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Chain of Events
-Vanille and Sazh come across a water orb in the Sunleth Waterscape. It changes the weather to rain.
-There are a few of these! I have to adjust the weather to avoid the nastiest enemies from each weather type.
-Screw the mud frogs. They keep summoning little frogs with Courtship Dance.
-Boss time. Two snoozing, furry toad monsters, Enki and Enlil.
-Relaxing jazzy music takes me through the fight. An interesting boss fight choice.
-Mixed feelings on Saboteur. Useful when it works but Vanille’s debuffs land so seldom it can feel like a waste.
-Nautilus is near.
-At the top of the mountain, we climb through a ripped fence to a train station.
VANILLE: “Sazh… do you hate Pulse?”
He used to be more ambivalent, sure that the Sanctum was just creating a boogeyman (that’s what I think). Dajh’s branding changed that. He blames the “scum from Pulse” for the Purge and branding.
-Poor Vanille! She’s clearly got reasons for being the “scum from Pulse” and I expect them to be good reasons. But no way she’ll share now. All she can do is cry and hide her tears in the rain.
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The Capital of Commerce
-Scene change. Director Rosch (a new character) gives a speech to a PSICOM fleet about needing to maintain order against Pulse l’Cie.
He seems like a legit well-intentioned guy.
-Lightning and Hope sneak around here, looking for a ship to Eden. This is Palumpolum.
-This isn’t just PSICOM. The Guardian Corps is here too, looking for us l’Cie.
-Datalog says Yaag Rosch is a peer of Jihl Nabaat, the glasses woman. He is focused on l’Cie elimination, and doesn’t care about GC/PSICOM rivalries.
-Okay. The weapon situation has been stressing me out. Do I focus on just one weapon? Do I keep a variety? What if I find a better weapon along the way after committing?
I don’t know, but I haaaate not having a plan. Just makes me feel like I’m flailing, like every new component I get I’m doing the wrong thing with. So SCREW IT. Let’s make a plan.
I’m committing fully to upgrading one weapon per character. Some other weapons I find later might be better and their eventual transformations and accessory synergies will be better, but I’m trusting (and HOPING) that focusing on just these basic weapons will be enough to complete the main game.
-I’m committed now. I sold my other weapons to buy upgrade components.
[Non-rhetorical question: I’m not sure how to ask this, but basically – is this a huge mistake or does it sound reasonable?]
-Most of the soldiers here in Palumpolum go down easy enough, but one particular cycle destroys me. It has a Gatling Gun that brings Lightning down from full HP to zero. I just gotta avoid encountering it.
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Under Their Noses
-Made it to the Nutriculture Complex. Is that red crystalline moth a fal’Cie?
-Hope has really stepped up into a leading role, back in his home town.
-lolol there are flans here with siren helmets. Flan monitors, or “Flanitors.”
-The moth IS a fal’Cie! Carbuncle. They’re in charge of Cocoon’s food supply.
-They briefly debate whether to take out Carbuncle before agreeing that STARVING COCOON IS BAD.
LIGHTNING: “Y’know, I think Cocoon was really built for [the fal’Cie.] The rest of us, we’re just leeches. Parasites.”
That’s… a really interesting idea. We already know the fal’Cie built Cocoon. Or at least, some of them did, while others are in Pulse.
Are we just caught in the middle of some intra-fal’Cie struggle? Why do they interact with humans at all? What value do we have towards them?
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No Way to Live
-Hope has a kind of horrifying thought. They treat humans well… but like pets.
-This phrasing gives Lightning an epiphany. She’s lived her whole life in their world, on their leash. Even now, she fought out of instinct and willful blindness more than strategy. She’s wants to change that.
“Operation Nora is over.”
-POOR HOPE! In his eyes, Lightning built him up, trained him on this path, and is just like “nah, nm.”
-She really sees herself in him. She too had to find a new purpose on losing something dear to her. She lost her parents and took on the name Lightning, to become someone Serah could rely on.
“Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can’t protect. It only destroys.”
Lightning’s been down this road. It didn’t connect her better to the people around her, didn’t help Serah, didn’t really satisfy anything inside her. I don’t know if
She’s trying so hard to stop him from going down the same road, and idc if I’ve said it before, but I love these two.
-HI SERAH? She appears before Lightning, a ghost or projection or memory.
This is Lightning remembering when she failed to be there for Serah. Only Snow believed her.
-Snow’s name is triggering for Hope. It’s closely tied all of his anger and grief around his mother’s death. The image of Snow smiling, happy, goofy while his mother plummets.
(That’s not quite how it happened, but I absolutely see how the two images are tied together for Hope.)
HOPE: “It felt good just to give in.”
-Another thing I love about Lightning here is how she’s not just saying “No, don’t do this” to Hope. She’s actively seeking alternatives. And she’s honest about not knowing the right answer. She’s lost about Hope and lost about herself.
-She even suggests he talk to his dad about being l’Cie. I just hope it’s not an FFVI Gau moment in the making.
At least if his dad rejects him, Lightning will be there. I believe that.
L: “I want you to find the hope you were named for. Staying alive I can help you with, but I can’t- I can’t give you hope.”
-Hope fears his dad won’t believe him. That he won’t listen.
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The Weight of Vengeance
-We ride an elevator high up. A TV news report announces that the l’Cie have been spotted and will be executed. And the camera zooms in on Lightning and Hope as they watch the monitor. Surprise!
ROSCH’S ENTIRE FRIGGING TASK FORCE DESCENDS ON HOPE AND LIGHTNING.
This looks like the end of Crisis Core, but since we’re nowhere near the game’s end I’m not worried.
-Lightning urges Hope to run while she distracts everyone. I mean… noble, but I doubt it’ll work.
-SNOW TO THE RESCUE!
-Fang too? Why are they fighting Rosch’s task force? I feel like I missed a chapter.
-Snow and Fang hop on the Shivacycle and start wreaking havoc in Rosch’s lines.
-The path cleared, Lightning creates that distraction and urges Snow to take care of Hope. The party splits once more.
-I’m now fighting as Snow with Shiva against Orion and some soldiers. I just use autogestalt since I still don’t really get the gestalt system and haven’t practiced it or explored it yet.
-Gestalt mode brought Orion down to like 30% but he obliterates Snow. I don’t know how I’m supposed to win.
-Ah! After I retry and use his 14k Crystarium points, and adjust my strategy to Ravager rather than Commando mode, things go better.
[Later edit: this is something I really like about XIII’s combat system. When I’m not doing well, there’s usually a strategic adjustment I can make within the paradigm system, a puzzle to solve.]
-Afterwards, Snow summarizes what happened to him for Hope. That he got taken in by Cavalry, and Cid Raines wants to help the l’Cie. Really? That’s what he said?
SNOW: “And now your hero is back!”
I’m getting a better grasp on both why I like and dislike Snow. Yes, he’s oblivious and goofy at times, but so are some fictional characters I really like.
It’s that Snow’s obliviousness specifically triggers Hope’s worst moments. Lightning too to a lesser extent. His obliviousness brings real harm.
…that’s not what he’s worried about.
-Hope demonstrates some real growth and healing (thanks to Lightning). He controls himself, rolls with this. Stays calm.
-The game gives me a brief tutorial on using Snow’s Sentinel ability, and it’s actually helpful. I already knew Sentinels were tanks, but the game suggests that sentinels are at their strongest against lots of enemies, when, their Vendetta can land a ton of Counterattacks.
-Oh. Never mind. In another fairly lazy use of the datalog, the game flat out tells me I read Hope wrong.
“Hope, of course, couldn’t care less [about Snow’s story]… His rage will not be satisfied by mere words. As Hope runs through the streets sheathed in Shiva’s ice, he can feel the shape of the knife Lightning left in his care nestled against his side…”
The murder plan is still on. I guess. [Later edit: I retract this criticism if Hope showed signs of restrained anger in the cutscene that I just missed.]
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Next time: Crossing my fingers that I get to play with Fang in my party.
