Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Spoiler Thread

[trash panda]

Finished with 20 minutes to go,

I need an enema to flush out all this Nomura aesthetic from my head

Added to my favorites! Good luck to everyone! Did anyone else from TLS participate?

 

[Jason Tandro]

Added to my favorites! Good luck to everyone! Did anyone else from TLS participate?

Maybe I'm late to the party, but what was this? Fic contest of some kind?

Also, I accomplished something on my New Game + Playthrough I'm pretty happy about.

Spoiler

Day 3: Ten Days Remain

Yes folks, I beat every single main quest between day 1 and 2. Dead Dunes on day 1 and everything else on Day 2. Of course a high quantity of Chronostasis was used. I even accomplished a huge amount of side quests and even fought my first Last One for this playthrough (a Miniflan Omega).

Not gonna lie. I feel pretty good about myself.

Course, again, it's New Game + AND Easy, so not really that spectacular.

 

[trash panda]

It's a Lightning Returns fanart contest. The three winners get an Xbox, all three games, $1000, and a sketch from Nomura.

This game is starting to pique my interest. I've been oggling over all of the spoilers in this thread. Great way to ruin it for myself, I know.

 

[Lex]

I just did the same thing! The first few days are ridiculously easy on normal when you've already played the game once, you should turn the difficulty up if you fancy it. I streamed the whole thing too .

I've upgraded most of my swords as far as they can go on normal. Did all the main quests aside from Sazh's and collected all the accessories for that last trophy, then used the crystal of atonement. Caius wasn't nearly as difficult this time round. I didn't even die once. And now I have two copies of his sword to play with .

 

[Jason Tandro]

I just did the same thing! The first few days are ridiculously easy on normal when you've already played the game once, you should turn the difficulty up if you fancy it. I streamed the whole thing too .

I've upgraded most of my swords as far as they can go on normal. Did all the main quests aside from Sazh's and collected all the accessories for that last trophy, then used the crystal of atonement. Caius wasn't nearly as difficult this time round. I didn't even die once. And now I have two copies of his sword to play with .

I'm gil-farming so I can buy every garb, adornment, shield and sword for maximum customization potential. I know it sounds ridiculously nerdy, but that's the level of OCD I deal with.

Also, Chaos Revenge was THE sword I used up until the last day when I bought Masamune. Sure it's magic stats are in the tank at a whopping 0, but when I give that to my physical schema, Chaos Revenge to my magic schema, and Ultima Weapon to my half-half schema.... OHHHHH Things die. (I actually found the Earth Eater way more difficult than the final boss because I forgot to properly set up my magic schema and wasn't able to stagger him until near the end of the fight.)

So, Lex, you stream this stuff? Youtube channel or something else? I'd like to check that out.

 

[Lex]

^I realised aswell that it's super easy to farm gil too because you can just kill the cactuars til they're extinct which doesn't take long, then use the crystal of atonement to repeat the process. Beautiful.

 

[Kuja9001]

Snow uses all his mental and physical powers to absorb the Chaos that threatens Yusnaan. The more days pass, the more chaos spreads to his body. This is why, if you save him later days in the timeline, he will be stronger and look more and more like a cie'th, the very symbol of the Chaos.

From the guide.

 

[Storm XIII]

Snow uses all his mental and physical powers to absorb the Chaos that threatens Yusnaan. The more days pass, the more chaos spreads to his body. This is why, if you save him later days in the timeline, he will be stronger and look more and more like a cie'th, the very symbol of the Chaos.

From the guide.

one of the things I liked is that Snow's room is a jail... he knew he could turn into Cieth anytime and wanted to protect the citizens of yusnaan.

 

[Splintered]

yeah, seeing Snow's room as a jail was really sad, even more than the confrontation. It showed just how he lives now. He doesn't trust himself, but that didn't mean he just stopped doing what he needed too.

I tried playing a little in the Japanese voices for NG+ on hard. I didn't like it. People slammed Lightning voice acting but... I loved it. Yeah she was flat a lot... because it required it. But the moments she needed to act, she acted well.

And honestly, I can't imagine Lumina and Caius in anything but there English actors, they were so amazing. Not to mention Snow or Sazh. I felt like Hope was a definite step down, which was strange because I thought he was amazing in the first game.

 

[Jason Tandro]

@Splintered: Yeah we've come a long way from FFX.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I like Lightning's voice. If it sounds kind of dead in this game it makes sense. She's mostly emotionless at this point. Sazh is like one of my favorite characters and he gets shafted as hell in the sequels. Great voice to.

And most importantly yes to your thoughts on Caius. His voice is deep and commanding and yet he still retains some humanity .

 

[Claymore]

So, I've cleared all the main missions and now have an extra 5 days to go before the end of the world. Just clearing as many side quests as I can and have begun tackling the Last Ones. Some of the drops are really interesting, but that Last Reaver weapon drop is very ... florescent, lol.

Got my ass well and truly handed to me by that Chaos-induced Chocobo Eater though who attacks the farm. Now that was tricky. Had to set up a schemata specifically to survive his attacks and to reduce his strength. Once I did that, I suddenly found that it was a breeze.

I do love the small things in the game. Like after the discovery of Odin being reborn into a chocobo that Lightning begins to refer to him during battle. Or seeing Noel or Satz wander around in the game world. Or hearing the old Final Fantasy tunes being performed by bands around the world. Or hearing the crowd chant the victory theme in the Slaughthouse battles. Or just seeing the side quests you have completed have a little impact on the characters and the world. Or the small comments at your outfits / schemata.

All these small things amount to an even better experience as you play. Despite just having four main locations, the world just feels ... alive.

 

[Strangelove]

one of the things i liked about the ffxiii series was that beating the difficult battles wasn't solely a matter of grinding, even battles that were extremely difficult 5 minutes ago become much more managable once you change your set up around

i should try playing while wearing different costumes. i did my first (and at this point only) playthrough using the original outfit for walking around the field because i wanted to have a sensible original playthrough (except for the 5 minutes i spend in the moogle queen outfit)

 

[Storm XIII]

So, I've cleared all the main missions and now have an extra 5 days to go before the end of the world. Just clearing as many side quests as I can and have begun tackling the Last Ones. Some of the drops are really interesting, but that Last Reaver weapon drop is very ... florescent, lol.

Got my ass well and truly handed to me by that Chaos-induced Chocobo Eater though who attacks the farm. Now that was tricky. Had to set up a schemata specifically to survive his attacks and to reduce his strength. Once I did that, I suddenly found that it was a breeze.

I do love the small things in the game. Like after the discovery of Odin being reborn into a chocobo that Lightning begins to refer to him during battle. Or seeing Noel or Satz wander around in the game world. Or hearing the old Final Fantasy tunes being performed by bands around the world. Or hearing the crowd chant the victory theme in the Slaughthouse battles. Or just seeing the side quests you have completed have a little impact on the characters and the world. Or the small comments at your outfits / schemata.

All these small things amount to an even better experience as you play. Despite just having four main locations, the world just feels ... alive.

the world is probably my favorite aspect of the game.

 

[Jason Tandro]

one of the things i liked about the ffxiii series was that beating the difficult battles wasn't solely a matter of grinding, even battles that were extremely difficult 5 minutes ago become much more managable once you change your set up around

i should try playing while wearing different costumes. i did my first (and at this point only) playthrough using the original outfit for walking around the field because i wanted to have a sensible original playthrough (except for the 5 minutes i spend in the moogle queen outfit)

Pro Tip: Buy Velvet Bouncer in Yusnaan. That was the outfit I used for my physical attack schema for the rest of the game.

Also, if you are looking for a rare garb in Yusnaan

Spoiler

talk to all the chocobo girls after you learn the magic words (four girls in total). The last will give you a rare garb which is decent for a magical attack garb.

 

[Alex Strife]

Spoiler

Yup, the infamous Miqo'te...

 

[Jason Tandro]

Spoiler

Yup, the infamous Miqo'te...

Meow-meow choco-chow

 

[Geostigma]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/vid...ion/8828-Lightning-Returns-Final-Fantasy-XIII

 

[Fangu]

Spoiler: Ending etc

So I finished the game, but I didn't get the train station ending? I played on Normal mode.

Oh. Bhuni stage 4. I used Overclock to Stagger him, and took him down on one Stagger. lol. lololololol. This game. lol.

I don't know what to say about the game. It's... it was fun to play, like, really addictive at parts, but unbalanced, and some of the cutscenes were poorly executed. The scene with Vanille in the church was well written, but directed really shitty. The ending was cheesy and kinda dumb. Parts were nice though, like the Noel/Yuel thing. (AAAWWWW!) Sad that Caius was left in the darkness though; like, that was it. The game hinted heavily at CaiusxsomeoftheYuels. I liked the 'I became tough soldier when our parents died' part, but Lumina = Claire Farron? Screw that. And Serah shows up without no Snow/Serah interaction? W T F

I'm not even gonna comment on the Bhuni/God/new world thing, cus... meh.

Oh. FangxVanille. Canon as hell. Also, Lightning is kinda gay. And had a crush on Fang in XIII. I am certain.

My favourite part of the game storywise was the Hope&Lightning banter. omg some of the things he said to her, hahaHa had me laughing, really cute and funny. Yeah those two were what made the game for me.

Gameplay wise, as I said, unbalanced, but fun. I like the battle system more than I thought I would.

Currently on my NG+ game. Spamming Chronostasis this time.

Oh, and I am proud to say I did the whole thing on my first try (Normal Mode) WITHOUT the use of a guide. There was just two things I looked up/ had hints on: I checked if the location between the Wildlands and Yusnaan (is it?) would be open to pick up the item you need for Chocolina for the Dajh quest, or if I would have to do something to open a gate or something. Also I checked what item you need to fight the cactus to get another of Dajh's fragments. That was it. I'm happy I went through with 'looking up nothing' because everything was a nice surprise. Seeing Hope at the end fight was really win and I'm glad I didn't know he was gonna show up.

This has been an unedited rant by Fangu. X)

 

[trash panda]

Okie dokie, my SO just called me and told me that he's going to go pick this game up for me. I guess he saw me oggling over reviews and doing breakdowns of 'worth it' or 'not worth it' for the last week and made the choice for me.

Will commentate after several hours of playtime. <3

 

[Fangu]

Oooo I forgot two vital things that I absolutely loved:

Spoiler

- The guy in Yusnaan playing the Gilgamesh theme (all the music people/ bands were great tbh but Gilgamesh was fantastic)
- Odin. When she learns the Chocobo is him. OMG. I almost cried.

 

[Strangelove]

Spoiler: about the ending

to get the epilogue/train ending you need to have unlocked the 14th day [completing 45-50 side quests, the canvas of prayer ones don't count towards extending the time]? at least i think that's the only requirement there.

 

[Lex]

^regarding that (from the guide):

Spoiler

Each quest is allocated a formula based on its difficulty: one star = 0.02, two stars = 0.04, three stars = 0.08. To unlock the extra day you need to reach a value of 1, but the formula isn't a simple addition and the order that you complete quests matters when determining it.

Basically it's almost guaranteed to unlock if you do 50-ish quests.

EDIT:

Spoiler: Weapon & final boss spoilers

You can actually win Bhuni's weapon (the one with pulse and etro on it), but it only has a 5% drop rate. This increases to 30% if you equip the beggars beads and fight him on a new game plus (Apparently you fight a Bhuni+ only if you're playing on NG+).

I know I loved this game because I'm still playing it even though I have the platinum . I'm currently farming Noel on Hard for his weapon upgrade drops.

 

[Yuri Lowell]

What does everyone think about this game on the whole? Do you miss having a party?

 

[Lex]

Not as much as I did in XIII-2, which is a bit weird considering you kind of did have a party in that one.

Honestly, I think this is a great game. I prefer it to XIII-2 and I prefer the gameplay (but maybe not the battle system) to XIII. I just found Lightning Returns really fun. And I'm actually quite annoyed that it's scoring lower than the other 2 everywhere, when there's so much of it that is far superior.

 

[Claymore]

What does everyone think about this game on the whole? Do you miss having a party?

I'm just nearing the end game and I've personally found it to be really enjoyable. Lightning feels more well-rounded and developed this time around (all the bits of dialogue with Hope is fantastic, especially when traversing the game world), the world feels more alive and involved, ties between this and the previous installments are made, and the battle system is fun. Originally, I had a huge issue with the time management feature, however, I found it a lot less restrictive during play - but this was mostly due to a game ability that allowed me to freeze it for a period. If the game didn't have that ability, then it definitely would have been an issue.

Looking at the bad points however - the game is pretty much just a streamlined 'fetch and kill quests' MMO design.

As for the battle system, though fun with some strategy needed in order to plan out your schemata effectively and work out weaknesses and stagger points, it ultimately still feels limited because you are restricted to just 4 commands per schemata. My issue with this is not so much that we can only have 4 commands (since it is an ARPG) but that there aren't that many interesting and varied commands to use in battle in order to fill those slots up. The interchangeable nature of those limited commands feels more of a weakness than a strength. I would have preferred the dressphere approach, with you unlocking new specific commands per 'job role' in order to create more varied combat and tactics.

As for the story ... I'll leave that up to you.

I do desperately miss having a party though. DESPERATELY. I found that though I enjoyed battles, I enjoyed them a heck of a lot more during the trips to the Wildlands and Dead Dune segments - which is no surprise because you have some temporary party members during that time. And if you don't like Lightning at all? ... Then you are well and truly screwed.

I do feel that the game should get a lot more praise for what it has managed to achieve. It's actually my favourite of the three.