#Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII-2

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII-2

I did it!! I finally finished XIII-2 and started Lightning Returns. My main objective was finishing XIII-2 before the release of the Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Starting back up where I left off, I was in the Vile Peaks 010 AF, only to learn that I had to go to Vile Peaks 200 AF to properly start,. So I had to go to the Archylte Steppe and use the Wild Gate with a Wild Artefact (I found said Artefact while there) and traveled to the Vile Peaks 200 AF and tracked down some of the Blitz Squadron before going back to Vile Peaks 010 AF to find some of the others before fighting the mysterious figure, only to discover it was none other than... ODIN?! Or rather, Twilight Odin. No lie, it was somewhat difficult, but I managed to win. After that, I returned to Vile Peaks 200 AF to fight the real Twilight Odin. Again, difficult, but slightly easier. But only slightly. On my way back to meet up with the Blitz Squadron, I noticed a phased-out person, only to discover it was Sazh! Sure, I knew he was the pilot at the end of the game to bring Serah and Noel to fight Caius. Anyway, it was interesting to see him again and I was happy to see him again, even if what Sazh was saying was like a recorded message.

I met up with the Squadron, only to learn the soldiers actually worked alongside Lightning. Afterwards, I noticed the Phased-Out Lightning, or rather, a “recording” of her and I LOVED the music that played. A beautiful, more soothing version of the FF13 battle theme. I also enjoyed hearing the battle theme while in Vile Peaks 200 AF. After leaving, I decided to leave the try my hand against the final bosses again.

Good thing I paused the game and selected to return to the Historia Crux last time I was in Academia 500 AF. So when I returned, I was in the exact same location as last time, so I didn’t have to do all that platforming again. Anyway, I first tackled Chaos Bahamut and while it took a while, I managed to win. It was very slightly easier than the last time. I then fought against Caius and he proved quite difficult, as he focused on Serah. Sometimes comboing her before she could heal (I used the Paradigm that placed her as the Medic). But I eventually managed to win and moved on to the next fight. Again, it took a while, but I managed to beat him. Heck, I took less damage from his AoE attacks considerably. Same for the second phase. After that, the fated battle against the three Bahamuts!

My strategy was mostly the same as before, debuffing the Amber Bahamut and defeating it before going to the Garnet Bahamut. When Jet Bahamut came out, I unleashed all I could. After a somewhat lengthy fight, I was defeated. What got me was the countdown to Jet Bahamut’s Flare attack. I tried to at least defeat the Amber Bahamut, but I couldn’t. And even worse, right at the end of the countdown, the Garnet Bahamut was revived, meaning what was supposed to be Terraflare before Exaflare and I was defeated. I readjusted the paradigms and created the Tortoise Paradigm (all three Sentinels). For the rematch, it took much longer. If all three Bahamuts were active at the end of the countdown, I would switch to the Tortoise Paradigm to tank Exaflare (and with minimal damage). I also used the Paradigm when it summoned Judgement Blade. Eventually, I managed to win! And it took 37 long, careful minutes!

I sat back and watched the final cutscene play out. I won’t lie, it was quite heartbreaking to see Cocoon fall and crumble, the location we spent quite a bit of time in FFXIII and how Fang and Vanille encased themselves in Crystal to stop its fall. Shame I couldn’t see them after they were saved. Regardless, I continued to watch as Bhunivelze rose up, happy to see a new Cocoon, one where humans could live without living under the thumb of the fal’Cie. And yet... it wasn’t all joyous... Serah died in Noel’s arms and Hope only arrived after she had already passed. And with the death of Caius, Etros passed away, bringing Chaos into the world with “To Be Continued” appearing on the screen.

And with that, Final Fantasy XIII-2 was finished. As I mentioned before, I bought XIII-2 and Lightning Returns at the same time. Once I quit the game and returned to the XBox One Home Page, I started up Lightning Returns.

[askifwehaveavocados-a]

☯ Is there a muse you've always wanted to play?

questions for the mun

Is there a muse you’ve always wanted to play?

          Okay, but anyone who knows me is painfully aware that my absolute favorite character is Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII/Final Fantasy XIII-2/Lightning Returns ( Red is a very close second, but oh my god, Lightning Farron ). I have RPed her in the past, but the XIII fandom isn’t particularly active and I found that, as much as I love her, she’s a very difficult character to nail, especially after her personal revelations/changes in the first game. I found it really hard to marry that cold, standoffish soldier aspect with her muted kindness ( anyone who says Lightning doesn’t care is full of shit; the problem is she cares too much and she buries it ).

          Recently, I’ve toyed with the idea of writing Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, but a) I don’t know how active the Gravity Falls RP fandom is and b) I hate choosing FCs for animated character ( I never picked one for Lightning ), so I’m not sure how willing people outside of the GF/animation fandoms would be willing to interact with her. Also, there is a LOT of Pinecest in the fandom and I am NOT going to ship Mabel and her brother, Dipper. I’m sorry, but absolutely not, goodbye.

          Other honorable mentions: River Song ( Doctor Who ), Annabeth Chase ( Percy Jackson & the Olympians/The Heroes of Olympus ), Zoe Nightshade ( Percy Jackson & the Olympians ), Tina Belcher ( Bob’s Burgers ), Oerba Dia Vanille ( Final Fantasy XIII ), Oerba Yun Fang ( Final Fantasy XIII ).

          … basically, anyone that I cosplay/plan to cosplay, I also want to RP. XD ( I have legit cosplayed all of these characters except for Lightning, Vanille and Fang … BUT ONE DAY THAT WILL CHANGE~ )

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII-2

Okay, so. I bought XIII-2 and Lightning Returns the day after that, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (so basically, I bought it yesterday). I played Kakarot up until a little after Gohan was left in the wilderness by Piccolo. After that, I started XIII-2

Starting off, I found myself completely confused. Lightning suddenly appearing in a place known as Valhalla. Not only that, but Bodhum was on Gran Pulse, rather than Cocoon. Until I realized it was New Bodhum. Still, I was especially confused as to why Lightning was suddenly gone and everyone thought she was inside the Crystal Pillar with Fang and Vanille.

I adapted to the gameplay well enough, since it wasn’t all that different from XIII. But the biggest thing for me to get used to was the Mog Clock, especially when it came to attacking enemies. Quite often, they would appear behind me or directly on top of me. I’ll skip over New Bodhum, since nothing specially really happened there.

After that, I moved on to Bresha Ruins 005 AF and found myself fighting the Paradox Alpha. No real issues, especially with the Cinematic Action, which helped greatly. It just took a bit. Going through, I got my first two Monster Crystals and put Cait Sith in the party, since I wanted to have a healer of some kind. It didn’t take long for me to meet Chocolina (I recognized her from World of Final Fantasy) and accepted the side-quests. I took care of them with little issue while exploring. When prompted between fighting Atlas directly or trying to control it, I decided to look for the machine. After activating it, I fought Atlas and even with it being heavily weakened, I struggled quite a bit against it. But I managed to win and took the two Artefacts to the two Gates. I opened the one in the sewers first, which lead to Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF before going back and opening the one at the encampment, where Chocolina is, unlocking Yaschas Massif 010 AF and went there.

At Yaschas Massif 010 AF, I took to exploring, also trying to stay in the light and not fight enemies I thought would be difficult. It didn’t work out well completely, as I fought a few enemies. I also saw a Behemoth spawn, only to run so it can despawn because, well, IT’S A BEHEMOTH!!! Behemoths are known for being incredibly powerful beasts. I later fought the Aloeidai. I managed to do well, but when it got low, I became much more reckless in an attempt to finish it quickly, which proved to be my downfall and my first game over. So when I fought it again, I was a bit more caution and attentive. Gotta say, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Hope, still using his boomerang. I got the Artefact from Hope and went to the Gate, unlocking Oerba 300 AF, but instead going Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF.

There, after a short bit of exploring, I encountered Snow and fought the Royal Ripeness. This one took a while, but no real issues as I defeated it. A bit of exploring before I found the Artefact which opened the Gate to the Coliseum. Went there, went back, and activated the Gate to travel to the Archylte Steppe. The most interesting thing there came when I got the Faeryl to spawn, only for the passage to be blocked by a Long Gui. Talking to a Hunter, they said it runs when there’s lightning, causing me to conclude that it was either a hint that it was weak to Lightning or to change the weather to Stormy. Because I’m such a genius, I fought it and lost almost instantly. So I went back, changed the weather, and fought the Faeryl... only to have my back against the wall with Megaton Charge dealing massive damage and I couldn’t gain a proper footing before being defeated. I tried again, this time being more defensive, eventually winning (he hit really hard) before leaving.

I went back to the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF and fought the Mutantomato, which proved way easier. A little bit more exploring and I opened the Gate which sent me to a place known as the Void Beyond. After a bit of time, I went back through the portal and came to Serendipity. With the door locked, I went back and went to Oerba 300 AF and my heart practically broke upon seeing the beautiful seaside village now be a desert wasteland. I managed to complete the first puzzle-anomaly, but got momentarily stuck immediately after, not knowing how to progress, so I went back to the gate and explored other areas I unlocked.

Back at Bresha Ruins 005 AF, I explored a bit and found the third Gate, which took me to Bresha Ruins 300 AF. I tried to explore, but the enemies proved incredibly difficult. One group of enemies gave me a game over and I later fought a Purple Chocobo, which almost defeated my party (I went through all of my Phoenix Downs, not that I had all that much) until only Serah was left before running away. Realizing I had no chance here, I went back and traveled back to Oerba 300 AF, where I learned I could jump off the street and into the sand. After that, exploring and completing puzzles as usual with no problems. I eventually came across the Oracle Drive and fought against Caius. He wasn’t too difficult, but I underestimated the damage he could do with one of his attacks, causing him to defeat Serah (I’ll admit, she was a little under half health anyway), but I still beat him. It was then that I noticed it was 3:30 AM and decided to stop playing... after activating the Gate and unlocking Yaschas Massif 01X AF. I saved the game there and turned it off. And as it turned out, I’ve been playing for over 7 hours straight! Man, this game is fun!

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Oh boy. I’m really late in this. Not only that, but I had multiple sessions that I’ve neglected in talking about as I recently returned from my vacation at Disney World and had to acclimate back to the climate and being home. And work has kept me incredibly busy and practically exhausted. And I’m also balancing that with FFXIV.

Anyway, I eventually returned to playing after returning from my vacation. Picking up where I left off in Yaschas Massif 010 AF, only to realize that I was in the wrong area to get a Graviton Core. But I managed to get a Behemoth Fang. After that, I resolved to go to Academia 400 AF, having to deal with a number of enemies as I got the Graviton Core Delta and attempted to try my hand to the giant Geiseric... only to get defeated shortly thereafter. I also found the Wild Gate I could use to access a different area, but not Wild Artefacts. But before leaving, I went ALL the way back to around the beginning of the area to drop off my completed maps. I also went to Serendipity to try and get the Chaos Crystal, but to no avail. I ended up using the slot machine for about 20 minutes in its best mood and I lost way more coins than I gained. So... yeah. I then went to Yaschas Massif 100 AF to see if I could find a path forward, doing what I could to assist the Ruby’s of Grief. It didn’t take long before I got them all. Even got Graviton Core Epsilon along the way. After that, I saved and turned off the game.

Quite some time later, I returned and with the Wild Artefact I got while there, I opened a Gate to the Sunleth Waterscape 400 AF where I partook in finding lost Flans before fighting against them. After fighting them, I made sure to pick up the Graviton Core Eta before leaving. Also, I kinda did some exploring in other locations and completed some sidequests. Since I couldn’t win coins, I decided to farm them by spending my gil to get more. Upon finally getting enough for the Chaos Crystal, I bought it, saved the game, and turned it off.

Several days later, I picked up where I left off. I also learned that I didn’t need to get all Graviton Cores, so I just decided to give what I had to Hope. 6 out of 7. And with that done, I was given access to a mysterious Time Gate in Academia 4XX AF. Jumping through, Serah got separated from Noel and Mog was mysteriously missing while she ended up in the Void Beyond. I ended up talking to the various Yeuls (and got interrupted a few times because of the enemies). I saw items, but I was expecting to go back for them once I got Mog. Regardless, I found against Caius, only for Serah to get run through and sent to New Bodhum. I won’t lie, I was confused for a bit, thinking a made a mistake somewhere and got some kind of bad ending. But I still couldn’t help but smile when I saw Lightning and Snow in their original clothes from FFXIII. Speaking of Lightning, despite her offer to stay, I decided to reject it, as I already came far enough. Afterwards, I voice called out. I initially thought it was Mog, but after listening more and more, I came to the conclusion that it was Vanille, a voice I haven’t heard in a while. It led me to where the Gate was initially and it was there that I met up with none other than Vanille and Fang. I was so happy to see them! Honestly, I missed them a lot throughout this adventure. Fang opened a portal to go through, but before leaving, I picked up some items; Fang’s Crown and Vanille’s Fruit before jumping through and entering Noel’s dream; a desolate, depressing world. Before long, I was playing as Noel and fought against Caius. I did decently well, but ended up losing the fight. Thankfully, there wasn’t a game over. I continued to follow and watch Noel’s life, see his Yeul die in his arms, and follow after him in the wastelands before Serah pulled him back to reality. I then found myself fighting another Gogmagog (haven’t fought those in a good while) and defeated it with ease.

With newfound resolve, I returned to the Farseers’ where Yeul was and found myself reunited with Mog. Only to learn that Caius was a l’Cie like Lighting, Snow, and Serah! His Focus being to protect Yeul. But Etros freed him and granted him immortality to protect the other Yeuls. I also learned that Serah has the Eye of Etros, which slowly kills her with each vision of the future she sees. And with nowhere left to go, I made my way to the Time Gate and made my way to New Bodhum 700. It was there that I finally got to see Lightning face-to-face! She gave quite a bit of exposition before leaving. But not before giving Mog a new and improved Mog Hunt, which I put to great use while in the area before leaving. I also fought a few enemies and even happened across a Metallicactuar. But it ran away after knocking and freezing Serah and Noel into the air. After that, I left and went to Academia 500 AF. There, I performed that platforming puzzle. Many enemies were a pain to deal with. Most notably the Proto-Behemoth (which I could not defeat in any way and it would defeat my part with little effort. There was also the Apkallu, which I was able to beat, but it was time-consuming and nearly defeated me. I also ran into a few problems with platforming, most notably with Serah circling and falling off as a result, rather than turning on the spot. And occasionally I would undershoot a jump. As this happened later in the area, that meant having to press the switches again after failing. But eventually, I reached the end.

By the way, around this time, it was around midnight, so it was technically March 31st, meaning that Persona 5 Royal was released. I pre-ordered the game on the PS4 store and let the game download while I continued playing XIII-2. I went onward to the final battle and watched in awe as Hope arrived, still using his boomerang from XIII-2 (he also did this in his introduction cutscene) and even meeting up with Sazh and Dajh. I then found myself fighting Gaius’ Chaos Bahamut form, which proved incredibly difficult. I may have lost about 5 times before I eventually won. But after that was a direct battle with Gaius. That one was much easier. After that was another battle with Gaius, which was time-consuming, but I managed to beat him. Follwing a brief cutscene, I found myself fighting three Bahamuts. I decided to focus the Amber Bahamut, since it seemed like the main attacker while Garnet Bahamut was the buffer. Once both of them were down, I attacked the Jet Bahamut and in a brief assault, got him down to about 75% health before Amber was revived. Despite my best efforts, it wasn’t long before Garnet was revived and all three used Exaflare, defeating my party. Another attempt went better, lasting a bit longer, but I was eventually defeated as I struggled to keep up. I may have tried 10 times in total before giving up. I figured I was underleveled, so I decided to do a bit of grinding.

I returned to the Dying World to explore a bit, fighting enemies and getting stronger while also finding items. I happened across the Farseers’ Relic again and upon using Mog Hunt, got a Live Reaction, which gave me an Artefact. I also ended up in Yaschas Massif 110 AF and found more Rubies of Grief. These were also not too much of an issue to deal with, even if some required out of the box thinking. But I managed to complete them before getting one from an ancient Yeul, requesting me to fight the Ugallu. Honestly, that fight was quite difficult. First time went decently well, having a Bunkerbeast provoke it while Serah healed and Noel weakened the Ugallu, but after a while, I lost my footing and lost the fight. And for the second attempt, Bunkerbeast’s Provoke wouldn’t work for some reason, leading to another defeat. But after the third or fourth time, I managed to defeat it. Later, I went to the Archylte Steppe and properly explored the area, even fighting the Gigantuars. I also managed to reach the Vile Peaks 010 AF, but couldn’t figure out what to do. I fully explored and encountered a mysterious figure, but couldn’t affect it in any way before I found myself back at the beginning of the area. I think with a bit more work, I should be able to win and finish this game. Hopefully it won’t be too long. I want to finish this game before starting the FF7 Remake.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII-2

Boy... I’m late in going over this. Not only that, but I had two play sessions, weeks apart. I was kinda distracted with DBZ: Kakarot and FFXIV. But anyway!

Picking up where I left off, in Yaschas Massif 01X AF, I met up with Hope once again and with a new sight of my goal, I set off. But not before exploring the new timeline, even discovering that Chocobos can temporarily slow their descent if I hold the B button after jumping (I’m playing on XBox One X, by the way). When I was done, I took the new Gate to Academia 400 AF. You can imagine my confusion when I saw the Proto fal’Cie recognize Serah’s l’Cie brand and transformed the citizens into Cie’th. While most were easy enough, the stronger Cie’th proved more troublesome. It was also rather exhausting fighting Cie’th, like, every 5 seconds. Before long, I found myself encountering Yeul and fighting Zenobia, which proved really difficult and lengthy. Mostly length.

But afterwards, I took the Gate to Augusta Tower 200 AF (I previously went to 300 AF some time prior, but was stopped). I explored a bit before I was stopped and had to find an access key, causing me to go with 300 AF. That was the last thing I did before saving the game and turning it off.

I returned weeks later, picking up the access key and returning to 200 AF before meeting Alyssa’s Duplicate. I explored the floor a bit before taking the elevator. It was there that I learned that everyone in Academia was killed by the AI, even Hope and Alyssa. Seeing Hope die was especially heartbreaking, since that’s the same kid we’ve come to know and care about throughout XIII. There’s something especially tragic to seeing a character you’ve become attached to and watch grow die in a cruel manner. However, following the cutscene, I found myself in a few forced battles. I won’t lie, I did not like these battles... The fights weren’t difficult, but the issue came from how the camera would bob side-to-side and zoom in and out. I don’t get motion-sickness, but it was still rather dizzying. And I had to go through it three times! I was sick of it by the second fight. Not nauseous, just tired of it and wanted to return to the normal camera angles.

Eventually, I managed to reach the next floor, fighting enemies, figuring out puzzles, and finding treasure. Same with the floor after that. I won’t lie, I got a number of game overs here, mostly because some enemies hit really hard and I often found myself at a disadvantage, since they would often spawn right on top of me, starting the fight instantly before I could react properly.

I managed to reach the top and fought against Proto fal’Cie Adam. Surprisingly, it was really easy. If I got low, I would switch to a Paradigm that brought Cait Sith in to heal everyone. 2 fights, both with 5 Stars. I also ran a 3rd fight before I thought there was an Original Proto fal’Cie Adam. But that didn’t work, so I selected shouting towards Hope, which preventing Adam from being created to begin with. With the Paradox fixed and the Gate open, I went to a new Academia 4XX AF and loved the new future. It felt nice not having to fight every few seconds. I actually spent quite a bit of time exploring before following Hope.

To make a long story short, I got my new mission to retrieve Graviton Cores. I already had one from New Bodhum 003 AF (I got it a while back while exploring) before leaving. I decided to go to Bresha Ruins 300 AF, thinking I was strong enough to handle the area. Lo and behold, I was, so I stuck around to complete the side-quests needed there. I got the Silver Petal and Recording Device and even starting and completing the Commander’s Report sidequest. I went back to Bresha Ruins 005 AF to deliver the Silver Petal and getting the Graviton Core while I was there. After that, I went to Yaschas Massif 010 AF before saving the game and turning it off. I plan on taking down a Behemoth for a few side-quests on top of the Graviton Core in the area.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Mun Plays Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

This occured RIGHT after I finished XIII-2. I was curious to see what happened and I went into the game mostly blind. Some stuff was spoiled for me, but not a lot.

Okay, first off, I watched the voiceless intro cutscene, which left me confused as to why Snow and Lightning were fighting each other. And not even a sparring match, but they were actually out for blood. I was also confused about this girl who looked like Serah. The voiced version didn’t help much and left me with probably more questions. Snow and Lightning (or at the very least just Snow) were very antagonistic towards each other. And the girl was named Lumina. She sounded somewhat like Serah. After the cutscene played, I got control of Lightning, fighting the enemies that were present before chasing after Snow. Nothing special until I reached Zaltys. The fight honestly took a while, even with Staggering and the abilities at my disposal. I ended with a single star before continuing on.

After a good while, I reached the end, but couldn’t meet up with Snow and with no other choice, I was taken to the Ark. It was there that I met up with Hope. I was happy to see him again and in his old design, though I was completely confused as to why. I quickly noticed that Hope seemed distant and almost depressed. He sounded somewhat... defeated. I won’t lie, it was kinda sad listening to him speak. After the tutorial and looking around, I returned to the world, winding up in Luxerion. As soon as  arrived, a woman was murdered by these “heretics”. These “Children of Etros”. I gathered information and completed that little quest and quickly noticed Chocolina from XIII-2 and accepted the board quests. I was already able to finish one at least. I looked around for a bit, fighting enemies and seeing what stores were available before I saw the Children of Etros. I tailed them to the cemetery, starting up the quest to find the numbers to gain access. With nothing left to do, I returned to Yusnaan and explored, looking around while making my way to Augur’s Quarter, briefly getting lost.

I reached the location and found myself meeting the Tour Guide. Seriously, 2,000 Gil for a ticket! Good thing I had so much anyway. I didn’t really have much else to do but went to the location specified on the map, but nothing. I also saw a few Gremlins nearby and decided to fight them, as I could get the leather from them. They weren’t hard, but there was so many, so it took a while. As I made my way back to town, I encountered a Meonekton. It ended up being really difficult and I was almost defeated, even using all my potions. At least I learned about Guarding in the middle of combat. But even the end, I won. And since I had no more potions, I had to buy food to recover. I also spoke with Chocolina again and received a new quest while in Yusnaan before returning to Luxerion. I wanted to use Chronostasis in an attempt to get there before 6 AM, but I had to use it in the aforementioned fight out of desperation. The train ride would take me to Luxerion at 6:15 AM, but when I arrived, it was 6 on the dot. When I returned to the Ark, I talked to Hope a bit and found some new gear before making my way back. Only instead of returning to the world, I wound up in Lightning’s mind with Lumina waiting, talking and toying with Lightning. And for some reason, there was an image of Serah? And she called Lightning “sis”? It was so bizarre. I have an idea as to what’s going on, but I’m not too sure. After that, I saved the game and turned it off.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII

I properly started my assault on the Palamecia and the enemies weren’t all that difficult, if a bit of an annoyance at times.

When I switch characters and played as Vanille, you have no idea how happy I was to see that Sazh was still alive and apparently simply knocked out by Jihl. Which leaves me wondering why they wanted to make you think Sazh was dead to begin with? But whatever, it’s no big deal. And it was pretty cool to see Vanille use a gun, even if it was brief. The enemies there weren’t too much of an issue, thanks to the Upgrade system I’ve been using as often as possible.

But when Lightning and the others reached the Starboard Weather Deck. I didn’t mind fighting the enemies there at first, but when I noticed there were more and more enemies close together, that’s when I started to get sick of fighting them and just started to avoid fighting them, which hasn’t happened much since I started playing.

After that was the boss fights against the Kalavinka Strikers. First was really easy, but the second... well, it was a bit harder and more time consuming, but I did it. And lo and behold, after the following cutscene, I could finally change my team however I wanted! But don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the game by not giving me the choice at all (I mean, look at FF4), but it’s still nice. I ended up having Lightning, Snow, and Vanille in the active party while I fought the enemies on the Bridge Access, though I didn’t fight all of them. I mainly searched for items, but the CP was still highly appreciated.

When I reached the bottom, I saved, Upgraded my weapons, sold things I didn’t need, and worked on the Crystarium. I’m also a part of the Final Fantasy Union Discord and I learned a while back that I could combine Shrouds, so I did just that before going to the Bridge; specifically the Fortisol and Aegisol.

Reaching the Bridge, I was getting so ready to fight Jihl for the kind of stuff she put Sazh through, only to find her getting so cruelly and heartlessly killed by the Primarch, who then killed the others. I mean, hey, I hated her, but I certainly didn’t want her to be stabbed in the back and killed so heartlessly like that. Kinda like what happened to Airy in Bravely Default.

But anyway, I ended up fighting the Primarch, or rather, Barthandelus. At first, I attacked his face before realizing I should target the side faces (it didn’t take as long as the time I fought the Havoc Skytank, taking notice almost instantly). The faces fell easily. That’s when the true battle started, having Lightning take the Commando Role and Snow takes Ravager. Vanille swaps between Medic and Ravager and I occasionally put Lightning in the Ravager Role as well to help with the Chain Bonus. I managed to get him down to, like, 25% health, but Lightning got KO’d by Destrudo. And looking at the FF Wiki for Barthandelus’ Boss Fight, I learned that he also has Doom. He never used that during the fight.

Anyway, got the game over and tried again, using the same Shrouds before going in again. This time, I took time to heal whenever he started to prepare Destrudo, just to make sure Lightning survives. And occasionally had Snow go Sentinel to direct some heat away from the others. It was a long and hard fight, but I managed to win.

I couldn’t believe the words he was spouting after that. Merge with Ragnarok and destroy Cocoon?! Yeah right! We’re going to destroy the Fal’Cie and put people’s fate back in their hands. We’re not going to let others decide our future!

I later found myself in the Fifth Ark. I’ll make this incredibly short. It was cool at first, especially since I finally got all roles for the characters on their Crystariums, but the dungeon ended up going on for so long that I ended up hating it. By the time I reached Raines, I was sick of the dungeon. But it was nice to explore dungeons... again, until it got all samey and annoying.

Okay, against Raines, I managed to hold my own quite well, since he targeted Snow while Lightning attacked and Vanille healed. But at some point, he started targeting Lightning and he managed to defeat her. I also did occasionally switch Snow and Vanille to more offensive roles to help with the chain bonus. I fought him again, this time taking advantage of his occasional Guard to have Snow and Lightning dish out as much damage as possible. Sometimes Vanille would heal during that part, buff Snow and Lightning, debuff Raines, or even attack with magic. It took time, but I managed to win.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t respect his resolve and his desire to help the people and free them from the control the Fal’Cie has on the populace, but alas, we couldn’t fall. I continued further into the dungeon and found myself avoiding fights because I was so sick of it! One of the reasons being the Phosphorous Flans and their ability to Merge and become stronger. I got a few game overs because of them. But one thing that was interesting was Berserkers. Those guys were quite fun to fight, but since I was sick and tired of the dungeon, I ended up avoiding them if I could. There were a total of 6 Berserkers in the dungeon, but I only skipped one.

And looking at the FF Wiki, it says the Phosphorous Flans and Pulsework Knights are a 3-way fight? Bullshit! I fought them and they ganged up on me! Again, causing a few game overs. They were fighting on the Overworld, but the moment I step into range, they turn their attention to me.

Eventually, I FINALLY reached the end and got ready for a fight against Fang, only to find myself fighting her Eidolon, Bahamut. I... got destroyed and barely did anything before getting a game over. I could barely do anything against Bahamut before getting defeated. I tried again and also failed. For the third time, I tried to take things even slower, having Fang direct attention from the others while Vanille heals her. In the end, Fang was at critical HP and the Doom counter was starting to get low, but just as Bahamut was going in to attack, Vanille and Lightning dealt the last bit of damage allowing me to trigger Gestalt Mode and win.

I watched the following cutscenes, FINALLY finishing Disc 2 and entering Disc 3 and saving the game. The chocobo chick was telling the others that something was happening with Hope and that’s where I left off with plans to continue tomorrow.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII

Okay, so I wasn’t able reach Disc 3. I was partially joking last time, what with how quickly I felt like I breezed through Chapter 1 through 2. But anyway, I think I’m nearing the end, as I’m on Chapter 9 now.

Okay, from where I left off, I picked up playing as Lightning and Fang with nothing really major happening for a good while, though it was nice to see Snow risking his well being to help a kid that tried to kill him, even though I knew Snow wasn’t the type to hold a grudge like that and against a kid who’s mom was killed.

Eventually, I ended up reaching the boss, which turned out to be the Ushumgal Subjugator again. Honestly, it was a real pain, but I managed to defeat it. Though I was hoping Hope would trigger his own Eidolon. After that, it was nice to see Hope officially abandon his grudge on Snow.

My heart went out to Bartholomew and how he mourned for the loss of his beloved wife and he repaired his relationship with Hope. I’m curious as to how the PSICOM soldiers found Lightning and the others, but whatever. I found myself fighting the Havoc Skytank, which was a real pain to defeat and it defeated me the first time around.

When I tried again, I instead made Lightning the Ravager, Fang the Sentinel, and Hope the Medic. I just had Lightning attack while Fang soaked damage and Hope healed and just attacked for a few minutes, doing chip damage before I realized I could attack other parts of the ship. Upon discovering that, it was easy work.

After that, I went back to playing as Sazh and Vanille. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Sazh having fun instead of being such a downer and I kinda had fun searching for the Chocobo Chick. A little while later, we were ambushed by PSICOM soldiers, who weren’t much of an issue to deal with. But along the way, I found the Healer’s Staff and gave it to Vanille and sold the other weapon for more gil to upgrade the Healer’s Staff. In the end, the weapon’s magic stat was only slightly weaker than the previous one. I then fought the Midlight Reaper boss, which proved difficult at first, but once I managed to got a good rhythm going, I only had to worry about healing every now and again. Lucky for me, I added the Dualcast (Ravager & Ravager) Paradigm earlier.

I wish you guys could have seen the smile on my face with I saw Sazh’s son, Dajh, though a part of me worried it might be some kind of trick. But alas, it was much worse... LIttle Dajh turned to crystal, right in front of his father’s eyes, leaving both me and Sazh stunned, though I still don’t fully understand what Dajh’s Focus was. Shortly after, I got confirmation to what I suspected earlier when Vanille tried to talk to Sazh before being interrupted; it was because of Vanille (and Fang) that Dajh because a l’Cie.

I quickly gave chase and watching the following cutscene, my heart went out to Vanille. I knew she wasn’t a bad person and didn’t intend for any of that to happen. But I didn’t have time to worry about that before I found myself fighting Brynhildr, Sazh’s Eidolon. I lost the first time (starting to notice a trend), but managed to win the second time, if only just barely. It also helped that I managed to work on the Crystarium a bit before the fight, which I completely forgot about before.

While I was glad to see Sazh spare Vanille’s life, knowing that killing her wouldn’t solve anything, I was left stunned when I saw Sazh take his own life. I couldn’t help but shed a tear, seeing him end his own life (something Aerith’s death couldn’t do for me), but I didn’t have time to mourn as I found myself taking control of Lightning once again and jumping onto the Palamecia, saving at the first available save point before turning off the game.

I just wanna say that these people are terrible; Jihl and the Primarch. I hope I get to fight them someday. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the Primarch was the final boss. I don’t know if he is or isn’t, so I’d like to avoid spoilers. I don’t want people telling me if I’m right or wrong about fighting them as bosses.