A man of no consequence
With the news of Tetsuya Nomura's departure from Square Enix resulting in a stop to the development of upcoming DLC for Final Fantasy XV (FFXV), it was nice to know that at least would be getting Episode Ardyn. Not only that, we get a prologue to his DLC just as we did with Noctis and Co in FFXV: Brotherhood.
Ardyn Izunia is quite an interesting villain in my opinion, but he had very little screen time, hence the DLC which hopefully fleshes out his character a lot more. Yet, you have to love how much impact he has to the story whenever he turns up (which isn't a lot until the final chapters of FFXV, but if you haven't played the game or seen the cut-scenes, what are you waiting for?!). But he wasn't always a villain as Episode Ardyn here shows, and I'm sure there was some mention of this in the game.
Anyway, Episode Ardyn shows us Mr Izunia's life waaaaaaaay before the events of the game very briefly, around 13 minutes to be exact. And it turns out his actual name is Ardyn Lucis Caelum (I think this is mentioned in FFXV, but it's been a while since I last played) and he has a younger brother, Somnus Lucis Caelum. Both are heirs to the throne but only one can be named King and be deemed worthy to lead their people, as decided by the Gods. The brothers are different in terms of personality and have their own way of ridding the world of Starscourge, a plague on the world of Eos which causes longer nights by consuming the light and an increased presence of daemons, and anyone infected by Starscourge loses control of themselves and become zombie-like. One brother is more bloodthirsty and merciless, whilst the other is a healer and cleanses the sufferer but at a cost.
It's a simple story of power and tragedy, with a hint of family issues and love. Ardyn's story arc is a pretty powerful one, because here you see what Ardyn went through and what made him become the villain we've come to know and love in FFXV. I also love the fact that, given where this fits into the FFXV timeline, an Ancient Greek art style used to give a quick introduction of what's to come in the episode, as shown in the image above.
Yet, the fact that it is short is a shame because when you get into it, it just ends. I would've liked a few more minutes but then again, I can't really complain given that the episode is just a prologue; the main event is in the DLC.
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