Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn |OT| End of the Road

[AlexFlame116]

"The truth about the man who history forgot..."​

PUBLISHER: Square Enix
DEVELOPER: Luminous Productions
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2019
PLATFORMS: PS4/XBONE/PC
PRICE: $9.99
SIZE: 6.51 GB (on consoles)
WEBSITE: http://www.finalfantasyxv.com

STORY:
FINAL FANTASY XV EPISODE ARDYN depicts the story of Ardyn Izunia, the main nemesis in FINAL FANTASY XV. The story of suffering, death, and resurrection leading up to the main story in FFXV. For the first time, players take control of Noctis's greatest foe in this brand-new episode of FINAL FANTASY XV! Delve into the dark tale of scorned saviour Ardyn Lucis Caelum and unravel the secrets surrounding his mysterious past.

CHARACTERS:
Ardyn Lucis Caelum:

"A man cursed with life eternal, whose immortality stems from the selfsame scourge that wrought the daemons. One so impure of body and soul was deemed unworthy of the Crystal's Light, and forbidden to ascend. His mind twisted by spite and bent on revenge, the Usurper came to bring darkness down upon our world. Only the True King, chosen by the Crystal and guarded by his forebears, can end the Accursed's madness."

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"Ardyn is a shrewd, humorous and manipulative man who appears casual and unfazed by the events around him. He has an eccentric appearance and personality, often coming across as patronizingly civil. He is unpredictable, and his exaggerated and performative personality hides his sinister intentions and dark past. He enjoys manipulating events and watching them unfold. "

Verstael Besithia:

"Research Chief Verstael Besithia made a name for himself by almost single-handedly engineering a method to mass produce a magitek infantry. His rise to prominence also exacerbated his descent into madness, however, and his one-held hopes for peaceful world have warped into a lust for power and desire to wreak destruction."

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"Verstael Besithia is a minor antagonist in Final Fantasy XV . He is an imperial researcher who developed the technology used to create Niflheim's magitek infantry. His megalomania drives him to produce ever stronger magitek creations in the empire's bid to defy even the Astrals."

Regis Lucis Caelum:

"Father to Prince Noctis and 113th King of Lucis. Ever since the Crystal anointed the young prince as the Chosen, Regis spent the next fifteen years nurturing Noctis not as the future king, but as his beloved son."

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"As the king of Lucis, he is referred to as King Regis or Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII. He uses the Ring of the Lucii to channel the power of Insomnia's Crystal to maintain the Wall around the metropolis, but this gradually drains his life-force. Regis thus feels ambivalent his son, Noctis Lucis Caelum, would have the same fate befall him."

Somnus Lucis Caelum:

"A noble king, chosen defender of the sacred Stone and Ring, and founder of the nation known to us now as the Kingdom of Lucis.

Dubbed 'the Mystic' for his mesmerizing feats on the field of battle, he joined hands with the Oracle to travel the world and dispel the darkness that plagued our star."

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"Somnus Lucis Caelum, more commonly known as the Founder King (as the historical person) and as the Mystic (as the Lucii—a spirit residing in the Ring of the Lucii) is the first king of Lucis in the Final Fantasy XV Universe who lived 2,000 years ago. He appears as a Lucii in Final Fantasy XV and as a human in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn and Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn – Prologue. The Mystic is the most prominent Lucii, acting as the spokesperson for the collective of kings."

FINAL FANTASY XV EPISODE ARDYN - PROLOGUE:
Watch the prologue to the DLC and see Ardyn's descent into madness as well as the loss of the love of his life



TRAILERS and GAMEPLAY:

SIDE NOTE:
This is the very last Episode being released for FFXV. All other planned DLCs have been cancelled and were placed into a book that's releasing later this year called FFXV - The Dawn of the Future.

 

[AlexFlame116]

This thread is about the FFXV: Ardyn DLC Episode. Due to the strong feelings members have over FFXV as a whole, please do not derail the topic into another debate on why you like or hate FFXV. The DLC itself is the focus of this discussion.

 

[Deleted member 721]

great thread i feel ashamed of the one i made about spoilers

 

[AlexFlame116]

great thread i feel ashamed of the one i made about spoilers

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Oh shoot you made a thread! Dang I'm sorry I must have not seen it! I'm gonna go look for it!

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Jesus fuck, that battle theme remix of Omen.

 

[TheGreatLugia]

Is it live on NA PS Store yet? The English FFXV twitter account is saying it's out now, but I'm not seeing it on the store.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Is it live on NA PS Store yet? The English FFXV twitter account is saying it's out now, but I'm not seeing it on the store.

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I haven't seen it on the NA PS Store yet. Only saw it so far on Steam.

 

[Tbm24]

I know people like to get down on XV but I'm really looking forward to one last go at it with this DLC.

 

[Deleted member 721]

Oh shoot you made a thread! Dang I'm sorry I must have not seen it! I'm gonna go look for it!

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your thread is much better its better to keep all discussion here, its not like the DLC needs 2 threads.
i will just use spoiler tags

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Is it live on NA PS Store yet? The English FFXV twitter account is saying it's out now, but I'm not seeing it on the store.

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I think it's out in Japan already and will go up in like two hours in the US.

 

[Deleted member 721]

i watched and i think this should be part of the original game, it explains in detail the story and why ardyn is doing everything, and only playing the game could be hard to understand everything.
This DLC makes the story very simple to understand, i believe.

i feel that this DLC would fit perfectly at the start of the final act of the game

 

[AlexFlame116]

I'll update the thread on how much space the DLC takes when we have the info on that!

 

[MilkBeard]

Oh damn. In my Sekiro craze, nearly forgot this was coming out today. Can't wait to try it out and close the book on this story. I'm ready.

Edit: Just bought on Steam. Download is 16.6 GB, and that is after the 2.1 GB update.

 

[Deleted member 721]

Spoiler: ardyn episode

bahamut sux

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Spoiler: ardyn episode

bahamut sux

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Spoiler

Lmk when y'all are ready to eat your crow

 

[Lukar]

Yay, my title suggestion was picked!

Really excited to play this. I'll take as much of this game as SE will give me.

 

[benzy]

Nice OT Alex!

 

[Deleted member 9857]

it's live on XBL as well now

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/final-fantasy-xv-episode-ardyn/bpsh2wv558lc

 

[Deleted member 5148]

Sorry if its mentioned in the op,
Does anybody know how long the campaign will be and if you carry any dlc to the main gamme?

 

[Terraforce]

Had no idea this was coming so soon. Wonder what the estimated length is looking like. The other DLC episodes were rather short.

 

[Lukar]

Sorry if its mentioned in the op,
Does anybody know how long the campaign will be and if you carry any dlc to the main gamme?

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Not sure about the latter, but someone said it took them about two hours to complete iirc.

 

[Paperchampion23]

Sorry if its mentioned in the op,
Does anybody know how long the campaign will be and if you carry any dlc to the main gamme?

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Its basically only 2 hours (pretty story heavy at least). And not really on your second question (you get rewards, but you cant play the DLC directly from base.)

 

[Kamek]

Verstael is in this?!?!?! Finally some fleshing out. Let's goooo. Still bummed out about Episode Noctis, but can't wait to play this after I finish episode Ignis.

 

[ASaiyan]

Wonder if this is worth my $10. The gameplay looks good, and we finally get to battle around Insomnia.

I still haven't played the Royal Edition. Were the other DLCs any good?

Verstael is in this?!?!?! Finally some fleshing out. Let's goooo. Still bummed out about Episode Noctis, but can't wait to play this after I finish episode Ignis.

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Yeah. Of all the bullshit in this game that could've been fixed, a "happy ending" would've been easiest and most deserved. Lol.

Episode Aranea would've probably been cool too.

 

[Lukar]

Just started playing.

Spoiler: opening scene

Literally the first new scene in the episode is ripped almost straight from Versus, just with a character swap. I'm loving it already.

Wonder if this is worth my $10. The gameplay looks good, and we finally get to battle around Insomnia.

I still haven't played the Royal Edition. Were the other DLCs any good?

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I still need to finish Prompto's episode sometime, but the Gladio episode was a fun (albeit inconsequential) little sidestory. The Ignis one was really good, though, both in gameplay and story.

Also, the Royal Pack adds a ton to the Insomnia segment of the game. Definitely worth playing. Plus, the added fishing on the boat is a good and relaxing time-waster haha.

 

[RecRoulette]

Now out on NA PSN

6.21GB

 

[Deleted member 721]

Spoiler

Lmk when y'all are ready to eat your crow

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Spoiler: spoiler

you are right before everyone
=O

 

[Mgs2master2]

Spoiler

Lmk when y'all are ready to eat your crow

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Spoiler

to be fair, i'll eat crow just as long as its presented well ;-)

downloading it now, im excited lets go!

 

[Silentbomber]

Can I buy this separately on Steam ?

 

[Celcius]

It's up on Steam! I'll buy it now and play it tomorrow after work.

edit: bought and downloading

 

[rpm]

Can I buy this separately on Steam ?

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It's DLC for FFXV and thus not standalone, if that's what you're asking
It's not a part of any bundle, it's just this DLC for $9.99 or regional equivalent, if that's what you're asking instead

 

[Silentbomber]

It's DLC for FFXV and thus not standalone, if that's what you're asking
It's not a part of any bundle, it's just this DLC for $9.99 or regional equivalent, if that's what you're asking instead

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Yeah I meant if it was standalone, thanks

 

[The Last One]

Waiting for impressions before buying this one. Really curious.

 

[Izanagi89]

This is making me so emotional. It's been such a roller coaster ride of emotions but we're finally at the end. Can't wait to jump in.

 

[Toth]

Played about an hour of it before calling it a night. The cutscenes are really impressive and the story has been tight. A LOT of lore questions are answered fairly early on and there is a lot of customization and non-linearity here. Without too much spoilers, you can buy new hats to change your appearance and stats and you gain AP you can spend on different abilities. Some of these abilities make Ardyn stronger so you can easily purposely skip them to make the content more challenging. You have free reign in Insomnia too once you get there.

 

[Ultraviolence]

Purchase KH3 today

 

[Mgs2master2]

So question for someone who is playing this now like i am

Spoiler

In the QTE sequence when solnmus is forcing you to stab Aera, can you actually beat it or no? I wanna say no, but you never know with the past couple DLC with alternate paths.

 

[Deleted member 721]

So question for someone who is playing this now like i am

Spoiler

In the QTE sequence when solnmus is forcing you to stab Aera, can you actually beat it or no? I wanna say no, but you never know with the past couple DLC with alternate paths.

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i've seen someone beating and having the same result

 

[rottenpie]

So, how's the soundtrack?

 

[Riversands]

Any idea on how long this dlc is?

 

[lemonade]

Can't wait to play it.

What should I watch before playing? I heard there was like a prologue and a anime? Didn't really keep up with the information so if anyone can give me a summary of stuff to watch before playing would be nice. Thanks.

 

[Benzychenz]

Damn, I want to play this. Insomnia prequel stuff is something I didn't even know was in this until I saw those gifs in the OP haha.

Haven't touched FFXV since release, are the DLC's integrated into the story (other than the Royal Edition stuff) or just selected from a menu?
I'm thinking at this point I may as well wait for an inevitable complete edition remaster for PS5 to replay it with all the changes and new stuff though.

 

[Mgs2master2]

I'm enjoying the rest menu too much

 

[benzy]

Can't wait to play it.

What should I watch before playing? I heard there was like a prologue and a anime? Didn't really keep up with the information so if anyone can give me a summary of stuff to watch before playing would be nice. Thanks.

Click to shrink...

There's just the short anime prologue.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Can't wait to play it.

What should I watch before playing? I heard there was like a prologue and a anime? Didn't really keep up with the information so if anyone can give me a summary of stuff to watch before playing would be nice. Thanks.

Click to shrink...

I posted the Prologue in the OP so you can check that out if you'd like!

 

[Chivalry]

This is the last dlc ever, right?

 

[Terranort]

It is unlocked on Steam already. Downloading it now.

This is the last dlc ever, right?

Click to shrink...

Yep, this is the last one.

 

[daedalius]

Beat it, awesome ending.

Need to do it again so I can choose the other option from big B

 

[Saint-14]

This just further solidifies Ardyn as one of the best FF villains.

 

[Mgs2master2]

So I just beat it. Reloaded to get the 2nd ending.

It was a fun DLC. I hated the fact when you ran through the city you heard the same 3-minute loop of a song constantly, nonstop.

One thing, endings warning spoiler

Spoiler

Bahamut is a fuckin dick. No matter what option you choose, you get the same ending. One is Ardyn giving in to his fate, the other one he is basically forced into it by Bahamut under the guise of Aera.

Regardless of that, it still sets up the foundation of him being one of the best Villains in the franchise.