”Lo there do I see my father. Lo there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers. Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo, they do call to me. They bid me take my place among them, in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave may live forever.”
--Battle Prayer, “The 13th Warrior”
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What I Know Going In/Predictions
-Plenty who love FFX hate FFX-2 (though I’m emphatically NOT one of them), but I haven’t heard the same about XIII/XIII-2. This makes me think the mechanics and story might share similar themes, tones, mechanics.
-I know nothing about what to expect. Haven’t heard about any of the characters or mechanics or plots or literally anything.
-A few possibilities:
X-2 Model: Direct sequel, following some of the same characters dealing with the aftermath of Orphan’s fall.
Crisis Core Model: A prequel, maybe following Vanille and Fang way back when on Gran Pulse.
XII/Tactics Model: Loosely tied to XIII. Like, following another group of characters thousands of years in the future but in the same universe, still dealing with fal’Cie. (The FFXII/Tactics model.)
FFIV The After Years Model: A sequel set in the mid-term future, like 20 years later. Maybe the daughter of Vanille and Fang is the protagonist.
I know “Lightning Returns” is the name of the third entry, so I think a direct sequel that follows new or previously background characters is most likely. I don’t expect Lightning to be the main character again.
(Though I wouldn’t be unhappy with that. I’d never be unhappy with more Lightning.)
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Launch
-The title screen shows two characters. One with a giant and perhaps fiery sword.
The other who looks like Lightning with a gunblade. Maybe this is a Lightning game after all lol.
-Clicked out of the starting cinematic in case it’s a trailer showing later characters and events. [Non-rhetorical request: if one of y’all can let me know when it’s safe to view it, when the characters/settings have been introduced, that’d be awesome!]
-The piano melody playing here is quite pretty. Different from XIII.
-I can set map to north in settings! I wanted that for XIII.
-Checking the controls. Similar setup to XIII, including paradigms. But uhhhh I can throw a moogle?
-“Feral link” may be XIII-2’s version of eidolons.
-The game provides a “Beginner’s Primer.” Tutorial system probably.
WAIT NO?? It recounts the XIII story! This confirms my belief XIII-2 will take place in the wake of XIII.
-WHAT IF IT’S SERAH AND NOT LIGHTNING IN THE TITLE ART? I didn’t think of that until just now. Serah broke out of her crystal stasis at the end there. Maybe she’s taking up her sister’s sword.
-I won’t go through the Primer because I just played XIII, but major props to its art design.
-Ready to start, normal difficulty. The save file shows “Total fragments, 000/160.” Another new thing.
-Saves are now through the pause menu, not the shops.
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Prologue
-The load screen looks clockwork. The opening words are about time too, and a clock sounds. Strong indications of time themes.
“Divine Etro, go peacefully to your rest. I will stand guard over your legacy.”
This sounds like Lightning. She’s kneeling before an empty throne.
-She looks like she’s wearing some majorly badass knight armor. Full plate with a sword and shield.
-She looks out over a city. “Valhalla. The currents of time do not touch its shores.” Again with time.
-This could be a fake-out, like X-2 with the dude who looked like Tidus.
“In this world of lost moments, I begin my life anew.” We see a dude I haven’t seen before falling into what looks like an engine.
-Someone carrying a woman into the water below.
“This eternity – it was never your desire. Is that not so, Yeul?”
Caius is the dude, and presumably the dude from the game’s title art on the left. Yeul dissipates. We’ve heard about eternity before, specifically that those who fulfill their Focus get eternal life.
Valhalla is the Norse realm of the gods, right? Maybe this is some otherworldly dimension, like an afterlife. Heck, maybe this is where spirits go when they’re crystallized by the fal’Cie.
Or maybe it’s the fal’Cie home.
-Caius is hit with a memory, of what looks like the end of XIII when Cocoon was crashing towards Gran Pulse. He roars and stuff flies out of the water. Pulse beasts.
-He sees Maybe!Lightning standing on her balcony, calls her “warrior goddess.”
He’s not wrong.
-He unsheaths his own sword, a dark thing with what looks like an eye in the middle. “Lose yourself in battle, and rejoice!” Caius seems… intense. He’s got a dark knight aesthetic.
-The Shiva Sisters come out of nowhere and charge him. Caius grabs one by the THROAT HOLY SHIT! That’s setting up what power level Caius is on. “Embrace the terror.”
-I just remembered that Lightning’s patron Eidolon is Odin. He rides across Horse!Odin. Odin, Valhalla.
GOD SHE LOOKS SO AMAZING!
CAIUS: “Husk of the wandering comet, I summon thee!” He can cast meteor.
-Lightning leaps at him. His name is Caius Ballad.
-They clash swords, and the title screen comes up.
-Caius starts to glow red, in his eyes and chest. “Cast your shadow over all, wings of night!” Yeah, I’ve known Caius for all of one minute, and this sentence is EXACTLY what I’d expect him to say.
-He transforms into what looks like a more sinister version of Bahamut. Giant, with claws. Whaps her away.
-She hops astride Odin, Bahamut in pursuit, and it’s battle time. Tutorial.
-The format looks similar to XIII. This first fight has a really cool aesthetic: us riding and Caius behind as “Chaos Bahamut.”
[Later edit: I just got it. Caius = Chaos. Also, this is clearly timey-wimey. Chaos was the final boss in FFI, and he was timey-wimey too.]
-Lightning’s random dialogue here is “Forgotten time, be reborn!” VERY interesting. No idea what it means, but I expect XIII-2 to focus on filling in gaps about the fal’Cie and maybe even the Maker.
-Lightning starts with six ATB segments. She’s at full power.
-I dig the HELL out of her feathery battle dress.
-OOH Cinematic action! It asks me to press certain buttons, but the game is set to show keypad stuff rather than controller inputs. Gotta change that.
-Both settle onto a platform. Again, I fail a cinematic sequence because I don’t know what controller button is like the “x” key.
LIGHTNING: “So you want to destroy everything?”
CAIUS: “Oblivion is the fate of all things.” Ok bud, settle down.
-Another cinematic action came up and I had the choice to use melee or gun. I went with gun, which he blocked. Hard to tell if I made the wrong choice or if he’d have blocked either action.
-The cinematic actions’ mechanics remind me of Zell’s limit break in FFVIII. But they also trigger an older memory in me, of an arcade game I’d play at movie theaters when I was a kid. Dragon’s Den? Something like that. A cartoon-style game that was essentially 100% “cinematic actions.”
-This city collapses down onto the fallen Caius’ head.
-A light appears in the distance. “Etro’s Gate.” Someone floats down here, that dude from her vision. “Noel Kreiss.” How does Lightning know him?
-She remounts Odin, riding to catch a falling Noel. He’s confused af.
LIGHTNING: “You prayed for a miracle, and that brought you here… From Valhalla, I can see everything.”
She’s definitely Lightning. Some ascended form.
-After the battle with Caius finishes, I see the victory screen. The star rating system is back, plus something that says “Rare Drop +200%, Item Drop +200%.” Extra incentive for high ratings! I tentatively like that idea.
-Lightning asks Noel for something – to bring Serah here.
LIGHTNING: “You need to use the portal. Your time-gazing friend should tell you how it works.” Enter Jodie Whittaker.
-Noel “crossed the Void” to reach here. He’s got some secret special innate power.
“You can find Serah, and together you can change the future.” Lightning seems a lot like later Minfilia from XIV so far. Like she’s the prophet or avatar of a god.
-Lightning summons a moogle with some TERRIFYING child laughter voice acting.
AND THE MOOGLE TRANSFORMS INTO A CROSSBOW
LOLOL WTFFF IS GOING ON
Noel’s supposed to give the Mooglebow to Serah.
-Caius arrives, and unlike Lightning, Noel recognizes him. Caius and Lightning continue their (apparently) long-running battle for Valhalla, and Noel gets tfo.
LIGHTNING: “My hopes go with you, Noel Kreiss. Become an arrow through time, and speed your way to Serah. Be there for her… because I no longer can.”
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Next time: chapter 1, learning a bit about wtf is going on.
