Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

I debated calling this game Final Fantasy XIII-3 on my blog, since that is what it is essentially. Squenix, however, never one to shy away from confusing name conventions, decided to call it Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, so I'll stick with that.

For those who need a recap of the events of the previous two games, one can't do better than the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Retro-spective Trailer. Honestly, that almost looks like more fun than the two actual games were.

Source.

It was the end of the world. It had been 500 years since the chaos had been unleashed from Valhalla. Black storm clouds rolled and roiled over the shining lights of the city below. At the top of a clock tower, crimson bolts of lightning struck. Our heroine appeared at their apex. Her name, Lightning, having woken from a long crystal slumber. She had been awoken by the sleeping god, Bhunivelze. Or as the people now called him... simply God. She was now God's savior, who would lead souls to salvation. She was here, in the city called Yusnaan, to save a particular soul... of the one called Snow.

I was really surprised how this game immediately pulls no punches, naming Lightning's patron "God" with a capital "G". Later on, he, Bhunivelze, is separated more from the Christian notion of God, but it's very interesting, even jarring at first. I'm really surprised the translation had the balls to go all-out with this, but hey, maybe I'm just used to 90's era Nintendo super censorship.

The intro level to the game has Lightning breaking into a palace where Snow is now ruler, or the "Patron" as he is called. I guess it's worth noting that he's still alive after 500 years because the chaos has a created a world with no aging. People may still die from disease and accident, but there is no new life, and no one dies of old age. So Snow has 500 years of moping and guilt on his shoulders from the death of Serah. Lightning surmises he may have changed... and as it turns out, he is none too pleased to see her.

Snow and Lightning locked in combat. Source.

There is a quick fight between the two that plays out in a cut-scene. Then the room is infused with chaos, creating monsters that Lightning must fight. Lightning is the player's sole character, and she moves about dynamically from a third-person camera perspective. The battle system is new, but reflects some of the mechanics of the previous Final Fantasy XIII games. Lightning has three "schema" at a time, which are based off outfits, but are analogous with the "jobs" of early Final Fantasy games. Much like Final Fantasy 10-2, the player can switch modes in the middle of battle. Staggering again plays a part, but it works differently than the previous games. Each creature has certain conditions that will cause them to stagger, than this causes various effects. These usually cause the enemy to take more damage, and may also cause their weaknesses to change, and possibly stun them.

This is what combat looks like in LR. Source.

Back to the story... Snow runs off, leaving Lightning to fight off some monsters. She has to follow him, while the player is introduced to the game mechanics. It turns out he has barricaded himself in a room that is filled with dense chaos. For some reason the chaos looks like a sphere with a checkerboard pattern, it's not explained why, but it is a cool effect. 

Snow uses his ice powers to save the folks hanging out under this falling chandelier, so he hasn't completely changed.

It appears to be too dangerous to enter the chaos... so Lightning is stuck for the moment. She is also confronted by a mysterious girl, who bears a striking resemblance to a young Serah. She is all at once witty, dark, hurtful and helpful.

This b*... Source.

Lumina is very mysterious, she summons a monster that Lightning must battle, but you also get the sense she is not necessarily a villain. She drops too many hints, dripping with sarcasm, for her to not be interested in Lightning's success on some level.

After her encounter, Lightning is returned to the ark, by her compatriot, Hope, who has already been introduced in the game. Hope sits at the control center, guiding Lightning along. He is the command center, and Lightning is the field agent, working together to do God's work.

Hope plays Charlie to Lightning's angel.

There is a lot to absorb early on in the game. The abnormal setting is laid out: it is 500 years since the events of XIII-2 unfolded, the world merged with Valhalla just as Caius wished. There is no new life and no aging, because the Goddess Etro is dead. Chaos has destroyed most of the new world, leaving an island that will be absorbed in 13 days. These 13 days also mark when God, Bhunivelze, will reawaken, and create a new world, to start anew.

The new world will be populated by souls that are saved by having their burdens relieved. The one who will do this is the Savior, the role that has been placed upon Lightning. In return for her service, God has promised that Lightning will be reunited with her dead sister, Serah.

"Every soul you leave behind will be lost for all eternity." -Hope. Source.

The 13 day time limit isn't just a set piece, it is represented by a real game clock. An hour of play time equals 24 hours of in-game time. That's right, Squenix took some hints from Western RPG success stories and made an open-world game. Then... slapped a time-limit on it. Yes, this does seem counter-intuitive. It once again, sure is BALLSY though! Don't worry, I'll analyze the good and the bad of this time-limit plenty as I play.

Quite a lot to absorb right? The game doesn't pull-punches. However, if the player is lost a bit in the all details, the game does contain the helpful Datalog, like its predecessors.

Play Time: 1 hour

Final Fantasy XIII-2: Summary and Rankings

Yeul looks mysterious and cool in this picture, but thanks to her awkward walk, in the game she seems more like a cripple. Source.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
2012

Developer: Square Enix and tri-Ace
Publisher: Square Enix
Director: Motomu Toriyama
Producer: Yoshinori Kitase
Designer: Yoshiki Kashitani
Artist: Isamu Kamikokuryo
Writers: Daisuke Watanabe, Kazuhiko Yajima and Nanako Saitoh
Composers: Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta and Mitsuto Suzuki

"Development of Final Fantasy XIII-2 began around March and April 2010 and lasted about one and a half years. The game was unveiled at the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier in January 2011. Many of the key designers remained in their roles from the previous game, and developer tri-Ace was hired to help with the game's design, art, and programming. The development team wanted to exceed Final Fantasy XIII in every aspect while making the story's tone mysterious and darker than the previous game. The game builds upon the Paradigm Shift battle system used in Final Fantasy XIII and includes a less linear overall design." Wikipedia. I had some issues formatting this text since it's cut-n-paste, sosueme.

The team behind Final Fantasy 13-2 is pretty much the same as Final Fantasy 13, and it's a good thing they recognized they needed to make some changes for this next installment. The notable changes are that they contracted tri-Ace to help with programming, design, and art assets. Also, although Hamauzu did a wonderful job composing 13's soundtrack, two assistants were brought in to add some more variety in style musically to 13-2.

13-2 was better received than 13, especially by westerners, who praised the non-linearity of the game. I agree it is overall a much better game than 13, however, I still see too many warts in the combat against powerful foes. Many people thought it's story was a bit of a mess. I tend to agree, but that didn't take away much from my enjoyment of the game.

Mechanics - 13-2 definitely improves on the system set up in its predecessor. The worst parts are gone: wait time between switching paradigms, not being able to directly control more than one character, and the auto-death if your leader is knocked out. However, the prolonged battles against more powerful opponents still get frustrating and repetitive.

1. Final Fantasy 10

2. Final Fantasy 10-2

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 13

Here's another glorious battle summary from my first win in Lightning's DLC. 28 minutes... 28 minutes man! Some games I could have beaten in that time. Long battles aren't in themselves bad, but in this system you generally rinse repeat a number of actions, and hope you can do them fast enough each time to win. Not very interesting.

Storyline - I want to give the story credit for being original, after all, whose ever heard "If you change the future, you change the past?" In the end though, verisimilitude is ruined by too much being left unexplained, and how the characters seem to know the set up of everywhere and time they go, for no reason.

1. Final Fantasy 10

2. Final Fantasy 10-2

3. Final Fantasy 13

4. Final Fantasy 13-2

Atmosphere - Not a lot is explained well in this game, but it's overall feel does put it above the undeniably silly 10-2. 

1. Final Fantasy 10

2. Final Fantasy 13

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

The details of different weather effects, like the snow accumulating here, and the rain drops on the camera lens, do a lot to create atmosphere. Why is Serah wearing a swimsuit in the snow? You'd have to ask her.

End Game - 13-2 sits below 10 because the final dungeons in that game were a lot cooler. 13-2 is above 13, because that game's series of final battles was just a hellish slog-fest.

1. Final Fantasy 10-2

2. Final Fantasy 10

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 13

Rain drops keep falling on my... colossal robot. Serah has a pose where she puts her hands out to feel the rain, I couldn't get it though.

Difficulty - The extra content of 13-2 is very difficult, but the main quest isn't that bad, so it sits third.

1. Final Fantasy 13

2. Final Fantasy 10-2

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 10

Balance - Once again, not as bad as 13, but it still has the tendency to go from super easy to crazy hard in a flash.

1. Final Fantasy 10

2. Final Fantasy 10-2

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 13

Soundtrack - I'm changing the "music" category to "soundtrack", because I compare them by listening to the soundtrack and deciding which I like better, not necessarily how the pieces are used in the game. Also 13-2 has some arranged tracks that I'm not sure are in the game, and I like 'em, so it gets credit for those. This soundtrack was music to my ears (ouch... straight to the pun-itentiary), such a great variety of tunes, from orchestral, to rap, even metal. I really dug it, I could put this on in my car. In fact, I think I will. My favorite tune is probably Eclipse.

1. Final Fantasy 13-2

2. Final Fantasy 13

3. Final Fantasy 10-2

4. Final Fantasy 10

Art - As can be expected from its shorter development time from the main series titles, this one lags a little behind 13 and 10. It still looks very good, but a lot of the new levels end up being pretty boxy looking. Also, there is pretty much only one male and female face for NPCs, which is then combined with different hair colors, hair styles and clothing. I found that distracting.

1. Final Fantasy 13

2. Final Fantasy 10

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 10-2

You may have noticed I'm trying to use up my extra screenshots. Running Serah around in skimpy swimwear made me feel awkward, but... I can certainly think of worse things.

Best Villain - He only shows up momentarily in DLC content. But, I love me some Gilgamesh, he's by far my favorite Final Fantasy character. Even in his few seconds of dialogue, he still made a bigger impression on me than Caius. He starts out by breaking the fourth wall, "I was starting to worry that you'd never download this part of the game, and I'd be stuck in digital limbo!" Quite in line with his character, I appreciated it. He also starts out with six arms full of firearms, until he realizes guns aren't his jam, and he draws his signature blades. Then, he proceeded to hand me my scarred and bleeding ass time after time, after time. As much as I love him, he sits below Yunalesca and Bart, because those characters are more developed within their respective games.

1. Yunalesca (FF10)

2. Barthandelus (FF13)

3. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)

4. Shuyin (FF10-2)

Hehehe... you go Gil. Source.

Worst Villain - This one easily goes to Alyssa Zaidelle, Hope's right hand woman. First off, even when you think she's your ally she's a common trope, a bubbly, squeaky, annoying, wunderkind. Then she gives a speech about how we all just need to get along... then betrays you. F* her. As annoying as Leblanc is, I have a much deeper hate for Alyssa.

1. Yu Yevon (FF10)

2. Alyssa Zaidelle (FF13-2)

3. Leblanc (FF10-2)

4. Jihl Nabaat (FF13)

Yup. Source.

Best Ally - Mog the moogle. Who doesn't love moogles? He's cute, he's funny, and very knowledgeable, kupo! He also (somewhat begrudgingly) let's you Moogle Throw(TM) him to find hidden items, nice! He's pretty awesome, I'm putting him at the top of the list.

1. Mog (FF13-2)

2. Auron (FF10)

3. Sazh Katzroy (FF13)

4. Rikku (FF10-2)

"Whose the moogle?" That's right Mog, you the moogle. Keep on kupo-en on brother. Source.

Worst Ally - Chocolina. 1/10 Amusing, 4/5 groan inducing, 1/10... vomit inducing. She's still not as annoying as FF13-era Hope. I'm surprised at myself, but I'm going to put her below Dona and Beclam because they are assholes. Chocolina is at least nice and helpful.

1. Hope Estheim (FF13)

2. Dona (FF10)

3. Beclam (FF10-2)

4. Chocolina (FF13-2)

Best Enemy - Honestly, non of the enemies in this game really lit my fire all that much. The ones I find memorable are so because they were such a pain in the ass to beat. It's not a strong pick, but I'll go with Jihl Nabaat from the DLC, because Squaenix was kind enough to add a battle with her after the snub in FF13.

1. Yojimbo (FF10)

2. Dahaka (FF13)

3. Angra Mainyu (FF10-2)

4. Jihl Nabaat (FF13-2)

Worst Enemy - This may be the only time this happens, the worst battle in this game shares the best villain, Gilgamesh. He is a "super-boss" available in the DLC. I wish it hinted that he is well-nigh impossible to beat. I had battles with him that took an hour before I was killed... an hour. I'm not the only one, I saw a message online where someone was fighting him for around two hours. WT absolute F* is that? Is that poor play testing? Do they expect you to realize you're doomed if the battle takes that long? My feeling is when I hit 15 minutes I'm not about to give up, because I've already spent so much time on it. The aggravating part is he changes approaches when he gets low on hit points, by adding an attack that is almost an instant kill. So you've wittled him down for an hour, feeling okay with yourself, then he powers up and kills you in seconds. That sort of game play drives me crazy, and I can't be the only one. He tops the list, because I think I sank 5 hours into beating him. Which is oh... I dunno, only about 8 tries. I beat him finally by lowering the difficulty, but haven't succeeded on Normal.

1. Gilgamesh (FF13-2)

2. Cid Raines (FF13)

3. Guado (FF10)

4. Claret Dragon (FF10-2)

Gilgamesh ver. 13-2: Great villain, tuuurrible battle.

Best Mini-Game - Once again hoping to make up for its predecessor, there are a number of mini-games in 13-2. Some relatively innocuous ones include the path finding games to resolve paradoxes. Then there is chocobo racing, and a math game involving clock hands. Sazh's DLC adds two card games, one of which is good ol' Texas Hold 'Em. I love me some Hold 'Em, however, the NPC AI isn't all that great, so it's only good for a few hours entertainment. It beats the hell out of the slot machine as a way to make casino coins, though.

1. Blitzball (FF10)

2. Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (FF10-2)

3. Hold 'Em (FF13-2)

4. Bakti (FF13)

"You trapped me! All night, you check, you check, you check..."

Worst Mini-Game - This one is the worst, because I'm not even sure it qualifies as a game. It's a slot machine, with all the thrill and excitement of a real slot machine! Without the only reason to actually play a slot machine! That is, making real money. I said I'm not sure it's really a game, because as far as I could tell, the timing when you hit the button to stop the reals doesn't make a difference, it's random. The reward for hours of effort at the machine is just a fragment. Were the designers trying to make a point here, don't gamble? The only reasonable justification I can find for this is that casinos, as they appear quite commonly in the US, are illegal in Japan. So apparently there might be some demand for a slot simulator in Japan. It's still lame though, inexcusably lame. I really expected Lightning Dodging to hold on to the top spot for a long time. Way to go Squaenix, you really outdid yourselves.

1. Slot Machine (FF13-2)

2. Lightning Dodging (FF10)

3. Spherebreak (FF10-2)

4. Hide-n-Seek (FF13)

I will not dignify this abomination with a screenshot.

Side Quests - There are a lot of side quests in 13-2, and much like 10-2 they are a mixed bag as far as how worth your time they are. 13-2 slots in second because 10-2's I consider a little more interesting overall.

1. Final Fantasy 10-2

2. Final Fantasy 13-2

3. Final Fantasy 10

4. Final Fantasy 13

Overall - 13-2 I consider neck and neck with 10-2. I broke the tie by popping in 10-2 to re-acquaint myself with it a bit. 10-2 wins by virtue of it having much more variety in both character development and items available.

1. Final Fantasy 10

2. Final Fantasy 10-2

3. Final Fantasy 13-2

4. Final Fantasy 13

Average Ranking - This time, I'm reversing the scores for the "Worst" categories, so that each game is adequately punished for such depravity! It's still close to in line with my overall, however, I think having a number of the most-worsts pushed 13-2 to the bottom of the pile!

1. Final Fantasy 10 (2.06)

2. Final Fantasy 10-2 (2.39)

3. Final Fantasy 13 (2.72)

4. Final Fantasy 13-2 (2.83) 

Overall, 13-2 is a good game, I'd recommend it. It still doesn't live up to the standard set by its forebears, but it is a much better game than FF13. The end game and DLC content I would only recommend for the most determined gamers, as the super-boss battles get frustrating fast.

Play Time: 93.25 hours

Write Time: 3.5 hours

Final Fantasy XIII-2, Chapter 8: Fin

As Serah and Noel emerged from the time gate, they found themselves in a place that was at once the metropolis Academia, and at once not. The Academy headquarters could be seen ahead, an alarm rang in the distance, signalling that the great Ark created by Hope was about to be raised into the sky. However, choas had begun to seep into the city, massive objects floated everywhere, in a bizarre dance. This was it, what was bound to be the final conflict between Noel, Serah, and Caius. Could they save the future, and right the past?

Academia infused with chaos.

The characters surmise from all of this that the chaos is seeping in from Valhalla, and seeks to turn the world into Valhalla, a place with no time, no new life, and no death. That is Caius's goal. This makes for a neat dungeon, because three dimensions play a part, where the player can jump great distances to platforms far below there current position. However, the platforms rotate, which means there's a fair amount of waiting for them to change position, which can get tedious. It's fun, but as far as "final dungeons" go in the franchise, I wouldn't rank it too highly.

Noel and Serah negotiate their way through the chaos, defeating a couple bosses along the way. Before they reach the Academy headquarters why are surrounded by black, inky, chaos. From within speaks the voice of Yeul, urging them to turn back, lest they play into Caius's hands. After all, if they kill him, he achieves his goal. It just occurred to me that this is the same set of circumstances as FF13 with Orphan and Barthandelus. I hadn't made that connection before, interesting. Serah and Noel are not sure if this is once again a trick from Caius, and press on. They reach Caius... who transforms into Bahamut (He can do this because of his possession of the Eye of Bahamut). Hope shows up, with a little extra help from the Academy air force, and their best pilot, Sazh Katzroy.

Fighting Caius as "Chaos Bahamut" while riding jockey on the back of an airship.

The final conflict takes place within Valhalla itself. Where Caius unleashes his true power, becoming the massive, and supremely badass looking, Jet Bahamut.

He's even got sideburns made from Caius's headband.

As if that wasn't enough, Jet Bahamut summons his homies Garnet Bahamut and Amber Bahamut, that the player must tangle with first.

The battle with the Bahamut gang.

This battle was definitely challenging, and a little bit frustrating. I think I won on the third try. Judging by my battle results I didn't do a great job though. I remember doing better with this battle my first time through the game, but who knows if I'm remembering correctly.

Boooo... Boooooo!

These battle scores just kick you when you're down. If the battle takes a long time, it means you really worked your but off to win, and then you get a screen as if to say, "Oh, by the way, you suck balls at this. Your Welcome." I really tried to have a good strategy to win against the final boss, but like many other battles in this system, the best defense was a good offense. Attack, attack, attack is what won the day.

After the battle, the player must decide whether they want Noel to kill Caius, or not. I did what I feel like is the proper role-play response, and held back my stroke. Caius then grabbed the sword, and stabbed it through his heart himself. Everything seems great, the new Cocoon is floating, to be called "Bhunivelze" after the sleeping god, the new home of humanity. Then it gets dark... Just as the celebration starts to begin, Serah sees the new future, and dies. Noel realizes that since Caius drove his sword through the Heart of Chaos, Etro is dead, and the chaos she held at bay is now pouring into the world. It's not often I have a true emotional response to a game, but they got me here. The shift from triumph to complete failure happens so suddenly! Even cute little Mog appears to bite the big one... sad face.

Instead of a "The End" screen there is a "To Be Continued..." screen. I didn't grab it. Imagine this image with those words at the bottom of the screen. Source.

In hindsight, Square said that the "To Be Continued..." message wasn't pointing to a third game in the series, but instead to the extra endings, and forthcoming DLC. The potential DLC "real" ending didn't bother me too much, but I think you can find out how most people felt about the announcement at the source page to the above image.

The sweet taste of victory quickly turned bitter as Noel held Serah's lifeless body in his arms. He began to feel the tinge of guilt that Caius must have felt hundreds of times over. Hope looked on in despair as Mog began to falter. Mog explained that Etro was gone... and with her loss, the gate to Valhalla had been blown wide open, releasing chaos into the world. In despair, Lightning could only pray that one day she would have the chance to right these wrongs, and with that prayer, she entered a crystal sleep upon the Throne of Etro.

Thank you friends for joining me on the journey through the tale of Final Fantasy XIII-2. To find out what happens to the world of Nova Chrystallis now that it is overrun with chaos, return for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, here... at This Bard's Tales!

Play Time: 39 hours

Write Time: 2 hours 

Final Fantasy XIII-2, Chapter 7: Can There Only Be One?

Serah landed uncomfortably within the Void Beyond, that place which was a mirror of Valhalla, a place between time and space, where time had no meaning. Mog lied next her in the form of her weapon, but he did not respond. Tears began forming at the edge of her eyelids, "Mog? What's wrong, where am I?" she fretted.

Then, there was movement in the distance, "Is that a woman?" She thought, beginning to run.

Serah lands in the Void Beyond, a place where the player has been a couple times before, but has not been able to explore. She is followed by what I like to call "Ghost Mog", an outline that will still help her in battle, but does not talk or do Mog's other functions: the Mog Finder(TM) and Moogle Throw(TM).

Serah walks through a haze, followed by Ghost Mog(TM).

Within the Void, she encounters a series of Yeuls, from different time periods. After talking with them, she now knows that she is the same. She has been gifted with the Eyes of Etro(TM). This is the name for the ability that lets the seeress see the future. This also means, that Serah, like Yeul, will die if she continues to have visions. Her vacation in the Void culminates with a vision of Caius stabbing Noel, and a fake Yeul (Which is Caius) trying to deter her. She duels for a bit with Caius, who comments that Noel accepted defeat much more quickly. After a tough fight, Serah defeats Caius, who once again is saved by the Heart of Chaos(TM pending... jk).

Serah woke slowly... the fight with Caius was quickly fading in her mind, as if it had been but a dream. She was in... grass, laying in the grass. The light touch of the blades of grass moving in the gentle breeze felt good against her skin. There was a familiar smell, she could almost taste it on her tongue. It was the ocean, like back in New Bodhum. Had it all been a dream?

Serah awakens from an apparent nap in the twilight back at New Bodhum. She's dressed in her regular outfit from FF13. Lebreau, the female member of team NORA, scolds her for napping outside. After all, what would the students think if they saw their teacher dozing off in the grass?

New Bodhum?

As Serah explores, she finds out that all of her friends are here, everyone thinking she's tripping out a bit. Heading back to NORA house, she finds that even Snow is here. She asks him about going to find Lightning. His response is why would he leave to find her, when she's right there in New Bodhum? Serah begins to tear up and runs outside. There is someone waiting on the end of the dock... It's Lightning. Serah realizes this world is fake, but she also acknowledges that everything is here that will make her happy, all she wants is in this place. The apparition of Lightning reaches out, inviting her to stay. Serah, knowing in her heart she will never fully accept a fake future, rejects her offer. Vanille and Fang then make an appearance, and somehow Fang jamming her spear into the ground makes a portal for Serah. It's better not to ask too many questions.

The player is given the option to accept or not. Interestingly, it's not a Morton's Fork. If you choose to stay, an alternate ending plays, where Serah is happy, but is haunted by faded memories of an important person she feels she knew, but can't remember his name or face. A shade of Noel appears, letting the player know it is him she cannot seem to recall. This is an example of a Paradox Ending, one of many alternate endings in the game. After it plays out, the player is returned to before they made the decision. There are 5 or 6 or so of these alternate endings, but the're really not that impressive, just short little diversions ranging from dark to absurd. The're kind of cute, but I think I'm not happy with them because I don't think the reward reflects the work you have to do to get them. Or, it's that they don't reflect anything you did. It's not like multiple choices you made make for a different ending. For example, if you end up defeating Atlas without resolving the paradox first (which is harder) you end up dooming the world to an apocalyptic battle between these giant machines. Meh.

Using the time portal that Fang creates from Serah's "dream world", she is able to connect with Noel. When she first encounters him, Noel is lost in his dream, and doesn't see Serah. She witnesses his past, he has hunted a massive behemoth solo for a feast. It's Yeul's birthday.

Noel's home is a blasted wasteland of white sand. Until he snaps out of his dream, the sky is an angry red.

As she walks around the world, visions of people can be seen, if she tries to use the moogle ability to reveal them, they burn! I think this is just a poetic way of telling you everyone else has died off. Only Noel, Caius, and Yeul remain in this future. Serah witnesses a match between Caius and Noel. Caius wishes for Noel to kill him, killing the Heart of Chaos, which will in turn kill the goddess Etro. If Etro is dead, there will be no more time, which means no more visions, and thus Yeul will be saved. However, Noel refuses, he wishes to fight Caius to test his skill, then protect Yeul together. Caius insists that "There can only be one." Noel defeats Caius, but will not kill him. Following this, the player witnesses the perhaps most pivotal moment in Noel's life, when Yeul dies in his arms on her 15th birthday.

The pair both snap out of their dreams, and Mog is recovered from being lost in the Void. Noel surmises that they must now stay in this time, where there is no future, so that Serah sees no more visions, lest she die. Serah shuts him up, saying she has made up her mind, she is determined to right the past, no matter what the risk to herself. They jump into a gate! They end up in... New Bodhum? Sort of, it is New Bodhum, but the time period appears to be the same as Noel's blasted wasteland of a future.

The blasted New Bodhum.

A vision of Lightning appears again... however, she is dressed in the livery of her position as champion to the goddess Etro. This is not so much a vision, as a projection of the real Lightning. She apologizes to Serah for getting her into this mess, saying it's Lightning's fault. However, Serah is determined to push on. A gate opens...

Play Time: 35.5 hours
Write Time: 1.5 hours

Final Fantasy XIII-2, Chapter 6: Yeul Tidings

So the pair doesn't really fight Caius... they actually just chase him through the rain-soaked, Cieth-infested streets of Academia. Noel finds it a bit strange that Caius is using proxies rather than engaging them directly. At the termination of a roadway, they find Yeul. Once again, it is not the Yeul that Noel knows. They rescue her from a pack of Cieth, only for her to be thrown in the air by the tentacles of a unique Cieth, one of the Undying.

This beast. As far as the Undying go, it's not too bad. I find certain enemies ability to be "Capable of temporary invulnerability" a waste of time though.

After the battle, Noel holds Yeul in his arms, and she soon passes. It is revealed that as Serah and Noel change the timeline, Yeul sees all. The more visions she sees, the closer she comes to death. Serah realizes their time-travel is causing Yeul to die. Noel reveals that all seers see their own death, but their law forbids them to avoid it, lest they create a contradiction in time, and terrifying consequences. It is a sad fate for the seers, they know of the circumstances of their own death, and none of them live to see 20 years of age.

Noel holds the dying Yeul in his arms. Source.

Yeul leaves an artefact behind, the key to a nearby time gate. The last thing Serah contemplates before stepping through are some of Yeul's words "Caius is not in this city." If that is true, who did Noel and Serah chase?

Stepping through the gate, Noel and Serah find themselves in a huge tower. They are immediately reminded of Caius word's in Academia, "You were imprisoned in that tower." The tower is called Augusta. It was created by the Academy, and seems to be under the control of some kind of AI. They also encounter Alyssa, although, it's not Alyssa. It turns out to be a duplicate, created by the AI. This duplicate helpfully leads the pair to an elevator which will take them to the top of the tower.

"Alyssa" in the Augusta Tower.

As the elevator ride begins, "Alyssa" begins to get a bit weird, or... weirder. A projected image shows Hope and the real Alyssa. There is a conflict between the new AI and its creators, in response, it summons machines that murder Hope and Alyssa! This is the forbidden history, the duplicate explains, as monsters arrive to harry Noel and Serah. The AI wished for the new Fal'Cie to be created with full powers, most notably the power to create l'Cie and Cieth. Hope, understandably, did not agree with this, and was thus put down!

Noel and Serah fight through waves of bots, eventually making it to the top of the tower, where they meet Yeul. This is still not the Yeul that Noel once knew, but she IS a Yeul that Noel KNOWS. What you say? This is 200AF, the same year that Noel and Serah first went to Oerba, and this is therefore the same Yeul they met there. She explains that the Caius in Academia was a fake, but the real one brought her here. The "fake Caius" thing just seems like an unnecessary addition to an already overly complicated plot, in my opinion. This Yeul gives them a key to enter into the AI, after which she sees a vision of a new future, one where people are smiling... and then dies. Caius picks up her body, sheds tears, and says something along the lines of "how many times must I witness this?"

Serah and Noel standing before what I presume is the AI's CPU.

Entering the AI, in what I think is explained as a virtual environment, but it is also a crossroads, like the Void, where time-travel is possible. Erm... The Fabula Nova Chrystallis games don't sweat the deets, what can I say? Either the designers didn't care about details, or the mythology is so complicated it has to be explained quickly in the interest of time. It is quite possibly the latter, as the "mythology" was created first, and was under development for a good many years before the game's release.

Since time-travel is possible in this environment, the man-made Fal'Cie saw it's danger, and traveled back in time to command the AI to create it with full power. Noel and Serah defeat numerous reincarnations of the Fal'Cie, which seems to be recreated in an endless loop, a true paradox. Eventually, Serah gets fed up. Since the Fal'Cie could manipulate the past, perhaps they could too? She yells a message to Hope not to create the damn thing! It works... presumably Hope saw Serah yell this message in an Oracle Drive, and it stopped him from creating the Fal'Cie. If that doesn't make a lot of sense to you, I welcome you again, to the world of Nova Chrystallis!

With the Fal'Cie issue resolved, Noel and Serah are able to travel to an alternate Academia, the one Yeul saw, where people are happy and smiling. They are greeted by... Hope and Alyssa! They slept in a time capsule, which I don't even care to explain. I think you get the idea how this game works. Hope has come up with a new idea, instead of creating a Fal'Cie to float Cocoon, they have discovered that things called "graviton cores" could be used to float Cocoon. They have already begun building a new Cocoon. The cores are not readily available, so it will take Serah and Noel's unique abilities of time-travel to get enough of them.

If the're going to build a whole new Cocoon and go through the trouble of floating it just to move everyone and everything from the old Cocoon, why not just move those people and things to Pulse, right? I dunno man, I dunno.

Once this graviton core quest starts, the middle of the game becomes a bit of fetch quest filler as the two move up and down the timeline to find cores. It is a good excuse to explore all of the areas the game has to offer though. I'm not going to detail this part of the game, it's not all that exciting, but here are some screenshots!

In 300AF, snow falls in the Bresha Ruins. There are some great weather effects in the game, the snow here accumulates on characters and monsters. When it's raining, rain drops appear on screen as if it was an actual camera following Noel and Serah on their quest.

In the Yaschas Massif, there is a series of side-quests that can be obtained from these red orbs, which are the remains of regretful folk swallowed by the advancing chaos.

The Vile Peaks also has a quest that involves traveling the time-line to reassemble a squadron of soldiers who're fighting some powerful creature.

Noel and Serah must cut off the source of its power...

and discover it is Twilight Odin, a dark echo of the Eidolon that Lightning fought here in the previous game.

After collecting all the necessary graviton cores, a new gate appears in Academia. Noel and Serah feel that the conflict is coming to it's head. Does Caius lie on the other side? They try to sneak away unannounced, but Hope and Alyssa catch them just before they enter the gate to send them off! All reminisce about the past, and look forward to a new future, one filled with hope and happiness. As Noel and Serah enter the gate... something is immediately wrong. The Historia Crux begins to fall apart! Noel and Serah can't hang on as they are torn apart in time! The last thing they hear is Alyssa's voice trailing after them, "I had to do something... because in the future you wish to create, I do not exist."

Play Time: 30 hours

Write Time: 2 hours