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aestivalis) wrote2021-04-20 02:17 pm
aestivalis) wrote2021-04-20 02:17 pm
"Episode Ignis is morally corrupt AND bad for the gaming industry."
Not only have I been continuing my replay of Bravely Default, I have also finally finished watching every single episode of the STARZ Spartacus series. Spartacus has been part of my life since its inception—eleven years ago, apparently!—and although the series actually finished back in 2013 I've never actually finished the last few episodes of Spartacus: War of the Damned. Few different circumstances to blame for that! But last night was the night those final episode credits rolled, and I have that complicated feeling one inevitably gets when witnessing the ultimate conclusion to something that's made a lasting impact. Spartacus has been a very silly, very gratuitous, very pulpy show. But it has also been a huge favourite for years, and will always be so. And perhaps I will have to write a longer update about that sometime soon!
But for now, I said I was going to come back and talk about Final Fantasy XV's Episode: Ignis, and so that is where we are today. I'm pretty sure I played all possible conclusions of the DLC, so expect full spoilers under the cut!
What I knew about Episode: Ignis going in (accurate or otherwise):
- Set during all that crazy fun with Leviathan
- Features a bunch of Ravus content
- Creates a canon AU ending for the core game?!
- Ardyn uses a magitek knight as a hat stand. (important.)
Turns out, everything I had heard prior was correct!
When the words Chapter One appeared on the screen, my heart broke a little for poor Gladio. He really did get a bum deal with his DLC episode, didn't he? It's so one note and underwhelming compared to Prompto and Ignis! But yeah, we'll take this chapter by chapter and just go ahead and say that the first part of the DLC was really fun to play but there isn't too much to say about it! Ignis has a very strong disgusted reaction every time you make him jump into the water and I did it entirely too often. I also may have accidentally fallen in a few times, but let's pretend it was all intentional.
Ignis was looking particularly soft and fragile in this DLC. Maybe it's because his hair wasn't so sleek and styled as usual? And I'm sure losing his glasses along the way had plenty to do with that as well. There were a few moments where his eyes were just incredibly big and beautiful and blue (apparently they're green but shut up they looked blue to me) and it really jumped out because he looked so vulnerable and different to his usual stiff exterior. It really emphasised just how young he actually is.
And speaking of young, that tiny flashback to him first being introduced to baby Noctis was absolutely adorable but also Regis no, you are going to break that perfectly normal child. I mean, I actually love unhealthy co-dependent relationships built and stabilised on the shoulders of another, so I guess it's fine. But geez, no wonder these hopeless characters are all so wrecked. I would love to meet the Final Fantasy XV character who honestly truly believes they are living their own life for their own sake. Who even is there? Cindy and Aranea, I guess? Good grief.
Let's get back on track! It was fun seeing Ignis and Ravus interact, especially because I knoweggsbenedict is fond of Ravus! I have to admit he felt a little bit wasted on me for most of the DLC runtime, although I enjoyed his presence—but then they finally reached the altar and everything kicked off and Ravus (like me) just wanted Lunafreya to live her best life and do so much more. I find this quality extremely relatable, so. You're not so bad, Ravus. Also thank you for trying to attack unconscious Noctis, good content right there.
THERE WAS A LOT OF ATTACKING UNCONSCIOUS NOCTIS, ACTUALLY. THANK YOU DLC. It was interesting that Ravus saw right through Ardyn's illusion?! That brings up so many questions. Is Ravus already familiar with the things Ardyn can do? Had Ardyn used illusions against Ravus before? Or is there something specific about Ravus (ie. his funky magic arm that I still do not feel has been adequately explained in the text) that allows him to see through the trickery? BUT THEN there's also Ravus's ignoble end, where Ardyn approaches him in the guise of Noctis and Ravus doesn't see it coming. Was he just too injured/exhausted to catch on to it in that moment? Questions...!
Anyway, Ardyn arrived so that obviously increased my quality of life by about five thousand percent. He's vile, I love him and every scene he's in. AND THEN IGNIS PUT ON THE RING OF THE LUCII?? Which was :o a bit of a shock. The worst part of me had kind of been looking forward to watching Ardyn maim him (I'M SORRY), but this method of injury was very good and very devastating too!
WAIT, I MISSED SOMETHING. So, just prior to this, Ignis is granted a future vision that clues him in on Noctis's final fate! Wow! Which I guess retroactively means that Ignis was harbouring that knowledge for the rest of FFXV's runtime after that point. That's a hell of a burden to bear. Also plays right along with what Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia did with the FFXV cast, where Ignis remembered the full events of the story and Noctis and Prompto were taken from an earlier point and had no idea of what was to come, and Ignis opted to keep the knowledge to himself. Actually I really should go and rewatch the FFXV focused chapters in OpeOmni, there's probably a lot more I could glean from them now.
So yes, Ignis with the dreadful knowledge! Nonetheless he dons the Ring of the Lucii and keeps Ardyn at bay for a good while, but eventually the power flits away and he's left defenceless. I... actually don't even remember exactly what happened next, wow. Did Ardyn just peace out? Did Ravus intervene again in some way? Regardless, Ignis collapses next to Noctis, and I loved the heart-breaking detail of him asking Ravus where Noct was and if Noct was okay when Noct was only a few feet away from him. But yeah, then Gladio and Prompto arrive and we head back toward familiar territory again.
The scene where Ignis suggests to Noctis that maybe it's time to end their journey was interesting, and obviously informed by Ignis's newly gained knowledge of Noct's ultimate fate. And poor Ignis, with Noct giving him the whole 'you of all people' bit and Ignis just quietly taking it and promising to always be there regardless. AND THEN THE REVISIT OF THE CAMPFIRE SCENE, and them clasping hands again like they did when they were introduced as children! And that one little second where Noct is reflected in Ignis's glasses and he still looks the way he did the last time Ignis saw him before losing his sight. God, Final Fantasy XV, I do not like everything you do but when you hit a scene right you really hit it right.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. By this point I was kinda confused because I'd been looking for my chance to trigger some sort of alternative ending and nothing had come along. But then lo, extra verse time! And I was CRACKING UP that apparently the alternative choice was to accept Ardyn's offer to join him???, but alas, the dialogue choice was actually 'play along', which obviously has a slightly different connotation, hahaha.
I was really confused about Ardyn's offer at first. I read it as though he was literally going ~come and join the empire and be eeevil~ or whatever, and it felt pretty out of left field and like something Ignis would never even remotely consider. But I guess the offer was a lot more along the lines of 'come join me in niflheim', which I guess is a bit more open-ended? I can see why Ignis would be willing to make an agreeable distraction out of himself if it would take Ardyn's attention away from Noctis.
And hey, Ardyn made his own motivations for bringing Ignis with him pretty explicit a little bit later. When I failed to defeat Ardyn in the allotted time limit (oops), Ardyn cheerfully explained that Ignis's tragic death here would be just the push Noctis needed to finally come and submit to the Crystal, bringing Ardyn that huge step closer to finally getting what he really wants. So I guess in this scenario Prompto ends up having a much more gentle train ride, huh! So long as Ardyn gets someone to bait Noct with, doesn't matter that much who it is.
Cue fanfic where Ignis and Prompto somehow become aware of both of these timelines and have figure out what this means between them. Is there a 'better' scenario? Does Prompto even learn his MT origins if he doesn't get taken by the Empire? Does Prompto awkwardly thank Ignis for taking a bullet for him? Does Ignis subsequently clarify that he did it for Noct not Prompto, leaving Prompto to be all 'right, of course :)))' and hate himself for ever imagining otherwise, even for just one second?
BUT WE GETTING WAY OFF COURSE NOW, LADS.
So yeah, I lost that fight the first time. I chose the 'Sacrifice My Life' option, and then failed to complete the fight in the allotted time despite playing on easy. I am good at video games. The next time I chose the 'Give Up' option simply to see what lay behind it, and got the same game over sequence again. WHICH, INCIDENTALLY, Ignis's final thoughts being 'no, I don't want to die without him'?!?!?! IGNIS.... heebus jeebus, buddy. I hope Insomnia has some good therapists looking for work when this is all said and done.
I managed to win the fight on my third try, after selecting the 'Risk My Life' option twice before 'Sacrifice My Life' and subsequently not triggering the timer quite so early. And I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed all this emotions and visuals of the subsequent scenes, this is where things got a bit confusing to me?
So Noctis, Gladio and Promto arrive. They're distraught to find Ignis in such a state, understandably. But Ignis is alive (and not blind!), and watches as Noctis goes to the Crystal.
So... okay, things are playing out as per canon, right?! Ardyn is still kind of getting what he wanted out of this, using Ignis as the motivator to finally move Noct into position. Okay, cool, I can follow this so far. We cut forward to the future, to the four companions at the steps of... Castle Insomnia or whatever it's called (sorry), and Noctis says they'll walk tall together, which I'm almost certain is different than the original game. More importantly, though, Ravus is there to greet them, and even seems to accompany them inside.
Okay, this makes sense! With Ardyn occupied by Ignis, and Noctis's arrival much changed from the original version of events, it seems reasonable enough to assume that Ravus might not have met the same ignoble fate. So he's alive, cool, okay! I'm still following. The camera pans skyward, and we saw dawn break. The night has ended, so Noctis must have overcome Ardyn and sacrificed himself, bringing peace back to Eos. Right?
Except evidently this is where something differed in a way that I just failed to follow. We see Ignis after this fact, approaching the throne and greeting Noctis. So Noctis is alive in this version of events! And like, I'm FINE with that, but I don't understand the how of it. What did I miss? What changed? What part of Ignis's apparent sacrifice to the Ring of the Lucii end up changing fate this drastically? I mean, I can't help but notice that Ignis is ALSO not dead despite offering his life up to preserve Noctis's. So what happened here?
Are we supposed to... infer that Ignis killed Ardyn? But that just doesn't seem right at all. Ardyn is, of course, immortal. Even if he did fade away after his long fight with Ignis, nothing about that scene suggested any sort of permanent defeat. So what gives, guys!! What did I miss here!
If any of y'all have an answer, I'd love to know. And I really hope that, if there is an answer, it's something that actually exists in the text and that I just failed to catch. If this is another case of 'you need to read/watch the extended material' I am going to be very sad. THIS IS EXTENDED MATERIAL, GAME. JUST HOW DEEP MUST THIS HOLE GO?
Verdict! When I started writing this, I was going to say I think I enjoyed this one and Episode: Prompto about the same amount. But now that I've come this far and had so much to say, perhaps Episode: Ignis really was the strongest entry so far. I really did enjoy it a lot! And it's certainly left me with questions and considerations, which isn't a bad thing. Though I do worry these DLCs are going to have me reconsidering my character rankings when all is said and done. Poor poor Gladio. He really does deserve so much more...
So, hey. Can't help but notice I wrote fic where Ardyn steps on Noct and then one day later played DLC where that wish was more-or-less fulfilled, albeit with Ignis being stepped upon instead.
Thank you Final Fantasy XV. Please continue this trend.
But for now, I said I was going to come back and talk about Final Fantasy XV's Episode: Ignis, and so that is where we are today. I'm pretty sure I played all possible conclusions of the DLC, so expect full spoilers under the cut!
What I knew about Episode: Ignis going in (accurate or otherwise):
- Set during all that crazy fun with Leviathan
- Features a bunch of Ravus content
- Creates a canon AU ending for the core game?!
- Ardyn uses a magitek knight as a hat stand. (important.)
Turns out, everything I had heard prior was correct!
When the words Chapter One appeared on the screen, my heart broke a little for poor Gladio. He really did get a bum deal with his DLC episode, didn't he? It's so one note and underwhelming compared to Prompto and Ignis! But yeah, we'll take this chapter by chapter and just go ahead and say that the first part of the DLC was really fun to play but there isn't too much to say about it! Ignis has a very strong disgusted reaction every time you make him jump into the water and I did it entirely too often. I also may have accidentally fallen in a few times, but let's pretend it was all intentional.
Ignis was looking particularly soft and fragile in this DLC. Maybe it's because his hair wasn't so sleek and styled as usual? And I'm sure losing his glasses along the way had plenty to do with that as well. There were a few moments where his eyes were just incredibly big and beautiful and blue (apparently they're green but shut up they looked blue to me) and it really jumped out because he looked so vulnerable and different to his usual stiff exterior. It really emphasised just how young he actually is.
And speaking of young, that tiny flashback to him first being introduced to baby Noctis was absolutely adorable but also Regis no, you are going to break that perfectly normal child. I mean, I actually love unhealthy co-dependent relationships built and stabilised on the shoulders of another, so I guess it's fine. But geez, no wonder these hopeless characters are all so wrecked. I would love to meet the Final Fantasy XV character who honestly truly believes they are living their own life for their own sake. Who even is there? Cindy and Aranea, I guess? Good grief.
Let's get back on track! It was fun seeing Ignis and Ravus interact, especially because I know
eggsbenedict is fond of Ravus! I have to admit he felt a little bit wasted on me for most of the DLC runtime, although I enjoyed his presence—but then they finally reached the altar and everything kicked off and Ravus (like me) just wanted Lunafreya to live her best life and do so much more. I find this quality extremely relatable, so. You're not so bad, Ravus. Also thank you for trying to attack unconscious Noctis, good content right there.THERE WAS A LOT OF ATTACKING UNCONSCIOUS NOCTIS, ACTUALLY. THANK YOU DLC. It was interesting that Ravus saw right through Ardyn's illusion?! That brings up so many questions. Is Ravus already familiar with the things Ardyn can do? Had Ardyn used illusions against Ravus before? Or is there something specific about Ravus (ie. his funky magic arm that I still do not feel has been adequately explained in the text) that allows him to see through the trickery? BUT THEN there's also Ravus's ignoble end, where Ardyn approaches him in the guise of Noctis and Ravus doesn't see it coming. Was he just too injured/exhausted to catch on to it in that moment? Questions...!
Anyway, Ardyn arrived so that obviously increased my quality of life by about five thousand percent. He's vile, I love him and every scene he's in. AND THEN IGNIS PUT ON THE RING OF THE LUCII?? Which was :o a bit of a shock. The worst part of me had kind of been looking forward to watching Ardyn maim him (I'M SORRY), but this method of injury was very good and very devastating too!
WAIT, I MISSED SOMETHING. So, just prior to this, Ignis is granted a future vision that clues him in on Noctis's final fate! Wow! Which I guess retroactively means that Ignis was harbouring that knowledge for the rest of FFXV's runtime after that point. That's a hell of a burden to bear. Also plays right along with what Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia did with the FFXV cast, where Ignis remembered the full events of the story and Noctis and Prompto were taken from an earlier point and had no idea of what was to come, and Ignis opted to keep the knowledge to himself. Actually I really should go and rewatch the FFXV focused chapters in OpeOmni, there's probably a lot more I could glean from them now.
So yes, Ignis with the dreadful knowledge! Nonetheless he dons the Ring of the Lucii and keeps Ardyn at bay for a good while, but eventually the power flits away and he's left defenceless. I... actually don't even remember exactly what happened next, wow. Did Ardyn just peace out? Did Ravus intervene again in some way? Regardless, Ignis collapses next to Noctis, and I loved the heart-breaking detail of him asking Ravus where Noct was and if Noct was okay when Noct was only a few feet away from him. But yeah, then Gladio and Prompto arrive and we head back toward familiar territory again.
The scene where Ignis suggests to Noctis that maybe it's time to end their journey was interesting, and obviously informed by Ignis's newly gained knowledge of Noct's ultimate fate. And poor Ignis, with Noct giving him the whole 'you of all people' bit and Ignis just quietly taking it and promising to always be there regardless. AND THEN THE REVISIT OF THE CAMPFIRE SCENE, and them clasping hands again like they did when they were introduced as children! And that one little second where Noct is reflected in Ignis's glasses and he still looks the way he did the last time Ignis saw him before losing his sight. God, Final Fantasy XV, I do not like everything you do but when you hit a scene right you really hit it right.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. By this point I was kinda confused because I'd been looking for my chance to trigger some sort of alternative ending and nothing had come along. But then lo, extra verse time! And I was CRACKING UP that apparently the alternative choice was to accept Ardyn's offer to join him???, but alas, the dialogue choice was actually 'play along', which obviously has a slightly different connotation, hahaha.
I was really confused about Ardyn's offer at first. I read it as though he was literally going ~come and join the empire and be eeevil~ or whatever, and it felt pretty out of left field and like something Ignis would never even remotely consider. But I guess the offer was a lot more along the lines of 'come join me in niflheim', which I guess is a bit more open-ended? I can see why Ignis would be willing to make an agreeable distraction out of himself if it would take Ardyn's attention away from Noctis.
And hey, Ardyn made his own motivations for bringing Ignis with him pretty explicit a little bit later. When I failed to defeat Ardyn in the allotted time limit (oops), Ardyn cheerfully explained that Ignis's tragic death here would be just the push Noctis needed to finally come and submit to the Crystal, bringing Ardyn that huge step closer to finally getting what he really wants. So I guess in this scenario Prompto ends up having a much more gentle train ride, huh! So long as Ardyn gets someone to bait Noct with, doesn't matter that much who it is.
Cue fanfic where Ignis and Prompto somehow become aware of both of these timelines and have figure out what this means between them. Is there a 'better' scenario? Does Prompto even learn his MT origins if he doesn't get taken by the Empire? Does Prompto awkwardly thank Ignis for taking a bullet for him? Does Ignis subsequently clarify that he did it for Noct not Prompto, leaving Prompto to be all 'right, of course :)))' and hate himself for ever imagining otherwise, even for just one second?
BUT WE GETTING WAY OFF COURSE NOW, LADS.
So yeah, I lost that fight the first time. I chose the 'Sacrifice My Life' option, and then failed to complete the fight in the allotted time despite playing on easy. I am good at video games. The next time I chose the 'Give Up' option simply to see what lay behind it, and got the same game over sequence again. WHICH, INCIDENTALLY, Ignis's final thoughts being 'no, I don't want to die without him'?!?!?! IGNIS.... heebus jeebus, buddy. I hope Insomnia has some good therapists looking for work when this is all said and done.
I managed to win the fight on my third try, after selecting the 'Risk My Life' option twice before 'Sacrifice My Life' and subsequently not triggering the timer quite so early. And I have to admit, as much as I enjoyed all this emotions and visuals of the subsequent scenes, this is where things got a bit confusing to me?
So Noctis, Gladio and Promto arrive. They're distraught to find Ignis in such a state, understandably. But Ignis is alive (and not blind!), and watches as Noctis goes to the Crystal.
So... okay, things are playing out as per canon, right?! Ardyn is still kind of getting what he wanted out of this, using Ignis as the motivator to finally move Noct into position. Okay, cool, I can follow this so far. We cut forward to the future, to the four companions at the steps of... Castle Insomnia or whatever it's called (sorry), and Noctis says they'll walk tall together, which I'm almost certain is different than the original game. More importantly, though, Ravus is there to greet them, and even seems to accompany them inside.
Okay, this makes sense! With Ardyn occupied by Ignis, and Noctis's arrival much changed from the original version of events, it seems reasonable enough to assume that Ravus might not have met the same ignoble fate. So he's alive, cool, okay! I'm still following. The camera pans skyward, and we saw dawn break. The night has ended, so Noctis must have overcome Ardyn and sacrificed himself, bringing peace back to Eos. Right?
Except evidently this is where something differed in a way that I just failed to follow. We see Ignis after this fact, approaching the throne and greeting Noctis. So Noctis is alive in this version of events! And like, I'm FINE with that, but I don't understand the how of it. What did I miss? What changed? What part of Ignis's apparent sacrifice to the Ring of the Lucii end up changing fate this drastically? I mean, I can't help but notice that Ignis is ALSO not dead despite offering his life up to preserve Noctis's. So what happened here?
Are we supposed to... infer that Ignis killed Ardyn? But that just doesn't seem right at all. Ardyn is, of course, immortal. Even if he did fade away after his long fight with Ignis, nothing about that scene suggested any sort of permanent defeat. So what gives, guys!! What did I miss here!
If any of y'all have an answer, I'd love to know. And I really hope that, if there is an answer, it's something that actually exists in the text and that I just failed to catch. If this is another case of 'you need to read/watch the extended material' I am going to be very sad. THIS IS EXTENDED MATERIAL, GAME. JUST HOW DEEP MUST THIS HOLE GO?
Verdict! When I started writing this, I was going to say I think I enjoyed this one and Episode: Prompto about the same amount. But now that I've come this far and had so much to say, perhaps Episode: Ignis really was the strongest entry so far. I really did enjoy it a lot! And it's certainly left me with questions and considerations, which isn't a bad thing. Though I do worry these DLCs are going to have me reconsidering my character rankings when all is said and done. Poor poor Gladio. He really does deserve so much more...
So, hey. Can't help but notice I wrote fic where Ardyn steps on Noct and then one day later played DLC where that wish was more-or-less fulfilled, albeit with Ignis being stepped upon instead.
Thank you Final Fantasy XV. Please continue this trend.
no subject
No. He, uh, just kind of stops and stands there.
I wish I could answer your other questions for you! But there are no answers to be had, really; or the answer is 'bad writing, prioritising Vague Awesome over Comprehensible Storytelling'. According to the Wiki, by Word of God, Successful Alternate Path Ignis devised a SECRET PLAN that he used to overcome fate and outsmart the gods. We never find out what that plan is because I suspect Tabata himself has no idea.
God, I sound so negative. I really do love this game, I swear!
no subject
You have given me this information and I have no idea what to do with it.
It's cool! I always worry that I'm sounding much too negative when talking about series I love, but wanting to critically engage with a piece of media is a sign of love! IT'S BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU THAT WE HAVE TO BE THIS WAY, FFXV
no subject
Tldr I'm always very happy to meet more people who understand critical engagement out of love!
no subject
I'm pretty sure Verse 2 is Ignis's Personal Headcanon rather than being a true ending... though I've seen another theory where they're actually all dead but Ignis has taken Luna's place. Or they're just delaying the inevitable, which is also a fun possibility. The best thing about the abundance of plot holes is there's more room to play in, fandom-wise.
Ardyn is absolutely a stepper-onner type, he does it so well >:D
no subject
The fighting really was so simple and yet so fun and effective! The zip-wire stuff was a little bit janky at moments, but I still had a blast swinging across the rooftops and switching between the elemental daggers.
THOSE THEORIES ARE WILD. Really dying at the idea of Ignis relating this story, "so Ardyn asked me to join him, and I decided to play along, and then...", just spinning this elaborate nonsense that very clearly never happened. Though really, there's something wonderfully bittersweet about Verse 2 actually just being 'and then they all died at the end'. I mean, that's one way to keep the boys together I suppose!
I 100% subscribe to the Ardyn stepper-onner newsletter.