It wasn't like, reviled. But let's say opinions were mixed. Anyway it's a game that benefits from being 15 years old and from me being 15 years older.
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I'm playing through all of Final Fantasy, and everyone is invited (Playing Lightning Returns now)
- Thread starter FelixSH
- Start date
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- Tags
- final fantasy
Honestly, the Final Fantasies past the PS1 era failed to capture my interest. Heck, even FF7 and 8 took a lot of struggling before I could recognize them for their greatness. IDK, I guess I'm just too fond of 2D pixel art games over 3D ones, even when the latter are competently made. 
I played through Chapter 1.
Feels like they're really leaning into the FF7 here. The first location with the train tracks is dark with lots of green glows that reminds me of the atmosphere of Midgar. You guys talked about how Lightning is not really a female Cloud, and I'm confident you all are right. Buuuuut, her first impression is Cloud-like and one of her first lines is "ex-soldier" which is also something Cloud clarifies early on to Barret. Lightning feels more driven than Cloud though, who starts out more aloof. You all say her feeling is more anger as things move forward, but I don't think i've got to that yet.
Sazh is Barret-like only in that they are both playing a black stereotype. Where Lightning flings herself off ledges and flips, Sazh methodically climbs down and even says "I'm getting too old for this". He's feeling very cowardly. I found myself thinking why is he even here?
Snow and NORA are definitely giving Avalance vibes. His sidekicks look like they should be the party of some other JRPG. Snow has the unearned confidence of a young white male American and i kind of immediately dislike him. He's being very cavalier about getting people killed. I think the feeling he's trying to evoke is Bravery, but i'd also say he's being very prideful.
Speaking of feelings, Hope funnily enough is not showing much of it. If I understand the context (I didn't read any of the codex entries yet) he's being kicked out of his home, which I assume is connected to the big Pulse fal'cie thing being towed through the air and then Snow kinda gets his mom killed. He's clearly very young compared to recent FF party members and overwhelmed. Sadness, anger, fear and maybe a little embarassed because Vanille has seen all this.
Vanille is being way to cutesy about this whole scenario. I don't know all of what's going down, but clearly there's some open rebellion happening. She's wearing a same robe as Hope so why isn't she sad? And she's narrating for us. Just a hunch, but I'm guessing there's something more to Vanille or she knows something I and the other party members don't yet.
The emotions obviously stood out to me. FF12's characters were all so reserved, like they were trying to hold back their emotions. Everyone in 13 is wearing their heart on their sleeves. The gameplay in chapter 1 is totally perfunctory. I remember that they give me paradigms soon, so I understand that chapter 1 is missing the main element. Its like the early part of FF5. Until you get the first crystal, just push through the combat as quick as you can.
Feels like they're really leaning into the FF7 here. The first location with the train tracks is dark with lots of green glows that reminds me of the atmosphere of Midgar. You guys talked about how Lightning is not really a female Cloud, and I'm confident you all are right. Buuuuut, her first impression is Cloud-like and one of her first lines is "ex-soldier" which is also something Cloud clarifies early on to Barret. Lightning feels more driven than Cloud though, who starts out more aloof. You all say her feeling is more anger as things move forward, but I don't think i've got to that yet.
Sazh is Barret-like only in that they are both playing a black stereotype. Where Lightning flings herself off ledges and flips, Sazh methodically climbs down and even says "I'm getting too old for this". He's feeling very cowardly. I found myself thinking why is he even here?
Snow and NORA are definitely giving Avalance vibes. His sidekicks look like they should be the party of some other JRPG. Snow has the unearned confidence of a young white male American and i kind of immediately dislike him. He's being very cavalier about getting people killed. I think the feeling he's trying to evoke is Bravery, but i'd also say he's being very prideful.
Speaking of feelings, Hope funnily enough is not showing much of it. If I understand the context (I didn't read any of the codex entries yet) he's being kicked out of his home, which I assume is connected to the big Pulse fal'cie thing being towed through the air and then Snow kinda gets his mom killed. He's clearly very young compared to recent FF party members and overwhelmed. Sadness, anger, fear and maybe a little embarassed because Vanille has seen all this.
Vanille is being way to cutesy about this whole scenario. I don't know all of what's going down, but clearly there's some open rebellion happening. She's wearing a same robe as Hope so why isn't she sad? And she's narrating for us. Just a hunch, but I'm guessing there's something more to Vanille or she knows something I and the other party members don't yet.
The emotions obviously stood out to me. FF12's characters were all so reserved, like they were trying to hold back their emotions. Everyone in 13 is wearing their heart on their sleeves. The gameplay in chapter 1 is totally perfunctory. I remember that they give me paradigms soon, so I understand that chapter 1 is missing the main element. Its like the early part of FF5. Until you get the first crystal, just push through the combat as quick as you can.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
It's already to long for me to effectively argue for Lightning not just being a copy of Cloud, but I totally agree that this is where it at least starts, to draw people in. Something like that.
And, I mean, I would be as cowardly as Sazh in this situation. I don't want people to shoot at me.
The battle system will stay restricted for longer. I think calling it a tutorial for 12 chapters or so is nonsense, the restrictions you get work well. And honestly, if I got the whole thing at once, I'd have been completely overwhelmed. But yeah, it's slow, no arguing there.
And, I mean, I would be as cowardly as Sazh in this situation. I don't want people to shoot at me.
The battle system will stay restricted for longer. I think calling it a tutorial for 12 chapters or so is nonsense, the restrictions you get work well. And honestly, if I got the whole thing at once, I'd have been completely overwhelmed. But yeah, it's slow, no arguing there.
Lightning definitely comes off a bit like Cloud at the start but the difference is in how the characters play out over time.
Okay, Chapter 2 complete and i read through most of the datalogs.
So, as I understand it, We're on Cocoon, an artificial hollow moon above the planet Pulse and we live on the inside surface. Cocoon was made from material from Pulse by these creatures called fal'Cei (are they all mechanical like Anima?) There are Pulse fal'Cei and Cocoon fal'Cei. The cocoon ones maintain the artifical moon, but don't govern it. the Sanctum governs. fal'Cei of either variety can compel humans to act on their behalf if the humans are in close proximity. The humans become l'Cei and are given a brand and a vision. They can use magic with the brand and the vision is a vauge clue about an objective the l'Cei must accomplish. Fail and you become a monster called Cei'th. Succeed and get turned into a crystal and have eternal life.
At some point there was a fight between Pulse and Cocoon I think and as a result, there's a big ole crack in Cocoon. The location we started in is near the edge of this crack. There was an object in Bodhum which contained a dormant Pulse fal'Cei, but it activated. When the Sanctum found out, they're afriad of Pulse l'Cei being created, so they're rounding up everyone that was nearby and going to kick them off down to Pulse, called a purge. People got mad about it and that's what kicked off the fighting.
From the one flashback I've seen thusfar, I'm guessing our party was in the neighborhood and Sarah was probably involved. Sarah was made a l'Cei sometime before this flashpoint and Snow knew before Lightning. So, there's some conflict between Snow and Lightning over Serah and this inciting incident. Hope seems to have been just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vanille seems to still be too unbothered by everything and Sazh seems to already understand what's going on, so perhaps both of them have a reason why they're involved. When Lightning and Snow agree to protect Cocoon, Serah turns into crystal, so presumably that was her focus. Snow and Lightning decide to confront the fal'Cei, which is Anima. A fight ensues. I win the fight, but Anima turns the whole party into l'Cei then it looked to me like Anima turned into crystal, the whole big dungeon we're in plunges into the lake below and the whole thing turns to crystal. The whole party had a vision of "ragnarok" and Snow presumes their focus is to protect Cocoon and sets off to find Serah.
(I felt like i needed to write this all down to keep it straight in my head)
Lots of connections to previous FF's in Chapter 2. FF4 had advanced civilization on the moon and FF8 had the monsters falling from the moon. Anima was Seymour's summon from FF10. The first dungeon feels a lot like the Wind Shrine in FF5. Very simple, with just a bit of branching for some chests and straightforward fights until you unlock the job system. Paradigms seems to basically be like jobs from FF5, except you switch around mid fight, sort of like how you swap party members around in FF10 for different roles. And the Crystarium is sort of like the sphere grid from FF10. The fight against Anima feels like a gimick tutorial boss from FFs of old such as Guard Scorpion or Wing Raptor.
On my first try, i knocked out both arms, then went to town on anima while it regenerated its arms. I repeated but the second regeneration did some kind of aoe attack and knocked out Lightning, forcing me to retry. Second try, i knocked out one arm, left the 2nd at low health, then attacked anima until my health was low, knocked out the 2nd arm and used a potion. I'm sure just about any strategy might have worked, but I felt like I at least had something slightly more interesting to do than just mindlessly mash autobattle.
My favorite part of playing FF13 at the moment is that there's no stress. I'm not making any decisions. I can completely focus on the characters and the story.
So, as I understand it, We're on Cocoon, an artificial hollow moon above the planet Pulse and we live on the inside surface. Cocoon was made from material from Pulse by these creatures called fal'Cei (are they all mechanical like Anima?) There are Pulse fal'Cei and Cocoon fal'Cei. The cocoon ones maintain the artifical moon, but don't govern it. the Sanctum governs. fal'Cei of either variety can compel humans to act on their behalf if the humans are in close proximity. The humans become l'Cei and are given a brand and a vision. They can use magic with the brand and the vision is a vauge clue about an objective the l'Cei must accomplish. Fail and you become a monster called Cei'th. Succeed and get turned into a crystal and have eternal life.
At some point there was a fight between Pulse and Cocoon I think and as a result, there's a big ole crack in Cocoon. The location we started in is near the edge of this crack. There was an object in Bodhum which contained a dormant Pulse fal'Cei, but it activated. When the Sanctum found out, they're afriad of Pulse l'Cei being created, so they're rounding up everyone that was nearby and going to kick them off down to Pulse, called a purge. People got mad about it and that's what kicked off the fighting.
From the one flashback I've seen thusfar, I'm guessing our party was in the neighborhood and Sarah was probably involved. Sarah was made a l'Cei sometime before this flashpoint and Snow knew before Lightning. So, there's some conflict between Snow and Lightning over Serah and this inciting incident. Hope seems to have been just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Vanille seems to still be too unbothered by everything and Sazh seems to already understand what's going on, so perhaps both of them have a reason why they're involved. When Lightning and Snow agree to protect Cocoon, Serah turns into crystal, so presumably that was her focus. Snow and Lightning decide to confront the fal'Cei, which is Anima. A fight ensues. I win the fight, but Anima turns the whole party into l'Cei then it looked to me like Anima turned into crystal, the whole big dungeon we're in plunges into the lake below and the whole thing turns to crystal. The whole party had a vision of "ragnarok" and Snow presumes their focus is to protect Cocoon and sets off to find Serah.
(I felt like i needed to write this all down to keep it straight in my head)
Lots of connections to previous FF's in Chapter 2. FF4 had advanced civilization on the moon and FF8 had the monsters falling from the moon. Anima was Seymour's summon from FF10. The first dungeon feels a lot like the Wind Shrine in FF5. Very simple, with just a bit of branching for some chests and straightforward fights until you unlock the job system. Paradigms seems to basically be like jobs from FF5, except you switch around mid fight, sort of like how you swap party members around in FF10 for different roles. And the Crystarium is sort of like the sphere grid from FF10. The fight against Anima feels like a gimick tutorial boss from FFs of old such as Guard Scorpion or Wing Raptor.
On my first try, i knocked out both arms, then went to town on anima while it regenerated its arms. I repeated but the second regeneration did some kind of aoe attack and knocked out Lightning, forcing me to retry. Second try, i knocked out one arm, left the 2nd at low health, then attacked anima until my health was low, knocked out the 2nd arm and used a potion. I'm sure just about any strategy might have worked, but I felt like I at least had something slightly more interesting to do than just mindlessly mash autobattle.
My favorite part of playing FF13 at the moment is that there's no stress. I'm not making any decisions. I can completely focus on the characters and the story.
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Chapter 3 done.
Not a ton to talk about here. After finding Serah, Snow and Lightning get into a fight and she socks him twice. Everyone leaves Snow behind and the rest of Lightning's chapter 3 is mostly fighting to escape from PSICOM. We get another flashback of the fireworks night and see that Lightning was on guard duty and was just about to get a promotion. They attempt to escape via airship, but are chased. On the flight I learn about two more fal'Cei. Eden is in charge in Cocoon and Phoenix is acting as a mini-sun inside the cocoon. I also saw the in charge human guy and there's more about how basically public opinion was in favor of the purge because the people of cocoon just want to be safe in their shell.
Snow stayed behind with Serah-crystal because he's doing his best Naruto impression and claiming he's going to protect everyone. PSICOM wears him down until he summons Shiva as a pair of sisters / motorcycle. When NIx is doing ATB Charge, i use Sentinal and block a bunch of damage, which seems to be the key to filling the gauge. Then Snow meets someone who I think was in the first flashback at the bar, so presumably she's important. She's also a fal'Cei but her brand is a different color and nobody is trying to arrest her so maybe she's a Cocoon fal'Cei? Her and her goons pick up Sar-ystal and Snow and leave.
I think the last time i stopped was in chapter 4. I don't remember a specific reason why though.
Not a ton to talk about here. After finding Serah, Snow and Lightning get into a fight and she socks him twice. Everyone leaves Snow behind and the rest of Lightning's chapter 3 is mostly fighting to escape from PSICOM. We get another flashback of the fireworks night and see that Lightning was on guard duty and was just about to get a promotion. They attempt to escape via airship, but are chased. On the flight I learn about two more fal'Cei. Eden is in charge in Cocoon and Phoenix is acting as a mini-sun inside the cocoon. I also saw the in charge human guy and there's more about how basically public opinion was in favor of the purge because the people of cocoon just want to be safe in their shell.
Snow stayed behind with Serah-crystal because he's doing his best Naruto impression and claiming he's going to protect everyone. PSICOM wears him down until he summons Shiva as a pair of sisters / motorcycle. When NIx is doing ATB Charge, i use Sentinal and block a bunch of damage, which seems to be the key to filling the gauge. Then Snow meets someone who I think was in the first flashback at the bar, so presumably she's important. She's also a fal'Cei but her brand is a different color and nobody is trying to arrest her so maybe she's a Cocoon fal'Cei? Her and her goons pick up Sar-ystal and Snow and leave.
I think the last time i stopped was in chapter 4. I don't remember a specific reason why though.
Chapter 4 complete.
Yeah, Felix, i'm guessing what roadblocked me last time was Odin. It took me 3 tries this time and frantically chugging potions. I got the meter full with about 150 left on my clock and Hope taking a dirt nap. Not pretty, but we got it done. When using Odin, I believe I correctly guessed I'm supposed to push up the chain gauge and then use Zantetsuken to insta-KO. Other fights this chapter also gave me some trouble. 3 bombs self-destructing so quickly seemed particularly unfair. I had to use a fortisol to be able to start with faith and haste to ko at least one bomb and i still had to rush a potion as quick as i can after. It seems like either fights go really smoothly or a complete disaster.
Backing up a bit, a lot happens in Chapter 4.
A few more pieces of the flashback are filled in. I'm really liking this interesting way of telling this story about these 13 days.
At the end of chapter 4, I have that Snow found out about Serah's brand on day 7, and Hope was indeed at the fireworks with his mom and had daddy issues.
Hope by the end of Chapter 4 has started to toughen up and after shouting at him and fighting and aquiring Odin together, Lightning is starting to let Hope in and work with him. Sazh seems to imply that he is/was a father. He seems pretty hopeless, but at least by the end of the chapter it looks like he and Vanille have escaped the PSICOM troops for a while. The energy between Sazh and Vanille seems kinda awkward. They seem sort of like opposites but they're both in favor of running away. In the final scene for them, they lay down to rest and Vanille draws a line in the dirt telling him not to cross it, which Sazh scoffs at, but later she's laying up against his back and was either trembling or crying, i couldn't really parse the sound. I took it to mean that while she's put on a happy face, she's feeling as sad as the rest of them.
Finally, we see that Snow is in custody on the Lindblum with the branded woman and our Cid of FF13.
And Chapter 5 starts with Light and Hope on their way to Palumpolum.
I enjoyed those references to previous games this chapter. Also the big machine we fight and later pilot looks a lot like a Sweeper from FF7 to me.
The gameplay introduces a couple more elements, with the upgrading and using an eidolon in a fight, though just the tutorial of it this time. I avoided doing any upgrading for now. Last time I played I messed with it some in a way I'm guessing was very sub-optimal. I'm guessing the ideal choice is to pick a single weapon to focus on, maximize the xp multiplier and then level it up very fast. I think the advice here when Felix played was to not touch the upgrade system for a bit, so that's what I've done so far.
Yeah, Felix, i'm guessing what roadblocked me last time was Odin. It took me 3 tries this time and frantically chugging potions. I got the meter full with about 150 left on my clock and Hope taking a dirt nap. Not pretty, but we got it done. When using Odin, I believe I correctly guessed I'm supposed to push up the chain gauge and then use Zantetsuken to insta-KO. Other fights this chapter also gave me some trouble. 3 bombs self-destructing so quickly seemed particularly unfair. I had to use a fortisol to be able to start with faith and haste to ko at least one bomb and i still had to rush a potion as quick as i can after. It seems like either fights go really smoothly or a complete disaster.
Backing up a bit, a lot happens in Chapter 4.
A few more pieces of the flashback are filled in. I'm really liking this interesting way of telling this story about these 13 days.
At the end of chapter 4, I have that Snow found out about Serah's brand on day 7, and Hope was indeed at the fireworks with his mom and had daddy issues.
Hope by the end of Chapter 4 has started to toughen up and after shouting at him and fighting and aquiring Odin together, Lightning is starting to let Hope in and work with him. Sazh seems to imply that he is/was a father. He seems pretty hopeless, but at least by the end of the chapter it looks like he and Vanille have escaped the PSICOM troops for a while. The energy between Sazh and Vanille seems kinda awkward. They seem sort of like opposites but they're both in favor of running away. In the final scene for them, they lay down to rest and Vanille draws a line in the dirt telling him not to cross it, which Sazh scoffs at, but later she's laying up against his back and was either trembling or crying, i couldn't really parse the sound. I took it to mean that while she's put on a happy face, she's feeling as sad as the rest of them.
Finally, we see that Snow is in custody on the Lindblum with the branded woman and our Cid of FF13.
And Chapter 5 starts with Light and Hope on their way to Palumpolum.
I enjoyed those references to previous games this chapter. Also the big machine we fight and later pilot looks a lot like a Sweeper from FF7 to me.
The gameplay introduces a couple more elements, with the upgrading and using an eidolon in a fight, though just the tutorial of it this time. I avoided doing any upgrading for now. Last time I played I messed with it some in a way I'm guessing was very sub-optimal. I'm guessing the ideal choice is to pick a single weapon to focus on, maximize the xp multiplier and then level it up very fast. I think the advice here when Felix played was to not touch the upgrade system for a bit, so that's what I've done so far.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
Iirc, you can get by without upgrading. But I also remember using it last time, and it helped. I'd suggest to just wait, until you have trouble with a battle, and than upgrade your weapons.
Don't think there is a bad way, as mentioned, you should be able to beat the game without upgrading. I think I did that the first tim (don't quote me, though).
Don't think there is a bad way, as mentioned, you should be able to beat the game without upgrading. I think I did that the first tim (don't quote me, though).
Chapter 5 complete
Hope decides to get strong. Lightning gives him a pocket knife, that was her birthday gift from Serah (and Snow?) a couple of days ago. In that flashback, Lightning was pretty harsh on Serah and a bit later we see from Snow's perspective how Serah ended up inside the big Pulse artifact.
And chapter 6 starts with Sazh and Vanile continuing to run the opposite direction.
On the gameplay side, I feel like the battles almost have a rhythm game type feel to switching and staggering. I found the Hawkeye for Hope and decided to upgrade it a bit since its magic focused and that seems to be Hope's primary focus as a caster. I also got an item that turns an iron bangle into the next level, so i upgraded that too.
The boss of this chapter killed me twice before I got the rhythm down. I noticed that if you switch paradigms while the boss is in the spinning attack, you swap jobs without the little animation. I staggered it while it was weak to lightning and I almost summoned Odin to see if I could instant-kill it, but i assumed that wouldn't work on a boss so i just stuck with regular attacks. Launching a staggered boss and juggling it is very fun and overpowered. Several of the big behemoths never even got to take a turn. Also, I felt smart when i got a preemptive on the big group of slugs with Hope in the lead, i would use Quake to stun and KO all of them at once. I also noticed that if i sneak up on something, I could have Hope throw a spell to stagger, then cancel the remaining attacks and switch targets and I could usually get two things staggered instead of just one.
In FF10-2, I often felt like I wasn't quite able to keep up with the battle speed and timing. In FF13, it feels like things are timed just about right. About the amount of time it takes to swap jobs gives you just enough time to enter the auto command and pick a target and there's a little bit of subtlety to create little optimizations. Combat is fast and snappy and I feel good when its done well.
Hope decides to get strong. Lightning gives him a pocket knife, that was her birthday gift from Serah (and Snow?) a couple of days ago. In that flashback, Lightning was pretty harsh on Serah and a bit later we see from Snow's perspective how Serah ended up inside the big Pulse artifact.
And chapter 6 starts with Sazh and Vanile continuing to run the opposite direction.
On the gameplay side, I feel like the battles almost have a rhythm game type feel to switching and staggering. I found the Hawkeye for Hope and decided to upgrade it a bit since its magic focused and that seems to be Hope's primary focus as a caster. I also got an item that turns an iron bangle into the next level, so i upgraded that too.
The boss of this chapter killed me twice before I got the rhythm down. I noticed that if you switch paradigms while the boss is in the spinning attack, you swap jobs without the little animation. I staggered it while it was weak to lightning and I almost summoned Odin to see if I could instant-kill it, but i assumed that wouldn't work on a boss so i just stuck with regular attacks. Launching a staggered boss and juggling it is very fun and overpowered. Several of the big behemoths never even got to take a turn. Also, I felt smart when i got a preemptive on the big group of slugs with Hope in the lead, i would use Quake to stun and KO all of them at once. I also noticed that if i sneak up on something, I could have Hope throw a spell to stagger, then cancel the remaining attacks and switch targets and I could usually get two things staggered instead of just one.
In FF10-2, I often felt like I wasn't quite able to keep up with the battle speed and timing. In FF13, it feels like things are timed just about right. About the amount of time it takes to swap jobs gives you just enough time to enter the auto command and pick a target and there's a little bit of subtlety to create little optimizations. Combat is fast and snappy and I feel good when its done well.
Okay, a couple things happened in Chapter 6 that i just had to stop for a bit.
I saw the Day 11 flashback for Sazh and Dajh, so we know everyone of the party was at the fireworks show and Sazh is a dad.
Then the first flashback to Day 5. Sazh says that his son wanders into the factory and there were Pulse l'Cei there so the sanctum fal'cei had no choice but to make Dajh a l'cei. The PSICOM folks take custody of Dajh and consider him a hero, but because he's just a child, they can't figure out his focus. That's why Sazh, despite being afriad got on the train and helped Lightning. He's trying to complete Dajh's focus. But if the focus is to kill the pulse l'cei, then Sazh would need to kill everyone in the party.
Now what Sazh can't see in the flashback is that Vanille was there along with the other woman (presumably a 6th party member). So then my question is was Vanielle already a Pulse l'cei on day 5? I went back and looked at the cutscene where Anima branded them and Vanielle is in that cutscene, but they only focus on Lightning, Snow and Sazh getting branded. Also, i noticed that Vanielle is the only one who does a little diamond hand gesture. Anyways the important thing is that when Sazh finds out that Vanielle was maybe responsible for turning his son into a l'cei, he's going to have a few good reasons to want to kill Vanielle.
I'm really interested to find out more about what happend on day 5. And also how is this whole thing going to be resolved? What is the tear thing Snow got? Why are some of the l'cei brands a different color? So many juicy unanswered questions. Its almost like a mystery novel.
I saw the Day 11 flashback for Sazh and Dajh, so we know everyone of the party was at the fireworks show and Sazh is a dad.
Then the first flashback to Day 5. Sazh says that his son wanders into the factory and there were Pulse l'Cei there so the sanctum fal'cei had no choice but to make Dajh a l'cei. The PSICOM folks take custody of Dajh and consider him a hero, but because he's just a child, they can't figure out his focus. That's why Sazh, despite being afriad got on the train and helped Lightning. He's trying to complete Dajh's focus. But if the focus is to kill the pulse l'cei, then Sazh would need to kill everyone in the party.
Now what Sazh can't see in the flashback is that Vanille was there along with the other woman (presumably a 6th party member). So then my question is was Vanielle already a Pulse l'cei on day 5? I went back and looked at the cutscene where Anima branded them and Vanielle is in that cutscene, but they only focus on Lightning, Snow and Sazh getting branded. Also, i noticed that Vanielle is the only one who does a little diamond hand gesture. Anyways the important thing is that when Sazh finds out that Vanielle was maybe responsible for turning his son into a l'cei, he's going to have a few good reasons to want to kill Vanielle.
I'm really interested to find out more about what happend on day 5. And also how is this whole thing going to be resolved? What is the tear thing Snow got? Why are some of the l'cei brands a different color? So many juicy unanswered questions. Its almost like a mystery novel.
If you really are asking: Yes. And think back to who had what amounts of ATB gauges when you were in the opening chapters.
Finished chapters 6, 7, and 8.
What a rollercoaster ride.
End of chapter 6 was a boss fight that was mostly unremarkable. I died the first time in. I find that sometimes the game wants me to switch targets, i think related to having the party leader is a SAB, so i accidentally spread out damage too much. Gameplay wise, i find that the difference between a retry and success is minor, but the result is huge. One small mistake and its a slog of a fight. Everything goes right, and its over in no time.
Start of Chapter 7, i snuck past the guards into Palumpolum and then through the hydroponics area past Carbuncle. Hope talks about how the humans are sort of like pets to the fal'cei and that flips Light's whole view and she realizes how poorly she treated Serah and calls off Operations Nora. Instead she wants Hope to get to his dad. As soon as they step outside, though PSICOM has them surrounded. Snow and Fang jump in to save the day though and the parties switch to Snow and Hope with Fang going with Lightning.
I fail the solo Snow on Shivacycle the first try. I was unsure what all the buttons did and took too long trying to figure it out. Second try i just mashed A for the auto picker and realized that there's a timer and each action takes some points and then you can use the big move at the end.
Snow then proceeds to just repeatedly stick his foot in his mouth and i gotta hand it to Hope's voice actor to convey "this guy is an idiot" with his tone of voice. Eventually, it finally comes to a confrontation. Snow admits to his failings, Hope gets super mad and there's a huge explosions behind them that throws them both off the roof before Hope can attack Snow with the knife. Snow catches Hope, takes the brunt of the fall and then carries Hope while still hurt. They talk some more and Hope decides to abandon revenge and gives Lightning her knife back.
Meanwhile, Fang fills in Lightning that she and Vanille are from Gran Pulse, woke up from being crystals, don't know their focus and Fang's brand is "messed up". Says the brand gets more arrows and then an eye before you turn and Lightning still has time.
Everyone gathers up and Hope's dad's house. Light apologizes to Snow. Hope talks to his dad. Then PSICOM attacks. We kick their butts and escape with the Lindblum and the cavalry.
In chapter 8, Vanille and Sazh get to Nautilis, which is this world's version of the Gold Saucer. its becoming increasingly obvious that Vanille's happy outlook is a fake. The more Sazh opens up about Dajh, the worse Vanille feels. Sazh admits he's going to turn himself in so he can see Dajh and then PSICOM shows up. Then Dajh shows up hugs his dad and turns to crystal. The woman from PSICOM then shows Sazh the footage from day 5 that reveals Fang and Vanille were there. Things get really dark and Sazh gets his Eidolon, then things get even more dark. Vanille is captured and I'm lead to believe Sazh is dead in what looks like a coffin, though I think that's not actually what's going on.
I know that the series has dealt with dark topics in the past. This one made me more uncomfortable. Maybe the higher fidelity. Whatever the reason, I was holding my breath at times through those scenes.
Thanks for the answer gogglebob. I did not notice that.
At this point, a lot of questions are answered and a lot of interparty drama is in the open and working towards being resolved. Looks like Chapter 9 will be a rescue mission. There's still some questions about why Fang and Vanille woke up. Presumably, there's more story in front of day 5 which is the earliest i've seen so far. And there's the big question of how do the characters resolve the focus and fix this whole broken system.
What a rollercoaster ride.
End of chapter 6 was a boss fight that was mostly unremarkable. I died the first time in. I find that sometimes the game wants me to switch targets, i think related to having the party leader is a SAB, so i accidentally spread out damage too much. Gameplay wise, i find that the difference between a retry and success is minor, but the result is huge. One small mistake and its a slog of a fight. Everything goes right, and its over in no time.
Start of Chapter 7, i snuck past the guards into Palumpolum and then through the hydroponics area past Carbuncle. Hope talks about how the humans are sort of like pets to the fal'cei and that flips Light's whole view and she realizes how poorly she treated Serah and calls off Operations Nora. Instead she wants Hope to get to his dad. As soon as they step outside, though PSICOM has them surrounded. Snow and Fang jump in to save the day though and the parties switch to Snow and Hope with Fang going with Lightning.
I fail the solo Snow on Shivacycle the first try. I was unsure what all the buttons did and took too long trying to figure it out. Second try i just mashed A for the auto picker and realized that there's a timer and each action takes some points and then you can use the big move at the end.
Snow then proceeds to just repeatedly stick his foot in his mouth and i gotta hand it to Hope's voice actor to convey "this guy is an idiot" with his tone of voice. Eventually, it finally comes to a confrontation. Snow admits to his failings, Hope gets super mad and there's a huge explosions behind them that throws them both off the roof before Hope can attack Snow with the knife. Snow catches Hope, takes the brunt of the fall and then carries Hope while still hurt. They talk some more and Hope decides to abandon revenge and gives Lightning her knife back.
Meanwhile, Fang fills in Lightning that she and Vanille are from Gran Pulse, woke up from being crystals, don't know their focus and Fang's brand is "messed up". Says the brand gets more arrows and then an eye before you turn and Lightning still has time.
Everyone gathers up and Hope's dad's house. Light apologizes to Snow. Hope talks to his dad. Then PSICOM attacks. We kick their butts and escape with the Lindblum and the cavalry.
In chapter 8, Vanille and Sazh get to Nautilis, which is this world's version of the Gold Saucer. its becoming increasingly obvious that Vanille's happy outlook is a fake. The more Sazh opens up about Dajh, the worse Vanille feels. Sazh admits he's going to turn himself in so he can see Dajh and then PSICOM shows up. Then Dajh shows up hugs his dad and turns to crystal. The woman from PSICOM then shows Sazh the footage from day 5 that reveals Fang and Vanille were there. Things get really dark and Sazh gets his Eidolon, then things get even more dark. Vanille is captured and I'm lead to believe Sazh is dead in what looks like a coffin, though I think that's not actually what's going on.
I know that the series has dealt with dark topics in the past. This one made me more uncomfortable. Maybe the higher fidelity. Whatever the reason, I was holding my breath at times through those scenes.
Thanks for the answer gogglebob. I did not notice that.
At this point, a lot of questions are answered and a lot of interparty drama is in the open and working towards being resolved. Looks like Chapter 9 will be a rescue mission. There's still some questions about why Fang and Vanille woke up. Presumably, there's more story in front of day 5 which is the earliest i've seen so far. And there's the big question of how do the characters resolve the focus and fix this whole broken system.
Chapter 9 complete.
Not a ton of story in most of the chapter. Sazh and Vanielle make up. He decides that since she woke up, he wants to be there when Dajh wakes up. We find out Vanielle faked her memory loss, but so far she hasn't really filled everyone in on what all she remembers.
The group finally all reconvene and are officially all agreed to fight the leadership of cocoon. we get to leader guy who turns out has magic and turns into a fal'cei that we have to fight.
I picked Hope and Snow to accompany Lightning. I brought Hope for Shell to keep me alive and Snow because he's been on the bench the whole chapter and also he would let me use RAV/RAV/RAV to build chain fast. I won the fight, but 2 minutes slower than par time.
He's not dead though. He shows back up to monologue that one of the l'cei needs to become Orphan and destroy Eden to bring about ragnarok and destroy cocoon and that that is our focus, not to protect cocoon. That Serah's focus was to bring the party together. The party then makes a run for it as it seems like the ship is crashing.
They get into a dogfight in the air, but i guess Sazh's ship is flying itself and using a shield and then flys through a shield around a city and the other ship can't follow. Then they teleport inside i guess instead of crashing and where they land looks like a Pulse ruin and its near Eden. I'm sure it will all make sense as I keep moving forward.
Not a ton of story in most of the chapter. Sazh and Vanielle make up. He decides that since she woke up, he wants to be there when Dajh wakes up. We find out Vanielle faked her memory loss, but so far she hasn't really filled everyone in on what all she remembers.
The group finally all reconvene and are officially all agreed to fight the leadership of cocoon. we get to leader guy who turns out has magic and turns into a fal'cei that we have to fight.
I picked Hope and Snow to accompany Lightning. I brought Hope for Shell to keep me alive and Snow because he's been on the bench the whole chapter and also he would let me use RAV/RAV/RAV to build chain fast. I won the fight, but 2 minutes slower than par time.
He's not dead though. He shows back up to monologue that one of the l'cei needs to become Orphan and destroy Eden to bring about ragnarok and destroy cocoon and that that is our focus, not to protect cocoon. That Serah's focus was to bring the party together. The party then makes a run for it as it seems like the ship is crashing.
They get into a dogfight in the air, but i guess Sazh's ship is flying itself and using a shield and then flys through a shield around a city and the other ship can't follow. Then they teleport inside i guess instead of crashing and where they land looks like a Pulse ruin and its near Eden. I'm sure it will all make sense as I keep moving forward.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
I think Space Pope (Barthandelus, the boss you just fought) is the first actually challenging boss fight. Did it go well for you? Is there a time limit here? Not the par time, I mean on the whole.
Also, how do you like the story so far? It should still be fairly cohesive, up to now. Except for the weird fake-out death of Sazh, and generally the way he deals with learning the truth about Vanille. That bit always felt weird.
Do you have full control of your party now? I'm not sure if it happens here, but I think? When first getting to that point, I was overwhelmed, with whom to even put into my party. It works out fast enough, but I had suddenly so many variables, it took a bit.
Generally, how do you like the different characters at this point?
Also, how do you like the story so far? It should still be fairly cohesive, up to now. Except for the weird fake-out death of Sazh, and generally the way he deals with learning the truth about Vanille. That bit always felt weird.
Do you have full control of your party now? I'm not sure if it happens here, but I think? When first getting to that point, I was overwhelmed, with whom to even put into my party. It works out fast enough, but I had suddenly so many variables, it took a bit.
Generally, how do you like the different characters at this point?
Bart had no time limit i went up against, i just did the fight relatively slow so i got a zero star rating.
I went in with Lightning, Hope, Snow. Hope set Shell. Snow punches one of the little faces, then swap to RAV/RAV/RAV to push chain. Usually when Stagger hits, i would swap to MED/MED/SEN for just a few seconds, then knock out a little face before chain resets. Repeat x3.
Once the big head is alone, I was afraid of his big wind up, so that's where i went slow. I kept swapping to the MED/MED/SEN, but most of his attacks are AOE, so they hit Hope anyways. with Shell if Hope is at full health with a bangle, he survives with a handfull of hit points from the big wind up attack. The second time around, I stayed in full aggro mode and managed to interrupt his attacks or something. He still used the big attack, but I took a much bigger chunk of his health that time and he would occassionally use what i was interpreting as a stagger animation.
I think the story so far has been very interesting. Its a very character driven story this time as compared to FF12. There's relationship and conflict between the characters. I felt that Sazh turning back around to being nice to Vanille was very fast. Light and Hope and Snow's drama plays out over several chapters and it all feels like it resolves about when it should.
Looking at this story in the context, I think FF13 is above average in the modern games so far. Games like FF10 and even FF7 to an extent set a goal early on and pretty much stick to it. (complete the pilgrimage and track down sephiroth, respectively). FF8, 9, and 12 have little mini-arcs that string together (rob the train, help the burmicians, get the next shard). FF7 kinda fits there too at times. FF13 has the big goal of "complete the focus", but so far its not been clear what the focus even is. That's why I think the story has more of a mystery feel to it and has had me asking questions after each chapter. Most of them are not so much "what will happen next?" but instead "what does xyz mean in the context of the information i've been given so far?".
I do have full control of the party. So far, I've been experimenting with what team i like. To start Chapter 10, i tried Light/Hope/Vanille. Hope and Vanille are my strongest casters and very focused. They are the two i have upgraded their weapons and using +magic accessories. I like having access to a strong RAV/RAV/RAV paradigm and i thought MED/MED/MED would allow me to swap in and out of healing really fast and not waste time with the SEN role. Hope has Protect/Shell and Vanielle using Impreril/Deshell makes magic hit hard. Problem is its a very glass canon build. If I mistime the shift and have to watch the animation of them swapping roles, Hope dies before healing starts. So, i switched to Snow/Hope/Vanielle. Snow is a worse ravager, but SEN/MED/MED is easier to use.
What I like about the team building is it doesn't feel like there's a perfect answer. Fang is a better COM, but her SAB isn't as good as Vanille. Sazh has Bravery/Faith, but his COM and RAV are worse. There's tradeoffs that make it interesting. Since you can just retry any fight and can swap party any time, I just see what i'm up against and adjust as needed. I like it a lot.
At Chapter 10, I'm liking the characters more now that everyone's a bit less angsty. Light is still angry, but its more focused on a broken system, instead of just lashing out. Hope seems to have made peace with his situation. Snow is currently a bit down about being wrong, but I like that Light teases him about it. Compare to FF5. Bartz and Galuf discover Faris's hidden gender pretty early and then joke about it and its a settled issue before the 2nd crystal shatters. We're in Chapter 10 and 20 hours in and just now Light is starting to tease Snow.
All that said, I still don't really like Vanille.
I went in with Lightning, Hope, Snow. Hope set Shell. Snow punches one of the little faces, then swap to RAV/RAV/RAV to push chain. Usually when Stagger hits, i would swap to MED/MED/SEN for just a few seconds, then knock out a little face before chain resets. Repeat x3.
Once the big head is alone, I was afraid of his big wind up, so that's where i went slow. I kept swapping to the MED/MED/SEN, but most of his attacks are AOE, so they hit Hope anyways. with Shell if Hope is at full health with a bangle, he survives with a handfull of hit points from the big wind up attack. The second time around, I stayed in full aggro mode and managed to interrupt his attacks or something. He still used the big attack, but I took a much bigger chunk of his health that time and he would occassionally use what i was interpreting as a stagger animation.
I think the story so far has been very interesting. Its a very character driven story this time as compared to FF12. There's relationship and conflict between the characters. I felt that Sazh turning back around to being nice to Vanille was very fast. Light and Hope and Snow's drama plays out over several chapters and it all feels like it resolves about when it should.
Looking at this story in the context, I think FF13 is above average in the modern games so far. Games like FF10 and even FF7 to an extent set a goal early on and pretty much stick to it. (complete the pilgrimage and track down sephiroth, respectively). FF8, 9, and 12 have little mini-arcs that string together (rob the train, help the burmicians, get the next shard). FF7 kinda fits there too at times. FF13 has the big goal of "complete the focus", but so far its not been clear what the focus even is. That's why I think the story has more of a mystery feel to it and has had me asking questions after each chapter. Most of them are not so much "what will happen next?" but instead "what does xyz mean in the context of the information i've been given so far?".
I do have full control of the party. So far, I've been experimenting with what team i like. To start Chapter 10, i tried Light/Hope/Vanille. Hope and Vanille are my strongest casters and very focused. They are the two i have upgraded their weapons and using +magic accessories. I like having access to a strong RAV/RAV/RAV paradigm and i thought MED/MED/MED would allow me to swap in and out of healing really fast and not waste time with the SEN role. Hope has Protect/Shell and Vanielle using Impreril/Deshell makes magic hit hard. Problem is its a very glass canon build. If I mistime the shift and have to watch the animation of them swapping roles, Hope dies before healing starts. So, i switched to Snow/Hope/Vanielle. Snow is a worse ravager, but SEN/MED/MED is easier to use.
What I like about the team building is it doesn't feel like there's a perfect answer. Fang is a better COM, but her SAB isn't as good as Vanille. Sazh has Bravery/Faith, but his COM and RAV are worse. There's tradeoffs that make it interesting. Since you can just retry any fight and can swap party any time, I just see what i'm up against and adjust as needed. I like it a lot.
At Chapter 10, I'm liking the characters more now that everyone's a bit less angsty. Light is still angry, but its more focused on a broken system, instead of just lashing out. Hope seems to have made peace with his situation. Snow is currently a bit down about being wrong, but I like that Light teases him about it. Compare to FF5. Bartz and Galuf discover Faris's hidden gender pretty early and then joke about it and its a settled issue before the 2nd crystal shatters. We're in Chapter 10 and 20 hours in and just now Light is starting to tease Snow.
All that said, I still don't really like Vanille.
Chapter 10 complete and I've just gotten the tutorial about Cei'th stones.
I was a little confused about Cid. If I understood it all, the fal'cei want to bring back their god, but they think they need a big sacrifice to do it, so they want to use humans in cocoon, cuz they see humans as livestock. But they can't act against cocoon themselves because their shepherds of it, so they empower some humans to destroy cocoon. Cid's focus was to set our group on their path, but he's rejecting his focus to try and kill the party and thus free them from their focus. By defeating him, we complete his focus, so he turns to crystal. I don't know why Snow said he didn't complete his focus and I don't know why Cid disintegrated at the end of the fight though.
The Cid fight itself felt a little more tactical since he was clearly changing jobs like we do, so you could anticipate his actions.
Either way, the team basically agrees with Cid that they're going to try to avoid their focus and flee to Gran Pulse.
Then we get a super awesome cut scene intro to Gran Pulse, but it was actually just a dream. I guess someone made a cool visual and SE didn't want to throw it out.
There's been a bit of a timeskip at the start of chapter 11 and Gran Pulse seems to be completely deserted except for dangerous monsters. Everyone's brands have more arrows on them now and Hope almost gives up, but summons Alexander. In the fight, I pushed my luck to beat the clock and Fang got downed but I got enough chain to finish the fight just barely before Hope died. Alex was pulling back his fist as I was mashing the X button.
Its one of the things I like most about the battle system. I really like playing a sort of "press your luck" with the system to try and finish fast. And each character feels like they have their own way to contribute to that formula. I have no idea if say Hope's big magic stat is better than Sazh's weaker damage but access to Haste.
I was a little confused about Cid. If I understood it all, the fal'cei want to bring back their god, but they think they need a big sacrifice to do it, so they want to use humans in cocoon, cuz they see humans as livestock. But they can't act against cocoon themselves because their shepherds of it, so they empower some humans to destroy cocoon. Cid's focus was to set our group on their path, but he's rejecting his focus to try and kill the party and thus free them from their focus. By defeating him, we complete his focus, so he turns to crystal. I don't know why Snow said he didn't complete his focus and I don't know why Cid disintegrated at the end of the fight though.
The Cid fight itself felt a little more tactical since he was clearly changing jobs like we do, so you could anticipate his actions.
Either way, the team basically agrees with Cid that they're going to try to avoid their focus and flee to Gran Pulse.
Then we get a super awesome cut scene intro to Gran Pulse, but it was actually just a dream. I guess someone made a cool visual and SE didn't want to throw it out.
There's been a bit of a timeskip at the start of chapter 11 and Gran Pulse seems to be completely deserted except for dangerous monsters. Everyone's brands have more arrows on them now and Hope almost gives up, but summons Alexander. In the fight, I pushed my luck to beat the clock and Fang got downed but I got enough chain to finish the fight just barely before Hope died. Alex was pulling back his fist as I was mashing the X button.
Its one of the things I like most about the battle system. I really like playing a sort of "press your luck" with the system to try and finish fast. And each character feels like they have their own way to contribute to that formula. I have no idea if say Hope's big magic stat is better than Sazh's weaker damage but access to Haste.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
The first time I played it, chapter 10, specifically the part with Cid, was the first time I didn't really get what was going on. I didn't understand it clearly, what was up with him. So this is where the game gets messier with the story, which up to now, was pretty straightforward, I think. That said, last time I played, I thought everything made sense, even if it was convoluted. But due to that convolution, without playing it myself, I can't explain anything here.
I liked the beginning of chapter 11. For once, the group feels more at ease and a bit more relaxed. That was nice to see.
If you want a suggestion, don't immediately continue with the story. There are a bunch of missions, that are more story-relevant, I think. I'm not sure, but they feel sensible to do now, and lead into each other. Also, there are a bunch of scenes here, that you can miss. You have to explore Pulse for that.
That said, you can also just continue on. If you don't want to spend time here, just keep going. I do like, that you have a choice here, and that the pressure to move forward isn't only taken off the party, but also the player. You have a choice here. Maybe enjoy the freedom for a bit. But it's really completely your choice.
In case you have trouble, the tunnel that leads forward with the story has some mechanical enemies that are, iirc, relatively easy to grind and get stronger on. Don't think it should be necessary, but just in case.
I liked the beginning of chapter 11. For once, the group feels more at ease and a bit more relaxed. That was nice to see.
If you want a suggestion, don't immediately continue with the story. There are a bunch of missions, that are more story-relevant, I think. I'm not sure, but they feel sensible to do now, and lead into each other. Also, there are a bunch of scenes here, that you can miss. You have to explore Pulse for that.
That said, you can also just continue on. If you don't want to spend time here, just keep going. I do like, that you have a choice here, and that the pressure to move forward isn't only taken off the party, but also the player. You have a choice here. Maybe enjoy the freedom for a bit. But it's really completely your choice.
In case you have trouble, the tunnel that leads forward with the story has some mechanical enemies that are, iirc, relatively easy to grind and get stronger on. Don't think it should be necessary, but just in case.
So, i took your advice Felix, and explored a bit and did the first 5 ceith missions which are all rank D.
I got a 2 star rank on all of them except one, which i got a 5 star on.
I've had to retry fights even against non-boss monsters. I've used 4 phoenix downs, and item i haven't touched so far in the game.
The dudes that've given me some trouble are little guys that can summon a big guy. They also can cast magic that can stagger you. And they come in groups of about 5. If Fang can get a Fog to stick, that helps. having a paradigm with 2 COMs to run around and knock them out of the summon animation helps. But sometimes they summon a King Behemoth and once that guy stands on his hind legs, he hits like a truck. The boss group of them is even resistant to all magic spells, so i had to build a special team.
Just to be clear, I'm not complaining about this at all.
The game spent 20 hours giving you a tutorial and warned you Gran Pulse is full of brutal monsters, and then they set you down in a big open field and kick your teeth in. But they told you exactly what they were going to do, so you can't be mad about it.
I did find one of what i assume is an optional cutscene between Hope and Vanille about lies and he jokingly hints that he likes her and she gives the camera a big "O" face that made me laugh. I'll keep an eye out for more of those.
So, i guess how many of these ceith stone hunts are reasonable to do here at the start of chapter 11? The next one, #6 would be a rank C mission. Barring any more specific advice, my plan would be to just go until something really roadblocks me.
I should probably also should pick some more weapons to upgrade. Problem is I'm less clear on the "right" choice of weapon for a more hybrid character like Lightning.
I got a 2 star rank on all of them except one, which i got a 5 star on.
I've had to retry fights even against non-boss monsters. I've used 4 phoenix downs, and item i haven't touched so far in the game.
The dudes that've given me some trouble are little guys that can summon a big guy. They also can cast magic that can stagger you. And they come in groups of about 5. If Fang can get a Fog to stick, that helps. having a paradigm with 2 COMs to run around and knock them out of the summon animation helps. But sometimes they summon a King Behemoth and once that guy stands on his hind legs, he hits like a truck. The boss group of them is even resistant to all magic spells, so i had to build a special team.
Just to be clear, I'm not complaining about this at all.
The game spent 20 hours giving you a tutorial and warned you Gran Pulse is full of brutal monsters, and then they set you down in a big open field and kick your teeth in. But they told you exactly what they were going to do, so you can't be mad about it.
I did find one of what i assume is an optional cutscene between Hope and Vanille about lies and he jokingly hints that he likes her and she gives the camera a big "O" face that made me laugh. I'll keep an eye out for more of those.
So, i guess how many of these ceith stone hunts are reasonable to do here at the start of chapter 11? The next one, #6 would be a rank C mission. Barring any more specific advice, my plan would be to just go until something really roadblocks me.
I should probably also should pick some more weapons to upgrade. Problem is I'm less clear on the "right" choice of weapon for a more hybrid character like Lightning.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
Hmm, I think as long as the number of the mission increases by 1, it should be fitting. So basically, if the numbers start to get random, it's definitely time to go on.
I was specifically thinking of that scene with Vanille and Hope. I found that one very enjoyable, just because Hope was finally in a better, mental place. He seems happy here on Pulse, at least somewhat. More than he ever was, from when the game starts. It was just really nice, seeing the group relaxed and having some downtime.
But I don't think, that the scenes are connected to the missions. If you just explore the place (so not going into the tunnel behind the King Behemot that fights the other giant monster in the northwest, I think), you should find them. I think there should be at least one other scene, but maybe my memory is faulty here.
But yeah, I think it's sensible to just do missions, until you find them too hard. You can always (well, not always, but before the end) come back, and keep doing missions. I hope this little spoiler is no problem, just saying you will get the chance to come back here, before the end.
I think I tended to grow tired of the low-context missions here fast enough, and just continued with the story. I just need some sort of narrative, and the little ones here are not nothing, but also not enough for me.
I was specifically thinking of that scene with Vanille and Hope. I found that one very enjoyable, just because Hope was finally in a better, mental place. He seems happy here on Pulse, at least somewhat. More than he ever was, from when the game starts. It was just really nice, seeing the group relaxed and having some downtime.
But I don't think, that the scenes are connected to the missions. If you just explore the place (so not going into the tunnel behind the King Behemot that fights the other giant monster in the northwest, I think), you should find them. I think there should be at least one other scene, but maybe my memory is faulty here.
But yeah, I think it's sensible to just do missions, until you find them too hard. You can always (well, not always, but before the end) come back, and keep doing missions. I hope this little spoiler is no problem, just saying you will get the chance to come back here, before the end.
I think I tended to grow tired of the low-context missions here fast enough, and just continued with the story. I just need some sort of narrative, and the little ones here are not nothing, but also not enough for me.
I completed through mission 17.
Mission 12 was the most impactful. That's the one that opens up the chocobo grotto area. You fight a big dude with little hands over his eyes and a big hammer arm. The tough part of that battle was getting protect up fast enough. His stagger bar fills pretty quick though and he can be launched while staggered. I think Fang slowed him. Then I went and found the chocobos and saw a scene where our chocobo chick meets the pulse chocobo chicks and its very cute. I did a couple more missions so i could ride the chocobos and then went treasure hunting. I found a Cactaur doll in a chest and fought an actual Cactaur (he didn't use 1k needles so easy battle).
Mission 16 was a mob fight with sahagins in the chocobo grotto and my first rank B mission. It starts with 5 enemies and 3 of them summon to bring the fight to 8 enemies. Bringing back the FF1 vibes with mobs of sahagin. Is there a recent FF that has had that many enemies? 12 wouldn't unless you pulled that many on purpose. I needed protect, but Hope wanted to use an Enthunder spell first and all the enemies would target Light and KO her before i could heal or set up buffs. I beat it, but it took several tries to adjust tactics and get a little lucky.
I haven't seen MIssion 18 anywhere I think and that B rank was a stretch to beat, so i figured time to advance to the next area and that's where i stopped. My only complaint is i wish the game would remember the Paradigms i like for a certain squad because resetting the paradigms is the main thing preventing me from wanting to swap out teammates more often.
Edit: Found Mission 18 in the tunnel. The bellows guys that can summon more hoplite robots are a huge pain. You have to ignore the little robots but then the big guy powers them up, so you also don't want to ignore them. I was having Fang try to disspell their buffs. The whole thing gets so hectic. I won but honestly, I don't know how.
I got past Vanille's Eidolon fight. That one took me 5 or 6 tries. I ran out of time twice because i was playing it too safe. Then I restarted a couple of times because Fang died. The time i won i had about 100 ticks left on the doom clock.
Edit2: I'm out of the tunnels. A quick call back to Hope riding the big robot to stop Atmos the rolypoly fal'cei that we ride out of the tunnels.
Quick note, i really like how on Pulse the map drops north arrows and now Cocoon is the north star in the sky and we're walking towards it. I stopped after the cutscene just after exiting the tunnels where the team decides to camp for the night and Light and Snow talk about Serah and Light confirms he is going to still marry Serah. That felt like an ending to their conflict. Light accepts Snow as her brother in law to be and tells him to stay strong.
I also liked the scene between Vanille and Snow where we learn Vanille talked to Serah on day 9.
Mission 12 was the most impactful. That's the one that opens up the chocobo grotto area. You fight a big dude with little hands over his eyes and a big hammer arm. The tough part of that battle was getting protect up fast enough. His stagger bar fills pretty quick though and he can be launched while staggered. I think Fang slowed him. Then I went and found the chocobos and saw a scene where our chocobo chick meets the pulse chocobo chicks and its very cute. I did a couple more missions so i could ride the chocobos and then went treasure hunting. I found a Cactaur doll in a chest and fought an actual Cactaur (he didn't use 1k needles so easy battle).
Mission 16 was a mob fight with sahagins in the chocobo grotto and my first rank B mission. It starts with 5 enemies and 3 of them summon to bring the fight to 8 enemies. Bringing back the FF1 vibes with mobs of sahagin. Is there a recent FF that has had that many enemies? 12 wouldn't unless you pulled that many on purpose. I needed protect, but Hope wanted to use an Enthunder spell first and all the enemies would target Light and KO her before i could heal or set up buffs. I beat it, but it took several tries to adjust tactics and get a little lucky.
I haven't seen MIssion 18 anywhere I think and that B rank was a stretch to beat, so i figured time to advance to the next area and that's where i stopped. My only complaint is i wish the game would remember the Paradigms i like for a certain squad because resetting the paradigms is the main thing preventing me from wanting to swap out teammates more often.
Edit: Found Mission 18 in the tunnel. The bellows guys that can summon more hoplite robots are a huge pain. You have to ignore the little robots but then the big guy powers them up, so you also don't want to ignore them. I was having Fang try to disspell their buffs. The whole thing gets so hectic. I won but honestly, I don't know how.
I got past Vanille's Eidolon fight. That one took me 5 or 6 tries. I ran out of time twice because i was playing it too safe. Then I restarted a couple of times because Fang died. The time i won i had about 100 ticks left on the doom clock.
Edit2: I'm out of the tunnels. A quick call back to Hope riding the big robot to stop Atmos the rolypoly fal'cei that we ride out of the tunnels.
Quick note, i really like how on Pulse the map drops north arrows and now Cocoon is the north star in the sky and we're walking towards it. I stopped after the cutscene just after exiting the tunnels where the team decides to camp for the night and Light and Snow talk about Serah and Light confirms he is going to still marry Serah. That felt like an ending to their conflict. Light accepts Snow as her brother in law to be and tells him to stay strong.
I also liked the scene between Vanille and Snow where we learn Vanille talked to Serah on day 9.
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I climbed the Taejin's Tower (good name)
I liked this dungeon. It has a fairly simple layout and while you have a little bit of branching paths, you can't get lost as the dungeon is actually very linear. I like a good tower climb dungeon though. Climbing floors just feels like progress. Maybe its because of the circular structure and the elevator, but this dungeon reminded me of the prison escape from FF8.
The team made it to the top with no troubles and the boss got embarrassed by my team. Hope has over 1k magic stat and now has Bravery and Faith. Fang has Deprot and Deshell. Light has around 800 in each stat balanced. the team puts out 5 digit damage on each attack once the chain gauge is full which quickly gets above 20k per hit under ideal circumstances. 2 million HP doesn't last long in those conditions. And I think most of them get 5 attacks in a full bar now. I switched to Hope as my active character so i can control his buffs. The game doesn't seem to be in a rush to cast bravery or faith and wants to cast both. Also, i learned how to select just one command using the triangle button. Dahaka was a really impressive looking boss though.
I did have to look up how to find ceith stone target 27. That fight was tough and required constant form changes to toss a bit of healing then pick up a buff then push chain up a little.
I liked this dungeon. It has a fairly simple layout and while you have a little bit of branching paths, you can't get lost as the dungeon is actually very linear. I like a good tower climb dungeon though. Climbing floors just feels like progress. Maybe its because of the circular structure and the elevator, but this dungeon reminded me of the prison escape from FF8.
The team made it to the top with no troubles and the boss got embarrassed by my team. Hope has over 1k magic stat and now has Bravery and Faith. Fang has Deprot and Deshell. Light has around 800 in each stat balanced. the team puts out 5 digit damage on each attack once the chain gauge is full which quickly gets above 20k per hit under ideal circumstances. 2 million HP doesn't last long in those conditions. And I think most of them get 5 attacks in a full bar now. I switched to Hope as my active character so i can control his buffs. The game doesn't seem to be in a rush to cast bravery or faith and wants to cast both. Also, i learned how to select just one command using the triangle button. Dahaka was a really impressive looking boss though.
I did have to look up how to find ceith stone target 27. That fight was tough and required constant form changes to toss a bit of healing then pick up a buff then push chain up a little.
FF13 Complete!
I blasted through chapters 12 and 13.
The cinematic to start the return to Cocoon is incredibly good. I really like the design of the transforming eidolons. Its a shame I never summoned one in battle that wasn't required.
As I progress through this part, I start to unlock the ends of the team's primary job skills. Once Hope has Brave and Faith and eventually haste and Fang has Deprot and Deshell, I'm buffing and debuffing most every fight now. I also start working through my stack of -sols to give me buffs or a preemptive for tough fights. In a couple places, if I could avoid a tough fight, I did.
Once I got into Chapter 13, i was surprised how quick i felt difficulty started to ramp. I had lots of money, thanks to fixing Vanille's robot and so I boosted Hope, Fang, Light and Vanille's weapons to the star rank of their 2nd form. Hope has like 1700 magic stat and fan has about the same in str. Light has a balance a bit over 1k in each stat.
Jaberwocky and Bandersnatch were hard. Once I realized Bsnatch is the healer, I focused it and once I got it down, the fight got a lot easier, but it was still a 0 star very slow win.
Now the thing that looks a bit like Iron Claw from FF5, I don't know how i beat that thing. It would kill Fang, I would revive her, then it would kill her again, rinse and repeat, with the team very very slowly chipping away at his health. If I had died, I think switching up paradigms would have made it go faster, but a win is a win so i moved on... and used the sneak item to bypass the 2nd one you have to fight.
The 3rd boss was a flying dude. I don't remember its name but I handled it much more easily.
As final dungeons go, pretty middle of the pack. Interesting background with the blocks zooming around, but pretty dead simple to navigate. If it weren't for the difficult bosses, i would say the place was a bit forgetable.
Final boss killed me about 4 times last night. I didn't have instant death protection and that got me a couple times. Once I just switched to the wrong paradigm so didn't heal after the big attack that takes you to 1% hp.
So, i retooled. I bought and upgraded 3 cherub crowns. I swapped Light for Vanille and made Fang my primary. I switch paradigms to get rid of Sentinal and focused on buffs and healing, then chain, then debuffs and I beat it on the first try today.
Final Thoughts:
What an amazing graphical experience. The cut scenes are incredible. The boss designs especially for the fal'cei are full of animation and its super smooth. The music is awesome. It flys under the radar a lot but it adds a lot of feel to the scenes. From a purely presentation perspective, FF13 shows how far the medium has progressed.
I quite like the main cast. This game really takes the time to explore the process of this party coming together, even into the last scenes with Fang. FF9 would have been my previous example of this dynamic, but that group is still mostly friendly and the interpersonal drama there is light hearted. The FF13 cast at points in time have legitimate reasons to really not like each other, but by the end, they are a team and a family. Beyond the main cast, I wasn't impressed. I honestly couldn't tell you anyone else's name. The major threats feel more player versus environment. Nobody on the foes side of the equation rises anywhere close to a Kefka or Sephiroth or Seymour.
The central story about fighting against their destiny (but pretty much fulfilling it anywas) was often depressing and had some darker themes. The tone and sort of story structure reminded me a lot of FF7, not to mention the more obvious FF7 homages like the opening. Cocoon occupies a similar niche to Midgar/Shinra. However i would say FF7's darkness is more tonal, referencing some horror of monsters mutated by mako. FF10 has that darkness under the surface, a melancoly that everyone is trying to mask. FF13 unlike 10 is acting out instead of repressing. The sadness morphs to anger and lashing out for much of the game (and what Orphan seems to be relying on to achieve its goals). Although I maybe didn't love every particular story plot beat, I did really like the central themes. Its got cousins in the FF franchise, but it felt like a fresh take.
In my opinion, the battle system is quite fun. Its fast paced with a low floor and room to learn. I did find that I wasn't as frequently trying to exploit particular enemy weaknesses. The whole game has mostly the same answer to every question, which is fill the stagger gauge. And swapping team members means resetting paradigms and I only had enough resources to upgrade a few weapons, so once I could build a party, Snow and Sazh sat out the rest of the game. I mostly ignored the accessories, except for boosting str, mag or hp until the final boss forced me to. And nobody ever learned any job outside the ones they started with. I haven't played any FF beyond 13 (except FF7R), but it seems pretty obvious a system like this is the future in lieu of the old turn based battles of the past. I think this particular entry, as different as it is, made a pretty good showing, but has some rough edges.
I really liked 13. I would put it in a similar bucket to FF2. A game I thought was maybe not good through hearsay turns out to be really fun to play and a different take on the battle systems that came before it.
I blasted through chapters 12 and 13.
The cinematic to start the return to Cocoon is incredibly good. I really like the design of the transforming eidolons. Its a shame I never summoned one in battle that wasn't required.
As I progress through this part, I start to unlock the ends of the team's primary job skills. Once Hope has Brave and Faith and eventually haste and Fang has Deprot and Deshell, I'm buffing and debuffing most every fight now. I also start working through my stack of -sols to give me buffs or a preemptive for tough fights. In a couple places, if I could avoid a tough fight, I did.
Once I got into Chapter 13, i was surprised how quick i felt difficulty started to ramp. I had lots of money, thanks to fixing Vanille's robot and so I boosted Hope, Fang, Light and Vanille's weapons to the star rank of their 2nd form. Hope has like 1700 magic stat and fan has about the same in str. Light has a balance a bit over 1k in each stat.
Jaberwocky and Bandersnatch were hard. Once I realized Bsnatch is the healer, I focused it and once I got it down, the fight got a lot easier, but it was still a 0 star very slow win.
Now the thing that looks a bit like Iron Claw from FF5, I don't know how i beat that thing. It would kill Fang, I would revive her, then it would kill her again, rinse and repeat, with the team very very slowly chipping away at his health. If I had died, I think switching up paradigms would have made it go faster, but a win is a win so i moved on... and used the sneak item to bypass the 2nd one you have to fight.
The 3rd boss was a flying dude. I don't remember its name but I handled it much more easily.
As final dungeons go, pretty middle of the pack. Interesting background with the blocks zooming around, but pretty dead simple to navigate. If it weren't for the difficult bosses, i would say the place was a bit forgetable.
Final boss killed me about 4 times last night. I didn't have instant death protection and that got me a couple times. Once I just switched to the wrong paradigm so didn't heal after the big attack that takes you to 1% hp.
So, i retooled. I bought and upgraded 3 cherub crowns. I swapped Light for Vanille and made Fang my primary. I switch paradigms to get rid of Sentinal and focused on buffs and healing, then chain, then debuffs and I beat it on the first try today.
Final Thoughts:
What an amazing graphical experience. The cut scenes are incredible. The boss designs especially for the fal'cei are full of animation and its super smooth. The music is awesome. It flys under the radar a lot but it adds a lot of feel to the scenes. From a purely presentation perspective, FF13 shows how far the medium has progressed.
I quite like the main cast. This game really takes the time to explore the process of this party coming together, even into the last scenes with Fang. FF9 would have been my previous example of this dynamic, but that group is still mostly friendly and the interpersonal drama there is light hearted. The FF13 cast at points in time have legitimate reasons to really not like each other, but by the end, they are a team and a family. Beyond the main cast, I wasn't impressed. I honestly couldn't tell you anyone else's name. The major threats feel more player versus environment. Nobody on the foes side of the equation rises anywhere close to a Kefka or Sephiroth or Seymour.
The central story about fighting against their destiny (but pretty much fulfilling it anywas) was often depressing and had some darker themes. The tone and sort of story structure reminded me a lot of FF7, not to mention the more obvious FF7 homages like the opening. Cocoon occupies a similar niche to Midgar/Shinra. However i would say FF7's darkness is more tonal, referencing some horror of monsters mutated by mako. FF10 has that darkness under the surface, a melancoly that everyone is trying to mask. FF13 unlike 10 is acting out instead of repressing. The sadness morphs to anger and lashing out for much of the game (and what Orphan seems to be relying on to achieve its goals). Although I maybe didn't love every particular story plot beat, I did really like the central themes. Its got cousins in the FF franchise, but it felt like a fresh take.
In my opinion, the battle system is quite fun. Its fast paced with a low floor and room to learn. I did find that I wasn't as frequently trying to exploit particular enemy weaknesses. The whole game has mostly the same answer to every question, which is fill the stagger gauge. And swapping team members means resetting paradigms and I only had enough resources to upgrade a few weapons, so once I could build a party, Snow and Sazh sat out the rest of the game. I mostly ignored the accessories, except for boosting str, mag or hp until the final boss forced me to. And nobody ever learned any job outside the ones they started with. I haven't played any FF beyond 13 (except FF7R), but it seems pretty obvious a system like this is the future in lieu of the old turn based battles of the past. I think this particular entry, as different as it is, made a pretty good showing, but has some rough edges.
I really liked 13. I would put it in a similar bucket to FF2. A game I thought was maybe not good through hearsay turns out to be really fun to play and a different take on the battle systems that came before it.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
Glad you enjoyed it. And congrats for beating it, it's, imo, one of the more difficult games in the series, at least in the end. The final dungeon is really bla, boring nonsense with powerful monsters. Monsters that were too much for me to handle, the regular encounters got absurd.
So, it sounds like you are done, and not interested in doing more of the missions from Pulse. Which is probably sensible, as it requires a lot of grinding. Mainly redoing the same "random" fight again and again. I'll do it at one point, but that point wasn't last time I played it.
Did you like the ending? Specifically, how Vanille and Fang sacrificed themselves to save everyone, but also how Serah and Lightning are finally reunited? And how the world is now free of the Fal'Cie, with the people ready to live on their own? I enjoyed that a lot. I couldn't shake the feeling, that the Fal'Cie are just really not able to understand humans. That they actually thought, being turned into a crystal for all eternity is a blessing, somehow. And how they were tasked with caring for humans, while being completely unprepared for that task.
Also, are you planning on playing XIII-2 and Lightning Returns? I can only repeat what I already said: These are wonderful games, in very different ways, even if they are also clumsy and messy. But I do love them dearly.
Thanks for your writeups!
So, it sounds like you are done, and not interested in doing more of the missions from Pulse. Which is probably sensible, as it requires a lot of grinding. Mainly redoing the same "random" fight again and again. I'll do it at one point, but that point wasn't last time I played it.
Did you like the ending? Specifically, how Vanille and Fang sacrificed themselves to save everyone, but also how Serah and Lightning are finally reunited? And how the world is now free of the Fal'Cie, with the people ready to live on their own? I enjoyed that a lot. I couldn't shake the feeling, that the Fal'Cie are just really not able to understand humans. That they actually thought, being turned into a crystal for all eternity is a blessing, somehow. And how they were tasked with caring for humans, while being completely unprepared for that task.
Also, are you planning on playing XIII-2 and Lightning Returns? I can only repeat what I already said: These are wonderful games, in very different ways, even if they are also clumsy and messy. But I do love them dearly.
Thanks for your writeups!
Yeah, I'm done with 13. I do like the battle system enough that I enjoyed the challenges the final dungeon threw at me, I'm willing to let seeing the ending be the capstone to the experience rather than super bosses. Finishing 13 definitely gave me more trouble than probably anything since FF4 (which I just went into a little under leveled). The Jecht fight from 10 was probably tougher because of the overdrives than Orphan, but FF13's final dungeon forced me to use my consumables, which almost never happens. I also found that FF13 battle system, if you make a mistake it can quickly compound so that sometimes its easier to restart and then the fight goes by super smooth on the 2nd try.
I was fooled for a minute when Fang saw the vision of everyone turning to Cei'th. I feel like the game really toyed with the idea of a super dark ending and it would have felt appropriate for the tone of this game. Even the end as presented still has Cocoon fall from the sky. I can't imagine a place as big as Cocoon was able to completely evacuate. Surly some people were hurt or died, even though PSICOM got orders to evacuate. I also thought it was possible that after Fanille becomes ragnarok and crystalizes the plume of lava that catches Cocoon, that Light and crew would be stuck as crystals for maybe a really long time, so maybe the sequels are far in the future. It was really nice to see the reunion with Serah and I was even more happy about Dajh and Sazh being together again. Even that scene has sadness in it, because Hope's mom won't come back.
I agree that the Fal'cei seem pretty alien. At first I thought of them as "robotic" because they have machine like details and they seem to have programming they can't override. Like you said Felix, they clearly don't understand.
I do want to play 13-2. The ending is a great setup for a follow up game. Gran Pulse is a big place and now people need to rebuild. The previous sequel 10-2 was a complete tone shift so I'm interested to see how 13-2 presents its story.
I was fooled for a minute when Fang saw the vision of everyone turning to Cei'th. I feel like the game really toyed with the idea of a super dark ending and it would have felt appropriate for the tone of this game. Even the end as presented still has Cocoon fall from the sky. I can't imagine a place as big as Cocoon was able to completely evacuate. Surly some people were hurt or died, even though PSICOM got orders to evacuate. I also thought it was possible that after Fanille becomes ragnarok and crystalizes the plume of lava that catches Cocoon, that Light and crew would be stuck as crystals for maybe a really long time, so maybe the sequels are far in the future. It was really nice to see the reunion with Serah and I was even more happy about Dajh and Sazh being together again. Even that scene has sadness in it, because Hope's mom won't come back.
I agree that the Fal'cei seem pretty alien. At first I thought of them as "robotic" because they have machine like details and they seem to have programming they can't override. Like you said Felix, they clearly don't understand.
I do want to play 13-2. The ending is a great setup for a follow up game. Gran Pulse is a big place and now people need to rebuild. The previous sequel 10-2 was a complete tone shift so I'm interested to see how 13-2 presents its story.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
Forgot to add, that I agree with the antagonists. They are underdeveloped, and none of them have the presence of a proper, main antagonist. Even someone who doesn't appear until the end, like Ultimecia (granted, this is debatable, but we at least don't see her physical form), felt more interesting to me than Space Pope (what was his name, Dardandalus?). And his underlings, that woman and Cid, also didn't really get the time they needed, I thought. Also, as much as I do think people overexegerate how messy the story is, it does muddle the antagonists and their motivations.
Which brings me to the other question I forgot: Did the story seem coherent to you, until the end? Or was there a point, where you thought it lost its tracks? Do you think it made sense, how the protagonists decided to act at the end, fight Dardandalus? Last time, I did find some sensible line in the messiness, which only broke at the very end. But even then, it got messier, as time went on.
Which brings me to the other question I forgot: Did the story seem coherent to you, until the end? Or was there a point, where you thought it lost its tracks? Do you think it made sense, how the protagonists decided to act at the end, fight Dardandalus? Last time, I did find some sensible line in the messiness, which only broke at the very end. But even then, it got messier, as time went on.
I would agree that it lost me right near the end.
Their focus was to destroy cocoon, so they want to protect cocoon instead. But the guy with the pope outfit manipulates them saying he's resigned and put that other dude in charge which will make the Cavalry act in the way that pope guy wants. That forces Light & Co to return to protect cocoon. The heros fight the other guy in the ship who is head of PSICOM and everyone realizes they need to protect the people by evacuating.
The whole idea was to stop the Cavalry, but they got turned to ceith but they still need to kill pope falcei, but then killing him turns him into Orphan. At that point, the heroes have been played. Killing Orphan will complete their focus and crash cocoon and he's goading them into doing it.
My theory is that the only reason the bad guy doesn't wis is because of Vanille. My guess is the goal was for Fang alone to become Ragnarok. But Vanielle's kindness and caring and determination helps Fang temper and control Ragnarok. It seems like the heros for all their promises and struggling, basically just completed their focus but then didn't actually destroy cocoon on a technicality.
I do not get why Fang's brand sort of breaks open to reveal the black brand, then why does everyone else's brands turn silver. Does that silver-ing represent this state of finding your own focus or a changed focus, since that's after they talk about being somewhere else while Orphan is trying to make Fang and Vanille think they are all Ceith.
Essentially, I found the last few cutscenes confusing, but the final scene at the very end is satisfying enough for me to gloss over the bits I got lost on.
Their focus was to destroy cocoon, so they want to protect cocoon instead. But the guy with the pope outfit manipulates them saying he's resigned and put that other dude in charge which will make the Cavalry act in the way that pope guy wants. That forces Light & Co to return to protect cocoon. The heros fight the other guy in the ship who is head of PSICOM and everyone realizes they need to protect the people by evacuating.
The whole idea was to stop the Cavalry, but they got turned to ceith but they still need to kill pope falcei, but then killing him turns him into Orphan. At that point, the heroes have been played. Killing Orphan will complete their focus and crash cocoon and he's goading them into doing it.
My theory is that the only reason the bad guy doesn't wis is because of Vanille. My guess is the goal was for Fang alone to become Ragnarok. But Vanielle's kindness and caring and determination helps Fang temper and control Ragnarok. It seems like the heros for all their promises and struggling, basically just completed their focus but then didn't actually destroy cocoon on a technicality.
I do not get why Fang's brand sort of breaks open to reveal the black brand, then why does everyone else's brands turn silver. Does that silver-ing represent this state of finding your own focus or a changed focus, since that's after they talk about being somewhere else while Orphan is trying to make Fang and Vanille think they are all Ceith.
Essentially, I found the last few cutscenes confusing, but the final scene at the very end is satisfying enough for me to gloss over the bits I got lost on.
FF13-2 through episode 2.
Looks like so far my experience mirrors Felix. I had to google a bit to make it work on PC. And I had to figure out how to change the button prompts to controller so i don't fail the QTEs.
I like the idea of a time hoping story to track down the missing hero and it sounds like fun. My biggest issue is where is Snow and why is he not with Serah instead of Noel? I like the QTEs. I think the dialog options are an interesting addition but they don't feel very impactful. Like Felix, i focused Noel on COM and Serah on RAV and I picked an extra ATB bar to start off. Once I got monsters, I picked a SEN, a COM and a RAV and i've been using potions for healing.
In some ways 13-2 feels a lot like 10-2 in that both feel like reactions to their base games. Both were linear and their sequels appear to be more mission based and more like a hub and spokes layout. 13-2 is probably not as "silly" as 10-2 in tone, but Mog at least would have stuck out like a sore thumb in 13. So its at least a little more light hearted I hope. Both let you put monsters in your party. Both are at least to start about searching for a lost hero, though I feel like 10-2 dropped that pretty quick. Both of them added a jump button!
I have some minor complaints like the rain in 005 AF was awful and I don't love the look of Mog. Unlike going from 10 to 10-2, the combat system of 13-2 is so far basically unchanged from 13. I thought the 13 system was fun, but playing with the same system again sort of takes a bit of the fun out of it for me. I will say the robot Hoplite's victory pose makes up for a lot of it though.
Looks like so far my experience mirrors Felix. I had to google a bit to make it work on PC. And I had to figure out how to change the button prompts to controller so i don't fail the QTEs.
I like the idea of a time hoping story to track down the missing hero and it sounds like fun. My biggest issue is where is Snow and why is he not with Serah instead of Noel? I like the QTEs. I think the dialog options are an interesting addition but they don't feel very impactful. Like Felix, i focused Noel on COM and Serah on RAV and I picked an extra ATB bar to start off. Once I got monsters, I picked a SEN, a COM and a RAV and i've been using potions for healing.
In some ways 13-2 feels a lot like 10-2 in that both feel like reactions to their base games. Both were linear and their sequels appear to be more mission based and more like a hub and spokes layout. 13-2 is probably not as "silly" as 10-2 in tone, but Mog at least would have stuck out like a sore thumb in 13. So its at least a little more light hearted I hope. Both let you put monsters in your party. Both are at least to start about searching for a lost hero, though I feel like 10-2 dropped that pretty quick. Both of them added a jump button!
I have some minor complaints like the rain in 005 AF was awful and I don't love the look of Mog. Unlike going from 10 to 10-2, the combat system of 13-2 is so far basically unchanged from 13. I thought the 13 system was fun, but playing with the same system again sort of takes a bit of the fun out of it for me. I will say the robot Hoplite's victory pose makes up for a lot of it though.