Noctis' Origins Explained ► Final Fantasy XV Lore 

Thank you all for your patience and apologies that I sound like I'm holding my nose throughout the entire video. Health is not our friend right now, but we hope to be back to form real soon! ~Darryl/Lauren

Poor Noctis, his story is so sad. Imagine being born with the sole purpose of being used as a sacrifice to amend the mistakes of others. :'(

I really like him as a character. The ending where he tells Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto how much they meant to him damn near made me tear up.

"What can I say,you guys are the best"

To those who hates Noctis and saying he is emo. Imagine your 20 year old self. You just want to have fun with friends. But Noctis knew he had responsibilities to bear. He was worried about his father but didn't want to think about it, because that meant his father died and he had to resume the throne. While he had his own desire to have fun. All of his traits actually so humanly and relatable in real life. He's a human, he's a boy before he is a prince. It is very normal for a boy his age to act that way. And he actually behaves very well for his age.

People say Noctis was whiny. He’s my favorite Final Fantasy protagonist, hands down. He’s human. He falls down. He has doubts. It’s how he rises to them, rises to face Ardyn and his destiny without being a cheesy “I can handle anything” hero trope, that makes it so amazing. It’s what gives so much weight to the journey of his friends to walk tall beside him. Amazing story. Incredible game.

So basically Noctis cleaned up the crap his ancestors and gods created. Poor guy.

God, I love Noctis. He's a good blend of absolute mess who's doing his best and tragic acceptance of impending doom. He feels so much but struggles to express it, especially with the way he's been faced with one rude awakening after another. The way they made a coda for the whole story out of him finally managing to tell his friends how much he loves them still fucks me up every time I think about it.

Noctis is one of the most tragic Final Fantasy Protagonists i've had the pleasure of playing as, his childhood his mentality, I now understand why he was like this in the game. He had so much nuances and depth that I still love playing as him 2 and a half years later. He was well rounded, and even if the alternate ending will be a novel, I still think the main game did a great job to make me cry like a little girl

WAIT WHAT?! He had a part-time job in a sushi restaurant?! Is that why he likes fishing so much?

Noctis needs a hug I hope he gets plenty of Lunafreya snuggles in the afterlife

WOW! you explained this better than the whole game did. lol. Bravo my guy

I love FFXV, Noctis was a beautiful design character. Only wish they would finish what was promised. Finish the DLC!!

In my opinion, this could have been the best game since 7. I just wish the story felt complete when it was released. I still remember going to pick this game up day one and the excitement I felt.. almost sad the hype i felt year after year after year ended this way. But I still love XV. Hopefully 16 can ease my pain a bit lol.

Notics has such a deep story and an emotional ending, but Square just didnt do a good job at it. I wish they could have done more in the game. The game just doesnt tell you as much as this video does. Thank you for this video! it really does a great job explaining the story of Notics in FF15. This video makes me appreciate Notics a lot more then i did just playing the game. Pat yourself on the back for getting thru it while being sick! We apperiate it!!! Get well soon. Take care.

Where were you when they were writing the storyline for the actual game lol?

Been waiting for this The King of Light

Noctis is a great character and also a running joke between me and my sister: The limpy boi because his knee brace and how we just love the idea that everytime he needs to go somewhere he either limps, warp strikes or simply have Gladio carry him. Also a character worthy enough to hunt across Akihabara just to hang on a wallet keychain form.

Hey, thanks for bringing my favorite into the spotlight! Noctis is my favorite FF protagonist. Matter of fact, I was leveling him up with the new Ultimate Trial in DFFOO when this came out. FF15 is my favorite in the series. I'll die on this hill feeling that way.

"You've been raising him like a pig for slaughter" - Severus Snape Noctis is like Harry Potter.

Anyone else notice that 20 year old noctis has blue eyes and 30 year old noctis has hazel eyes?

FFXV is probably the saddest Final Fantasy game I’ve seen so far. Noctis is probably the first protagonist I’ve seen who knows that his destiny is not a happy one and would eventually cost his own life. FFXV is one of my favorite Final Fantasy games.

One of the best protagonists in the series. Sadly, the game itself could not live up to the legacy for me.

Many sacrificed all for the King; so must the King sacrifice himself for all. This line hits hard 😭

I'm just patting myself on the back 👏

All I wanted was the Noctis and Luna dlcs, so that I could explore more the characters and their motivations. It would also make me feel more for them and happy for their wedding initially. I'm saddened we will never see the light of those dlcs.

god.. i love Noctis

He left Insomnia a spoiled Prince, and returned to Insomnia a strong King. All hail the King of Light!

This made me want to play XV all over again...especially since the game is "complete". -Walk tall, my friends.

The Noctis + Party in the original trailer looked more like Yakuza.

When characters make me cry because of their life story, you know they're written good. I just wish they would've taken a little bit more time and polished the game a bit, instead of adding all the dlc afterwards so we could've had the whole experience in one game.

What I would have wished for in this game is more "show, don't tell." So much of the things that make Noctis interesting aren't in the game itself, but the movie, anime and novels. If you just play the game, he seems flat and gloomy. A lot of the things that the game expects you to feel emotional towards, unfortunately, fall a little flat. The bonds between Noctis and Luna never feel so important to the player, since we hardly see her for long; and most cutscenes with both are flashbacks to childhood. When she dies (not surprising, it's a Tanabata game), Noctis is devastated - and I was confused as to why. He shows no particular interest in the marriage, talks about her as if she was a friend he hadn't seen for long and even the choices you can make (what to answer her through the book) let you take a sort of indifferent approach. As a protagonist, he really only lives through the conversations with the other three. Take them away and Noctis didn't carry much on his own. Except for the very last scenes, thanks to, both Japanese and English, voice actors doing a fantastic job overall. Would he have been a silent protagonist, it would have been quite boring tbh. I like that he basically has some sort of "coming-of-age" journey - but he desperately needed more depth. I assume development issues forced them to roll with what they had since he was supposed to have a DLC. Speaking of DLCs: especially Episode Ardyn and Ignis should have been included in the main game. Ardyn's basically holds all the lore you would like to know about Eos and the old times, as well as shedding some light on how Prompto's "dad" tried to sell his scientific madness. Overall

Id like to see the Nox Fluret siblings origins to be honest especially since we wont have episode lunafreya

When did he enter the King of The Iron Fist Tournament 7?

Please do Ignis at some point! I’d love to see you guys look at how his character has evolved as the game changed in development.

Can you please do Cecil Harvey from FFIV?

Idk if you guys have already done it but maybe a deep dive on all the cids or ranking the teams favorite variation of Cid. love your guy's videos thanks for all the hard work

Please do Kain Highwind or Rinoa Heartely next

I hated this game...for the simple fact that I had to read several articles and view countless more videos to sufficiently explain this confusing, SHORT, mess of a game with a zillion plot HOLES. Once I was finally able to piece it together from having to FIND info that wasn't in the game from other sources...I was like, "aaahhhhh...interesting!" But I HATE the game itself for failing to include SO much!

the part where you had to choose a photo at the end hurt, i had to set the controller down for a few min before i completed it . amazing game , and an epic return to the grand FF formula after a few not so great chapters

I choose to belive that with lucius shenanigans of chipping a piece of crystal and putting it in that pet thingy resulting in multiverse gave noctis a chance of finding a solution when he didn't have to sacrifice himself in on of the verses...

This is such a brilliant explanation of his character he has been through so much I'm absolutely not familiar with the ff franchise (xv was my first) but I can for sure say he's my favourite video game protagonist ever! Thank you for making this video!!

The only thing i'm furious about in regards to 15 is the fact that you can't equip Noctis's FFv13 outfit. That looked so damn cool and being able to wear something that awesome would have made this game a bit better!

Noctis is one of the best!! I wish you had explained what exactly happened in the after-credits scene.. It still baffles me to this day

Have been waiting for this! Thank you for making these Origin videos!😊

Ignis ep made this game better cause it gave me the ending I wanted also ignis could’ve change Noctis fate which was really cool

I've always liked Noctis' design. I have been waiting for him since his initial entry in FFXIII Versus. What we got, well, it wasn't what I initially expected and wanted, but I can take Noctis as he is. He's fine, flawed, and badass, so overall, I actually really like him. The thing where he really falls off from me is the FXV lore and overall execution. But that is a neither here or now. Overall, I think Noctis did fairly well and he was one of the reasons why I enjoyed FFXV enough. Oh, I love Iris Amicitia too! :D Nice video and analysis! I always enjoy these things! Rikku! Please do Rikku lore next! RIKKU! RIKKU!

FFXV's story has so many plot holes. Tenebrae was conquered by Nifleheim 400 years ago and became an independent state of Niffleheim. And at 8:10, Regis decides to walk right into enemy controlled territory? Riiiiiight. The writers of this story had communication issues.

Oh bro I want more adult Noctis gameplay. That was the peak of his character.

I’ve been waiting for this! Thank you for all your hard work. I’m happy to say you were the one who introduced me to final fantasy, what a great channel.

Pat on the back one year later! Noctis and FFXV have a special place in my heart. My dad passed away soon after the game was released and it felt like I was going on this emotional journey right alongside Noctis. I think he’s a great character that is often misunderstood

FFXV ending in a nutshell: the day is saved but the rulers of the kingdom of Lucius and Niflheim are all dead the line of Oracles is dead and the power vacuum im sure caused a war to break out.....but the day was saved and light was returned to the world so everyone lived happily ever after? X'D who we kidding after light returned chaos ensued.

It pains me to say that listening or reading the story of this game is so much more fullfiling and enjoyable than actually learning it while playing. So much is left for the player to find out or fill in on their own, so much is left for outside media, so much is supposition and educated guesswork. I finished the game twice and yet, hearing this and reading some reddit comments is what gave me more or less full understanding of what was going on, not the game.

This video is amazing. I didn’t understand Noctis until I watched this video. Now he’s right under Terra in my tier list

Still pissed how Squre didn't give the time for this game to "finish". The fact that FFXV Universe becomes a thing before the main game showing the actual game is really not complete. Don't get me wrong all of the characters are great just not fleshed out enough. And I didn't know there's another invasion before Kingsglaive or I'm just missing something, there hasn't been any mentioned Episode Ardyn invasion right? I feels like this video pretty much in the game, and other video of FF MC feels like I'm seeing new side of the character. And I think most of the MC is always have some tragedy in their character arc.

I’ve been looking forward to this video so much!!! Thanks so much for such a detailed origin of one of my favourite FF characters. Great Job

That's why I don't like 15. I mean what heir to the throne goes to public school, or has a part time job? I understand it's a work of fiction. Much like the rest of final fantasy 15, it was smushed together & whipped out as soon as possible. The game really reflects that too. Also ff7 remake reuses assets from advent children.

One thing that still boggles me to this day... How did they know to start seeking the bonds? I mean he got some headaches but like why were they important? Its never mentioned anywhere that to become the true king he needs to have all the titans bound or whatever, one of the many things the game just takes on fate that people will fill in.

Awesome video guys!! This was a great one to watch! I'd love to see ones for Prompto, Gladio and Iggy! Hell, maybe even one for Cid?? I gotta go fire up XV again after watching this :)

Noctis has the worst ending out of all FF protagonist, not worst as in lousy script writing or plot but compared to others his ending is just so sad. An inevitable destiny bound by fate to watch his kingdom fall and to be the ultimate sacrifice to save the world.

That was awesome! I was looking forward to Noctis's origine video. He's my favorite FF hero. I still hope you,ll do a Prompto origin video in the near future. :)

I live this and Ardyn's origins. You guys filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. I request Ignis next. I have questions about him. I've tried finding answers on my own but I can't seem to find anything aside from "House Scientia serves the king".

I really enjoyed Noctis’ origins. Can you do origins for Ignis next???

This video is such a reminder why i loved FF15 so much

Thank you for this awesome video. It really helped explain and clarify some things in the game. I love FFV. But now, thanks to your video, I love it more. Thank you!

I just finished ff 15 and I can see where all the hate cckmes from but, I also see where this gem shines. Seeing this a story of self discovery and being with comrades, finishing the game almost brought a tear to my eye. The characters although flawed, were incredibly well done and the flaws only made them seem more realistic, as realistic a game as ff can be but anyway. I hold this game as an amazing game, a good ff game and will be up there with the greats such as mother 3 and etc.

thanks for this vid i LOVED FFXV and Noct is my fave male Character he had a hard life but was amazing nonetheless

It's amazing how much lore they could make for FF15 characters and almost none of it is in the game itself... Say what you want about the 7 compilation but at least the main game itself had a cohesive story stand alone by itself before all the extra stuff was added. FF15 is a mess where most of it's story isnt even in the game but in a pre-movie, a side game, DLCs and other bullshit.

Actually I didn't like FFXV, I was really pissed by the fact that the story seemed so fragmented and I hated the concept of DLC content. Plus the "introductory movie" made the story even more complicated to me. BUT after seeing this video I have to admit you made me feel the necessity to play the game again and try to figure it out one more time.

there are not many media that make me cry like a little baby like at the end of the original FFXV. The others are Grave of Fireflies, Your lie in April, etc.

This proves that FFXV had the story and everything there... it was just told in a poor way in my opinion... between the rushed release of sorts (i beat the game AND platinumed it PRE- chapter 13 patch... I've seen NONE of the new content.), the tons of DLC which further explained a ton... and even bad modern day gaming tropes like A. no story during the open world part so to speak. I mean stuff happened, but that chapter 9 and on rush was crazy. and B. stuff like those magazines that explained certain tidbits... those remind me of the cassette tapes on Metal Gear Solid V, aka I shouldn't have to do that to get more story... especially when IIRC those magazines had important details about Ardyn and the Gods (I can't quite remember tho)... but this masterful video, and the Ardyn one, prove the story was there.

I just love this game.

Great vid! Laguna Loire Origins Next pls!!!

Playing FF7, I cried. But with noctis, I DAMN SOBBED LIKE A FAMILY MEMBER DIED.

Noct is great and i really sympathize

XV was a trainwreck of a game with a very disjointed plot, they honestly should have just canned it. But, that said, I did rather enjoy both Noctis and Ardyn. Noctis is actually one of the more endearing protagonists in the franchise because of all the horrible suffering he endured and (sort of) overcame. We haven't really had a game quite as dark since 6, and I rather appreciated that (to be fair my main issue with 15 is it released unfinished and relied too heavily on supplemental content to fully explain literally everything) I do still like Noctis quite a bit. He's also the 2nd or 3rd most powerful Hero in all FF :) (though it's rather hard to gauge the Adventurer and Warrior of Light from 11 & 14)

I can't believe you didn't do Ramza yet..

Looks like they stole his design from sasuke uchiha

I wasnt a fan of the theme of XV as opposed to XIII XIII is about defying fate while in XV the villain is bad because he defied his fate XV is the only JRPG I know where the gods that treat humans like garbage and playthings are the good guys somehow

Too bad this game felt empty in its story. I would have liked to see all the dlc stories and movie(s?) in this game. I liked the exploration and it was nice break from the game's story. Although the story was way too short and the endgame was boring mostly.

He's like Zack in a sense that his lovelife continues in the afterlife. Why do the best characters have to die like this?

It kind of bothered me that he was basically 20 and died. I got his petulance when playing from the perspective that he was coddled and young (this video changes that lol). But it seemed he was getting shafted that he had to sleep for half his lived life (and another coma) and when he awoke he was like whelp time to die. No putting back his society, helping people, abdicating just dead

While being the focus character benefitted Noctis, it came at the expense of the other characters, who needed DLC episodes to give more information on their backstories and character arcs. The biggest lesson that needs to be learned from Final Fantasy 15 is that the base game should provide all you need to understand the story and character motivations, and not rely on supplementary material like DLC, animated OVA and movie tie-ins or novels to give information key to the base plot.

You should do something for Shadowbringers. Like a video talking about the rare, Warrior of Darkness. How Cecil started as one, how FFIII had its own set of Warriors of Darkness. How light isn’t always good such as Final Fantasy XIII.

Ignis is the best Final Fantasy mom

I really love Noctis, the bros, and the game more than I expected. I love their adventure and development (especially thanks to the pictures in every camp fire). And now I miss that feature in every Open World/RPG games that have a group. Really love this origins video, hope you get better, and I will wait maybe for the next one

I relate a lot to Noctis in certain ways. While I'm not some chosen king, I struggle with a lot of the same personal issues like struggling to express emotions, difficulty shouldering certain responsibilities, and difficulty being a leader, but I've been slowly learning how to overcome these issues. While my destiny might not be as grand, we all have our own responsibilities and realms that we must fulfill, and I hope to soon become complete in doing that.

I liked Noctis, but hearing your take brought me to LOVE Noctis. As a whole, with the way the story ended, it's a tragedy, with not much to be hopeful about because the game doesn't give us anything beyond his death about how the world and his friends move on. Hence, with a tragedy, it's crucial to feel able to walk alongside Noctis' life events, how his friends and family influence his perspectives and decisions, but most particularly, how he expresses his inernal struggles. That latter part was roughly played out, but most of the time, it took a lot of reading between the lines in parallel with the context of the whole plot across a multimedia universe...which is very fragmented and requires effort to piece together. It certainly didn't help that bad things would be foretold then happen, but next thing you know, you're riding a Chocobo and quipping about his highness' improved battle skills - the usual jokes and banter...err...but Regis just died, don't you boys have anything to say of relevance to Noct? It bothered me so much that characters don't express words of sympathy or explore emotions in their script. Noct is a man of few words, so it would have fallen to everyone else to ask him how he's doing, and nobody did that. I felt the urge to smack a character everytime one uttered "Chosen One" - he's a kid! Anyone with eyes would see that he's suffering and can barely endure! They're all super lucky he's got a good head on his shoulders...nobody else until late game knew about the prophecy, so for all they know, with the lack of emotional support, he could have become like Ravus - bitter and vengeful. On that note, I'd like to thank you for talking about mental health and trauma. Because I truly wish the game went there, and they did not, playing everything off to duty, sacrifice and camaderie instead. You bridged the gap! Thanks!

Noctis deserved to be king and a new game... they didnt knew shiii about making him great... i hated the ending and that they killed the princess and we had full city destroyed for her and killed everyone....

Do Prompto

Thanks so much for this. You fleshed out so many nuances that I did not catch during my first few playthroughs. It reminded me of how much I still enjoy FFXV and its lore, despite criticisms in direction and development. These are more than origin stories. They're in-depth analyses on carefully written characters anyone can relate to and love

Plz do Steiner from ffIX PLEASEEEE

A part-time job in a sushi restaurant? WHAT? lmao

Cecil Harvey, Kain Highwind, Sabin & Edgar Figaro, Gaulf....some one from the SNES era

He has such a brilliant depth of character. So many people only see him as ‘spoiled’ and ‘childish’, but Noctis has been through so much, so of course he’s going to struggle with those feelings. I understand what they were trying to do with Gladio’s ‘tough guy’ approach, but it was poorly executed in my opinion and just made him seem like an ass.

Thank you for making these videos. Also, sounds like you've caught a cold. Hope you get better soon. If not, well no harm in wellwishing :) Hope to see many many more of these.

I never did finish this game. I got bored of it because I was so hyped for a gritty, grounded story that Versus XIII seemed to be. That said, I need to give it another shot. What I played of it I loved, I think I was just bitter about it's presentation. Watching this I realize why I'm so called to Square Enix and mainly Final Fantasy. The characters are often the cliche 'chosen' one sure, but my favorite of the FF characters are those who attempt to have a tough exterior, but deepd down, don't even believe in themselves. I think it's something truly beautiful when a character can start to see in themselves what their closest allies see in them. Cloud and Noctic in particular really nail this, with Cecil having some of those qualities too though to a lesser extent. It doesn't seem to matter what setting the games are in, but the human element of the characters is always spot on.

You know the game is bad when to understand the whole story you need to watch the anime and play DLC's

thank you for your hard work !!

I dusted this one off and finally played it. I probably stand alone completing this game in 2024 but I'm actually glad that I waited. Something about it brings me back to before I could even dream of the changes that have gone down in the world and in my life over the past 7 years. Starting slow and picking up incredible momentum, it's as if the darkness of reality invades the game first in small ways like the imperial occupation until the moment where it has consumed the sun and you have to face it alone. This is an absolute treasure of a game. It is the darkest and saddest in the series in my opinion, it makes you viscerally feel the sense of what is done is done even down to the temporary availability of many side quests but if you pay attention it is a true depiction of courage and of hope even beyond life. "Walk tall." It is rare to find a story so special that it creates a forever home in your heart, this one is a part of me in that way now.