Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

[Alex Strife]

I'll once again insist that the system is stressful to me. It's exactly what I feared when it was announced the game would be built around the concept of time.

Other than that, it's pretty solid. It plays well and it's fun, honestly. And regardless of what some people say, I do not think it looks worse than the other two games. It's interesting because the three places I have been to feel pretty different. Luxerion has the city feeling, the Wildlands feel a bit like an MMORPG at times (particularly the forest, for some reason) and the Dead Dunes is a vast but empty scenario. Looking forward to Yusnaan, whenever I get there.


As far as the game progression goes, I've finished Day 2 and done everything I wanted to do!! It tool a lot of Cronostasis spamming (thank God I could actually recover enough points to keep spamming it almost endlessly), but I could do it.

Finished

Spoiler

Noel's segment,

and it was interesting. However, I feel like the different storylines are not that connected. I guess it's all related to how half of the stories can be done in any order, so they can't feel properly connected yet. I suppose on the latter days, things will look a bit more organic. I'm looking forward to that part, to be honest.

I just think the game has a lot of good points but they're not that well connected. Don't get me wrong, I am really enjoying it and if it wasn't for the time management stress (I like to take my time with RPG's), I'd be enjoying it even more because of everything it has to offer. But at the same time I feel it doesn't realise its full potential. Of course, I'm early on the game so things can change...

I would like to do one "in-game day" per day, as in a way it would be really cool*. But I suspect tomorrow I have too much work to do to be able to finish Day 3. But I'm sure going to try! And Saturday I'm away from home for the whole day... but oh well.

* Saving with a day unfinished also gives me this uneasy feeling. It may be my minor OCD tendencies or just the fact I feel I may not manage time well this way but...

 

[Lex]

^The stories can be done in any order, so I get what you're saying there. That's one of the reasons I wish they hadn't numbered them, it's a bit stupid considering even if you end up fighting Snow++ on day 1 bajillion, Caius is still so much fucking harder than all of them combined x10 to the power of 8.

Anyway guys, I need help. I need to kill Niblets and Skeletons - the skeletons just aren't showing up anymore. I've been running in all the sand corridors and it's just driving me nuts trying to get them to spawn. I just keep getting the motherfucking Schrodinger over and over and over. Is there a more reliable place to spawn them?

Niblets appear everywhere, but only occasionally. They can show up in groups of 10 and shit, but where!? Is there a more reliable place to farm these guys? I'm going to make the reaver extinct today for that awesome weapon, but the niblets are next on my list because of that sidequest.

 

[Lex]

OK I've made the skeletons extinct. Now someone tell me where the damn niblets are ;-;

 

[Selphie Tilmitt]

^^ Did you do Death Safari and/or Death Game with

Spoiler

Wedge and Biggs/Wedge

?

For the second you can keep intentionally failing it to use it as an exploit for unlimited EP/easy soul seed spawning source/etc until you have everything else you have done that you want to do (only Anybus will spawn though once you extinct Niblet and Gremlin since you can extinct Anybus) then you can finallyl complete it for completion's sake

If you've already completed those/exhausted those as a source of Niblets then believe Pilgrim's Passage and cemetery in Lux can spawn 10+ at a time

Speaking of which on Last Ones I just took out my first three here, all in Wild Lands, Last Niblet, Last Dryad, and Last Rafflesia. Got the Irondragon Scale and the very nice Sniper's Gloves (Increased ranged damage) and Skeleton's Earrings from it (Status Ailment Damage +100%) from it Going through the Wildwoods is kind of like a gaunlet with all the enemies running at you while you are running on your chocobo.

I also recently went to the

Spoiler

Moogle village and saw the Moogle scenes in English. It was just as cute and sweet as before, Ali did a good job with it. Sooooo cute and sweet, I teared up, I'm a silly sentimental sap I know Awww Mog ;_;

 

[Lex]

^I was going to keep that quest open to farm the soul seeds but I couldn't resist just finishing it. Free Will and To Save the Sinless are my very last quests, I need to wait until day 10 to finish off the latter. I was going to try Aryas Climb for the Niblets, I still need one component from a triffid for the final canvas of prayers quest in the Wildlands. I have literally done absolutely everything else.

I guess I should devote the rest of the days to farming useful abilities, soul seeds for the elixir trophy and preparation for aeronite and the final dungeon.

 

[Lex]

GREMLINS AND NIBLETS ARE GONE FROM THE WORLD FOREVER

MWAHAHAHA

Anyway, time to farm those soul seeds

 

[Lex]

TRIPLE POST TIME

OK I just want to say I love how NPC's react to what she's wearing? Like if you wear midnight mauve in Luxerion someone said "she doesn't really fit in here".

Also original XIII outfit: "Is that the cocoon style?"

Not to mention her costume specific lines. A few NPC's said something about the Cloud outfit but I'm a silly and forgot what it was .

EDIT:

Spoiler: Also I bumped into this dude who has a lot of cool schematas

 

[Groodon]

^"Is that Soldier?"

 

[AvecAloes]

Just stopping by to declare that I love Mediguard. Mmhmm.

 

[Splintered]

I *love* how they comment on your costume. Run around in the Lock inspired outfits and they start talking about what she's going to steal. Recently got the dragoon and people were randomly screaming BETRAYER. I've run around in a few others but those are the most memorable.

Also I bumped into this dude who has a lot of cool schematas

I ran into the rare merchant in Dead Dunes once and grabbed the schemata. Now that I progressed in days and a lot of merchants got to new wares, I've been trying to find him again but to no avail.


Also do the Soul Seeds do anything specific? I know that each merchants gives you a little story when you give them one but other than that, is it just money?

 

[Lex]

Spoiler: Very mild gameplay spoilers regarding soul seeds

OK I'm back on the ark. I literally skipped most of a day farming soul seeds, which is fine because I have nothing left to do. The soul seeds only reappear every hour, regardless of how many chaos things you make appear. Escaping from battles skips it forward an hour, and they appear constantly on the highways so I got them all in about half an in-game day. My elixir is sitting in my inventory ready and waiting for aeronite when the time comes.

I made several species extinct and got that sword from the reaver omega. I've done all the canvas quests but I'm leaving that one the needs you to kill 8 chocobo eaters. Just no on that, I don't have the patience.

So next time I play (after this uni trip today, help I don't wanna) I'll be on day 11. I'm just going to farm stuff and not bother using chronostasis on day 11 and 12. Then I can hopefully beat aeronite and the optional dungeon in the same sitting. Depending on how long that takes I might also complete the game on the same day. Eep, excite.

EDIT: Soul seeds give you items at certain points.

20 - Hero's Potion
40 - Crusader's Potion
60 - Ether
80 - Phoenix Wing
100 - Elixir

The items are a bit crap considering how sparse they are. I collected the first 65 or so naturally then had to grind the rest. The items change on a new game +. You get an elixir at 80 and a turbo ether at 100 on a NG+.

 

[Fangu]

GUYS YOU NEED TO START SPOILER TAGGING YOUR SHIT

ALL OF IT

AND LABEL WHAT IT'S SPOILING

Example:
[spoiler="Spoilers for gameplay"]So enemies can become extinct aight[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Spoilers for bossfights"]Boss X is MUCH harder than boss Y[/spoiler]
[spoiler="Spoilers for order of story/ storylines"]It doesn't really matter which order you do stuff cus... etc[/spoiler]

Unless details like that is fine with everyone, in which case I'll just stay away from the thread

/is VERY sensitive to new information I want to discover randomly for myself for those 'oh! OH!' feels

 

[Splintered]

I'm sorry D:

Spoiler: gameplay spoilers

how do you get Ultimate liar anyway? I'm reaching the last day and doing my best to tie up lose ends but I had no idea there was a "fourteenth day."

As of now I'm trying to extinct Zaltys but those damn Cyclops keep popping up and I hate those things. Also, I'm almost positive those guys are from FFXIV, Aurum Vale dungeon. Those clubs and that move Glower, I remember those being pain.

 

[Lex]

Spoiler: Response to Splintered

it's unlocked based on how many side quests you've done. 1 star side quests are worth 0.02, 2 stars are 0.04 and 3 stars are 0.08, you basically need an increment of 1 for the extra day to be unlocked. Apparently it's a bit more complicated than that but that's the general gist. Basically about 50 side quests and it's pretty much guaranteed .

 

[Splintered]

thanks lex.

Also, just to say, I am surprised by how much I like Lumina. When I first saw her I was like, meh, another moe-ish lolita girl, but she's actually a lot of fun to watch. She's such a little shit that it makes me smile, especially when she is interacting with Lightning- just as a contrast on the two personalities. It helps that her voice actress is amazing, she did a perfect job.

Honestly, the first time I started to appreciate her was

Spoiler: sidequest stuff, not really spoilery

when you wander around doing sidequests in Luxerion because Lumina caused a bunch of shit, and when you do it, even when she was the cause of the problem, the NPCs immediately defended her. It's that sort of duality that makes its interesting, and makes you wonder exactly what you missed in the 500 years

 

[Lex]

^I really like her too. Totally thought I was going to hate her.

I'm totally exhausted from being at GSK all day (the well known drugs company... it was an experience let me tell you) but I just wanna play this game so bad. I know I can't, I'm completely incapable of leaving it in the middle of a day. I can't turn the thing off unless I'm on the ark, there's always too much going on in my head

 

[Claymore]

Ok, just defeated the 'patron'. This game has now completely turned my opinion on Lightning. For me personally, this game has finally done what the other two games couldn't do - which was to humanize the young woman. Everything from her reactions to sidequests to the proper outpouring of emotion in some of the main quests, to the quips between herself and Hope ... I've finally been able to feel something positive for her. It's a shame that it took three games to get it right, but I now actually really like Lightning.

 

[Lex]

I'm just glad she's not the absolute robot we got as an excuse for her in XIII-2. Which is a little bit ironic really XD.

 

[Splintered]

I was always really fond of Lighting since about midway the first game, so I'm really happy about her characterization now. Especially since XIII-2's performance.

You know, since the beginning Lightning made a big deal about not feeling anything or emoting, and I saw some people say she's too "stoic" and not responsive in this game, but really?

She seems much more empathetic this time around, she sympathizes, she expresses regret, she expressed admiration, she gets embarrassed, she gets sarcastic,

Spoiler

she even makes fun of Hope once in awhile

. There's a couple of interesting conversations with NPCs,

Spoiler: main story quest

her reuniting with Mog, her pushing Snow, and even a bit with Sazh

she definitely reacts normally. I don't get it. I don't see the robot thing except maybe once or twice.

 

[Jason Tandro]

My favorite is the Velvet Bouncer outfit. Partly because I can make it all black except for the white shirt and Lightning looks like a Turk (that's actually what I named that Schema) but mostly comments such as:

Girl: I LOVE YOU... wait you're a woman?
Girl: What a handsome boy.
Girl: He's a cutie!
Boy: I wish I had an outfit like that.

 

[Splintered]

So uh... I was killing some Chcobo eaters and then doing so realized I may have given the wrong advice if

Spoiler

boss one plays like the normal one.

Because unless you imperil it, it doesn't look like it have an elemental weakness or its stronger or weaker in physical or magical. Nor does it need a stagger until you can throw debuffs on it.

I still think building a defensive role is important, if you fought Snow's fight you should have an accessory that takes off 75% of physical damage. Whenever the chocobo eater says "Feeling peckish" followed by "should I cook them" and then "should I chomp them" (or the other way around), switch to that schemata because that is when he uses his big move.

If you are lucky, you got a drop early on, an axe that the Anubis carries, if you see its inherit abilities it has brave thief. Equip it on a role that has heavy slash, and after the Chocobos Eater big move, he will buff himself- using heavy slash with the axe will steal bravery away from him and give it to you. It's pretty amazing. (It also might do it with haste as well).

You should still be aware even after his big move (either chomp or chef's surprise) because he hits upi multiple times after that. After that he should say "Satisfied" which means it danger period is gone.


That's assuming the normal ones is the same as the boss one that is.

oops

 

[Lex]

^I hate them so much. I'm supposed to farm 8 of them for the very last canvas of prayers quest but I just run away ;-;

Honestly they just take too long to kill, I'm too lazy to fight them right now. And I usually end up using all my healing items in the battle, so it feels like a waste to fight 8 of them. Even though I have 450,000 Gil and seemingly nothing to spend it on (the expensive swords and shields are a ripoff, no thanks!).

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Slack ass. =P

 

[Blade]

Chances are, since I *absolutely hate* time limits, this is how I will play the game:

Farm good items / get stronger.

v

GAME OVER (New Game +)

v

Farm good items / get even stronger.

v

GAME OVER (New Game ++)

v

Farm good items / get even strongerer.

v

GAME OVER (New Game ++++++)

You can see where this is going, don't you?

And Square-Enix even DENIED that it would play like Majora's Mask.

 

[Lex]

^It doesn't?

Anyway, I just beat Aeronite! I play on Normal, but I notice most of the youtube videos did it on easy. I was wondering why none of those strategies were working ;-;. Anyway, it is dead and I am one happy dude

It was really. fucking. hard. Took me 6-ish attempts and a lot of head-scratching and fiddling with schematas and equipment in-between. Much happeh.