RPG Talk: Final Fantasy XV - Episode: Gladiolus

I didn't hear great things about this DLC when it came out, but it provides about an hour and a half's worth of play time for $5 unless you rush it. If you remember in the base game, Gladio disappears at the start of Chapter 7 saying that he needs to take care of some business, no further explanation given, and then he's just gone until the start of Chapter 8.

At the time I found it bizarre. Prompto and Ignis's disappearances for their DLCs are perfectly woven into the story, whereas Gladio's is so abrupt that I wonder if the design team simply had no idea what to do with him.

In Chapter 6 of the main game the four guys run into Ravus in an encounter so bland that I barely remember it happened and had completely forgotten that Gladio was upstaged by Ravus. Even with a refresher that the two had met, and vaguely remembering something about Ravus forcing Gladio out of the way, I couldn't quite recall Gladio actually being flat out beaten by him. Maybe there was a cut scene. There certainly wasn't a boss battle.

The fact that a scene I barely remember serves as the impetus for Gladio's solo journey is probably why his departure reads so poorly. It's not possible for the player to see that Gladio is so upset that he needs to take some personal time off. While Gladio in Episode: Gladiolus plays it off as not wanting the other guys to worry (and he is certainly the "tough guy" of the bunch), it makes it harder on the player in the main game, lacking this point of view. It could have been solved with Noctis realizing that Gladio is suffering from something, but as we already know, he's not the most emotionally aware prince in the world.

So Episode: Gladiolus covers Gladio's attempt to take on a trial intended for Shields of the King. He figures with this he'll come back as a stronger Shield for Noctis and be able to protect him in ways that he couldn't before. This trial, though, is a deadly one, which no one has passed and only one survived, Cor Leonis, the marshal in charge of the Crownsguard.

I like that the DLC presents the trial with a frame story, with Noctis and friends sitting around the campfire asking Gladio about what he was up to and how he got his new scar, because that's a conversation that should have happened in the main game.

Though the opening of Gladio's retelling begins in the ever popular Crow's Nest diner where he meets Cor, it quickly moves past it to the trial dungeon. Cor accompanies him and the two share a few Cup Noodles together at various campsites in the game's ongoing product placement. Aside from that though, the camping allows us some insight into one of the more compelling early game characters who just disappears in the second half.

We get nice tidbits about Cor's past when he was a hothead teenager who thought he was all that and how he gained the sobriquet "the Immortal." It's a bit hilarious realizing that Cor got it for living despite failing the trial. It's a constant reminder that he wasn't good enough. He just didn't do as badly as everyone else.

And people did do badly. Though there are daemons in this dungeon as expected for this setting, many of the enemies Gladio faces are the souls of those who failed the trial.

Though Cor helps Gladio through most of the dungeon, Gladio is left to face all the bosses by himself, and they're all straightforward affairs to ensure he is tough enough to face Gilgamesh, the first Shield of the King, and thus tough enough to do his own job of protecting the Chosen King.

The funny thing is though, initially Gladio wants to do the trial to get more physical power to protect Noctis, but he doesn't leave with it. After the confrontation with Gilgamesh, what he gets is his confidence. He doesn't initially think he even passes the trial, because he realizes during the battle that he might never be capable of protecting his king to the degree that he wants, but the trial forces him to accept that and he becomes a stronger person for it.

Oh yeah, and we also get to see that Gilgamesh is the "other guy" who gave Gladio his scar, which was more or less expected, though it was a bit wonky seeing a cut scene fly up in the middle of combat to show the moment.

Episode: Gladiolus is not a terribly deep story and I can't really advocate playing it for the plot. I'm annoyed that the opening created for it in the main game was so bad, and if the DLC had been a rewarding look into Gladio's character, the abruptness could have been forgivable. I wouldn't go so far as to say the DLC is bad though. If you like Gladio and fighting with a massive two-handed sword it satisfies well enough.

It's just that there's not much to the story aside from the trial, some backstory about Cor, and a few words about Gladio's father. I guess I'm starting to see why Gladio didn't talk about his trial when he got back, because there really wasn't much to say about it.

Fortunately, that's not the case for all the DLC. Episode: Prompto is next.