Also, as I said when I beat the game. My issue is the ending is very un-jrpg-esque. Which could be fine as being a non-cliche and contrasting; but the problem is it's also non-satisfying.
Traditionally, as shown in almost
every jrpg ever made, when fate is involved and it's leading somewhere bad, the characters rise up, break out of a set fate (sometimes/often killing a god in the process) and make their own non-determined future. It's generic, but it's the traditional satisfying good end jrpg ending. We just saw SE do that with
spoiler (click to show/hide)
FFVII Remake Pt.1 where they go and kill the fate god and change the restraints of the original FFVII storyline
FFXV ends on the MC just going along with fate and giving up essentially. THE END. Although Ep Noctis details Noctis' time in the crystal and what's on his mind heading towards Insomnia which actually helps the original ending work a little better.
spoiler for Ep Noctis
spoiler (click to show/hide)
During Ep Noctis, and his time in the crystal he sees the entire history of the world, including Ardyn's backstory and everything that's happened and he feels the weight of it. He scared to die, he doesn't want to kill himself and die and thinks it's bullshit and rigged, but he feels like everyone in history depended on him so he's forcing himself to go kill himself.
Honestly, it would be weird for an FF game, but I think FFXV would've worked best like Shadow Hearts 2 and other games that have a ending route and a true ending route. The game ending feels like the bad end/normal ending route, whereas the DLC S2 Eps feel like it's the true ending route that expands on things and shows the true villain and gives the best and most satisfying ending finale to the story.
I hated Ardyn in FF15. He was such a Kefka-esque psychopath sadistic villain. I never thought they could make me enjoy his character. But I really like what they did with him in the S2 DLCs. He's still an evil sadistic psychopath and stays in character that way until the end, but he gets a really badass satisfying ending in Ep Noctis which is much, much better than just a stupid matrix fight and then he gets vanquished without a word in a light tunnel.