Kingsglaive starts showing on Japanese theatres starting 9th July & coming to select theatres nationwide on August 19th. I went to watch it yesterday in Toho Cinemas at Tokyo yesterday. And of course, before watching it I was hyping myself with the trailer for the movie. You can see the trailer below.

The magical kingdom of Lucis is home to the sacred Crystal, and the menacing empire of Niflheim is determined to steal it. King Regis of Lucis (Sean Bean) commands an elite force of soldiers called the Kingsglaive. Wielding their king’s magic, Nyx (Aaron Paul) and his fellow soldiers fight to protect Lucis. As the overwhelming military might of the empire bears down, King Regis is faced with an impossible ultimatum – to marry his son, Prince Noctis to Princess Lunafreya of Tenebrae (Lena Headey), captive of Niflheim, and surrender his lands to the empire’s rule. Although the king concedes, it becomes clear that the empire will stop at nothing to achieve their devious goals, with only the Kingsglaive standing between them and world domination. (source: Sony Pictures Entertainment)



Okay first of all, I’m gonna answer some general question regarding to the movie:

The movie’s original version is English version. It’s made to fit with the English voice over. So you’ll feel a lil’ bit uncomfortable if you’re watching it in japanese, as their mouth movements won’t sync at all.

No, it’s not a prologue to the game. It’s actually on a parallel timeline with the game. So basically in the game, you’ll see what happened in the movie through Noctis’ eyes.

And yes, you should watch this movie before you start the game. It actually explains the political status of Lucis, Nifleheim, & Tenebrae. It can stand as it’s own movie without having to cling to the “Final Fantasy XV” name. But of course, your curiosity for the aftermath of the movie will bring you to the front of the nearest gameshop around you to pre-order the game / get yourself a PS4.

Someone asked me this question yesterday. “Why does Lunafreya looks older in the movie?”. The answer is simple. That’s because it’s made by a different production company, and it’s because they are using Amanda Piery as the model for Kingsglaive’s Lunafreya, basically they are the same person on the same timeline.

Edit: We made a mistake of saying Amanda Piery is the VA for Lunafreya in Kingsglaive, the VA for Lunafreya in Kingsglaive is Lena Headey. Sorry about that!

Now we’ll head into my impression for the movie.

Story

The story begins with some explanation of the 3 countries relation. Lucis, Nifleheim, & Tenebrae. I can’t say too much about the story as it will spoil the whole movie. The first half is about the political talks while trying to build a foundation to the plot. You’ll learn what King Regis would do to save it’s country, Luna Freya’s determination, and what is Kingsglaive. Of course as the title says, the main plot about the movie is about Kingsglaive. Kingsglaive is a unit of royal guard and their purpose is to protect the king & the country. The story revolves around Nyx Ulric, a member of Kingsglaive, who is well known as the “War Hero”. The story isn’t as shallow as Kill the enemy, save the world. You’ll learn a lot about the Final Fantasy XV world by watching it. It actually has a deep plot, and it’s part of Final Fantasy XV plot, which is why the game will be awesome. And afterwards, this trailer of Final Fantasy XV will makes sense to you.

Graphics

As you may have seen in the trailer for the movie, the graphics for this movie is beautiful. It’s visually awesome with all the small details. We will see a LOT of Insomnia, the capital of Lucis. And a little bit of Tenebrae. You’ll see Nyx walking around the town, and it’s amazing. Another thing that catch my eyes is that the expression of each characters are amazing. It doesn’t feel like CG, it feels real.

If you think Advent Children’s battle scenes are amazing, that’s because you haven’t watch this yet. The battle scenes in this movie will put Advent Children to shame. It moves very smoothly with a lot of effects. There will be LOTS of Warp Attack in the movie, making it hard to follow where the characters are going, but it’s awesome. Because you can actually do those kind of attack in the main game (based on all of the trailer that I’ve watched)

Music

You’ll find that the movie has a little different composition of music than the main game. That’s because it’s composed by John R.Graham, while the main game is composed by Shimomura Yoko. Still, the main theme is still as majestic as ever. And also Gratia Mundi is still in the movie (Only on the credit though)



So after everything that I wrote, I can only say one thing.

You must watch this movie.

Of course you can still enjoy the game without watching it, but by watching it you’ll learn about what happened on Insomnia by that time from Nyx’s point of view. (In the main game, you’ll see it from Noctis’ point of view). I highly recommend you guys who’s planning to play the game to watch this first. Because it’s a great movie overall. And also it’ll give you the basic about the political view of the world before you start the game. You can also enjoy the movie even if you have no knowledge about Final Fantasy series or Final Fantasy XV, because the movie can stand on it’s own. The plot, the actions, the world of Eos, makes me want to play this game right now. I believe those kind of actions in the movie is possible in the main game (based on Episode Duscae & other trailers). And that’s why we are excited for Final Fantasy XV.

Please share you opinion regarding to the movie, and whether you are excited for Final Fantasy XV or not on the comment section!

PS: Please wait until the end of the credit to see the extra scene.