ForceStealer
Double Growth
I wondered about this part too. Given that there is apparently literally nobody left in Niflheim, when did that happen? Was it already in shambles during Kingsglaive? I'd wonder if the plan (on the part of the emperor) was really the get the ring/crystal to fix Niflheims daemon problem...but it never really makes it sound like anything other than simply being powerhungry.
I'm not super clear on Ardyn's intentions either. I mean..to fight a fully-realized Noctis, sure, but...why? To prove he's the true/better heir? But he'd be ruling over literally nothing. There's nothing left 10 years later, and what was he doing for all that time anyway? (Speaking of, was Noctis aware of the time passing or not? It seemed like he just woke up 10 years later, but then he's talking with the bros about it "being like old times" and sounding nostalgic.) I mean I get that he's the Kefka-style "want to watch the world burn" villain. But Kefka still actually thought he wanted to rule over people. True, he found he was bored with it once he got it, but how freakin bored must Ardyn have been?
As stated before, I do agree with X that feeling certain emotions about events that transpire solely because of the way Noctis feels about them has an interesting narrative value to it, and it speaks to the success I think they had with making Noctis feel real. But I know it's not what people want to hear about who was ostensibly the female lead. What's odd is that Square refuses to own this, instead acting like Luna really IS this great character and we're totally, like, not seeing it. Hang your hat on Aranea and just explain that Luna is a plot device for Noctis (since you apparently feel the need to explain it at all).
Honestly I think, as usual, I liked the game/story a bit more than others. Perhaps merely because I'm so surprised at how likable the protagonists became. But one other personal preference...I do wish that Noctis lived. After the absolute emotional beating he takes from Chapter 9 until the very end, would it have been so bad to allow him to ACTUALLY reclaim his thrown? Luna's death would still be a source of tragedy, the final camping scene would be no less touching. (Seriously that scene is amazingly well acted. I know I cried.) But to have Noctis at least be in a position to personally rebuild his kingdom would have been nice. It didn't even need to be deus ex machina, the fact that he MUST DIE to purge Ardyn is arbitrary anyway. Back when Versus XIII was being so outright with all their Shakespeare references, I half-jokingly said that that just means that everyone dies. But once it was FFXV, I think at least SOMETHING positive about the ending might have been welcome, lol.
I'm not super clear on Ardyn's intentions either. I mean..to fight a fully-realized Noctis, sure, but...why? To prove he's the true/better heir? But he'd be ruling over literally nothing. There's nothing left 10 years later, and what was he doing for all that time anyway? (Speaking of, was Noctis aware of the time passing or not? It seemed like he just woke up 10 years later, but then he's talking with the bros about it "being like old times" and sounding nostalgic.) I mean I get that he's the Kefka-style "want to watch the world burn" villain. But Kefka still actually thought he wanted to rule over people. True, he found he was bored with it once he got it, but how freakin bored must Ardyn have been?
As stated before, I do agree with X that feeling certain emotions about events that transpire solely because of the way Noctis feels about them has an interesting narrative value to it, and it speaks to the success I think they had with making Noctis feel real. But I know it's not what people want to hear about who was ostensibly the female lead. What's odd is that Square refuses to own this, instead acting like Luna really IS this great character and we're totally, like, not seeing it. Hang your hat on Aranea and just explain that Luna is a plot device for Noctis (since you apparently feel the need to explain it at all).
Honestly I think, as usual, I liked the game/story a bit more than others. Perhaps merely because I'm so surprised at how likable the protagonists became. But one other personal preference...I do wish that Noctis lived. After the absolute emotional beating he takes from Chapter 9 until the very end, would it have been so bad to allow him to ACTUALLY reclaim his thrown? Luna's death would still be a source of tragedy, the final camping scene would be no less touching. (Seriously that scene is amazingly well acted. I know I cried.) But to have Noctis at least be in a position to personally rebuild his kingdom would have been nice. It didn't even need to be deus ex machina, the fact that he MUST DIE to purge Ardyn is arbitrary anyway. Back when Versus XIII was being so outright with all their Shakespeare references, I half-jokingly said that that just means that everyone dies. But once it was FFXV, I think at least SOMETHING positive about the ending might have been welcome, lol.
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It would have been especially touching if Noct's friends did this even after ten years without him.
