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Bresha Ruins – 005 AF
-(I always have a hard time reading AF as “after the fall” rather than “as fuck.”)
-I’ve been pumping up my Cait Sith (MED) and Spiceacilllian (wind-based RAV). I have not yet picked a mechanical monster to put components into. Closest I found is a Pulse Knight (SEN), but I don’t like that it’s an Early Peaker.
-I found a few artefacts in my final run through these ruins:
1) Giant: a mech in the shape of a left hand. (or maybe this was what took me to Bresha Ruins 005 AF?)
2) Wild: Consumed on use.
3) Eclipse: Resembles an image projector.
4) Reunion: Carved in the shape of a flan.
I don’t know if that flavor text will have relevance, so I’m watching it just in case.
-Three areas are still blocked. Some from rubble, some from being near Atlas, some behind a closed prison door. I’ll be back to explore those later no doubt.
-Two new gates are available. The Reunion Artefact opens a gate in the tunnels and the Eclipes Artefact opens the one above-ground. I’ll try the Eclipse to start.
-Images come through the gate. I catch a glimpse of Cocoon falling.
[Later edit: in hindsight, I think it was Fenrir causing the eclipse.]
-Something in the efforts wearies Serah. That’s foreboding.
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Historia Crux
-Awww! All these mid-chapter voiceovers are her prayers to Lightning, and Lightning’s reply.
NOEL: “Even if we don’t arrive in Valhalla, there’s still value in every path we take… Just be honest with yourself. If you are, you’re sure to arrive in the future you want.” Well said. I like Noel.
-I also like that Lightning clearly hears these “prayers,” and gives voiceover in reply/reaction.
LIGHTNING: “Serah, forgive me. That was a past you should never have had to deal with.”
-A new mission has opened, in the Yaschas Massif.
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Episode 3: Yaschas Massif – 010 AF
-The intro tells me that the Academy has helped advance human technology. It’s working hard to unravel the paradoxes.
-There’s some sort of eclipse… OH OF COURSE, an Eclipse Artefact opened it. Artefact flavor text will foreshadow the timeline they open.
Glad I chose this one. Fuck flans.
-Noel heard about this event when a massive fal’Cie blotted out the sun. But that was supposed to be 200 years from this time. The eclipse here is a paradox.
-Btw, XIII-2 returns to a more standard system of gil than XIII. Good.
-A researcher here tells us that the eclipse fal’Cie is Fenrir. He appears in cycles. The next one was supposed to be in 200 AF.
-Must be time gate related. There are multiple gates in the nearby ruins.
-Datalog tells me that Fenrir appears in cycles. The next cycle was supposed to happen in 200 AF as Noel said.
-New mechanic: searchlights. Behemoths prowling below are averse to light, so running into a patch resets my Mog Clock if they attack.
-Tried fighting a behemoth. It took a whole lot of phoenix downs to survive. Evasion is the way to go.
-Dammit. I keep getting caught. Not gonna retry, just gonna die. At least the game’s autosave makes it so that game overs are basically as good as retries.
-lol hi chocolina
-Accessories can have bonus abilities in certain combinations. Initial testing shows an example, with Serah’s Rune Bracelet combining with her weapon for Buff Duration +20%.
-Okay, this “behemoths in the dark” thing is the first XIII-2 mechanic I actively dislike. When one appears, if I’m not right next to a spotlight, I have little time to get there. Worse yet, when I try and the Mog Clock runs out, I can’t retry. So I just go AFK until I die.
I hope the stealth/spotlight mechanic isn’t everywhere in this zone.
-Found a Scars’ Gate Seal. Dunno which timeline that’s for yet.
-Legend says that Fenrir was looking for “that which was lost.” Maybe something in the ruins here is drawing him.
-The Academy won’t let us into the ruins. They’re for research only.
-One of those giants busts in from a paradox, Aloeidai.
-This boss hits really hard. And at the end, he raises a barrier that I break through with another stagger.
[Later edit: I’ve been feeling kind of weak recently. Going to try building some more defensive options, like raising Noel’s sentinel and maybe trying for medic on Serah. Will also watch for more defensive monsters.]
-It’s … oh shit, it’s sucking us into the portal!
-LOLOL I KNOW THAT BOOMERANG ANYWHERE, HI HOPE
-Thanks for the save! He’s now the director of an Academy research team.
-This is surreal. He already knows Noel. We appeared five years ago in Lake Bresha, and he was able to forecast our next time jump to here. He was expecting us.
-It’s been years since Hope has seen Serah. And Snow, and Sazh and Dajh.
HOPE: “You all disappeared from my life. It’s been ten years now.” Jesus. Time is terrifying.
-FHDJLFHDS AND THERE’S ALYSSA!
-We catch up off camera, then Hope wants to show us something.
-I’m getting the sense that Alyssa has a li’l crush on Director Hope.
-Discovered a new fragment from my fight with Aloeidai. I learn that he’s Gogmagog’s mortal enemy. Gogmagog got Aloeidai banished from their homeworld, so Aloeidai cursed Gogmagog to wander lost in time.
Aloeidai loathes the living. “When he is defeated, he twists the surrounding spacetime in an effort to take his enemies with him into death.” That must’ve been the barrier he put up at the end.
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Next time: probably heading into the ruins.
