Board 8 > Andy plays Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

(+) Yeah! (+)

I - II - III - IV - (TAY) - V - VI - VII - (VIIR - DoC - CC) - VIII - IX - X - (X-2) - XII - (RW) - XIII - (XIII-2 - Lightning Returns) - XV - Tactics - (TCB)

*Progressive spoilers shall follow for LR, and expect spoilers for FFXIII and XIII-2 throughout*

It's been a while but it's time to continue with my Final Fantasy experience! Lightning Returns has just been put on Game Pass so I will finally complete the trilogy. I played FFXIII over a decade ago and greatly enjoyed it, though the writing was messy in spots and I don't know how much I'd like it these days. I only played XIII-2 a couple of years ago and again had fun with the gameplay, but I found the story and characters straight up bad in that one and I don't think the game got as much out of its time travel shenanigans as it should have done.

Vanille > Lightning >> Fang > XIII-2 Hope > Sazh >>> Noel > Serah > XIII Hope > Snow > BARTHANDELUS > Caius

I don't know very much about LR- I believe Light is the only playable character this time and has a bunch of outfits, and I know there's some kind of time limit conceit, but I know nothing about the story or gameplay. I hope the battle system at least somewhat resembles the previous two, I enjoy my paradigm shifts, but I don't see how it could with a one person party. I'm not expecting a masterpiece of a story here, especially given how XIII-2 ended, but I hope to have a good time :)

I'll probs start playing tomorrow, if anyone has tips or if there's anything I should know beforehand, please let me know! The time limit has me a bit wary about missables but I'm fine not getting absolutely everything if there's tons of obscure stuff like IX.

Tag. I remember enjoying it but I honestly don't remember much of the game other than that.

Tag, really enjoyable game. My only suggestion is do some of the side quests, the reward may not always be great but I felt it gives a lot of insight on how people live their lives in a world where you can't grow old (very early game spoiler). Plus if you do enough side quests it opens up a bonus Dungeon at the end

Lightning Returns is third-best FF. I'll definitely keep up with the topic!

That said, the battle system is very much not like the previous two. XIII had one of my favorite battle systems ever so I was disappointed with that, but LR has a good one too. I struggled to get used to it at first, it felt almost like Dark Souls in terms of timing blocks to minimize enemy attacks. Once you do get the hang of it, though, you can use it to trivialize the time limit. I was worried about that too but eventually you can easily kill monsters to regain time. I had an extra day or two by the end.

It has been a few years since I played it but one thing I do remember is that monsters are finite, and I don't recall them actually giving anything useful when killed other than the aforementioned time regain, so I remember skipping all the battles I could to save those monsters for later.

DeStInY iS dEsTiNy

I'm sorry for your loss

Also abuse Chronostasis

I see Lightning is divisive as always!

Cavedweller2000 posted...

Tag, really enjoyable game. My only suggestion is do some of the side quests, the reward may not always be great but I felt it gives a lot of insight on how people live their lives in a world where you can't grow old (very early game spoiler). Plus if you do enough side quests it opens up a bonus Dungeon at the end

'Do sidequests' being the #1 tip is music to my ears, I love doing all that stuff anyway! Glad it's apparently a big part of the game.

Robazoid posted...

That said, the battle system is very much not like the previous two. XIII had one of my favorite battle systems ever so I was disappointed with that, but LR has a good one too. I struggled to get used to it at first, it felt almost like Dark Souls in terms of timing blocks to minimize enemy attacks. Once you do get the hang of it, though, you can use it to trivialize the time limit. I was worried about that too but eventually you can easily kill monsters to regain time. I had an extra day or two by the end.

It has been a few years since I played it but one thing I do remember is that monsters are finite, and I don't recall them actually giving anything useful when killed other than the aforementioned time regain, so I remember skipping all the battles I could to save those monsters for later.

Timing blocks can sometimes be a nightmare for me in games but we'll see how it goes. Thanks for the monster advice, that is very handy to know.

Please enjoy probably a top 5 FF game for me.

Your opening post is missing a couple of numbers!

Lightning Returns is pretty fun though. The best advice I can give is not to worry about the time limit. Pretend it isn't there if that helps. I've seen people quit this game (that they were otherwise enjoying) because they couldn't handle the pressure of a clock constantly ticking down on them.

I hope you enjoy it. I don't, purely because of the time limit. Keep starting it up again hoping that sometime I'll get into it but nope, timer usually grates me on day 3 and I jet out.

But you might enjoy the time limit so who knows!

Luis_Sera89 posted...

Your opening post is missing a couple of numbers!

Apologies, I should have included Type-0 and Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift!

most_games_r_ok posted...

I hope you enjoy it. I don't, purely because of the time limit. Keep starting it up again hoping that sometime I'll get into it but nope, timer usually grates me on day 3 and I jet out.

But you might enjoy the time limit so who knows!

I actually just beat Unsighted which also has a time limit, and had fun with that after the initial 'oh god' panic mode. So fingers crossed!

Meow Meow Choco Chow!

CHAOS, chaos everywhere! If only Jack Garland were here.

So far we're continuing the tradition of XIII games having great artstyles and sound (And subtitles! All games should have massive subtitles like these!). As far as the plot goes, '13 days until the end of the world' is a great little setup. It's funny how each game in the trilogy has an entirely separate bonkers plot, the premises are always interesting but the delivery... well, we'll have to wait and see. Lots of clunky expository dialogue so far, but it's not too concerning. Nice to hear Hillis as Light again.

Weird to hear them call God 'God', instead of a typical weird fantas- oh, Bhunivelze, there we go. Final boss, I assume. I like that the characters acknowledge feeling empty and having no emotions, there's interesting roads they could go down with that. The music on the Ark is cool. Lumina looks like Serah but it doesn't get remarked upon very much. Hope is a kid for some reason, and Snow is Snow (sigh).

I do the tutorial and spend most of day 1 in the city I forgot to write down the name of. There's a bit of simple detective work to start things off, and I guess the game intentionally blocks off the main plot for the day after the graveyard to encourage you to go look around elsewhere, but I haven't done too much so far. I'm not experienced enough with the battle system to comment on it yet but it seems fine, overall I'm having fun. There's a lot of potential here!

andylt posted...

Snow is Snow (sigh).

At least LR Snow is best Snow. Looking forward to more updates!

Is it just me or is the lipsync a bit off in this one? I don't recall it being noticeable in the other games, but maybe I'm misremembering.

We have an intriguing interlude with Lumina before Day 2 begins. She says Light is hiding her true thoughts and actually has no intention of helping God, I assume we'll get more of this stuff each day. This is a good scene, before this I assumed Lumina was just some kind of amoral trickster chaos being but now I don't know, and Light apparently not trusting God or Lumina is good. Though it's weird that Light doesn't seem to recognise she looks like Serah until we literally see Serah next to her lol.

Most of Day 2 is spent code searching in Luxerion. I like how detailed the day cycle is, but the time limit nags at me. I don't feel like I can just wander around at my own pace and enjoy my surroundings, instead I'm dashing here and there checking each wall hoping to see some numbers. I know the time limit won't really be that strict but still it's difficult to ignore it. After a long time I speak to somebody who tells me the last number is in the Warrens, which don't open until midnight, so I head to Yusnaan for a while to pass the time. Cool music there, and I always love a seedy decadent city in games. Even more so when they have a giant cactuar statue.

Back in Lux, Light meets Noel, who is... fine. I never had a strong opinion on him, it's kinda interesting that he's the Shadow Hunter I guess, honestly I don't remember XIII-2's plot well enough to know if this really tracks with his arc in that. Light has a pretty badass quote in the graveyard: "I've been fighting destiny for a long time now, and I'm getting pretty good at it." I love Light! I don't get why people dislike her as a protagonist. There's another line in a sidequest about some dangerous chaos beast that has killed a dozen bounty hunters, and she says something like 'yeah I guess I can spare a couple minutes'. So cool. Sidenote: how did she know which order the numbers went in?

I stop playing right before the big Noel v Light confrontation which I assume is a boss fight. No offence Noel but you're really not on her level, I'm not sure what you think you can bring to the table here.

So I figure each of the 'main' quests will be centred on a major character from the previous games. Noel is in Luxerion, Snow is in Yusnaan, so the other three must be Sazh, Fang and Vanille. But I thought Vanille was the 'saint' in Luxerion so who knows, maybe I'm forgetting someone. Still having fun so far!

andylt posted...

There's another line in a sidequest about some dangerous chaos beast that has killed a dozen bounty hunters, and she says something like 'yeah I guess I can spare a couple minutes'. So cool.

Heck yeah, Lightning is the best.

My memories of this game aren't perfect, but was this chaos beast a big dragon? I remember fighting one near the beginning and dying to it over and over, but then again I struggled to get the hang of the combat system and you seem to be doing fine.

This game is really reinvigorating my love of Lightning. SMFFFC, watch out!

Mobilezoid posted...

My memories of this game aren't perfect, but was this chaos beast a big dragon? I remember fighting one near the beginning and dying to it over and over, but then again I struggled to get the hang of the combat system and you seem to be doing fine.

Yeah I think that's the one. I tried it once and died so I'm leaving it til later. I'm certainly not an expert in the combat system yet lol, I got to the Noel fight today and spent quite some time getting through it. I meant to ask about the monsters being finite as you said earlier, they seem to respawn and I can get a few good abilities from them (got Deshell and Deprotect from the randoms before the Noel fight which helped there), how finite are they if you (or anyone else) know? I'm running past most random encounters but taking a few on in each area might not be a bad idea if they can give me good drops.

As for the plot, I completely forgot Yeul existed, oops. Noel flips a switch and becomes rational again immediately post-battle. He acknowledges how ridiculous his reasoning for killing Light was, so that offsets the slightly weird writing there somewhat. Lumina continues to intrigue, I'm enjoying her more than I first expected to. Light's pre-fight discussion with Noel was very good on her end, she talks about herself like she doesn't know (or like) what she is anymore. Her characterisation here is so much better than in XIII-2, thank god.

We sneak in a sidequest at the cathedral before Day 2 ends, and meet Vanille! Woo, Vanille! She's in the hands of the shady order and is worryingly friendly with Lumina, but seems to know what she's doing. Maybe. I'm a bit worried about her, but the way these scenes play out I assume we'll be coming back here for the endgame and she'll have more to do then. Fang better have a damn good reason for leaving her behind though!

If there's some benefit to killing monsters I've forgotten, you can go ahead. I mostly remember saving them for powering up the gauge that freezes time for an hour. Plus I guess there are more of them than I thought, no harm in killing some as long as you don't go nuts. There might even be a benefit to causing a few extinctions.

These are how many of each there are if you don't mind minor monster name spoilers

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/681990-lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii/68594698

Ah thanks, I understand better now. I've even gotten a quest to cause a Niblet extinction!

It amuses me how this game seems to function as a direct counter to the main problems people had with XIII- no towns, no NPCs, no sidequests, too linear. Whereas this game is all towns, there's dozens of NPCs and sidequests, and you can do things in pretty much any order! A shame the game didn't get much attention. The sidequests are pretty interesting so far too, I agree with this quote:
Cavedweller2000 posted...

the reward may not always be great but I felt it gives a lot of insight on how people live their lives in a world where you can't grow old.

There's lots of nice worldbuilding in there. They're also great for Lightning, she has a lot of funny lines and even opens up with some characters like the orphan in Yusnaan. Speaking of, the children in this game are fascinating- on multiple occasions we're reminded that they're actually 500 years old, but they still seem to act very childlike in some ways. I guess because they still have children's brains they don't think fully like adults despite the centuries they've lived. It's interesting to think about!

I'm also a fan of the Free Will quest, where the diviners seem to have cracked the game's code and realise that Lightning (and by extension the player) has no choice but to help them if they hand us a task. You've nailed me there guys, I can't refuse a sidequest! Also lol at the one with alchemist selling poisons for live experiments, I've taken one from her but haven't used it in battle yet. Very interested to see what it will do! ...I might use it in a minor battle to be safe >_>

For the main plot, we eventually reach the Augur's quarter and Light and Hope decide to blow up the main statue so she can simply walk across to the palace. I feel like there was probably an easier option available guys, but hey the world's ending so who cares about some architecture I guess. I sure hope nobody gets crushed underneath the statue though! Sidenote, Light jokes about not being able to scale that wall but XIII Cutscene Lightning would have zero trouble on that front, smh.

I've collected the fireworks, including some intended to honour a dead child. I was thinking how messed up it is to use those for this task then Light straight up says the same thing lol. Next up, explosion time!

...

Meow Meow Choco Chow.

andylt posted...

Meow Meow Choco Chow.

Regarding your comments, re."direct counter to XIII": Most people don't realize Toriyama constantly added things to each installment based upon fan feedback. People just were so sour on XIII itself that they just didn't care that he was actually listening and trying to meet fans in the middle. Good example of "first impressions are hard to overcome."

I appreciate how wildly different each entry in the trilogy is, they might not succeed all the time but people can't deny that they really tried! Neither of the sequels are phoned in cashgrabs.

After a brief stop in the arena it's time for Light to become an actress, thanks to Hope throwing her old motivational line back at her. Final Fantasy loves its plays! Unfortunately this one is just a cutscene and doesn't have a full story like those in VI and IX, but it's still neat. The fireworks plan succeeds and it's off to Snow's palace. Though Light and the director explicitly talk about evacuating the area beforehand and ensuring nobody gets harmed, but that didn't seem to happen as people were screaming and running all over the place >_>

Anyway, we work our way through the palace and finally meet Snow, who has intentionally locked himself away waiting for Light to prove she's real and then free him from his despair. The boss fight is much easier than Noel's, but I give it bonus points for the nice use of old music.

The scene after the battle is really good, and not just because of Light punching Snow. Ali Hillis's performance here is excellent. At first I don't think there's a chance they'll kill Snow, but as the scene goes on I start to believe. And dang it if the game doesn't make me want Light to save him! The two have great chemistry, and Light's futile desperation is powerful. I can't get over how well voiced this scene is. Who would've thought a scene with Snow would be the strongest one so far? And Light can give up on that whole 'not feeling things anymore' angle, her humanity was on full display here with all that raw emotion.

Light does somehow manage to bring Snow back from Cie'th status, which could be a Deus Ex Machina but I trust that this is a plot point with Light's new powers and we'll get more info later on. She makes a well deserved dig at his new hair, then leaves on an ominous line regarding Serah: 'Someday you'll be all she has'. Snow doesn't seem to pick up on it but this certainly suggests to me like Light isn't planning to be around in the new world D:

Day 3 is done, and for day 4 I head to the Wildlands. We're given what sounds like the name of a boss fight 'the Angel of Valhalla', but it turns out to merely be a boisterous chocobo. A chocobo Light feels a connection to, as if they fought together in the past... Could this be Sazh's pet chocobo? Or did Fang get turned into this somehow >_> I can't think who else is relevant.

The chocobo is injured and we are given fetch quests. Wow, this area is starting to resemble a regular JRPG! I'm still enjoying the side quests, particularly to see Light being very sweet and encouraging to random strangers. She has really softened in her old age. I quit here for now, no strong feelings about the Wildlands yet but once the Chocobo is up and running there should be plenty of stuff to do.

I should note an interesting sidequest resolution with a guy and his missing fiancee, revealing that she somehow started to age naturally and died. Good quest, and a nice bit of information here. I'm curious what the implications are lorewise.

andylt posted...

Could this be Sazh's pet chocobo?

No, that's Chocolina! I think they only make that clear in some mediocre XIII-2 DLC, though. Still, Choco-boco-lina is great.

I really liked the play Lightning did, it was cinematic. Her and Snow's interactions during the boss fight were good too.

The chocobo identity can be a surprise as one wouldn't expect the bond to be so powerful. However, if you want its identity before the game tells you * I'll spoiler tag it out of respect for not ruining the plot* Read the name it was given. The answer is in its title.

Also, yes. Chocolina is great.

500 years is an unfathomable amount of time as no one on earth could or will ever experience it.

Can emotions and memories survive that long? Take Snow for example, his love for Serah is as strong as ever but is that really likely given the length of time involved?

Also if you haven't seen or heard from a family member in 500 years, would you still remember them?

imagine being stuck in diapers for 500 years

Also more info on the bonus dungeon:-

To access the Extra Day, you must complete all 5 Main Quests and feed the sacred tree Yggdrasil a requisite number of saved souls. It takes 100 points to unlock the Extra Day and the points are based on the number of stars of each side quest.

The breakdown of each Side Quest goes like this:

• 1 Star Side Quest = 2 points
• 2 Star Side Quest = 4 points
• 3 Star Side Quest = 8 points

Cavedweller2000 posted...

500 years is an unfathomable amount of time as no one on earth could or will ever experience it.

Can emotions and memories survive that long? Take Snow for example, his love for Serah is as strong as ever but is that really likely given the length of time involved?

Also if you haven't seen or heard from a family member in 500 years, would you still remember them?

In Snow's case, his love remained strong because of the pendants he and Serah shared. It was such a powerful symbol for him, he even locked it away to protect it, thus protecting and preserving his love for her. It's also why Light's confrontation with Snow involved beating him WITH pendant in hand. A special exception but not an impossible one as symbolism has always been effective in stirring emotions.

The family member aspect likely depends on how strong the bond between them is. That, plus a possible symbol.

Ah yes, I forgot about Chocolina's true identity. What a bizarre character. The Angel of Valhalla could be Odin then maybe? That'd track. I was connecting Valhalla to Ragnarok but connecting it to Odin makes more sense.

The idea of what someone would be like after 500 years of living (and not aging) is interesting, I'm glad they're exploring it somewhat in the sidequests.

But for now, the Angel is feeling better and we have the very serious business of meeting Dr Sheep and herding some sheep. A classic video game quest! After rounding them up the doctor reveals that he has figured out Lightning is the master of the Angel of Valhalla, a deduction that would be more impressive if the Angel did not walk into shot right in front of him as he was talking. I should've recorded that bit, that chocobo has great comedic timing. Minor annoyance with the game so far: dialogue streams going over the top of each other, or cancelling themselves if you click the wrong thing or move too far one way. With the time limit I don't always feel like I can stand around and listen to Hope and Light chat, but sometimes it's important!

There's a lot of running around the wildlands getting medicine and the like. Moogles are around in the forest, but I don't find their village. After healing our new friend all the way we get access to the downed airship, only to discover Sazh! Hi Sazh! Unfortunately he barely acknowledges Lightning and wanders off, as Dajh is unconscious again. Lol, between Serah and Dajh it's like we're back in XIII-1. It seems Sazh's quest is merely to get some collectables across the world, which is fine I guess, but pretty disappointing. I'm hoping there'll be more to it, Sazh doesn't deserve to be tossed aside as a minor character like that.

We also get a recording of the plane crash, showing a young girl being important to the source of the chaos (I assume Lumina at this point). Next up we reach a village of 'heretics', and then we're into Etro's temple. Caius's appearance would've caught me off guard had Lightning not mentioned him in passing 30 seconds prior, but this is still potentially interesting. I can't say I cared about Caius or even Yeul too much in XIII-2, but I'm glad they're at least getting proper closure here.

This temple is tougher (and longer) than the other 'dungeons' we've had so far, and this whole area feels more important and main-questy than the others. There's lots of free spells around, and eventually we learn that Yeul is the source of all the chaos, thanks to her many incarnations and the contradictions between them. That's cool, I didn't expect it to be so straightforward but the twist works well enough. I'm not thinking about it too hard >_> It must've been Yeul in the flight crash log, I wonder what Lumina's deal is, then?

Caius is also connected to this, as the Yeuls are all pushing and pulling between wanting to keep him alive or allowing him to die. This leads us to a clash with Caius, but... it's time for me to leave things for tonight before the fight. I am not looking forward to this battle, I've used up my items going through the dungeon (why are there so many Ectopuddings) and there's no restock point, and this whole sequence feels like it's a bit beyond me right now. But we'll see how things go, there's no easy teleport point back here so I'd like to get this boss done before Day 4 ends. Fingers crossed!

Sahz's arc has an important role, so he's not being shuffled to the side. May not look it now, but once you've completed it, you'll likely get the rationale behind it quickly.

I will say, without spoiling things for you, that every character from one of the previous XIII games is explicitly put in a position that relays to the endgame in some form. Pay attention to the dialogue of Yeul and Caius, for example. Every word is both a pretext and a key. The words won't matter until late game, but if you're paying attention you'll realize something before the game even tells it to you. Lightning Returns is full of these foreshadowing moments.

Oh i didn't remember Caius's name being namedropped right before his appearance, or I missed it entirely. But I was legit surprised and I always liked Caius, even if he's just generic bad guy I love the voice and aesthetic. Top tier bad guy voice acting there.

andylt posted...

But we'll see how things go, there's no easy teleport point back here so I'd like to get this boss done before Day 4 ends. Fingers crossed!

True story: I was having so much trouble vs. Caius, not sure if I was under-levelled (under-missioned?) or hadn't gotten a hang of the game mechanics, or the temple just exhausted my HP/supplies/whatever; all I remember was dying more than once vs. him. So I purposefully waited right before the boss fight room until the end of the day, teleported up to the Ark, refreshed and replenished and then did the boss fight, lol... gotta do what you gotta do!

So, assuming the to-from Ark mechanic still functions the same on all days, even if you don't finish before Day 4 you should get dropped back there.

Martin! I remember you saying that you liked LR, good to see you here. I don't remember the context but in the heretic village Light mentions 'Caius Ballad' kinda out of nowhere so I figured then that he was coming up lol, but before that I had no idea who the fifth quest person would be. It's nice that this game is treating both XIII and XIII-2 characters with care, I assumed beforehand that they'd kinda toss XIII-2 aside.

And that is a good idea RE: the Ark, it's around 4:30am ingame for me so I could wait until end of day and replenish my items if I need to.

_PandaMaster_ posted...

Sahz's arc has an important role, so he's not being shuffled to the side. May not look it now, but once you've completed it, you'll likely get the rationale behind it quickly.

I will say, without spoiling things for you, that every character from one of the previous XIII games is explicitly put in a position that relays to the endgame in some form. Pay attention to the dialogue of Yeul and Caius, for example. Every word is both a pretext and a key. The words won't matter until late game, but if you're paying attention you'll realize something before the game even tells it to you. Lightning Returns is full of these foreshadowing moments.

Thanks for this info! This is all very reassuring. I did figure that Yeul at least would be important to the endgame, given that she's kinda the reason for all of the chaos in the first place. And Vanille, with how that scene with her in the cathedral went.

Maybe it's because I knew going in that LR isn't a widely beloved game, but I didn't expect it to have a particularly strong narrative so that may be why I've not been paying as close attention as I should. I do try to keep up with the moment to moment dialogue, but it is hard sometimes when I feel like I have to keep continuously moving forward and then lines get cut short etc. I wish all games had some kind of text log for recent dialogue like VNs do!

Damn those Ectopuddings!

Seriously, screw those puddings. They're not so tough, but there's so many of them and they have ridiculous reach with their arms so it's impossible to avoid the battle or get a pre-emptive strike. Bah.

Well, it took over an hour and many attempts but we did it, we beat Caius! And with a 5* rating to boot :) I was really struggling with this one, I managed to get him down to about 1/3 health easily enough but that's when he powers up, heals himself and starts comboing attacks very quickly for a very long time.

I thought I might have to give up, but I changed up the garbs for a more decisive approach- Nocturne with all physical attack boosts and I only used the Attack command, Paladin with all defensive boosts (and I equipped the Ghostly Hood which decreases physical damage received by 75%), exclusively using Heavy Guard, and Midnight Mauve with all magic for Caius's Ravager phase. Defaith helped mitigate his spellpower an awful lot, too. I still cut it very close and every Megaflare had my heart pounding hoping I didn't mess up the timing, but we did it!

Caius goes down, but Light cannot save a soul that does not want to be saved. He claims Yeul can't fit into the new world as she will always carry the risk of chaos, and he decides to stay in the dying world with her. His reasoning is left a little ambiguous, but it's implied that he wants to stay with Yeul, Yeul (sometimes) wants to stay with him, and he may also wish to atone for his mistakes. It's a decent scene, I'm glad they don't try to redeem him too much but still have his motives make sense, and I like the last Yeul mentioning wanting to see Noel again (not by name, but that must be who she's referring to). I imagine we'll see Caius again in some form before the game is done.

Did XIII-2 mention how Yeul got cursed in the first place? If she's destined to die young and constantly reincarnate, it must've taken something very powerful to cause that. Especially given the, you know, world ending power it ultimately wrought. I really should've skimmed a plot summary for XIII-2 to refresh my memory before starting this >_>

Third quest down, and Day 4 hasn't even ended. Woo! Afterwards another Yeul confirms that she led Light here and saw what was to come, and we also get confirmation that the Angel of Valhalla is Odin. Nice to see the Eidolon get some closure, though I'm curious what happened to the others. Snow is still a L'Cie, so where is Shiva at least? Maybe this was explained in XIII-2 too and I forgot.

Day 4 ends and day 5 begins, I figure I'm doing alright for time so I decide to stay in the Wildlands for a bit to clean up some sidequests. One of them leads Light to a man claiming to have seen Sarala's father die, and it seems very obvious that this man is in fact the father in question but Light uncharacteristically doesn't question this. The quest ends but I'm convinced there's more to this one, maybe it'll come up later.

Oh my god I didn't realise how hilarious the animal textures are until the game did a closeup shot of a dog (Clove) for a sidequest. There was no need for that shot, they must've realised it was hilarious and left it in on purpose lmao.

I like that Light calls Odin by name in battle now :) And it's a nice touch having Chocolina voice concern about Sazh.

I figure we should head to the Dead Dunes, so off we go! Desert areas in fiction usually need some kind of gimmick for me to enjoy them. This one has an underground set of ruins seemingly spanning the entire map, which does the job well enough. I like that they give us fast travel at no cost in this region, it'd probably be a bit too annoying to traverse without that option. Also Earth Eaters are really annoying, boo Earth Eaters.

The layout is a bit odd here, we find and use a Pilgrim's Cross before the plot introduces them to us and we colllect a sidequest item long before we are given the relevant quest lol. Still we find our way to Ruffian eventually, and meet the friendly bandits. I like that the bandits and heretics in this game are both generally pretty chill (except in that initial quest) instead of being generic baddies as is the norm. Adonis seems cool, and there's a kid who speaks in code. 'Sho Nit' he says, and Hope is unable to figure out this masterful cipher. Very surprised they let that slip through the censors, lol.

The leader of the bandits turns out to be Fang of course! Woo, Fang! The reunion here is great, Fang and Light have a great dynamic. Or maybe it's just because this is easily the warmest welcome Light has received from any old friend so far. On top of that, Fang actually joins the party! I'm glad I didn't come to do this quest first or I would've been disappointed that none of the others joined us later on.

There's a bunch of dungeon crawling through the ruins to follow, but that can wait for another day. I look forward to hearing all that Fang has to say, or at least half of it before the dialogue gets cut off for a battle.

andylt posted...

Did XIII-2 mention how Yeul got cursed in the first place?

Yeul is the Seeress; a very special one. The Seeress is destined to constantly view any visions of a change in any potential future. Every time a future is viewed, the Seeress dies. The Seeress is "blessed" by Etro's power. The "Blessings of Etro" always end up being curses in the long run. Caius is another example of that. Blessed with the power to protect the Seeress, he's given Etro's heart and can't die under normal circumstances. Put simply, anyone blessed by Etro in any form is doomed to some penalty down the line and Yeul was born into a power bound to always tear her apart like a poison upon her soul. There is a little bit more to Yeul, but that is *plot based* and the game will outright tell it to you when it's time.

andylt posted...

Angel of Valhalla is Odin

Most would never expect it, yet it fits perfectly. Eidolons are connected to the person who can summon them. In Odin's case there's a bit of plot based symbolism with him returning to Lightning after all this time. You'll likely figure it out later in the game when *plot moments* happen.

because I suspect Robazoid checking this topic:

https://twitter.com/SQEX_MD_NA/status/1506005447135752194

I didn't even know Eiko had an official birthday, but happy birthday Eiko!

As for FF figures, I do own two Lightning ones. Sadly, I recently filled up the last spots in my figure case (with three different figures of Kasumi from BanG Dream because she's the best) so I should probably resist that Eiko figure

GuessMyUserName posted...

because I suspect Robazoid checking this topic:

https://twitter.com/SQEX_MD_NA/status/1506005447135752194

Eiko sucks

smh this is not Eiko Returns! ...Though I wonder how poorly that game announcement would be received.

_PandaMaster_ posted...

Yeul is the Seeress; a very special one. The Seeress is destined to constantly view any visions of a change in any potential future. Every time a future is viewed, the Seeress dies. The Seeress is "blessed" by Etro's power. The "Blessings of Etro" always end up being curses in the long run. Caius is another example of that. Blessed with the power to protect the Seeress, he's given Etro's heart and can't die under normal circumstances. Put simply, anyone blessed by Etro in any form is doomed to some penalty down the line and Yeul was born into a power bound to always tear her apart like a poison upon her soul. There is a little bit more to Yeul, but that is *plot based* and the game will outright tell it to you when it's time.

Thanks for the refresher! I'm still not sure how Yeul came to receive Etro's Blessing in the first place (I assume the first Yeul was born with the curse), or why a Seeress was created at all, but I suppose that's not relevant or known. Etro is gone and who knows why fantasy gods do the weird shit they all do!

Btw here is good dog Clove:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/7/AAMTNtAAA66H.jpg

Have you had any NPCs randomly walk in-between Lightning and whoever she's talking to during cutscenes?

andylt posted...

smh this is not Eiko Returns! ...Though I wonder how poorly that game announcement would be received.

I would love to play Eiko Returns.

XIII Trilogy: "Everything is Etro's Fault"

Mobilezoid posted...

I would love to play Eiko Returns.

Gimme a FF9 sequel with a, like... 15 year time skip.

or 20 years + Zidane and Garnet's kids (twins but one has a horn and one has a tail) are lead characters

inb4 "The After Years" but still

Cavedweller2000 posted...

Have you had any NPCs randomly walk in-between Lightning and whoever she's talking to during cutscenes?

Constantly. It's charming, really!

MartinFF7 posted...

XIII Trilogy: "Everything is Etro's Fault"

Well humanity would never have existed if whatshisface hadn't spilled Etro's blood apparently so blame the other guy!

Back to it!

I completely forgot about Mog. I swear I did play XIII-2, it clearly didn't leave a massive impression on me >_> I have no strong opinion on these moogles but I do enjoy Lightning punching/throwing them around. There's a pretty good sidequest involving a guy who wants Cardesia to poison him so he can be free from his guilt, but she gives him a real potion, apparently having forgiven him. All this transpires without a word on her end, I quite like how they did that.

Before heading back to the dunes we are informed that chaos has enveloped Canopus Farms. Heading there we dis- SO YOU THINK YOU CAN RIDE THIS CHOCOBO??? ! Yes, Crazy Chocobo is back and we have a very annoying fight with a chaos boosted Chocobo Eater. It eventually goes down but not before the farm is littered with chocobo corpses :( There's a nice scene with Odin and Lightning, I appreciate the effort they put in to treat Odin like a real character in this game. Canopus Farms begins to recover, I like this place and its residents quite a lot now.

Back to the tablet hunt with Fang, I try out some new garb for Light and only now do I realise how much of it is ridiculously skimpy lol. Right now I'm running around with a fluorescent pink undergarment that really doesn't seem like Light's style at all! Regardless, we plow through the area and wind up in a boss fight against Grendel. Hey, this is the first time since the prologue where a main boss isn't one of the human characters from the earlier games. I'm probs a bit over-sidequested for this fight, it's a nuisance but we have too much power for it to pose a real threat.

Grendel goes down but somehow the Order snuck past us to take the clavis (the word clavis no longer sounds real to me with how much it's said in this region). We get useful info from Fang pertaining to the main plot, the most interesting being how Vanille seems to be aware of the Order's plans but is determined to see them through anyway to atone for her sins. Fang obviously wants to prevent her death (and the destruction of the dead souls) but Light wisely doesn't BS her, saying that she'll see Vanille's wishes through unless Fang convinces her to change her mind. I'm not sure how this will go down, the game has avoided killing the old characters so far and I doubt they'd kill Vanille off again, but there's gotta be more to it than Fang just suddenly convincing her to change her mind this time round.

Fang sadly leaves the party, the dynamic between her and Light was great. Light kills a cactuar that has an afro and gets the 4th Dajh fragment. Only one left now (in the Yusnaan coliseum), then we'll have all the main quests complete! And it's only day 6, woo.

andylt posted...

Mog

Mog is great.

andylt posted...

Right now I'm running around with a fluorescent pink undergarment that really doesn't seem like Light's style at all!

Well, she is a real life model, and models wear what they're told to wear.

andylt posted...

And it's only day 6, woo.

And to think, you were worried about the time limit. I think you're getting through this way faster than I did when I played

Re: Lightning's outfits-

You have to remember that Toriyama "fell in love with his creation," so to speak. He got his "wish fulfillment" in a sense with Lightning Returns.

I'm not sure I quite understand/agree with Vanille's continuous quest for atonement considering that Fang and Vanille saved millions of lives by sacrificing themselves at the end of the first game.

Surely that's atonement enough?

I hadn't thought about it like that but I suppose Vanille has already done a lot to atone, I guess they needed a motivation for her to follow such a destructive plan. Though we've barely spoken to her since she was crystallised again, maybe she still feels tremendous guilt and a responsibility for every bad thing that's happened since somehow.

_PandaMaster_ posted...

You have to remember that Toriyama "fell in love with his creation," so to speak. He got his "wish fulfillment" in a sense with Lightning Returns.

...weird.

Sazh's quest done! Lumina straight up says that Light's obsession with Serah is comparable to Sazh's with Dajh, and may work to her detriment. The difference being that Light doesn't feel love for Serah anymore, I wonder if that lack of sentiment will wind up helping or hurting her cause in the end. It is odd, she still clearly feels emotions and cares about what happens to Serah (see: the scene with Snow), but she doesn't feel anything at all towards Serah's presence in Ark. It's not stopping her from fighting tooth and nail to get her back (or whatever other plan she has hiding up her sleeve), I'm curious how this will play out.

In any case, that's 5/5 main quests and we're still on day 6! I half expected a new main quest to pop up, maybe there'll be something once we end the day. Or maybe we have 6 whole days to galavant around doing all sorts of side quests before the end of the world hits!

This time is entirely yours now. You can go to a hotel and literally spend the rest of your time in bed, or you can crack on with sidequests