Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

[Ikkin]

or they'll just rebel against the gods and crystal and be able to overcome the starscourge anyway because reasons since the lore is whatever in the alternate reality, that could happen lol

They could, but as that would legitimately make the game as a whole worse, I would much prefer they did literally anything else.

Also, it's worth pointing out that there's nothing in the descriptions that we were given that specifically suggests rebellion against the Astrals. The description of Noct's episode says, "Parting ways with the Astrals, Noctis embarks upon his final battle in order to attain the ideal future for all his people," which doesn't make a whole lot of grammatical sense if Noct is actually fighting the Astrals. "Parting ways with" may be an ambiguous phrase, but its connotations are soft -- it would be more appropriate to re-render it as "leaving the presence of..." or "choosing a different path from..." than "rejecting..." or "rebelling against...."

Rebelling against the Crystal seems even less likely, given the Crystal's crucial role in healing Ignis in Verse 2 of his episode.

Not to mention, while neither the original game nor its Royal Edition provide any meaningful hooks for rebellion against the Astrals, they do provide meaningful hooks for Ardyn's redemption and the Crystal's capacity to offer mercy to those who willingly sacrifice themselves (both in the aforementioned Verse 2 and in the implication that Noct and Luna's existence in the original post-credits scene appears to be different somehow than Regis', even though they're all dead).

The solution I offered maintains continuity, further explains Episode Ignis' Verse 2, and allows for a meaningful Verse 1 in all of the upcoming DLCs. Going the FFXIII route instead would be the worst thing they could do. =/

 

[Storm]

They could, but as that would legitimately make the game as a whole worse, I would much prefer they did literally anything else.

Also, it's worth pointing out that there's nothing in the descriptions that we were given that specifically suggests rebellion against the Astrals. The description of Noct's episode says, "Parting ways with the Astrals, Noctis embarks upon his final battle in order to attain the ideal future for all his people," which doesn't make a whole lot of grammatical sense if Noct is actually fighting the Astrals. "Parting ways with" may be an ambiguous phrase, but its connotations are soft -- it would be more appropriate to re-render it as "leaving the presence of..." or "choosing a different path from..." than "rejecting..." or "rebelling against...."

Rebelling against the Crystal seems even less likely, given the Crystal's crucial role in healing Ignis in Verse 2 of his episode.

Not to mention, while neither the original game nor its Royal Edition provide any meaningful hooks for rebellion against the Astrals, they do provide meaningful hooks for Ardyn's redemption and the Crystal's capacity to offer mercy to those who willingly sacrifice themselves (both in the aforementioned Verse 2 and in the implication that Noct and Luna's existence in the original post-credits scene appears to be different somehow than Regis', even though they're all dead).

The solution I offered maintains continuity, further explains Episode Ignis' Verse 2, and allows for a meaningful Verse 1 in all of the upcoming DLCs. Going the FFXIII route instead would be the worst thing they could do. =/

after watching this video (recommended watch) im actually more inclined to believe you, it doesnt seem they want to turn against the crystal or the astrals, just to not make use of the Providence... thats what "parting ways with the astrals" could mean given how Ep Ignis verse 2 goes.

maybe the ideal future is even one where the astrals are still active (since its implied they vanished in the true ending due the Light's power maybe)

 

[FFChocobo18]

after watching this video (recommended watch) im actually more inclined to believe you, it doesnt seem they want to turn against the crystal or the astrals, just to not make use of the Providence... thats what "parting ways with the astrals" could mean given how Ep Ignis verse 2 goes.

maybe the ideal future is even one where the astrals are still active (since its implied they vanished in the true ending due the Light's power maybe)

Yeah, when I saw the ending after playing the game the first time back in 2016, second time with Royal Pack DLC, and a screenshot on Lifestream, they all went into Bahamut, I do wonder what became of them after the ending? Did they sacrifice themselves to give Noctis the power to eradicate the Starscourge?

 

[Storm]

Yeah, when I saw the ending after playing the game the first time back in 2016, second time with Royal Pack DLC, and a screenshot on Lifestream, they all went into Bahamut, I do wonder what became of them after the ending? Did they sacrifice themselves to give Noctis the power to eradicate the Starscourge?

one of the theories is that they vanished/sacrificed

https://thelifestream.net/final-fan...servations-about-the-story-and-world-of-ffxv/

The gods sacrificed themselves along with Noctis

Players of Final Fantasy XV will no doubt remember Noctis calling down the spirits of his ancestors, the Lucii, to perform the ritual that allowed him to cleanse the world of the Starscourge and restore the Light. Their sacrifice of their essence alongside Noctis’s sacrifice of his life is impossible to miss. Much more easily overlooked, however, is the revelation that the gods sacrificed themselves here as well.

In what is an extremely blink-and-you’ll-miss-it transition, Titan, Leviathan, Shiva (with Ifrit’s severed horn in hand), and Ramuh take shape in the sky around the Citadel, then disperse themselves into energy that unites with Bahamut above the building. He then seemingly disperses their combined energy downward as the Lucii descend and take shape in the throne room around Noctis before adding their power to his one painful blow at a time.

The gods’ shapes are most easily visible before Leviathan has even fully taken shape to the far right, but they are impossible to miss in this screenshot:

 

[Ikkin]

after watching this video (recommended watch) im actually more inclined to believe you, it doesnt seem they want to turn against the crystal or the astrals, just to not make use of the Providence... thats what "parting ways with the astrals" could mean given how Ep Ignis verse 2 goes.

maybe the ideal future is even one where the astrals are still active (since its implied they vanished in the true ending due the Light's power maybe)

That video misses the point in almost exactly the same way as I've been complaining about this whole time, though. =/ Alternate endings should never undercut the theme of the work that they're attached to, and taking a game that was a beautifully bittersweet paean to faith and sacrifice and tossing in a reward for rejecting all of that in a DLC two years later would be one of the most egregious examples of that I'd ever seen.

Not to mention, Luna(?)'s revelations in Episode Ignis Verse 2 aren't actually phrased as a warning. She talks about Providence as something necessary for the world's salvation, not as a problem to solve. That's what makes the ending feel so strange.

The one thing Episode Ignis Verse 2 does overtly change is the way Providence is portrayed. In the main game, it's shown only as a power granted to Noct, at the cost of his life, that can be used to wipe out the Starscourge. In Verse 2, Noct actively begged for something from the Crystal and it listened to him. It's not too much of a stretch to assume that if the Crystal is able to grant him power at his request before he becomes the vessel for Providence, he might be able to guide the path its power takes after his ascension is complete.

Or, in other words, what Verse 2 suggests is that Noct might have a choice as to how to use the power of Providence... and, based on the description of his episode, he might choose a different path than the Astrals had intended him to take.

There are still a lot of potential problems with changing the lore in this way, of course. I think what's critical is that Noct isn't the only one who has more agency. Both Ardyn and the Crystal need to be active participants as well to avoid thematic corruption -- Ardyn to render the ideal ending canonically impossible and the Crystal to make the ideal ending contingent on the willingness to sacrifice, even if said sacrifice is not actualized. Thankfully, those are the two things that the game's additions seem interested in exploring, so the devs might actually understand that.

 

[Loganight]

Yoo dude, those pictures are godsent!! Damn i envy u guys FFXVWE players.. x'D

Care to share more awesome ansel shots of Bahamut? SUPER THANKS!

http://imgur.com/a/cgIOM

Here's a couple more I took after those, if I get any more cool ones worth sharing I'll drop em here.

http://imgur.com/a/QHnpD

On a sidenote this is now my favorite thing to do with the debug menu lol find the tallest places around Eos and fight a catoblepas there XD

 

[Storm]

with the level editor you could put a pack of catoblepas in the field, that would be glorious *-*

also new pics with the unused graphics features

https://twitter.com/statuses/985189477319626754

 

[Storm]

That video misses the point in almost exactly the same way as I've been complaining about this whole time, though. =/ Alternate endings should never undercut the theme of the work that they're attached to, and taking a game that was a beautifully bittersweet paean to faith and sacrifice and tossing in a reward for rejecting all of that in a DLC two years later would be one of the most egregious examples of that I'd ever seen.

Not to mention, Luna(?)'s revelations in Episode Ignis Verse 2 aren't actually phrased as a warning. She talks about Providence as something necessary for the world's salvation, not as a problem to solve. That's what makes the ending feel so strange.

The one thing Episode Ignis Verse 2 does overtly change is the way Providence is portrayed. In the main game, it's shown only as a power granted to Noct, at the cost of his life, that can be used to wipe out the Starscourge. In Verse 2, Noct actively begged for something from the Crystal and it listened to him. It's not too much of a stretch to assume that if the Crystal is able to grant him power at his request before he becomes the vessel for Providence, he might be able to guide the path its power takes after his ascension is complete.

Or, in other words, what Verse 2 suggests is that Noct might have a choice as to how to use the power of Providence... and, based on the description of his episode, he might choose a different path than the Astrals had intended him to take.

There are still a lot of potential problems with changing the lore in this way, of course. I think what's critical is that Noct isn't the only one who has more agency. Both Ardyn and the Crystal need to be active participants as well to avoid thematic corruption -- Ardyn to render the ideal ending canonically impossible and the Crystal to make the ideal ending contingent on the willingness to sacrifice, even if said sacrifice is not actualized. Thankfully, those are the two things that the game's additions seem interested in exploring, so the devs might actually understand that.

i thought it fit perfectly with her EP description, she knows Ignis would make the impossible to save Noctis so she gave him all the information, which inspired him to search the tombs for a way to avoid Noctis sacrifice (which the recent book refers to as the "secret plan"); anyway hopefully they don't break their own themes with this...

edit:

another scene that canonically it seems Luna influenced was in Ep Prompto, when he gets a vision/dream in the citadel, and its full of sylliblossoms falling, then the dog delivers a message from Luna to encourage him.

 

[Ikkin]

i just thought it fit perfectly with her EP description, she knows Ignis would make the impossible to save Noctis so she gave him all the information, which inspired him to search the tombs for a way to avoid Noctis sacrifice (which the recent book refers to as the "secret plan"); anyway hopefully they don't break their own themes with this...

Well, considering the fact that the Episodes Ardyn, Luna, and Noct are intended to be connected in a way that the other episodes aren't, I think it's far more likely that the "alternate grand finale" will be its own thing rather than building on Episode Ignis Verse 2. The "secret plan" might end up being expanded on in the new DLC set, but the context is almost certainly going to be different to allow it to be more fleshed out and make more sense.

(One possibility: in Episode Ignis, Ravus offered himself to revive Noct; in the new DLC set, Ardyn, being previously chosen King of Light, offers himself for Noct and Luna, and receives his own life back as the last vestige of his immortality.)

edit:

another scene that canonically it seems Luna influenced was in Ep Prompto, when he gets a vision/dream in the citadel, and its full of sylliblossoms falling, then the dog delivers a message from Luna to encourage him.

Yeah, Luna's influence is definitely implied there. It doesn't really have much to do with averting Noct's fate, though -- it's more to make sure that one of Noct's friends is able to survive and support him once more.

 

[Storm]

Yeah, Luna's influence is definitely implied there. It doesn't really have much to do with averting Noct's fate, though -- it's more to make sure that one of Noct's friends is able to survive and support him once more.

oh yeah, i didn't mean that way, i just want to find as many possible occasions in the true story when she possibly intervened because i don't want her dlc to be totally alternative ;(

(One possibility: in Episode Ignis, Ravus offered himself to revive Noct; in the new DLC set, Ardyn, being previously chosen King of Light, offers himself for Noct and Luna, and receives his own life back as the last vestige of his immortality.)

that could work

 

[Nova]

A visual summary up ti'll now

 

[Ikkin]

oh yeah, i didn't mean that way, i just want to find as many possible occasions in the true story when she possibly intervened because i don't want her dlc to be totally alternative ;(

Oh, okay. That makes sense. And it does seem fitting that Luna would be the one who sent Pryna to Ignis and to Prompto to help them prepare for what they would need to do for Noct, even without intending to change canon. Episode Ignis also suggests that Luna might have been the one whose actions led to the scene between her in Noct in the field. The Royal Edition adds a further instance, of course, in Luna calling the Hexatheon to take down Ardyn's Wall. I wouldn't be surprised if Luna's given a role during the invasion of Tenebrae as well, either in her own episode or in Aranea's. Showing Luna's agency seems to be a big thing in all of the additional material, I think, and in that light it'd make more sense to give her a canon path instead of just a non-canon path.

(The description of her DLC is the most obviously split between canon and alternate, as well -- the first line suggests that her destiny can't be changed, while the second suggests that she's trying to change Noct's fate. It'd be rather odd if the devs only provided an alternate scenario rather than adding to her agency in the canon game.)

that could work

The funny thing is, if you look at the scene where everyone goes into the castle in Episode Ignis Verse 2, there's a part where Ignis nods to Ravus and Ravus nods back that could imply that there was some sort of unspoken plan between them.

 

[stolas]

I had an epiphany. So when we got that level 99 Comrades fight against Ifrit he got an entirely new move sets and his difficulty was ramped up. I thought that since it came out right before the Royal Update at least some of the new Ifrit fight mechanics would be implemented in the main game. I think they are reserving it for Hard Mode, if they do decide to make it.

 

[Loganight]

with the level editor you could put a pack of catoblepas in the field, that would be glorious *-*

also new pics with the unused graphics features

https://twitter.com/statuses/985189477319626754

You can drop up to 20 of any enemy with the debug menu but the game chuuuuugs and if you summon or do anything to press the game it hard crashes lol I had like 20 catoblepas stuffed in one of the three valleys in leide and summoned titan and the game came to a halt

 

[Storm]

Oh, okay. That makes sense. And it does seem fitting that Luna would be the one who sent Pryna to Ignis and to Prompto to help them prepare for what they would need to do for Noct, even without intending to change canon. Episode Ignis also suggests that Luna might have been the one whose actions led to the scene between her in Noct in the field. The Royal Edition adds a further instance, of course, in Luna calling the Hexatheon to take down Ardyn's Wall. I wouldn't be surprised if Luna's given a role during the invasion of Tenebrae as well, either in her own episode or in Aranea's. Showing Luna's agency seems to be a big thing in all of the additional material, I think, and in that light it'd make more sense to give her a canon path instead of just a non-canon path.

(The description of her DLC is the most obviously split between canon and alternate, as well -- the first line suggests that her destiny can't be changed, while the second suggests that she's trying to change Noct's fate. It'd be rather odd if the devs only provided an alternate scenario rather than adding to her agency in the canon game.)

i also think Luna had a role in the invasion of Tenebrae, my take is that there's a possibility that she summoned leviathan.

the dlc tentative title "Choice of Freedom" suggests that it'll be part canon with an alternate route like Ep Ignis, we'll see i guess...

The funny thing is, if you look at the scene where everyone goes into the castle in Episode Ignis Verse 2, there's a part where Ignis nods to Ravus and Ravus nods back that could imply that there was some sort of unspoken plan between them.

might have been just a friendly nod since they helped each other in the past, but in the alternate credits Ignis does appear talking to Ravus at some point, so he might have had some part in finding a way to save Noctis.

 

[Vallen]

with the level editor you could put a pack of catoblepas in the field, that would be glorious *-*

also new pics with the unused graphics features

https://twitter.com/statuses/985189477319626754

It hurts to look at these, they're sooo much better, whyyy did SE nerf the lighting in the final game so hard :<

 

[Storm]

It hurts to look at these, they're sooo much better, whyyy did SE nerf the lighting in the final game so hard :<

yeah the final game really ended up lookin flat and with too desaturated colors for my taste

edit:

https://xelandis.deviantart.com/art/Final-Fantasy-XV-Lunafreya-1-Update-2-XNALara-735913906

/pervface

 

[Lulcielid]

It hurts to look at these, they're sooo much better, whyyy did SE nerf the lighting in the final game so hard :<

The outdated late 2013 hardware has its limits.

 

[Nova]

EP. Duscae had less going on as a piece in scale & didn't even run that well back then too, i don't really mind the lightning difference anyway.

 

[Storm]

EP. Duscae had less going on as a piece in scale & didn't even run that well back then too, i don't really mind the lightning difference anyway.

i don't want the unoptimized aspect of it of course, that framerate was hell.

but aesthetically it was more beautiful in my opinion (all the previous builds tbh).