Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Spoiler Thread)

Aqua

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Shiala, Bulma, Choco-Lightning
i hope you dont mean lightning
cuz in that ending she looked pretty dead

i swear
SE are women haters

did you see what they did to jihl nabaat
I was talking about Chocolina, lol

Lightning's crystal makes me flip out every time I see it. Why won't they let some of these women live, dammit?!
 

Arianna

Holy, Personified
AKA
Katie; Seta.
A lot of the crystal references in this game are beliefs from metaphysics, maybe even science. I find that interesting. Things like memories and thoughts can be transferred and kept in crystals, that's at least semi-real thinking there. If someone else knows if it's more than just metaphysics - I don't want to say pseudo-science, but I don't even know if it's a hypothesis - please tell!
 

AvecAloes

Donator
okay have yet to read any of this thread so apologies if i repeat anything that's already been said, just wanna get my thoughts down first

- alyssa is annoying as fuck and i'm sorry but i don't trust her she always looks weasely and shit nope dnw
- "Could flans be causing the end of the world?" pffttt yeah okay seriously, flans, i mean please HOLY SHIT FRANKENSTEIN FLAN OKAY I BELIEVE YOU
- snow i know you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer but really, why don't you declare you marriage being on hold with more conviction you dick. poor serah
- i was doing the Brain Blast thingy and it was final question and i was all antsy and then "Which chocobo urban legend is true?" A CONVICT WON FREEDOM FOR HIM AND HIS FRIENDS YEAAAAAHHHHHH
- is that
- is that vanille's voice
- i can't hear god DAMMIT AIR CONDITION STFU
- VANILLE OMG IT IS HER
- AND FANG ASDKFJALDFASDFAIDF
- SO MANY FEELINGS AND YOU'RE ONLY HERE FOR ALL OF 2 MINUTES BUT I DON'T EVEN CARE
- every time a song from xiii plays i'm reminded how much i dislike most of xiii-2s soundtrack >:
- you know etro it's okay you can just leave lightning naked i don't mind
- huh if you wiggle the right joystick during the loading screen the tunnel of light moves around WOOOO WIGGLEWIGGLEWIGGLE
- i wish there were more QTEs that involve making moral/plot decisions than just attacking shit because that is STRESSFUL
- poor fang and vanille will have to catch up again on another 500 years of history
- ew this ending song is kinda painful
- WAHT
- THIS IS NOT OKAY NO SERAH
- ALSO THIS FUCKING SONG IS CREATING SOME MAJOR MOOD DISSONANCE WHERE ARE THE ANGSTY STRINGS AND SHIT
- omg so many noelxserah feelings
- ...
- what the fuck
- what kind of ending is this
- are you seriously telling me i'm gonna have to wait 2 or 3 more fucking years to find out how this all works out what the FUCK square

yeah not at all impressed with that ending :/

Alright so now that that's out of the way:

The final boss fight took me 32 minutes. I dunno if I was underleveled (
Serah: 99 Rav, 99 Sab, 87 Med, 3 Com, 1 Sen
Noel: 99 Com, 99 Sen, 89 Sab, 2 Rav
Paradigm Pack: 40 Rav, 40 Syn, 40 Med
) or just doing it wrong but jesus it took me like 8 tries to beat it.

I found the game to be incredibly easy for the most part, and then every now and then I'd come across some really fucking difficult fight and die repeatedly. Never crafted any of my equipment, and I only futzed with the infusion system a little bit. Would have vastly preferred a 3rd controllable person but still the monsters were fairly enjoyable to use.

The clock puzzles were annoying as fuck and I hope I never have to see them again.

I wish that XIIIs characters had played more significant roles. Even Snow and Lightning's roles were pretty measly, and the barely existent cameos of Vanille, Fang and Sazh were nothing short of criminal imo. They better appear more in 13-3.

uhh what else

As I see it Noel starts feeling FEELINGS relatively early on but is all like dude not cool she's got a fiance don't even go there but he just can't help himself and meanwhile Serah's FEELINGS don't come until later and at first she pushes them off because Snow's gone and she's just been lonely but by the end she's feeling super conflicted because she still loves Snow but Noel is Noel and let's be honest Noel is proving a lot more reliable than Snow at this point.

And this isn't even including the other angsts they cause each other what with Serah dying from seeing all the new futures and Noel's memory fading (and I can't remember if this was suggested in the game but I thought that in the end he might no longer exist because his future never happened which I like to think also occurred to Serah angstangst).

Speaking of Snow, I think the dude definitely is feeling some chilly feet. He was way too quick to tell Noel the wedding was on hold. That's not to say he doesn't love Serah or shit like that but marriage is srs business and I think Snow may have finally realized that.

Anyways I adore NoelxSerah a lot more than I expected I would adfoajdf so many feelings must feed them with all the fics.

annyyywways i think that's all i wanna say atm, gonna go spoil the other endings for myself now

All of this. All of this so much. I agree with almost everything you have said. I mean, pretty much the only thing I don't agree with as much is that Alyssa was that bad. I didn't mind her. I didn't necessarily like her, but I didn't mind her. Make sense? But anyway.

Took me 22:47 to beat the final boss (target time 11:13?! Haaaaaaaa no). I got it on my second try, but I came very frikkin' close to everyone dying...that's when I discovered that sometimes, it's just better to let someone who has been wounded irreparably (or, at least, once you run out of wound potions because you're an idiot and didn't buy ANY before starting the final run) die and bring them back, because they come back without any wounds...so...yeah. Did that to all of the members of my party, actually. Ha. But geez. Also, all four boss fights at the end with their dick moves. Come on. I was yelling at the screen.

As for story, there were several things that I actually blinked at and thought (or said out loud, lol) "hm, didn't see that coming".
Like when Caius stabs Serah, and then at the end of the game when she dies.
I liked it. Honestly, even though the time traveling could get a little confusing and frustrating (especially before I got the guide and found myself really freaking confused about where (and when!) I was supposed to find this or that item, I think the story was better and somewhat easier to follow than XIII's. XIII's confused me all around and I just kinda....played the game, fought the battles and whatnot because the gameplay was so much fun. Speaking of gameplay, I thought this one's was brilliant. Unfortunately, like I've said in the other XIII-2 thread, I was rather overpowered for much of the game. Most of it, in fact. That did kind of take the fun and the challenge out of it, and I didn't get to fully utilize the battle system as much as I would have liked (mostly because my battles seriously lasted between 10 and 30 seconds on average), but by the final chapter I was finally running into things that gave me trouble again, so much of my fresh thoughts are based on those experiences. I ABSOLUTELY had to utilize several of my paradigms for the final battle. In fact, after I died the first time, I had to go through and rearrange things and create a couple of different paradigms (needed one in which Noel and Serah were both sentinels, which I hadn't had before). I liked.

Also....I've never really found myself getting caught up in shipping really...but....NoelxSerah all the way for me :P
 

sheens

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Sheens, Mooglet
So I finished it and I'm actually really sad

Noel's scream was heartbreaking and Hope's crying face was even worse. The Mog got all nearly dead. It was just too much in one sitting. I hope to god something resolves this very soon or else.

I just want a happy ending. I should have stayed with Fate and Freedom. To be honest, even though I love Noel and Mog, at least nobody is dead in Inception land.

Loved the game though. Of course I'll play post-game stuffs.
 

Marle

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Ava, Spike Spiegel, Stella Nox Fleuret, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, Princess Zelda, Alice, Raven Roth, Faye Valentine, Tifa Lockhart, Khal Drogo
Splintered, I have some great respect for you and that post. I've seen a ton of bitching on the Snow/Serah fandom side (although I'm sure the Noel/Serah fandom has it's hands dirty too) but your post was actually enjoyable to read and had a lot of truth to it. :)

For the most part, Zee speaks from my heart let me love you bby. But I just wanna make some comments I guess?

I disliked Snow in FF13. When Lightning punched him, I was glad someone did. So, in my opinion, I found Snow/Serah to be the opposite; like I was getting hammered with it throughout the entire game because of Snow. Like Zee said, SE takes canon and makes it way too melodramatic (I agree they did this to cloti too).

Maybe I'm alone on that but I felt like everything Snow did in that game revolved around Serah and no one and nothing else mattered and I just really, really wanted him to shut up. I felt like the whole time SE was going: IT IS OFFICIAL THEY WILL GET MARRIED WHAT'S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND SUBTLETY? THEY MAKE OUT TO FIREWORKS SHUT UP AND TAKE IT.

And I greatly dislike pairings that are thrown in my face. Without actual development.

I know some people find what Snow does for Serah romantic but I guess to me, it was more like annoying?

Anywho. My hatred for Snow only grew in the sequel. I was willing to give him a shot, like I did with Serah, but he only further ticked me off.

I don't like how he treats Serah at all. I know it's nice of him to have believed in her but, like previously mentioned, she isn't some kind of trophy wife and her abilities in this sequel prove that. His first accusation to Noel is why he brought her along, like she's so incompetent and weak that she must always be sheltered.

He underestimates her and doesn't bring out the best from her in the way Noel does.

His main objective is to impress her and be this hero he thinks she wants. When in reality, all Serah wants is to be with him, regardless of the fact that he's a hero or not. He doesn't seem to get this and so hurts her a lot, more so than he might realize.

Snow's intentions may be good but his actions hurt the people he loves. Noel called him out on it and everything he said, despite it being a reflection to Caius, was absolutely correct about him.

I don't think Noel hates Snow because zomg ltd and jealousy. It was more a call out to his careless actions and the fact that Noel sees it as the whole Yuel-Caius thing.

As for Noel/Serah feels. I actually thought they had the more subtle romantic relationship in this game. I like how they treat each other like friends, comrades and more. I like how they can rely on each other. It makes them even more compatible as a couple, imo.

Noel brings out the best from Serah. He gives her this drive, a reason to keep fighting. His optimism is often the thing that reassures her and helps her not to give up. I think a pivotal moment between these two is when Noel realizes Serah's death is imminent and decides to give up everything to keep her alive. Including Yuel's fate.

But Serah adopts his strong will and tells him that she wants to keep fighting despite the risks because she wants to save his future. And he supports her all the way. Snow would have never let her do it.

I don't know. I just feel like Noel is the better man. I feel like yeah okay, it's established she loves Snow and Snow loves her and they'll get married and whatnot but I feel like they'd be doing it for all the wrong reasons.

Which is why I don't see how it's so far fetched that they may not be the canon couple by the end of the game?

One thing that leads me to sort of believe this is that Noel was the one at Serah's side when she died. I agree with everyone; that moment would have been highly pivotal to the Snow/Serah relationship and the fact that SE didn't bother...sort of tells me they really don't care too much for that ship?

GUH. In the end, I feel like Snow and Serah are more like the good friends who love each other and that Noel and Serah would make the better lovers.

To each their own I suppose.
 

Marle

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Ava, Spike Spiegel, Stella Nox Fleuret, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, Princess Zelda, Alice, Raven Roth, Faye Valentine, Tifa Lockhart, Khal Drogo
Double post but yeah.

So my friends came over and they're all FF fans but don't own a PS3 (they're fans of the classics). Naturally, I decided to corrupt their fresh minds with FF13-2. :awesome:

So, I rant to them about the ending and next thing I know, they're asking to see it. I especially bitched about the Bahamuts. Honestly, I didn't think I could beat him again. It took me forever to kill him on my second try and the first try, well...I died.

So I told them I'd take out Caius but no promises on the Bahamuts. Worst case scenario, there's always youtube.

I used the exact same battle strategy that I had the last time I won. I'll go into detail if anyone would like to try it because IT ENDED UP BEING PRETTY MUCH FUCKING FLAWLESS AGAINST HIM THIS TIME AROUND. I killed Jet Bahamut. After defeating the twin bitches once.

Yeah, that's right. I killed him in the first round. No resurrecting happened and the only countdown attack he casted was gigaflare which was soft. I didn't use a single phoenix down. I used maybe two wound potions and one remedy on Serah.

I'll outline it if it would help anyone five star the battle (I kinda wish someone did it for me, maybe I wouldn't have died the first time -_-):

Leader: Serah
Party:
Serah
She just had medic at level 98 and had mastered the ravager role. Sentinel was about 84. I didn't really use any of the other roles for her but they were roughly in the 70s-80s. Her HP was about 7000 and I equipped her with accessories that mainly increased her HP (iron bangle, etc.). Her main weapon was the Gandiva.

Noel: He maxed out the com role and almost everything else was maxed. I only really used him as com, med or sentinel. His sentinel level was actually low (78) as was his med role (74). He had HP in the 8000 area. His accessories mainly increased his strength status (power wrist band, etc). His weapon was Grasitha.

Both Serah and Noel had 100 accessory points and five ATB segments.

Monsters I used had no infusions at all and were:

Bunkerbeast (Sentinel): About four crystarium spots away from being maxed.
Albino Lobo (Ravager): Maxed
Dragoon (Commando): Maxed

Paradigms (bolded were the ones I used in this fight specifically):

1)Serah (Rav) Noel (Com) Albino Lobo (Rav)
2)Serah (Sen) Noel (Sen) Bunkerbeast (Sen)
3)Serah (Rav) Noel (Com) Dragoon (Com)
4)Serah (Med) Noel (Med) Bunkerbeast (Sen)
5)Serah (Rav) Noel (Com) Bunkerbeast (Sen)
6) Serah (Sab) Noel (Com) Albino Lobo (Rav)

Strategy:
Starting the battle is easy; take out the two bahamuts and only really go into the med paradigm if a character is really close to death. For me, this was often my monster. -_- The main paradigm I used against them was paradigm (1). And just cleaned the floor with them. They fall easy once staggered and you don't really need to heal because they don't do that much damage the first time you fight them.

Then, when Jet Bahamut enters the battle and casts every status ailment in the book, I remedy Serah and enter paradigm (4). With both Noel and Serah as healers, I focus mainly on getting everyone's HP up to a decent level and getting rid of poison (maybe insert a wound potion if the HP has been lowered by 40%). Don't spend a lot on the other status ailments, it'll take up too much time and they go away on their own without too much significance on the battle.

Once that's cleared, quickly shift into paradigm (1) and just keep attacking Jet Bahamut relentlessly. I don't heal unless a single character is literally less than 1000 HP away from death. Just don't stop. I learned this the hard way. Keep hitting him with everything you've got until the bitch is staggered. Enter the healing paradigm only when absolutely necessary.

If he's about to cast gigaflare, go into paradigm (2) quickly and then heal after as necessary in paradigm (4). If he's about to cast Judgement Blade, go into paradigm (2) quickly and heal after as necessary again, in paradigm (4). It is imperative not to waste time in healing so having two meds really helps. Again, I didn't really heal unless a character was near death.

After he's staggered, go into paradigm (1) and hand his ass to him relentlessly. DO NOT STOP. He should fall or, worst case scenario, his HP should be a measly amount that the second round you face him, he goes down real fast. If you can't beat him the first round, apply the same strategy again until he falls.

I beat him in a span of three minutes or so. Considering it took me nearly forty the last time, I was mind blown. And so were my friends. I looked like a liar >.>

BUT I GOT FIVE STARS AND EARNED THE TROPHY =DDDDD SO IT WAS WORTH IT :joy:

Any questions about the strategy I used, feel free to ask, guys. :)
 
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Arianna

Holy, Personified
AKA
Katie; Seta.
Proto-Behemoth and his accompanying cat friends are pains in the freaking ass!!!

Toriyama-troll par excellence - except for the ending of the whole game. >_>

Speaking of the ending, as I said before, I don't know how this game is truly going to end. I don't know how or what can be done 'cept bringing forth the gods...

Finishing the end wasn't too bad for me; the manual reveals a secret:
the more fragments you have, the easier the final boss battle is supposed to be.
I'm not too sure how true it is though. I died about four to five times before I beat the full-dragon-form-x-3 Bahamut.

Sazh's story was fun, but... eh... I wish the card games could transfer over to the rest of the game. Chocolina:
I had a feeling that she was connected to the chocobo chick.
See!!!
All creatures have souls!!!
^_^

I finished the game with 148 fragments. Now to collect the others, see the rest of the endings, get my creatures leveled up, get Amodar (I got Lightning's crystal in the first or second Coliseum battle), and finally - hope for the best with the rest of the DLC. :)

... I do hope there will be a conclusion, other than what's been revealed.
 

Lex

Administrator
The guide says it's easier with more fragments too, so I assume that is the case. I had 151 before I finished and I found the final battles REALLY really easy, I was wondering why so many people kept saying they were dying until I remembered this.
 

Marle

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Ava, Spike Spiegel, Stella Nox Fleuret, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, Princess Zelda, Alice, Raven Roth, Faye Valentine, Tifa Lockhart, Khal Drogo
It's not necessarily easier because you collect more fragments but more because of the CP you get from collecting certain fragments. So ultimately, it's a higher level. I only had about 116 when I found the final battle easy. The time it took me 40 minutes, I had about 110 fragments.

But certain fragments can give you up to 30,000 CP and that makes a huge difference in stats.

At least, that's how I believe it works. :T
 

Dana Scully

Special Agent
AKA
YACCBS, Legato Bluesummers, Daenaerys Targaryen, Revy, Kate Beckett, Samantha Carter, Matsumoto Rangiku
Yeah, I had a whole boatload of trouble with the Bahamut fight but I only had 60-some fragments. Which, in hindsight, was probably a bit of a mistake. Could've saved myself a lot of hassle if I'd just gotten a bit higher level.
 

Lumina

a pokémon.
AKA
Bayleef, Jessica
Today I finally captured Lightning and Amodar. Got two more trophies aanndd I'm trying to get the paradox ending where
Serah forgets about Noel.
But just when I was on my way Paradox Scope Caius appeared. I had to take a mental break before going full throttle on his ass.

Seeing Lightning in her old uniform... Makes me remember why I fell so in love with her on the first game. In my opinion I think that in personality/as a whole Lightning did a "downgrade".
 

Splintered

unsavory tart

Seeing Lightning in her old uniform... Makes me remember why I fell so in love with her on the first game. In my opinion I think that in personality/as a whole Lightning did a "downgrade".
I'm not sure if I want to say downgrade but I kind of agree with the sentiment. It's understandable because Lightning's character development basically finished in the first game so there would be less of her but there a few things I found weird...

Like how Lightning is almost so reverent of Etros which goes against the whole "Fuck you powers that be" that she had in the first game. That and her dialogue as a whole is awkwardly formal, which makes sense because she's ascended to a new level of existence of whatever, but it still clashes with how human she was in the first game.

*shrugs*
 

Kobato

Pro Adventurer
I finally did that Cactuar puzzle today and defeated all 3 of the massive Cactuars only to find out that I don't have the right artifact to open the time gate.

FUUUUUUUU-


So mad. >>

So I'm just going around all the time zones to look for those things Hope and Alyssa want which I tried to avoid in the first place because I REALLY don't want to go on some kind of lame "find the key " to progress into the game thing. >>


 

Lex

Administrator
If you're talking about the Wild Artifact gate in the Archylte Steppe - you don't have to activate that to complete the game.
 

Kobato

Pro Adventurer
If you're talking about the Wild Artifact gate in the Archylte Steppe - you don't have to activate that to complete the game.


I know.... I was just hoping that I'll be able to shortcut and avoid trying to find what Hope and Alyssa want from all the timezones, some spheres or something....

meh / can't be fucked doing that kinda thing >:
 

Zee

wangxian married
AKA
Zee
Seeing Lightning in her old uniform... Makes me remember why I fell so in love with her on the first game. In my opinion I think that in personality/as a whole Lightning did a "downgrade".

really? i love her in xiii-2 because we see her embracing her maternal side that was a big part of her character in the first game

she even took time to adopt a moogle HOW CUTE IS SHE????

i mean she probably went more formal/distanced because she knew some epic level shit was going down but she still had her deadpan snarker/sarcasm thing going ("gonna get worse....") it's not like that part of her was totally forgotten.
 

Fangu

Great Old One
If you're talking about the Wild Artifact gate in the Archylte Steppe - you don't have to activate that to complete the game.
I think I used the Wild Artifacts in the totally wrong order :lol: But that's the beauty of it - you can walk your own path in the game.
 

Lex

Administrator
It didn't actually take me as long as I thought it would. Just be methodical and do a bit at a time!
 

Alex Strife

Ex-SOLDIER
It didn't actually take me as long as I thought it would. Just be methodical and do a bit at a time!

That's what I'm doing. Also because I don't have that much time. I visit each area and start killing stuff. I also visit the steppe from time to time, just because I know it's longer to finish!! Still, I enjoy it actually. :)
 

Arianna

Holy, Personified
AKA
Katie; Seta.
How many are feeling the need or want to replay the game, from square one?

That's the issue with me. When I have completed everything... I don't feel much desire to replay the game. (DLC does not count.)

I still have fragments to collect, bestiary being one of them, but Serendipity's already been collected.
 
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Aqua

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Shiala, Bulma, Choco-Lightning
LOL I knew I was going to replay the game about halfway through the game. D:!

I'm even restarting from FFXIII, what am I doing?!
 

Arianna

Holy, Personified
AKA
Katie; Seta.
I'm not 'hating on' XIII-2, but XIII had greater replay value. XIII-2... not so much. These are my opinions. Story-wise the game is weak, but game play makes it stronger.

I just wish that SE would come out and say if this world is truly dead and gone or what. All the DLC and stuff is interesting, but I really want to know if the story is done and we're just adding on or if there's a chance the world will escape its fate.

As for Snow and Serah... I don't like how Snow just grabs her at the beginning of 'The Future is Hope', but at the same time, she does the same to him in Sunleth Waterscape. I rather have Snow x Serah, just cause it's been there and I see no reason for it to really change.

Honestly, I'm kind of tired of the whole pairing drama, but I know I've gotten into it myself (Cloud x Tifa). Noel -> Serah -> Oblivious. :( Snow is... I don't know what to say about how I feel XIII-2 portrayed his feelings. I felt the love was more for Vanille and Fang overall, with the original game characters.
 
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