gekigengar gargant III!!! (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aestivalis) wrote2021-04-17 03:35 pm
aestivalis) wrote2021-04-17 03:35 pm
couldn't have done it without you, girl! .... seriously though.
It's been a few months since I finished the game, so here we are returning to the world of Eos for some Final Fantasy XV DLC! I've been planning to play through these for a good while now, and yesterday I got things started with Episode: Gladio and Episode: Prompto. I really want to keep going! But it seemed like a good idea to record my thoughts so far before pressing on, so here we are!
I was surprised at how emotional I felt just loading in to the main Final Fantasy XV start screen. The changed logo, the brightness of daylight, and the music;; It just hits different, you know! But alright, yeah, the DLC. I knew in advance that these were set at different points throughout the FFXV main quest, with the exception of Episode: Ardyn being something more like a prequel. I imagine that, in theory, you could have played these simultaneous to your experience of the original game? But I think I'm pretty happy to do them all together like this, after the fact.
But okay, let's talk about Gladio first. Behind a cut in case anyone's worried about spoilers!
To be honest, this was not very exciting. It feels important to record my thoughts, but I also do not have too many thoughts to share! It was kind of nice to get to see a little more of Cor, and to hear a bit more about Gladio's father as well. And maybe it's just because I haven't played in a little while, but gee, Gladio was looking particularly handsome here. HE HAS NICE EYES IT TURNS OUT. anyway.
So I guess Gladio got his forehead scar during this segment of the game, oops. I'm a bit mortified that I apparently completely failed to notice that when I was playing through the main story. He just disappears for a chapter and comes back with a whole slice of his face missing and I'm just like 'oh howdy bud what's new' like it ain't no thing at all. SORRY BUDDY...
I was EXCITED when they said the Blademaster was Gilgamesh! His design was much much more cool and muted than I generally expect of a Gilgamesh cameo, and I kind of wish they'd leaned into making more silly references with him, but I will never ever turn down an opportunity for Battle On The Big Bridge. It was fun to see him! And I quite liked hearing Gladio admit to his fears of being unable to fulfil his duty as the King's Shield.
You know, not to, like, state the obvious or anything... but I've got a feeling that raising someone to be The Chosen King and raising other folks to see their lives as disposal in service to that Chosen King.... I think it might mess those people up!!!
That all being said, Episode: Gladio didn't really make too strong of an impression on me. An extra dungeon? That's nice I guess, but I don't think it would have enthused me to go and buy the other character DLCs. But I'd already grabbed them all and so I pressed on into Episode: Prompto, and WHEW. This is where things got wild.
So I figured this DLC was going to be focused on the time that Prompto was in captivity, and that was somewhat true? But there was a lot more going on than I expected!
Not sure when he found that handsome change of clothing (or why Ardyn apparently changed him back into his regular clothes again after all was said and done.... yikes...), but I quite liked Prompto's tundra look! And I was surprised to find that I didn't mind the combat either, even though I'm absolutely dreadful with that sort of gameplay. I was playing on easy, which undoubtedly helped.
The first section, of Prompto playing through the research facility and piecing his origins together was *chef's kiss*. Also Ardyn was there, and his terrible wonderful presence absolutely elevates any sequence. But seriously, his taunting of poor Prompto was just delightful and I was living for it. THIS IS HOW WE TREAT OUR FAVS.
Prompto isn't my fav, but during this DLC I really loved him and really felt for him. I'm glad that the story section designed to showcase him evidently did a good job of it! I think they did a good job maintaining interest as well. In theory it could have seemed boring—we already know how this ends, we already know that Prompto ultimately doesn't escape (or remain escaped)—but it honestly held my attention all the way through. Although I... did not do any of the sidequests or power up the snowmobile at all. If there's anything actually worthwhile behind those quests please let me know and I'll go back for them!
I made Prompto burn his wrist because of course I did. Sorry dude.
It was so good to spend more time with Aranea! I loved her DLC outfit as well, and now I know why she has that as a costume option in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia! I really quite enjoyed running around in the background as Aranea's backup while she tackled the frontline fighting. please miss aranea let me support u forever.
I liked the support she was able to offer Prompto as well. I wouldn't go so far as to say I ship them now, but I'm infinitely warmer toward and more interested in that relationship now. It was nice for Prompto to have someone tell him that Noct and the others were worried about him and whatnot. He needed to hear it, poor thing. ALTHOUGH GEEZ, almost as soon as that scene wraps up, Prompto has that crazy scene in the forest where "Noctis" is chasing him down. I wonder if there's a fan consensus on how much of that was purely coming from Prompto's own head and how much of it was Ardyn creating visions from his insecurities...
That final boss fight was very Nier, hfjdk. I kind of wish we'd spent a bit more time with Prompto and his horrendous clone-daddy, but hey. Sometimes a dude just gotta put his consciousness into a gigantic mechanical snake monster thing. I get it.
THE FINAL SCENE WITH NOCTIS AND PROMPTO. I have such mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was very good! And very necessary! And something I've been wanting to see all along! And it was nice and understated and I really believed in it and in them and their relationship. But on the other hand, holy moley that should have been in the main story. Such an egregious absence!
It really makes me wonder what Episode: Ignis has in store for me. I do know Ignis has multiple endings, which is intriguing! And then there's the Ardyn one, which I'm kinda nervous about. He's my awful best boy, please don't mess it up, game.
Apropos of nothing (cough cough), yesterday evening I wrote another square for my Bad Things Happen Bingo. Warning mostly for Ardyn being canon-typical Ardyn, though there's some implied sexual threat I suppose. That's five squares complete! It's fun having it there to just slowly pick away at when the mood takes me. Who is going to suffer next? Who can say. Who can say.
I was surprised at how emotional I felt just loading in to the main Final Fantasy XV start screen. The changed logo, the brightness of daylight, and the music;; It just hits different, you know! But alright, yeah, the DLC. I knew in advance that these were set at different points throughout the FFXV main quest, with the exception of Episode: Ardyn being something more like a prequel. I imagine that, in theory, you could have played these simultaneous to your experience of the original game? But I think I'm pretty happy to do them all together like this, after the fact.
But okay, let's talk about Gladio first. Behind a cut in case anyone's worried about spoilers!
To be honest, this was not very exciting. It feels important to record my thoughts, but I also do not have too many thoughts to share! It was kind of nice to get to see a little more of Cor, and to hear a bit more about Gladio's father as well. And maybe it's just because I haven't played in a little while, but gee, Gladio was looking particularly handsome here. HE HAS NICE EYES IT TURNS OUT. anyway.
So I guess Gladio got his forehead scar during this segment of the game, oops. I'm a bit mortified that I apparently completely failed to notice that when I was playing through the main story. He just disappears for a chapter and comes back with a whole slice of his face missing and I'm just like 'oh howdy bud what's new' like it ain't no thing at all. SORRY BUDDY...
I was EXCITED when they said the Blademaster was Gilgamesh! His design was much much more cool and muted than I generally expect of a Gilgamesh cameo, and I kind of wish they'd leaned into making more silly references with him, but I will never ever turn down an opportunity for Battle On The Big Bridge. It was fun to see him! And I quite liked hearing Gladio admit to his fears of being unable to fulfil his duty as the King's Shield.
You know, not to, like, state the obvious or anything... but I've got a feeling that raising someone to be The Chosen King and raising other folks to see their lives as disposal in service to that Chosen King.... I think it might mess those people up!!!
That all being said, Episode: Gladio didn't really make too strong of an impression on me. An extra dungeon? That's nice I guess, but I don't think it would have enthused me to go and buy the other character DLCs. But I'd already grabbed them all and so I pressed on into Episode: Prompto, and WHEW. This is where things got wild.
So I figured this DLC was going to be focused on the time that Prompto was in captivity, and that was somewhat true? But there was a lot more going on than I expected!
Not sure when he found that handsome change of clothing (or why Ardyn apparently changed him back into his regular clothes again after all was said and done.... yikes...), but I quite liked Prompto's tundra look! And I was surprised to find that I didn't mind the combat either, even though I'm absolutely dreadful with that sort of gameplay. I was playing on easy, which undoubtedly helped.
The first section, of Prompto playing through the research facility and piecing his origins together was *chef's kiss*. Also Ardyn was there, and his terrible wonderful presence absolutely elevates any sequence. But seriously, his taunting of poor Prompto was just delightful and I was living for it. THIS IS HOW WE TREAT OUR FAVS.
Prompto isn't my fav, but during this DLC I really loved him and really felt for him. I'm glad that the story section designed to showcase him evidently did a good job of it! I think they did a good job maintaining interest as well. In theory it could have seemed boring—we already know how this ends, we already know that Prompto ultimately doesn't escape (or remain escaped)—but it honestly held my attention all the way through. Although I... did not do any of the sidequests or power up the snowmobile at all. If there's anything actually worthwhile behind those quests please let me know and I'll go back for them!
I made Prompto burn his wrist because of course I did. Sorry dude.
It was so good to spend more time with Aranea! I loved her DLC outfit as well, and now I know why she has that as a costume option in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia! I really quite enjoyed running around in the background as Aranea's backup while she tackled the frontline fighting. please miss aranea let me support u forever.
I liked the support she was able to offer Prompto as well. I wouldn't go so far as to say I ship them now, but I'm infinitely warmer toward and more interested in that relationship now. It was nice for Prompto to have someone tell him that Noct and the others were worried about him and whatnot. He needed to hear it, poor thing. ALTHOUGH GEEZ, almost as soon as that scene wraps up, Prompto has that crazy scene in the forest where "Noctis" is chasing him down. I wonder if there's a fan consensus on how much of that was purely coming from Prompto's own head and how much of it was Ardyn creating visions from his insecurities...
That final boss fight was very Nier, hfjdk. I kind of wish we'd spent a bit more time with Prompto and his horrendous clone-daddy, but hey. Sometimes a dude just gotta put his consciousness into a gigantic mechanical snake monster thing. I get it.
THE FINAL SCENE WITH NOCTIS AND PROMPTO. I have such mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was very good! And very necessary! And something I've been wanting to see all along! And it was nice and understated and I really believed in it and in them and their relationship. But on the other hand, holy moley that should have been in the main story. Such an egregious absence!
It really makes me wonder what Episode: Ignis has in store for me. I do know Ignis has multiple endings, which is intriguing! And then there's the Ardyn one, which I'm kinda nervous about. He's my awful best boy, please don't mess it up, game.
Apropos of nothing (cough cough), yesterday evening I wrote another square for my Bad Things Happen Bingo. Warning mostly for Ardyn being canon-typical Ardyn, though there's some implied sexual threat I suppose. That's five squares complete! It's fun having it there to just slowly pick away at when the mood takes me. Who is going to suffer next? Who can say. Who can say.
no subject
I made Prompto burn his wrist because of course I did. Sorry dude.
I resisted, with great effort, and I was so proud of myself, and then the next day I reloaded and made him do it.
no subject
But anyway, I will certainly let you know how I feel about Episode Ardyn! I'll try and make closer notes of my thoughts for that one if you haven't had the chance/inclination to play it yourself. I will make this sacrifice for my awful best boy (and you!).
I am so unsurprised and delighted to hear that you went back specifically to have your favourite character maim himself. I did, in fact, think of you quite often throughout playing this one!
Fel, very early on in Ep Prompto: This is just going to be tragedy porn, isn't it?
Me: I bet Riona loved this.
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It's interesting that we see this quite a bit with Ignis, who is basically batshit (I'm being reductive for time, shh) despite being so very coiffed... but a lot less with Gladio! Which is a shame, because it never feels like the game commits to making him the most reasonable and assured of the four. I've always thought Gladio had the weakest, least thought-out writing of them all and his DLC made me slightly crazy when I tried to rationalise it. (But it also gave me the wonderful idea that Gilgamesh has been in love with Cor since losing his arm to him, so!)
I think Episode: Ardyn was my favourite of the DLC. I'm not terribly invested in Ardyn as a character, so maybe take that with a grain of salt re: writing and story, but it was ridiculously fun to play and had so many great snapshots of worldbuilding that the game desperately needed.
no subject
Alas, yes, I think I have to agree with this. As of rolling credits on FFXV for the first time, I think I said Gladio was my second favourite of the core four! But even then I acknowledged that a lot of that had to do with the sort of archetypal role he was filling rather than anything particularly meaningful within himself. It really feels like they could have done so much more with him, or even just conveyed more of him, and this DLC (which should have been a golden opportunity to do so) didn't really elucidate anything significantly new about his character. Alas, poor Shield. (Gilgamesh is absolutely in love with Cor and you are correct for saying so!)
I'm excited to hear you say that about Episode: Ardyn! He is, alas, absolutely my favourite FFXV character by a fairly sizeable margin*. I'm kind of nervy about his DLC because I've been led to understand it gives him a fridged girlfriend, which is just *hour long fart noise*. But I am willing to keep my heart open!
*This is slightly untrue—Noctis himself is a lot closer behind Ardyn than I initially expected him to be. But still. Filthy Ardyn stan lifestyle baybee.
no subject
I'll be blunt: Ardyn's fridged girlfriend is the worst type of fridged girlfriend, because she has zero personality outside of Being Into Ardyn. So it's even worse than you thought, whee!