One late night, a young Noctis awaits a bedtime story from his father, who has a storybook at hand. When asked what fairy tale he wants to hear, Noctis declines, stating that he's already heard them all before. When he asks for a story about his father, Regis agrees, and goes back to the days of his youth to retell the story of his quest to recover a missing crystal...
A King's Tale provides examples of:
- Assist Character: All three Companions function this way. By racking up an 8-hit combo, Regis can call his allies with a button command, which briefly summons them to inflict major damage.
- Bullet Time: If a projectile gets close or a nearby enemy is about to perform a dangerous attack, time briefly slows down to allow you to react.
- Combos: You can start a combo by repeatedly striking enemies without getting hit. Combos are essential to accessing Companions and Armiger, as they will only unlock when you reach certain combo values. Getting hit by any attack resets your combo.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Flans are colored according to the Element they resist.
- Counter-Attack: Master Skeletons can counter Quick Slashes with an attack of their own.
- Dragon Knight: Young Cid is a dragoon in this game and wields a polearm, much like a previous Cid who was also a Dragoon.
- Dual Wielding: When summoned as a Companion, Weskham dual-wields pistols, shooting enemies all around him for 75 damage per bullet.
- Elemental Powers: Regis has access to Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder magic, which he gains over the course of the game. In addition to being effective against Flan, they also have a variety of bonus effects, such as Fire setting dried grass patches ablaze, Blizzard slowing enemies and freezing over puddles, and Thunder paralyzing enemies and also setting dried grass on fire.
- Fixed Damage Attack: Both Companions and Armiger inflict this. This allows them to easily kill Flans without the use of Magic.
- Flunky Boss: Ultros fights with lots of regular mooks protecting him.
- Framing Device: The game is told as a bedtime story by Regis to a 10-year old Noctis.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Ultros (in his classic incarnation, as opposed to his much more realistic Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV version) is revealed to be the villain in the story.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Any enemy that fires projectiles can be damaged by using the Shield Bash to return the projectiles back at them. In the case of Killer Bees and Killer Queens, reflecting their stingers is a One-Hit Kill.
- Ultros attempts to drop rocks on Regis by damaging the cavern they're in. After you avoid the rocks, one will fall on him himself, stunning him and opening him up to a solid combo.
- Interface Screw: Malboros use their Bad Breath to inflict this on Regis. The black breath causes the controls to reverse, while the pink breath messes with your view by causing the screen to heavily pixellate briefly, as well as gaining a CRT TV-like screen effect. Thankfully, Bad Breath in this game does not inflict damage, allowing you to retain your combo even if you're struck.
- Launcher Move: Using Quick, Quick, Heavy causes Regis to uppercut the enemy into the air. He can then follow up with an aerial combo.
- Limit Break: Armiger, where Regis summons his four strongest weapons and throws them all at a single enemy for enormous damage. If you use your Companions before activating Armiger, they will be summoned again during Armiger to attack other enemies, as well as boost the power of the attack.
- The Musketeer: Weskham fights with a rapier and pistol.
- No-Sell:
- Master Ronin block Quick Slashes and Shield Bashes unless you've disabled them with a Heavy Slash.
- Master Skeletons block Quick Slashes and reply with a Counter-Attack. They also block Heavy Slashes, but do not counter.
- Iron Giants and Midgarsomr completely negate frontal damage.
- Non-Standard Game Over: If you let Ultros take the crystal, this will trigger a special line of dialogue, then restart the fight.
- One-Hit Kill: Tonberries can use Chef's Knife in close range. If you fail to dodge the attack, it hits for 10,000 damage, which causes you to drop dead instantly.
- Retraux: The game is done in the style of 16-bit games. There are a few discrepancies, like the usage of realistic water for small puddles.
- Shield Bash: The Shield Bash attack lets you swat enemies with your Shield, but it does no damage. If you chain three Shield Bashes, it activates the Cyclone attack, which hits everything around you and does deal damage.
- Summon Magic: At certain points, you will be required to protect a colored crystal. After protecting it for a certain amount of time, you can access it via Quick Slash to fill a gauge, and once it's full, an Astral arrives and proceeds to utterly destroy everything around you.
- Unnecessary Combat Roll: Pressing X/A causes Regis to roll in a desired direction. This gives him a period of invulnerability and allows him to pass through enemies, making them easy combo food for rear attacks.
