Final Fantasy XIII-2, Chapter 4: A Faeryl, to Arms!

After the battle with Caius, I resumed the path at Sunleth Waterscape, where I had met Snow. Having fought with the gigantor flan, the three decide they will not be able to defeat it. Well, really Noel does, and scold's Snow for being a hot head. Noel, Serah, and Snow search the area, finding the artefact they need to enter a nearby gate. However, when Snow tries to enter, he is barred, apparently it is not meant for him.

Entering the gate, Noel and Serah emerge on a wind-swept plain of tall grasses. They find a village of hunters, and learn that this is the Archylte Steppe of Pulse. The hunters here are under duress, thanks to a large monster that brings storms with it's approach.

Serah looks out over the dry, dusty steppe.

The hunters need some help, and they also are looking to test Serah and Noel's skills, to see if they can be relied upon. The pair defeat some goblins, and then gather wool from the fuzzy sheep that wander the plains. This time there are big sheep! I did rather like the sheep in FF13, glad to see them back.

Serah chases down some fuzzy sheep to get wool for the hunters.

It's a little ironic that the hunters are having a problem with recurring storms when they have... a device that controls the weather. What? Well it makes a little more sense later on. The device has two levers with four different settings. They result in: windy, sunny, rainy, and stormy (lightning) weather. Each weather brings with it its own set of monsters.

Noel stands at the weather controls, it is currently raining.

When the weather is sunny out, a creature called the Faeryl appears. It is this dragon like beast which causes storms when it opens it mouth. However, it is blocked by the massive Long Gui, which Noel and Serah have no hope of defeating!

The massive Long Gui, as seen through the tall grass of the Archylte Steppe.

Through clever manipulation of the weather machine, Serah and Noel are able to make the Faeryl appear, but then the Long Gui disappear, leaving a clear path.

The Faeryl is a rather sinister looking beast.

After defeating the Faeryl, Noel and Serah figure out both the cause of the storms, and the giant flan in the Sunleth Waterscape as well. The gameplay is fun in 13-2, but get ready for this convoluted explanation, because it is exemplary of the many sub-plots in the game. The Faeryl swallowed a crystal fragment, thinking it was food (maybe they eat crystals? I can't remember). The fragment created a vortex in its stomach, which would then make a windstorm when it opened its mouth, sucking in great amounts of flan. The vortex would then transport them through time and space to Sunleth, where they would combine into the massive flan which was eroding the crystal pillar, and would eventually cause Cocoon to fall. Let that one settle for a second. Welcome to the Nova Chrystalis mythology.

I have here in my notes this: Chocobocolina- Front-runner for "worst ally." This is as good a time as any to introduce her. The "store" in this game is an anthropomorphic chocobo woman who inexplicably also travels through time. She has, shall we say... a bubbly personality? Her puns are to die for, as in, you will want to die. Here is a *SPOILER* video that gives you a taste of her "charm." It's not a big-time spoiler, just spoils some of the DLC. I guess her name is actually Chocolina, but she says "Choco-boco-lina!" all the time...

Chocolina! The self-proclaimed "time-traveling temptress."

Now that they have stemmed the tide of flan, the pair heads back to Sunleth, hoping to find the giant flan weakened. He has... being reduced from the red mega-tomato to the green mutant-tomato! However, Snow's recklessness has gotten the better of him, Serah finds him on his knees, gasping for breath at the base of the monster. Noel and Serah arrive just in time to save him.

The mutant-tomato! Source.

Ooops... there it is.

The pair save Snow and defeat the beast, thus resolving the paradox. Noel berates Snow for his brashness, it seems something happened to Noel in his past that makes him resent this sort of behavior, but we don't know what it is. However, with the resolution of the paradoxical appearance of the giant tomato, Snow begins to sparkle and fade. Serah has reunited with Snow, only to lose him again so soon! Noel explains that the timeline is righting itself, and Snow doesn't belong in this time. Noel and Serah are not affected, probably because of Lightning lending them her powers.

Play Time: 13.5 hours

Write Time: 2.25 hours