HEY FRIENDS! Never fear, this review is 100% spoiler free
GUYS. I’m just gonna say it – I really, really REALLY enjoyed Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.
Mention “video game film adaptations” and most folks will cringe, cry, sigh, roll their eyes, crawl under a desk, etc. And to be honest, I expected to have a similar reaction. I’m not sure what it is, but for some reason, it’s HARD to make a vidja’game film halfway decent.
Running parallel to the events of Final Fantasy XV, Kingsglaive is a must-see for lore fiends such as myself. We get a nice look at several characters, many of whom I’m willing to bet will be, in the very least, mentioned in Final Fantasy XV (ughhh can that game come out already?) and the events that unfold during the film’s almost two-hour romp are, I’m assuming, VERY important to the overall story arch and provides, in my opinion, necessary perspective. (Of course it’s not mandatory or actually necessary to watch this film, but, like I said earlier, if you’re into story/lore/background I would deem it so.)
Squeezing the story, action and dialogue of Kingsglaive into two hours means that things happen pretty fast. We’re given the history of the lands, their politics, social security cards, etc. in a matter of minutes, and if you’re not paying attention it’s easy to find yourself questioning what da’ heck you just watched. Now, because I’m pretty seasoned on my Final Fantasy XV lore (puffs out chest in pride) I didn’t have a problem piecing together the crazy puzzle that is Kingsglaive. That said, I watched the film with someone who knows close to nothing about Final Fantasy XV, or Final Fantasy in general, and even they were able to follow the story. So, while events unfold faster than a racing Chocobo with its tail feathers on fire, it’s (apparently) relatively easy for newcomers to follow as well.
Many of Kingsglaive’s characters grew on me, really fast. In fact, I kiiinda wish a handful of them would be in the actual game. I won’t say more than that in fear of spoiling the story for you, but yeah, I found some of the characters more interesting than the characters I’ve spent hundreds of hours with in prior Final Fantasy titles. I also felt like most (keyword: MOST) of the characters of Kingsglaive didn’t fit usual stereotypes – they were distinct, fun to watch, and a swirl of interesting and unfamiliar personalities. That said, some of the actions these characters took were more than predictable and typical to any run-of-the-mill story, but that could’ve been more of a story issue than a character issue.
ANYWAY! I’ve rambled enough. In short, I found Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV totally worth the few, precious hours of free time it took to watch it. Personally, it’s hard to find the time to dedicate to doing something some might deem unproductive (like watching TV, or in this case, a film) but I’m SO glad I did. I’ll probably watch it again once Final Fantasy XV’s release date is closer.
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV’s digital release is August 30th, 2016.
sounds pretty awesome