Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Part Three

Kingsglaive begins with an extended exposition dump in much the same way as Final Fantasy XII. As far as I can tell, the gist of the story is that there's an empire engaging in imperialist expansion. The empire uses mechanical soldiers, wild monsters, and (absolutely terrifying) summon beasts called "daemons" to attack the smaller kingdoms it wants to colonize. In order to prevent the city-state of Insomnia from being destroyed by the empire, its king erects a magical barrier around the city walls. Although the king manages to save everyone inside the city, all of the outlying territories are blasted to scorched earth. Insomnia is not completely closed, however, and it has taken in a number of refugees, some of whom have enlisted in the military. An elite task force of immigrant soldiers has been granted a share of the king's magic, becoming collectively known as the "Kingsglaive."

More than a decade later, the unending war and the maintenance of the magical barrier have taken their toll on the king, so he enters into negotiations with the empire. According to the provisions of the treaty he and the emperor will sign, the empire will stop attacking Insomnia if its crown prince, Noctis, will marry the former princess of an imperial holding, Lunafreya. The emperor is already quite old, however, and what he really wants is not the gradual takeover this marriage would ensure, but rather immediate access to the magical crystal that powers the city and serves as the source of the king's magic. About halfway through the movie, the emperor betrays the king, and Insomnia falls.

This is the point at which Final Fantasy XV is supposed to begin, I think – Lunafreya is on the run, and Noctis is trying to catch up with her. It's important that they find each other because, unbeknownst to the empire, Lunafreya has escaped Insomnia with the king's special magical ring, which allows its bearer to access the power of the crystal and communicate with Insomnia's guardian spirits.

As for the actual members of the Kingsglaive who help Lunafreya escape, it's not a spoiler to say that, as with any franchise spin-off, they're not going to appear in the main story, so they need to be dealt with in some way. It's also not a spoiler to say that Sean Bean is the English-language voice actor for the king, and we all know what that means. Thankfully, everyone still manages to get in some good moments...

...except for the one female member of the Kingsglaive, who is "dealt with" in the first third of the movie. This character is a combination of Rosa from FFIV and Lulu from FFX, and she's awesome, and I love her, and she deserves much better. One might argue that the female soldier needs to be taken offstage in order to make room for Lunafreya, but I call bullshit. I mean, heaven forbid there are two female characters onscreen at the same time, right?

After the credits roll, there is a short scene in which Noctis and his three brobodyguards drive around in a fancy car while joking around with each other. This felt weird to me. I just watched an entire city get destroyed and a bunch of people suffer and die, and now I'm supposed to be happy? This is also reminiscent of the opening of FFXII in its complete shift in tone from "serious people doing serious things" to "cute kids doing cute things," and if I'm being honest it doesn't make me feel kindly disposed toward Noctis.