Regalia

The Regalia, also known as the Quartz Regalia , is the car Noctis Lucis Caelum and his friends use to travel across Eos in Final Fantasy XV. It is King Regis's black convertible identified by its license plate: RHS-113. The party sometimes refers to it as "the old girl", apparently as a habit picked up from Cindy Aurum.

According to Director Hajime Tabata, the Regalia is a member of Noctis's party. It symbolizes the open world of Final Fantasy XV and the idea of "freedom." The Regalia lastly symbolizes King Regis, as the car belongs to him. Overall, the car is a metaphor for the bond Noctis shares with his father, as well as how Regis will preserve his son's journey.

The Regalia can be converted to a flying model, and it is the only aircraft the player can control in Final Fantasy XV.

Appearance
The Regalia is a black, four-seat convertible with an interior made of dark leather. Its hubcaps have a chocobo talon motif, and its license plate lights up at night. The plate reads "Insomnia RHS-113 - The Royal Capital" in reference to the capital of Lucis and Regis Lucis Caelum.

The Regalia resembles the real-world Cadillac Ciel and Maybach Exelero. Regarding this, Hajime Tabata has said, "I can't really tell exactly you which company we looked at, but certainly the design of the car in the game was inspired by German car manufacturers and a couple of British cars, as well." At a Final Fantasy XV fan event in Tokyo, it was revealed the Regalia was designed to resemble Rolls-Royce luxury cars.

The player can upgrade the Regalia and customize it with decals and paint jobs; some of these were available as pre-order bonuses.

Story
Regis once took a trip across Lucis to Accordo. As shown in an old photograph in Cape Caem, he had the Regalia with him.

As depicted in the Platinum Demo – Final Fantasy XV, an eight-year-old Noctis fell into a coma following an attack from a daemon. He was guided through a dreamscape by a Carbuncle, who identified the Regalia as the young Noctis's "safe haven" as he associated it with his father. Finding the Regalia in his dream allows Noctis to wake up from his coma.

Noctis Lucis Caelum, Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia, and Prompto Argentum drive the Regalia to Galdin Quay where they are to board a ferry to Altissia where Noctis is to get married. As implied in the Final Fantasy XV Prologue Parting Ways, neither Noctis nor Ignis has never driven the Regalia before, and neither has ever driven outside the crown city. Noctis asks Ignis to not let Prompto drive it.

As they drive through the Leide region on the outlands of Lucis, Regalia breaks down. Noctis and his friends push it to the Hammerhead service station for Cindy Aurum to repair it. She is instantly taken by the vehicle. Insomnia was isolated behind a magic barrier 30 years ago, and ever since cars of crown city-make have been rare on the outlands. She comes up with various ways to upgrade the car if Noctis and his friends procure the required materials.

After the fall of Insomnia, Noctis and his friends are on the run from the Niflheim Empire. After they drive the Regalia to the Disc of Cauthess for Noctis to forge a covenant with Titan, the car is confiscated by Niflheim forces. The party infiltrates an Imperial base and reclaims the Regalia, and are allowed to leave with it by Ardyn Izunia, the chancellor of Niflheim who appears to be shadowing them.

When they escape the continent on King Regis's boat, they take the Regalia with them. The Regalia is later held on the train to Gralea, and Noctis drives the Regalia to the Imperial capital while under attack. The Regalia is destroyed and they are forced to leave it behind. Before abandoning the car, Noctis recalls a time from his youth when it brought his father, King Regis, home to him.

Mechanics
The Regalia can be set to autopilot, driven by Ignis, or driven manually by the player, who controls Noctis. Driving the car manually for the first time earns the Learner's Permit achievement/trophy.

The player can use the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One's shoulder buttons to change camera angles while driving, and they can press and hold or  to raise or lower the Regalia's roof. Players can honk the car's horn by pressing or, and they can fast-travel to parking spots and outposts they have previously visited. The player can fast-travel at night, even when Ignis refuses to drive.

On the world map, the Regalia is represented by. If the player is separated from the car, it can be summoned through use of the "Call Car" command on the map menu. When driving at night, and when drop ships drop troops onto roads, enemies can attack while Noctis and his friends are in the Regalia; this forces the party to exit the car and engage them in battle. In auto mode, the player can select a destination for Ignis to drive to. The Regalia can be stopped at any time.

The Regalia runs on gasoline, much like real cars. Its tank can be refilled for 10 gil no matter the per-existing fuel level. If Regalia runs out of fuel, the player will need to push it to the next gas station, or call Cindy to tow it for 100 gil.

Locations on the world map marked with a serve as parking spots, and when the Regalia is near one, it parks automatically. There are no loading screens when one drives or flies the Regalia, and the day one patch enables the player to access the main menu and shop when the car is on autopilot.

Initially, Ignis refuses the drive the Regalia at night due to the presence of daemons. This forces Noctis to drive the car himself until he reaches level 30, when Ignis has a change of heart. Regardless of who drives daemons still pose a threat until the player locates the Enhanced Headlights for Cindy and has her install them. These headlights prevent daemons from attacking.

The player can learn abilities in the Exploration grid of the Ascension to earn EXP and AP for car-rides. This can be used to auto-grind by leaving the car running in circles. Roadlife gains 10 EXP every 0.54 miles traveled by car. Roadrunning gains 1 AP every 1.25 miles traveled by car.

Regalia Type-F
During the post-game, the player can complete the "Into Unknown Frontiers" sidequest to transform the Regalia into the Regalia Type-F, a model capable of flight. The player can fly anywhere in the skies of Eos, but landing the Regalia Type-F badly, or hitting an obstacle, results in a Game Over.

The Regalia Type-F can only land on roads, and it is the only means of accessing the portion of the world map in the north near Rock of Ravatogh; landing here lets the player visit Pitioss Ruins. Regalia Type-F has an unlimited fuel supply. By visiting Cindy at Hammerhead, the player can revert the Regalia to its original form at any time. When in flight, the player must keep the "land" button pressed to make a soft landing without damaging the Regalia. If they land too far and a U-turn needs to be made, they should also keep the decelerate button pressed, or Ignis will crash the Regalia when attempting a U-turn. Flying the Regalia the first time earns the Regalia Pilot achievement/trophy.

Regalia Type-D
The Type-D was added with patch 1.11 and can be installed at any time by visiting Cindy at the Hammerhead. It allows the player to take full control of the Regalia and take it off-road. The Type-D can also jump if the player presses / while on the ground. If the player performs a particularly impressive jump, time will slow down and the party will pose as the car travels through the air. This is called a "Big Jump" and is assigned a score based on distance and the smoothness of the landing.

The Type-D can damage enemies if it rams them or lands on them, but it loses durability if enemies attack it. If the car's durability meter falls to 0%, it will result in a game over. Durability is also lost when the Regalia crashes into objects and walls. Experience cannot be obtained by killing enemies with the Type-D, however items can be looted from the defeated enemies.

The player can't park on havens.

Events while in the Regalia
Sometimes, Prompto sees photo opportunities while the Regalia is in motion. When he does, he asks to stop, and taking the picture becomes a short sidequest. He also randomly asks Noctis of whom he should take pictures of. When driving late and the party passes an outpost, Prompto will ask the party stay there for the night, but the player doesn't need to heed his request. If the player is on a hunt quest and they drive into the mark's vicinity, Ignis wants to stop there if he is the one driving. Monsters sometimes cross the road, and if the Regalia is on autopilot, it stops to let them pass. If it starts raining while the party is driving, Prompto will ask for the roof to be put up.

In Chapter 4, Noctis is forced to drive the Regalia and must follow Ardyn Izunia to the Disc of Cauthess. If he fails to keep up with the imperial chancellor, it is Game Over. The player cannot drive the Regalia at night when Iris Amicitia is in the party during Chapter 6. When Aranea Highwind is in the party as a guest, she doesn't ride in the Regalia.

Customization
Cindy assists the player in customizing and upgrading the Regalia once Noctis collects the necessary Auto Parts. This includes applying different coats of paint and various decals. The different colors of paint can be mixed from the items the player collects, often from procurement points for minerals. The player can always revert the Regalia to its default look.

Upgrades
While a majority of the Regalia's upgrades are obtained by completing the sidequests Cindy offers, others can be bought. The player can also expand the car radio's music selection by purchasing additional collections of Final Fantasy music at outposts.

Servicing the Regalia
The Regalia can be damaged, and Cindy repairs this damage for a fee. This service is sometimes unavailable if Ignis is the one who damages the car; in this case, the player must manually damage the Regalia before Cindy can fix it.

Design
A black car appears in trailers for Final Fantasy Versus XIII that seems to be a precursor to the Regalia. It resembled the Jaguar S-Type and had a panoramic roof that stretched to its trunk.

The Regalia's prioritized character over realism, but it was changed to make the car look more modern and befitting of a king. A black convertible served as the basis of the Regalia's new look, and it was intended to be customizable. The developers gathered a pictures and videos from various car manufacturers and researched luxury cars. They sat in such cars and took pictures to familiarize with their shapes and the feeling of materials. Based on the team's experiences and the reference materials, the aim was to design a realistic, manufacturable car, not just a concept car. The team reached out to specialists to correspond their design to a real product and iterated and adjusted everything until the final result was deemed convincing.

When designing the Regalia Type-F, Square Enix met with Avalanche Studios (the developer of Just Cause) to discuss its LOD development methods and learn how the system handles textures. Square Enix used what Avalanche taught it to perfect its own version of the LOD system for Final Fantasy XV. When designing the Type-F the team had two principal objectives: it should be obvious at a glance that the car can fly, and it had to look suitably impressive when airborne. The developers thus wanted to make the car's body as aerodynamic as possible, with wings spreading like those of a living creature. Similarity with an aircraft was enhanced by making the roof transparent, enabling the player to see the party inside. The transformation parts were made using sketches and rough samples based on the finalized 3D Regalia model. The team refined the result through many iterations.

Symbolism
The Regalia belongs to King Regis and symbolizes him. It is a metaphor for "[Noctis] taking his father's love, burdens, and bond on the road to his destiny." It was important to Hajime Tabata that the bond between Noctis and his father, as well as the Regalia, be focused upon. This is because children in Japan are proud of their fathers' car. It is a "big thing" to go on a ride and have the cars' functions explained. Tabata described this as a wonderful experience from his youth that he wanted to portray in Final Fantasy XV.

Gameplay
Originally, the Regalia's steering wheel was on its right side, like cars in Japan. This was changed after a long discussion as a result of Eos's lore, which states cars were first developed in Niflheim and then exported to other nations, which adapted to suit their design. In-game, the location of the car's steering wheel is said to be the result of the large number of right-handed imperial citizens. Square Enix decided to adjust driving so it was a uniform practice; it felt changing the signage and necessary driving position would confuse players. It was then decided cars in Final Fantasy XV would drive on the right side of the road and have their steering wheels on the left side so Noctis's journey could resemble a road trip through the United States. Developers considered allowing players to decide which way traffic moved, but this was deemed too cumbersome.

Games like Need for Speed were consulted to make the driving mechanics in Final Fantasy XV enjoyable. These are designed to replicate the feeling of controlling a car while avoiding the "nitty-gritty" aspects of doing so. The Tokyo Game Show 2014 trailer shows the party driving on a stone arch near the Cauthess meteorite, but the car cannot be driven off the road in its normal state.

In the master version of Final Fantasy XV playable at Gamescom, the player held the right trigger to accelerate, and the Regalia steered itself. U-turns and parking were automatic processes activated by a single face button. When Final Fantasy XV appeared next at PAX West, players were free to steer the Regalia. This caused issues in the game, so developers decided to perfect this mechanic before implementing it.

At the Game Developers' Conference in March 2017, Square Enix showed off-the-road footage with the Regalia from a development environment. This version, dubbed Regalia Type-D, was released as a free update in June 2017.

Omen
In a vision King Regis has of the future, his son Noctis drives the Regalia alone and stops by a petrol station. Pryna appears in a nearby field, and Noctis crashes the car after spotting her.

Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae
The demo features a scenario that is not in the final game, but loosely based on the segment in Chapter 5 where the party loses the Regalia. After Prompto crashes the Regalia, the player must come up with 25,000 gil to pay Cindy for the repairs at the Coernix Station of Duscae region.

The Regalia was originally meant to appear in Episode Duscae, but it was removed because Hajime Tabata did not want the demo to be driving-focused and thus deviate too far from fan expectations for a Final Fantasy game.

Forza Horizon 3
As part of a collaboration with Microsoft, the 723 Quartz Regalia appears in Forza Horizon 3 as a downloadable vehicle. The car will be free to all players who have either Forza Horizon 3 or Final Fantasy XV on Xbox One prior to August 1, 2017. The announcement trailer for the collaboration depicts a scene that alludes to the Omen trailer.


 * For more information, see this page at the Forza Wiki.

Merchandise
A Final Fantasy XV sunshade for a car is available from Square Enix Store as a members' reward. It displays the party inside the Regalia parked at Hammerhead, the roof up and Noctis on the driver's seat.

Trivia

 * During a livestream on October 2, 2014, Hajime Tabata discussed internet memes that featured Noctis and his friends in the Regalia. Square Enix encouraged the development of more memes for publicity purposes and released art assets of the scene these depicted.
 * The Regalia would be worth ¥50,000,000 ($440,000) in the real world.
 * Square Enix had stated players in Japan and the United States could have listened to MP3s on the Regalia's radio, but that it would not be allowed in Europe because stricter laws are in effect. Nevertheless the feature was never implemented in the final game.