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Day 6
-No more main quests. I guess I’m just doing side quests until the end.
-One chef prepares a legendary, ancient recipe from olden times: the NORA Special. Passed down to him over a thousand years. A Lebreau special maybe.
-The Last Triffid dropped a fascinating accessory: the Warrior Hunter’s Mask. It steals the effect of bravery, faith, and haste cast on the target when you use a Heavy Slash.
(Later, got a similar one from the Last Chocobo Eater, targeting Protect, Shell, or Vigilance.)
-This is going pretty slowly, but that’s by choice. Going for some grindy side quests and trying to extinguish different monster types.
-I love the Last Reaver’s hilariously oversized weapon.
-Okay, Last One hunting is pretty time consuming. Just spent an hour extinguishing the Aster Protoflorians. The reward is nice, but I do NOT want to eliminate everything.
-Just killed the Last Chocobo Eater, and I feel proud. The Chocobo Eaters were really tough for me.
Couldn’t get the timing down, didn’t see the attacks well enough. By the end, I was mowing them down.
That’s both the beauty and challenge of this game that’s so different from most other FF games. Even without better stats or gear, you can get dramatically better with strategy and practice.
-Some side quests I just CANNOT FINISH. Like this one in Luxerion that needs me to fix 13 clocks. Can’t find the last two despite Bhunivelze knows how many laps through the city.
-Hee! Biggs and Wedge appears are Yusnaan quest givers. As always, they’re in an ethically dubious position. Running a death game until Lightning stops things.
-At the end of day 7, I FINALLY get “Army of One.” Deals extra damage on Overclock. Why so late??
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Transition to Day 8
-Lumina interlude. She talks about the hole in Lightning’s soul, which Light doesn’t even deny.
-Flashback, to the end of XIII-2. Lightning’s in her battle angel gear, sitting down in Etro’s empty throne.
-Lightning sat there to protect Serah’s memory, her soul.
LUMINA: “So tell me, Lightning. Where do you think Serah is now?” A great question. I still think part of her made its way to Lumina.
Random new garb, “Tomb Raider.” Lara Croft in my XIII. (Never played those games, but I assume this is the case.)
-Lightning remembers. She took Serah into the crystal with her. So where did Serah go?
Bhunivelze took Serah’s soul as a hostage.
-And if he doesn’t bring back Serah’s soul, Lightning’s ready to take him out. (99% chance at this point that Bhunivelze is the final boss.)
-How will Hope take this? I don’t know. He seems really pro-Bhunivelze.
-Hope has the same sort of hole in him, the same apathy. Was someone removed from Hope’s soul?
LUMINA: “The Serah you talk to is a lie. The Hope in the Ark is a lie. How long is it going to take before you wake up?” About five more days I think. I trust Lumina more than most.
-I’ve always gotten the sense that Hope is spying for Bhunivelze. Maybe that’s literal. Maybe that’s all Hope is, just a fictional earpiece for God.
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Day 8
-I’ve been loosely searching for Aeronite, the object of a side quest who sounds nasty. Haven’t found it yet, but I don’t really have anything else to do. Might as well keep looking.
-Army of One is SO COOL! Lightning swaps between her different garbs as she slices through the enemy over and over. Worth the 2EP.
[Non-rhetorical question: is there anything else I should know about Army of One? Like, are there any Renzokuken-FFVIII aspects to it where I’m supposed to press buttons to beef it up?]
-…Whelp. I found Aeronite.
This is the customary “Coldrun gets his ass kicked by the superboss and leaves after one try” section of the let’s play. Spent half the time as a bloody smear on the ground.
-My attacks barely dented its health. I’d consider giving more attempts, but I honestly have no hope. This feels like a boss meant for the most geared, prepared players. That’s not me.
-Onto Luxerion, for the other “stuck in my craw” quest: find all the clocks.
(12 in-game hours later…)
FINALLY! The last clock was at the North Station. I wasn’t looking up. Sleeping off the rest of the day.
-The outfitters seem to get new gear every so often. Gonna check back later.
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Transition to 9
-Lumina’s Chaos is seeping into the Ark.
-Hope thinks Lumina is really Serah in some way. Glad we’re bringing the obvious out into the open.
-Got a Heartstealer garb. Is it supposed to reference to Locke in FFVI?
The color scheme seems similar.
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Day 9
-Some new side quests came up to unlock the foot path between zones. What surprised me is that the reward for one is the Gridanian Sword and Gridanian Sigil.
Gridania is a major forest city in XIV. Even the item description describes it as “a sabre used in the agricultural city-state of Gridania in Eorzea.” The shield even has the Twin Adder symbol, the Gridanian grand company.
Did it come to XIII as later DLC after XIV was out?
-That must be it. The rewards I get for the next quests are Lominsan and Ul’dahn.
-AND THEY USED THE UGLIEST POSSIBLE BLADE FOR THE UL’DAHN WEAPON. It’s the same cricket bat shape we get as a low-level gladiator reward.
-I turned in some soul seeds, and the vendor tells me a story. A blacksmith once used soul seeds to craft Ultima Weapon. WANT.
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Transition to Day 10
-“Serah” greets me again in the Ark.
-She tries cheering Lightning up. Says how great it will be to return to a time where the “mistakes” of XIII and beyond are washed clean, return to a time of innocence.
See, this is what makes me pretty sure this isn’t Serah. I don’t think she’d regret everything so fully.
LIGHTNING: “It didn’t turn out like I hoped, but it wasn’t a mistake.”
“SERAH:” “Maybe… but I don’t want to remember it again. I just want to forget it all.”
-Even Lightning doesn’t think this sounds like Serah, and for the same reason.
-Unlocked a new EP ability: Decoy. Draws enemy attention.
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Next time: Day 10. Day 13 approaches.
