-The game was supposed to be divided into a trilogy of three games, later changed into three chapters compiled into one game
-There were four crystals owned by four nations: Lucis (based off of Tokyo, Japan), Accordo (based off of Venice, Italy), Tenebrae (combination medieval German/oriental theme), and Solheim (Arabian theme). A fifth nation, Niflheim, took over Solheim a long time ago, and eventually Tenebrae and Accordo too, quickly using up all their crystals' energy, which led to Lucis' crystal being the last active crystal in Eos, setting up the main conflict in the game. Niflheim itself was originally made up of a bunch of "non-crystal" nations, which were united a long time ago under one nation by the Aldercapt family.
---
-The first game (or chapter) started with the invasion of Insomnia by Niflheim (instead of the Kingsglaive movie)
-The invasion was orchestrated by Iedolas, the Emperor of Niflheim, and Clarus Amicitia, a cousin of King Regis, and father of Gladiolus and Iris Amicitia, although Clarus's role is hidden during the first game/chapter
-Glauca was introduced as a Lucis general related to Cor Leonis (twin brother?), and loyal to Clarus, shown working with Niflheim to help set up the invasion. The “strongest” general in the Lucis army. He does not kill Regis, Clarus himself kills Regis at the end of the first game/chapter.
-Noctis met and fought Aranea for the first time in this game/chapter. She is a mercenary hired by Niflheim, and stops working for them when they stop paying her in the later games, pretty much exactly like in the final version.
-Ravus was the final boss of the first game/chapter. He and Stella Nox Fleuret were both from Tenebrae, and Ravus knew about the true intention of Niflheim to invade Lucis, while Stella did not. After several encounters throughout the first game/chapter with his hood on, he reveals himself as Stella’s brother in the final boss fight. Although nominally a general of Niflheim, he was secretly working for Ardyn, and was specifically there to protect and capture Noctis under Ardyn's orders (during the first game/chapter, Ardyn's identity as Ravus's master is hidden). At the end of the boss fight, Ravus manages to escape from Noctis.
-Ardyn was portrayed as a silly and disinterested bureaucrat for most of the first game, kind of like how he is portrayed in the final version, in contrast to the other serious and calculating generals of Niflheim, with very few hints dropped in the first game/chapter that Ardyn is somehow the one pulling the strings behind the scenes
-The first game/chapter ended with Niflheim's invasion of Lucis being a success, and a new puppet government of Lucis being set up under Clarus, who agrees to share his crystal's energy with the rest of the world. Noctis and his gang escape the city and look for a safe haven to plot "revenge". Other characters also escape from the city, such as Cor, Iris, etc.
---
-In the second game/chapter, Noctis and his gang traveled across the continent and meet up with Cor Leonis, who reveals to Noctis that Clarus worked with Niflheim to kill his father and take the throne, sending Noctis into a rage. After calming down, Noctis and Cor decide to keep Clarus's role from Gladiolus a secret for now. (Leaker’s note: Gladiolus, Iris, and the others assume Clarus is being held “hostage” by Niflheim, not that Clarus was actively helping them)
-Cor's plan was to organize a resistance among the other nations against Niflheim by announcing that the true king of Lucis is still alive, and tells Noctis to meet him in Accordo
-During discussions with the leader of Accordo, an informant who didn’t trust Noctis told Niflheim about Noctis's presence there, causing Niflheim to send an army to reoccupy the city, which previously enjoyed a privileged status under Niflheim (Leviathan is awakened during this part to "defend" the city from Niflheim, and Noctis is forced to kill Leviathan because it was losing control)
-As the city was no longer safe for Noctis, Cor and the gang decide to head to Tenebrae, who in the absence of Ravus and Stella Nox Fleuret, is currently under the watch of the “Oracle”. Noctis also hopes to learn the whereabouts of Stella, whom he met in the first game/chapter during the infamous "party scene" where they talked about both being able to see Etro's light, and has since appeared in his dreams/hallucinations.
-Upon arriving in Tenebrae, they met with the Oracle (Gentiana), who hails from the lands "north" of Tenebrae (this region of the world was removed from the final game, and Gentiana’s role changed). She wears oriental-style clothes, unlike the rest of Tenebrae, who wear more fantasy European-style clothes. She has two assistants, one male and one female, who can shapeshift between human and animal forms.
-(Lore flashback) Gentiana told Noctis about the origin of Eos, which was created by the goddess Etro, who appointed a guardian to watch over the people of this new world. That "guardian" noticed that the humans of Eos were always fighting eachother over the powers of the four crystals, so he came up with the idea of creating a common enemy for the humans to unite against to end the fighting amongst humans. That enemy became known as demons. Etro did not approve of his plan, and stripped him of his powers, forever trapping him in the body of the mortal. Gentiana fears that the current demons used by the Niflheim army could be these same demons created by the guardian, and speculates that the ruling family of Niflheim is related to the guardian. Gentiana tells Noctis to travel to Niflheim, where Stella will be waiting for him, and find and destroy the source of the demons, and that Tenebrae would help Noctis take back the throne.
-The continent of Niflheim was based off of industrial age Great Britain, and there are large mines and smelting factories all over the continent. The capital itself is more modern.
-Noctis and the gang arrived at where they were supposed to meet up with Stella, but instead they get ambushed by Niflheim soldiers, led by Ravus, who is badly scarred from their last encounter
-In jail, Ravus explained to Noctis that he is not Noctis’s enemy, and that he is also working to free Tenebrae from Niflheim. He frees Noctis and his friends, and tells him the location of where research is conducted on demons, led by Verstael.
-Once in the laboratory, Prompto started losing control of himself, and leaves the party. There is a lot of human experimentation in the laboratory, especially on humans from Solheim and outer Niflheim. In the original plot, demons were supposed to be the “true” form of humans. The party finds Verstael, who is in control of Prompto, who reveals that Prompto is his son that he conducted experiments on that failed. Verstael’s goal is to unlock the true potential of humans, and he turns himself into a half-human, half-demon. The party defeats him and rescues Prompto.
-The party then decided to defeat the Emperor. The party finds the Emperor, who reveals his goal is to use the energy of the final crystal to conduct research to create technology that can replace the energy of the crystals, allowing the Aldercapt family to rule over the world forever with a monopoly on the technology. They fight, but Ardyn intervenes, killing the Emperor, saying that such research would be a waste of time. Ardyn then reveals that he was the master of Ravus in the first game/chapter, the “guardian” that Gentiana spoke of, and the one who provided Verstael with the research on demons (leaker says this is supposed to be very surprising, Ardyn receives pretty much no screen time up until this point in the game).
-(Lore flashback) Ardyn says he has been helping Niflheim for centuries since Niflheim’s founding to help conquer the other nations. He created the “demons” by unlocking the raw emotion in humans, but Etro became jealous of his power, and sent a son created out of love to rule over the world instead; this eventually became the Nox Fleuret family. But before Etro returned to her realm, she got seduced by lust by another mortal, creating another family that had the power of Etro; this eventually became the Lucis Caelum family. Etro was so ashamed by her actions that she left the world to never return. Ardyn’s goal is to use up all the remaining crystals in the world, creating a conflict between the descendants of Nox Fleuret and Lucis Caelum, and between humans and demons, causing Etro to open the gate to this world as Etro unconsciously desired to meet with her children (Nox Fleuret and Lucis Caelum), and allowing Ardyn to finally return to the realm of the gods. For this to happen, he needs Noctis to unleash all his raw emotion, and he sends a resurrected, uglier version of Verstael’s demon after the party (final boss fight). This causes a large part of the capital building to explode, forcing Noctis and the party to run away. As they are trying to escape the building, Stella rescues them (the first time Stella appearing in game since the beginning of the first game/chapter). The second game/chapter ends with Noctis, his gang, and Stella leaving Niflheim, with Iedolas being announced dead and Verstael (somehow) being announced as the new Emperor of Niflheim.
---
-The final game/chapter began with Noctis, his gang, and Stella returning to Tenebrae. Noctis is still in shock from the news he heard from Ardyn. Stella explains that she learned the truth about their families from Ravus, who learned it from Ardyn. Ravus believed that Etro had to return to this world to return light to the three expired crystals, and that the only way to do this was to defeat Noctis and the Lucis Caelum family and relieve Etro of her shame. Thus Ravus worked with Ardyn to achieve this goal, until he learned that Ardyn’s only goal was to return to the realm of the gods, and that he was willing to destroy Eos to achieve this. Meanwhile, Stella, with the help of Gentiana, believes that there must be another way to return Etro to this world, and that as descendants of Etro, they should have the ability to communicate with Etro (Etro’s light). Noctis, still angry at his father who he assumed knew the truth about his family, agrees with Stella for now and they decide to return to Lucis to speak with the crystal.
-On the way to Lucis, Noctis and Stella acquired the seven Astrals (summons) in order to speak with the crystal: Ifrit (near Solheim, now near Niflheim), Bahamut (near Niflheim), Fenrir (near Tenebrae), Shiva (Tenebrae, in the acquisition of Gentiana), Leviathan (Accordo), Titan and Ramuh (near Lucis)
-In Lucis, Noctis and his party infiltrated the palace, where they encounter Glauca. This is an unbeatable boss fight, and you have to run away.
-Gladiolus found out that his father was the one responsible for killing King Regis, and leaves the party due to doubts about whether he should be loyal to Noctis or his father.
-Noctis confronted Clarus, who tells him that his father (King Regis) was prepared to end his bloodline in order to end the curse of Etro, but that Clarus was not prepared to let him do that, so worked with Niflheim to take the throne from him. Clarus then swings at Noctis, but Gladiolus blocks the blow, killing him, causing Noctis to unleash his raw emotion and killing Clarus (fulfilling one of Ardyn’s conditions).
-Ravus arrived and says that he must defeat Noctis, who now resembles a demon. You play as Ravus in this boss fight. After the first stage, the boss fight is unbeatable in the second stage, and Noctis defeats Ravus.
-Ravus told Stella that the fate of Eos is now in Stella’s hands. Noctis absorbs all the remaining energy from the Lucis crystal, causing the four crystals in the world to break, which causes many people to unleash their emotions and turn into demons. The area around the Lucis crystal turns into a gateway to the Kingdom of the Dead, drawing everybody in.
-In the Kingdom of the Dead, Stella and the party found Etro (each of the party members, including Gladiolus, had to go through their own trial in the Kingdom of the Dead). Etro is sleeping (same pose as the logo) and Stella pleads with her to wake up, but Ardyn arrives and says that it is useless, as Etro no longer cares about Eos or its people. Ardyn then attempts to kill Etro to take revenge, but is instead absorbed into her. This causes Etro to wake up, who is horrified by what has happened to Eos, but is happy to finally be reunited with the Nox Fleuret (Stella). Etro asks Stella to stay with her and leave Eos behind, but Stella refuses, causing the Ardyn part of the Ardyn-Etro hybrid to grow in prominence, and absorb Stella too.
-Now in control of Noctis, Noctis went through his own trial in the Kingdom of the Dead, involving his father and his mother, Aulea Lucis Caelum (childhood Noct gameplay portions). After seeing how much his father and mother loved him, his hate for his family and his family’s origin subsides, and he becomes less demonic. Noctis emerges from his trial to find the Ardyn-Etro-Stella hybrid. Now reunited with his party, he fights the hybrid, first destroying the Ardyn-Etro-Stella hybrid, then a Etro-Stella hybrid, and then finally a solo version of Stella (final boss fight). After freeing Stella, Noctis tells her that he will stay behind in the Kingdom of the Dead with Etro, freeing Eos from Etro’s shame once and for all, while Stella pleads with him not to. Noctis fuses with Etro, and then opens up a gateway pushing Stella and the rest of the party to the other side. The final game/chapter ends with both Lucis and Niflheim ending their monarchies, with Lucis being headed by Ignis, Stella leaving Tenebrae in the hands of Gentiana and heading off on a journey, and Noctis sitting on the throne of Lucis sleeping.
---
Miscellaneous
-There were a maximum of four interchangeable party members. Additional party members could be unlocked for “non-story” missions upon fulfilling certain conditions: Cor (after meeting him in the second game/chapter), Aranea (after finishing her mercenary group’s line of quests in the second game/chapter), Iris (after finishing her line of quests in the second game/chapter), and Stella (third game/chapter).
-Ravus fought with Nox Fleuret Armiger, similar to Stella’s. Ardyn, in his human form, fought with a gun hidden in his umbrella.
-There were a line of side missions involving Loqi, a general of Niflheim, beginning in the second game/chapter. He looked different than in the final version.
-Driving was not like in the final version, and although open world areas existed around the cities and major areas (Accordo, Tenebrae, and Niflheim), they were much smaller and you teleported from one to another after finishing an area
-Solheim was not an area, although you saw a lot of it in flashback cutscenes, and most of its residents were dead in the present era