One of essentially the most missed characters in Final Fantasy XV is the Regalia; the automotive utilized by Noctis and his big-haired pals to journey internationally of Eos. Yes, I simply known as the automotive a character. I’m not the one one to do that. Even the sport’s director Hajime Tabata recommended that the automotive must be thought of as an additional party member. It, too, travels round in a smog of hair spray and is dressed all in black, in spite of everything.
(Spoilers for Final Fantasy XV begin right here – you might have been warned.)
There is loads of materials within the recreation to help this argument. For occasion, the Regalia is given its personal backstory and coming-of-age journey over the course of Final Fantasy XV. At the very begin, we’re proven the automobile’s flaws because it breaks down, forcing its passengers to get out and push it for miles to the closest fuel station.
What if the Regalia may speak? We ought to put that in our Final Fantasy XV mod wishlist.
But the Regalia overcomes this tragedy and is quickly again on the street the place it will get busy pushing verdant, spectacular landscapes previous its stylishly angular home windows. Eventually, you’ll be able to customise its look, improve its wheels and motor, and even give it the facility of flight. In time, you may flip the Regalia into the supercar of your goals.
All this lets you turn into extra invested within the Regalia reasonably than see it as nothing greater than a means of getting from A to B. I felt this after I performed via the sport, no less than. Putting time and in-game cash into enhancing the Regalia, simply as I did Noctis and his friends, gave me an actual sense of possession over the automotive. I fostered a private connection between myself and that chunky lump of equipment.
The Regalia is way more than only a mode of transport, then. But it’s also greater than a fifth member of the gang. It really does numerous the heavy lifting for the narrative, appearing as a simple metaphor for Noctis’s newfound independence. Plus, provided that the Regalia was gifted to Noctis by his father, the king – who dies shortly after – it’s a image of the duty he has inherited from his royal household. In reality, to take this additional, the Regalia is a consultant of the sport’s central battle between private freedom and household legacy.
The Regalia is a luxurious merchandise and one which many who reside in Eos wouldn’t be capable of afford. It is modern, trendy, and has a snug leather-based inside, good for ferrying its passengers throughout the map. It offers Noctis a method to discover the lands that may in the future be his and reminds him that he has big sneakers to fill. But it additionally coddles the prince, inhibiting his progress, shielding him from the harsher realities of life. He has been despatched out to expertise the world in all its would possibly and majesty however does so from a place of utmost consolation – actually an opulent leather-based seat.
The recreation reinforces this concept via the crew’s response to the automotive being taken away in chapter 5, with most of the routes now blocked off and progress grinding to a halt. Noctis cares deeply concerning the Regalia and appears like he wants it to advance. So a lot so, the truth is, that he goes to nice lengths to guard it, as evidenced by him and his pals infiltrating a closely guarded army base with the intention to retrieve it.
Throughout the sport it’s made clear that Noctis feels he isn’t ok to succeed his father. We watch him as he struggles to barter diplomatic conditions in Altissia and articulate his emotions to his pals. His insecurity, coupled with the lack of his father, is what makes him so hooked up to the Regalia – he’s taught to rely closely on outdoors events for help.
It isn’t till later in chapter 13, when the Regalia is lastly destroyed, that we lastly see Noctis put apart these fears and study what it means to be a pacesetter. Following on from the destruction of the Regalia, he’s stripped of his powers, together with all of the wealth and status afforded to him by his place. It is an emotional second for Noctis as he breaks free from his outdated life, his childhood, and learns to depend on himself for energy.
The lingering pictures of the Regalia’s busted hood and the expertise of being contained in the automotive as it’s bombarded by missiles is completely punishing for us too, as gamers who’ve grown to like the automobile. Its demise is handled with the identical stage of drama and despair that might be afforded one of many central solid had they been killed. It even will get roughly the identical quantity of display time as different important character deaths. Sure, Aeris’s loss of life will perpetually overshadow this second, however the tragedy isn’t any much less profound.
Goodbye, Regalia, you may be missed.
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