FFXIII-2 – Part 34: Paradigm Pack-Up

Summary: Brief final thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII-2.

FFXIII-2 – Part 33: Coin Toss

Summary: Briefly checking out the DLC in the Coliseum, Valhalla, and Serendipity.

FFXIII-2 – Part 32: The Heart of Chaos

Summary: The exhausting final battle against Caius “Triple Bahamut” Ballad. A legitimately unexpected conclusion. The end to XIII-2's main story.

FFXIII-2 – Part 31: Pieces Come Together

Summary: The Labyrinth of Chaos in Academia 500 AF. The toughest enemy I’ve met in the Proto-Behemoth. The battle with Caius begins.

FFXIII-2 – Part 30: The Ancient Town of New Bodhum

Summary: Putting pieces together with Lightning in 700 AF.

FFXIII-2 – Part 29: Dying World

Summary: Serah escapes her dream with some help. Noel’s (dream) world.

FFXIII-2 – Part 28: What Is and What Should Never Be

Summary: Serah falls to temptation. Paradox ending. My favorite session of XIII-2. Apologies for getting a bit personal and long-winded.

FFXIII-2 – Part 27: Divine Intervention

Summary: Serah in the Void Beyond. Learning the truth behind XIII’s ending. The true and altered timelines.

FFXIII-2 – Part 26: Dragged Down by Graviton

Summary: Collecting graviton cores. One of the less fun sessions for me; apologies for my salty frustration.

FFXIII-2 – Part 25: A Moogle’s Home

Summary: I yell at Captain Cryptic and clocks. Mog’s backstory and choices moving forward in Oerba 400 AF.

FFXIII-2 – Part 24: Brain Blast

Summary: The joyous parallel world of Academia 4XX AF. XIII trivia time!

FFXIII-2 – Part 23: Anomalous Oerba

Summary: Resolving anomalies in Oerba 300 AF. One of my favorite XIII-2 play sessions. Inching closer to Mog’s past.

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Augusta Tower – 300 AF

-First, I’m traveling forward 300 years to see if I can access the 13th floor in this other iteration of Augusta Tower.

-YES! Jackpot.

-It’s a small floor. There’s one out-of-phase treasure sphere inside a ring I haven’t seen before.

Mog can’t uncover it like he usually can, even when thrown.

I’ll come back later.

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Academia – 400 AF

-Instead of using my new wild artefact on the gate in Augusta Tower 300 AF, I want to use it on the earlier gate from Academia 400 AF. I found that one first.

-Huh. Never mind. All the ways back to the other gate and even the map person are blocked off.

-I head back there and open the gate.

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Oerba – 300 AF

-As we port in, Serah asks about Mog’s family. He doesn’t remember any. Doesn’t even remember why he was in Valhalla. Wandered through the Void Beyond and wound up there.

“It was terrible there, kupo. But then Lightning found me and took me in!”

-This place looks blasted and dusty.

-Ooh, a White Chocobo! Didn’t tame it, but I want to.

-More of these Void Beyond anomalies are here, temporal rifts. These connect the dots puzzles are always a fun mini game.

kweh!

-I like how they mix up the lore you get with each fragment datalog. Some are deep and insightful. Others are… well….

“Everyone in [New Bodhum] has their own name for [that stray cat], such as Esmerelda and Mewmew. It’s one thing to call a girl cat ‘Snow,’ but when you give her a dog name like Spot, that’s just wrong, kupo!”

#MogThoughts

-The next anomaly is stranger. Mog “smells” something in here from long ago. Maybe it’s connected to Mog’s home.

-These anomalies where you can’t backtrack on a tile while you collect the crystals are also great. Some of my favorite parts of XIII-2.

-OHHHHH!! The only anomaly type I’d been really stuck on so far was the clock puzzle. I only just now see that each icon is a stylized number, which indicates how many jumps the hands will make.

*30 minutes later*

WOOOOOOOOO!!! I got it. And it wasn’t purely luck like last time! I needed to understand the numbers to make enough good choices to succeed. That feels incredible.

-It was by far the hardest clock puzzle thus far. 12 numbers, each randomized between 1-6.

-All the zone’s fragment lore is Mog Trivia, and all about NORA. Why is he so tied to them?

-As I approach the next anomaly, Mog senses something he’s been searching for a long time.

“I don’t exactly remember, kupo. But I know it was important to me and it made me feel warm and fuzzy…“ I’m guessing it’s another moogle. A family or friend.

-More clock puzzles, but they’re super easy after the monster I had to do earlier.

-That anomaly hid a gate. Alas, I need a wild artefact.

-Neat bit of Mog trivia: Snow gave the Cocoon-shaped necklace to Serah to symbolize how, just like Pulse and Cocoon, they’ll always be together.

-Reached my ninth anomaly this zone, the last.

MOG: “This place smells like tears, kupo. I remember crying here a long time ago. No one was around, kupo.” MOGGGGG

“I remember feeling sad… I also remember thinking I wanted to go home. But I didn’t know where home was, kupo.” God, there’s some heartbreaking backstory on him, isn’t there.

-Got it! This connect-the-dots was legit challenging.

Hola, gracialsgc!

-A message appears now: “A labyrinth has appeared in a different time.” I’ll check the other Oerba. But not too hard – it’s definitely possible the wild artefact-locked gate opens the way to another Oerba.

LOLOL

“There used to be this hit vidshow called ‘The Katzroy Files,’ kupo. The lead character was an unlucky detective who kept a chocobo chick in his hair… Apparently he was based on a real person. I wonder if it’s anyone I know, kupo.”

A detective procedural starring someone based on Sazh. Wt actual f. XD

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Oerba – 200 AF

-No anomaly yet, but I did find an out-of-phase fragment, a “Giant Egg.” It gives me Hope’s research notes, wondering about the purpose of the Paddra Oracle Drives.

-I forgot that you could even find fragments in the wild. I’ll eventually want to come back to each zone to do a search.

-Yeah, no luck on the anomaly here. It may be in an as-yet-undiscovered time.

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Serendipity

-I’ve gotten a bunch more fragments, so the last thing I want to do this session is check in on the whether I get new fragment skills.

-Nah, nothing new. I’ll come back when I hit 60 fragments. (At 56 currently.)

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Next time: continuing through the gate atop Augusta Tower 300 AF.

FFXIII-2 – Part 22: Adam, I’ve Come to Bargain!

Summary: Reaching the top of Augusta Tower for repeated battles against the Proto fal'Cie.

FFXIII-2 – Part 21: XIII-2: Judgment Day

Summary: Well, not quite Judgment Day, but the “forbidden history” we learn about in Augusta Tower 200 AF is close enough.

FFXIII-2 – Part 20: The Cutthroat World of Academia

Summary: The Academy’s capital city. Cie’th central. Another Yeul bites the dust.

FFXIII-2 – Part 19: The Casino at the End of the Universe

Summary: Serendipity. The Mystic. Slots and chocobo racing.

FFXIII-2 – Part 18: Rotten Tomato

Summary: Finally pushing past the giant flan. The Coliseum. Return to the Void Beyond.

FFXIII-2 – Part 17: Sealing Time

Summary: Clearing fragments across time in Yaschas Massif. The choices of the seeress.

FFXIII-2 – Part 16: Voices of the Vanished

Summary: A snowy invasion in Bresha Ruins 300 AF. Yaschas Massif 110 AF’s Rubies of Grief.

FFXIII-2 – Part 15: The Melancholy of the Lambs

Summary: Helping the nomads of the Archylte Steppe. Long Gui and Faelyn. Clearing the storm. Gigantuar.