a creepy villain the more time he featured in the story. Joe Anderstron from Digital Spy had mixed feelings with regards to his role in Final Fantasy XV based on what Kingslave foreshadows but found him interesting. Salvatore Pane, writing for Paste Magazine said Ardyn killing Lunafreya had a major impact in the narrative due the amount of grief the characters, specifically Noctis, suffer as a result for the first time in the entire game. On the other hand, while GamesPresso called the death scene a tragic moment, it was just concept ultimately executed poorly as a result of the murder victim having little engagement or impact with players. Ash Parrish in an article published by Kotaku disliked Ardyn as a villain, instead finding Lunafreya's brother Ravus Nox Fleuret to be a more fitting enemy to Noctis due to the former's tragic story and relationship with Lunafreya which is caused by Regis rather previous kings from several generations before Noctis existed. There was also commentary about Ardyn's final fight as boss against Noctis. Kotaku and Polygon highly praised the ending, with Peter Tieryas from Kotaku enjoying the darker atmosphere the older protagonist brings when fighting Ardyn. VG247 compared it to the final showdown between Cloud Strife and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII due to the focus on their rivalry and how in one quick time event the player has to sacrifice Noctis to destroy Ardyn's soul with more tragic and emotive focus in the process. Ardyn's role in The Dawn of the Future resulted in divided opinions about whether or not it is superior to the original game. Anime UK faulted Ardyn as "easily the low point of the novel, because Jun Eishima's already sparse prose is relegated either to describing very long action sequences that work infinitely better as cutscenes and gameplay, or to hashing out Ardyn's tragic backstory, which doesn't amount to much by the end of the book." RPGFan's Peter Triezenberg found Ardyn and Lunafreya's chapters lacking. In regards to the DLCs featuring Ardyn, Triezenberg felt the alternate storyline featured in the DLC provided some good character development for Ignis, Noctis and Ardyn. Mike Fahey from Kotaku praised Ardyn's portrayal as the setting's overarching antagonist, citing Episode Ardyn and its anime tie-in as highlights for his character development and making his vendetta against Noctis's family "fully justified". RPG Site's George Foster was very positive, saying the DLC