Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Spoiler Thread

[Pixel]

Is the ending hinting at something FF7? That definitely looked like lifestream

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

It probably is related to the same Lifestream metaphysics that overarches so many FF titles. Hell, maybe it's the same Earth from The Spirits Within, and that was the birth of its Gaia.

 

[Obsidian Fire]

^^That interpretation I would be a lot more okay with... currently the ending is giving me an Andrew Hussie "let's break the 4th wall" feeling in a world that didn't have any tie to the real world to begin with. Unlike Homestuck which makes the reader and the author characters in a fantastical "real world" to begin with, so including the formation of earth/our universe is kinda just taken in stride.

 

[trash panda]

Okay, I'm on day 2 right now and...

Spoiler

I'm doing my first play through without any help from a guide. So far I feel like I'm roaming around without progressing. I'm scared to go back and forth between cities on the train because it wastes my time. And the transportation ability takes up so much EP...then finding monsters who restore reasonable amounts of EP is a task of its own...

These aren't complaints though. I actually feel like I'm being challenged. I think the last time I broke a sweat playing a game was...was...hm...can't remember the last time...I like it.

The story is meh at best but the gameplay is entertaining so far. I think I'll have more fun when I get to the Dead Dunes or Wildlands.

 

[Lex]

I haven't gone back through this thread yet, but I'm surprised no one mentioned the similarity to the lifestream in anything I've come across yet.

I didn't take it like they were trying to do anything or trying to make it like FFVII or anything like that though. I kind of liked it. It's more just Square's way of representing souls isn't it? I mean the only other kind of meta representation of that that we have is the farplane stuff, and we don't ever see what that looks like going in to a planet. Also they did the whole bridging X and VII thing so it should look like VII's.

Didn't really bother me tbh. Neither did the ending in general though. I can see why people thought it was a bit cheesy (because it is) but by the time they got to Lightning having the flashback I was crying anyway (and a bit harder when that happened), so I ate that cheese right up. And had a good time doing so.

 

[Claymore]

Just finished the game, so some quick ramblings...

Jesus, the VII references definitely went WAY overboard! Lightning splitting through God's attack was very reminiscent of Cloud splitting through Neo Bahamut's attack in AC. Serah and Lightning floating was exactly like Aerith's body floating in the Forgotten City. And that was SO the lifestream.

Yeah. First X, now XIII. Let the theories go ape shit on this.

Random thoughts:

[+] Lightning using Hope's knife to strike God and free his soul was very cool
[+] The XIII series is finally over! (Sorry)
[-] Satz gets shafted (like he did for the entire game). What the frell was Noel doing with his Aeon? That's just messed up.
[-] The Dragonball Z take down was just ... overboard.

Will breathe a bit and put some proper thoughts together at some point.

Edit: Just saw the train end clip. Um ... ok?

 

[Arianna]

Army of One is just Cloud's Omnislash.

I played through, but am under-leveled, so I

Spoiler

used the Crystal of Atonement and

am doing another play through.

 

[Jason Tandro]

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.

Spoiler

The Battle at Big Bridge theme (Gilgamesh's Theme) was pretty damn awesome, but there's a few other references that you may have missed:
- At the station one of the one-man-banders plays the Final Fantasy Anthem.
- After completing the Death Game sidequest, the following day Biggs and Wedge will be in the Glutton's Quarter playing Terra from Final Fantasy VI.
- In Luxerion in the Plaza near the Cathedral, a street performer plays an acoustic version of New Bodhum.

There's a few others that I couldn't identify.

So, being the stupid, stupid person that I am, I had a stupid, stupid idea:

CSI: Luxerion

 

[Fangu]

I didn't know about the second one, but that's because I haven't finished that sidequest.

 

[Splintered]

Man, Going through the Lightning Returns Deviantart contest, holy crap a lot of the entries man are jaw dropping. I'm torn though because a lot of the ones that don't have the best designs are the most amazing, and some of them that aren't the best drawn- have great designs. All of them are fun to look at.

Interestingly enough, a couple of the designs decided to incorporate some of the details of LR, ones that I didn't particularly like, but were well utilized here.
A lot of people rag on Nomura but I feel that being able to be judged by him brought about a lot of this talent.

http://www.deviantart.com/contests/2014/lightningreturns/?offset=192

 

[trash panda]

Man, Going through the Lightning Returns Deviantart contest, holy crap a lot of the entries man are jaw dropping. I'm torn though because a lot of the ones that don't have the best designs are the most amazing, and some of them that aren't the best drawn- have great designs. All of them are fun to look at.

Interestingly enough, a couple of the designs decided to incorporate some of the details of LR, ones that I didn't particularly like, but were well utilized here.
A lot of people rag on Nomura but I feel that being able to be judged by him brought about a lot of this talent.

http://www.deviantart.com/contests/2014/lightningreturns/?offset=192

I painted mine before I ever played the game or knew anything about it. Wasn't about to spoil it for myself.

One of my favorites is the eclaire drawing. Wow. I mean, wow.
I liked some of the ones that incorporated Odin, and there was one that was inspired by Yggdrasil, which I thought was creative...

Winners will be announced soon!

 

[X-SOLDIER]

I just found out that I have a dopplegänger in this game:

Dr. Sheep:

X

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Me too:

Spoiler

 

[Lex]

mmmmm snow

 

[Strangelove]

Spoiler: yeah me2

massive homo

 

[Masamune]

Really failing to grasp what the time limit brings to the experience and enjoyment of this game. I'm well aware that it's possible to negate the process by inconveniently spamming the Chronostasis ability every so often. Nevertheless, the clock-watching is intuitively distracting when I want the luxury of exploring any RPG at my own pace. In which case, what was the point of including it, if only to railroad the player and blinker them from the genuine lack of substance in the game?

 

[Shademp]

I'm considering to buy this game. Though I suspect I won't like the experience, I may want to explore and see it for myself. Hmm... This is a tough one. In the long run it gets a bit tiring to only hear others rant about games and not actually play them yourself, often not doing so because of these rants/reviews.

 

[Kuja9001]

The LR novel might be releasing after all.

https://twitter.com/mocha589/status/445201657190576128

 

[Jason Tandro]

This is a bit random, but I just noticed that the musical loop that plays in the background of the track The Sleeping City (what plays in Luxerion north side during night) totally sounds like the intro to Chase The Morning from Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Listen

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

The LR novel might be releasing after all.

https://twitter.com/mocha589/status/445201657190576128

What odd timing that would be. Is anyone still interested?

 

[Strangelove]

well, according to that it will be put online instead of being a standard novel anyways, which seems like less of an investment

and they did release that widely panned ffx novel so maybe they're feeling reluctant about this whole novelisation route now

 

[ForceStealer]

So, Tres, I'm not disputing the Earth thing. But why does the presence of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon prove it to you given that FF7's solar system has all of those planets?

Also, yes, I beated it.
I can elaborate further later, but I liked the game a lot

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I'm not sure what you're asking. Are you suggesting VII's planet is Earth? It's, at best, an alternate Earth. Way too damn small to be ours for one thing. Also, whatever "Battlestar Galactica" may hold, I'm fairly confident that our civilization didn't begin when a race of aliens similar enough to the indigenous population so as to procreate landed. =P

And in our solar system, Jupiter is bigger than Saturn.

Edit: I'll confess this response was more than a little facetious, but what was I supposed to do with that? =P

 

[Blade]

*still hasn't played the game, but will likely get the game eventually anyway*

 

[Fangu]

Ugh I need to keep playing this game X( I'm on my NG+ game (on Hard) and I guess the thought of going through the main quests again feels a little dull. But I really want to because I have suspicions

Spoiler

like the cats, dogs and lizards turning into stuff you can fight

I want to have confirmed (or not). I just need to distance myself from the ending and the story in general (as I didn't like it) because the gameplay is quite good.