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In the Shadow of L’Cie
-I start the session as Lightning and Sazh in the Pulse Vestige.
-WOOHOO! Health regenerates between fights!
This is one of those things that makes me glad I’m playing the series in order. It would’ve been awful to get this mechanic in FFXIII and go back to having to heal between fights in prior games.
-I feel proud. I actually used a consumable item (Fortisol) before a tough fight. I’m gonna make an effort to not be that guy who has 99 ethers at game’s end. Use stuff as I go.
-Something about Sazh’s repetition of “NO MERCY FOR L’CIE” to an unresponsive Lightning is clearly setting up some future conflict. Who in the party will be l’Cie?
-Scene change back to Snow.
-New datalog about “Day Eleven.” PSICOM discovered an opening in the Bodhum Vestiga, sent a team in, and comms went dead. Probably l’Cie.
How far back will this go? And are these thirteen days literal 24 hour periods, or more metaphorical? Maybe Day 1 is thousands of years ago, when the fal’Cie first set up Cocoon.
-He activates another switch, bringing an elevator.
-Scene change to Vanille and Hope hearing Snow’s “Hang on, baby! Your hero’s on the way.” This “I’m a hero” stuff pisses Hope off.
-Vanille is calm about this. Urges Hope to tell Snow what he feels.
-I like Vanille more and more. Her caring and empathy. The way she kind of dances in battle. Even her victory cheer, “Yay us!”
-WHAT THE FRESH HELL ARE THOSE CENOBITE-LOOKING FUCKS
VANILLE: “Cie’th. L’Cie who failed.”
Okay. I’m revising my early “the fal’Cie are really good guys” prediction.
-The Cie’th are MESSED UP. They look like gangly, shambling zombies. And they look like they’re in pain.
-Snow swoops in to help us out. The Avengers are starting to assemble.
-Snow’s all “what are you silly kids doing here,” even though I have a hunch Vanille could kick his ass.
-He’s about to charge off back on his own to find Serah when Vanille stops and asks who she is.
SNOW: “My wife. Future wife, that is. She’s a Pulse l’Cie.” Damn.
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Saving the Enemy
-He wants to set her free. From what? Physical captivity or the fal’Cie’s Focus? Is it even possible to free a l’Cie from that? Like, if they complete their Focus, do they win their freedom?
And what kind of Foci do they get? “Kill three civilians, mwa-ha-ha” or “I’ve never pet a puppy before, please do so for me?”
-Hope is PISSED.
“How can you save a l’Cie and not…?”
Again, I do NOT BLAME HIM. He watched his mother die. Whether I think he’s correct that Snow did bad is beside the point.
-Oh my god, Hope isn’t even from Bodhum. He and his mom were just visiting, and suddenly his life got flip-turned upside down. Now he’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, and tell us how he became an orphan because of a Pulse fal’Cie scare.
-Good Guy Snow goes up in my books when he stops from Operation Serah and goes back to join with Hope and Vanille. I also like his awkward “Hey again” wave.
-Vanille, you confuse me. Why are you so focused on Hope and making sure Hope finds closure? Are you just a really good person doing her best to help a grieving kid cope?
There’s gotta be more going on. Something about how casually comfortable you are in the Vestige.
-The three of them head off together.
-Scene change back to Lightning and Sazh.
LIGHTNING: “My sister. She’s a l’Cie.”
Ahhh. So we got a few l’Cie loved ones in play here.
-Sazh asks my question from earlier: what was her Focus? Lightning doesn’t know. She didn’t ask. (I’m guessing these Foci are usually bad news.)
-He also answers my earlier question. There’s no way to turn a l’Cie back to a human. “Even if she completes her Focus, there’s no changing her fate. She’ll live the rest of her life as a fal’Cie slave.”
-This is basically the part of a zombie movie where you have to convince someone that if their mom has a bite mark, the safe and merciful thing is to kill the mom.
-Lightning isn’t buying it, considering this whole attitude too absolutist.
I really like how our introduction to the fal’Cie isn’t by seeing them directly, but rather by seeing their impact. The Cie’th, and Cocoon’s myths and fears around them. I’m really curious what one is really like.
-The Cie’th drop various tears, showing their agonized existence.
-The l’Cie have a time limit. They need to complete their Focus before their brand advances to its final stage, at which point they become Cie’th.
-Jesus. Even the Cie’th battle animations are hard to watch, like how they grab their head.
-New stat: “Physical Wall” reduces the damage of each attack. Great against fast, light attackers.
-Sazh mentions in passing that Cie’th can grow wings. There are gonna be some horrifying Cie’th variants, aren’t there?
-I’ve noticed a trick: I can bait the ghouls into chasing me a little bit to alter their position, back off until their alert status drops, and sneak behind them for a pre-emptive strike.
-Reached an elevator up.
HOW DID I NOT SEE THAT SERAH WAS LIGHTNING’S SISTER?? “Lah di dah, what a coincidence, two people have l’Cie loved ones.” *bonks self*
-Lightning picks her barely conscious sister up to carry her away… when Sazh reaches for his gun.
“Pulse l’Cie are enemies of Cocoon.” Jesus this is tense.
-Now Snow, Vanille, and Hope arrive too. Serah smiles and reaches happily towards Snow. Phew. I was afraid when he called her “my future wife” that she was just someone he was creeping on from afar.
-She looks human except for the brand.
-Lightning and Snow know each other! …Of course. They know each other through Serah.
She cuts their arguing short. “You can save us. Protect us all. Save… Cocoon…” Us being the l’Cie?
Is her Focus to protect Cocoon? Or is she just saying “Protect Cocoon, screw my Focus?”
SNOW: “I’ll save Cocoon, I’ll protect everyone!”
LIGHTNING: “Somehow, I’ll make things right.”
-uhhhh serah now starts to rise, her body glowing. She turns all crystalline.
-A single crystalline tear falls into Snow’s hand.
-Her crystal transformation means she fulfilled her Focus. She gains “eternal life,” whatever that means.
So the fal’Cie really does want to protect Cocoon. Hm.
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The Gift of Eternity
-Snow is convinced that this crystalline form is some kind of suspended life. Surely, if he just waits long enough, she’ll wake up and they’ll live happ- AND LIGHTNING FUCKING DECKS HIM
-Seriously. I get you’re trying to hold onto hope, but I sympathize with Lightning’s reaction here.
-Vanille remembers something: “Serah, does becoming a l’Cie really mean losing everything?” So she knew Serah too.
-This is interrupted when the ground rocks. The Sanctum army is making a move outside. They’re destroying the Pulse vestige.
-Or not? It’s hard to say. They seem to be latching tow cables onto the Vestige.
-The rocking stops. Inside, a door opens.
SNOW: “[I’ve got a] date with the fal’Cie. Got some things to talk about.” Uhhh that sounds like a bad idea my dude? But I guess you don’t have much choice. Lightning goes and the rest follow.
-I like the datalog’s dry wit: “Faced with only the choice between eternal damnation as a Cie’th and eternal imprisonment in crystal, it comes as little surprise that many l’Cie decry their fate.”
I hope poor Serah isn’t conscious.
-We walk forward to “Anima’s Throne.” Anima must be the fal’Cie that Snow’s going to talk to and Lightning’s (probably) going to attack.
Memories of FFIX Anima make me especially nervous.
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Next time: approaching the fal’Cie.”
