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Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Kuja9001

Ooooh Salty!
AKA
roxas9001, Krat0s9001, DarkSlayerZero
The whole Snow Arc resolution still bothers me to this day. It has no lore reason as to how it happened I gotta headcanon a reason.
Which part, I thought Snow's arc got off pretty well. At least, considering how little they worked on Sazh.

Sazh had a ton of potential especially when they were talking about people returning the dead. It should've been his wife instead of the recycled Dajh is in danger nonsense.

About Snow,
I didn't like how he just sorta poofed back into a human without a lore or logical reason.
Cid had a very similar event happen except he had a proper reason for the resolution. If it were up to me, Snow would've died on the spot(He's my fav yes but his death would've served to reawaken/unlocked Light's emotions.) She's far too emotional in that scene when she shouldn't have been.
 

Lex

Administrator
I know that canonically it makes no sense
for Lightning to be emotional in that scene, but I was just so happy to hear her getting worked up about something. I just finished the scene where Hope "dies" last night and remembered why I actually like the story in this game - it's so damn nihilistic. They go on and on about how the world is ending and it does actually end. Every single person dies. In the "end end" the only person remaining is Lightning, and even then she's not really human anymore. It gave me this real sense of loneliness that I don't remember feeling the first time (possibly because I didn't understand the story too well, it usually takes me a couple of runs). For Lightning who has always been this kind of lone wolf to actually be the solitary person left of all her friends and family at the end of time - it's very interesting how that affects her character.

And if things don't make sense in XIII my default brain response is usually "etro did it". If Etro isn't around, the chaos did it. And the chaos came from etro, so :D
 

Kuja9001

Ooooh Salty!
AKA
roxas9001, Krat0s9001, DarkSlayerZero
Despite my dislike of that scenes ending I still really enjoyed especially the JP version.
 

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
I would've liked to have seen one last "Paradox Ending" where Lightning actually decides to become the new Etro, whether it was to serve under Bhunivelze or "free" as her own goddess.

(Hey, if Tri-Ace can make a game where a normal girl becomes a goddess like Valkyrie Profile did, what's to stop Lightning from doing the same?)

Then of course there's that FF6 scene where Odin's Magicite Turns in to Raiden because of a Maiden's Tear... (yeah I liked that scene).
 

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
Okay, you know how I always used to say "blow all your Eradia on Army of One"???

Well, right now I can't do that because:

1. I just beat Aeronite and it took me 3 days just to get 3 Turbo Ethers and an Elixir from all the items I spent.
2. I have an upcoming SET of bossfights in the form of Ereshkigal and Bhuni+ that I'll NEED those Ethers for (especially Bhuni+)!

So now I have to set up a strategy that involves NOT OVERCLOCKING and NOT using EP or ITEMS... ugh.

I hate strategies... I just want to kill things in one hit!

Well anyway, it's not like I've been wasting my time all this while:

I have nearly every single garb right now... and just about every Accessory is fully upgraded (except for Falcon Charm (Dragoon Scarf?) which is what dropped from Aeronite and Matinee Necklace from Ereshkigal).

I have Heroic Guard, most of my weapons are fully upgraded, I have 2 sets of Chaos Revenge (quickstagger), and most of my abilities now have Rare Synth attached to them. I also have Disaster.

So help me brainstorm a strategy for killing these two without spending EP (I don't care if I have to spend EP to kill Bhuni+ so long as it nets me Double Deity and Elementaga).

(And for anyone who is wondering why I'm so hung up on Bhunivelze+ it's because he's HARD and I scrapped my old game save so I have to fight him again, I'm on New Game+ Hard Mode).

I have Heaven's Bridge maxed as well as Excalibur, also Buster Sword is maxed, I have Heaven's Cloud too, and Fleurs du Mal as well as Cleopatra's Praise (among other weapons, name something and I probably have it maxed by now).

So just help me brainstorm... I'm in the Ark, 1 Day remains, and I have 3 Turbo Ethers, 1 Elixir, an X-Potion, 2 Phoenix Wings, and 2 Crusader Potions (yes, I'm well armed for these upcoming battles!)

Just an overall "non-EP spending" strategy for Ereshkigal... I should be strong enough for it.

Since I beat Ereshkigal on the last cycle, I can do "practice runs" in the Ark for him (hopefully getting 5 Stars).

And while I'm at it, I might as well "practice" fighting Aeronite in the Ark too... (so any NG+ Hard Mode strategies you got would be great).

Ultimately, I want to get used to killing the superbosses quickly so that I can farm their spells and get Revenge ATB Syphon.

Oh and one more thing: does anyone know a good spot to farm Skata'ne mobs (or Chaos Infusions)? I keep having to fight those guys one at a time and it's tedious.
 
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Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
Woot! I beat Ereshkigal with 5 Stars USING NO ITEMS!!!

HERE'S HOW I DID IT:

==========STRATEGY FOR ERESHKIGAL (HARD MODE)==========
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata A<<<
Quiet Guardian
-Chaos's Revenge
-Gilded Lily (or other ATB Shield)
-Ghostly Crown
-Guard Glove
>Heavy Guard*Locked*
>Slow (ATB Recovery)
>Poison (Status Ailment Damage+25%)
>Aerora (Wind Attribute Attacks+Whatever%)
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata B<<<
Cyber Jumpsuit
-Chaos's Revenge
-Nobless Veronique (or other ATB Shield)
-Preta Crown
-Runic Ring
>Dispel Lvl 2*Locked*
>Deshell (Deprotect Chaser)
>Poison (ATB Recovery+10
>Aerora (Strong Finale+15%)
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata C<<<
Soldier of Peace
-Heaven's Cloud
-Aegis Shield (or something with good guard properties)
-Falcon Charm
-Forsaken Tie
>Shadowbind*Locked*
>Heavy Guard / Heroic Guard (ATB Recovery/Standby ATB Recovery)
>Punt (Stagger Duration+7%)
>Heavy Slash (Artemis Arrows/Committal)
--------------------------------------
*Might be a good idea to start with 8 or 9 EP in this fight, or to do the Five Star Challenge aboard the Ark, that way you don't actually lose EP if you lose for some reason. Outside the Ark, I don't even bother and just use Limit Break to make it easier on myself.*
---I started off by casting Slow and alternating between Slow and spells.
---Whenever Eresh uses "Grand Impulse" I switch to Quiet Guardian to negate the Physical attack and keep peppering it with spells/Slow.
---Whenever Eresh uses "Judgement/Trine" or casts spells I switch to Cyber Jumpsuit to negate and continue the barrage of spells/Slow.
---Whenever Eresh buffs itself with Faith/Shell, I use Deshell to negate the barrier so I can continue with the spells.
---If for any reason spells get negated, I switch over to Soldier of Peace and hack away at it either with Heavy Slash or Punt.

FIRST STAGGER (Phase 2)

---At some point I just kept chucking spells at Eresh until it staggered again (keeping Slow active whenever I could and undoing Shell).

SECOND STAGGER (Phase 3)

---At this point, I alternate between a steady stream of Poison, Aerora, and Slow, reacting to whatever Eresh throws at me and waiting it out (I've run out of ATB a few times for spamming too fast, but it gets the job done once Poison is viable).

Sometimes I get unlucky or mess up the timing and get hit by "Meteor/Resonance" or a badly timed Grand Impulse, but I just hope I survive and keep throwing Spells Slow at it. If I time it right, I can somehow manage to block Supernova with Heroic Guard (and it didn't do as much damage last time I blocked it). Only real threats are Meteor and Resonance for me, personally.

---If for any reason I died, instead of using an item, I used up 3 EP (I entered the battle with 8 EP, so spending EP to revive was easier than using an item or Overclocking).

THIRD STAGGER (Phase 4) / Awakening

---At this point I just keep throwing Poison and Heavy Slash at the thing until it dies, hoping I hit it before it hits me with anything.

If for any reason you feel like a bad series of attacks is coming your way and you have EP to spare, this is the best time to go Overclock, otherwise I just die and take the 3 EP loss (assuming you ever ran out of EP you can just use a Turbo Ether as a last resort).

ANNND that's how I beat Ereshkigal with 5 Stars on HARD MODE in New Game+! NO ITEMS USED!!!

No fancy timed combos either!
--------------------------------------

NEXT TIME: Killing Aeronite in 1 hit! (Maybe!) :D
 

Jason Tandro

Banned
AKA
Jason Tandro, Doc Brown, Santa Christ, FearAddict, Thibault Stormrunner, RN: Micah Rodney
Congrats! I've beaten Ereshkigal and gotten all the Last Ones but never beat Aeronite.
 

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
Well okay it wasn't 1-hit, but I did beat it with 5-Stars!

Here's the Method:
==========STRATEGY FOR AERONITE (HARD MODE)==========
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata A<<<
Martial Monk
-Heaven's Cloud (Or any really powerful sword with decent ATB property)
-Nobless Veronique (Any ATB Shield)
-Falcon Charm (if you haven't beaten Aeronite the first time yet, any ATB+ accessory will do)
-Forsaken Tie
>Punt Lv2*Locked*
>Punt (Whirlwind Kick / Stagger Duration+7%)
>Charged Strike Lv2 *Locked
>Aerora (Any -ra Magic set with ability will do, I think)
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata B<<<
Cyber Jumpsuit
-Chaos' Revenge (Quickstagger)
-Gilded Lily (Any ATB Shield)
-Preta Crown
-Runic Ring
>Thundara (I think any ATB boosting sub ability will help)
>Fira (Strong Finale / ATB)
>Dispel*Locked*
>Deprotect (Status Ailment Damage+25%)
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata C<<<
Soldier of Peace
-Buster Sword (Or any strong sword you want)
-Il Nome Della Rosa (Any ATB Shield)
-Imperial Guard's Cravat
-White Strap
>Shadowbind Lv3*Locked*
>Aerora (Doesn't matter what ability it has, preferably ATB or Magic boost though)
>Heroic Guard (you get this from Ereshkigal, but you can also swap for Heavy Guard I think)
>Heavy Slash (Committal)
--------------------------------------
This battle is all about speed, timing, and execution, but with any luck you'll have 9 EP to start it off. (I recommend fighting the Five Star Challenge in the Ark as it means you don't lose your items even if you lose, of course, you have to have beaten Aeronite the "first time" to add him to the list!)

PRIOR TO FIRST STAGGER: (First Phase)
---I had a hard time getting used to the fact he'd do nothing but chuck endless spells at me (I suppose now I know how it feels to get spammed by spells, since I do it all the time, lol).
Couple stuff to note: Blizzara is the slowest moving spell of the bunch, which gives you some leeway to time it's impact with turning in to your Cyber Jumpsuit Schema to shrug it off. The other spells seemingly come out much faster and are harder to "see" coming without looking at what spell is being shown...
The idea is to chuck spells at him as much as possible and get him to stagger a few times, though I think it wouldn't hurt to throw a Ruin in there next time for good measure, to stabilize the stagger meter.

---His most annoying ability is the Magnet move that can't really be predicted (since it's not technically a spell in his case), as it not only drags you towards him for his Breath and physical attacks, but it hurts pretty bad along the way. You pretty much have to switch to or "stay in" Cyber Jumpsuit for most of his shenanigans just to prevent him from sucking you towards him. If you're too close and he uses "Breath", switch to Heroic Guard and fend it off. (I had to use a Refresher and 3 EP a few times to deal with this unpredictable attack).

---Then there's "Terra Break", that annoying charge move and earthquake attack of his... it's not even the first hit that annoys me, it's the subsequent quake afterwards that hurts if you don't time it right. Well, if you're good at timing Heroic Guard, you'll miss most of it. You're taking your life in your hands if you keep chucking spells at him until the last moment the attack comes out (I think the timing is right when the camera quickly zooms in on him, but I don't wanna risk it).

---I found staggering him to be very difficult all throughout this battle, simply because it takes so long to keep the chain up and you can get interrupted very easily if you aren't paying attention. As a precaution and to ensure I'd get a stagger, at times I'd Overclock and continue chucking spells to get the "Full ATB effect" afterwards... it's risky to do this, but if you feel it's dragging on too long and he's being annoying with his spells (more than you are at least), then go for it!

FIRST STAGGER (Phase 2)

---Once he staggers he switches to Level 3 Spells:
Blizzaga is the slowest of course, so take advantage of how long it takes to get to you to chuck spells back at Aeronite.
Firaga is not as slow, but can be read well enough at range.
Next is Aeroga, which actually "looks" like Aero at first, so it's kinda slow and once it hits it takes a while for the tornado to dissipate so you have to be patient before you switch, hopefully you'll have enough ATB to keep attacking while in Cyber Jumpsuit Mode.
Thundaga is the tricky one... you pretty much have to go by "sound" to wait until it's done doing it's animation before you can switch back to other Schemata.

SECOND STAGGER (Phase 3)

---It's here he'll start chucking Fogga at you, it doesn't hurt much, but Daze keeps you from doing physical attacks, and it stings if your HP is low. You still have to beware of Terra Break, Spells, and most of all the Hell Flare attack he does...

Even if you Heroic-Guard Hell Flare, you'll still be stunned a bit. So try and get back on track with more spell-chucking.

FINAL STAGGER (Final Phase)

---It's do or die time! At this point he can only just sit there and chuck spells at you, but if you take too long he'll get "Fed Up", so you have to do this as fast as possible!

---Switch to Martial Monk and do Whirlwind Kick a crapton of times until he chucks a new spell at you (he's casting Ruinga too now), then switch to Cyber Jump suit and spam "Deprotect" to keep the combo chain flowing.

---Once you run out of ATB for the Monk (or the ATB for Soldier of Peace is full) switch to S.o.P. and do Heavy Slash (Artemis Arrows)... by the way if you activate "Committal" fast enough and switch back to Monk, Monk's Whirlwind Kick can take advantage of the damage buff.

---The idea is to switch back to Cyber Jumpsuit every time a spell impacts on you to null it and keep casting Deprotect, then once the spell animation is over, switch back to a damaging Schemata.

As high damage as Monk is, I prefer Soldier of Peace for it's max damage output (Buster Sword helped I think).

Keep it up for as fast as you can (Overclock at this point if you think you need to, to speed up the damage and give you more time).

Eventually he'll give out... whew... that's a LOT of HP I just burned through! Unfortunately I had to use a Refresher or two, but because I was in the Ark at the time I got this 5-Star Challenge: IT DIDN'T COUNT AGAINST ME!!! So when you fight Aeronite outside the Ark and in the Dunes, be ready with a set of Refreshers and have Limit Break equipped the first time through if possible (you can get Refreshers in the Colosseum on the Last Day at 2100 Hours).

I think I read somewhere that Aeronite in the Ark is the same as Aeronite in a Chaos Infusion minus the Regen effect, but I don't know for sure. Well, at the very least, doing your challenge fights in the Ark cuts back on Item use if you win!
--------------------------------------

NEXT UP: REVENGE ON BHUNIVELZE+!!!
 
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Splintered

unsavory tart
---His most annoying ability is the Magnet move that can't really be predicted
Magnet's actually pretty easy to spot if you are like me and ran into a million times despite definitely not having the power stats to kill him off and seen the fight a thousand times. He has an animation, it's short but it's enough to warn you.

I'm absolute shit with blocking, and heroic guard takes so much atb that unless I get better at timing it, I feel like it isn't worth it.

I want to fight Aeronite close once, after learning the keep away strategy it was kind of underwhelming and I though Bhuni+ and Ereshkigal was a more fun fight.
 

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
Meh, I'm not in the fights for the "fun", I'm in it for the post-fight items and stat boosts.

The stronger I get, the happier I am.

That said, I'm still trying to synth my ultimate spell abilities: Flare/Chill/Surge/Tornado.

Save scumming is annoying though and takes a long time to get what you want.

Nobody answered my earlier question though: what happens with Elementa has "Element Chaser" on it?
 

Blade

That Man
AKA
Darkside-Ky/Mimeblade
Before I go in to my strategy, let me just say that this fight was actually "harder" than the other two fights, for the simple reason that Bhuni+ has the ability to completely interrupt what you're doing and kill you at any time via Hypernova... it took me 3 attempts, but I finally got Double Deity... which was my main goal.

---The first run was more of a practice run to get my bearings on how he fought.
---The second time I went for speed/damage and ignored any sort of attack patterns he threw at me, reviving with 3 EP as I went.
---Third time around I switched emphasis between "Stagger" and went more to "Artemis Arrows" and focused more on damaging him to kill him out of his First Phase so that he'd be easier to manage in the Second Phase.
---Keep in mind this isn't the 5-star challenge version, so I had Limit Break activated... next time I have a full stock of Turbo Ether, I'll try it again aboard the Ark.

==========STRATEGY FOR BHUNIVELZE+ (HARD MODE)==========
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata A<<<
Quiet Guardian
-Chaos's Revenge
-Gilded Lily (or other ATB Shield)
-Ghostly Crown
-Guard Glove
>Heavy Guard*Locked*
>Heroic Guard (I synthesized an ATB Recovery+10 on it, so it's finally useful)
>Imperil (ATB Recovery)
>Thundara
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata B<<<
Cyber Jumpsuit
-Chaos's Revenge
-Nobless Veronique (or other ATB Shield)
-Preta Crown
-Runic Ring
>Dispel Lvl 2*Locked*
>Deshell (Deprotect Chaser)
>Deprotect (ATB Recovery)
>Aerora (Strong Finale+15%)
--------------------------------------
>>>Schemata C<<<
Soldier of Peace
-Heaven's Cloud
-Echidna Brace (or something that enhances the Attack Stat)
-(Any accessory that enhances Attack stat)
-Beggar's Beads (if you haven't gotten Double Deity yet, or plan to get another, you'll need this)
>Shadowbind*Locked*
>Blitz (or any Blitz that enhances Attack)
>Ruin (Stagger Maintenance+7%)
>Heavy Slash (Artemis Arrows/Committal)
--------------------------------------

Phase ONE "Magician Mode"
---Any "spell" he throws at you with exception to Ultima and his other Insta-kill attacks can basically be negated with Cyber Jumpsuit's Magic nullifying property... I took advantage of that and focused on aiming towards a full on Stagger. His ultimate spells like Surge/Tornado/Flare/Chill etc can also be negated, but Ultima cannot and has to be blocked.
---Like I said, Hypernova Interrupts everything and kills you instantly... it's really annoying. I decided to take Atma Weapon's method of fighting and use my MP pool as my lifebar instead of my HP (basicallly use the EP gauge as your health bar and ignore how much HP you have remaining). If for any reason you die, you revive for 3 EP and if you run out of EP, use a Turbo Ether and a Refresher to start up again... also I had an Elixir to spare, which I typically save as my last resort push if things go horribly wrong.
---Staggering him stops the onslaught of attacks, but really, that isn't the goal, the real goal is to reduce his life bar, so I switched focus from casting spells/debuffs to using Artemis Arrows whenever I had an opening (Committal also helps).
---If for any reason his Magician Mode switches to Wind/Lightning element, either use the opposite element or just stick with debuffs until Soldier of Peace's bar fills up again.
---There's pretty much no point to fending off the Monad Begets, so just use Blitz directly on Bhunivelze and when he uses Wings of Destruction, try to guard it, but if you don't survive, take the 3 EP hit and come back for more.


Phase ONE "Warrior Mode"
---This mode gets annoying if it drags on for too long, he'll use Judgement and it's hard to block... since my Quiet Guardian mode is busy casting spells to maintain stagger all the while... if it kills you for any reason you'll just have to use 3 EP like anything else.
---His other move (I forget the name right now) where he rises high in the air and begins casting either "Dancing Mad/Starfall", I switch to chucking spells at him from a distance and hoping it'll stagger... it takes too long to use Artemis Arrows when he's like that... if he finishes up and uses Starfall, I just Heroic Guard it to get rid of the damage and go back to what I was doing.... not too difficult.

I'd say his Magician Mode is harder to deal with of the two, since has many many spells at his disposal...

Anyway, the goal is to wipe out his HP bar and if you do that he switches over to Phase TWO:

Phase TWO "Angry God"
---At this point, he's MUCH easier to deal with for the simple reason that his eyebeam laser thingie can be negated with Quiet Guardian, since it's technically a PHYSICAL ATTACK... yay!
---He'll hit you with Doom, but that doesn't matter because Doom will disappear once you've staggered him, the goal is to stagger him as fast as possible anyway.
---So he'll chuck Heartless Angel at you, and basically I end up alternating between Aerora/Thundara/Ruin and debuffs if I can help it. If you get hit, just ignore it and rely on your EP pool if you die.
---If he does the enhanced Ruin chain thingie, I believe you can Heroic Guard that if you time it right, but I usually just die and take the hit and keep coming back.
---If you feel it's taking too long to stagger him, one Overclock or two won't hurt at this point (plus it fills your ATB gauge).

Once he's Staggered.... DONE.

All you have to do is keep filling up your Soldier of Peace meter with the other two Schemata and pummel him with everything you've got.

I don't know if he can recover from this staggered state, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth and tempt fate here... so try and do this as fast as possible.

Oh yeah, and Doom is gone, so you can rest easier knowing you can actually take your time a little bit...

In Hard Mode, he's guaranteed to drop a Level 1 Elementaga, though I don't know about the Crystal Malistone or whatever it's called... either way it'll come in handy when leveling up the spell later on. (It's gonna take a while to farm this spell from him, but now I know HOW to beat the bastard...)

And that's it... I think the Ark version of this battle will probably be much more epic/harder but either way it's going to take a while before I get there.

P.S. I still haven't beaten "Regular Bhunivelze" in Hard Mode, which means I essentially have to NOT get Day 14 and just piddle around for a run, I think I'll save him for last though to completely fill out the list on my battle record. Should be much easier at least.
 

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
posting here because this was the last ffxiii game

mobius ff (the mobile game) has been promoting a ffxiii event for this summer where 'lightning returns' (images showing her in her original ffxiii uniform). after the ffvii event (which was released alongside the remake announcement) and the ffxii one (which preceded the reveal of the zodiac age remaster), i'm now super suspicious about this event and what it may mean
 

Splintered

unsavory tart
posting here because this was the last ffxiii game

mobius ff (the mobile game) has been promoting a ffxiii event for this summer where 'lightning returns' (images showing her in her original ffxiii uniform). after the ffvii event (which was released alongside the remake announcement) and the ffxii one (which preceded the reveal of the zodiac age remaster), i'm now super suspicious about this event and what it may mean
Releasing XIII trilogy for the PS4? I guess that would make kind of sense, considering they released it on the PC.
 

Kuja9001

Ooooh Salty!
AKA
roxas9001, Krat0s9001, DarkSlayerZero
If they do release a PS4 version, I'd probably get it(definitely would) but now I'm remembering the struggle of collecting traps and gil of FXIII.

I'd love/prefer something that signifies that my boy got married though
 

Airling

Ninja-Fairy-Jedi-Princess
Tonight we probably finish this game. I say we, because this time around, I'm doing the actual button pushing, and B is the google guru. We alternate these roles between games.

It's a very enjoyable game. I like how it's changed many things, but also stayed with some of what made the XIII series good. Most notably for me is the similarities between schemata and paradigms in that if you're stuck on a fight, chances are more grinding won't help, changing your strategy is what's needed. Case in point:
I got the "Canopus is in Chaos" quest last night and had a whack at the Chocobo eater.
Got him down to half health, died, and decided not to even bother raising her because I know a lost cause when I see one. B googles and finds out about a schemata that raises physical defense to 100%. Boom. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss having a whole gang though.

I also LOVE the multitude of general Final Fantasy references found everywhere. I was impressed when I found the busker in Luxerion singing New Bodhum, but turns out that was actually really tame compared to what else there is to be found^_^.

I sucked pretty badly at the Ultimate Lair and bugged out early to go finish more side-quests to get as many stat boosts as possible before the last fights. I think I've extincted only 11 species, so, blah. Something to aim for in a next play-through.

The story has been nice and everything, but I'm impatient with it. I just want to get to the part where we get Serah back and everything is okay. Instead
it looks like Yeul and Caius won't be able to tag along to Perfect New World or whatever Bhunivelze has planed
and
Hope has vanished and we have no idea if we'll get him back.
We damn well better.

On a lighter note, we were heading up to Sazh's place, and B says "You think you're going to have to fight him too?", to which I said that I won't. I could stomach the whole Noel situation, barely. Beating up Snow wasn't a problem because hitting each other is the entirety of Snow and Lightning's relationship anyway. But I will NOT fight Sazh. Thank goodness I didn't have to. Saving my favourite boy in XIII was so much better than beating up friends.
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
Similar to how The Spirits Within would have benefited from severing all connections with "Final Fantasy," I think Lightning Returns would have been much more highly regarded if it was an original IP. Because the game is a blast, but it really does have jack and squat to do with the rest of the XIII series. :monster:
 

Airling

Ninja-Fairy-Jedi-Princess
I still haven't watched that, and I don't think I'll scrape together the courage to do it any time soon.

How would XIII have ended though? Do you mean you would have liked it more if it wasn't Lightning Returns but... something else that I can't think of now. As in, same game, different setting? Because I think it was the cherry on top for XIII. The series got progressively better and would have been quite forgettable, but instead did a weird thing where every sequel was actually leaps better than the original.

All right, we did it.
Well, final boss was... not as bad as EFFING EARTH EATER. God, I hate those things. The ending was... not what I expected, but not in a bad way. I'd really hoped to see them all together and happy in the new world (which appears to be ours?). Instead we get a short scene post credits of Lightning traveling to meet up with the others - wearing bitchin' shoes. The happily ever after implication is there, but my mind still wants to physically see it to be satisfied. We could have seen everyone enjoying the wedding-that-almost-looked-like-it-would-never-happen or some such. But alas.

I don't know what to do with my life now.:puppy:
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
XIII could very easily have ended with XIII-2 if they didn't shoehorn in a cliffhangar. Which, by the way, doesn't even really have an impact over Lightning Returns. I mean, sure, Serah is the carrot that Etro's dangling in front of Lightning...but it still doesn't have much to do with what happened in 2, also
It's just a fabricated Serah anyway!
. So give XIII-2 a more conclusive ending and then what became Lightning Returns could just be a standalone game. It's not like hte world in any way resembles XIII's world. And all of the cast are nothing more than cameos. Only Snow has really any development relating to the overall plot. Sazh just has the same plot again. And then they aged Hope down for no reason. And I know...it's not quite the real Hope...or something? Fang and Vanille could have been replaced by literally anybody.

Like I said, I enjoyed the game, and it didn't really bother me. But it gets written off due to XIII's marred reputation, and I think it would have been better if they had treated it as a one-off side project like they used to do.

Oh yeah, and the ending
being a creation story for our world? I mean that's fine if you feel liek being artsy I guess. But to relate that to the XIII cast and world is a supremely bizarre choice. It would have been less wtf-y with otherwise unknown characters, I think.
 

Kuja9001

Ooooh Salty!
AKA
roxas9001, Krat0s9001, DarkSlayerZero
Listening to Almighty Bhunivelze and Consider His Love An Honor

The JP version regarding Bhuni and probably everyone else is far far superior.

Regarding Hope

The ark Hope is real

What bothers me about the ending besides the obvious one that I always bring up,

You'd think that Hope being tortured & driven insane for nearly 2 centuries would mess him up but nope only Snow can receive PTSD.

I don't care what insane shippers claim Bhuni had Seymour syndrome for Light in the JP version not because of Hope.
 
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