My third favorite FF game so far (this is subject to change the more of these things I play). All screenshots taken by me; rights belong to Square Enix.
Spoilers for a like 8yo game.
I think if I hadn’t been spoiled for FF7 so early, I would’ve had the same reaction to Aerith dying as I did for Luna. That’s my wife!!!! I spent the entire first half of the game excited to go to Altissia and marry my wife!!!! And then Ardyn killed her!!!!!!
I have a lot of issues with FF15, despite it being so near and dear to my heart. The plot was not great, the execution of that plot was not great. I read somewhere that Noctis is lowkey a Jesus allegory and can I just say. I’m not Christian I would never have gotten that lmao. Overall it’s a really fun game and I liked it more than I liked FF7 Remake (bonkers, I know). I loved the camaraderie between the Chocobros, I loved whatever it was Verstael had going on, and I adored Luna a maybe unhealthy amount. If you couldn’t tell she was my favorite character //sighs
On the surface level the game makes sense but if you think about anything for more than two seconds it all falls apart. It’s actually fascinating.
Take Ardyn (main antagonist) for example. He was trapped in a cave for 2k yrs; when he left, he immediately started rebelling against the gods (Astrals) and was put down by the Chosen King (Noctis), following a prophecy that was created at the end of the last god war. All of this seems in order.
Now, if you play / watch the Episode: Ardyn DLC, it reveals that Ardyn was a good guy, actually. He was a healer and was dead set on healing the plague (and evidently failed, as it is still active in Noctis’ time) to the detriment of his own health. Once he absorbed too much of the plague, he was infected, and then became the ruler of the plague?? I’m simplifying a little. His brother stole the throne from him and threw him into the cave. Ardyn leaving the cave was actually because he was found, not because he broke free, and the reason Noctis is the Chosen King / main character is because. . . he’s the first one born after Ardyn’s release. So Noctis himself was never important. Also Ardyn killed Noctis’ dad but Noctis’ dad was brought back by plot armor.
All this nonsense about the Chosen King and saving the world and it’s literally just circumstance that Noctis was the one to do it. And they don’t even reveal it in the actual game, it’s DLC content. I’m not a fan of the plot beats they hid behind the DLC paywall. At least in FF6 you get the party splitting up in the first act as part of the base game; imagine you had to pay for each group’s journey separately. Truly the only good thing that came out of Episode: Ardyn was giving Verstael a convincing enough motivation but first of all it’s all in the voice acting so is it even canon anyway and second of all he’s literally the main antagonist of Episode: Prompto could you not establish his obsession with immortality due to his involvement (as friends, lovers, or coworkers) with Ardyn properly in the DLC where he’s the actual villain??
In summary, I love FF15 beyond measure. I’ve written 200k+ words of fanfiction about it.