TW: brief mention of Holocaust.
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Nothing But Grief – Sazh and Vanille
-I pick up with Sazh and Vanille. They have a new set of two-person paradigms.
-I’m going to put some points into saboteur, at least for initial abilities. Looks super useful.
-We make some small progress when debris destroys the road ahead. Flashback to Bodhum, that peaceful night with the fireworks.
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Nothing But Grief – Day 11
-Vanille was there! She watches the fireworks in awe… then puts her head down as if in prayer.
-I draw from this that she wasn’t in Bodhum for tourism. My guess is that it had to do with her Focus.
-We see Lightning with her superior office, Lieutenant Amodar. He’s a friendly, teasing sort.
-It’s odd to see her here. She was so much more hesitant than she is now.
-Lt. Amodar shares some news about a Pulsian “thing” that was discovered. Not much detail.
-This is the day before Lightning’s 21st birthday.
-Aw, Amodar seems sweet. He’s gonna recommend Lightning for a promotion. But with a warning:
AMODAR: “Keep your nose out of trouble.”
LIGHTNING: “Out of PSICOM business, you mean.” Lol yeah, that didn’t really work out.
-Back to the present. She remembers how right he was.
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Datalog
-Synergists are good for initial buffing. Their role bonus boosts buff duration.
-Amodar dealt loosely with NORA’s “unregulated monster-hunting,” mostly just giving them a warning and letting them do their thing.
-I now think the Thirteen Days refer to literal 24 hours days, where things changed fast.
-Day Five: “Euride.” There was an accident at the Euride Gorge energy plans near Bodhum. Rumors of sabotage by Pulse l’Cie.
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I Wanna Get Purged – Lightning and Hope
-Just noticed that you can see constellations.
I doubt it means anything, but it’s a nice visual touch.
-We reach a dead end and take a break.
-Lightning’s been here on missions before for the Guardian Corps.
HOPE: “If you’re not PSICOM, then why did you board the train?” …good question.
LIGHTNING: “For Serah.” Flashback time, to Day 13.
-PSICOM is hustling Purge exiles onto the train.
PSICOM SOLDIER: “Personal belongings will be returned upon arrival.”
Look, I’m not saying that PSICOM are Nazi analogues. I think they probably represent a more general type of oppressive use of government force.
But as a Jew, seeing soldiers herd civilians onto trains for forced relocation, assuring them that that their personal belongings will be returned when they arrive? It rings specific bells.
-Some Bodhum residents try to run, and PSICOM guns them down. Christ. This is hard to watch.
-Lightning arrives. The PSICOM troop is confused, seeing her Guardian Corps insignia.
“Let me on. I want to be Purged.”
-The PSICOM soldier leans in, whispers that soldiers are exempt. Only civilians get Purged.
LIGHTNING: “Then I quit.” I HAVE LITTLE ANIME HEART EYES FOR LIGHTNING RIGHT NOW
-She gets in line, Sazh falling behind her. He’s curious about her. Senses something. What’s Sazh doing here anyway?
-Lightning boarded the train for a better shot at rescuing Serah. Joining the Purge was her only shot.
-Back to the present. Hope is in awe of her actions, mostly because he can’t imagine doing something like that. I think he feels guilt over his mother’s death, not just anger. Like he should’ve done something.
He shouldn’t feel that way – none of this is Hope’s fault - but it’s believable.
-Lightning climbs the tower and leaves Hope in the dust? A kid? Really? No way. I have to imagine she went ahead to clear a path for him or something.
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I Wanna Get Purged – Sazh and Vanille
-Hee! Vanille happily clambers over the Vile Peaks’ debris as Sazh trails behind exhaustedly.
She’s literally skipping, flailing her arms, and yelling “Wheee!” STOP BEING PERFECT
-Sazh now has synergist – different from Hope! His buffs are offensive while Hope’s are defensive.
-Datalog tells me “Like Lightning, Sazh had joined the Purge voluntarily.”
See, this is the kind of thing that the game shouldn’t tell me in a datalog. I was sitting here wondering why Sazh was caught up in the Purge. Was he from Bodhum? Maybe a visitor like Hope?
And then rather than showing me through dialog or cutscene, the game just writes his backstory. Way less impactful or effective.
(Unless Sazh already said this in game and I just missed it, which is very possible.)
I’m not gonna stop reading the datalog because there’s lots of good backstory and info. I’m just resigning myself to this as XIII’s storytelling.
-I encounter a new enemy type, a Pulse Automaton.
Pulse must not be as wild as Cocoon makes it out to be if their old robots are still kicking in this junkyard.
-Ooh, three-way battles! I remember enemies interacting with each other in XII. This seems a nice evolution, where I can basically pick a side to help. Nice new dimension of strategy.
-This Pulsework Soldier is tough with just the two of us. Takes half magic and physical damage except when staggered, and two Ravagers can’t stagger it.
-Gonna create a new paradigm, RAV-SAB. There are plenty of times when my buffs are already up but I want to add debuffs.
-I know I’m not supposed to read too much into the stars, but so many 0-1 star results saps me a bit when I feel I’m doing the best I can. I’m mentally adjusting to not care about it so much.
-We catch up with Hope.
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Hope and Despair
-Hope is feels lost, untethered. His mother’s gone. His father?
-Flashback to the fireworks in Bodhum. Day 11.
-AWWW HOPE’S MOM! They look so alike.
HOPE: “What’d you wish [on the fireworks] for?”
HOPE’S MOM: “That next year, your father could come to the fireworks with us.”
Is he deployed with the military maybe? Or sick?
-Whatever the answer, Hope immediately recoils. “It’s better like this! We don’t need him!”
-They’re from Palumpolum. I’m guessing that this is a magic city, referencing the twin child mages of Palom and Porom from FFIV.
-And now he thinks Snow tricked his mom into fighting, that he used her. He really didn’t.
HOPE: “Why should I care [about getting home? My father] doesn’t.”
SAZH: “Any father cares.”
Dajh must be his kid.
-We move little down the road. The fight’s already going WAY better with three party members than with two. I start buffing and debuffing with synthesists and saboteur, then shift to triple ravager.
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Next time: Hopefully catching up to Lightning.
