Final Fantasy XV Episode Gladiolus DLC Gameplay & Plot Details

Fans of Final Fantasy XV have a treat to look forward to at the end of March. That’s when we’ll see the release of Episode Gladiolus, the first story DLC for the game. Producer Haruyoshi Sawatari answered some questions regarding the Episode Gladiolus FFXV DLC details in a recent interview, revealing some interesting details about the plot and differences in gameplay from the main game. Some potential spoilers incoming!

In an interview with Gamespot, FFXV DLC producer Haruyoshi Sawatari revealed some interesting details about the upcoming Episode Gladiolus. He talked about how the gameplay will differ from the main game, some details about the plot, and what their future plans are.

Thirty years before the start of FFXV, some ruins are discovered, with the remains of Crownsguards past. Within lie trials that grant power to a Crownsguard that proves their worth. After the party is defeated by Ravus, Gladio believes himself inadequate to protect Noctis, so he decides to undertake the trials and gather more power in order to be a worthy Shield of the King.

Of course, at the heart of the ruins is Gilgamesh, who is very different in this iteration. He seems to test the Crownsguard members and judges them based on their fighting abilities. While not exactly a benevolent character, he doesn’t seem to be a villain this time around, but rather an impartial judge.

Gladiolus plays very different from Noctis. While Noctis focuses more on mobility, Gladio is all about standing your ground and engaging directly. Sawatari maintains that Gladio is not a tank character, but rather in the switching between defense and offense. Here’s how Sawatari describes some aspects of Gladio’s fighting style.

…when you defend against enemy attacks, his rage increases, and that rage is his attack multiplier. The more he blocks enemy attacks, the higher his attack output actually becomes.

And he has a special moveset called Glaive Arts. By chaining regular attacks together, that gauge gradually fills up, and each time it fills, there’s a higher level Glaive Art that he’s able to perform.

The reason behind these story DLCs (Episode Ignis and Episode Prompto will come out at later dates) is that the developers knew fans would want to spend more time with the individual party members after spending the whole game with Noctis. There are currently no plans for further story DLCs, but that doesn’t mean that more of them can’t come at a later time if the reception of the incoming three is strong enough.

Episode Gladiolus is coming out on March 28th for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.