Altissia

Altissia is the capital of Accordo in Final Fantasy XV. It is surrounded by water, being characterized by waterfalls and canals. Altissia has many and varied locations, such as cafes, ship-bourne market places and parks. The city is of a considerable scale and has a complex maze of streets. Visitors can ride the gondola to see the sights.

The player can the gondolas to move about the city and some locations can only be visited this way. The gondola riding animations can be skipped, but sometimes the party will wave at people on walkways while they are on the gondola.

The player visits Altissia in Chapter 9, and can return there later by calling upon Umbra. Altissia also hosts the Moogle Chocobo Carnival.

Story
After Lady Lunafreya Nox Fleuret is believed to have died in the attack on Lucis, Prince Noctis's party travels to see her in Altissia where the two were to be wed. Lucis was attacked by Niflheim during a treaty-signing ceremony, during which Noctis and his friends were heading to Altissia for the two to get married. As the ferry from Galdin Quay doesn't run under the present circumstances, Noctis has the late King Regis's friend Cid Sophiar take them on King Regis's old ship. They use Cid's old travel documents to get past the border control, and Noctis and his friends head off to find Luna.

Though the town is bustling and peaceful, daemons have begun appearing within the city at nighttime, something that used to be unheard of. Hunters and tourists have gone missing, and there are rumors a local painting has become possessed. When Noctis and his friends explore Altissia, they have a chance to see Luna's wedding dress on display and meet Weskham Armaugh, King Regis's old acquaintance who manages a popular restaurant in town.

Luna is accompanied by Gentiana, and is under watch by both city officials and Imperial forces, as part of a compromise for the summoning ritual to take place. Luna wishes to rouse the sea goddess, Leviathan, to have her grant her blessing to Noctis. She was met by her brother Ravus Nox Fleuret who works for the Empire as the high commander. Ravus disagrees with Luna's conviction to help Noctis at the cost of her own health, not believing the prince to be the True King. Nevertheless he hides her from Niflheim so she can continue, and urges her to deliver the Ring of the Lucii to Noctis by herself when she begs him to take on the task. Ravus visits the Altissia church and Chancellor Ardyn Izunia asks if he has had the chance to see Luna, but Ravus answers no.

The people of Altissia are peaceful and have been long uninvolved in the global conflict. Though considered part of the Empire by Niflheim, Altissia has its own government. To this end, the first secretary is cautious to grant Luna succor, and is reluctant to allow her to commune with the sea goddess after the destruction that awakening Titan brought to Lucis. After learning the king of Lucis is in Altissia, the first secretary seeks him out at a local restaurant and asks Noctis to visit her manor for negotiations. Noctis must convince the first secretary to allow Luna to go through with the ritual, presenting himself in a way befitting of a king.

To invoke Leviathan, Altissia keeps a sacred trident that they allow Luna to use in the ritual of communion. As a commotion is expected, Noctis's vassals are put on evacuation duty while he prepares to forge a covenant with Leviathan with Luna's aid. The Empire assaults the city as Leviathan is summoned, angering the Astral goddess, and Luna cannot speak sense to her. Destroying Leviathan is Ravus's mission as the high commander, but he is pursuing it for personal reasons to save his sister. Leviathan goes on a rampage, and the city is rocked by surging waves and invaded by Imperial forces. Chancellor Ardyn stabs Luna with the intent for Noctis to witness it. Luna is still able to call upon the past kings of Lucis using the trident, and Noctis is granted power from the kings of old to put a stop to Leviathan. After Noctis wounds Leviathan, Titan appears from beneath the waves and the gods' clash sends out a tidal wave that destroys the majority of the city.

Leviathan accepts a covenant with Noctis and disappears. Noctis is left lying on a piece of broken pier when Luna crawls over to him and heals him with her last strength. Before dying, Luna passes on the Ring of the Lucii to Noctis who awakens in Altissia days later to hear the sad news and to discover his friend Ignis Scientia was injured during the battles and has lost his vision. Noctis leaves Altissia and heads toward the Imperial capital of Gralea to find the stolen Crystal of Lucis and save the world from the forces of darkness.

After Noctis disappears Starscourge takes over the world and the sun doesn't rise again. Altissia becomes disconnected from the Empire, but is also largely taken over by daemons. The people of Altissia, along with people from many other lands, congregate at Lestallum in former Lucis territory where the power plant keeps the daemons at bay.

Totomostro
The coliseum in Altissia is a place where the player can play a minigame where monsters fight against each other, and the player participates by betting on the winner. The developers are considering adding more content there post-launch.

The Cursed Canvas
In a quest given by Vyv, a journalist in Lestallum, the party heads out to take a photo of a haunted painting called Lakshmi. The player can accept the hunt for it from Maagho restaurant. The painting is under the first secretary's manor, where the party fights Chadarnook. The quest is an allusion to Final Fantasy VI, that also had a haunted painting.

Oracle Ascension Coins
Noctis can exchange the Oracle Ascension Coins he has collected with Barter at a cafe where the player can also play Justice Monsters Five.

Artist


Scattered around Lucis are small drawings the player can spot. When found, Prompto will always photograph them. They are by an artist in Altissia, whom the player can approach to get a picture of the party. She is in the northern area across the light blue gondola line, at the bottom of the stairway in front of a metal sculpture for a photo op. She appears during daytime when it doesn't rain in Chapter 9.

The player can find ten hidden drawings made by her around the world.

Creation and development
Altissia based on the city of Venice, Italy and has numerous canals streaming through the city. The artists sought to make it original by employing multi-tier sea levels and three-dimensional city structures. Localization director and lead writer Dan Inoue turned to Square Enix's Italian localization team for help to get the feel of Altissia right.

The E3 2013 trailer depicted a concept of the Leviathan battle in Altissia, which is different from the one seen in the final game.

The English voices for the end of Chapter 9 events were recorded in one day. The actors didn't get to see the finished scenes while recording, and for the scene where Luna gives a speech, the actors only saw three people in the crowd all surrounding Noctis, of the exact same character model. At the end of the scene, Ignis had randomly appeared and looked at Noctis and the "triplets". Noctis's voice actor Ray Chase has described it as one of the hardest scenes to have voiced for seriously, due to the absurdity of the unfinished version that they saw while recording.

Omen
Altissia briefly appears decimated in a premonition King Regis Lucis Caelum has of his son Noctis's quest. The king wants to avert this future he has glimpsed.

Moogle Chocobo Carnival


Altissia hosts the Moogle Chocobo Carnival free downloadable content until February 20th, 2017. Noctis attends the carnival with Carbuncle and can do various minigames.

Gallery

 * Artwork

Etymology
Like all naming choices for Final Fantasy XV, the name derives from Latin.

Trivia

 * If viewed from behind (not possible in a normal playthrough) the picture of Lunafreya is upside down at the back of the framed photo.


 * The photo left on the throne in the ending, and the same photo he hands to Lunafreya at the wedding, depends on which photo the player chooses from their album right before the final battle. Choosing a picture of her wedding dress, or any picture from the party's first visit to Altissia, will make Luna cry when she looks at it.