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Academia – 400 AF
-The next gate to check is Academia.
-The intro tells me a lot. [Later edit: Too much, imo. Going forward, I’m going to ignore the intros.] The Academy is the new government, centered in the city of Academia. Hope was its founding father.
-Science has advanced to where mankind can build artificial fal’Cie, “Proto fal’Cie.” I’ll bet that’s where Snow got his new l’Cie powers.
I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong with artificial fal’Cie. I look forward to meeting FFXIII-2!Skynet.
-New title card. This is episode 4, “Skyborne Paradise.”
-Lightning’s voiceover intro confirms my fears. “Such a power was never meant for mortal men. There are none who posses the wisdom to use it.”
-It’s a SUPER high-tech city. Bright and neon and futuristic.
-Something about seeing this place, built after probably centuries of planning and struggle, gives Noel hope. I know some who grow up in desperate times have trouble seeing long-term. The product of Hope’s long work has given Noel… well, hope.
-Noel regrets not being able to protect Yeul.
-We even see a giant being that looks like Eden. That must be the proto fal’Cie.
-We briefly get its perspective as it locks onto us. Is this the same computer that hunted us before?
-It reacts badly to our presence here, turning local civilians into mindless Cie’th.
Is that its instinctual defense mechanism? Why does it see us as a threat?
-I really dislike these rain effects. Hard to tell what’s happening. The worst is that the droplet effects on the camera look like out-of-phase treasure spheres, so I keep trying to use Mog for no reward.
-Interesting! There’s a puzzle-style conveyor belt system, where I can reverse the belt’s direction at certain computer terminals.
-The human townsfolk are freaking out. “They’re right around the corner!” “The fal’Cie betrayed us!”
Until I heard that second quote, I thought we might be scaring them more than the Cie’th.
Yeah, I’m gonna say it’s not normal for the proto fal’Cie to Cie’thify randos.
-A voice comes across. “Threat level Sigma. All sectors on high alert.” Yup, the proto fal’Cie sees us as hostile.
-This overseer proto fal’Cie is Adam, “an all-powerful being who protects the lives and interests of the citizenry – a fal’Cie for the people.” Instead of a divinely-devised Eden, a human-devised Adam.
-A woman named Miss Horizon frets that the data banks here have been corrupted. My new fragment mission is to explore areas 100% and then visit her to give her new, true data.
-I’m surprised I’ve only 100% explored Yaschas Massif and Sunleth Waterscape.
-The datalog is a series of travel guides. I especially like the Sunleth Waterscape’s, describing a miniflan mucus spice as “firaga for the tongue.” Real five-alarm stuff.
-Chocolina is here. She expresses real sadness at the Cie’th, who used to be human just like (“Well, not like me since I’m not human”) and are now monsters.
[Later edit: I now am pretty sure Chocolina is the grown-up version of Sazh’s chick, but what made her that way? Was she always a magical capitalist bird?]
WOOOO!! She also now sells tier-two monster materials for the first time. And she sells weapons that are massive upgrades.
Swarms of Cie’th here. Behind it all is Caius. Of course.
CAIUS: “You are the enemy. You are the contradictions in the timeline. I have every reason to eliminate you. Two hundred years ago, you learned the forbidden history and were entombed in that tower as a consequence.”
Noel backstory! …or not. Noel seems confused by all this. I thought this tower business was stuff that happened before Noel met Serah.
-Continuing through the streets when Caius finally steps us. Boss time?
-I’ll give him this: he really seems convinced he’s in the right. That because Noel learned (or will learn? Time stuff is confusing) the “true history,” he’s dangerous to time itself.
-Digging Academia’s small touches, like the advertisements and vending machines.
-Caius is behaving strangely. He keeps appearing in front of us, just out of reach. I feel like he’s leading us somewhere.
-One path is blocked by a titanic Cie’th, Geiseric. Let’s try it!
Lol it doesn’t go well. I’ll head a different way.
-Found a gate down here that requires a wild artefact I don’t yet have.
-Lord, there are SO MANY ENEMIES
-Suddenly, (a) Yeul appears. Hard to tell what her role is, cause it looks at first like she’s protecting us.
-She even gets a semi-intimate eyelock with Noel before a tentacled Cie’th snatches her up.
-Boss time. Zenobia. It has a defensive mode where I have to kill its protective tentacles.
-There’s even a final cinematic action. SO CLOSE to perfect, except for a short window where I mixed up the A and B buttons.
-Yeul took a mortal wound during the fight. God, I feel so bad for poor Yeul! Fated to die over and over.
-That was her goal this time.
YEUL: “I saw death. If I were to live, it would bring contradiction to… to the timeline.”
-Something about our presence is spawning paradoxes that force Yeul to constantly die to resolve them.
-Again, this is not the Yeul Noel knew. Maybe one day.
-As she dies, she gives us an artefact, and a gate glows nearby. (Different from the one I saw before.)
-Zenobia was another Undying, was summoned from the Haerii Archaeopolis by Adam.
-Yeul’s gift is a “Tower Artefact” with the “capability to process large amounts of information.” Sounds like a computer drive, perhaps related to that supercomputer from before.
-Reached my next crystarium expansion and a new reward: ultimate abilities! They can be used once per battle, drawing on my full ATB gauge.
-Serah gets the ravager ability “Ultima Arrow.” Noel gets the commando ultimate, “Meteor Javelin.”
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Next time: Using the Tower Artefact on this new gate. Trying my ultimates. I may also backtrack to try clearing some maps for new fragments.
