Credit Music:
NYX (by Yoko Shimomura)
APOCALYPSIS NOCTIS (by Yoko Shimomura)
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis and my opinions at the very end.
Synopsis:
On the Earth-like world of Eos, the kingdom of Lucis is protected from
invaders by a magical Crystal given to the ruling Caelum dynasty by the
world's deities. The militaristic empire of Niflheim attempts an
invasion using its Magitek (magic powered technology) army and Daemons
(monsters tamed for military use), and is gaining the upper-hand over
Lucis when they suddenly make an unexpected withdrawal. The Imperial
Chancellor Ardyn Izunia
claims the withdrawal was made as a show of good faith, and proposes a
peace arrangement through the marriage of Niflheim's princess Lunafreya Nox Fleuret and Lucis' prince Noctis Lucis Caelum.
The Kingsglaive (magical weapon wielding fighters) are dismayed by the peace terms which relinquishes their lands to the empire. Kingsglaive Libertus Ostium, who is recovering from an injury sustained in the recent battle, takes the news particularly hard, but is talked down by his friends Crowe Altius and Nyx Ulric. A few days before the peace signing, Crowe is sent to escort Lunafreya to meet with prince Noctis, but is killed en route. Crowe's death pushes Libertus to quit the Kingsglaive and join a group of Lucian rebels.
When Lunafreya fails to arrive at the signing ceremony due to having been secretly abducted by Titus "Glauca" Drautos (captain of the Kingsglaive), Nyx uncovers Niflheim army-men stationed outside the capital of Insomnia. Regis deploys the Kingsglaive to combat them, but the rebels hiding amongst the group retaliate. At the treaty-signing ceremony, the Niflheim delegation murders the ruling council and then escapes via airship with the crystal. Nyx flees with Lunafreya to the Citadel to find Regis battling Glauca. Glauca cuts the 'Ring of the Lucii' from Regis's hand which Ravus (Lunafreya's brother) attempts to wear in order to claim its power, but the ring rejects him. Nyx and Lunafreya escape with the ring while Regis battles Glauca and perishes.
The rebel leader Luche Lazarus, corners and wounds Nyx while admitting to being Crowe's killer. Luche is tricked into putting on the ring, resulting in his death. Glauca then comes for Nyx, but is attacked by Libertus. Out of desperation, Nyx puts on the ring and is met with the Lucis kings of times passed. They initially refuse to speak with anyone not of royal blood, but in exchange for his life, they agree to grant Nyx their power until sunrise. The city's statues are brought to life to combat Niflheim's Daemons, while Nyx fights Glauca to the death. Meanwhile, Libertus escorts Lunafreya out of the city with the ring and the two part ways at dawn.
It's a shame Square-Enix (publisher) never did anything more with Nyx. For someone who only appeared in a 2 hour movie I ended up liking him more than the characters from the 50 hour game.
Thoughts:
Kingsglaive is simultaneously simple in concept, yet convoluted in
execution. Everything moves so fast that the viewer is not given any
time to understand how this world operates, who these people are, where
they are, or what they are doing and why. It is hard to keep track of
who's who because everyone is wearing black against dark backgrounds and
there is so much visual noise in the form of dust, explosions, and
sparkling effects that make it hard to see what is going on amidst fast
paced action sequences. Even as someone who has played Final Fantasy XV
to completion, I still find the plot (movie and game) hard to follow.
Part of that may boil down to how long the game was in development hell
for (10 years) and how much of its content was diced up and sold across
multiple media formats or straight up cancelled. At one point Final
Fantasy XV was even part of an entirely different game (originally
called Final Fantasy Versus XIII) and the film is essentially a
condensed version of what was planned to be the video game's prologue.
When
bundled with the video game and its DLC, Kingsglaive helps to form more
of a complete narrative package. But without the additional story and
context from the game, the villains in the movie seemingly win and major
plot points never get resolved, so the story just doesn't work as a
standalone piece of media.
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