#ff13-2 spoilers

[mu-esli]

Gays saving the world by holding hands

Final Fantasy XIII (2010) // Arcane Season 2 (2024)

[rose-madder-gaze]

Alright, next game before my side account gets suspended or whatever the fuck is the soup du jour.

12:59 PM · Feb 15, 2021 Instead of doing one long thread for all three games, I'm gonna do THREE THREADS FOR ARBITRARY REASONS!

FFXIII is in QRT, FXIII-2 begins here. Not spoiler-free.

1:13 PM · Feb 15, 2021 XIII-2 thoughts so far:

1:43 PM · Feb 15, 2021 Lightning is wearing, like, a unitard under her outfit, so I'm willing myself to think of the costuming in this game as outfits for an opera instead of…what they are…

1:43 PM · Feb 15, 2021 The person we're watching play this changed Serah into the bathing suit as soon as they were able. I hate it here. Where's Sazh

5:48 PM · Feb 15, 2021 Noel really is just riding his own vibe. The "I live in a world with no future, so literally anything that happens to me that doesn't kill me is an improvement" vibe.

5:48 PM · Feb 15, 2021 He also sounds like they pulled him out of a 90s animation, and I don't know enough to know if that's just his voice or if it's on purpose.

8:18 PM · Feb 15, 2021 If they wanted to do a different ensemble cast from the first game, Team NORA is right there, I'm just saying. It's not ideal, but damn.

4:12 PM · Feb 16, 2021 Orion pointed out that L/aura B/ailey, Serah's VA, is doing her "Catherine" voice for Serah, and my soul has officially left my body.

4:23 PM · Feb 16, 2021 Ba…ba…baby boy 🥺️😭

8:03 PM · Feb 16, 2021 I've spent 19 hours in complete emotional turmoil after, like, THREE minutes of Hope being on-screen, just wait til I see Sazh.

2:24 PM · Feb 17, 2021 me, to Serah: why are you so SMALL also me: *is the same height as her*

2:35 PM · Feb 17, 2021 Noel met Snow and was like "at last, you've activated my Personality."

2:35 PM · Feb 17, 2021 Me 🤝 Noel Seeing red whenever Snow speaks

2:45 PM · Feb 17, 2021 Man, they're gonna go back to tell Hope how Cocoon falls in the future, and he's gonna be like "I see, just like in Over*cooked."

1:45 PM · Feb 18, 2021 So hold on. Was Snow just hiding the proto-Saix haircut under his bandana for the entire first game? He was waiting for the awkward layers to grow out???

1:54 PM · Feb 22, 2021 No updates for a min because we got to the third-to-last video in that person's playthrough, and we were both like…surely there is more game left than can fit in two videos. So we're watching someone else's playthrough now WHICH IS GOOD BECAUSE THERE'S DLC???

1:54 PM · Feb 22, 2021 It's really adding to the whole paradox experience, tbh.

6:04 PM · Feb 26, 2021 Realizing I had a "I forgot there was a clown in DMC3 after googling the clown in DMC3" moment wrt XIII-3, except it's worse because it's a core mechanic that Orion and I have talked about AT LENGTH because we want to use it in one of our own games.

6:04 PM · Feb 26, 2021 My Maximum Courtesy brain immediately pushes spoilers to the back of it while interacting with media, only to randomly re-spoil me while I lounge between dreaming and waking. This is all Seeress Serah's fault.

4:24 PM · Mar 1, 2021

4:26 PM · Mar 1, 2021 I wonder if Noel comes from the future where it's FF Versus instead of FFXV.

8:39 PM · Mar 1, 2021 The fact that I still haven't seen Sazh in this game is HATEFUL.

12:47 PM · Mar 3, 2021

12:59 PM · Mar 3, 2021 Girl, what if you were trapped in the Void Beyond and you followed my voice to the end of the dream we were sharing and Fang called you her girl. Haha just kidding. Unless…?

1:35 PM · Mar 3, 2021 Caius really waited for the end of humanity before pulling out the discount "I'll tear down the sky" shit after some asshole starts pulling his strings. Meanwhile, Yeul is just like:

7:32 PM · Mar 5, 2021 SAZH

7:36 PM · Mar 5, 2021 We only have one video left of the main game, then it's time for Episode Sazh.

1:21 PM · Mar 6, 2021 This game really was an opera, holy shit. "If you change the future, you change the past," sings the chorus (as Noel and Hope bring in the last duet). [This Tweet includes a Quote Retweet of the earlier Tweet: Lightning is wearing, like, a unitard under her outfit, so I'm willing myself to think of the costuming in this game as outfits for an opera instead of…what they are…]

1:32 PM · Mar 6, 2021 ALSO, FOR THE RECORD, I am less mad about the things they admittedly spent THE ENTIRE GAME TELLING ME WERE GONNA HAPPEN happening than I am about Team NORA getting left 500 years in the past. I slept on it, and I am still sooo mad.

1:32 PM · Mar 6, 2021 My curse is my unending loyalty to side-characters. Orion has assured me that they are at least brought up in the next game, but fuck, man.

1:32 PM · Mar 6, 2021 I'm going to just. Be mad for a minute over this decidedly small thing while applying the balm of Sazh playing cards directly to my brain.

1:32 PM · Mar 7, 2021 I love Sazh so muchh. He's a faceted character despite getting boxed into being the comedy relief (I'm assuming at least SOMEONE really loved him and fought for him where they could). Watching him fight against despair (and backsliding more than once) is so… 😭

1:32 PM · Mar 7, 2021 It's wild having the contrast between a more grounded character like him and the trad RPG-style hero characters (Lightning, Snow, Noel most of the time). Idk where the division came from in terms of writing (maybe bc he's an "older" character?) but I wish we got more of him.

8:31 PM · Mar 14, 2021 (Watching "The Future is Hope" paradox ending) Orion: He called the cops? That's not Snow. Me: Snow would TOTALLY call the cops on a government official, though.

8:31 PM · Mar 14, 2021 Hope's priority order upon seeing Snow again for the first time in 400 years:

Clock Snow's bralette

Yell at him

8:37 PM · Mar 14, 2021 I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the fact that Hope jumped immediately into scolding him, even though Snow was mentally hitting the Skip Dialogue button.

8:42 PM · Mar 14, 2021 Stiria: If she's YOUR girl, why is she sitting on MY tits?

4:26 PM · Mar 16, 2021 Okay, we've finished watching all the secret bosses, monster collecting, DLC, secret ending's secret ending, ETCETERA. Here's what I have to say about all that: that SUCKED

4:26 PM · Mar 16, 2021 I would go so far as to say that Lightning's DLC made everything I disliked about the ending WORSE

4:26 PM · Mar 16, 2021 I would go even further and say that rn I feel like Serah's fate is worse than Luna's. You don't play a whole game as Luna or make decisions as Luna or have THREE GAMES FIXATED ON LUNA

4:31 PM · Mar 16, 2021 "I have no regrets," GIRL YOU ARE CRYING THE BLACK OOZE FROM D/EATH STRANDING, LOOK AT ME AND SAY THAT AGAIN WITH YOUR T/ROY BAKER EYEBALLS

4:31 PM · Mar 16, 2021 "Just remember me," GIRL WHY? THE WORLD'S OVER! THAT'S IT!! YOUR MAJOR STORY ACCOMPLISHMENT IS ENDING HUMANITY 200 YEARS EARLIER THAN ORIGINALLY PLANNED. CONGRATS, I'LL BE SURE TO REMEMBER IT, SEEING AS TIME HAS CEASED TO FLOW OR WHATEVER THE FUCK.

4:34 PM · Mar 16, 2021 This all could be compelling as hell if it weren't for the fact that, despite these repeatedly bleak ass story decisions, they keep turning towards the camera and hitting me with the "Hold onto hope" thing as everyone gets eaten by the Demon Tide from KH3.

3:38 PM · Mar 17, 2021 Other…non-screaming closing thoughts…it was a steep curve, but I came around to the new characters in the end and am genuinely looking forward to seeing more of them. I honestly don't know what to expect of the next game except that it'll be…grim.

3:38 PM · Mar 17, 2021 Also, Caius better stop shape-shifting into girls or I'm gonna have to start headcanoning some things.

End thread.

Because I was too funny to die, here's the first of three posts archiving my "live" tweets for watching playthroughs of the FFXIII trilogy with Orion. Includes original timestamps, typos, and 2021 memes. I'll approximate GIFs if I have to.

4:23 PM · Feb 6, 2021 Watching a playthrough of FFXIII, so here's my not-really-live tweet thread for my own amusement; not spoiler-free.

5:23 PM · Feb 6, 2021 Me, seeing a pretty standardized "boy big and strong, girl small and nice" couple like Snow and Serah: T4T…

5:30 PM · Feb 6, 2021

7:19 PM · Feb 6, 2021 Love that every time Snow says something heroic and ends up digging his grave deeper, Hope is just like

7:19 PM · Feb 6, 2021 Admittedly, even if I had FINALLY resolved myself to abandoning revenge, if Snow Villiers turned around and burped at me, I would suddenly no longer possess the presence of mind to open a survival knife and would instead body him over the balcony of a Palumpolum rest area.

8:10 PM · Feb 6, 2021 Snow: I need everyone to stop trying to blow me up, these tits were expensive.

8:22 PM · Feb 6, 2021 okay this chapter is too long, WHERE'S SAZH

2:11 PM · Feb 7, 2021

2:16 PM · Feb 7, 2021 lmao when the Pompa Sancta parade started, I blurted out "oh, it's opera," and Orion immediately jumped into a baritone "MAAARIA!"

1:55 PM · Feb 9, 2021 YOOO SHE WENT FOR IT

2:04 PM · Feb 9, 2021 Serah 🤝 Vanille Head in tiddies

2:06 PM · Feb 9, 2021 Snow: [talks for too long] Fang: Man, I'm outta here. Lightning: We have to stick together. Fang: Oh. Okay :)

2:07 PM · Feb 11, 2021 WUH HUH SERAH AND VANILLE HAD A MEET-CUTE???

2:32 PM · Feb 11, 2021 One small thing that endeared me towards Hope is that we just watched a playthrough of The Sinking City, and both he and Reed do a similar pensive idle hand animation. Two good, complicated lads.

3:19 PM · Feb 12, 2021 Rygdea to Raines

3:22 PM · Feb 12, 2021 (As the old adage goes, all humor is derived from excruciating pain because, if they don't come back around to the gravity of what happened with Raines, I don't know if I'll be able to take whatever "face the future with hope" thing they're gonna throw at me next.)

3:27 PM · Feb 12, 2021 anyways, cannot BELIEVE the pope took the opportunity to put his face in Snow's chest. it served literally NOTHING to pretend to be Serah for 0.5 seconds, and yet, he went for it.

5:24 PM · Feb 14, 2021 Orphan: and I hit them with the goo goo gaga. *turns all your friends into Cie'th*

5:38 PM · Feb 14, 2021 The leading problem I have with XIII's story is that they'll present A Rule, and, if the rule gets broken, there isn't an explanation. It just worked out in a specific instance For Some Reason.

5:38 PM · Feb 14, 2021 Like, "we hoped really hard against all odds and it worked out" only works for the main characters. Lots of lofty ideas about faith and conviction that hold exactly zero water inside the narrative.

5:38 PM · Feb 14, 2021 It's a shame because characters will have an impactful moment that the story then minimizes in some way (again: Raines?!) or vice versa. Idk, some of the storytelling decisions are just too goofy to overlook when they abut emotional scenes.

5:44 PM · Feb 14, 2021 ANYWAYS THAT WAS PRETTY GAY OF THEM TO CRYSTAL FUSE INTO UHH HECAMUT. BAHATON. THE WAY THEY BAJA BLASTED TO SAVE COCOON. WHO HOLD THE WORLD? GORLS.

5:48 PM · Feb 14, 2021 Fang: I'm lesbian. Hope: I thought you were Pulsian.

End thread.

[eon-become-instant]

Dunno any of you lot have played FF13 but this gave me crazy flashbacks to Fang and Vanille 🥲

[fangsded]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FINAL FANTASY XIII -LIGHTNING RETURNS!!!!

I just finished Lightning Returns. Holy fuck that ending was BIZARRE but also the exact ending I wanted. I LOVED every second of the main story. I love the anti government/religion, I love the (in my eyes) hints at queerness, I LOVE the reunions, I love that they did closure for the sequel characters?? I LOVE CAIUS/YUEL/NOEL'S ENDING SMMM!!! I love literally everything about the end.

There are just a few things I don't understand:

When Lightning first goes down onto the first little bit of the cathedral, and she talks to Lumina, everything was pretty much okay until Lightning decides to make sure Vanille doesn't do the soul song. When Lightning decides to run off to do that, Lumina suddenly breaks down and begs her not to leave.. AND THEN POOFS AWAY WHEN LIGHTNING LEAVES??? Just go with Lightning, kiddo. It's not like she would've stopped Lumina if she was gonna help? Lumina seems pretty powerful too, she could've been a big help. 😭

When Lightning talks to "Cid." If Lightning could talk to the dead and hear them out better than Vanille could, why didn't they do that sooner than legit the last day to talk? Vanille could hear all of them at once and it was suffocating, but Lightning could hear one guy out that was speaking for all the dead, and actually figure out what to do. Why'd they wait till the very end to suddenly throw that bit of kinda big story at us? Lightning and Vanille could've talked it out and the whole soul song thing could've been stopped way earlier.

If Lightning lost her emotions not because of the gods, but because she shut them away when her mom passed, how come she actually had character in the first game, then suddenly she becomes helpers for God's and becomes emotionless?? Shouldn't she have been emotionless from the start if she "made herself emotionless?" She was pretty emotionless in XIII-2, and Lumina wasn't a thing, so it can't be because Lumina took the emotional part of Lightning and left her with only logic. Plus, if she genuinely couldn't feel any emotion till the very end of the game, why did she care to help Serah, or any of the others, and genuinely care when they were hurt? If she only cared about Serah, she could've saved many other souls, yet she went after people like Snow and Caius who were difficult or even impossible to save. She could've just stuck to finding oil for Bachti and small things like that. 😭😭

Remember these?

She felt genuine emotions like joy, worry, annoyance, and more but those are the pictures I have at the moment. If she lost her emotions because of herself, shouldn't it have been flipped? Where she is emotionless in the first game and grows to show her feelings by LR? She even was really shut off from everything in the very beginning and warmed up to the others enough to show emotion. But no?? more time passes and she shuts off after growing so much in game one???

This one I'm almost more mad about than Hope constantly in your ear bothering you all of LR.

If Noel cared enough about Serah to help at the very end of the game, why didn't he just help though the whole game? He wasn't doing anything after we beat him in the fight other than wandering Luxerion. He could've just tagged along. Lightning told him the goal was to save Serah before they fought and all he cared about was his Yuel, but suddenly at the very end he cares now? I could see why Sazh and Snow didn't tag along. Sazh had Dajh to spend the remainder of time with, and Snow technically had a house to rebuild even though it wasn't worth it since the end of the world was approaching, but I guess it's a better excuse than; "I only care about Yuel right now, so you can save Serah on your own."

If Lightning and Fang knew that Vanille was being manipulated a few days before the end, and Vanille regularly wanders the cathedral later in the day, and at least Lightning knows this, why didn't they just tell her? Maybe Fang knew less and didn't believe she could convince Vanille yet. But Lightning doesn't have an excuse. Lightning found out Vanille was being manipulated and why a few days before the end, and we could go up to Vanille and talk to her still. Why didn't Lightning tell her before the soul song was about to be performed??? She didn't even try at all, maybe if there was a scene where she tried and it didn't work without Fang being there for some reason then maybe the end would make more sense, but it was actually very preventable. Lightning also didn't know that Buhnavelze (or however you spell that thing,) was controlling Hope yet, so maybe Hope could've had a suspicious scene where he tells Lightning to go do something "important" before she tries to tell Vanille? That would've been great.

I also didn't understand "fake Serah" at all? Like, they said things like, "she was a fake the whole time." So that means for how long? Cause the whole time would mean she wasn't ever real including before the L'cie stuff, but I don't think they meant that? Unless they did? They mean just for after she died right? There's no way they mean to say that the whole first game journey was for a fake sister/fiance, right? The whole XIII-2 journey would've also meant nothing because the main character would've been fake, and saving her in LR would be pointless if she was fake the whole time too? So they had to have meant when she randomly appeared to attempt to toy with Lightning, right?

What happened to the fakes anyways? Tf happened to fake Serah? Did she just get cast aside bc she wasn't the real Serah? She explained that she had feelings and a soul, just not Serah's soul, which means she was a real person too. Did I blink and miss the scene where she turned into only a soul too or go into Lightning's heart or something? Cause after all the talk of doing what's right and making sure to save literally everyone except for Caius and most the Yuel's, there's no way they'd cast aside someone like that just because she isn't the actual Serah, right?

Now this one is probably gonna be excused with "they're just optional NPCs!" But I'm still gonna ask.

The fuck did they do? Did they develop mental disorders and become disabled? The side quests are SOOOO dragged out, and all they do is yap and yap. Most the quests are; "go up the hill and find the thing we've been searching for, for 500 years." Or "go find my wife's broken calculator for me that's just over there in the sand by the skeleton. My poor dumb soul can't be saved without that broken calculator." Like, really? Pretty much all the side quests are just nonsense fluff that they could very well do themselves. Why do their souls depend on Lightning doing everything, and why do they talk so much for so long and drag out everything as much as possible? AND WHY DO YOU GAIN LEVELS OFF OF THE DUMBASS FLUFF QUESTS THAT'RE SO SO PAINFUL? WHY WAS BUHNAVELZE SO HARD AFTER DOING MOSTLY ALL THE QUESTS TOO? YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT HE'S EVEN MORE DIFFICULT WITHOUT DOING ALMOST ALL QUESTS? I ALMOST HAD TO START COMPLETELY OVER ON THAT FIGHT 😰

Don't tell me about the four rooms at the end either, the fights in there were also way too hard and I couldn't do a single one. That shit is for new game+

Why is Buhnavelze so annoying? Like, he controlled Hope's body, right? Hope talked in your ear about everything and as many useless things as possible. Real Hope didn't do that. Why is Buhnavelze really damn annoying?

Despite all the flaws, I still love it and will be going rabid over it. This hyper fixation will be the most over the top so far because it's too good. I could make a bigger rant than this about why I love it, but I won't.

Please tell me about these things if you know about them though. I'd love to hear it out and learn why all these things happened the way they did.

[catyo90]

Why I still recommend Final Fantasy 13

As we all know FF13 was the black sheep of the Final Fantasy games. It had a different fighting system and was strangely more linear than its previously better-known games. However, this was more of the gamer's issue as when FFX and FFX-2 came out a lot of people said there were too many missable items and didn't like having to search everywhere for items or hidden scenes.

Years later Square Enix responded made FF13, and what were the gamer's responses. "We don't like it"

Now with FF games like 15 and 16 which are open-world people praise both for their own styles and stories. I'll be honest 15 was okay, the fact though that DLC kept coming out for the game and the story was lacking a bit for some of the characters, made me kinda miss the simpler ones. Now as for 16, I have not played it yet but I will differ from those who have that opinion.

As for FF14 which is an mmo its far different from the others but you get the opportunity to play with friends and actually go at your own pace.

But with all the games that have come out of the Final Fantasy franchise, I can say that everyone in the FF13 trilogy I remember and they have good characters. which I wanna talk a little bit about. (FYI this is where the spoilers now will appear. you've been warned. Also Very long Post just fyi)

Let's start off with of course the Queen

Lightning aka Claire Farron. A Cocoon soldier who stays distant and strong for her sister after losing their parents, after years of becoming strong to protect her only family. She faces losing her sister Serah to become an eternal crystal or the insidious cieth. After everything she faces, they save Cocoon. She only had a moment with everyone and realized that she and Serah could have a chance at actual peace. She gets taken away from the dream to save a goddess and forced into the duty of a protector. And even after that, she stays strong, guiding Serah along the way to help her fight Caius even though everyone thinks she is dead.

But then Etro dies and she fails in her mission, overtaken with grief by not only the goddess dying and failing...her sister. The only person in her life that kept her from losing all of her hope. Dies. Everything she did in the first game...gone. And then after sleeping for 500 years she's given the chance by God to save Serah and the World. A sort of redemption if you think about it.

Snow falls kinda under the same category but from a small different point of view. Snow was deeply in love with Serah and in the first game was trying to save her and Cocoon as well. Even though Etro caused Lightning to disappear he still tries to hold the fort and he got to have his peace with her afterward. But sadly he only gets to have that life for a year before FF13-2 starts, the love of his life goes on a mission he cant join. All the while he does his damn hardest to help Fnag and Vanille's pillar holding up Cocoon. And in doing so, willingly takes on the I'cie curse even after getting his brand removed in the first game. Once again everything in the first game almost not worth it (This is a reoccuring theme.), if not for Serah coming back. But then she dies and he can't fix, and he couldn't be there for her. His promise to be her hero is shattered. For 500 years he cares for the people and everyday misses Serah, blaming himself everyday for what happened and not keeping her safe. HE is basically the prime example of a suffering hero.

Hope is kinda the odd one out, he is only a child, in the wrong place wrong time situation with his mother and him being brought into the Bodium purge. He loses his mother and goes on a verge to get revenge on Snow who he held responsible. But in a short amount of time when he stays with Lightning he learns from her that his innocent world is over, he is a fugitive, a I'cie and alone. But after she tells him about her past and facing the worst that life can offer, you grow from it. He even goes from taking up the rear to guarding her in the front, his fear fades throughout the entire game and he learns to grow up to be a fine young man in FF13-2. He even makes a new world for humanity in case Cocoon were to fall. He was their Hope, their hope for a world rid of monsters.

But in LR, we see that he has disappeared possibly having been kidnapped, remolded / torture back into young hope and made to spy on Lightning to fulfill her Savior duties. And can't speak his true thoughts, he is a fake. Even Lightning realizes though that the next world needs him, he even sees his parents who were long since dead he realizes that he gets the chance to have a proper life, Hope is the Symbol for all to have Hope and to Believe.

Sazh suffers from the possibility of outliving his son. He is a widow and the only family left for him is his son who is quite young, and unfortunately at a young age his son is branded by the I'cie. Dajh basically only has a short time to be a child, until he either turns to crystal or a monster. Sazh loses him after being taken and fights to save him, but all the while he slowly loses his faith. He lost his wife and now his son, every moment he questions what they are doing. Only the prospect of saving Dajh keeps him going as well as his Chocobo chick. After saving Dajh though they get to live a normal life until the end of FF-13-2

For almost 500 years Dajh is in a coma like state and Sazh once again loses his faith thinking the only way Dajh can be saved is by doing it himself. When Lightning comes around though and helps reawaken Dajh, well so does Sazh. He regains his faith and even comes to the final moment of the game with everyone ready to welcome the new world with his son. He's the family man, kinda similar to Barret from FF7. But he is also the representation of a man going down the harder path to help those he loves.

Fang and Vanille fall under the same issue, Born to Gran Pulse and lived and had to sleep in immortal crystal to awake and find their home in ruins. The life they lived all gone and the only thing left of who they were is each other. Fang even takes on the torture to awaken Ragnarök. Doomed to bring about the end of Cocoon. But then their fate is changed and they were able to save instead of destroy.

In FF13-2 they are able to help Serah in her mission but they knew what she might have to face and with LR, they were torn about by both a sense of duty and a want to protect the other. Lightning finds out that they each wanted to help the other, however Vanille want for redemption at the cost of her own life to save the lost dead souls, thats what splits Fang away because she refuses to lose Vanille.

They can represent both family and lovers. One will not go on without the other, no matter what.

And now for the princess, (not literally) but still i love Serah. Anyhow, Serah is the embodiment of Love, Faith and Hope. She goes through everything, turned into an enemy of Cocoon, turned into crystal, given the gift and/or curse of Etro, lost her fiancé to time travel for a bit, dies, has her soul taken out of Lightning where she was safe and then used as a bargaining chip by God to make Lightning keep to her role. But through everything, she still believed her sister and fiancé would save her, that she would be able to live her own life and teach children.

This girl fought and stepped up to every challenge but unlike lightning she shows her emotions, all the pain of failure and loss is understanding and that makes her into a connection for the player.

Okay so for times sake Im putting these three in one group since their stories are enveloped all together.

They are the last humans of a future timeline where the events of ff13 did not go well, Noel is basically the last human that ever existed and under Caius teaching and wing both of them protect Yeul who is a priestess of Etro forced to live again and again only to die after seeing the last of her visions into the future. Caius who knows some of the past Yeuls loved him, the last one loves Noel and he tries everything to save her. So whats his plan. Oh yeah, kill the goddess Etro to stop all natural death and the visions. Hence stopping Yeul from dying.

Noel guided by Lightning has to aid Serah to stop Caius and save the Future. After everything though, he fails by killing Caius not realizing that with his death he actually killed Etro (long story) watches Yeul die and Serah die. and after all of that is forced to watch the world and timeline for 500 years fall and crumble into a shell of the former grandeur that it was.

Yeul after dying, helps Lighting but in her now spirit like self she reveals a terrible truth that while Caius is alive no good will come. But while the Yeul we know wants Caius dead. (along with hundreds of other past selves.) Some of them also want Caius to live causing him to never truly die. To quote Caius "Even if one Yeul desires my salvation, another demands my rebirth."

Yeul is the symbol of mourning and regret but also wisdom in knowing that not all things will be bad, and that good things do eventually happen.

Caius is the symbol of inability to accept what happens and the cruelty of death. His immortality while at first would seem like a gift is a curse, he watching all those he love die and when the chance to die comes, it fails. He is stuck in an infinite life that is now out of his control.

Noel is the symbol of failure but also standing back up taking the next steps forward. After everything, with just the promise of seeing the person he loves again, even if only one more time. Gives him the strength to move on.

-

So if any of you can identify with even one of these characters I highly recommend you play the game. Trust me, me writing all of this down doesn't do the games justice. Its a lovely styled game that after some time you will get used to and its really not that hard of gameplay, watch a few videos and you will get the hang of it.

So anyways im not sure if i convinced any of you but enjoy your days and i send you off with a smiling lighting because its so rare and you all deserve one.

[cornelianlute]

sarah's second fool's report is found a little bit into the chaos shrine.

her third fool's report is found outside a few areas from where you fight chaos.

the first fool's report you can unlock is of princess sarah outside where you fight garland / chaos advent and in this essay i will-

[danifart]

just accidentally saw major spoilers for FF13-2 so i unfortunately know what i must do

[world-of-hearts]

About Amy

This blog is not spoiler free!

Basics:

DNI Criteria: racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, ableist, or just rude in general, please and thank you 😊

20+ years old

You can call me Amy, Amaryllis, Lapis or whatever works for you!

My pronouns are They/Them but He/Him and She/Her work if you're polite about it!

Genshin and Twisted Wonderland enjoyer!

Favorite Animals- Bats, Cats, Foxes and Snakes!

This is a side blog for my self ships specifically! My main blog is The Knaves world if you wanna check it out.

This blog is run by an adult and, as such, I do not interact with Minors! If you interact with my stuff, you will be blocked!

EVERYTHING HERE IS PORTRAYED AS 18+

I may post some self ship fics here and there

I randomly drop self insert lore so there's that lol

If anything here makes you uncomfortable, I encourage you to block me. Curate your own internet experience and have fun instead of coming here to harass and bash others! ❤

Self ship lists!

Most Important Selfships

Nanami Kento

Arlecchino

Xilonen

Citlali

Rafayel

Sylus

Lightning

13

Bela

Cassandra

Gilbert

Silvio

Chevalier

Jude Jazza

Ellis

Victor

Darius

Genshin Impact

(Main) = highest priority and have actual plotlines

Everyone else is just attractive

Romantic

Arlecchino (main)

Yelan (main)

Xilonen (Main)

Citali (Main)

Platonic (these have plot but are more found family/friend oriented)

Kaeya (best mond friend)

Diluc (best mond friend #2)

Wriothesley (helped during time in Fontaine)

Neuvillette (former crush, now close friend)

Love and Deepspace

Sylus

Rafayel (main)

Honkai:Star Rail

Romantic

Robin (main)

Black Swan

Himeko

Kafka

Jingliu

Firefly

Topaz

Elio

JJK

Nanami Kento (love of my life, top self ship besides arlecchino and xilonen)

Gojo Satoru

Twisted Wonderland

Lilia (main)

Idia

Vil (main)

Leona

Riddle (main)

Obey Me!

13 (main)

Raphael

Simeon (main)

Resident Evil:Village

Bela Dimitrescu

Cassandra Dimitrescu

Valkyrie Connect

Queen Hel (main)

Frey (main)

More tba! (It's a good mobile game, try it if you'd like! 😊)

The Arcana

Portia

Ikemen series

Ikemen Villain

William

Victor

Jude (main)

Ellis

Darius (main)

Ikemen prince

Chevalier

Yves

Gilbert (main)

Silvio (main)

Kagari

Azel (tentative)

Ikemen vampire

Leonardo

Mozart

Isaac (main)

Ikemen sengoku

Kanetsugu

Kenshin (main)

Mortal Kombat

Mileena (main)

Kitana

Jade

Final fantasy series

FF7

Tifa (main)

Aerith

FF10/10-2

Yuna (main)

Donna

FF12

Fran (main)

Ashe

FF13 trilogy

Lightning (main)

Vanille

Fang

FF15

Lunafreya

Gentiana

Aranea (main)

Thanks for stopping by!

[multitrackdrifting]

Ok it was a slow month for me but NEW VIDEO TOMORROW.

It's about the relationship between Hype & video games and a brief breakdown will be: 1) Briefly talking about how FF13 disappointed me as a kid bc of my attachment to FF as a franchise and how that coloured my impressions of the game (this is the shortest section) 2) Hype Trains & Harassment: A look back at No Man's Sky and the reasonableness of the response to the game flopping at launch (spoiler: i don't argue in favour of the harassment!) 3) Attention To Detail is fucking stupid (criticising how elaborate details are leveraged to market a game but they end up costing more than they are worth) 4) The Live-Service Bubble & Specifically, How Battle Passes Eat Up All Your Time and what it takes to retain "hype"

the overall theme is criticising how hype has been poisoning video games for a while now, and while games wont magically stop being made, it's worth looking at how it has shaped modern critical discussions of gaming as a medium

[foxingpeculiar]

FF7 R&R:

Okay. Still in the Grasslands/Chapter 2. No real story spoilers in this one, I'd say.

Lesse, what did I do? I got the card shop unlocked (fucking owned all 3 games you play as part of that quest--I like this one; better than Triple Triad or Tetra Master). Also, the narrative as part of this quest where Vash made Tifa her own drink was a nice little moment.

I like how they're shaping the characters. That moment with her, the whole tension between Kyrie and Barrett, Nanaki being the insecure kid when the chocobo's sense of smell is better than his. The way they're (systematically) developing character relationships is, so far, very satisfying.

I met some moogles. And oh, that shit is annoying. What am I, a sheepdog? But, with much cursing, I pulled it off. (Also, I've never seen a voice-acted moogle before, and I'm mildly disappointed that they just have like... normal voices [and don't say "kupo!" nearly enough], but okay, whatever.)

Quetzalcoatl was, so far, the best fight of this game. In the first few moments, I was like "oh, I might be underleveled for this." But then, I found a rhythm and it became "wait, I might actually be able to pull this off." And then I did. And it was very satisfying. We're early game yet--I'm really interested to see what more advanced bosses and such look like.

Taking a step back, I do have a few difficulties. Navigation being one of them. There's been a few times where I've had something pinned on the map and had a moment about "where the fuck is this thing? how do I actually get to that?" Also, I keep having to remind myself that this isn't like a Skyrim or Dark Souls kind of thing that rewards you for poking around every corner--just do the objectives and you'll be fine.

Which kind of speaks to the only criticism I have at this point, which ls just kind of... a pandering to modern open-world design--lots of things to collect and check off, but not much incentive to really explore/discover in the way things like Soulsborne or Zelda or even Elder Scrolls do. To go offroad. Although, I will say, the chocobo treasure-hunt mechanic does evoke some pleasantly Twilight Princess vibes.

But, by nature Final Fantasy is a linear experience (sometimes a little too much so--lookin' at you, ff13), and while I'm interested in the way they're kind of like... filling out the region and the worldbuilding that that involves, it's not quite at the level I wish it were. I'm still on board, invested even, but okay. I can check off some lists. It's not as cool as discovering things in a more organic way, but it's fine.

Other stray thoughts:

being able to customize your chocobo gear just makes me think of "horse armor," which makes me laugh.

curious about this Chadley/MAI tension that seems to be happening; where's that gonna go?

When Beck's gang does the whole 3-card-monte thing, I failed it because I got distracted by my cat during the cutscene. I don't think it matters to the quest (this game is pretty forgiving; again, I'm used to Soulslikes, which actively hate you), but like... does it play out differently if you guess correctly?

So okay. Tomorrow I might have a little more gaming time before my evening shift--we'll see. I'm almost exactly 9 hours in at this point and... yeah, this is gonna be big one. I got few big ones lined up. Not enough hours in the day.

[terraxcloud]

This is what's said when completing the very last chapter of DFFOO (in plain English of all things). I know that it could mean nothing more than "these characters still exist in other games", but it's still odd to me that they chose to end this game right when FF7 Rebirth releases.

I'm posting this here just in case i need it in the future.

There was once a hint I posted about the red nebula shown at the end of Remake being very similar to the red nebula at the end of Act 2's map in DFFOO. I mean, if Sephiroth really made a "torsion" on the highway then what's preventing the rest of Dissidia from rearing its head into Rebirth? Eh, I'm not going to talk about it for now, but whatever happened in Remake must be explained in the future, right? There are some people who do swear that FF7R has a Dissidia connection and even believe Sephiroth made a torsion.

This is a spoiler, but...the last chapter of FF7 Rebirth is called "Confluence of Worlds". Sephiroth has mentioned this in a recent trailer as well ("the Reunion — when worlds merge"). Well, that's actually what we've been waiting for, isn't that just odd? Are we implying that Edgar's castle is just going to be randomly stuck on the top of a cliff-edge by Midgar? Is Zack's party mostly FF6 characters? Well, I'm not that crazy to believe that...yet. DFFOO, especially early on kept larping on about how torsions "connect other worlds" and constantly shows multiple elements of different worlds in the same area (it's a big story element, so it's not something hard to believe). I'm inclined to believe its a hint, but you can only know it is when it happens.

There's also the "Vincent wants to change his fate thing" from Act 1 Chapter 7.

There are other hints about "merging worlds" or that 7 & 6 are somehow "connected" (Tifa and Jessie's words). Still, it would have to be in Zack's timeline.

I hope the State of Play/Demo clears something up, although I don't believe the Remake demo had anything.

I know a lot of people talk about "Tifa's fate". I wouldn't care that much if there wasn't that World of Final Fantasy intervention which shows her dying in a child-friendly way. Plus, there's the other hints that for some reason...exist in plain sight and mind. I mean, it's possible that Aerith dies, then Zack changes Aerith's fate by removing her Ancient status on his end and Aerith just "ends up alive because she never needed to die in the first place" but Tifa ends up dying because the sword still has to stab someone and Tifa is the closest person to Cloud...although, I mean, would they even want to do that? Lol. Of course, Sephiroth would want that since Holy wouldn't get summoned. Y'know, it's just like Serah in FF13-2 when her and Noel succeed in changing fate to bring Lightning back and she just...dies (I always assumed it was about Terra since she can't possibly stay in FF7-land, so I'm not so sure).

Don't take these words that seriously.

[liquiid-saand]

PMMM/FF13-2 spoilers

Anyone else see a similarity between Homura Akemi and Caius Ballad?

Constantly meddling with timelines to save the one person they care about?

The weird pseudo-yandere vibes?

Watching their loved one die over and over which makes them even more determined?

"If I can't have her then no one else can"?

Planning to destroy all sense of time and history just to save their beloved (and Homura literally does)?

No? Just me? Ok...

[astralartefact]

I did the thing the people do but on here nobody can stop me from also talking about it (link here if you want to do it yourself)

I put my current favorites at the top and my all time favorites (=the games I played in my childhood and still have strong memories about) closer to the bottom which created a nice gradient that happens to really fit my overall taste! There's serious stuff in one corner, there's straightforward brain empty fun stuff in the other and I get to like it all and everything in-between because favorites don't follow rules :)

Also: I put FF14's 5.1 in first place to symbolize YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse not Shadowbringers (because custom didn't work for me and that was the closest entry to it), FF14 as a whole is represented by the Stormblood entry (which I chose because it would make Heavensward people mad)

Also Also: I think my feelings about the first 5 are relatively well documented (Reincarnation here) so I will skip explaining those

Also Also Also: Spoilers

Xenoblade X best Wii U game (Yes, I proudly own a Wii U, that thing was great and I won't hear anybody say different q_q) I want a sequel so bad.

The way it was a fake MMO with pseudo guilds was so cool to me, it really made exploring Mira feel part of this big thing everyone was working on together and it worked really well with the character creator too. Also experiencing Sylvalum for the first time will always be one of my favorite video game moments ever. (also i have not played any other xenoblade so far)

Bravely Second In my teens I had this weird obsession with playing the second game of a series without playing the first?? I did it with FF13-2 (which I dropped because I couldn't get past a certain boss early on lol) and also with Bravely Second, but with the difference that I actually knew what BD1 was about lol (and also I had played 4 Warriors of Light before too)

I just have a lot of love for Second? I really like Ryo Supercell's soundtrack for how well it still fits with the half of Second's soundtrack that's just Revo's soundtrack again despite being so fundamentally different. Like you knew what was old content and what was new by the obviously different music, but it still fit, at least to me. Altair and Vega's Theme is still one of my favorite pieces ever. Also Magnolia.

NieR Replicant Yeah. ... ... ... Maybe I should put Drakengard 1 here-

Final Bar Line Shoutout to the DLC for making me check out SaGa!!! (also I needed some Rhythm Game in here, I love Rhythm Games but I never stick to one enough to say "Yes, That One.")

Pikmin 4 This would have been Pikmin 2 if Pikmin 4 wasn't the best game ever. The only note I have is that some of the (later) dungeons could have had more interesting bosses, but aside from that it's absolutely great.

Fire Emblem Fates [Bracing for impact] I get it. Yes. We all know the story sucks. You can stop prefacing any vaguely positive statement made about this game as if to make sure you aren't thought of as one of those weebs. No, you are a smart weeb who likes FE4 and knows that Thracia exists. You think Incest is bad (wait what is FE4 about again) and the dating sim shit is really really cringey. Also something something bad localisation, something something bottom half of Camilla's design. Kaga would be proud.

I just think it's neat. I do like dating sims (there i said it), I like a lot of the characters and their designs and I think the child units - as dumb as their explanation might be - add a tangible pay-off to developing supports between party members and it adds so much replay value too. I have played Fates more than any other FE game I own and it's mostly because I can develop the children into classes they certainly shouldn't be, like making Shiro a viable mage just because I can, who cares, and all the while I discover a new line of supports. And the fact that it's not brick hard really helps with that, I don't have to sit down and plan out every step I take only to reset once I inevitably stop thinking for a second just to do a silly little run of the game.

It might not be for you, but it certainly is for me :P

AI Somnium Files This is on here for gay reasons: In one of the earlier scenes in the game (I think before going into the mind thing for one of the first times or something? It's in that room overlooking the mind link machine) I examine a shelf in the background - as you do in games like this - and there I found Pewter's gay manga collection.

And of course I thought this is just your average japanese visual novel, this is all I get, a funny little hint - not even a straightforward confirmation - that this character is maybe gay or something. But no, him being gay is an actual plot point that's relevant to the story. And I felt so happy that this thing - which at that point was my own little inside joke every time he was on screen (haha gay pewter, don't worry i won't tell on you... also you're cute) - was actually real??

People always point to that Mizuki scene (which dont get me wrong is great in its own way!) but for me finding Pewter's gay mangas will always be the thing I will remember most about this game.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 I was so in love with DQB1 and with what they have shown of 2 in livestreams I ended up importing the japanese version because there was no telling when it was getting an overseas release. And then when it finally released here I of course also bought the translated version. What can I say, It's great! I hope they're doing a DQB3 in the future, but I kind of doubt it (sadly)

Inazuma Eleven Go 2 Chrono Stone Listen. I only played Inazuma Eleven as a joke. My little brother was really into soccer and online it was constantly advertised as "Pokémon but soccer" so I just tried it out to see if he would like it.

I ended up playing through all of the first trilogy (aside from the first game) on japanese - without understanding a single word - because I was just simply so hooked. (For anyone wondering: I definitely did this legally. There were definitely no NDS flashcards involved. The reason I didn't play Go until it finally came out in Europe was definitely not because 3DS emulation wasn't really an easily viable thing back then.)

And I loved when it went crazier with Go and the Keshins! I even would have liked Go Galaxy if it didn't force me keep the most unlikeable characters in the entire franchise around (also the Souls are a full on downgrade to Keshins and MixiMax in terms of flashiness), which is why I'm putting Chrono Stone here instead.

I'm so excited for Victory Road, even though it's bittersweet that it's going to end there... but honestly I'm just glad Level 5 gets to release another Inazuma Eleven after the past few years of hell they've been through.

Spirit Tracks Best Zelda. Moving on (choo choo)

Fur Fighters Okay, my parents bought this together with our PS2, I highly doubt they knew what this game even was about and I highly doubt you know what this game even is. It's not even necessarily good and I don't think I should have played it at the age I have played it at, but... I sincerely think it has shaped a lot of my interests in an indirect way??

Basically, the setting is just cute animals saving their children with the power of guns, that's all you need to know about it. (They're also plush toys, but I somehow didn't even really realize that as a child lol) It was dreamt up in a fever dream, but it's just really good too? I need to replay this game so bad.

There's just so much stuff from this game that randomly pops into my head that I remember fondly. There's a (secret) world that's just a house but big (chibi robo style) that I always think of when any other game does it...

And in hindsight this game is so fascinatingly big? The levels are enormous and there are so many of them? And nobody seems to ever have heard about it? It's wild.

Harvest Moon Animal Parade It was between this one or Tale of Two Towns, those two are the Harvest Moons I have spend the longest time with. I'm still sad the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons name fiasco happened and now all people know is Stardew Valley, which In My Opinion(!!!!) has the only benefit of being a PC game, most Harvest Moon games from the before times are better than it and yet nobody even acknowledges them anymore because of a good-ish indie game that's for the most part just a retro style PC version of Harvest Moon + Rune Factory.

But well, that's how the cookie crumbles. Good for him.

Pokémon Heartgold I was only allowing myself one Pokémon game and I already have Fates on this, I can't take one of the switch ones even if I would be fine with those too. I was also debating BW2 or Platinum, but then again I like all of them, I just don't like talking about it anymore because the internet has made Pokémon one of those topics that you just do not discuss in public if you want to keep your sanity.

Shoutout to Pokémon XD and Coliseum for being cool too.

Mario & Luigi RPG (entire series, but especially Partners in Time) Talk about gone to soon Q_Q My heroes. Legends. Icons. DId you know Yoko Shimomura wrote the music for this series??? It is simply iconic. I really hope with the Super Mario RPG & Paper Mario TTYD remakes on the horizon that they maybe revive/reboot this series too and give a new gameanother shot despite the flop of the remakes because this type of skill based JRPG is not only really unique but also really fucking fun and there's not really much else like it. For some reason I always thought I'm an JRPG gamer, but I have since discovered that I'm really not, I'm just a Mario & Luigi RPG gamer.

(And yes, I know AlphaDream is dead but that doesn't mean Nintendo can't just continue the franchise even just with a spiritual successor)

Paper Mario TTYD I mean, I think you know. Everybody likes TTYD. I also like all the other ones, I even thought Sticker Stars was fine even if it wasn't as good. I think this would actually be Origami King, but I haven't actually played that one myself (yet)

Speaking of which the music of Origami King is in my top3 favorite OSTs of all time and i'm not kidding about that, listen to the Autumn Mountain Battle Theme and tell me that's not some of the best shit you've ever heard - and almost every single track is like that. and don't get me started about the "joke" tracks (royal hotel pool or swan lake.) and the boss themes. and tranquil pipes teahouse. and then there's moments like the secret trans birdo affirming coffee club. it's so good, I'm so looking forward to what's coming next for Paper Mario and seeing that Nintendo seems to have revised their stance of Generics only with Wonder, the next one is probably going to be amazing.

Skyward Sword I LIKED THE MOTION CONTROLS

Rollercoaster Tycoon (I do like 3 too, I actually played that one much more, but I chose Loopy Landscapes because for some reason that expansion never worked on my pc as a child q_q I'm still yearning) Yeah. Not really much to say, I think. Except maybe that the art style of 1 and 2 is so... peculiar? Like it's so timeless it doesn't age the slightest, but it was also somehow already dated when it released? It's really beautiful in a way, but also kind of ugly. I don't know. I don't make sense. I love these games so much.

Super Mario Sunshine So many good memories, it would be wrong for me to not include it.

Yoshi's Island See above.

Mario Sports Mix I played this game (and Hoops 3 on 3) so much as a child/teen? And the music of this game is so good too. Makes me wonder what Masayoshi Soken, niche composer of Mario Sports Spin-Off Games, is doing these days.

[good-prog]

ff13 review/reactions: gay people can hold up the world, but can't hold a messy plot together.

Main campaign date: 2023/01/16-01/27 Playtime (Steam) to roll credits: 54.5 hours Playtime (in game) to roll credits: 48.5 hours

I wanted to like this game so badly. A false utopia created by creatures beyond human comprehension, featuring flawed characters fighting their own fates (embodied by His Eminence the space Pope Himself)? Sign me up.

TL;DR: Pacing is my main gripe with this game. It gets better in later chapters, but the game wore out its welcome by the time I got there.

A side note on how I play through RPGs: I don't mind spoilers; in fact, I tend to spoil major plot points for myself so I don't feel compelled to speed through the game. This allows me to take things at my own pace by breaking sessions into manageable chunks.

This was also the first game I played since BOTW on a controller, though I played on the PC port, which shows the keyboard keybinds on screen. There was a bit of a learning curve with the camera (which likely made the first few chapters more interesting/bearable).

Obviously, spoiler warning for all aspects of FF13!

gameplay

The game starts each character with three roles they can swap between, and allows you to create presets with combinations ("paradigm deck").

I consider myself subpar at video games, but even for me, the rate at which the game spoon fed the gameplay system felt drawn out. I appreciated that it started with a party of two, which forced me to get comfortable swapping paradigms often for ATB refresh and stagger bar maintenance. For instance, in the early chapters with Sazh/Vanille, Sazh doesn't have access to the commando role, making stagger difficult with two ravagers. Thus, I had to swap often between RAV/RAV and RAV/SAB to more easily fill the stagger bar.

Trash mobs were forgettable until maybe a third of the way through the game (~Ch. 7-8), when they started getting mechanics of their own (e.g., Cocoon soldiers that buffed themselves, or guarded the closer you were to staggering them). I didn't intentionally grind, but was still able to max out the crystarium as I went (until the start of Stage 8, when the party lands on Gran Pulse).

The boss battles were more enjoyable. For example, Barthandalus' first fight was notably difficult, until I understood that Destrudo's damage could be decreased by attacking him while he was charging. I sometimes found myself going into a fight with the paradigm deck I progressed through the level with, then rearranging my party once I wiped.

I liked figuring out the gimmick of the eidolon battles. The main one I had trouble with was Snow's; I spent a couple pulls repeatedly alternating between COM and RAV in an attempt to fill the stagger/Gestalt bars. The best I could do was about 2/3 of the bar, at which point I decided to look up the solution. To be fair, the game gives a hint about swapping to SEN, but one of the sisters heals you, so you never have to SEN, right?

In contrast, the gimmick of Fang's eidolon fight was a similar "take damage as a SEN to fill Gestalt bar", which was much easier to grasp since Bahamut just repeatedly attacked the party, so I stayed in SEN/MED/MED most of the time (first out of necessity, then intentionally once I saw the Gestalt bar filling). In spite of the initial eidolon encounters being interesting, I didn't feel like I could use them effectively in game, so I just stuck to my party.

level design and "linearity"

Most of the chapters involved moving through rooms/corridors with set trash mobs. At the end of the chapter was a boss battle (or two), then a more extended cutscene (a flashback, a transition to the next chapter, etc.) Unfortunately, since I wasn't a fan of the story, I often spent the cutscenes wanting to get back to the gameplay.

When I got to Gran Pulse (approx. 25 hours), I was initially quite frustrated by the difficulty spike. After a fairly predictable 10 chapters with some occasional challenges, I wasn't able to defeat most of the enemies I encountered (and when I did, they often took a significant amount of time). I initially proceeded toward the Mah'habara Subterra, until I got overwhelmed by a juggernaut, when I decided to turn around and do some of the Cie'th stone missions to gain CP and familiarity with local mobs. After filling out the first ~18 or so missions and getting to Oerba, I finally felt like I understood the battle system and I could comfortably get around Gran Pulse (40 hours).

I didn't mind the linearity, but I wish there was better variation within those bounds. In one of the early Sazh/Vanille chapters, there was a minor puzzle which felt like a limp-wristed attempt at that variation (turn on 4 switches in the area before proceeding through the exit). In contrast, in chapters 12-13, the areas feel more open despite still being linear (larger areas, more unique branching paths).

characters/story

I think the story would hold up better on a second playthrough. I had some familiarity with the terms (fal'Cie, l'Cie, etc.) due to some reading I did beforehand, but I wouldn't be surprised if much of it went over my head. For example, the concept of the fal'Cie "Orphan" felt like it suddenly appeared in game toward the end. (Was it brought up by Barthandelus? I guess I should have read the in-game Wikipedia, but I'm dumb and need information communicated to me in game beyond just "Pulse fal'Cie, enemy of Cocoon".)

I don't think I disliked the main party (besides maybe Snow), but there was something about their characterization that was off. It seemed like all the puzzle pieces were in place: cool designs; hubris; a person they each were fighting for. I don't believe I have to find the characters likeable in order for their stories to feel compelling, but the initial hours just felt one-note.

Snow is, despite all attempts of the story to make him understand otherwise, is a self-proclaimed "hero."

Hope isn't as whiny as I thought he would be; he's just lost his mother, and the shock of additionally being branded a l'Cie fuels his rage against Snow and his desire for misattributed revenge.

Lightning wants to save her sister and maybe get back at the Sanctum for the Purge?

Vanille tries to hide her concern for Fang under a goofy exterior, but until more was revealed about her past, her tone often felt out of place.

Sazh is just some everyman caught up in it all.

Fang doesn't even show up until Snow's arrest, and she's oooo mysterious lady working with the "bad guys" (that are actually good guys but they're led by a l'Cie that like the protagonists, wants to change his own fate).

Side note: It amuses (?) / depresses (?) me that even in a "utopia", military forces are so prevalent. Sure, some of them, like Lightning's branch of the Guardian Corps, takes care of local wildlife. But why would governing a continent require such heavily armed "public safety" officers, or an entire airship armada? Of course, we later learn that the Sanctum didn't even intend for the Purge train to reach Pulse, and uses PSICOM to enforce it. Still, it's depressing that the only way fal'Cie conceptualized human society (or humans in power, in fear of a modern Pulsian threat despite the War of Transgression occurring hundreds of years previously) involved extensive military might. It doesn't help that the player's main exposure to Cocoon society is simply (1) military/government and (2) leisure (Bodhum, Nautilus). NPCs in Nautilus complain about having to go back to work after their vacations, but what exactly do they do for a living?

Maybe it's because I tuned out some of the less obvious character development as a result of not feeling as invested in the characters, but when emotional scenes occurred, they often fell flat. Hope lashing out at Snow felt out of place, even though the scene itself was well performed. It didn't feel like tension was building throughout the first act of the story; Hope just pushed confrontation away.

In contrast, I enjoyed the party's encounter with Hope's dad. Despite the game telling us how much Hope dislikes him, he isn't a deadbeat--just absent--and tries to care for Hope in his own way. Even if he works for the Sanctum, his wayward son comes first.

Another scene that stood out was the summoning of Hecatoncheir. Vanille and Fang are roommates were shown to care deeply about each other through flashbacks and their interactions once reunited, so when Fang voices her suspicions about turning into Ragnarok and causing the devastation of Pulse, Vanille vehemently denies it. This denial causes her eidolon to appear. Once the eidolon is defeated, Fang chastises Vanille for running away from her Focus, and raises a hand as to punch her. However, she gently nudges Vanille's forehead and embraces her. Because they are the only ones in the party that have experienced fulfilling their destructive Focus, they are also the only ones that can understand each other and the desire to prevent the magnitude of that destruction from being wrought again, even if it means becoming Cie'th themselves (Vanille) or going through with it in order to save their friends (Fang).

Besides Hope's father, the other NPCs were sparse and forgettable. The only ones that stood out for me Cid and Barthandelus. I feel like Cid Raines has a similar character arc (and final boss appearance!) as Ravus from FF15, but his motivations were convoluted in comparison to the limited screentime he got.

Annoyances with the ending of the game specifically:

I get that l'Cie brands advance under physical/mental stress, but when Orphan torments Fang in order to try to get her to turn into Ragnarok, it comes across as "oops, we made it so that you don't feel sorry for her? Let's torture her so that you do."

Once the party turns into Cie'th, there's a flashback where the party sees scenes of narrative significance that occur through the game: Sazh in Nautilus, Snow and Hope in Palumpolum, Lightning in Lake Bresha. At that point, I was just glad the game was winding down and finishing up the melodrama.

Even though the story establishes that once one turns into a Cie'th, there's no turning back, there's two major exceptions: Cid Raines and the party--hand wavy, indomitable human spirit reasons?

Side note: after the game, I read this comprehensive FAQ put together by reddit user /u/KuroPuP, which clarified some of my initial "plot hole" knee-jerk reactions. I prefer my local section of the lore universe to feel coherent and not require additional explanation; doing deep lore dives should serve to enhance, not fix the story as presented.

misc

The Crystarium UI is gorgeous, but feels visually cluttered (a la 7R's weapon upgrade UI, though admittedly with better color coded orbs corresponding to each stat upgrade). It was this UI that clued me in to the 13 DNA in 7R: levels are quite linear, with the loading sections masked by the character moving through a tunnel or squeezing through a crevice in a wall. ATB is now spent on stagger-increasing and/or relatively powerful moves, instead for auto-attacks. If one materia loadout doesn't work for a particular enemy, it's easy to go back, reset, then try again.

It's just that the characters are so much more likeable in 7R (and don't always take themselves seriously) that potentially replaying the game is more appealing. Also, there's breaks to talk to NPCs or explore, besides just hitting enemies.

As far as I know, there is no way to lock true north (either on the minimap or the zone map), which is a pet peeve for me.

conclusion/next steps

I don't feel especially invested in the world FF13 created, but I like the battle system enough. I plan on at least attempting the rest of the Cie'th stone trials and maybe trying for an ultimate weapon or two, maxing out a job for each character in the process. I don't plan on playing the sequels immediately, though I've heard good things about 13-2's battle system (plus, dresspheres in LR?) Still, with my middling experience with this game, I don't think I'll play through those immediately.

Much of my frustrations with the story could be chalked up to pacing. By the middle of the game, I could honestly say I was enjoying myself (if not story wise, at least gameplay wise). I'm glad I had the experience of playing through one of the Final Fantasy games people love to hate, even if I came to some of the same conclusions critics did.

[derekscorner]

I did play the demo due to what I heard of the gameplay, specifically, I gave it a try because some people that are behind Devil May Cry's gameplay was involved. I immediately noticed the infamous "stinger move" that's famous to Dante (and also used in the Bayonetta series) among other things. It is admittedly much simpler than what DMC or Bayonetta can be but the demo wasn't bad.

I've avoided story spoilers just in case I do get it but I did notice the small world building things you mention. It gave life to the world compared to many other FF titles.

The issue I often have with Final Fantasy is the gameplay. The 7 Remake was a huge letdown for me on both fronts but most of them just lose me because they aren't fun to play. Even FF9 wasn't fun for me to play. I've tried many titles but I've only found three, four if I count Chrono Trigger, in which I could find fun despite the gameplay system.

Chrono Trigger is a given. It's so damn good in all aspects that I will stomach the ATB battle system.

There was also Crisis Core which had meh gameplay and story. I never finished FF7 despite trying since the PS3 and I never played it in the 90s so I can't really grasp how bad it's story actually is but I do know the fun I had with that game was due to Zack. He essentially carries that title.

And the third was FF13-2. Story was laughable but I disliked FF13 so much I didn't mind until SE locked the true ending behind DLC after throwing a cliffhanger ending at me. It's gameplay is the closest I've ever came to finding a variant of the ATB system truly fun.

So despite often trying FF titles when found on sale or cheap I rarely find one I like. It's left me skeptical to even try 16 despite it ditching the core thing I dislike from FF games.

That said I will avoid story spoilers and keep an eye out for it. If I find it on sale I may get it. I definitely not giving them 17$ for it, that's pure ass lunacy.

The total like of one Tetsuya Nomura has also done enough to make me intrigued about 16. I've truly come to dislike how he does stories.

EDIT::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I forgot to mention FF10. I did enjoy it since it had a good story and it ditched ATB. That said it also left me with no desire to replay it for some reason.

I haven't played it's sequel more than once either since I do not like how it undoes the death of Tidus in it's true ending. I purposely chose the ending of X-2 where Yuna let's go as I felt it was most in theme with it's predecessor.

Which also means you'll never see me replay X-2 or the rumored X-3 they tease every five years or so.

If this rumor of a Final Fantasy X Remake is true--and since there have been a few rumors about it now, it's looking like it might be--I don't want them to change the battle system. But I know they surely will... Oh well, I guess.

[cornelianlute]

🥺 @prideofcornelia