gekigengar gargant III!!! (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aestivalis) wrote2021-11-11 06:50 pm
aestivalis) wrote2021-11-11 06:50 pm
"Do you think you can turn him? (winky face)"
LOOK WHO'S COMING TO OPERA OMNIA, MOTHERLOVERS
I mean, spoiler alert for upcoming JP updates/the future of the Global version, but...! Lord Braska himself, playable for the first time? To be honest he might be playable in Final Fantasy: Record Keeper or one of the other mobile games/spin-offs, but whatever. This will be my first experience with playable Braska, and possibly the richest source of information we'll have ever had for who he is as a person and how he interacts with people. He'll meet grown-up Yuna! He'll meet Tidus, the much-mentioned son of Jecht! And he'll get to see his Guardians again, with Auron now much older and grizzlier than last time they met. Much to think about!
I don't really take material from things like the Dissidia games to have much true reflection on canon, much the same way that I don't take anything from subsequent Compilation games to have anything much to do with Final Fantasy VII. Each game was made at a particular time, in a particular climate, intended to delivery a particular story with a particular message. Five, ten, twenty years down the line? Circumstances change. People change. But that being as it may, I still enjoy seeing what this additional material has to say about the original canon. I might like some of it, I might hate some of it! But it all gets me thinking about the thing I originally loved, makes me contemplate my own perceptions and settle my own sense of what the canon is to me. So I'm looking forward to seeing Braska! And I can't wait to see what wildcard character gets added to the roster next. I can't believe Braska was added before Rikku. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda love it.
So on the note of things that extend from the original canon but don't necessarily change my mind about said canon, I think it's about time we chatted about the Final Fantasy XV Ardyn DLC! Which was probably released close enough to the original source material that I should trust its contribution, except I have approximately zero faith in Tabata's integrity and fully believe he switches direction like a weathervane. I'm gonna give this a reasonably thorough description below the cut, so you shouldn't read any further if you want to avoid spoilers!
That being said, do I actually recommend playing this DLC? Ehhh. It's tricky. I don't think it's really worth it for the story, all in all, which is a shame. And it takes entirely too long before you get to start fucking around as Ardyn wreaking havoc in Insomnia. But when you do get to that gameplay? Damn, but it's so much fun. So much fun.
Also, novelty hats!
But alright, let's do this thing. I actually played the DLC months ago, but I rewatched all the cutscenes today while ironing so that I could write this post. Also because I gotta do something to make ironing work shirts a bit more bearable.
(NOTE: This post is far, FAR too long right now, so I'm going to post this as Part One and continue talking about the rest of this DLC at a later date. Because otherwise it's gonna be another three months and I'm just never going to finish. So! Spoilers for the first, like... thirty minutes or so of the DLC. Also I got a bit hyperactive the longer I went on typing about this, so I apologise for the energy toward the end of this post. Verstael has that effect on me, apparently. I will return to discuss the rest of this DLC at a later date!!)
So right away, the opening of this DLC is actually really damn good. We start with a kind of "long ago..." type narration, speaking of a great man who was supposed to become the chosen king and save the people or whatever. We see Ardyn sitting on the throne in the ruins of Insomnia, and he smiles as Noctis and company arrive to confront him. It's the finale of Final Fantasy XV, and we all know how it goes.
But then we shift into a sort of 'rewind', firing rapidly back through the Ardyn-specific events of FFXV and then flinging us back into the past. We open instead in the backseat on a moving vehicle, and an ongoing news report talking about a missing soldier who vanished shortly after reporting for border patrol that morning. The man in the backseat is the missing soldier, idly gazing out the window as the car makes its way through the streets of Insomnia. The sunlight hits the window at just the right angle to make the glass reflective, and the man we see mirrored in that reflection is not the soldier but in fact Ardyn Izunia himself.
It's just so good. It's so ominous! What has Ardyn done to this poor soldier, and what does he intend to do now that he's taken his identity? The radio report goes on to say that today is a celebration to honour the founding of Lucis (or Insomnia, or... whatever), and that a statue of the Founder King will be unveiled along with all kinds of happy festival fun. The taxi driver questions if soldier!Ardyn should be out looking for the missing patrolman, but Ardyn replies that he's on a 'special assignment' and heads on his way.
SO YEAH, I WAS LOVING THIS. Ardyn begins to attack the city and I was so hyped up for where this was going, aaaand... then we go into deep flashback mode, and the not so good parts of the DLC begin to kick in.
In terms of Ardyn backstory, I kinda feel as though the game itself actually provides just enough to be interesting without actually saying very much at all. We know he's part of the royal bloodline, and specifically that he may once have been intended to be the One True King or however the heck they phrase it. We know he was betrayed by that fate, left immortal and tormented and furious, and we know that he wants to destroy that lineage or be destroyed in the attempt. Honestly? Given the strength of personality he has as a character, that was already good enough for me.
But I was willing to at least see what an Ardyn backstory might contain. And it contained... a dead girlfriend who looks kinda like Lunafreya! sad trombone noise
I honestly don't see what Aera adds to the story. I mean, I see exactly what Aera adds to the story, which is an incredibly dull and unnecessary bit of additional motivation for Ardyn to be a mean nasty man who does a mean nasty stab to Lunafreya. Aera is ~his true love~, the one who loved him and cared for him and weirdly lay around in cornfields with him and whatever else, and her violent death is used as a sort of crisis moment around which Ardyn's catastrophic decline rotates. And it just feels so unneeded, and just an absolute textbook example of creating a female character specifically so she can suffer in the service of a Much More Important male character's story.
And that blows, lads. It blows. But let's kinda try and leave that griping more or less done and carry on, because there's some really great stuff in here and we're gonna talk about it, darn it!
SO OKAY, FLASHBACK TIME, Ardyn is lying under a tree with Aera. They're surrounded by wheat or whatever, and Ardyn looks like the skinniest most tragic looking hobo you've ever seen and it's hilarious. This DLC provides two (2) irrefutable reasons for Ardyn to dress in so many goddamn layers, and this is one of them. The man is a ridiculous-looking twig creature once you strip him down. Someone please feed that saviour immediately.
Ardyn is, like, a magical saviour guy! He's been blessed by the gods to heal people, and has been busy doing so. Aera says he looks exhausted and wants him to rest and take care of himself, but since he refuses to settle down she promises to cure him with her cuteness and sexiness instead and they have a lovely little chuckle together and—
—Ardyn regains conscious, chained and impaled within a tomb-like cell. Soldiers are swarming in around him, the torches on their guns dazzling bright amidst the darkness; he squints and groans in pain, powerless, as the leader of this squadron of men delights to find him alive, "just as the ancient texts told". Leader guy is difficult to see from Ardyn's dazzled POV, but he's definitely some Rufus Shinra-looking motherfucker and he's way too into this. (spoilers: i love this asshole)
WAS THE ARDYN FLASHBACK REAL? Hard to say, I guess?! It may have been a direct memory, or it may have been an idealised memory that he's been hiding within, or it could just be pure delusion. The DLC never addresses this, and from what I can tell the fandom seems to take all the information presented in Ardyn's flashbacks at face value. PERHAPS WE'LL NEVER KNOW.
Regardless, the soldiers start dragging even more tragically skinny and useless Ardyn out of the tomb. He's shirtless, by the way. Terribly unsexy shirtless Ardyn. (spoilers: i love this asshole too)
Then, an attack! Soldiers from Insomnia appear, refusing to let the Empire take "adagium" off the island. Ardyn has no idea what that means, but they try to kill him and he defends himself with warpy black evil shit and all that good stuff we know and love. Ardyn seemingly can't die, and the fighting eventually ends when he envelopes an opponent in darkness and seemingly absorbs the mans memories. This seems to be the moment where Ardyn realises something significant. "I didn't purge him of the scourge; I bestowed it upon him."
I MEAN, THIS RAISES A FEW QUESTIONS. Was he, like... trying to purge this guy in the middle of combat? Was he trying to do a nice little heal as a treat while this dude was attempting to murder him? And is this meant to be the very first time this has happened, or has Ardyn always been out here poisoning people when he thought he was healing them? Has it always been this way, or did something fundamentally change somewhere along the line? THIS SEEMS LIKE A REALLY IMPORTANT QUESTION TO NOT EVER HAVE ANSWERED. I mean seriously! Is he a one-time saviour who got horribly broken somewhere along the way, or was he never a true saviour and was acting under a false impression all along? Which is it! Whatever, DLC don't care.
... oh my god there's a fucking prologue anime episode that explains all this, god DAMN it ffxv why are you like this!!!!!
Look, I'm just going to pretend that information doesn't exist and keep writing this post but oh my god. Oh my god damn it you guys. Why is so little of this game actually in this game I swear to god.
a n y w a y, Rufus-fucker is delighted by Ardyn's power and gleefully tells him so, before doing the most affronted little "hey >:(" when Ardyn responds by passing out. I love this fucker so much.
CHAPTER TWO, and it's Aera flashback again! By this point you're probably a good twenty minutes into the DLC and you've walked around a screen (running not permitted) and played one scripted battle, so that's kinda cool. I SWEAR I ACTUALLY LIKE A LOT OF THIS DLC, I DO NOT MEAN TO BE THIS RELENTLESS GRUMP. But seriously, it's flashback time and we get our first glimpse of Somnus. Somnus is Ardyn's meanie younger brother who resembles Noctis because subtle story-telling is for chumps. Somnus tries to cut Ardyn down, Aera jumps between them and dies in Ardyn's arms, Ardyn does a little scream, andddd then he wakes up in a white room and we're back to reality again.
So we're in a nice bed in a genuinely decently nice bedroom, and Ardyn is fully clothed. This is relevant because we soon find out that it's been seven months since Ardyn was brought back from Crapsack Island and he may or may not have been asleep that entire time? He certainly has no lucid recollection of anything that's happened since arriving here? WHO DRESSED HIM? WHO GIVE HIM THIS NICE COSY BEDROOM AND LEFT HIM UNATTENDED HERE?
Even weirder, an intercom message addresses him as "Ardyn Izunia" and says that "Chief Besithia" wants to see him. How does Ardyn even have a point of reference for who Chief Besithia is if he's been unconscious for seven months?! When did he pick up the Izunia moniker? Has he been unconscious for seven months, or has he actually been doing all kinds of stuff and just immediately forgetting again because he's a recently uncaged immortal and time has no meaning? WHAT IS GOING ON
Regardless, Ardyn goes to see Besithia and possibly the best single scene in the entire DLC commences. Ardyn wanders through the white halls of the Magitek Research Facility before entering the room where the Chief is waiting. And Chief Verstael Besithia is sitting at the head of a lavishly set table, gourmet meal for two already plated and served, the room lit with an intimate soft glow, and OH MY GOD DUDE WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING. I FUCKING LOVE THIS GUY. It's legitimately candlelit! There's a flower arrangement in the centre of the table! This mad scientist asshole wants to fuck his science project so fucking bad and he doesn't give a damn who knows about it.
So he's all like ~~have a seat~~ and Ardyn's only just gotten here and he already looks so fucking done. So done. But he's a good boy and accepts his blind date with dignity, and does a little prayer to the Gods for blessing them with this food. Verstael Shinra tries to tell him he's going to let his food go cold but Ardyn's having none of it.
Verstael: Are you enjoying your stay?
Ardyn: No.
I could legitmately watch these two characters interact for hours and consider myself well-fed, they are the best part of this DLC by a landslide and I will not be swayed. But Verstael accepts this rebuff with grace, saying that it'll take time for Ardyn to be able to appreciate the waking world again after so long asleep, and "Perhaps I can enlighten you while we dine?" while he fucking toasts in Ardyn's direction and Ardyn just looks at the sky and presumably begs for death.
At this point I think I should probably just recommend you go and watch the entire dining scene because it's such a treat and apparently I'm going to end up describing it in ridiculously lavish detail otherwise. All the DLC cutscenes are compiled here, and the dining scene begins at 13:30. And it's just so good you guys. I did not expect to leave this DLC shipping Ardyn with the fucking Prompto's Clone Daddy guy, but here we are.
BECAUSE YEAH, TURNS OUT, WE KNOW WHO VERSTAEL BETHESDA IS, I just forgot the name! It wasn't until partway through this scene that I had a sudden Oh, he looks a bit like Prompto moment, and then suddenly it all clicked into place. He's the Magitek Soldier guy! The old man from the Prompto DLC! This is him in his dangerous young twinky days! He totally wants to bone down with Ardyn apparently!! And I guess I'm into that??? It certainly makes Ardyn/Prompto more interesting to me, but. that's a whole other conversation for another day. moving on.
Ardyn: How long has it been since you brought me here?
Verstael: Two hundred and four days.
WHO COUNTS TIME LIKE THIS? HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING IT IN YOUR DIARY, VERSTAEL? "204 DAYS SINCE ADAGIUM CAME TO STAY ♥ VERSTAEL IZUNIA ♥"
So Verstael starts dropping extremely unsubtle ~you must hate Lucis~ hints, which Ardyn largely ignores because honestly he just craves the sweet embrace of death. He also lovingly describes all the fucked up qualities Ardyn has (starscourge makes him stronger, his cells regenerate, he can inflict scourge on others) and when Ardyn calls himself a monster Verstael lovingly corrects him. "Not a monster. A marvel."
He then somewhat ruins the effect by cackling maniacally, right there in front of Ardyn's salad.
By the way, the meat they're eating is cloned in the facility. This is pre-Magitek soldier era, but I'm just saying... Verstael is definitely the type of person who would eat meat cloned from his own DNA. I'm so sorry to all the Prompto's of the world, but at least one of you has definitely been eaten by this lunatic. He'd probably consider it quite ethical, even. Consumption only from the self—a fine display of scientific ingenuity. (cackles maniacally)
Eventually dinner culminates in Verstael trying to win Ardyn around to the idea of helping the Empire defeat Lucis. Surely Ardyn wants revenge on those who wronged him? But Ardyn declines. His interests are all in the past, his feelings are none of Verstael's concern. But Verstael isn't done with this just yet. He's got things to show Ardyn, things that might convince him, and with little else to do... Ardyn follows him into the bowels of the Magitek Facility...
And that's as far as I'm going for the time being! There's plenty more DLC left to go, including some insane music choices, the aforementioned novelty hats, fun with Ifrit, actual gameplay!!!, and some more silly flashbacks. If you waited this long for my thoughts and somehow stuck with me this far, let me know your own thoughts on the DLC! I can say with confidence that it is... 100% a thing that I experienced.
I still can't believe there's an anime prologue...
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I saw that opera omnia announcement on twtr earlier! The additional crumbs of lore it provides is nice. Never touching it with a ten foot pole though since I don’t have the motivation to plow through a mobile game :(
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