The concept of having more than one alternate ending isn’t anything new in visual novels. Just take a look at Fate/Stay Night where it has tons of different endings.

But the concept of an alternate ending is somehow uncommon in video games, with Episode Ignis from Final Fantasy XV DLC leading the pack.

You can throw the ending from Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future into the mix as well considering that how it arrives at the ending is different from the original game.

Not sure why Square Enix would want to have an alternate ending in Episode Ignis. I bet that they thought that it would be fun to throw something different to spice things up.

But here are the unintended consequences of their decision.

Not only that most of the fans can’t take the alternate ending very well. But for some weird reason, they remain pessimistic and cynical about the alternate ending.

And yes, even if the alternate ending is a far better and happier ending than the one in the original game.

Judging from the fans’ reaction, it’s clear that these fans don’t get how the alternate ending actually works.

While seeing many different endings may not be unusual to those who are familiar with visual novels such as Fate/Stay Night, Western fans on the other hand may see it as something bizarre.

They find it confusing when the game has so many different endings. And it’s even more so with Final Fantasy XV considering that the game has so many plot loopholes.

They’re not that much different from visual novels

Okay, you can argue here that visual novels aren’t the same as video games since both of them have different gameplay.

But when you take a look at Episode Ignis and Fate/Stay Night, you realize that what you see in Episode Ignis isn’t that much different from the multiple ending concept in Fate/Stay Night.

Here are some of them, using Fate/Stay Night and Episode Ignis to illustrate my point.

Their main objective is still the same in all endings

It doesn’t matter whether we talk about Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, or Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel.

The main objective in this story will always be about them having to battle against each other in the Holy Grail War so then they can get their hands on the Holy Grail.

That part of the story will always remain the same regardless of the ending you’ll see.

You can say the same thing for Final Fantasy XV as well.

Whether it’s in the main game or the alternate ending in Episode Ignis, they still want to retrieve the crystal and kill Ardyn once and for all after finding out that he’s behind the madness.

Even in the main game and in Episode Ignis, the fact that Ardyn is immortal remains unchanged. It’s just that they only find out about it in a different situation.

At the end of the day, it will still lead them having to kill Ardyn if they want to save the world.

To say that Ardyn is still alive in the alternate ending doesn’t make sense at all since they know that the dawn will only come once they eradicate him for good.

So, how in the world that the dawn can come without having Noctis sacrifice his life?

Well, that leads to my second point.

A different course of action will lead to a different outcome

It’s not rocket science that a different course of action will lead us to a different outcome. When you take a different route while keeping the objective the same, it will lead you to a different conclusion.

That explains why the story starts to become different from the main story the moment Ignis decided to play along with Ardyn. His action alone is enough to change the course of the story.

Everything is already different from there. So, it’s illogical to think that the outcome will remain the same.

You can say the same for Fate/Stay Night as well.

Sure, the beginning of the story in Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works is similar in many ways.

But the story starts to become different because of Emiya’s course of action.

In Fate/Stay Night, Emiya is doing all he can to prevent Saber from fighting on his behalf because of how much he cares about her. But his action ended up causing Saber to disobey Emiya’s order and head to Ryuudou Temple all by herself.

But in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Emiya doesn’t leave Saber out wasn’t because he was concerned about her. He felt that he was better off on his own, believing that the same thing wouldn’t happen to him again.

It doesn’t matter what action he takes, it will still lead them to head to Ryuudou Temple. Rather than seeing Saber heading there because she disobeys Emiya’s order, she went there because Caster already captured Emiya.

Just think for a moment when you see how everything unfolds in Episode Ignis and Fate/Stay Night when they take a different course of action.

Do you still think that a different course of action will lead us to the same outcome?

Of course, it doesn’t. I bet that you’ll see the same thing in your life as well.

The alternate ending is a canon ending as well

It’s amusing to see that some people will go as far as labeling the alternate ending in Episode Ignis as non-canon.

Okay, I get that you don’t like the alternate ending. But it’s called an alternate ending for a reason. You can always ditch it if you find that the alternate ending doesn’t suit your palette at all.

Remember that the alternate ending comes from Square Enix. It’s not the ending that comes from fanfiction.

Sure, I won’t deny that the alternate ending of Episode Ignis is a lot different than the ending in the main game.

So, I get why some people will go as far as saying that the alternate ending is non-canon.

But to say that the alternate ending is non-canon is the same as saying the ending in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Work is non-canon only because it’s different than the ending in Fate/Stay Night.

Whether you like it or not, it’s time for you to embrace a different kind of ending coming our way for Final Fantasy XV.

Sure, Final Fantasy XV may not be a visual novel like Fate/Stay Night. But I don’t see anything wrong with the game having multiple endings either.

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