| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% Do not add wicks to And The Fandom Rejoiced (the page for which even says "Do not link to this on the wiki"). It is for in-universe examples only. |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ---- |
| 6 | |
| 7 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 8 | |
| 9 | [[folder:#-A]] |
| 10 | * AbandonShipping: |
| 11 | ** Noctis/Iris was one of the more popular Noctis ships, due to their on-screen chemistry and Iris's adorable crush on Noctis. However, the reveal that Iris is 15 has caused more than a few fans to jump ship. |
| 12 | ** Ignis ships that didn't pair him with Noctis experienced a bit of a dent after ''Episode Ignis'', where Ignis states that Noctis is the most important thing in his life, to the point that he has trouble caring about anything else. The exception to this was Ignis/Ravus which actually developed a fandom due to their emotionally charged interactions and status as {{Foil}}s in the DLC. |
| 13 | * AccidentalInnuendo: Overlapping with {{Squick}} and NoYay, according to [[WordOfGod Noctis's English VA]] the final scene of [[spoiler:Noctis being impaled by the weapons of his father and ancestors]] was referred to by staff as "[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything The Rape Scene]]". |
| 14 | * {{Adorkable}}: |
| 15 | ** Although Noctis's appearance might suggest otherwise, he's shown to be a silly young man who's awkward around women and Chocobos(!) and gets up to all kinds of geekery and goofing around on the side. |
| 16 | ** Prompto. Comes with being TheHeart of the group, very pretty, a total klutz, an avid chocobo fan and the character most likely to make a friggin' ''Literature/HarryPotter'' reference out of nowhere. Even Noct calls him a nerd for that last one. |
| 17 | ** Up until he finally hits the DespairEventHorizon, Ardyn's also a bit of a floaty, whimsical and often out-of-place man amidst the Imperial forces, with a [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor dorky sense of humor]] and some vengeance anger issues. Once he finally snaps, however, that nature of his drops out the window like a bad habit for becoming a pure WickedCultured individual who just wants to see the world burn. |
| 18 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/FinalFantasy Here.]] |
| 19 | * AluminumChristmasTrees: Mystery Meat Sushi, as mentioned on the [[https://ff15wiki.com/wiki/Mystery_Meat_Sushi wiki]] is actually a real thing. |
| 20 | * AngstWhatAngst: Neither Gladiolus nor Iris seem to give much angst about their father dying in ''Kingsglaive''. Gladio venting on Noct the moment he complains [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation might]] be his way to angst. |
| 21 | ** While he's clearly hurt by the news of his father's death, Noct seems to get over it pretty quickly and the light-hearted road trip atmosphere of the early game mostly persists until more named characters start getting bumped off. Considering the toll being linked with the crystal had already taken on Regis' body, though, it's likely Noct had made his peace with the fact his dad wouldn't be around forever by then anyway. |
| 22 | ** Ignis' episode in the ''Brotherhood'' anime reveals that since roughly age 16, he had to realize and come to terms with his father dying for the sake of the nation. While him dying in an attack instead of wasting away from the crystal is unexpected and shocking, Noctis was nonetheless mentally prepared for it to get over it fast. |
| 23 | * AntiClimaxBoss: |
| 24 | ** If you spend a lot of time on sidequests, the player can be over-leveled by the time they reach the final boss (or any boss even, if they focus on exploration/leveling rather than story). All of the late-game bosses can be beaten on your first try, just by outlasting them, if you have done some level grinding and have packed plenty of healing items. Whether this makes them more or less of an anti-climax is for the individual player to decide. |
| 25 | ** The final boss of ''Episode Prompto'' falls into this, due to being nothing more than an [[UnexpectedGameplayChange extended turret section]] that asks you to AttackItsWeakPoint. Just shoot the glowy spots with your neverending ammo and it's easy to NoDamageRun the fight. The only real difficulty comes with the boss's BeamSpam attack near the end, which counter-intuitively requires you ''not'' to iron-sight your gun; otherwise, it won't move fast enough to take out the emitters before they kill Prompto. Considering the battles leading up to this were more challenging, and the boss is built up as a WeaponOfMassDestruction before [[spoiler: a snowmobile with a convenient machinegun]] mows it down without much challenge, it comes off as ridiculous. |
| 26 | ** The Adamantoise; the massive size of the enemy works against it. It's so big that it's difficult to tell what part of its body you're targeting, your party members' AI falls apart trying to find a place to attack, and the Adamantoise itself rarely attacks and is easily avoided when it does (you'll probably take more damage falling from a Warp Strike than you will from the Adamantoise attacking you). This makes one of the game's major {{Superboss}}es devolve into a confusing mess of dust clouds and Warp Strikes. A later patch made it even more anticlimactic by making it vulnerable to the spells of the Ring of the Lucii. If the RNG smiles on you, you can zap the turtle with the Ring's OneHitKO spell, or just cast [[LifeDrain Death]] until it dies. The numerous Warp Points in the area to immediately restore MP make this even easier. |
| 27 | * AssPull: |
| 28 | ** The alternative ending to ''Episode Ignis'' [[spoiler:which apparently has Ardyn killed for good -- despite the game emphasizing repeatedly that permanently destroying Ardyn requires that the blood price of Noctis's life be paid -- has no explanation as to how this was accomplished.]] All WordOfGod uninformatively has to offer is that it was a "secret plan" of Ignis's. |
| 29 | ** Prompto [[spoiler:being a Niflheim-created clone]]. While the ''Brotherhood'' anime implied him to be a child with no home life whatsoever [[spoiler:and foreshadowed his barcode thanks to ''never'' taking his wristband off]], his skill set seemed at odds with the Lucis magic, [[spoiler:he took offense to Noctis calling Magitek Troopers [[InnocentlyInsensitive mindless machines]]]], and the Naga mistakes him for its child, the game at best offers {{Foreshadowing}} for him probably being a [[spoiler:displaced Niflheim citizen or tied to the Troopers.]] ''Nothing'' foreshadows his DLC's reveal of [[spoiler:being a genetic clone of Verstael in a game where cloning isn't even mentioned once in the main campaign. Though part of this is in due part to Verstael getting absolutely no screen time or any opportunity for the story to emphasize cloning or even any similarities at work until ''Episode Ardyn'', released well after Prompto's story.]] |
| 30 | * SugarWiki/{{Awesome A|rt}}nimation: More than a few pieces of artwork for and in-game, but special mention goes to the painting of Etro[[note]]as of ''Anime/{{Kingsglaive|FinalFantasyXV}}'', it is at the very least present in the game[[/note]]; the art depicting the Astrals, and the game's ''logo'', which was revealed at the ''Uncovered'' event to be [[http://www.finalfantasyunion.com/news/3150/analyzing-amano-artwork-for-uncovered-final-fantasy-xv/ a view of a large, 3D mural]]. |
| 31 | * [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]: |
| 32 | ** The Astrals that are fought provide epic battles: |
| 33 | *** Titan battles you with one arm, while Niflheim soldiers also attack, and Noctis constantly fends off his attacks despite being smaller than his finger. The fight ends with the guys shattering Titan's arm with Blizzard magic. |
| 34 | *** Leviathan. First, you fight her by warping to and from debris and back to her to attack her, which would have been awesome enough on its own, but then Luna unlocks Noct's [[GoldenSuperMode Blue Super Mode]], and he proceeds to systematically dismember Leviathan, while suspending himself with his own power, and summons Titan to finish her off. Given Leviathan's [[JerkassGods attitude]], it's extremely [[CatharsisFactor satisfying]]. |
| 35 | *** Ifrit. On top of the fact that one of ''Final Fantasy'''s most iconic summons and the last of the Six has just been [[spoiler:summoned by Ardyn like it was nothing]], it also answers the question of just who you were fighting in the game's prologue. Then the fight itself begins; Ifrit is extremely powerful, yet still a fair battle, and you can exploit his elemental weakness, and duel with him in midair. And then there's what happens when you summon Bahamut (the only time he shows up as a summon in the game) and Shiva; [[spoiler:Bahamut rains down swords upon him, which Ifrit dodges with LeParkour, only for Noctis to chop off one of his horns -- and Ifrit keeps on fighting. Then, Shiva shows up and one-shots him]]. |
| 36 | *** Though not technically an Astral, the boss battle with Garuda during the ''Videogame/FinalFantasyXIV'' crossover is excellent fun (and can be fought multiple times at either Level 45 or Level 120). Garuda is extremely mobile, summons {{Mook}}s in the form of Razor Plumes and even duplicates of herself, and when she ascends into the air, Noctis can simply warp up there and take the fight to her. [[spoiler:The story battle against her ends with Noctis summoning the Messanger of the Gods, who takes on the name of Garuda and becomes the party's Wind-Elemental summon afterwards]]. |
| 37 | ** The battle with Aranea Highwind at Fort Vaullerey, which allows you to fight her in ''mid-air''. |
| 38 | ** The [[DuelBoss final battle]] with [[BigBad Ardyn]], who proves to be a formidable foe even without a OneWingedAngel form. |
| 39 | ** Say what you will about Gladio's duel with Gilgamesh and Prompto's turret battle with a living weapon; but the final boss of ''Episode Ignis'' is surely one of the greats. [[spoiler:In an alternate time where Ignis follows Ardyn to Niflheim rather than fighting in Altissia, he is attacked by Ardyn after learning the truth. What follows is an intense battle against the immortal BigBad as you use the ''Ring of the Lucii'' to enhance your strength to defeat him.]] |
| 40 | ** The UpdatedReRelease gives us [[spoiler:three of the past rulers of Lucis, who are fought as Noctis and Co. ascend the Citadel.]] |
| 41 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Too many to list here. Check out the [[AwesomeMusic/FinalFantasy Awesome Music page]] for the entire series for examples. |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:B]] |
| 45 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: |
| 46 | ** Lunafreya Nox Fleuret is the single most controversial character in the entire game. She has faced a lot of criticism regarding her replacing Stella as the game's heroine and her early portrayals making her seem weak-willed. Some of this has died down with time, and she has loyal defenders who will praise her courage and [[{{Determinator}} determination]] despite a lifetime of hardship, as well as her more fleshed out depiction in ''[[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV Kingsglaive]]'', but her critics accuse her of being uncharismatic and little more than a [[FlatCharacter plot device]] with a handful of cool action scenes and motivations that are [[SatelliteLoveInterest centered entirely around Noctis]]. After the game's release, more ire has erupted surrounding Luna in that for all her screentime in the trailers, anime, and movie, and with continuous updates to flesh out other members of the cast, [[AdvertisedExtra her presence in the game itself is far less than what would be expected.]] This makes her divisive on a meta level, as for one half of the fandom this validates earlier criticisms regarding her supposed lack of depth, while the other half argues that Luna is simply another example of the game's [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter wasted characters]] and that she shows signs of being a complex character in her own right but has simply been denied the chance to showcase it. She continues to remain divisive even after the release of the ''Dawn of the Future'' novel, as for one side it does successfully fix her by fleshing her out and giving her more agency, while for others she still remains painfully generic, becoming more proactive but no less bland and easily outshone by Aranea and Solara in her chapters. |
| 47 | ** Gladiolus is the most polarizing of the party characters mainly due to his characterization from chapter 9 onwards. His fans like his straightforwardness and take-no-shit attitude, believing he's the OnlySaneMan of the team. His detractors however dislike him for being an insufferable, insensitive JerkAss who goes way too far with his BrutalHonesty and ToughLove and who's at times, dismissive towards his friends' feelings, mainly Noctis. His behaviour in Chapter 10 where he [[spoiler: makes an angry outburst about Noct's depression following Luna's death and spending the rest of the chapter making snide remarks to the same effect, claiming that Noct should just "grow up and get over it" is either seen by his fans as a justified frustration and the proof of him helping Noctis to get a grip in his own way while also showing how he's just as devastated from [[WhamEpisode the Altissia ritual as the rest of the group]] or seen as an [[QuitYourWhining infuriating]], [[NoSympathy tone-deaf]] and [[LackOfEmpathy insensitive temper tantrum]] where he not only shoves Prompto to the side and ignores Ignis' demand to cut it out, but also continuously lashes out at Noctis for not [[AngstWhatAngst bouncing back from trauma and tragedies overnight]] by his detractors]]. His behavior was also criticized for cutting too close to home and [[https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/ezwyqk/the-good-boys-of-final-fantasy-xv-arent-always-good reminding the detractors of men who bullied them in real life]]. Him being massively [[OutOfFocus underdeveloped]] compared to the other three, his [[ProductPlacement Cup Noodle sidequest]] and the fact that his DLC episode focuses more on developing ''Cor'' than himself don't help in that regard. |
| 48 | ** [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Cindy/Cidney]]. Some love the fact that there will finally be a female Cid and welcome the addition of another female to the cast, others dislike her sexualized outfit and appearance. Hajime Tabata explained however that she is intended to be an energetic and outgoing character, rather than an erotic one, so they're going to focus on moderating the way she is presented (i.e., not having the camera linger on her in overtly sexual ways). Others note that the base concept of her outfit would have been fine had they just zipped up her jacket, not made the thong visible and given her shoes a normal human can actually work in and criticise that its current version is just for fanservice after all and the denial just a bad excuse. |
| 49 | ** Ardyn is either [[EvilIsCool one of the]] [[LoveToHate coolest villains]] in recent ''Final Fantasy'' history, [[HateSink an utter asshole who doesn't deserve even a lick of sympathy,]] or [[HypeBacklash just nowhere as interesting as the fans claim by the game's detractors.]] |
| 50 | ** Some fans love this game's portrayal of Gilgamesh for being a [[DarkerAndEdgier darker]] and [[TheStoic more serious]] character than usual, and the game not being afraid to break with long-standing trends and do their own take on the character that is different from the norm but still recognizable as Gilgamesh. Others hate him for the same reason, as the reason Gilgamesh became a [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorite]] was because his [[BraggartBoss boisterous]], [[LargeHam theatrical]] and [[PluckyComicRelief comedic]] personality made him such a memorable character, and so view this incarnation as being Gilgamesh InNameOnly. |
| 51 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: |
| 52 | ** There's an NPC couple in the ''Episode Duscae'' demo that get into an argument because the man brought some day-old vegetables to feed the chocobo. This quickly escalates to the woman slapping the man for... not wasting food?? It's vague on whether this was supposed to be played for laughs (the guys don't get involved but they do voice mild discomfort). Regardless, a domestic violence scene between nameless [=NPCs=] is a bit... weird to include into this kind of game, let alone a ''demo''. |
| 53 | ** In the middle of the Ramuh trials, the party encounters a Naga underground that kidnaps Prompto, begs the party to return her baby to her, and then acting as the boss. The encounter comes out of nowhere, is just a distraction from the Ramuh trial you're trying to complete, and nothing comes of it including no explanation of what the Naga was, who/what her baby was, and what happened to it. Theories abounded that [[spoiler:the Naga was Prompto's mother, and was our first hint towards the true nature of daemons and Prompto]], but Promoto's DLC episode {{Jossed}} that theory. |
| 54 | ** The opening sequence where [[spoiler: the older party members fight Ifrit for a few moments before it cuts to Noctis and company leaving Insomnia.]] In theory, as said by Tabata, [[MythologyGag this was meant to be a major mystery tease to hook the players in like]] VideoGame/FinalFantasyII, but in practice, it's a context-less sequence that doesn't really connect with the story because there's no reason for it to be there other than for mystery, which could have been remedied if the game had a narrator explaining how it connects to the main story. And this wouldn't be so noticeable if not for the technical aspects, since in a game that already takes an eternity to load in its open world assets, it can be very annoying for people starting the game up for the first time to sit through one loading screen that loads in the Citadel, the character models, the boss fight and effects from the end of the game to then having to wait for the game to load the actual main part of the game itself not five minutes later. This is even worse on the Windows Edition if you don't have a super high spec computer, which can easily triple the loading times depending on your setup. |
| 55 | * BreatherBoss: When it comes to the boss fights you unlock after the [=DLC=] chapters, Prompto's "Intensive Training" with Aranea is this. This is due to the sheer fact that, unlike the rest of the playable characters, Prompto is TheGunslinger, so, as long as you're evasive, it's harder for Aranea to touch you than with the other ones. |
| 56 | * BreatherLevel: The eight post-game [[BrutalBonusLevel Menace Dungeons]] get progressively more sadistic as you work your way down the line, with the sixth having you fight through 100 levels filled to the brim with incredibly resilient and powerful DemonicSpiders. Of course you'd expect the seventh dungeon (Crestwood) to be even more brutal, but this one's actually a mere 30 levels deep, doesn't contain a single [[MaximumHPReduction max health reducing]] demon, and comes up with a fairly tame FinalBoss. The final dungeon is a minor case as well, being 60 levels deep but quite easy to traverse if you have Ignis cook up some meals that confer elemental immunity. |
| 57 | * BrokenBase: Inevitable, given the game's infamously tumultuous production. Has its [[BrokenBase/FinalFantasyXV own page]]. |
| 58 | [[/folder]] |
| 59 | |
| 60 | [[folder:C]] |
| 61 | * CargoShip: |
| 62 | ** Because of the [[CoolCar Regalia]] being featured in gameplay footage, fans have been pairing it with pretty much any of the playable characters. |
| 63 | ** Gladio and [[ProductPlacement Cup Noodles]]. Not only is it one of his favorite foods, but he has a whole ''sidequest'' dedicated to getting the perfect ingredient for Cup Noodles depending on what the player chooses.[[note]]Choose meat or shrimp, and you'll have a boss fight waiting for you; choose egg and you'll traverse ''an entire volcano'' just to find the best eggs.[[/note]] |
| 64 | * CatharsisFactor: |
| 65 | ** After every despicable thing Ardyn does throughout the game, there's nothing quite as satisfying as [[spoiler:having Noctis [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown utterly lay into the bastard]] with every one of the Royal Arms before ultimately running him through with Regis's sword at the end of the final battle.]] |
| 66 | ** In its own way, [[spoiler: using the Ring of the Lucii to [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp]] Ardyn as Ignis during the "Extra Verse"]] in ''Episode: Ignis'' is even more cathartic, because it's combined with a healthy dose of ScrewDestiny that feels really good after you've spent the whole base game being led by the nose by Ardyn and the Astrals. |
| 67 | ** [[spoiler:Beating the stuffing out of Ardyn's brother Somnus at the end of ''Episode Ardyn'', after he betrayed his own brother, killed said brother's fiancee, and erased him from history just so he could obtain the throne.]] |
| 68 | ** [[spoiler: Or even in the ''Dawn Of The Future'' novel, for people who wanted to kick Bahamut's teeth in after he manipulated ''both'' Noctis and Ardyn come ''Episode Ardyn'', and tried to do the same to ''Luna''. The best part is that Noctis destroys his physical body and this time, it's ''Ardyn'' who puts on the Ring of The Lucii to kick Bahamut's ass, all while making peace with his brother Somnus and finally getting his rest in the process.]] |
| 69 | * CommonKnowledge: Despite what people believe, ''XV'' did ''not'' start full development in 2006. Back when it was ''Versus XIII'', the game had been put on hold due to development issues with the Crystal Tools engine, but was still being worked on during this time, culminating in the first gameplay trailers at TGS 2010. The game would then go into full development during 2011 until it was postponed again due to the development team being reorganized. As a result, development started over and the game that came out of it all officially started full development in 2013. |
| 70 | * CompleteMonster: [[GreaterScopeVillain Bahamut, the Draconian]], is the leader of the [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVAstralsCreaturesAndOtherBeings Astrals]] and a tyrant who views all the world as his garden. Angered by the war of the ancients in the past, Bahamut was barely stopped from erasing the world, later arranging the fate of [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVArdynIzunia Ardyn Izunia]] to spread the monstrous [[MysticalPlague Starscourge]] and see the world overrun by Daemons. Believing mankind to be flawed, and obsessed with his own view of destiny, Bahamut intends to [[KillAllHumans erase the world entirely]], having no compunction killing the Astrals when they attempt to defend humankind. |
| 71 | * ContestedSequel: Much like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', ''XV'' had a TroubledProduction that affected the quality of the final product. The game was praised for its visuals, nonlinearity and because of the bonding between Noctis and his comrades. However, it was criticized for its underdeveloped characters (like Lunafreya and most antagonists) and because plot-relevant contents were sold as paid DLC (including the BigBad's backstory, which is not included in the Royal Edition). |
| 72 | * CreepyAwesome: Ardyn Izunia is easily both of these, sometimes at the same time. With his off-kilter style and flamboyant behavior, than a few fans have compared him to an evil [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow.]] Perhaps best exemplified in his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment first scene]] in ''Kingsglaive'', where he casually strolls into the Lucian throne room (unarmed and alone) and [[AffablyEvil casually introduces himself]] before [[RefugeInAudacity dictating terms to the king.]] |
| 73 | ** ''Episode Ardyn'' reveals that exactly that had happened before during the Founder's Day festival, before Noctis was even born. Just Ardyn casually walking through Insomnia, entering the Citadel and casually stating his demands when meeting the king. |
| 74 | [[/folder]] |
| 75 | |
| 76 | [[folder:D]] |
| 77 | * DemonicSpiders: |
| 78 | ** ''Most'' airborne enemies qualify, but especially the various wasp enemies, which will inflict your party with confusion, do it again the second you're all cured, and then simply dance in the air above you with impunity. |
| 79 | ** The Coeurls; their glowing whisker attack can OneHitKill, and they can run away from you to heal before reengaging, meaning you can't beat them through attrition or CherryTapping. |
| 80 | ** A lot of the night enemies, since they're meant to serve as [[BeefGate beef gates]] to discourage night travel while the party is weak. Some examples: |
| 81 | *** Bombs, especially the Galvanades, the highest-tier variant, for several reasons: 1) unlike their compatriots in other games, these ones get closer to self-destructing when NOT being attacked, forcing you to be aggressive (and becoming hell when there's more than one), 2) self-destructing doesn't kill them, and in fact restores some of their health, and 3) self-destructing not only has a massive radius, but it ''damages your Max HP directly.'' ONE Galvanade self-destructing in your face will knock you from full Max HP to needing a phoenix down instantly. Worst of all, Galvanades that successfully self-destruct will ''summon more of themselves.'' |
| 82 | *** Iron Giants early on; tough, hit hard, and can spawn in the middle of the road at night, forcing you to either fight them or abandon the car until morning. Eventually though, their weaknesses and predictable attacks make them less of a threat, and they're not an example of this. What is, however, are their bigger brothers, the Red Giant. Far more health, far deadlier (can OneHitKill you as high as level 50), and ''resistant to everything but Light,'' meaning the vast majority of your arsenal will be ineffective. Worst of all, if you manage to kill an Iron Giant at night, the Red Giant will simply replace it as a random spawn until the next morning, meaning you can never truly be safe from them. Of course, [[BrutalBonusLevel Costlemark Tower]] can have you fighting them at multiple points -- including multiples at once! |
| 83 | *** Ronin and their upgraded counterparts. Their entire gimmick is to decimate your party with one hit kill moves. Combine this with a plethora of other annoying enemies vying for your attention and you can expect a quick party wipe. |
| 84 | ** Hobgoblins. These bigger, nastier goblins use martial arts, move ''very'' fast, are highly resistant to flinching, and have a surprising reach -- almost as soon as a fight with one starts, you can find yourself sent flying by one drop-kicking you from more than fifteen feet away. Finally, they're super-aggressive and love to gang up on Noct, so unless you can stunlock them all at once (easiest with Machinery weapons), expect to spend 80-90% of the battle just dodging their high-speed, nonstop attacks. |
| 85 | ** Necromancers; they can inflict Petrify with a high-damage, hard-to-avoid beam attack, have a high-damage grapple (and higher-tier Necromancers can OneHitKill you if you fail to escape from it), have pretty annoying attacks to begin with, and can summon endless waves of irritating skeletons who love to swarm and stunlock you. |
| 86 | ** While imperial troopers are usually GoddamnedBats than this trope, Magitek Assassins are this trope, being far stronger to the point of one-round-KO'ing at least one member, and being far more durable too. |
| 87 | * DieForOurShip: |
| 88 | ** While Luna is already a huge BaseBreakingCharacter to begin with, she is especially unpopular with people who actively ship Noctis with anyone else, being decried as [[RealWomenNeverWearDresses weak and useless]] or a ManipulativeBitch on top of the more general complaints people have about her characterization and romantic subplot. Ironically [[spoiler:she actually ''does'' die during the game, before she gets to even share as much as a kiss with Noctis. And it's not until Noctis himself is also dead that he can even so much as see her again.]] |
| 89 | ** Noctis himself gets this on occasion from Gladio/Ignis shippers who accuse him of being a selfish and ungrateful brat who does nothing to deserve the respect and dedication of the two in his service. Not helping is his seemingly muted response to Ignis [[spoiler:sacrificing his vision for his sake]] and refusal to go on despite what he'd done for him, causing them to view Gladio's condemnation of him as justified, although ''Episode Ignis'' [[AuthorsSavingThrow clarifies the situation]] by adding a scene of Noctis [[spoiler:clearly upset and feeling guilty over Ignis's blindness, but reluctantly choosing to continue, when it was in fact ''Ignis'' who wanted him to stop]]. Again, a rather strange case considering [[spoiler:he is out of their lives for 10 years and does die for good at the end of the game, meaning that Gladio and Ignis have plenty of time to be free of whatever supposed obligations are holding them back from pursuing a relationship, if they even exist.]] |
| 90 | ** [[https://twitter.com/ffxven/status/877435928377257984 This]] official tweet made in the leadup to the release of the ''Episode Prompto'' DLC briefly turned Aranea into a controversial figure among Western fans, particularly parts of the [[ShipToShipCombat Noctis/Prompto and Ignis/Aranea]] shipper fanbases, who accused her of being [[{{Chickification}} Chickified]] and shoehorned into the DLC for TokenRomance purposes. As it turned out, Aranea was more of a CoolBigSis figure, with little romance aside from an offhand comment acknowledging Prompto's crush on her. |
| 91 | * DisappointingLastLevel: Chapter 13, to the point of approaching ThatOneLevel status. It starts off as a pretty interesting change of pace as you [[NoGearLevel lose your magic]] and have to make your way through a creepy abandoned research facility, filled with jump scares and dark lighting that [[GenreShift wouldn't be out of place in a survival horror game.]] Unfortunately, the novelty wears off once you realize this level will take ''several hours'' to finish, Noctis is restricted to walking for about half the level until you get your party back, there's an annoying 7-stage keycard puzzle to solve, and [[{{Troll}} Ardyn]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking is constantly making fun of you over the PA system.]] On top of that, if you're really interested in the story, you have to take care to make sure to read all the notes scattered around the place, as [[ShowDontTell this is the only way to learn]] what happened to the place. Patch 1.06 for the game made the chapter slightly easier while also giving players the option to avoid the worst parts of the level, but it's still perceived as tediously long. |
| 92 | ** One could argue that this was ''intentional''; the point of the area is to wear Noctis and his friends (and ''you'') down, frustrating and riling them up ''just'' enough so that they make rash decisions -- and eventually mistakes. [[spoiler:And it ''works''; Noctis is forced to rush on ahead, and ends up pulled into the Crystal before he could properly explain himself and bid farewell to his companions -- just like Ardyn wanted.]] |
| 93 | * DracoInLeatherPants: Ardyn, so very much. Knowing the full scope of his backstory reveals he's a legitimately TragicVillain who was DrivenToVillainy by the actions of the Astrals and his brother [[spoiler:Somnus]], and he has very valid reasons to hate them and desire revenge on them. However, he's also an AxCrazy murderer who delights in tormenting Noctis when Noctis has not personally done ''anything'' to him, and his plan amounts to a SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum that would drive mankind to the brink of extinction and blanket the world in darkness for years, and he knows this and it is exactly what he wants. However, many side with him and say that Ardyn is within full rights to claim his vengeance and destroy everything his brother built. |
| 94 | * DuelingWorks: |
| 95 | ** Square-Enix was concerned about the possibility of this happening with ''{{VideoGame/Persona 5}}'', seeing as they felt the need to poll fans about which game they would try first if forced to choose. In the end, S-E's decision to delay the game yet again -- since otherwise ''Persona 5'' would be released within two weeks of ''XV'' and would've forced fans to choose sides -- managed to [[AvertedTrope avoid said scenario from materializing]], not to mention that the English release of ''P5'' was also delayed again to April 2017, further defusing whatever rivalry may have erupted. |
| 96 | ** In the meantime though, ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' fandom zigzags between being FriendlyFandoms with ''XV'' and this trope, both having small tie-ins with each other, and both being open-world action [=RPG=]s published by Square-Enix. |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:E]] |
| 100 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 101 | ** Stella Nox Fleuret is probably the biggest example, back from when the game was called ''Versus XIII'', and is a major reason why reception to Lunafreya was so divided at first. There are still fans of Stella who consider Luna to be a PoorMansSubstitute, and with how much of a BaseBreakingCharacter Lunafreya turned out to be in the game proper, a lot of these fans have taken the opportunity to really express their discontent with ''XV'' in favor of what ''Versus XIII'' could have brought to the table. |
| 102 | ** Aranea Highwind, the "[[FanNickname Dragoon Lady]]" from the 2011 trailer. She gained a sizable fanbase [[OneSceneWonder even though she only appeared for less than 30 seconds]] and nothing else was said about her afterward, except for the developers confirming she was not Stella and was an enemy. She reappeared after 5 years of silence in the 2016 ATR report with a name and background, and got even more popular when her surname was revealed and she is actually called "[[RedBaron The Dragoon]]" in-universe. And to make things even better, she actually joins your party as a guest, and can potentially do so multiple times (fighting Daemons at night may trigger a flag to have her fly in via her dropship and assist you). Small wonder why, of all the secondary characters in the game, she is the most beloved. In fact, she came in as a close second after Luna in the official ''Final Fantasy XV'' twitter poll for favorite female character and often gets confirmed along with the main characters in crossovers such as ''Final Fantasy: Record Keeper'' and ''For Whom the Alchemist Exists''. The ''Episode Prompto'' DLC also features her as a major ally, to much rejoicing. |
| 103 | *** And then a player managed to figure out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzr38Pa5Puc how to glitch the game]] into keeping her around permanently. Naturally, people were pleased. However, this glitch also runs the risk of corrupting your save file. |
| 104 | *** The February 2018 update added Aranea as an unlockable training partner at camp, probably as a result of this. |
| 105 | *** In another testament to Aranea's huge popularity, her section (which would've been the subject of one of the canceled DLC Episodes, itself announced as a result of this trope) was largely well-received in contrast to the rest of the highly divisive ''Dawn of the Future'' novel. |
| 106 | ** Iris gets this for being a BadassAdorable and her pleasantly cheerful personality. Players were disappointed that [[spoiler: she TookALevelInBadass offscreen and never got to reunite with Noctis's gang]]. |
| 107 | ** Cor Leonis is very popular due to his badassery, being a knowledgeable and loyal servant of the king, and being a very powerful guest party member for the time he appears. A lot of fans were disappointed that he largely disappeared off the face of the planet early into the game. Which is likely a reason for his reappearance in Gladiolus's DLC episode. |
| 108 | ** Kenny Crow, who's a large source of SugarWiki/FunnyMoments due to his goofy design being hilariously surprisingly creepy. Creator/SquareEnix even gave [[https://twitter.com/FFXVEN/status/848097883450626048 him his own DLC episode as an April Fools prank.]] |
| 109 | ** Prompto's ''Versus XIII'' appearance has just as much appearances as Stella in the trailers, if not less, before being redesigned to the current one we know now. There's plenty of fanworks depicting him as his own character, either as Prompto's AlternateSelf, brother, or as another clone of Verstael. |
| 110 | ** Sarah from the crossover DLC with ''Terra Wars'' proved to be very popular with fans due to fans believing that she had far more romantic chemistry with Noctis than Luna ever did. Some would even say that she was much closer to what they wanted Stella to be like from the original ''Versus XIII'' concept. |
| 111 | * EpilepticTrees: |
| 112 | ** There's a wild theory about Bahamut floating around, despite having no in-game evidence, that [[spoiler: like how Shiva used a human form as Gentiana, ''Aranea'' is the human form of Bahamut. Proponents point to the fact that Aranea's armor is draconic in design and that Bahamut's eyes look very feminine (despite having a baritone voice). Others have suggested Cor as potentially being Bahamut's human form.]] Both are {{Jossed}} by the technically non-canon ''Dawn of the Future'' novel, in which Bahamut is his own entity [[spoiler:with a face that strongly resembles Noctis or Somnus's]]. |
| 113 | ** Another one that has gained a lot of steam among the English-speaking fandom concerns the ending of Chapter 13: [[spoiler: the idea that Noctis is a "fake" king and that his real name is "Izunia" who stole the name Lucis Caelum from Ardyn.]] However, this theory is based on false pretenses from its genesis: the reason this theory even exists is because of the [[BlindIdiotTranslation English translators taking creative liberties with Ardyn's dialogue]] that makes it sound like there's more to it than there really is. In the Japanese script (and the European translations of the game), [[spoiler: instead of hinting that the Izunia name has a sinister origin like he does in English, Ardyn merely says that he doesn't really remember where he got the name Izunia from, and his tone is more of a rhetorical question that he's asking himself, not Noctis. Some others still take it to mean that Izunia was in fact the first name of the king who usurped Ardyn and that he was his brother or another member of the Lucis Caelum dynasty.]] It was eventually revealed via ''Episode Ignis'', ''Episode Ardyn'', and the UpdatedReRelease that [[spoiler:the king who supplanted him -- whose name was ''Somnus'' -- was indeed Ardyn's brother]], while ''Episode Ardyn'' director Toru Osanai himself stated that [[spoiler:due to absorbing so many people's memories, he truly no longer remembers where he got the name "Izunia" from.]] |
| 114 | ** One of the more off-the-wall theories is that Gentiana is Noctis's true mother, or a recent ancestor of his, to explain why the two of them are similarly East Asian looking in appearance, as well as an instance of [[spoiler:Shiva's]] fondness for humanity. |
| 115 | ** One of the ending theories (which has since been {{Jossed}}) is that [[spoiler:killing Ardyn erased him from history, thus the ending looping the dialogue from the start of the game signifies a new timeline where the game's events didn't occur. Instead of being TogetherInDeath, Noctis and Luna both survived and actually got married.]] |
| 116 | ** The Pitioss dungeon, which can only be accessed in the post game, has served as a source of ''a lot'' of this in regards to the game's backstory, and Ifrit's reason for [[spoiler: turning on the other Astrals and hating mankind]], as well as the origins of the Starscourge and the reason the Lucian kings are the only ones capable of using the crystal's power and the true origins of the crystal. The theory originated from [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXV/comments/5t367b/pitioss_ruins_revelations/ this]] very long and spoiler heavy reddit post, and a fan summarized the theory in [[https://youtu.be/Jh0GRk_yGyM this]] video. To summarize, there is a giant statue of a woman in manacles that can be found deep in Pitioss. The theory states that she is the seventh Astral, Eos, the One-Winged Goddess of the Dawn, and was imprisoned for consorting with a human and bearing said human's children. Ifrit journeyed down to the underworld to free her, [[spoiler: only to find her dead. He returned to the surface and burnt her body, but plucked her heart from it, [[https://i.imgur.com/PpxwtZR.jpg burning his arm]] in the process]]. This also released the Starscourge into the world [[spoiler: as her corpse was infected with the evils of the underworld. Her heart would become the crystal. Her children would become the Lucian kings.]] Ifrit then created Pitioss Dungeon to tell this story. This theory was popular for a number of reasons including the fact that it followed the lyrics of "Somnus", and makes use of the one-winged Goddess seen in multiple artworks for the game, such as the Genesis painting and the "Big Bang" promotional art, as well as made use of previous WordofGod statements that Etro, the Goddess of Death from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' would be a major figure in the game, except now under the new name of Eos ([[LyingCreator which turned out not to be the case]]). One thing that bolstered this theory for a time was the fact that the author correctly guessed that the Rock of Ravatogh is [[spoiler: Ifrit's corpse]], something confirmed in ''Episode Gladiolus''. However, it since then came out that Creator/RayChase had discussed the theory on a Periscope livestream with a Square-Enix localizer, and the loading screen flavor text that the Rock of Ravatogh is Ifrit's corpse only appears in the English text. |
| 117 | *** As DLC was released for the game and new information was revealed, the creators of the theory started having to make more and more "adjustments" to make it fit, while the theorizing started reaching outlandish levels. By the time the game stopped updating in March 2019 it has been effectively debunked. There is no Astral named Eos, and Ifrit's lover was Shiva. |
| 118 | ** Related to the above theory is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py7Ai5EVBtc Solheim theory.]] It's canon that there once was a super advanced civilization known as Solheim that used to sprawl across Eos, but was destroyed around 2000 years before the events of the game and the four main nations seen in the story arose from its ashes. Many of the ruins and structures found throughout the game are remnants of Solheim. The theory states that the reason Eos was imprisoned was instead that the humans of Solheim did so using technology that suspiciously resembles those used by Niflheim in the present. They eventually killed her, and so Ifrit wiped them out and began to hate humanity. |
| 119 | ** In both of the above theories, the meteor Titan holds up and the firepit behind Lestallum were [[spoiler: Ifrit's attempts at accessing the underworld to find Eos,]] with the second attempt being successful. This theory explains why demons tend to appear in the Lestallum power plant. |
| 120 | ** The alternate ending in ''Episode Ignis'' is a prime source of these, due to the fact that [[spoiler:Noctis is somehow still alive after having defeated Ardyn and bringing back the dawn, things that were explicitly stated to have required his death for. The game offers a handful of CanonFodder clues here and there as to how exactly Ignis might have saved Noctis, so it's not a ''complete'' DeusExMachina, but doesn't offer any concrete explanations either. Some interpretations even posit that Ignis DiedHappilyEverAfter and everything that happens afterwards is merely his NostalgiaHeaven, or that it's actually a DownerEnding disguised as a GoldenEnding and that Noctis's survival in the short term was achieved at the expense of removing the sole means of Eos's salvation.]] |
| 121 | ** ''Episode Ardyn'' introduces [[spoiler:Mars Sapienta, an MIA Lucian patrol guard whose form Ardyn takes to infiltrate Insomnia. Due to the similarity between his and Ignis's names, and the fact that Ignis himself was born one year after Ardyn's attack on Insomnia, a fan theory has surfaced positing that Mars is Ignis's father, and that Ignis's family was forced to change their name following the attack.]] |
| 122 | * EsotericHappyEnding: |
| 123 | ** Short of the ''Dawn of the Future'' storyline where the cast has to EarnYourHappyEnding, the game is rife with this. Particularly in the main ending, [[spoiler: the fact that the Starscourge is truly defeated and the Daemons finally routed, but humanity was put through the ringer [[note]]Only Lestallum and a handful of outposts are confirmed to have survived; the fate of everywhere else, along with exactly how many survived the ten years (or not), is [[UncertainDoom completely ambiguious]], but it's practically a given that governments have collapsed and society will never be the same again[[/note]], and the line of Lucis (along with magic in general) vanishes from Eos.]] |
| 124 | ** If ''Dawn of the Future'''s plot elements are potentially taken as canon, even if the ending is not, then [[spoiler: Bahamut, who was ultimately the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire story, intentionally let everything get as bad as it did to have the excuse to KillAllHumans and wipe the slate of Eos clean again. While he seems to respect Noctis and the Glaive in the main timeline, that doesn't subvert the fact that his goals were ultimately carried out and he barely had to lift a finger, except against Ifrit. [[SarcasmMode Congratulations]], you saved what little was left of the world to leave it in the hands of a god that manipulated everything to cause it all to happen in the first place, with no one but the other gods left even remotely capable of stepping in against him!]] |
| 125 | * EstrogenBrigade: Many fans joke that ''FFXV'' is a Boyband Simulator and it certainly lives up to its nickname as it earned a large female-following while the other games tend to have a balanced divide between the genders. As shown in a [[https://i.redd.it/cjnukmc120k41.png NHK poll]], a whopping 71.9% votes for ''FFXV'' came from women, the largest female-male ratio out of all of the games listed. The majority-male CastFullOfPrettyBoys combined with a large helping of Ho-Yay and a [[StrangledByTheRedString lackluster romance plot]] also attracted a ''ridiculous'' amount of Yaoi fangirls just shipping the main cast with each other, proven with a lot of slashy fanarts and fanfics all over the internet. |
| 126 | * EvilIsCool: |
| 127 | ** Ardyn Izunia's popularity grew as the [=DLCs=] rolled out and then ''Episode Ardyn'' and its animated prequel fleshed out his backstory, making him one of the most complex and layered antagonists of the franchise. Aside from that, he's also liked for his {{Troll}}ing humor, his charisma and style, his great vocal performance from Darin [=DePaul=], and overall being a great LoveToHate villain. Some even consider him one of the best antagonists of the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise, worthy of standing alongside the likes of Sephiroth and Kefka. |
| 128 | ** Niflheim has quite a large fanbase due to their cool Magitek army. |
| 129 | [[/folder]] |
| 130 | |
| 131 | [[folder:F]] |
| 132 | * FanDislikedExplanation: |
| 133 | ** Noctis and Luna communicated for 12 years by writing messages into a notebook that Umbra carried between the two. And one of Luna's greatest regrets [[spoiler:when she is killed by Ardyn is never having the chance to hear Noctis's voice again after their separation]]. Fans figured the reason they didn't use more convenient means of communication was because Niflheim would spy on them and intercept their messages, meaning Noctis and Luna used the notebook for pragmatic reasons. However [[WordOfGod Tabata]] stated in an ATR that they easily could have used phones, but chose not to because of a childhood promise, which upset a lot of fans who felt it was an asinine justification for a plot contrivance that deprived Luna of dialogue which would've developed her character and relationship with Noctis. This plot element is so disliked, in fact, that when a leaked ''Versus XIII'' storyboard showing Noctis and Stella communicating by phone showed up, the response was universal in its derision of Noctis and Luna's method of communication. |
| 134 | ** People assumed the reason Noctis and co. start off broke and have to earn their keep throughout the game, even though Noctis really should be the wealthiest man in all of Lucis, was for currency reasons, as Insomnia uses yen while the rest of the world uses Gil[[note]]a fact [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Prompto early on[[/note]]. As it turns out, according to Tabata Noctis actually did retain access to that wealth, but didn't use it because he wanted to blend in with the commoners better, which fans found to be patently ridiculous. |
| 135 | ** The novel ''Dawn of the Future'' revealed that [[spoiler:the true reason for Ardyn being immortal is due to ''having his soul sucked into the Crystal when he touched it'' at the ending of ''Episode Ardyn: Prologue''. This rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way, as they feel that it completely goes against the already-established lore of the Starscourge being the cause of Ardyn's immortality. Though given that the one who gave ''that'' explanation was [[JerkassGods Baha]][[GreaterScopeVillain mut]]...]] |
| 136 | * FanNickname: The cast has acquired a good number of these, often out of necessity as many of their official names weren't revealed until much later and as the realistic style leads to many characters [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed resembling other existing ones or people]]. |
| 137 | ** The entire party is often referred to as the Chocobros. |
| 138 | ** Noctis - Storm [[labelnote:Explanation]]A mishearing the TitleThemeTune, combined with ThemeNaming based on [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]].[[/labelnote]], [[Characters/{{NarutoSasukeUchiha}} Sasuke Uchiha]][[labelnote:Explanation]]His hairstyle makes him look a lot like an adult Sasuke. Was even more the case back when it was still ''Versus XIII''.[[/labelnote]], Franchise/JohnWick or [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV Punished Noctis]][[labelnote:Explanation]]a referenced to his [[spoiler: PlotRelevantAgeUp appearance in the last chapters of the game looking a lot like the titular character of the same name]].[[/labelnote]], 陛下/"Heika" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Literally "His Majesty", Japanese nickname for his older version, contrasted to 王子/"Ouji" or "Prince".[[/labelnote]] |
| 139 | *** His powered-up form when [[spoiler:fighting Leviathan and Ardyn]] has been dubbed "[[Anime/DragonBallZ Super Saiyan Mode]]". |
| 140 | *** Noctis's attack in the above-mentioned SuperMode and [[spoiler:Bahamut's Ultima Sword attack]] have been nicknamed "[[Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks Gate of Babylon/Unlimited Blade Works]]". |
| 141 | *** The Nomura-designed placeholder outfit from ''Versus XIII'' has been dubbed "The Trashbag Outfit". |
| 142 | *** The Festive Ensemble is known as "[[GratuitousSpanish El Nocto]]". |
| 143 | *** Japan often refers to Noctis as ブスティス/Bustis (literally "Ugly-tis") in photos taken by Prompto due to how ridiculously [[{{Gonk}} unphotogenic]] he looks, [[http://imgur.com/a/vywYs especially when smirking]]. |
| 144 | ** Gladiolus - [[TestosteronePoisoning Manly Bearded Dude]], [[GoodScarsEvilScars Scar]], [[PerverseSexualLust Gladdy]] [[TeamDad Daddy]] |
| 145 | ** Ignis - [[VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes Glasses Touchdown]], Glasses |
| 146 | ** Prompto - [[{{Bishonen}} Blondie]], [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter Shotgun]] |
| 147 | *** From the Japanese fanbase, there's Pupu/Puputamu (ププ/ププタム) taken from his name's katakana. |
| 148 | *** Kid Prompto - [[FormerlyFat Plumpto]] |
| 149 | *** Prompto's photography skill has been dubbed "Promptography". |
| 150 | ** King Regis - [[Film/DieHard Hans Gruber]] for the ''Versus XIII'' version, Creator/LiamNeeson for the ''XV'' version from the "Dawn" trailer and onward. |
| 151 | ** Leviathan - Levia-[[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns chan]] (due to the reveal of her [[http://www.siliconera.com/2015/08/29/final-fantasy-xvs-leviathan-revealed-to-be-female-and-concept-art-details/ being female]]), Perfect Leviathan/[[VideoGame/SonicAdventure Chaos]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]Due to similarities between how the battles are fought in a flooded city by a powered up protagonist.[[/labelnote]] |
| 152 | ** Gentiana - Himefu, Genitalia, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Fran]] |
| 153 | ** Aranea - Dragoon Lady, [[LikesOlderWomen Ara Ara]] |
| 154 | ** Ravus - [[InTheHood The Hooded Man]][[labelnote:Explanation]]Due to his wearing of one in early ''Versus XIII'' trailers[[/labelnote]] |
| 155 | ** Magic spells (specifically, of the Elemancy branch) have been christened "[[{{Franchise/Pokemon}} Poke balls]]", due to them taking the form of colored orbs which are thrown at the enemy. |
| 156 | ** Ardyn - Trash Jesus |
| 157 | ** First Secretary Camelia Claustra - Hillary Clinton |
| 158 | ** Sania - Frog Lady, [[Videogame/FinalFantasyIX Quina]] |
| 159 | ** Vyv - [[Series/{{Lost}} Hurley]] |
| 160 | ** The early designs for the Magitek Exosuits DLC have been dubbed "[[{{Film/PowerRangers2017}} Power Rangers suits]]". |
| 161 | * FandomRivalry: |
| 162 | ** In the west at least, there's one with ''Videogame/Persona5'' due to the DuelingGames status above. It does shift into FriendlyRivalry at times however, as enjoying both games isn't seen as a universal sin. It helps that there was a much larger gap in release dates in the west, the former being released in late 2016 while the latter in mid 2017. |
| 163 | ** A strong one exists with ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''[=/=]''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' fans, who blame each other's creator for causing the other's TroubledProduction and getting it ScrewedByTheNetwork. KH/FFVII Remake fans see Tabata as a usurper who bastardized Nomura's more interesting ''Versus'' concept into ''FFXV'' with his incompetence (a sentiment bolstered by ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' introducing ''[[CreatorDrivenSuccessor Verum Rex]]'' and obvious Noctis {{Expy}} Yozora), while ''XV'' fans fight back by arguing that Tabata is the only reason ''Versus/XV'' [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell came out at all]] instead of dying on the backburner due to Nomura's AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder, and that the hatred is sour grapes since Tabata was [[ExecutiveMeddling dealt a difficult hand]] due to Square Enix's ''FFVII Remake'' [[AdoredByTheNetwork favoritism]] having partially screwed over ''XV's'' development. Which is also then pointed out that this criticism ignores the very well established fact that Nomura's team didn't have an engine to work with due to the Crystal Tools disaster and that it was reported by many individuals like Yoshinori Kitase and Wan Hazmer that ''Versus XIII'' development suddenly got going very quickly once they had a working engine of their own. Likewise some ''XV'' fans hold a grudge against ''FFVIIR'' due to a mix of the aforementioned ExecutiveMeddling and the fact that Nomura fans point to its success as evidence of his superiority as a game director, instead arguing that it only ended up as successful as it was because of ''XV'' being treated by Square Enix as an ObviousBeta for it to piggyback off of. |
| 164 | * FanficFuel: |
| 165 | ** The events of the [[spoiler:ten year]] TimeSkip between the last two chapters. You hear vague details on what other characters were doing over the time, but there's enough room to speculate. |
| 166 | ** A major thrust of drama is that if Noctis dies, the line of Lucian kings dies with him. Naturally, this invites plenty of storylines where Noct secretly fathers a child or has a long-lost relative out there, and the line of Lucis continues through them. |
| 167 | ** The alternate ending to ''Episode Ignis'', all the way. [[spoiler:Noctis lives on to become the 114th king of Lucis and rebuild his destroyed kingdom. Ravus is still alive in this timeline, and joins Noctis' retinue. His abode at Fenestala Manor remains intact. Though Lunafreya is dead, she appears to have ascended to some form of godhood after her death. Noctis's three friends remained close and went on many adventures together during the ten years that he was gone, and Ignis is able to keep his sight.]] |
| 168 | * {{Fanon}}: |
| 169 | ** Queen Aulea has no official depictions, but most fans assume she had black hair and was East Asian looking in appearance to explain why Noctis himself similarly averts {{Mukokuseki}} despite having a very European looking father. |
| 170 | ** It's commonly believed by fans that Cor Leonis [[spoiler:brought Prompto from Niflheim to Lucis as a child]] due to Prompto's admiration of him. While ''Episode Prompto'' confirms that Prompto [[spoiler:was taken from Verstael's facility as an infant, and Verstael speculates that it was "some Lucian"]], there is absolutely zero indication that Cor was the one who did it specifically; while it's not made clear exactly who did, some notes you can find imply it may have in fact been [[spoiler:one of the [[DefectorFromDecadence disgusted Niflheim employees]]]]. |
| 171 | *** Furthermore it's popular to portray Cor as a surrogate father figure for Prompto or having protective feelings over him. All that's said of any possible interactions before the main game is that Cor gave Prompto basic combat training and escorted him to the capital so he could officially be inducted as Noctis' bodyguard, and there's no indication that they've met in any context outside of bodyguard training. |
| 172 | ** It's commonly believed that the Marilith assassination attempt on Noctis as a child left him with physical scars on his back to explain his coma and temporary incapacitation. This may be due to the fact that the woman protecting Noctis at the time did receive such a wound on her back. No such injuries are actually seen on his body in either ''Brotherhood'' or instances where his back is exposed, at least not to the degrees it's commonly depicted as. |
| 173 | * FanPreferredCouple: As far as HoYayShipping go, all ships between Noctis and the rest of the Chocobros are more well-liked than [[OfficialCouple Noctis/Luna]], with Noctis/Prompto being the most popular one, Noctis/Ignis being a reasonably close second, followed by Noctis/Gladio in third. Not to mention [[{{Polyamory}} shipping them all together at once]]. |
| 174 | * FanPreferredCutContent: The game was originally titled ''Final Fantasy Versus XIII'' and was meant to share a similar mythos to the main ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' titles as a part of the ''Franchise/FabulaNovaCrystallis'' subseries. While ''[=FFXIII=]'' and its sequels ended up becoming a massive BrokenBase, many fans were still interested to see how elements of the mythos would play out in ''Versus'''s DarkerAndEdgier setting. When it was rebranded to ''XV'', much of the promotional material that had been released until that point ended up being cut from the new title, and the story, gameplay and characters were rewritten to the point that director Hajime Tabata claims that they're pretty much different games. Considering that ''[=FFXV=]'' end up being just as divisive as ''XIII'' (if not moreso), many felt that the production team should have stuck with their original ''Versus XIII'' idea. A particularly sore point for players was the removal of Stella Nox Fleuret (who was depicted in the trailers as AntiVillain whom Noct has to fight at some point) and her replacement with Lunafreya, who was seen as an uninteresting SatelliteLoveInterest. |
| 175 | * FanonDiscontinuity: For the purposes of happy fanfics [[spoiler:(especially those in which everyone is alive)]], Chapter 1 never ended. |
| 176 | * FansPreferTheNewHer: There's a not-insignificant contingent of fans who consider Noctis' appearance post-TimeSkip (after spending [[spoiler: ten years trapped in the Crystal]]) a ''vast'' improvement over his fairly generic "[[{{Bishonen}} anime pretty boy]]" appearance at the beginning of the game. As it turns out, the [[ManlyFacialHair beard]] adds some much-needed age to his face and the longer hair looks much more reasonable than his original "[[AnimeHair Sasuke haircut]]". Even his being all scruffy, scarred, and covered in caked-over dirt [[UnkemptBeauty adds to his appearance]] rather than detracting from it. With the long hair, beard, scars, and general scruffiness, more than a few approving Western fans have favorably compared him to Franchise/JohnWick or a younger [[VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt Geralt of Rivia.]] |
| 177 | [[/folder]] |
| 178 | |
| 179 | [[folder:G]] |
| 180 | * GameBreaker: [[GameBreaker/FinalFantasy Has its own page, of course.]] |
| 181 | * GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: |
| 182 | ** Due to Square's decision to make the game fully voiced in French and German, European sales have actually outpaced North American sales of the game. |
| 183 | ** The Japanese fans mostly regard Ardyn as off-putting, creepy, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking not as pretty as the protagonists]]. The English-speaking fanbase, by contrast, absolutely ''[[LoveToHate adores]]'' [[EvilIsCool him]] for his humor, charisma, and sheer flamboyant style, regarding him as one of the franchise's best villains since Kefka, and in almost all cases ([[DracoInLeatherPants fangirls]] and [[StupidSexyFlanders fanboys]] alike) regarding him as [[EvilIsCool cooler]], more attractive and visually interesting than the "[[{{Bishonen}} generic anime pretty boy]]" protagonists. This is also helped by the fact that his [[DubPersonalityChange personality is different between versions]], as he is more akin to Kefka in the Japanese version while the localization changed his personality to be more suave and mysterious. |
| 184 | * GoddamnedBats: |
| 185 | ** Imperial Troopers. More often than not, you'll be in the middle of fighting a group of monsters, and they'll butt in and drag it out for longer than need be. Sometimes, if you're really unlucky, they'll drop in while you're driving, interrupting your trip. Even worse if you accidentally drove too close before noticing, causing the game to force you out of the car and denying you to use it again until the threat is gone or you have the car towed somewhere else. |
| 186 | ** Daemons, particularly Giants, can be this when they aren't DemonicSpiders. They're a lot stronger than your usual enemies during the day. The player is usually safe on the road, but some enemies that appear at night will spawn in the middle of the road. If you're not strong enough to defeat it, you'll be forced to abandon your car in the middle of nowhere and fast travel to your last rest area. |
| 187 | ** The Level 50 dungeon Balouve Mines is infested with Level 7 goblins. They're no threat if you're ready to take on the boss, but you can't go five yards without tripping over them. |
| 188 | * GoddamnedBoss: The Adamantoise superboss gives 50,000 XP per run and can drop two items used for crafting LimitBreak magic or be sold for a hefty amount. In true ''Final Fantasy'' MarathonBoss fashion, the thing takes ages to kill (easily half an hour and upwards), lacks any kind of phase change throughout the fight, and due to it's size, the camera [[EventObscuringCamera spins around while it's moving]] meaning you'll spend a hours just fighting the camera while whittling down its health and oddly enough, you can't at any point perform a ColossusClimb on this city-sized beast. This changed after the Ring of the Lucii's [[OneHitKill Alterna spell]] was buffed that it has a relatively low probability to trigger on the beast, so the boss [[EasyLevelTrick can be cheesed]] this way and finish the fight under 10 minutes, depending on one's luck. Best of all, as long as you stop advancing the moment the battle actually begins, it can't even damage your party. |
| 189 | * GoodBadBugs: |
| 190 | ** The ''Judgment Disc'' demo is [[http://www.siliconera.com/2016/11/11/final-fantasy-xvs-new-demo-gets-flared-kinds-bugs-glitches/ full of hilarious glitches]]. Among them being fused characters, missing objects in the environment and the sea turning purple or disappearing completely. |
| 191 | ** [[http://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xv-glitches-are-a-good-time-1789677806 The main game also has its share of hilarious bugs.]] A few examples are your party members standing in the car, chocobos, or each other's heads, Noctis being pushed up to the sky after exiting the Regalia or defeating enemies, and characters phasing through objects. |
| 192 | ** Someone discovered a method to keep Aranea in your party via a fairly simple glitch. Naturally, the fandom exploded considering how popular she is. This bug is also interestingly ''functional''--Aranea will even appear in cutscenes and pose in photos. |
| 193 | *** In fact, an entire series of shenanigans can arise when forcing [[GuestStarPartyMember temporary party members]] to stay in beyond the point where they're supposed to leave. While Iris is fully integrated in that she freely participates in Prompto's photos and camp scenes, has unique dialogue interacting with the rest of the party, can ride the Regalia and even has her own Chocobo, the rest of the guests fall short in these areas. Aranea, [[DevelopersForesight/FinalFantasy for as much forethought that went into integrating her]], ''cannot'' ride the Regalia, leading to her literally sprinting on foot while the rest of the party are on wheels. Ditto Cor, who gets it worse considering that unlike Aranea, he has no unique interactions or dialogue when setting up camp. He doesn't even get the worst; Ravus and Sarah -- the two guests who are mainly exclusive to events outside the main story -- lack dialogue or interactions with the party entirely.[[note]]Worth noting that barring glitches that keep Aranea in the party when she shows up to aid the player post-Chapter 7, or not progressing the story past Chapter 6 to keep Iris, the only way to have these guests show up is through cheat engines for the PC port.[[/note]] |
| 194 | ** It's possible to glitch the game using Umbra's MentalTimeTravel feature so that you can use the pre-timeskip character models in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIrQVhaPRs0 post-timeskip portions]] of the game and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVMuxp176iE vice versa]]. |
| 195 | ** The final boss in ''Episode Ignis'' Verse 2 will kick off the fight by... crouching repeatedly. It looks like he's teabagging the ground. |
| 196 | *** In ''Episode Ignis'''s optional bonus fight against [[spoiler:a ring-empowered Noctis]], towards the end he will be able to cast magic on Ignis that, if it goes off successfully, severely warps Ignis's model for the rest of the battle. |
| 197 | * GoodBadTranslation: One of the earlier trailers had random, amusingly nonsensical Italian phrases flash on the screen. |
| 198 | [[/folder]] |
| 199 | |
| 200 | [[folder:H]] |
| 201 | * HamAndCheese: One sidequest in the game is essentially [[ProductPlacement a commercial for Cup Noodles]]. The English voice cast did two takes of dialogue for the quest; one that is completely straight-laced and sincere, and one that is dripping with out-of-character sarcasm. The developers used the sarcastic take in the final game. |
| 202 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 203 | ** The countdown reel [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AptAyPIL88&t=7956s briefly stopping at November]] before revealing the (original) release date of September 30, 2016, at the Uncovered event became one (or depending on one's sense of humor, HilariousInHindsight) when Square Enix announced the game was delayed to November 29. |
| 204 | ** Tabata promised players that [[ExactWords Luna wouldn't need saving.]] [[spoiler:Then players found out that meant they ''can't'' save her from her fate.]] |
| 205 | ** Prompto's jacket patch says "It's a beautiful day; now watch some bastard mess it up". Funny, until you realize that to some extent, this is what happens in the game, due to one particular bastard stirring the pot on all sides. Thanks ever so much, [[spoiler:Ardyn]]. |
| 206 | ** Many of the jokes about Ignis's glasses become this on a second playthrough,[[spoiler: knowing he'll become blind later.]] In particular, the lines about Ignis wearing glasses because he likes to see the world in perfect clarity and the banter where Ignis jokes that [[spoiler: he would love to never see Noctis and the Chocobros again.]] |
| 207 | ** As if the game's BittersweetEnding wasn't already sad enough, ''Episode Ignis'' finds a way to make it even more depressing. [[spoiler: It turns out Ignis discovered the truth in a vision from Pryna in Chapter 9 -- not just the nature of the prophecy itself, but having to witness Noctis's HeroicSacrifice in its entirety, directly. He had to spend the next 10 years with that knowledge, dreading it and not being able to do a thing to stop it from coming true. Even worse, we find out that Ignis literally loves Noctis more than life itself.]] To hammer this in, as the credits play we are shown several of the scenes from the second half of the game again, OnceMoreWithClarity. Even worse, if you come away from with the interpretation that Ignis has been [[HoYay in love]] with Noctis all this time, it makes the plot of the ''[[UnluckyChildhoodFriend whole game]]'' this. |
| 208 | * HeartwarmingInHindsight: |
| 209 | ** If the player helps Coctura, she'll make the dessert that Noctis received from Luna during his time in Tenebrae. In ''Brotherhood'', you find out that Ignis had tried and failed for years to recreate that dessert for Noctis. This sidequest not only allows Noctis to finally have the dessert he remembered so fondly but also allows Ignis to finally learn the recipe. |
| 210 | ** During Cindy's final sidequest, she helps the group secure a set of headlights that's powerful enough to repel daemons, allowing the Regalia to safely travel at night. She muses that if her parents had something like this, they'd probably still be alive. [[spoiler:During the TimeSkip, despite the World of Ruin being overrun with powerful daemons, we see Talcott and others able to drive around safely thanks to the same type of headlights.]] |
| 211 | * HilariousInHindsight: |
| 212 | ** The promotional image of a bored-looking Noctis slouching on his [[CoolChair throne]] becomes more amusing considering ''XV'''s years of ScheduleSlip. |
| 213 | ** The "Omen" trailer, which features a horrific alternate future in which Noctis is forced to do battle with his despairing and reluctant dearly beloved. Sort of like the 'alternate' version of the game itself, originally ''Versus XIII'' in which Noctis was slated to do exactly the same thing with Stella. Trying to distance your creation from the original product, eh, dev team? |
| 214 | ** Thought that the final boss of the mystery disc demo, [[spoiler:the CEO of Square Enix himself]], played live on ''FFXV''[='=]s premiere, was ridiculous enough? ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'' takes a page from that and turns it into the 3C3C1D119440927 DLC, where you end up fighting against [[spoiler:Yosuke Matsuda (retaking his model from the ''FFXV'' live premiere), who is then joined by ''the CEO of Platinum Games'', Kenichi Sato]]. Fans who played both games had a field day with this. |
| 215 | ** Prompto has a habit of taking pictures to document the party's quest. His voice actor, Creator/RobbieDaymond, would go on to play another MotorMouth {{Trash Talk}}ing photographer in [[WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan Spider-Man.]] |
| 216 | ** This game features a royal wedding in its story and a cover of "Stand by Me", which a lot of people considered as an odd choice for a song to be in a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game. In the royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the choir also sang a rendition of said song and is also noted to be unusual and [[https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a20745869/prince-harry-meghan-markle-wedding-breaking-royal-tradition-protocol/ breaking royal tradition]]. |
| 217 | ** Back in July 2017, a ''XV'' fanfic titled "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12554648/1/Nocturne-of-Tenebrae Nocturne of Tenebrae]]" featured a AU scenario where Luna learns from Ardyn how to absorb the Starscourge into her own body. Guess what happens to Luna during her segment in ''Dawn of the Future''? |
| 218 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VLjGlEGcls ''Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn'' in a nutshell]] has Ardyn swearing that he will be DLC for ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy2015'' to kill Bahamut for engineering the tragic life he had. At the end of December 2019, guess [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5JvyLLZT0k&t= who]] just became playable? |
| 219 | ** A black-haired [[FallenPrincess Fallen Prince]] who lost everything when his father was killed, is followed by the game during both his teens and his early adulthood, is childhood friends with a light-haired princess of another territory, [[spoiler:and performs a HeroicSacrifice to defeat that game's BigBad]]? [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI The very next game in the series]] would also end up doing more or less the same in that regard. |
| 220 | ** Bahamut was made into the ultimate BigBad of ''XV'' via supplementary materials. In the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI subsequent mainline title]], the Dominant of Bahamut [[spoiler:turns out to be a SheepInSheepsClothing who ends up taking part in the final battle against that game's BigBad alongside Ifrit and Phoenix.]] |
| 221 | * HoYay: |
| 222 | ** One of the focuses of the game is the close bond between the four handsome male leads. Naturally, this has led to shipping in almost every combination possible. The characters even joke about it at one point: |
| 223 | --> '''Prompto:''' [''sigh''] "This place is so romantic.'' |
| 224 | --> '''Gladio:''' "And you get to spend it with us." |
| 225 | --> '''Noctis:''' "All ''three'' of us." |
| 226 | --> '''Ignis:''' "''You'' are a ''lucky'' man." |
| 227 | ** Prompto's photography skills are particularly ripe for this, as it's very easy to have the characters randomly end up in suggestive poses or shoving their hands and faces into each other's crotches. When reviewing them, sometimes the party will compliment the individual pictures. If you've been doing a lot of walking around before resting, you'll probably get at least one character appreciating a closeup of their friend's (or their own) butt. |
| 228 | ** ''Episode Ignis'' adds a ''mountain'' of material that could suggest Ignis is in love with Noctis. [[spoiler:He tears across Altissia in a desperate attempt to save Noctis and willingly uses the Ring of the Lucii at the cost of his own eyesight (something he never tells anyone, instead claiming he was blinded by Leviathan's poison). In the post-credits scene, and echoing their first meeting, he and Noctis chat alone after the final campfire and shake hands, with Noctis calling Ignis "Iggy", the first time he has used the nickname. In the alternate timeline, Ignis decides to hell with the world and ScrewDestiny, he won't let Ardyn take Noctis away. The post-credits scene is an alternate version of the 'Walk Tall' scene, but Noctis once again calls Ignis "Iggy". In the bad ending of the alternate route, Ignis's last words are "I don't want to die without him".]] |
| 229 | [[/folder]] |
| 230 | |
| 231 | [[folder:I-J]] |
| 232 | * IKnewIt: |
| 233 | ** Fans had been speculating ''Versus XIII'' was going to become ''XV'' since 2010. In 2012, it was decided development would shift to next-generation consoles, and the name was internally changed to ''XV'', although this would not be revealed to the public until E3 of 2013. |
| 234 | ** When the "Omen" trailer came out, many predicted that [[spoiler:Luna would be a SacrificialLion. They were right.]] |
| 235 | ** A 4Chan user posted [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/932981-final-fantasy-xv/73784761 a massive info leak six months before the release of the game]] that turned out to be completely right. Doubles as a testimony to how troubled the production of the game was if his claims about the state of the game at that time are as true as those of the game itself. |
| 236 | ** One of the loading screens for ''Episode Gladiolus'' confirms that the Rock of Ravatogh had been the site of [[spoiler:Ifrit's corpse]], which many people had speculated soon after the game came out due to the rock growths [[spoiler:resembling Ifrit's horns]]. |
| 237 | ** A common theory about Ignis's [[spoiler:loss of eyesight]] after Chapter 9 was that it was caused by [[spoiler:him using the Ring of the Lucii to rescue Noctis in the aftermath of the fall of Altissia]]. ''Episode Ignis'' confirms that is indeed the case. |
| 238 | ** Noctis's Japanese VA Tatsuhisa Suzuki [[https://twitter.com/OLDCODEX_EN/status/1327174358263971840 confirmed]] what most already suspected, that ''Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV'' was conceived by reinventing what was left of the game's original plans to have Noctis and friends present during the invasion of Insomnia, but that had been forced to cut due to [[TroubledProduction difficulties]] getting the engine to handle it properly. |
| 239 | * ImprovedSecondAttempt: |
| 240 | ** Players unsatisfied with the base game's BittersweetEnding can take solace in the alternate ending of the ''Episode Ignis'' DLC. [[spoiler:Ignis isn't blinded, he sends Ardyn into retreat by fighting and weakening him, and his short-lived alliance with Ravus sparks a peace treaty with Niflheim now that Ardyn is out of the way. While Noctis still enters the Crystal and emerges ten years later into the World of Ruin, he doesn't die defeating Ardyn at Insomnia, and goes into the throne room together with his friends, reaffirming the theme of brotherhood emphasized by the rest of the game (therefore addressing some accusations of the original ending having a BrokenAesop), and after restoring the light takes his place as king.]] |
| 241 | ** Some players didn't like that the FinalBoss was a DuelBoss fought one-on-one with Noctis, because the rest of the game, both in story and in gameplay, emphasized the friendship and teamwork of the party and the strength the four had together. The end of ''Episode Ardyn'' allows the player to have a boss fight that is a recreation of the final battle from the boss's perspective, but this time Noctis' friends join in to help him. |
| 242 | ** The cancelled season of [[WhatCouldHaveBeen DLC]]-turned-Novel, ''Dawn of the Future'', does a number of things. |
| 243 | *** Fleshing out numerous characters, including Aranea, Luna, Somnus, and even Iedolas. In addition to providing Luna with much needed backstory, it also shows that Luna, contrary to [[ManipulativeBitch what the game originally implied]], [[spoiler:did not actually know that Noctis would have to die to fulfill his destiny, and also has her [[TakeThatMe reject]] her ExtremeDoormat tendencies, two traits that made her very unpopular with fans. Likewise, while Somnus still caused Ardyn's [[DrivenToVillainy fall to villainy]], the novel version of ''Episode Ardyn'' shows that [[BothSidesHaveAPoint Somnus' criticisms of Ardyn's self-martyring methods weren't unwarranted]]]]. |
| 244 | *** [[spoiler:For those who felt destiny was unfair or that the Astrals seemed like [[KarmaHoudini Karma Houdinis]] for being partly to blame for the main game's conflict, the happy ending of the novel is only made possible because characters chose not to go along with fate and defeating Bahamut becomes the main drive of the finale]]. |
| 245 | * IronWoobie: |
| 246 | ** Noctis, especially during the second half of the game. He goes through quite the TraumaCongaLine, having dealt with [[spoiler:the loss of his father, loss of his home, being hunted nonstop by enemy soldiers, then the loss of Lunafreya and being chewed out by Gladio for it, possibly unfairly, finding out Ignis lost his eyesight protecting him while he was unconscious, accidentally hurting his best friend after being tricked by Ardyn, having to defend himself with a ring that saps his life force every time he uses it, and then being absorbed into the Crystal, scared and alone. Then by the end of the story he finds out has to sacrifice himself to save the world from the Starscourge. It gets so bad that he can't help but break down in tears having to tell his friends about it. By the very end it feels like he's as resigned as he is due to getting dealt such a shitty hand that he can't even care anymore.]] |
| 247 | ** Regis knew for most of Noctis's life that [[spoiler:his beloved son would have to die sacrificing himself to restore the dawn at a young age. Even worse, it would fall on him to deal the finishing blow]]. His life is also ebbing away powering the magic Wall that's used to protect Lucis, and he sends his son off knowing [[spoiler:it will be the last time he will ever see him alive, and that he and his beloved city would perish soon after.]] |
| 248 | ** Lunafreya. Orphaned and forced to assume an unbearable amount of responsibility at a young age, living under house arrest and unable to see or speak to Noctis directly for years. She also knows that [[spoiler:forging covenants with the Astrals to assist Noctis on his quest takes a huge toll on her, and will eventually kill her (or would've if Ardyn didn't beat them to the punch), and that the grand destiny Noctis must fulfill with her assistance is actually a brutal HeroicSacrifice. It's not until both are dead that they are able to truly reunite]]. |
| 249 | * ItsNotSupposedToWinOscars: In an interview with Game Informer, Tabata stated that the story's imbalances and lack of cohesive narrative was intentional. He said "We didn't want to create a comprehensive and perfectly balanced story in this game", which sent the fandom into a towering rage, to the point that even his defenders called him out for saying it. Whether he was told to say it or not, it was something that pissed almost everyone off regardless and damaged his reputation further. |
| 250 | * ItsEasySoItSucks: The first indication the game might be overly easy is the opening title card itself, which declares the game to be, "A Final Fantasy for Fans and ''First-Timers''". Both attacking and defending consist largely of holding down one button, so there's really no such thing as combos or timing your moves. The "parry" mechanic is extremely generous (time slows down and a giant "PARRY" button appears on screen). Players also have almost no control over the rest of their party, who largely do their own thing. This can create dissonance when the screen is a chaotic whirlwind of flashing lights, slashing swords, and backflips, all whilst the player is just holding down a single button. There's also no limit to using items in combat, and with potions and revives being plentiful it's difficult to get any sort of "Game Over", even against the hardest bosses. Players craving a harder challenge had to resort to SelfImposedChallenge and even modding the game just to be able to feel some semblance of difficulty. |
| 251 | * ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Ardyn's true name is Ardyn Lucis Caelum and he's the brother of the Founder King Somnus]]. It is extremely difficult to avoid discussion of Ardyn without this being mentioned, since knowing TheReveal is necessary to properly understanding his motivations and goals. ''Episode Ardyn'' and spin-offs where he's playable don't do much to hide this twist, and it's understandable why -- as one would expect of any character, Ardyn's fighting style in spin-offs is based on his gameplay in ''Episode Ardyn'' at least on a thematic level, which means he [[spoiler:can conjure the Armiger and wield the Royal Arms, just like Noctis can.]] |
| 252 | * JerkassWoobie: |
| 253 | ** Ravus, Prince of Tenebrae and Luna's brother, is a high ranking Niflheim soldier who [[spoiler: took part in the assassination of Regis]]. Tenebrae was Lucis's ally, but they abandoned them when Niflheim attacked. Ravus's mother died in his arms, and he was robbed of his birthright and became a subject of Niflheim. After he has a change of heart, [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceDoorSlam he is then coldly murdered by Ardyn]], disguised as Noctis. And later brought back to life as a daemon, begging to be killed.]] |
| 254 | ** Even Ardyn himself can count as one. He might be a gigantic asshole, but he went through incredible amounts of trauma and betrayal before becoming twisted into the person he is now. ''Episode Ardyn'' doubles down on this, revealing [[spoiler:he was chosen by the gods themselves to become the Immortal Accursed, spread the Starscourge, and be killed by Noctis, and his beloved fiancee may have known his fate the ''entire time'']]. |
| 255 | ** [[spoiler: Somnus]] is one of the biggest assholes in the game to the point that many consider him a HateSink. Nearly killing Nyx for being a commoner who dared to wear the Ring of the Lucii, [[spoiler:betraying his brother out of jealousy and for his own personal ambition, possibly burning innocent people who were unfortunate enough to catch his suspicions of being infected by the Starscourge?]] Yeah, he's an asshole, but then he didn't exactly have a lot of resources to TakeAThirdOption for the last two[[spoiler:, especially since the end of ''Episode Ardyn'' reveals that [[NominalHero Bahamut]] chose his line solely to produce the [[TheChosenOne King of Light]] that will kill Ardyn and cleanse Eos of the Starscourge.]] And even if he didn't [[spoiler:steal the throne, [[MortonsFork Ardyn would have still been rejected by the Crystal.]]]] It makes [[spoiler:Somnus]] come off as trying to make the best out of the worst options handed to him. |
| 256 | * JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Gladio, compared to Ardyn. Although Ardyn is the BigBad who attempts to commit genocide on the entire human race as part of his revenge plot, and who tortures and deliberately hurts the heroes at various points, he is mostly beloved by the fandom due to his witty and {{Troll}}ing personality, his [[EvilIsCool coolness]], and his English voice actor's charming performance. Meanwhile, despite being one of the heroes out to save the world from Ardyn, Gladio is a [[BaseBreakingCharacter divisive]] figure with as many haters as he does fans due to several instances where he is seen as being unreasonably cruel to people who are supposed to be his friends. |
| 257 | [[/folder]] |
| 258 | |
| 259 | [[folder:L]] |
| 260 | * LauncherOfAThousandShips: |
| 261 | ** Noctis. There's [[OfficialCouple Luna]], [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Iris]], [[FriendlyEnemy Aranea]], [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Nyx]], [[FoeYayShipping Ardyn]], and any of the [[HoYay Chocobros]], particularly Prompto and Ignis. And then there's the [[CrackPairing crack ships]] with characters like [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII Lightning]], [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Stella Nox Fleuret]], and [[ScrewYourself various other versions of himself]]. |
| 262 | ** Prompto, to a lesser extent. There's fanart of him being shipped with [[HoYay all three of the Chocobros]], [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Cor]], [[ObliviousToLove Cindy]], [[BackToBackBadasses Aranea]], [[FoeYayShipping Ardyn]], and [[ScrewYourself his Versus XIII appearance]]. |
| 263 | ** For a relatively minor character Cor is very popular with shippers. People like to pair him with Regis, Clarus, Gilgamesh, Loqi, Ardyn, Drautos, Prompto, Gladiolus, or Iris. |
| 264 | ** Even Ardyn has a fair share of ships himself, which is not limited to Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gentiana, Ravus, Regis, Verstael, Cor, and Luna. |
| 265 | * LGBTFanbase: As inevitable as the YaoiFangirls were, given the attractive all-male main party filled with HoYay. Gladiolus and Prompto are especially popular among fans of the BaraGenre and TheTwink respectively. Meanwhile, Aranea and [[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV Crowe Altius]] are beloved among lesbian fans. |
| 266 | * LoveToHate: ''[[LargeHam Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of Niflheim!]]'' ''XV'' has gotten ''a lot'' of flak considering some of the changes and omissions made to it when it shifted from ''Versus XIII.'' The one change absolutely ''no one'' complains about is Ardyn's promotion to BigBad over Emperor Aldercapt, and it's easy to see why: within the span of the game, he does some of the most despicable things to the protagonists and practically gets away with what he wants ''all the time'', while uttering some of the most memorable lines all throughout. He's already joining the ranks of ''Final Fantasy'''s best, alongside [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Kefka Palazzo]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]], and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vayne Solidor.]] |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
| 268 | |
| 269 | [[folder:M]] |
| 270 | * MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVArdynIzunia Chancellor Ardyn "Izunia"]], true name Ardyn Lucis Caelum, poses as a "man of no consequence", but is far older and far more devious than he initially seems. Working for the [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVEmpireOfNiflheim Empire of Niflheim]], Ardyn oversees the invasion of [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVKingdomOfLucis Lucis]]' capital city Insomnia, where he fatally stabs heroine Luna as she summons Leviathan and allowing the Starscourage affliction to run rampant and turning many of the residents of Altissia into monstrous Daemons. After nearly tricking his nemesis, [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVNoctisLucisCaelum Prince Noctis "Noct" Lucis Caelum]], into killing his best friend, Ardyn turns on Niflheim, allowing the Daemons to assail their cities and converting others into more Daemons. Ardyn also reveals he taught Niflheim the technique to transform people into living weapons to begin with and puts in place a series of machinations to transform Noct into the "Chosen King" so Ardyn may destroy him. In the ''Dawn of the Future'' epilogue novel Ardyn manages to outplay even the gods themselves, sacrificing his life to turn the power of the line of Lucis upon the tyrannical Bahamut. Rejected long ago by the very land he served and saved, Ardyn's endless, witty charm and ability to manipulate events in his own favor make him one of the most memorable villains in the ''Final Fantasy'' franchise. |
| 271 | * MemeticBadass: |
| 272 | ** Noctis became this after his debut appearance in the first ''Versus XIII'' trailer, where he single-handedly and memorably [[OneManArmy destroyed an army of soldiers]]. |
| 273 | ** Cor Leonis is shaping up to be one too, if [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FFXV/comments/5jqfv2/possible_spoilers_my_friend_wanted_to_know_more/?st=ix7ruwsq&sh=1d565955 this reddit thread is any indication]]. |
| 274 | * MemeticMutation: [[Memes/FinalFantasy But of course.]] |
| 275 | * MemeticMolester: |
| 276 | ** Ardyn. Some of his comments to Noctis sound suggestive, especially in Chapter 13, plus, he has a tendency to invade characters' personal space. So, naturally, gamers ran away with this. |
| 277 | ** Kenny Crow. Noctis acts really uncomfortable around him. Then there's the fact that a man in a Kenny Crow suit at the Moogle Chocobo Carnival event basically ''feels you up''. |
| 278 | * MemeticTroll: Again, Ardyn, who spends the whole story trolling Noctis in ways both petty and cruel. |
| 279 | * {{Misblamed}}: |
| 280 | ** Tabata is often fingered as the cause of the game's darker second half and BittersweetEnding due to [[VideoGame/The3rdBirthday his]] [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0 previous]] [[VideoGame/CrisisCore work]]. However, even when the game was still ''Versus XIII'', Creator/TetsuyaNomura and Yoshinori Kitase intended it to be a sad game which would [[http://gematsu.com/2010/08/final-fantasy-versus-xiii-all-the-details-so-far have you crying for a week]]. |
| 281 | ** Nomura strikes this trope again as the scapegoat -- Cindy's {{Stripperific}} outfit was blamed as being designed by Nomura, the head lead designer. Actually, that's not the case -- several characters (Namely Cindy, Umbra, and Ardyn) were designed by Roberto Ferrari, who's, in fact, listed as being equal to Nomura in the credits as the designer. And [[OlderThanTheyThink this also isn't his first job with Square-Enix]] either. |
| 282 | *** Additionally, Cindy's [[JigglePhysics original appearance]] in a trailer was not altered by the localisation team -- it was actually done at Tabata's request. |
| 283 | ** It has been noted by many who look at the whole of the development of the game that both Nomura and Tabata get far too much blame for all the issues it encountered. Many have noted the management of the game from Square Enix, particularly both former CEO Yoichi Wada and current CEO Yosuke Matsuda, to be the real reason for the game's TroubledProduction. Particularly the latter, who pretty much completely derailed the project in favor of kickstarting VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake. A large amount of the community still sadly put most of the blame on the two directors regardless. |
| 284 | * {{Moe}}: |
| 285 | ** Noctis back when he was a pouty, helpless CheerfulChild. Many people feel the urge to protect him, even once he's older. |
| 286 | ** Iris, Gladio's younger sister, also gets a lot of love from fans for her adorable and perky demeanor. |
| 287 | ** Prompto can be this at times, due to being the most childish of the main crew and a {{Keet}} whose selfies often consist of him smiling widely (when they don't make him look creepy). |
| 288 | * MoralEventHorizon: |
| 289 | ** Ardyn crosses it when he [[spoiler:[[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice mortally stabs Luna]] and mockingly calls to Noctis that his bride awaits. He then takes it a step further by [[WouldHitAGirl slapping Luna]] when she tries to offer him solace]]. |
| 290 | ** Caligo Ulldor, the commander of Fort Vaullerey, callously complains that he's being reprimanded for roughing up an old commoner for interrogation. [[spoiler:By "roughing up", he means "killed in cold blood", and said old commoner turns out to be Jared.]] If you take certain trailer scenes that didn't make it into the final product as canon, he also practically stalks and [[WouldHurtAChild throws around a terrified, young Luna in her own home]] when Tenebrae is taken over by Niflheim. |
| 291 | ** Ardyn's brother Somnus [[DrivenToVillainy drives Ardyn to villainy]] [[spoiler:when he strikes down Ardyn's fiance while attempting to [[CainAndAble kill Ardyn]] to take the throne for himself. Somnus has the gall to taunt Ardyn about it afterwards. Then he careens even further over it by [[WrittenByTheWinners having Ardyn's name stricken from history and making himself the hero]].]] |
| 292 | * SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The score for when the player is allowed to summon an Astral, particularly after a tough or annoying fight. |
| 293 | ** After a long day of extremely hard battles, the camping theme can put you at ease and make you feel accomplished and safe. The arrangement of the victory fanfare also plays here and that makes you feel like you actually achieved something. |
| 294 | [[/folder]] |
| 295 | |
| 296 | [[folder:N]] |
| 297 | * {{Narm}}: |
| 298 | ** Many of the characters' GratuitousLatin names, which come off as overly lengthy and florid. Ignis's original middle name "Stupeo" was removed likely for this reason. |
| 299 | --->'''WebVideo/Max0r:''' If you know any Latin, this game is fucking insulting. |
| 300 | ** The "HAH?!" Noctis gives after learning of the sacking of Insomnia in the Japanese dub, especially in comparison to his more natural-sounding "What?!" in the English dub. |
| 301 | ** [[spoiler:Jared]]'s death. The characters are shown to be torn up about it, but most players just find themselves going "Who?". Square Enix attempted to fix this in Patch 1.03 by adding brief flashbacks during the scene where the characters discuss [[spoiler:Jared's]] death, but it's still only so much that can be done for a character who appeared as a minor character in several scenes. |
| 302 | ** Can be self-induced since alternate costumes show up in cutscenes, including the final boss battle. So you can do stuff like wear Noctis's casual costume of a trucker hat and oversized bubble jacket. Kind of spoils the mood when characters are having very serious, very dramatic moments while dressed as a mariachi (complete with hat), or wearing swimming trunks with flip-flops and floaty wings. |
| 303 | ** You can also put all sorts of silly decals on the Regalia, like a picture of a Cactuar or cutesy sprites of your team [[spoiler:which makes it that much harder to take seriously when the Regalia breaks down for the last time.]] |
| 304 | ** Likewise, towards the end of the game you have a choice to take one picture into battle with you. [[spoiler: Noctis will show said photo to Luna during their time in the afterlife.]] It's quite a TearJerker when played straight, but since you can choose ''any'' photo in the game, this means you can put anything such as a picture of Cindy, Noctis making a strange face, or completely comical scenes that ruin the moment. |
| 305 | ** The FinalBoss ends with Noctis pulling out several of his Royal Arms and delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to Ardyn, who tries to defend himself but is blocked, evaded, or countered each time. It's a truly awesome sequence... ruined when Noctis brings out the Sword of the Tall for an attack and it begins making its stock chainsaw revving sound effects. |
| 306 | ** The end of the game has several of the most potentially-scary parts of the game, no doubt, but it depends upon what the player thinks of individual encounters with daemon hordes. Are they as dangerous as the narrative spins them, in general or at least in numbers, or do the mobs you face not match up to the scenes? For the scenes where [[spoiler:Noctis is on a train going through a tunnel filled with daemons, or the trek into/through the Imperial capital,]] they either succeed with the suspense or fall under this. |
| 307 | ** After Noctis got to the PowerCrystal and [[spoiler: was subsequently tricked into getting sucked into it which is all part of Ardyn's plan, Ardyn comes forward and tells his DarkAndTroubledPast that would be responsible for the game's plot. It would be a harrowing moment, if it wasn't for the fact that in the English dub the sound balancing is way off and Noctis' grunts in his struggle to not get sucked in ended up being louder than Ardyn's monologue in some instances, making the whole scene quite silly. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loFiP0iA2BA&t=112s Hear for yourself.]]]] |
| 308 | ** The soundtrack to ''Episode Prompto'' features quite a lot of techno beats. Catchy, sure, but it can also be [[SoundtrackDissonance wildly inappropriate]]. |
| 309 | ** A lot of Lunafreya's comments about how she wishes she could just hear Noctis's voice one more time come off as hilariously questionable when you realize the last time she actually did he was still a prepubescent child. |
| 310 | ** ''Episode Ignis'' has a few: |
| 311 | *** Some of the line delivery in the English version is less than ideal. For example Ignis's screams and yells in the English version can sound wildly out-of-place for the amount of effort he's actually exerting. Other times he suffers from DullSurprise. |
| 312 | *** The most hilarious one comes right after Ignis rejects Ardyn's offer. Apparently the VA was told there would be a bit more of a struggle, because what we ''see'' is Ignis get up and brush off the soldiers... only to stand there for a few seconds making exertion noises for seemingly no reason. |
| 313 | *** [[spoiler:An older Ravus]] shows up for the alternate ending, with the only change he has to to show for it being a beard (that looks suspiciously identical to the one Noctis has). Less charitable fans have described him as looking like Santa Claus or Colonel Sanders. |
| 314 | ** The Hiso Aliens in the ''Terra Wars'' event level, in terms of their voices. The regular one sounds okay but then there are other Hiso Aliens whose voices are sped up or slowed down, making them sound more odd. |
| 315 | ** Once again questionable voice direction rears its ugly head for ''Episode Ardyn'', as quite a few of Ardyn's grunts and groans in cutscenes are wildly excessive and out-of-place for the scenes they're in, and worse, sound like he was reenacting some [[AccidentalInnuendo kind of]] [[ImmodestOrgasm porno]]. |
| 316 | * NarmCharm: |
| 317 | ** Gladio's cup noodle ProductPlacement. The English voice actor, Chris Parson, sounds like he's reading the script for an ad, but keeps his baritone. While a lot of players aren't big fans of the multitude of ProductPlacement in the game, they give an exception to this sidequest because it's so over-the-top it's hilarious [[https://www.reddit.com/r/FinalFantasy/comments/5ibvvc/you_guysare_the_best_seriously_ray_chase_noct/db6y3b5/ and thankfully deliberate]]. |
| 318 | ** As under {{Narm}}, whatever sort of silly design you've chosen for the Regalia can suck the drama out of [[spoiler:seeing it totaled beyond repair and finally abandoned by the party]]. But with all the time you've spent customizing it with decals, paint jobs, etc, you've probably grown rather attached to the car and will be upset to see [[spoiler:your work left broken on the road as the heroes continue on.]] |
| 319 | ** Noctis screaming [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull ''POWER OF LIGHT!'']] [[spoiler:before the FinalBoss]] is the purest example of this the game can offer. In any other scenario, game, tone, or context, the quote would have been parodied and laughed away as sounding needlessly childish and cliche, especially in comparison to [[DarkestHour just how grim the game was up to this point]], but Creator/RayChase's [[SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing absolutely fantastic delivery of the line,]] making Noctis sound the perfect combination of HotBlooded, furious, exhausted, and yet determined all at once makes the quote go from almost meme-worthy to being [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome an absolutely epic statement that sets the stage for one of the most memorable final battles in FF history.]] [[spoiler:The cheesiness of it and it all actually being a CallBack to the vintage ''FF'' formula of Warriors of Light using the power of a crystal to defeat the darkness only serves to make it more lovable.]] |
| 320 | ** Prompto's photographs will invoke this trope as well, wherein it seems the game ''intentionally'' takes pictures of funny things happening such as a party member being knocked on their ass during combat, Noctis picking up something but it looks like he's throwing up, bizarre photo-ops, Gladiolus eating cup noodles, and Prompto's bizarre facial expressions on his selfies. Players found themselves intentionally saving these and sharing them because they thought it was funny. Bonus points for when the party compliments Prompto making a really stupid face or a really poorly-taken photograph where you can't see anything, or Gladio complimenting Prompto on a picture of him ''on fire''. |
| 321 | ** The ''Assassin's Festival'' DLC event. While it's a transparent attempt at ProductPlacement for the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' franchise (and it ''showed''), nevertheless many fans found the whole thing so over-the-top as to be hilarious, and the amount of geeking out the heroes get up to adorable in earnest, so they just lie back and enjoy the silly ride. Helps that the event was free. |
| 322 | * NeverLiveItDown: |
| 323 | ** It's been years since it was officially announced, but Stella's removal from the game looks to be this for Tabata and for his team in general, as many find their reasons for the removal to be extremely flimsy. Related to this, their treatment of her replacement, Lunafreya, has been even more divisive, due in part to just how big a push they had for her[[note]]Including actively throwing Stella under the bus just to try and prop Luna up in official side materials when it would have been best to let Luna stand on her own merits[[/note]],[[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter only to cut most of her scenes out of the game and eventually cancelled her DLC despite fans desperately wanting more content for her.]] |
| 324 | ** The fact that the game has been in development for so long[[note]]Technically NewerThanTheyThink as the game only went into full production in 2013[[/note]] is something ''nobody'' wants to anyone to forget about. Especially when you considering how it affected the development of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. |
| 325 | ** Perhaps another high point of infamy is the [[AllThereInTheManual excess amount of plot-important promotional materials.]] Want to get a better idea of the main party's characterizations, pasts and relationships with Noctis? Go watch ''Brotherhood''. Want a better idea of the family bond between Noctis and Regis? Play the ''Platinum Demo'' and read the ''Parting Ways'' novella. Want ''any context whatsoever'' on the entire [[DoomedHometown fall of Insomnia and the death of Regis]] the game springs on you in the first hour? Watch the feature-length ''Kingsglaive'' film. A common sore point against all of it is people simply wanting the story of a game to be entirely contained ''within'' the game, and it's infamous enough that ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' pointedly has gone out of its way to not only ensure all of its story is internalized, but will have in-game encyclopedias and records to be able to keep track of everything without having to run off to outside sources. |
| 326 | [[/folder]] |
| 327 | |
| 328 | [[folder:O]] |
| 329 | * ObviousBeta: While not remotely as bad as some other examples, it is still very evident that the game was not 100% finished as the developers intended. Aside from complaints about the cumbersome UI, uncooperative camera, inability to switch party members and difficult-to-follow story due to several plot points not being properly explained, there's a lot of DummiedOut world areas not accessible in the final game, including Tenebrae, more of Altissia, Angelgard island, and [[spoiler:the World of Ruin beyond Insomnia]]. Many patches post-release added party switching, new story scenes, the ability to explore Altissia and the ocean on the boat, and a lot of other things, but it was clear the developers were patching in things they had intended to have already but didn't have ready in time for the game's launch. |
| 330 | * OlderThanTheyThink: The final boss [[spoiler:not taking on a OneWingedAngel form for the final battle. This actually occurred in both ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIII'' and ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIX''[[note]]Even if the Cloud of Darkness is debatable, Necron isn't.[[/note]]. Ardyn ''is'', however, the first final boss from a main-series ''Final Fantasy'' not to be either a OneWingedAngel or GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, though only so long as you're not counting ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' (where Shuyin also wasn't either of those) as a main-series game]]. |
| 331 | * OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: |
| 332 | ** After Tetsuya Nomura stepped down as the director of the game, especially after the reveal of changes to the combat system and deletion of ridable mechs, tanks, and changeable playable characters, cries of this trope has been surfacing as potential deal-breakers. On the other hand, the new director, Hajime Tabata, also directed ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', which was well-received. As such, the accusations were rather mute for some time, until certain developmental changes under his direction were made known. |
| 333 | ** They flared back up when Tabata officially announced that [[http://www.siliconera.com/2015/06/04/final-fantasy-xv-is-not-final-fantasy-versus-xiii-any-more-says-director/ Stella had been re-imagined as/replaced by Luna]], and that the character's role in the story had been substantially re-envisioned, removing her role as the originally-advertised active antagonist. |
| 334 | ** This becomes somewhat [[{{Irony}} odd]] when one considers that Tetsuya Nomura was the go-to scapegoat for ''Final Fantasy'' for pretty much a decade. |
| 335 | * OvershadowedByControversy: Thanks to the November 8th, 2018 announcement that cancelled all future [=DLC=] plans, and Hajime Tabata resigning from Square Enix, it was hard to positively talk about the game for some time, which still lingers years later. After this announcement/the discontinuation of support for the ''Comrades'' DLC, the only things left for the ''FFXV''-verse were the ''Episode Ardyn'' DLC in March 2019, and the ''Dawn of the Future'' novel (released in Japanese in April 2019, and in English in July 2020). |
| 336 | [[/folder]] |
| 337 | |
| 338 | [[folder:P]] |
| 339 | * PlayerPunch: |
| 340 | ** In Chapter 11, [[spoiler:Ardyn]] acts oblivious when Noctis chases him down and corners him. It's later revealed that the person you're attacking the entire time was [[spoiler:[[TomatoSurprise Prompto after Ardyn created an illusion to make them switch appearances]], tricking Noctis into throwing the former off the train.]] |
| 341 | ** Towards the end of ''Episode Ignis'', we get to see [[spoiler: Ignis going blind]] from his FirstPersonPerspective. |
| 342 | * PolishedPort: |
| 343 | ** Of a fashion. Nomura has stated that the game was beginning to outgrow the [=PS3=] hardware it was being developed for, so rather than compromise the scope of the title by cutting features and content, he proposed the game be moved to next-generation consoles. |
| 344 | ** On top of that, the game's PC release runs at a beautiful 120 frames per second with great visuals and gameplay (albiet with LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading), the game's director seemingly wanted it to be a more typical PolishedPort (like, for example, allowing for player-made quests through mods, higher quality graphics, smoother framerate, and more gameplay functions). |
| 345 | ** On the console side of things, the base Xbox One port was at sub-1080p and the One X port barely got to above 45 [=FPS=] with screen tearing in Lite Mode, while the base [=PS4=] was at 1080p, with the Pro not being able to get to 45 in the same mode. Play it on an Xbox Series X, or [=PS5=] in Lite Mode and it gets to a ''perfectly'' smooth 60 [=FPS=] at 1080p. |
| 346 | [[/folder]] |
| 347 | |
| 348 | [[folder:R]] |
| 349 | * RealSongThemeTune: A CoverVersion of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" is featured as the game's theme song. |
| 350 | * RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: |
| 351 | ** As badass as the original ''Versus XIII'' trailer looked, it also gave off the impression that Noctis was going to be yet another brooding PrettyBoy full of {{Wangst}}, a character archetype despised by many [[AmericansHateTingle Western fans]], during a time when Square-Enix games were full of them. Looking just like [[Anime/{{Naruto}} Sasuke Uchiha]] ''really'' didn't help. While Nomura mentioned in 2013 that Noctis would be a shy and "quirky" character, and a trailer of him being awkward at a party supported that, few people bought it at the time. It wasn't until ''Brotherhood'' and ''Episode Duscae'' that people changed their tune, after Noctis was shown to be a lot more genial than his initial "[[DarkerAndEdgier edgelord]]" impression suggested. |
| 352 | ** Ravus was hyped up as a major antagonist for the original ''Versus XIII'' and ''Kingsglaive'' set him up to have a bigger role in the game. However, in the main game his role was ultimately reduced to a small one where most of his development occurred offscreen [[spoiler:including him finally acknowledging Noctis as the Chosen King and his death]], leaving many players lukewarm to him, some even wishing they'd cut him like [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Stella]] for how little he contributed. Due to Chapter 13 verse 2 and ''Episode Ignis'' giving him much needed screentime and character development, particularly emphasizing his devotion to Luna, reception of him became more positive. |
| 353 | * RetroactiveRecognition: Adam Croasdell (Ignis) previously appeared in ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' as [[TheDanza Adam Goodman]] in the episode "Cat Among The Pigeons". |
| 354 | * RomanticPlotTumor: The romance between Noctis and Luna is considered one of the weakest aspects of the game's plot, and somehow manages to fall into both this and StrangledByTheRedString, as it gets a lot of screentime and is treated as an epic love story, but never feels convincing or satisfying, with the characters mostly communicating via scrapbook, exposition, or anguished pleas, and rarely even appearing in the same scene together. Standing in comparison to the much more well-received and moving TheNotLoveInterest relationship between Noctis and his friends also did it no favors. |
| 355 | * RonTheDeathEater: |
| 356 | ** Due to Lunafreya's significant lack of focus and the fact that her only onscreen appearances in the game are [[SatelliteLoveInterest mostly about Noctis]], preventing players from getting a deeper look at her own thoughts on the events of the plot, people who don't like her, especially those who ship Noctis with anyone else, frequently portray her as a ManipulativeBastard who willfully [[spoiler:led Noctis on about his destiny and lied to him about his need to commit a HeroicSacrifice out of spite, or saw him as nothing more than a pawn and only pretended to even care about him at all]]. Some even go as far as to portray her as a pedophile preying on Noctis since she's older than him by four years. |
| 357 | *** Her distant ancestor Aera has begun to get this treatment from Ardyn fans post-''Episode Ardyn'', as the game implies that [[spoiler: she knew that Ardyn (who was her beloved) was never meant to be the First King, and was granted his healing powers so he could become the host of the Starscourge to be ultimately defeated by Noctis.]] However, it's left intentionally ambiguous if she truly knew and the few times she's seen in the DLC is through flashbacks or in visions from Ardyn, who isn't exactly the most reliable or stable of narrators to begin with. |
| 358 | ** Ignis got a lot of accusations of being manipulative, abusive, or predatory towards Noctis, or even of being ''evil'' after the release of ''Episode Ignis''. While he does engage in actions of [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation genuinely debatable morality]], he always defers to Noctis regardless of his own personal feelings, and at no point does he ever force Noctis to do anything he's not truly comfortable with. Even Ignis's most dubious action, which is to [[spoiler:forego TheNeedsOfTheMany and try to convince Noctis not to fulfill his destiny as the savior of Eos if it means sacrificing himself]], still ends in him accepting Noctis's wish to continue, albeit with a heavy heart. As with Luna above, preferring to ship Noctis with other characters may color these interpretations. |
| 359 | ** After the lead-up to ''Episode Ardyn'' -- including its animated ''Prologue'' -- showed the true depths of the betrayal and torment Ardyn suffered from Somnus (as well as showing Somnus to be just a horrible person in general), the Lucians, including Regis and Noctis, began to get hate while Ardyn's DracoInLeatherPants status intensified. Some claim that Ardyn is well-within his rights to hate the Lucians and want to destroy their kingdom, and Regis and Noctis are usurpers who have no right to the throne and should pay for the crimes of their ancestor. This is despite the fact that Regis and Noctis have no idea what really happened with Ardyn and Somnus, that both the DLC and anime are from [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Ardyn's perspective]], and that Ardyn doesn't have much interest in using diplomacy or getting reparations by the time he first enters Insomnia. |
| 360 | [[/folder]] |
| 361 | |
| 362 | [[folder:S]] |
| 363 | * SalvagedStory: |
| 364 | ** A common criticism upon the game's release was the disjointed story, which involved [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot important plot events happening offscreen]] and [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter certain characters being wasted]]. In an attempt to fix this, free [=DLC=] is planned that will feature new cutscenes to flesh out the story and certain characters, with Ravus being mentioned in particular. The first of these came in 2017, with a new flashback provided by Shiva in Chapter 12 explicitly spelling out the history of the Astrals and how and why Ifrit turned on them. WordOfGod is that similar free story updates like this will continue to be provided by patches going into 2018. |
| 365 | ** Additionally, on the front of the game's criticisms for TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter, the [=DLCs=] for the game all prominently feature several of those side characters, with ''Episode Gladio'' allowing Cor to tag along and reveal his backstory, ''Episode Prompto'' giving Aranea additional screentime and featuring Verstael Besithia as the ArcVillain for the story, and ''Episode Ignis'' adding Ravus as an ally and explaining his change of heart as well as explaining ultimate fate of Caligo Ulldor. |
| 366 | ** The Royal Edition significantly expands the endgame [[spoiler:World of Ruin]] portion, one of the most base-breaking and heavily criticized portions of the game for how [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot underbaked]] it was. |
| 367 | * ScrappyMechanic: [[ScrappyMechanic/FinalFantasy Here.]] |
| 368 | * SelfImposedChallenge: Due to the lack of a hard mode, Level 1 runs, no items, no magic, no summons, etc. are pretty popular for those wanting some challenge in the game. |
| 369 | * ShipToShipCombat: |
| 370 | ** [[OfficialCouple Noctis/Luna]] is ''the'' Flame Bait of the shipping fandom. Any discussion where it comes up ''will'' get heated. Either you love it, are willing to vehemently defend it to the death against others who you think can't or are unwilling to understand its sublime beauty, and find the idea of people wanting to see them romantically involved with anyone else unfathomable, or you loathe it as one of the worst written romances of the whole series and think anyone who does enjoy it in any form must be delusional. Only the bravest dare openly express an intermediate opinion. Of the various competing ships, Nyx/Luna and Noctis/Prompto tend to be the ones that cause the bloodiest fights. |
| 371 | ** The popularity of [[HoYayShipping Noctis/Ignis]] skyrocketed after the release of ''Episode Ignis'', which provided a treasure trove of material that could be construed as supportive of the ship. Naturally, fans of the more popular Noctis/Prompto and Gladio/Ignis for the Chocobros did not appreciate it, leading to a lot of butting of heads, and in some extreme cases, accusing Noctis/Ignis of being an abusive/incestuous/pedophilic relationship. |
| 372 | * ShipMates: |
| 373 | ** People who ship any of the Chocobros with each other tend to pair the remaining two together, even when it's nominally an [[{{Polyamory}} OT4]]. |
| 374 | ** In general, fans who ship Noctis with other characters tend to ship Luna with Nyx and vice versa. |
| 375 | * ShipsThatPassInTheNight: |
| 376 | ** Loqi/Cor has a following due to Loqi taunting him in the boss battle that's the one time they interact together, plus some [[AllThereInTheManual Ultimania guide]] stating that Loqi has a rivalry with Cor. |
| 377 | ** Cor/Prompto has a lot of fans in Japan; but in canon the two have very little interaction outside of early-game party banter. |
| 378 | ** [[MayDecemberRomance Cor/Iris]] gained a following due to a single line that suggests they work together [[spoiler:as Daemon hunters in the World of Ruin ]]. |
| 379 | ** Despite neither of them having any overt love interests, and a line from Prompto that suggests Ignis might be gay, Ignis/Aranea gained a surprising following, mostly stemming from their conversations during Chapter 7, with Ignis' gentlemanly attitude contrasting Aranea's tough personality, and his relative maturity playing off of hers. Also, some of their [[https://ignis-ass-cheeks.tumblr.com/post/156426910988/ignis-are-you-hurt-aranea-you-always-this-kind banter]] does add a bit of fuel to the fire. Despite her no-nonsense attitude Aranea does also express a surprising amount of concern for Ignis after [[spoiler:he loses his eyesight]]. [[https://mobile.twitter.com/RayChase/status/838246832429907968 Ray Chase]] and [[https://mobile.twitter.com/ACroasdell/status/838414885880942592 Adam Croasdell]] seem to be aware of the ship's existence. |
| 380 | * ShockingMoments: |
| 381 | ** Noctis teleporting haphazardly around the map and up buildings leaving blue after-images is a regular part of battle. Wait 'til you see the special in-battle events. |
| 382 | ** Forget that, wait till you see ''Ramuh'' and his gigantic size while obliterating Deadeye the Behemoth in one go! |
| 383 | ** Find all four Phantom Swords in ''Episode Duscae'', activate [[LimitBreak Armiger]] and perform Warp-Strike. [[BladeSpam You]] [[TeleportSpam can]] [[StormOfBlades pick]] [[FlashStep your]] [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration jaw]] up off of the floor now. |
| 384 | ** The ''Duscae'' stinger invokes the hand-over-mouth-horror measurement of this, as it heavily implies the game's treatment of warfare and its consequences will be substantially more brutal than originally thought. |
| 385 | ** According to [[http://www.dualshockers.com/2015/09/01/final-fantasy-xv-map-size-potentially-revealed-its-roughly-an-enormous-780-square-miles/ this article]] by Dualshockers, the ''Final Fantasy XV'' world is 786.4 square miles or 2036.8 square kilometers, making it several times larger than those for ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' and ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt''. |
| 386 | ** After the E3 2013 rebranding, it was obvious that this game was going to be a major investment for Square-Enix. But it wasn't until the March 30, 2016 ''Uncovered'' event that the sheer scope of the game's multimedia universe was revealed. Put simply, there is so much money being thrown at ''Final Fantasy XV'' that this title is now SE's make-it-or-break-it moment, and they came prepared with a slew of announcement after announcement after announcement [[labelnote:*]][[ArcNumber 15]] in total[[/labelnote]] that had viewers saying "holy shit" over and over again. Few games that have gone through as much DevelopmentHell as this one manage to meet expectations... but Square-Enix is ''really'' making one hell of an effort to ensure that ''XV'' lives up to the hype. |
| 387 | * SignatureScene: |
| 388 | ** The battle with Leviathan. The story intensity building it up, the music, the scale of the fight, and the fact you're fighting Leviathan as [[spoiler:Noctis fully empowered by a completed Armiger]], make it one of the ''biggest'' moments in the game, and thus something most every player remembers. |
| 389 | ** The final scene where [[spoiler:Noctis looks at the picture you chose before the final mission and "marries" Luna [[PeacefulInDeath in the afterlife]] while the franchise's main theme triumphantly plays before cutting to the logo, where it is revealed Luna was the woman on the logo before the logo is updated to add in Noctis.]] |
| 390 | * SpecialEffectFailure: The game's graphics are far from flawless. |
| 391 | ** Occasionally, water won't properly animate, instead appearing perfectly flat. |
| 392 | ** Lighting will highlight seams on models that should obviously be invisible. Hair is also often a victim of lighting, making it look like Noctis has blonde or even white hair sometimes. |
| 393 | ** Many of the [=NPCs=] qualify for the UnintentionalUncannyValley, which isn't helped by poor lip-syncing and voice acting on non-major characters. |
| 394 | ** When Prompto takes a photograph, the game will render plant life in the way and instead give it an extreme close-up... which causes hideous pixelation that makes it look obviously fake. |
| 395 | ** The Adamantoise is too big for the game to handle, resulting in the camera often swinging into and through its model. |
| 396 | * {{Squick}}: |
| 397 | ** The reveal of Iris's age has caused... polarizing opinions to pop up regarding the Noctis/Iris ship, resulting in AbandonShipping for some. |
| 398 | ** The game and ''Brotherhood'' pretty much confirm that Noctis and Luna have [[ChildhoodFriendRomance loved each other since they were children]]. Which is sweet and all... until you remember that Luna is 4 years older than Noct. Meaning that at one point, Luna would have been an adult romantically involved with a minor. Thankfully, though, their relationship remained chaste during that time. |
| 399 | ** Ardyn's body is essentially full of black ooze that consistently reforms into his human form whenever he is damaged. While it is thankfully ''never'' shown in any gross detail, simply knowing this is very gross. |
| 400 | * StoicWoobie: Ignis, ''[[HarsherInHindsight especially]]'' after the events of ''Episode Ignis''. He finds out the person he loves more than anything else in the world is [[spoiler:fated to die horribly in order to save it, is forced to witness his death in excruciating detail thanks to a vision, sacrifices his valued ability to see to protect him, only to lose him for ten years, and ultimately fails to stop him from going through with his sacrifice]]. But Ignis adamantly refuses to show his sorrow to anyone, and only allows his facade to crack for a [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness brief moment]] shortly before the end of the game. |
| 401 | * StrangledByTheRedString: A common criticism concerning Noctis and Luna's romance. Since she has about [[spoiler: 30 minutes of screentime and they only interact in the present after she's dead]], it feels rushed and poorly developed to some. Even people who do like the romance think it should've had more time spent on it. |
| 402 | * SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: |
| 403 | ** While the bit [=NPCs=] are ''very'' hit-or-miss, the principle characters' voice acting in the English dub is considered a high point by many. The casting is excellent and the actors are highly and very convincingly emotive. Creator/DarinDePaul in particular is obviously having a blast voicing Ardyn. |
| 404 | ** When Ardyn reveals [[spoiler:his true name]], he says "[[spoiler:you'll never guess whose name Izunia was]]." This gives the name "Izunia" a double meaning, with some fans interpreting the line to mean that Ardyn [[spoiler:took the name Izunia from Noctis' ancestor, who took the throne from Ardyn]], which is exactly the sort of thing a {{Troll}} like Ardyn would do. In the Japanese dub, the line is much more dismissive, with him saying that Izunia is just a random name he got from somewhere he doesn't even remember. |
| 405 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSong: |
| 406 | ** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BetWzCTsEf8 Boss Music]] for the Justice Monsters Five pinball game. One could be easily forgiven if they immediately drew comparisons to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OkUjnrfjC4 "One"]] by Metallica. |
| 407 | ** The underlying motif of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giI1sYmGOBk Apocalypsis Noctis]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-0TcwJT4go Apocalypsis Aquarius]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlgQqlHF0kE The Hydraean's Wrath]] is remarkably similar to that of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''' main theme. |
| 408 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi_Dnd2D01A Veiled in Black]], which plays during fights against Imperial enemies, has been compared to the final boss music Yoko Shimomura composed for ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory''. |
| 409 | [[/folder]] |
| 410 | |
| 411 | [[folder:T]] |
| 412 | * ThatOneBoss: |
| 413 | ** The Tonberry Knights, an upgrade to the series' dreaded DemonicSpiders. You get to fight them as a WolfPackBoss, and they're all equipped with energy knives that amount to ''[[Franchise/StarWars lightsabers]]'', and can quickly decimate your entire party if you don't preemptively gang up on a single one. Oh, and they're level 75, making their encounter at night something of a nightmare. |
| 414 | ** The Naga boss; she can be fought pretty early at the end of a particularly rough early dungeon, it's possible to get knocked into her boss chamber without having a chance to prepare, you fight her in a compact corridor (and she has attacks that have pretty significant reach), ''and'' she can inflict the Toad status on the party. |
| 415 | ** The Marlboro, fought in Chapter 10, is a major pain in the boss of a PuzzleBoss: every time you whittle down its HP, it comes back to life until Ignis suggests falling back. It's all to easy to mistake this instruction for running out of the battle area, in doing so bringing it back to full health, instead of moving to a specific spot in the battle area that is barely indicated. |
| 416 | ** The battle with [[spoiler:Daemon!Ravus]] in Zegnautus Fort is universally acknowledged to be the single toughest fight necessary to advance the story. He's fast, hits ''very'' hard, has a number of AOE attacks, [[DamageSpongeBoss and has an insane amount of HP]]. Pray for those who never played the ''Platinum Demo'' and unlocked Carbuncle... because they'll ''really'' be missing him. |
| 417 | * ThatOneLevel: |
| 418 | ** Chapter 13 has been met with a lot of criticism, due to the use of a ScrappyMechanic that [[spoiler: robs Noctis of his powers, his weaponry, and his allies]] and throws you into [[TheMaze a labyrinth of hallways.]] What's more is that the moment you start to make some progress, something happens and it effectively knocks you back even further than you were before. And even if you ''are'' able to brute force through all of the combat and stealth by having enough HP to safely spam your magic, the chapter drags on due to how scarce the plot points are between the many maze segments. Thankfully, a patch [[AuthorsSavingThrow helped with some of these issues]], making Noct's magic stronger while also giving him the ability to sprint. And just in case a player still hates the chapter, the option to play as Gladio and Ignis was also added in a post-launch patch, allowing players to "skip" the chapter. |
| 419 | ** Costlemark Tower, the hardest dungeon you can tackle before post-game content. Whereas the game tends to thrive on large-scale battles and open arenas, Costlemark is filled to the brim with excess numbers of monsters per encounter in small spaces. You basically can't even take a swing at an enemy most of the time without another knocking you flat on your ass. But then the final part of the dungeon brings a vague (yet surprisingly linear) [[TheMaze labyrinth of moving cubic walls.]] Which you have to go through at least three different times from three different angles ([[GuideDangIt four if you take a wrong turn in the final path]]), each ending in ever-escalating battles against Red Giants, Nagas, and a horde of Flans to the point that ''you can fight multiples of each at the same time.'' Clusterfuck doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it; if you can get through the dungeon, odds are the boss won't stop you despite how much damage it does by virtue of only being one target and actually having plenty of space to fight it in! Due to FFXV retaining the historical save point system, this entire, long, dragging dungeon must be done in a single sitting, as leaving will cause all of the monsters to reset. |
| 420 | ** The Steyliff Grove Menace dungeon is easily the worst of the Menace dungeons, though not due to level; it's ''100 floors deep''. Every other Menace dungeon aside from Costlemark is 20 or 30 floors deep, and Costlemark is still only 60 floors. Not only is Steyliff significantly longer than the other dungeons, but the enemies within include Tonberry variants (mass amounts of HP) and Flan variants (immune to all conventional damage, time to bust out the Ring of the Lucii) that will serve you annoy you further and drag out the dungeon more. Completing Steyliff's Menace dungeon can take in-game days, real world hours, to finish. |
| 421 | ** The Pitioss Ruins are a vast, enemy-free platforming dungeon in a game whose controls are utterly unsuited for precise platforming. Combine this with the total lack of hints as to where to go or what the hell you're even supposed to accomplish in there, and you have yourself a level that shouldn't be tackled by anyone with little patience unless they have [[RageQuit a couple of spare controllers handy]]. There are quite a few powerful items to be found here, but some players may argue if the stuff is really worth the immense investment in time and nerves required to get them. |
| 422 | ** The Daurell Caverns. The first time you notice something is off is the game lying to your face. The game ''says'' the Daurell Caverns are a Level 28 dungeon but the welcoming committee is two [[DemonicSpider Level 41 Necromancers]]. After that, it's all one-way drops, poison pools, Iron Giants and ''more'' Necromancers. And the end reward is... nothing. No Royal Arm, no cool boss to fight, nothing. There is also an entrance to one of the Menace-dungeons and it's the only one of them to be GuideDangIt since it requires you to point-warp, which you can only do in combat but the ladder you need to extend is only accessible when ''out'' of combat. The one redeeming factor to the dungeon is the Daurell Stills fishing spot where a ton of hard but hugely rewarding fish like the Bizarre Barramundi dwell. |
| 423 | * ThatOneSidequest: |
| 424 | ** Cid's weapon upgrade quests, because of the GuideDangIt nature of the required parts. You'll probably find most of them by accident, and then comes actually getting the weapon upgrade, because the game doesn't tell you that no matter how long you wait, Cid won't finish the weapon until you complete so many quests and then rest. |
| 425 | ** Dino's final quest requires you to venture into Costlemark Tower, the toughest dungeon in the game, which is swarming with hordes of powerful monsters, to get a gem from roughly halfway into the place. |
| 426 | *** On the subject of Costlemark Tower, the sidequest where you have to fight the boss can be this. You'll encounter [[DemonicSpiders Bombs]] a lot, there's a tedious block puzzle, and it can take well over 24 in-game hours to finish it. |
| 427 | ** The two hunts "To Catch a Frog" and "Rainstorm Duel! Poison Frog of Wennath", for the reason that they can only be completed in a specific type of weather, that being rain. The catch is that the game's weather system is entirely random, so a player may find themselves camping over and over waiting for a rainstorm to come, then racing to the site of the hunt spawn hoping it doesn't let up before they get there. Fortunately, these two are the only quests that demand a specific kind of weather.[[note]]Weather also has an influence in fishing and chocobo racing, but you can ignore the weather and still complete them just fine.[[/note]] |
| 428 | ** Catching the Mummy Bass. Even getting it hooked on the line is an excercise in patience, since it only appears in a specific part of the sea as part of particularly large schools of fish, and even then there's no guarantee it'll be there, ''and'' there's actually getting it to bite the line once you see it. That's the easy part -- the hardest part is ''catching'' the damn thing, because it far and away has the best stats of any fish in the game coupled with ArtificialBrilliance in its movement patterns, making it very good at rapidly wearing down the line. Even if Noctis' Fishing is maxed out, he's armed with the best gear, and you have the 25% line defense boost from a meal, it is very difficult to catch the Mummy Bass, and doing so can take over five minutes as you chip away its massive HP bar. |
| 429 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: |
| 430 | ** Some fans reacted negatively to a number of changes to ''XV'' compared to previous ''Final Fantasy'' games and even previous versions of ''XV''. Square Enix seem to be well aware of this; see AuthorsSavingThrow: |
| 431 | ** The most heated example; trailers post-rebranding were a little vague about it, but the ''Episode Duscae'' stinger was more blatant -- not only did Stella's name appear to have been changed to ''Lunafreya'' Nox Fleuret, or "Luna" for short, her role also appeared to have been changed. Previous promotional materials posited her as an AntiVillain and major antagonist to Noct & Co. and a very capable combatant; the TGS 2014 trailer seemingly treated her more like a classic LoveInterest, and then the ''Duscae'' stinger shows her badly disheveled and wandering the streets of a war-blasted Crown City, with a radio report voiceover reporting (apparently falsely) her demise. Either this implied that she barely escaped from a warzone (fighting the entire time), or [[DamselInDistress other possible implications]], which had those who were looking forward to the originally-posited antagonist Stella ''fuming'' in anger. It was later confirmed that [[FromBadToWorse Stella had indeed been]] [[http://www.siliconera.com/2015/06/04/final-fantasy-xv-is-not-final-fantasy-versus-xiii-any-more-says-director/ cut from the game/reimagined as Luna]], making people even more wary and angry. It's also not helped by the fact that she was removed because Tabata apparently didn't understand how to fit her into the plot, and also possibly removed a large portion of the game's (as well as lots of material that had been around since the beginning) story that would thus have to be rewritten entirely, which contradicted what was promised when Nomura claimed the game's story had not been changed. |
| 432 | ** Linking to the above, changes to character designs between the 2006 announcement and the final version of the game, as well as alterations to character profiles. For example, Prompto is no longer a new friend of Noctis's and has now known him since their days at school together. |
| 433 | ** The transition from the turn based battle systems of previous ''Final Fantasy'' games to a ActionRPG one. |
| 434 | ** Prompto's hair got changed in the TGS 2014 trailer to something resembling Cloud's and/or Zell's, to the annoyance of those who liked his more normal style from the previous trailers. |
| 435 | ** The announcement that there would be no [[SeriesMascot Moogles]] in the game brought about a heavy dose of this, to the point that WordOfGod stated that there was [[http://www.siliconera.com/2015/09/18/final-fantasy-xv-director-on-chocobos-moogles-and-more-from-the-tgs-2015-atr/ still a chance]] that they would be included if fan demand was high enough. The crisis was averted when the decision was made to [[http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/11/09/final-fantasy-xv-ps4-pre-beta-version-complete-moogles-confirmed/ include them after all]]. Then it turned out that this "appearance" was simply a Moogle stuffed animal that Iris gives Noctis as a sidequest reward that is a disposable item that can be used as a decoy in battle. There was also a Moogle Chocobo Carnival event held in early 2017 where characters appeared in Moogle costumes and quests were given where Noctis was required to hunt down stuffed Moogle dolls. |
| 436 | ** Many longtime ''FF'' fans are not happy with the portrayal of Gilgamesh as a stoic cold-blooded guardian portrayal in this game, rather than the HotBlooded LargeHam DimensionalTraveler with a love for theatrics and weapon-collecting that he's always been. |
| 437 | * TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: While many are happy with some of the changes in the ''Dawn of the Future'' novel, many fans have sharp criticisms of things like [[spoiler:almost nonexistent role of Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis and lifting plot points from other ''Final Fantasy'' games, particularly drawing comparisons to the ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' with Bahamut being compared to Bhunivelze which in turn stirred more debates on whether ''XV'' should have remained a part of ''Franchise/FabulaNovaCrystallisFinalFantasy'' since, despite initial attempts to distance itself, it ends up sharing much of its mythology.]] |
| 438 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: |
| 439 | ** One of the biggest criticisms of the game after release concerns just how ''little'' screentime so many of the supporting characters got. Characters who looked like they'd be of great importance, such as Emperor Aldercapt or Cor, have little to no significance to the plot. The worst offender is Verstael, the head researcher of Niflheim and [[spoiler:Prompto's biological father]], only appears for all of ''one'' cutscene. ''Episode Prompto'', fixed this, but in the base game it still comes across as a thrown away plot idea. |
| 440 | ** Furthermore, while the idea of [[GuestStarPartyMember Guest Party Member]]s was well-received, it's felt by many that even the guest characters are underused. Cor, Iris, and Aranea are only available for brief periods, while [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Luna, who was initially stated as one, wasn't in the final product]]. While some fans argue there should've been more opportunities to use guest characters ([[spoiler: particularly in the World of Ruin, as all the guest characters are referenced, but don't appear on-screen]]), others wish that the game used them as permanent party members like in previous games. |
| 441 | ** Lunafreya Nox Fleuret might be the most noticable character who feels wasted by the story. She's given so much importance to the games story for what is barely only a few minutes of screen time, with much of her personality being just stated rather than shown, and she dies only after a few appearances. It doesn't help her relationship with Noctis is treated as a Romeo and Juliet type romance, but they have only several minutes of screenshot to make it seem like it exists. Worse, she was supposed to geta DLC story chapter, but it was scapped, meaning she gets almost no focus at all in the main story. |
| 442 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 443 | ** After Chapter 9, the game starts to play more like it ran into a CosmicDeadline[[labelnote:note]]All evidence indicates it did: some unconfirmed but plausible rumors say that Square-Enix was bound by an ironclad contract to ensure that ''Final Fantasy XV'' was released before the end of 2016[[/labelnote]] with numerous events that could have made for some compelling gameplay set pieces occurring off-screen. A few examples include [[spoiler: the Imperial Army launching an all-out attack on Tenebrae, Aranea and the 86th Airborne defecting and coming to Tenebrae's aid, Ardyn betraying Niflheim and unleashing an army of daemons and reprogrammed Magitek Troopers to lay waste to the imperial capital, Ravus being executed, etc.]] One of the bigger ones is in Chapter 14 [[spoiler: when Noctis awakens in the "World of Ruin." Those who are familiar with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' would probably expect the game to go back to an open world format as you gather your allies for one last attack against the BigBad, but this doesn't happen: it consists of Noctis talking to his friends and Talcott, being told what all the supporting cast has been up to for the past 10 years, then rushing to Insomnia to fight the final battle. While the Insomnia segment itself would receive significant expansion with the release of the Royal Edition and its associated [=DLC=] pack, the rest of the World of Ruin remains pretty much entirely unexplored.]] |
| 444 | ** The Moogle Chocobo Carnival DLC. While many fans enjoyed it for its lighthearted atmosphere and access to special items, others felt like it was a waste that only Noctis could attend the carnival. Aside from the rest of the Chocobros, it's lamented that characters who usually wouldn't be able to interact with Noctis couldn't meet him there -- including Regis and Luna -- while Carbuncle could. |
| 445 | ** Game trailers from ''Versus'' to the latest ones, ''Platinum Demo'' and ''Brotherhood'' strongly emphasize Noctis and Regis' father-and-son relationship that one can be forgiven for thinking the game will focus on their parental bond. In the actual game, it isn't explored as Regis only appears twice: first to say goodbye to Noctis before dying [[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV (and in another medium)]] and at the end of the game [[spoiler: as a ghost to deal the last blow to his son]]. Noctis himself [[AngstWhatAngst gets over his death fast]] and even in ''Kingsglaive'', they don't interact much since Noctis only appears at the beginning and end. Their bond is referenced in a few cutscenes, dialogues, and [[AllThereInTheManual side materials]], though it's still minimal compared to all the hype the trailers created. |
| 446 | ** Unlike previous and even future ''Final Fantasy'' games, the story is told almost entirely from Noctis' POV, with little to no "meanwhile" segments. This unfortunately means that many events that are critical to the story, such as [[spoiler:Ardyn taking over the Empire and turning the Emperor into a monster,]] [[spoiler:how Ravus was able to secure the Lucis family sword]] and [[spoiler:Ravus' death and subsequent transformation into an undead monster]] all happen entirely offscreen and are only told to Noctis, and thus the player, secondhand. |
| 447 | [[/folder]] |
| 448 | |
| 449 | [[folder:U]] |
| 450 | * UnintentionalUncannyValley: |
| 451 | ** Despite the [[SceneryPorn beautiful scenery]] and the well-done graphics for the backgrounds and many of the important characters, some of the unimportant [=NPCs=] (namely shopkeepers) have realistic but oddly-rendered faces, made worse by the bizarre animations that goes with their voice acting. Important [=NPCs=] like the ones around Hammerhead are great, but some of the minor ones around some outposts sometimes seem to suffer from LipLock or have really bizarre overbites that makes them look jarring. |
| 452 | ** On occasion Prompto will take selfies where he's smiling, but for some reason, he's almost ''always'' squinting, and his eyes bulge a little too much when he's doing so, causing the photos to look [[{{Narm}} hilarious]] or creepy instead of charming. |
| 453 | ** The famous [[ProductPlacement Cup Noodles]] questline ends with the characters [[https://youtu.be/V0ON_gV71Lk?si=VURlRbAtXuwVEnxB&t=57 waxing poetics]] about how great the product is... with creepy grins and vacant stares on their faces. While this would ordinarily be creepy, it instead comes off as humorous. Which, according to Ray Chase, is the IntendedAudienceReaction.[[labelnote:*]]In an AMA, he admitted that they did two takes of that scene: One where they took it seriously, and another where they read the lines in an ironic tone like they were reading off of cue cards. And ''that'' is the take that got used.[[/labelnote]] |
| 454 | ** The Cactuars and the Tonberries look very unsettling, due to having a very cartoony design in an otherwise realistic looking game and not moving their individual limbs while moving or attacking. |
| 455 | ** Noctis's post-timeskip model can have this at times due to his head seeming a little too big for his body, unless you're wearing the Kingly Raiment or Master Assassin's Robes (which subsequently have the converse problem of looking too big if you're wearing it on his normal model). |
| 456 | ** The character models for ''FFXV Pocket Edition'' are intended to be cute, but the extremely warped proportions end up making them look more creepy, especially Gladio. |
| 457 | * UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: |
| 458 | ** As the Oracle, Luna is supposed to act as the mouthpiece of the Astrals, and she does their bidding dutifully. However, they're a serious case of JerkassGods who are ultimately responsible for many of the setting's ills, including the creation of the BigBad and [[spoiler:sentencing Luna and Noctis to their deaths via HeroicSacrifice in order to clean up said ills]]. The fact that Luna is aware of her own death due to her status yet expresses no desire to challenge this at any point or find an alternate, less bloody solution (particularly now that the alternate ending of ''Episode Ignis'' shows they do exist) causes some fans to see her as an ExtremeDoormat who is [[AccompliceByInaction complicit]] in [[spoiler:Noctis's death at the end]]. ''Dawn of the Future'' addresses this by [[spoiler:revealing that Lunafreya is LockedOutOfTheLoop regarding what is going to happen to Noctis. The ''instant'' she finds out, she rebels.]] |
| 459 | ** ''Episode Ignis'' does a lot to flesh out Ignis, including showcasing his darker aspects such as [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl just how far]] he would theoretically go to protect Noctis. Some fans came away viewing him as more cruel than tragic. |
| 460 | * UnpopularPopularCharacter: Ardyn is outright hated by most of the cast in-game. Nearly all the heroes mistrust him and even the villains find him odious. But within the fandom, he's unambiguously one of the most popular characters due to being a MagnificentBastard who leaves ham and destruction in his wake. |
| 461 | [[/folder]] |
| 462 | |
| 463 | [[folder:V-W]] |
| 464 | * SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: |
| 465 | ** From the E3 2013 trailer alone does one get the impression that, even by ''FF'' standards, the game is going to be brimming with obscenely, positively ''stupefying'' amounts of this. |
| 466 | ** Opinion is even more heavily skewed towards this in regards to the leaked Paris Games Week trailers. The visuals shown put even [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII The Archylte Steppe]] to shame. |
| 467 | ** Summoning Ramuh in ''Episode Duscae'' is downright awe-inspiring and gorgeous. If that's only ''one'' summon, imagine the rest in the real game. |
| 468 | ** A minor, but still impressive example: Flans. Their bodies move and ripple like liquid extremely realistically, and it looks ''fantastic''. |
| 469 | ** Another very great example: If random [=NPCs=] get in the player's way and they walk near them, they'll actually step out of the way before bumping into Noctis; the way they do that is ''very'' well animated. |
| 470 | ** The character generator for Comrades. The player can extensively customize their character from top to bottom and even see how well their ''hair'' moves when they walk or run. |
| 471 | ** ''Episode Ignis'' has a shot of the Citadel that looks absolutely stunning and really highlights Luminous Engine's ability to create environments. |
| 472 | * VindicatedByHistory: While the alternate ending of ''Episode Ignis'' was criticized by some parts of the fanbase at the time for coming off as a FixFic and being a lot more on the sweet side compared to the game's ''very'' bittersweet normal ending, it's gained some new fans from detractors of ''Dawn of the Future'''s GoldenEnding, who view that one as ''overly'' sappy and going against the themes of friendship exemplified by the normal and ''Episode Ignis'' endings. |
| 473 | * WinBackTheCrowd: |
| 474 | ** The game served as a means for Square-Enix to try and reach out to disillusioned ''Final Fantasy'' fans who had given up on the series. The biggest example being that [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight Hironobu Sakaguchi]] and Creator/NobuoUematsu spoke at the event (the latter by video recording) essentially saying that although they both had their disagreements with Square-Enix's decisions in the past, it truly looks like ''Final Fantasy XV'' is moving in a direction that allows it to recapture the original meaning of the ''Final Fantasy'' name. This is extremely telling, considering that both of them left Squaresoft / Square-Enix in the early-mid 2000s on bad terms. |
| 475 | ** The video game forum [=NeoGAF=] has been among the game's staunchest critics, especially when it came to the game's graphics and gameplay. To put it into perspective, these people were nitpicking on "jaggies" and how subpar the graphics of -- of all things -- the ''foliage'' were. When Square Enix announced the delay of the release date in August, forum members took it as an omen that the game was in trouble. Reports across the Internet from people who had tried the demo at conventions since the delay was announced weren't reassuring, as a lot of those reports stated that the game was littered with bugs and graphical downgrades from previous builds. With the early October announcement that the game has been data-locked and the subsequent release of footage by several game journalists who had recorded themselves playing the final build of the game, [[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1290410 even NeoGAF members were impressed by the footage]] and praised how quickly Square Enix managed to address many of the graphical and gameplay complaints that had been made since the announcement of the delay. And yes, even the improved foliage was praised. |
| 476 | ** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZymd6r4wGg "Omen" what-if story trailer]] made a huge impression on the fans, even from some disillusioned ''Versus XIII'' fans, due to its heavy use of MindScrew, a ''very'' [[DarkerAndEdgier dark and ominous]] tone, and especially for bringing back a major plot point from the ''Versus XIII'' concept that everyone assumed had been scrapped for ''XV'': [[spoiler: namely, Noctis in a tragic duel to the death with the love of his life.]] [[NeverTrustATrailer Unfortunately, other than being one of Noctis' nightmares, none of those elements actually made it into the final game's plot.]] |
| 477 | ** While just as much of a victim to the BrokenBase like the other games, people are willing to call this game a worthy, if flawed, ([[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV offline]]) entry in the series after the divisiveness of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 its]] [[VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII sequels]]. |
| 478 | ** The multiple free patches has been a big one for detractors and critics by significantly improving the experience from its initial release. In particular includes the addition of plot elements (notably, for the divisive later chapters) and gameplay features such as party member switching, a codex, and off-road driving. |
| 479 | * TheWoobie: A large chunk of the cast would probably qualify for some kind of one or the other. As far as the standard type go, Prompto had [[ParentalAbandonment absentee parents]] and a FriendlessBackground growing up, and is often upbeat to hide his insecurities. Then comes ''Episode Prompto'' [[spoiler:where it all comes crashing down and he starts doubting if it's even worth reuniting with Noctis after learning about his true origins. Thankfully, he does get better by the end with the help of Aranea snapping some sense into him.]] |
| 480 | * WoobieFamily: The Caelum and Fleuret families. [[spoiler:Every tragedy they have experienced throughout their entire existences is due to the whims of the gods.]] |
| 481 | * WTHCostumingDepartment: Cindy's outfit is considered by some fans to be the worst in the game, even to the point of ruining the concept of her being a female Cid/"Cidney". Basically, Cindy works as a mechanic in the desert, yet she wears a crop-top jacket with sleeves all the way to her wrist, which is opened to reveal her bikini top, a pair of daisy dukes with the bikini bottom's thong poking out, as well as leg warmers and ''white'' boots (despite all the grease and oil). |
| 482 | [[/folder]] |
| 483 |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext YMMV / FinalFantasyXV
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
