starscourge)
  • Growing up in a less affluent household, Cor joined the Crownsguard at age 13, due to his physical prowess and ability he was appointed King Mors’s bodyguard, the youngest ever at age 15.
  • Cor called Regis a coward for retreating from Accordo, which impressed Regis leading to Regis bring Cor along to fight in the war
  • The Wall having been pulled back to just the crown city of Insomnia, Cid broke off contact with Regis as Cid was opposed to dragging innocent citizens into the war
  • Regis apparently took in Drautos who was orphaned from the Great War (this raises questions about why Drautos would betray Regis in Kingsglaive…)
  • Why does Loqi have such animosity to Cor? Loqi grew up in a military family, he grew up hearing the name of Cor ‘The Immortal’ and began seeing Cor as his rival and his goal became beating Cor
  • Pryna states: “One theory for why the Amicitia family [specifically those that are the Shield of the King] get large eagle tattoos, is to honour Enkidu, a close companion of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was the first King’s Shield.
  • Talcott became a hunter in the 10 year time skip
  • Gladio, Ignis, & Prompto helped train Talcott
  • Talcott grew up watching his grandfather Jared master the fundamentals of fighting, and also yearned to fight also.
  • Ardyn’s favourite thing is wine and chess
  • Ardyn used to play chess with Somnus
  • Somnus was a strong chess player as he would win the games without any handicap
about the Drautos part, we know from the datamine Cors datalog would cover that.
 
Feb 19, 2018
582
1,108
31
Shiva was late. Ifrit was already kidnapped and turned while she was sleeping. So in ME 740 what was she trying to save? You're too late. He was drawn away from the light years ago. And that's when the Empire got her as well.
Ifrit doesn't seem super daemonified during the Insomnia attack to me so my thinking is maybe the infection spreads slowly and Shiva only senses this later. I haven't taken a super close look at his model and am unable to do so atm but if someone could confirm how daemonified Ifrit is during Episode Ardyn that would be cool. Besides the two times that we see Ifrit active are when he's deep inside a Nif base and when he's inside Insomnia's magic barrier. I think that might play a part in shielding his presence from Shiva. For all we know Ifrit helped Ardyn lure her out later cuz he no doubt harbors ill will towards all the other Astrals and if Shiva didn't hesitate to kill him at the end of FFXV then I don't see why he wouldn't hesitate to kill her or help kill her.
 

motoleo

Chocobo Knight
Jan 7, 2019
196
264
I thought that the Rock of Ravatough WAS ifrits body. Actually it still could be. Haven't you forgotten that Bahamut did indeed kill Ifrit. Because you CAN kill gods.*

*But you really can't!
 
Feb 19, 2018
582
1,108
31
I thought that the Rock of Ravatough WAS ifrits body. Actually it still could be. Haven't you forgotten that Bahamut did indeed kill Ifrit. Because you CAN kill gods.*

*But you really can't!
Rock of Ravatough actually being Ifrit's body has never been confirmed within canon, it was always a fan theory. The truth, as far as we know, ended up being that Ifrit was merely defeated there and fell into a deep sleep until Verstael found him. Yeah there's the fact that part of the rock looks like Ifrit's antlers but that might just be an artistic choice to signify that he was defeated and laid to rest there. Could also just be Ifrit's magic/presence influencing that area like how Shiva's corpse turned a desert into a frozen wasteland.

Astrals indeed seem unkillable but not in the traditional sense as they seem to change after death like how Shiva has shown that she can assume a different form after her original body gets killed. So maybe Ifrit's original body is indeed the entire rock of Ravatough and he just reformed with a smaller body after death but he could've been on the smaller side to begin with as well considering the Astrals are all different sizes and Bahamut can even change his size to be about Ifrit's size whereas in the main game he's giantic compared to Ifrit. It's an unclear detail but tbh I don't think it's an important one either, you can interpret it however you want it wouldn't really impact the story either way.
 

stolas

Sphere Hunter
Feb 20, 2018
225
348
Rock of Ravatough actually being Ifrit's body has never been confirmed within canon, it was always a fan theory. The truth, as far as we know, ended up being that Ifrit was merely defeated there and fell into a deep sleep until Verstael found him. Yeah there's the fact that part of the rock looks like Ifrit's antlers but that might just be an artistic choice to signify that he was defeated and laid to rest there. Could also just be Ifrit's magic/presence influencing that area like how Shiva's corpse turned a desert into a frozen wasteland.

Astrals indeed seem unkillable but not in the traditional sense as they seem to change after death like how Shiva has shown that she can assume a different form after her original body gets killed. So maybe Ifrit's original body is indeed the entire rock of Ravatough and he just reformed with a smaller body after death but he could've been on the smaller side to begin with as well considering the Astrals are all different sizes and Bahamut can even change his size to be about Ifrit's size whereas in the main game he's giantic compared to Ifrit. It's an unclear detail but tbh I don't think it's an important one either, you can interpret it however you want it wouldn't really impact the story either way.
It was confirmed in a loading screen in Episode Gladiolus.
Taken from FFWikia:
  • A loading screen in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Gladiolus posits that Ifrit fought the other Astrals in the War of the Astrals, died, and was laid down upon the Rock of Ravatogh. The loading screen exists for the English, German and Portuguese localizations, but is absent within the French, Italian and Spanish localizations, as well as the original Japanese version. The Almanac entry in the Windows and Royal Editions reveals there is a local legend of Ifrit lying inside the volcano and worshipers making pilgrimages up the volcano to pay respects. The mountain's tendril-like formations could be seen as resembling Ifrit's horns.