#I want to see Lightning and Hope and Fang and Snow and Sazh and Vanille

[tealandbrynnstone]

Hey kingdom hearts please don’t give up on ff characters right as we reach 13 and 15's (and type zero's?) turn to appear in the series, especially right as we go into the part of kh that will make it very obvious that it’s related to/taking heavy inspiration from Fabula Nova Crystallis and kh4 is basically re doing versus 13.

[danaris112]

FFXIII would've been perfect if only it had a camping mechanic

[snvxiii]

My drawing for @creatingblackcharacters' CBC Black HIstory Month Challenge. Thank you for the opportunity to participate!

Since the flood of chaos 500 years ago, Sazh Katzroy fixes an ancient camera, developing a centuries-long passion for photography. He travels all over Nova Chrysalia, capturing day-to-day scenes to showcase the flow of life in a world where time is broken.

To my Black viewers: you deserve to be centered and considered. You deserve lovingly depicted Black characters and representation, with the goal of seeing your joy. I hope you always ask for more, more, and better.

With that statement in mind, I drew my version of Sazh leading the life I wrote he'd have in my canon of Lightning Returns. Close-ups of the three lined arts + head canons are under the cut.

Tagging @fangsded if you want to join in!

Sazh is often bombarded with too much food by the people he helps and their neighbors. He, Dajh, and Celeste still work out in the shell of an airship, but has a small place in the nearby village. It acts as a gallery and storage space for all of their art.

Sazh's favorite area to take photos of is the Wildlands. He especially likes to track the day-night cycle of the local flora, and makes projects of visiting the same spots to log any changes. It's interesting how one can capture change in a world that's stopped changing.

Sazh visits his old friends regularly, as much as he's able. He catches up with Fang every time he goes to the Dead Dunes, taking a much deserved drink. He tries to catch Noel and Snow when he finds them – as hard as that is nowadays – and short meetings with Vanille when able. He gives Lumina letters to sneak to Vanille. (Strangely, none of the photos he takes of Lumina have her appear in them.)

[fangsded]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FINAL FANTASY XIII -LIGHTNING RETURNS!!!!

I just finished Lightning Returns. Holy fuck that ending was BIZARRE but also the exact ending I wanted. I LOVED every second of the main story. I love the anti government/religion, I love the (in my eyes) hints at queerness, I LOVE the reunions, I love that they did closure for the sequel characters?? I LOVE CAIUS/YUEL/NOEL'S ENDING SMMM!!! I love literally everything about the end.

There are just a few things I don't understand:

When Lightning first goes down onto the first little bit of the cathedral, and she talks to Lumina, everything was pretty much okay until Lightning decides to make sure Vanille doesn't do the soul song. When Lightning decides to run off to do that, Lumina suddenly breaks down and begs her not to leave.. AND THEN POOFS AWAY WHEN LIGHTNING LEAVES??? Just go with Lightning, kiddo. It's not like she would've stopped Lumina if she was gonna help? Lumina seems pretty powerful too, she could've been a big help. 😭

When Lightning talks to "Cid." If Lightning could talk to the dead and hear them out better than Vanille could, why didn't they do that sooner than legit the last day to talk? Vanille could hear all of them at once and it was suffocating, but Lightning could hear one guy out that was speaking for all the dead, and actually figure out what to do. Why'd they wait till the very end to suddenly throw that bit of kinda big story at us? Lightning and Vanille could've talked it out and the whole soul song thing could've been stopped way earlier.

If Lightning lost her emotions not because of the gods, but because she shut them away when her mom passed, how come she actually had character in the first game, then suddenly she becomes helpers for God's and becomes emotionless?? Shouldn't she have been emotionless from the start if she "made herself emotionless?" She was pretty emotionless in XIII-2, and Lumina wasn't a thing, so it can't be because Lumina took the emotional part of Lightning and left her with only logic. Plus, if she genuinely couldn't feel any emotion till the very end of the game, why did she care to help Serah, or any of the others, and genuinely care when they were hurt? If she only cared about Serah, she could've saved many other souls, yet she went after people like Snow and Caius who were difficult or even impossible to save. She could've just stuck to finding oil for Bachti and small things like that. 😭😭

Remember these?

She felt genuine emotions like joy, worry, annoyance, and more but those are the pictures I have at the moment. If she lost her emotions because of herself, shouldn't it have been flipped? Where she is emotionless in the first game and grows to show her feelings by LR? She even was really shut off from everything in the very beginning and warmed up to the others enough to show emotion. But no?? more time passes and she shuts off after growing so much in game one???

This one I'm almost more mad about than Hope constantly in your ear bothering you all of LR.

If Noel cared enough about Serah to help at the very end of the game, why didn't he just help though the whole game? He wasn't doing anything after we beat him in the fight other than wandering Luxerion. He could've just tagged along. Lightning told him the goal was to save Serah before they fought and all he cared about was his Yuel, but suddenly at the very end he cares now? I could see why Sazh and Snow didn't tag along. Sazh had Dajh to spend the remainder of time with, and Snow technically had a house to rebuild even though it wasn't worth it since the end of the world was approaching, but I guess it's a better excuse than; "I only care about Yuel right now, so you can save Serah on your own."

If Lightning and Fang knew that Vanille was being manipulated a few days before the end, and Vanille regularly wanders the cathedral later in the day, and at least Lightning knows this, why didn't they just tell her? Maybe Fang knew less and didn't believe she could convince Vanille yet. But Lightning doesn't have an excuse. Lightning found out Vanille was being manipulated and why a few days before the end, and we could go up to Vanille and talk to her still. Why didn't Lightning tell her before the soul song was about to be performed??? She didn't even try at all, maybe if there was a scene where she tried and it didn't work without Fang being there for some reason then maybe the end would make more sense, but it was actually very preventable. Lightning also didn't know that Buhnavelze (or however you spell that thing,) was controlling Hope yet, so maybe Hope could've had a suspicious scene where he tells Lightning to go do something "important" before she tries to tell Vanille? That would've been great.

I also didn't understand "fake Serah" at all? Like, they said things like, "she was a fake the whole time." So that means for how long? Cause the whole time would mean she wasn't ever real including before the L'cie stuff, but I don't think they meant that? Unless they did? They mean just for after she died right? There's no way they mean to say that the whole first game journey was for a fake sister/fiance, right? The whole XIII-2 journey would've also meant nothing because the main character would've been fake, and saving her in LR would be pointless if she was fake the whole time too? So they had to have meant when she randomly appeared to attempt to toy with Lightning, right?

What happened to the fakes anyways? Tf happened to fake Serah? Did she just get cast aside bc she wasn't the real Serah? She explained that she had feelings and a soul, just not Serah's soul, which means she was a real person too. Did I blink and miss the scene where she turned into only a soul too or go into Lightning's heart or something? Cause after all the talk of doing what's right and making sure to save literally everyone except for Caius and most the Yuel's, there's no way they'd cast aside someone like that just because she isn't the actual Serah, right?

Now this one is probably gonna be excused with "they're just optional NPCs!" But I'm still gonna ask.

The fuck did they do? Did they develop mental disorders and become disabled? The side quests are SOOOO dragged out, and all they do is yap and yap. Most the quests are; "go up the hill and find the thing we've been searching for, for 500 years." Or "go find my wife's broken calculator for me that's just over there in the sand by the skeleton. My poor dumb soul can't be saved without that broken calculator." Like, really? Pretty much all the side quests are just nonsense fluff that they could very well do themselves. Why do their souls depend on Lightning doing everything, and why do they talk so much for so long and drag out everything as much as possible? AND WHY DO YOU GAIN LEVELS OFF OF THE DUMBASS FLUFF QUESTS THAT'RE SO SO PAINFUL? WHY WAS BUHNAVELZE SO HARD AFTER DOING MOSTLY ALL THE QUESTS TOO? YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT HE'S EVEN MORE DIFFICULT WITHOUT DOING ALMOST ALL QUESTS? I ALMOST HAD TO START COMPLETELY OVER ON THAT FIGHT 😰

Don't tell me about the four rooms at the end either, the fights in there were also way too hard and I couldn't do a single one. That shit is for new game+

Why is Buhnavelze so annoying? Like, he controlled Hope's body, right? Hope talked in your ear about everything and as many useless things as possible. Real Hope didn't do that. Why is Buhnavelze really damn annoying?

Despite all the flaws, I still love it and will be going rabid over it. This hyper fixation will be the most over the top so far because it's too good. I could make a bigger rant than this about why I love it, but I won't.

Please tell me about these things if you know about them though. I'd love to hear it out and learn why all these things happened the way they did.

[fyresaber]

"ffxiii: episode one" novel commentary & analysis

part vi - lightning

the direct response to fang’s “snow and lightning are gonna be a problem,” being lightning saying “yeah we are,” will never not get me. throuplism. family

her mind goes straight to technology just like hope’s. ffxiii-2 themes ✨

word for word snow’s thoughts while traveling pulse later. and lo and behold, here comes mention of the man 😭 once again we see how lightning perceives herself as the third wheel, an other

another set of passages i've written about extensively— a sister letting her only family, a mother letting her daughter go 🥺

the memory of holding serah’s hand is tied directly to that of lightning’s mother’s death. in trusting snow with her sister she’s ready to move forward from that unprocessed grief as well

it's not presented as heartbreaking but it breaks my heart nonetheless, how lightning felt unneeded to the point of throwing herself to the mercy of the gods. in feeling lost and without a place in this new world, she convinces herself that only she can save fang and vanille and that she’d have to do so on her own, even though they told her to leave them behind and be free, even though snow had these feelings as well.

a good chunk of lightning's pov here revolves around her changed opinion of snow, which was a centerpiece of her ffxiii arc and character. in a quote from her journals in "lightning returns," she recounts her initial vehemence towards snow: "that pendant seemed like it was going to steal away the only family i had left." comparing those threatened, possessing feelings to her willingly passing on her motherly responsibility for serah to snow here reveals the greatest example of her growth as a character.

her openly admitting she leaned on him is like catnip to me. to not appreciate snow's importance to her is to not appreciate lightning herself

another set of passages i've raved extensively about— lightning wants for dajh and hope the things she couldn’t have for herself as a child. which is, the most beautiful thing ever

ffxiii is more found family than all other ffs particularly because of extended analogies like this that have spanned from the prequel, when lightning noted hope was the same age she was when she lost her mom, to here. lightning sees her family in all her friends.

note again lightning’s third wheeling and otherness

i always wish they had elaborated more on the ffxiii-2 secret ending where sazh and dajh work with lightning

i know i call out lightning’s self-sabotage but the truth is she’s so smart, logical, and loving in her reasoning that she’s completely right. being able to layer logic with her insecurities as a reader is what makes the writing good and discussing these characters interesting

when i say both snow and lightning knew from the first this is what i mean. it’s all in the text if you read it

yet another passage i've raved about— especially as it parallels snow's comments about this moment in a later chapter

need the full-length lightning pov novel so i can see her fall in love with pulse with every step

“when had that changed?” a callback to the theme i mentioned in fang’s chapters, as all these characters dismantled their prejudice towards cocoon or pulse

to know that this already beautiful moment with snow had this much more meaning for her— an absolute torrent of emotions. to know that it was literally pulse itself that wore lightning down, letting her drop her walls and let other people like snow in

it’s always interesting to me how many variations there have been of lightning’s journey to valhalla even amongst the xiii writers themselves. i enjoy the energy, spirit, and consensual nature of this one

[nottoxicfr]

LOL That would be funny! I could honestly see Oobleck being like Cid, as a secret l’Cie! Or perhaps a secret Fal'Cie?

How did you decide their Eidolans?

When it comes to their Eidolons, I try to consider a few things:

The characters themselves! That’s probably pretty obvious though… (Yang would summon something like Shiva, Blake might summon Fenrir)

The event the Eidolon is summoned by (Ruby being overwhelmed at the severity of the situation, Oscar being faced with the encroaching end of his time limit in Atlas)

And then I try to connect the character and their events to get an idea of an arc. In FFXIII, they all summon their Eidolons at critical points in their character arcs!

For example, Oscar has a long term desire to be free. In one way, becoming a l’Cie gave him a reason to leave the farm, but in another way it but a collar on him. That’s why he has the brand on his neck, among other reasons! Pegasus is a horse that longs to fly, which is why it has wings.

Blake has the Eidolon Fenrir, which takes the form here as a fearsome and chimeric wolf-beast (that also turns into a motorcycle). Throughout her story, Blake becomes increasingly concerned with the ostracization of l'Cie in the form of Ruby and connects it to her own experience as a Faunus. Fenrir is the culmination of these feelings and her anxieties about her own future.

Also, I try not to do all Final Fantasy summons, even though I obviously don’t stick to that as a rule! More of a guideline. I don’t want to use the Eidolons in the same role, so even though Yang has Shiva, she doesn’t have Nyx. Instead, Shiva is parallel to Yang’s bond as a sister, and her own insecurities about it, and Shiva emerges at a critical point in Vacuo when it comes to a head.

OH MY GOSH CAN THEY HAVE MATERIA SLOTS IN THEIR WEAPONS??!!

They don’t have Materia exactly, but they do have Dust and Magic! When combined, they can basically do the same thing and more! They for sure use Final Fantasy magic though. Oscar is a Red Mage, for example. I try not to think about Paradigm Shifts though.

Are winter and penny a nod at Vanille and Fang?

Winter and Penny aren't entirely a 1:1 nod to Vanille and Fang. They're also sort of meant to reference Sazh and Sazh's son, in that they're two l'Cie being pulled against each other. It works out well since that's a parallel in FFXIII's story too!

Basically, they have their own quest from Venus, like Fang and Vanille had their own quest from Pulse! Basically, they're meant to help awaken the last Fal'Cie and then start the ritual for the Fal'Cie to harvest the souls of Humanity. It's sort of like how Fang and Vanille create Ragnarok, but also like how Barthandalus and the Fal'Cie try to create Orphan.

Winter is Fang, obviously, in that she's the more serious, duty-driven one. At the same time though, she's Sazh in that she strains heavily against the weight of what she has to do. Being a l'Cie means betraying Ironwood, her Kingdom, and herself as a Huntress. She's at a loss when it concerns her quest, so she has no choice but to tag along with her little sister's friends (and Oscar).

I can totally see Penny as Vanille! She has an infectious bubbly personality that I could see filling in a much-needed vibe in the l'Cie group. I also think that her positivity isn't necessarily always genuine. She isn't unaware of her task, and that it would betray all of her new friends, so I think she tries not to focus on it. For the first time in her life, she's out and she's free (even if Winter is there too).

If I had to say who is a nod to whom, then I'd definitely do something like:

Lightning-Ruby

Serah-Ruby/Yang

Hope-Oscar

Snow-Blake/Ruby

Fang-Yang/Weiss

Vanille-Penny

Sazh-Weiss/Winter

That's not necessarily a direct parallel, but I think I came up with their roles in the story by looking at the FFXIII characters in question.

That's not even getting into Team JNPR, who arrive late to the whole story, but they serve to remind the story that it's still set in Remnant. I don't want to lose sight of the RWBY roots while I'm doing all this Final Fantasy stuff.

Even then, Team JNPR has more connections to FFXIII-2 characters! Pyrrha and Jaune are a lot like Serah and Noel, or more tragically like Yeul and Noel.

So…

*steeples fingers*

FFXIII Rosegarden. I must know the inspiration aside from FFXIII being AMAZING (and my childhood) and also RWBY for the same reasons.

Scratch that, I must know everything. This is a crossover I never knew I needed.

I’m sorry this took so long! Seriously, my bad. If you have any questions, please tell me. I promise I won't take three months to answer this time

This will be long.

For inspiration, the short story is that I have a lot of Final Fantasy-RWBY AUs, for basically all the Final Fantasy games I think of regularly (7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16) and even in the scope of Final Fantasy 13, I have a 13-1 and a 13-2 and a 13-3LR AU. I also have a KH AU I've been working on.

This'll just be the Final Fantasy 13-1 AU, though I’ll link the other story details when I post them.

Just to run through a few things, just to set a baseline of how the world works. This is a Remnant where the world increasingly reveals elements from Final Fantasy 13, rather than a true crossover.

For example, the l’Cie and the Fal’Cie are the same idea in concept. The l’Cie are branded servants of the Fal’Cie, mechanical deities serving the Gods themselves. However, in this story, the l’Cie are a fairy tale to even Ozma, which means he only has a strange idea of what they actually are. Only l’Cie really knows what being a l’Cie entails.

A l’Cie is:

Someone who has been branded with a tattoo by a Fal’Cie, essentially the sign that they’ve been given a quest and a vision (a Focus) of what they have to accomplish

The tattoo slowly grows, setting a time limit for their quest. As it grows, the l’Cie also gains the ability to harness magic

However, if they fail to accomplish their task in time, they will be transformed into a monster, a Ci’eth

Someone who is branded naturally attracts Grimm to them, which makes traveling more difficult

Oscar is aged up here a bit, just a year younger than Ruby, and this takes place during a pseudo-Beacon Arc time period.

Oscar is the first l’Cie of the story. His brand is on his neck, under his bandage wraps. His Focus, his quest, is to awaken the slumbering Fal’Cie hidden around Remnant. They were put to sleep when the Brothers left Remnant and, for some reason, they’ve judged it time for them to awaken.

Outside of being a L’cie, he’s just a regular guy at this point and that makes it hard for him to get where he needs to go. For this reason, he hires Ruby to help him get to Forever Fall Forest, which is where he thinks the Fal’Cie he needs to awaken is.

The first arc takes place in Vale, where Oscar’s tremendous bad luck causes a trip that should only take a few hours take several days, which pushes him up the edge of his time limit. Naturally, this puts him in a bad mood, which makes him and Ruby have some friction between them. The situation is somewhat smoothed over when Oscar shows Ruby some magic and he vaguely explains that he needs to get to Forever Fall soon or he’ll die a miserable death.

Ruby distracts him for a little while by talking to him about her Team and asking him about his life. He worked on a farm for most of his life, his aunt died recently, and he’s always wanted to see the world. They fight several packs of Grimm as they hike and Ruby contemplates calling in reinforcements because, for some reason, Oscar insists he’s on a time limit.

They arrive in Beacon where they meet up with WBY and Team JNPR briefly, only to hop on a wagon heading to Forever Fall. Oscar is, at this point, seemingly kind of sketchy. To be fair to him, he’s basically dying.

The arc resolves when Oscar and Ruby plummet down into a sinkhole and find the sleep Fal’Cie of Forever Fall, Behemoth, who brands Ruby simply for being nearby. Now, aside from being paid, Ruby has been dragged into this race to awaken the Fal’Cie, much to the frustration of Oscar. He doesn’t feel comfortable with that, but there’s not a lot he can do but beg an uncaring Fal’Cie to unbrand her.

On the upside, Oscar is given an extension of his time limit and a new vision. He needs to go to the floating city in the sky (Atlas) next, which is where he needs to find the twin Fal’Cie sleeping there.

Ruby is branded as the second l’Cie. She has a brand at her collarbone, hidden under her shirt. Her Focus is to awaken the slumbering Fal’Cie as well, although she also catches further glimpses into the future that put an emphasis on encroaching darkness.

This starts the second arc, Atlas, or the journey to Atlas.

It kicks off when Ruby essentially runs away without telling anyone, under the assumption that once Oscar and her finish their quest, she’ll come back and explain everything. It’s not a very good plan, but she’s understandably occupied by everything that’s going on with her life right now. Ruby and Oscar try and fail to rent a car because they’re both underage. Following this, Ruby tries to buy them tickets directly to Atlas, which doesn’t work because travel to Atlas has suddenly jammed up. Instead, they have to take an indirect route from Anima (the Mistal continent) to Mantle, which takes a few more days but that’s fine.

Yang is, understandably, incredibly distressed that her sister seems to have given up her dreams of being a Huntress to chase after a boy she met three days ago. She reports this to Qrow, who tells Ozpin, who tries to get an understanding of what happened. Yang tells Ozpin about the weird stuff that she heard Oscar and Ruby talking about before, which entails something about Fal’Cie and l’Cie and the Kingdom of Atlas. 

She suspects Ruby has joined a cult and is, again, incredibly distressed.

As stated before, the words l’Cie and fal’Cie are like myths to Ozma. They’re messengers of the Gods and assistants to their angels and, most importantly, they’re almost synonymous with great change. Not good or bad, just big changes in the world. This rings alarm bells in Ozpin’s mind, though not to the point of overreaction.

Ozpin asks Yang to take Team WBY and go after her sister, just to make sure she’s alright and to try and bring her and Oscar back. Ozpin wants to speak with both of them over this supposed l’Cie business. Qrow says he’ll do some scouting ahead to search for them, hopefully, to wrap this whole thing up quickly. He’s not too fond of the idea that some kid swept Ruby away from Beacon.

Ozpin informs his inner circle about all of this, just to keep them updated. It seems like Ruby and Oscar are headed to Anima and then to Atlas, they’re talking about l’Cie stuff which is crazy because, etc…etc… He wants Leonardo to investigate Oscar Pine, he wants Ironwood to try and bring them both in and most importantly, Ozpin just wants to talk.

The lack of details makes Ironwood have a bit of an overreaction. The l’Cie are agents of change in the world and, with the Vital Festival on the horizon, it seems more likely to him that these “l’Cie” are probably going to cause a negative effect. He mobilizes some of his elite forces to capture Ruby and Oscar, as well as putting out wanted posters on Scrolls that these two people are wanted for questioning. It’s a bit of an overreaction, but in his mind, it’s better to be cautious when it comes to mysterious things that haven’t been heard of since Ozma was a child.

Leonardo reports this to Salem soon after, having defected to her not that long ago. Just as troubled by this reappearance of a fairy tale from her childhood as Oz was, she tells Cinder to go find them. She can kill one of them, but she needs the other one to question about what’s going on.

To summarize:

Yang, Blake, and Weiss are chasing after Ruby and Oscar from Vale. Qrow is also looking for them as a bird.

Ironwood told Winter and some of her troops to go to Mistral and cut them off. He also made wanted posters for them.

Salem told Cinder to go find Oscar, who told Roman to spread the word and find them.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Oscar’s air ferry to the port crash lands because, apparently, l’Cie magic disagrees with technology. They have no idea they’re being chased until Ruby sees a wanted poster on her Scroll, detailing that Oscar is a potential terrorist and Ruby is either an accomplice or a hostage. This causes Ruby to freak out and summon her Eidolon, essentially a summoned spirit meant to assist a l’Cie in the quest. She and Oscar have to subdue it before it attacks the people on the crashed ferry, because a freshly summoned Eidolon is naturally berserk.

Her Eidolon is Carbuncle, which basically takes the form of a giant wolf-cat when it is going berserk and is much smaller after being tamed. It has the ability to produce elemental dust from a gemstone in its forehead and is, generally, more of a support Eidolon.

They have to run now because Carbuncle managed to destroy a hefty part of the ferry while it was attacking them, which upgrades them from potential terrorists to probable terrorists, even if it’s only on accident.

This is as far as I’ve written properly because I’ve also been writing a dozen other things. As I said before, I have a lot of Final Fantasy AUs. However, I do have vague details on how things progress from there.

Ruby and Oscar run into Yang, Blake, and Weiss just as they arrive in the port town where they have to board a boat. They end up getting into a fight, Ruby verbally and Oscar physically, because of the miscommunications involved. It’s hard to explain being a l’Cie to someone who doesn’t have the context of apparently sleeping Gods under Remnant. For the most part, Oscar’s part of the fighting ends up being running away and casting magic, which baffles all three of the Huntresses (because of genuine magic) and ends up casting a Thunder (Thundara) spell too close to Blake. This knocks her out.

They board the boat, just barely managing to escape from Ruby’s teammates and there’s a climactic moment where Yang has to watch the boat depart without being able to chase after them. WBY makes plans to keep up the pursuit as soon as they can, with Qrow flying ahead to Mistral.

When Ruby and Oscar get to Mistral, where they’ll board another ferry to go to the north and then get on a boat, there’s a scene that plays out similarly to when Snow rescues Lighting and Hope in FF13.

Winter corners Ruby and Oscar in a plaza with her troops, putting handcuffs on Ruby, only for Yang to show up on a motorcycle and rescue both of them. Blake and Weiss provide supporting fire and they all escape to the rooftops to get away. This puts Mistral on high alert, which shuts down the air ferry, complicating matters significantly. Still, Ruby and Oscar are grateful they weren’t captured. At this point, Ruby’s brand is halfway developed.

They all talk things over and, although WBY don’t necessarily believe everything they’re saying, they decide to help them get to Atlas. Yang also frets over Ruby’s tattoo-brand, which feels relaxingly normal to the group.

While all of that is going on, Cinder begins to make moves towards Atlas, planning to take advantage of the chaos the l’Cie are causing to damage Atlas and capture them. Salem is contemplating what to do about the awakening Fal’Cie, who is purging the overpopulation of Grimm in the world.

Oscar summons his Eidolon, Pegasus, which can turn into a motorbike with wings.

Ruby falls off of Atlas, but is saved by Oscar in a Bullhead.

When they get to Atlas and awaken one of the Fal’Cie there, WBY gets branded as l’Cie. It’s kind of like a spreading curse, and eventually, it will reach JNPR too. That comes later on though.

One of the Fal’Cie is located under Mantle, Vulcan, and the other one is located on the under side of the island of Atlas, Venus. WBY is entirely branded by Vulcan, and Winter and Penny are branded by Venus (though this isn’t something RWBYO is aware of).

There’s only one more Fal’Cie to awaken after this, which is located in Vacuo.

-Oscar awakened the Mistral one

Ruby and Oscar awakened the Vale one

Ruby, Oscar, Yang, Blake, and Weiss awaken Vulcan, which awakens Venus

The last one is in Vacuo. JNPR and Oscar will end up awakening it by falling into a ravine (Woo!)

The final stage of the story reveals that the Fal’Cie want to harvest the collected souls of Humanity so they can use that power to evolve into a God themselves and follow after their creators. They despise Humanity and resent having to serve the inferior creations of the Brothers. Everyone takes a stance on what to do about that, though the main characters decide to fight that. This goes against their final vision, which tells them they are meant to assist in harvesting the souls of Humanity. This is called Humanity's Fall!

Pyrrha does get stabbed in the process and possibly dies, which relates to the RWBY x Final Fantasy 13-2 AU. I love interconnecting these things.

I love talking. If you have any questions or ideas about anything, please ask. Please. Again, my bad. It's been a rough few months.

[rosafulmen]

random  wishlist  of  ideas  i’d  love  to  explore  for  light  (  kind  of  an  ice-breaker,  kind  of  like  a  springboard  )  :

anything  in  her  verses  tag.  or,  when  looking  more  at  the  themes,  explorations  of  guardianship  and  its  failings,  what  makes  a  god  a  god  (  the  question  of  benevolence  verses  malevolence  ),  clawing  oneself  from  the  brink,  themes  of  found  family  and  love  despite  unfathomable  odds.

explorations  of  the  verses  xiii  lore;  including,  but  not  limited  too  :  the  influence  of  etro,  light’s  memories  as  ‘the  saviour’  and  what  that  means  for  this  new  world,  watching  the  war  of  a  world  she  helped  bring  about  (  all  the  while  knowing  most  of  the  world  has  no  memory  of  her  or  her  friend’s  sacrifices  ),  themes  of  faux  gods,  worship  and  the  suspension  of  vahalla.  there  are  so  many  themes  that  can  be  snatched  from  both  xiii  and  xv,  take  your  pick.

i  have  to  properly  write  out  my  kingdom  hearts  verse,  but  literally  anything  in  that.  lightning  and  her  sister  were  from  radiant  garden  but  she’s  very  estranged  from  the  main  crew.  let  her  mentor  the  kids.  let  the  kids  crack  past  her  protective  layer  to  all  those  themes  of  hope,  perseverance,  and  strength  of  heart.  watch  light  panic  when  serah  runs  off  to  help  them.  let  her  begrudgingly  assist  because  she  claims  she  ‘doesn’t  care  about  them’  (  she  absolutely  does ).

anything  to  do  with  the  horror  /  existentialism  of  being  the  saviour???  the  very  fact  light  had  no  guarantee  she  would  remember  people  in  the  next  world  and  vice  versa  so  every  ‘saving’  was  just  a  heralding  to  death.  that  liminal  space  of  being  like  ‘we  have  no  promise  of  tomorrow,  so  let’s  live  for  today’.

same  deal  with  l’cie,  just  a  different  topping.  what  if  tomorrow  our  brands  advance  and  we  lose  ourselves.  what  makes  us  who  we  are.  what  makes  us  monsters  ?  just  all  the  horror  of  gran  pulse  and  seeing  those  cie'th  stones.

angst.  i  am  an  angst  fiend.  again,  the  xiii  verse  deals  with  a  lot  of  themes  of  loss  /  death  and  how  people  cope  with  it.

anything  where  light  is  a  bodyguard  sounds  absolutely  hilarious.  let  her  make  flying  commentary  under  her  breath  while  your  muse  holds  it  together.  let  them  take  her  to  places  she  would  HATE.

i’ll  probably  expand  on  this  later,  this  is  just  a  dump.

character  specific:

hope  —  to  this  day,  i  have  still  not  roleplayed  with  a  hope  and  i  am  DESPERATE  to  explore  the  bond  between  them.  give  me  all  the  themes  of  family  and  light  coming  to  terms  with  how  poorly  she’s  treated  serah  through  him.  let  her  do  right  by  hope.  let  her  love  him,  protect  him  and  watch  him  become  a  man.  give  me  all  the  themes  of  how  his  name  embodies  what  he  is  to  her.

serah  —  a  lot  of  the  same  themes  as  hope.  ALSO  if  serah’s  want  to  indulge  in  my  snow/light  angst  i  will  just  eat  that  up  for  breakfast.  it’s  the  absolute  self-hatred  lightning  has  that  her  sister  is  in  crystal /  dead  and  she’s  alive  and  she’s  still  managing  to  ruin  her  life.  how  serah  responds  is  totally  up  to  you.  also  themes  of  sisterhood  and  companionship.  let  them  go  to  coffee  shops.  let  light  teach  her  how  to  do  her  hair  and  makeup  when  their  mother  died.  PLEASE.

snow  —  hi,  i  ship  them.  outside  of  that,  just  the  development  of  their  bond  ;  where  light  once  considered  him  an  adversary,  now  he  is  a  friend.  how  his  staunch  optimism  imprinted  on  her  to  the  degree his  ambivalence  in  returns  gave  her  the  worst  anxiety  attack  of  her  life.

fang  —  how  two  women  can  be  the  same  but  also  very  different.  themes  of  guardianship  and  looking  after  those  smaller/weaker  than  you  (  the  costs,  the  sacrifices,  etc  ), drawing  strength  from  each  other.  the  growing  pains  and  awkwardness  of  two  people  primed  for  war  now  having  to  all  but  domesticate  at  the  end  of  LR.

vanille  —  a  lot  of  the  same  themes  of  sisterhood  that  i  applied  to  serah.  exploration  of  godhood  and  its  flaws  (  girlie  you  absolutely  did  not  need  to  pull  your  shit  in  LR,  love  you  ).

sazh  —  dajh’s  awkward  babysitter,  lightning.  i  love  the  role  he  took  in  xiii  as  a  sort  of  semi-parental  figure  /  guide.  he  wasn’t  overbearing  or  pushed  boundaries,  but  there  was  a  mutual  exchange  of  ideas  and  advice.  let  him  complain  his  bones  are  old  and  creaking  but  he’s  loving  every  second  of  it  and  light  just  smirks  so  sardonically  and  ups  the  anti.

[digitalriyasaga]

I really love this game.

When I started, I wasn’t sure. The first few hours are rough.....Just fight after fight and they all play the same way. Nothing to show off the cooler abilities or interesting options you can get with the paradigm system. Constantly shifting from group to group as they all converge on Serah. It wasn’t very fun. I wasn’t sure about continuing, but I wanted to see what happened next, so I pushed on.

But then.....The plot really started to kick in. And it was so good. The characters in this game as so well done. I love all of them. They’re so multifaceted.

Lightning, who’s spent so long being the tough big sister she thought she had to be that she doesn’t have anything else. Wanting to push everyone away, but at the same time, unable to bring herself to let everything go. Wanting to hope, but unable. Not even able to give a false one to others; even at times a toxic influence, dragging them down dark paths. A hero losing her way.

Snow, so determined to be a hero, but grappling with the reality of what that actually means. Slapped in the face brutally by what a “hero” really is, desperate not to admit that Serah was gone, lost when he finds out what he thought he was meant to do was the complete opposite, not knowing what to do or why. And yes, as the gifs show, two of my favourite moments are Lightning decking him. He was so unsufferable at the start, but developed so well!

Fang, so strong and cool, hell bent on protecting Vanille, but harbouring a lot of bitterness and spite for Cocoon and its people, pessimistic, almost unable to really believe that there’s anything they could do but slavishly obey their Focus. How does she really feel about her amnesia?

Hope, disliking his dad, losing his mum. Viewing Light as a mentor in violence, wanting to learn from her so he can become strong enough to kill Snow, even though he knows it won’t change anything.

Sazh, a devoted father, stuck in an impossible situation. His son taken from him and, because of the Pulse fal’Cie, now his enemy, and tasked with destroying his son’s whole world, at that. His previous stress turning to desperation enough to put himself on the Purge train, then suicidal despair. Protective of kids, even when he should hate them; so much so, he can’t even bring himself to take revenge on the one responsible for Dajh’s condition.

Vanille, most of all, outwardly cheerful and energetic, but holding so, so much darkness inside. Haunted by the things she and her partner must have done during the war, and guilt at not having been the one to do the most terrible things, feeling like she just stood aside. Seeming to be carefree, but burdened by so much fear, too, to the point that she’s less afraid to die than for the truth to come out. Implictly suicidal, but....Not faking her happiness, either. Someone who can enjoy the little things while they’re there.....While expecting, and planning, not to have them for very long.

All of these characters are so good! Seeing the way they were gradually built up, giving their conflict much more meaning.....I get, now, why they focused so much on those 13 days. Letting us get to spend time with the characters and slowly discover how their stories all intersected gave it so much more weight as the truth came out.

It would be so easy and cheap to just have the reveal of Vanille’s origin, or relation to Sazh’s backstory be some shock reveal that’s instantly dealt with, for example. But it didn’t. Throughout, Vanille’s melancholy narration contrasted with her cheerful attitude. Moments where her despair showed, or hints in dialogue of her origin, built it up slowly.

Meanwhile, Lightning didn’t just get turned instantly around to liking Hope. Being her and Hope, fighting together with them, gave it that feeling of taking time for them to bond, and together with the spread out, smaller cutscenes, helped it feel organic. Not some forced thing where they spend one afternoon together and suddenly they’re family.

Not to mention the way the world was built. There are a lot of details I wish were shown in the game, rather than just in the datalog. A lot of things just aren’t explained if you don’t go looking for it, and that’s a problem. But even so, Cocoon is very well developed, I think. The nature of that world, the society, the way the people are, showed themselves very well. And because of that, it absolutely sold things, like Hope’s despair at being turned into a Pulse l’Cie and thinking his life was over, or how Fang thought Cocoon had it coming. Honestly, for most of the game, I would’ve been on her side there.....I often thought that the people of Cocoon didn’t deserve their life, too. Because they were racist, xenophobic bastards. But, getting to know the characters, learning about Dajh, Serah.....I couldn’t wish for it to be destroyed when it was their home. Or when it was the place that Light, Snow, Sazh and Hope came from.

[razieltwelve]

Poker Game (Final Rose)

Lebreau had intended for the poker game to be a friendly gathering between friends. They could laugh, joke around, and enjoy some snacks. That was not what she got.

Vanille and Jahne had turned the poker game into a war zone. It did not help that Summer was using the poker game as a proxy for actual combat whilst Serah seemed determined to send everyone else home in tears. The only person acting normally was Lumina who offered Lebreau a bowl of potato chips as she sat back down.

“Is this really okay?” Lebreau murmured.

Lumina shrugged. “This isn’t that bad. You should have seen what poker games were like before Lightning and Fang learned to get along.” She paused. “Also, not having Yeul here keeps the accusations of Semblance cheating to a minimum since all of us are powerful enough to notice if Serah decides to meddle with time.”

X     X     X

Meanwhile...

“Ah, really? I can’t believe you had those.” Snow laughed and tossed his cards onto the table as Caius chuckled and moved the stack of chips over to his pile.

“You should have folded like those two,” Caius said, nodding at Sazh and Taiyang, both of whom had folded rather than test Caius’s meddle.

“Maybe, but I want to see if you really had a winning hand.” Snow shrugged. “Maybe next time you won’t.”

“Caius is pretty sneaky,” Hope said before he glanced at the clock. “I should probably get going soon...”

“Relax,” Qrow said. “Caius can give you a ride back, right?”

Caius nodded. “I know you came her via rapid transport since you’re only a two-hour flight away, but I have a Semblance at my disposal that can get you back almost instantly, so stay a little longer.”

“Yeah, I guess I can do that.” Hope got up. “But if you’re going to be teleporting me back, I don’t have to worry about having more beer. Anyone else want some?”

[fabulanovariya]

Ah.....This game is trying hard to make me feel things. But I just....Can’t?

I don’t think I can really get along with this game.

I feel like I’m just slogging through it so I can have a complete picture for Lightning Returns. I can’t engage with this for its own merits, though I am trying, because I’m always thinking “I’d rather be playing XIII again.”

I want to see Lightning, Sazh, Hope, Fang, Vanille, and even Snow. I want to have a party, not just Serah and Noel and a third spot filled by interchangeable monsters that don’t matter to me emotionally.

It doesn’t even make sense mechanically.....The party focused battle system has just been retrofit to accomodate a story with only two playable characters.

I’m really trying to be into this game, but I don’t think I can.

[finalfantasyandnerdiness]

Want

Prompt from the discord server by @imlilyyfromff13: “I want to kiss you.” 

Fandom: FFXIII (post!LR)  Pairing: Hope/Light

A short one-shot about Lightning confronting Hope about becoming a self-destructive workaholic again. 

For the eighth time in about the same number of minutes, Hope’s phone buzzed. He picked it up from the kitchen table, glanced at it, frowned, and then put it down again. Lightning sighed. Serah pursed her lips in annoyance. Sazh muttered something about kids and their addiction to anything with a touch screen. Fang and Vanille exchanged a look that probably carried a full conversation only they could understand. Snow kept shoveling pie into his mouth as if he hadn’t even noticed.

Months ago, right after they’d all arrived in the new world, Serah had declared that Sunday nights were family dinner nights. She’d decided that once a week, they would all gather at her and Snow’s house—and somehow, she’d managed to make it a mandatory thing. Some excuses were acceptable, like Noel and Yeul being abroad, but that was about as far as Serah’s leniency went. Sunday nights were family dinner nights. Period.

Lightning had always been a loner at heart, but even she found joy in these little gatherings. Everyone was so busy living their own lives nowadays that if they hadn’t all feared being hunted down by a passive-aggressive Serah, they probably wouldn’t have been able stay in touch like this—a thought of that scared Lightning more than she would ever admit. She finally had a family again, and she wanted to keep it. Even if it meant having weekly dinners in a kitchen that definitely wasn’t big enough for the entire gang.

The room wasn’t quite as crowded now as when Noel and Yeul was in town, but the seating arrangement was still far from comfortable. Lightning had to dodge Snow’s elbow every time the big buffoon reached for something, and her thigh was pressed flush against Hope.

It was fascinating, really, how the warmth of Hope’s leg could somehow be more distracting than the risk of getting elbowed in the face.

Hope’s phone buzzed.

“Could you please turn that off?” Serah asked. “The world won’t end just because you’re unavailable for an hour.”

“You’re giving the world way too much credit,” Hope muttered. He ran his fingers through his silver hair, a deep wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. The ever-growing concern in Lightning’s chest nagged at her. Hope’s eyes were surrounded by dark circles, and every time she saw him he seemed to have lost another pound or two.

When Hope had said that he wanted to work as a researcher again, she’d been happy for him. Of course he’d want to figure out how the science of the new world worked, and of course he’d want to help people find ways to make their new lives work in this unfamiliar environment. What she hadn’t realized was just how much everyone would come to rely on him. Everyone seemed to want a piece of his intellect and his lifetimes of experience. He was being torn apart right before her eyes, and there was nothing she could do about it. Every time she brought it up, he just brushed it off. They’d been partners once, but now, he wouldn’t let her in. He’d shut her out.

“Hope…” She glanced up at him. “The world isn’t your responsibility anymore, you know? Just because everyone wants your help doesn’t mean you have to be there for them constantly. You have to think about what you want, too.”

“I can’t have what I want.” There was a strange combination of heat and sorrow in his eyes when he met her gaze. “I don’t deserve it.”

Lightning fell silent as she tried to get her emotions under control. She sometimes wondered if Hope had any idea how frustratingly attractive he was, with his chiseled jawline, full lips, and ocean-green eyes that still gleamed with an understanding of the universe that no other human on the planet possessed.

She also sometimes wondered if he knew how he made her brain malfunction by simply looking at her. 

It wasn’t his appearance that made her feel the way she did. Seeing him as an adult had only made the final puzzle piece of her conflicting emotions fall into place. And now, when she’d finally realized what their bond truly meant to her, he was shutting her out.

Hope’s phone buzzed.

Serah gave him a glare that could have slayed a behemoth. “That’s it, Hope, you’re turning—”

“It’s okay.” Hope gave the screen a final glance before standing up. “I’ve got to go. Thanks for the dinner, Serah. It was perfect, as always.”

“Hope…” Serah paused. After countless dinners ending the exact same way, they all knew that there was nothing they could do to make him stay.

Lightning watched him leave the kitchen, his narrow frame slimmer than ever, and just… reacted. This time it was her elbow that nearly connected with Snow’s face when she rushed after Hope. She caught up with him in the hallway as he was putting on his coat.

“Enough.” She placed herself between him and the door.

“What?”

“I said enough.”

They stared at each other. Hope’s face went from confusion to annoyance to melancholy in a matter of seconds.

“I really have to go, Light,” he said, giving her a humorless smile. “We can talk later.”

“There will never be a ‘later’, and you know it.” Lightning leaned back against the door, effectively blocking his only escape route. “We’re still partners, right? Or did that change when we arrived here?”

Hope blinked. “Of course we are. Nothing will ever change that.”

“Then, as your partner, I’m putting my foot down.” Lightning raised her chin and crossed her arms. “I’m not going to stand by and watch you tear yourself apart to keep the world afloat. Not again.” She swallowed hard. “Never again.”

“Light…” Hope slowly approached her until their bodies were only inches apart. Lightning’s heart began to race. She refused to look away, though. She was taking a stand, and she was not going to let her emotions get in the way of that.

“If you’re going to say you’re fine, then save it. I know you’re not. Have you looked at yourself lately? Can’t you see what this is doing to you?” A hint of desperation somehow found its way into her voice. “You’re putting the needs of others over your own, and I… I feel like I’m losing you again.”

“I’m sorry, Light. I never meant to… I’m sorry.” Hope looked down. “It’s just that everything’s a mess, and considering the part I played in all of this, I feel like it’s my responsibility to fix it.”

“It’s not. That responsibility lies on humanity as a whole now. You and I… We may have contributed to the destruction of the old world, but we also helped creating this.” Lightning nodded toward the kitchen, where their little mess of a family chatted and laughed together. “A new world. A blank page. We create our own fates now. I know it’s hard—trust me, I know it is—but we deserve a new start too. It’s time for all of us to start living the lives we want to live, and that includes you.” She gently stroked a wayward strand of hair from his forehead. “What do you want, Hope?”

“What I want?” He looked up at her, letting out a bitter sound that wasn’t quite a snort but not quite a laugh either. A shiver ran down her spine. He had that look in his eyes again, hot and sad and hungry. “I don’t think you want to know.”

“Try me.”

He hesitated. “There is one thing I want. More than anything.” He cupped her cheek in his hand, his gaze lowering until it landed on her lips. Another moment of hesitation passed. 

“I want to kiss you.”

Lightning’s eyes widened. Her cheeks burned. Her heart pounded hard enough to drown out her thoughts—which thankfully wasn’t that much of a problem. In this situation, she didn’t need to think.

“Then kiss me.”

Hope’s lips crashed into hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his as her back slammed into the door. Her head spun, and all her repressed emotions sprung into life. This was what she’d been craving ever since she first saw him in the new world. This was how things were supposed to be. This was right.

Their kiss deepened. The rest of the world seemed to disappear. All she could focus on was him—his smell, his warmth, his hands in her hair, and his impossibly soft lips.

When he finally pulled back, an astonished smile played on his lips. Soon, he would most likely rush out the door as usual to once again fix whatever it was that someone had screwed up, but this time he’d at least gotten something he wanted for himself—something she’d been more than happy to give it to him. She wasn’t delusional enough to believe that a kiss would change his self-destructive behavior, but maybe, just maybe, it was a start.

“What about you?” he murmured, slightly out of breath. “What do you want, in this hypothetical utopia of yours?”

She smiled. That was probably the easiest question he could have possibly asked her.

“You.”

[gemstonerose]

Changes/Improvements I would like to be made when Square decides to make a FFXIII Remaster.

Just booted up FFXIII again and was thinking about what could be improved if they ever decided to make a remaster (which I hope for!!). All this comes from my experience with the game and from complaints that I hear. (Mostly gameplay based)

The ability to control all active party members.

Pretty obvious. We have three active members on the field we should be able to change to one of them when the party leader falls instead of the battle ending right there.

Being able to move around the character you are controlling in battle.

Too many times has an enemy pushed my party into the corner dealing massive damage. Or other party members leading the enemy to my character. Being able to move the leader would help improve the game play and avoid unnecessary game overs if the ability to not switch characters isn't implemented. Ot doesn't even need to be a lot. Just being able to move the character left and right would be a good improvement.

Increase CP/EXP gains.

A behemoth should not be giving less exp then a group of slugs. Not only that there are a couple of bosses before Pulse that are notorious for being difficult and needing to max out chosen characters main 3 trees in order to beat them. Also teaching characters new roles cost and arm and a leg of exp.

Optional Auto-Attack feature.

The auto-attack button doesn't bother me, but I have heard some complaints about it. So, give the option to turn it on or off. This could be on the title screen when you choose new game or in the settings menu.

Increase drop rates along with more ways to obtain money.

Farming in this game sucks. You can go through a difficult battle and not get anything from it. It's annoying. Also, give us a way to get more money. Things in the shops are expensive and money feels so scarce. Maybe it is a metaphor for the game idk. Still annoying.

The over world camera.

I forgot how wonky the over world camera is. It moves around a lot and puts you in weird angles that can be difficult to adjust on it's own. Maybe it's just me. So a more steady camera.

More character interactions.

13 revolves around the gaggle of people brought together due to a series of unfortunate events. It be nice to see more interactions between them. Like Fang and Hope, or Lightning and Vanille for example. Maybe side quest with specific characters?

The ability to back track.

In others FF games you can back track to certain places. This should be the same with 13. Make it a 3 stage side quest. Part 1 is Sazh finding an old Pulse airship in decent condition. We go around collecting parts for the body. Hope and Fang are helping him put it together. Part 2 is gathering engine parts and the first flight test. Something goes wrong with the engine cue gathering parts for it. Part 3 is the final test and flying to a random place to fight a mini boss and done. Now we have an airship.

Let us play as Serah during the events of when she got branded.

Ngl, it was hard for me to care about wanting to save the girl due to how little we knew about her and from what was shown wasn't really the best. Yes, I do like her more now, but that was after the 2nd game. It could be like a prologue that we unlock after seeing her crystal in the lake area or getting Snow back in the party with her tear. It would play out the events leading up to her branding and even showing a bit after that. Maybe even seeing what happened to her after getting capture.

That's all I got right now. Just a few things that stood out to me. What other additions would you guys like for FFXIII remaster?

[starlitskvader]

sazh from ff13 and lightning from ff13!

Sazh!

Favorite thing about them: the way he just keeps truckin, and never really loses his humor. And the whole Exasperated Dad aura.

least favorite thing about them: That he didn't get to fight Jihl. I was robbed. He was robbed. WE were robbed.

favorite line Fang: Believe in Lady Luck now?

Sazh: Yeah--Lady Bad Luck! (This is the line that convinced me to play the game. He is so furious about this bullshit. I laugh every time.)

brOTP: Vanille! Their dynamic is GREAT.

OTP: Is... is there even anyone in his age group who isn't horrible?

nOTP: I have run across Sazh/Vanille. Eeech.

random headcanon: Given his affinity for the chick and his Chocobo Feather Eidolith... I like to think he used to be a chocobo racer before becoming a pilot.

unpopular opinion: best character in the game. I get why Fang, Lightning, and even Snow are more popular, but... he is the Best.

song i associate with them: His theme music is really good? Little bit frantic, little bit cheerful, just complex enough.

favorite picture of them

return of baby

Aaaand Lightning

Favorite thing about them: Nothing about her makes sense. She's just allowed to run on pure Cool (without ever having to be 'tamed' or 'put in her place'). I like that in a lady.

least favorite thing about them: honestly slightly disappointed Odin doesn't actually yeet her at the monsters like his summon sequence implies he's gonna do In all seriousness I am caught between it really is great that she's allowed to be unapologetically prickly and would you please just talk to people, but she does get better.

favorite line Orphan: You overreach yourselves. Lightning: No. We overreach you. (hell yeah)

brOTP: Hope. The 'aggressively pretends not to care/oh shit am I mom' is good.

OTP: Fang. IT'S A GOOD DYNAMIC.

nOTP: I just know there are Lightning/Snow shippers and I want no part of that

random headcanon: Look I know her name was changed from Éclair to Claire for the western release but I still believe a tiny part of the reason she changed her name to Lightning was because Serah kept calling her silly pastry nicknames and she didn't want anyone else to start.

unpopular opinion: I see people criticizing her callous personality at the start, and I agree that the way she reacted to Serah and Snow was kinda hard to watch but on the whole? it's a miracle she's as well adjusted as she is. Besides, more lady characters should get to be abrasive jerks without being crucified for it.

song i associate with them: My Hands, what else?

favorite picture of them

look at this pink pony princess (: megan williams eat your heart out.

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy XIII Review

Year: 2009

Original Platform: PlayStation 3

Also available on: Xbox 360, PC, Android, iOS

Version I Played: PlayStation 3

Synopsis:

On the planet Cocoon, those who come into contact with anything from the planet Pulse are purged to that planet. Pulse is a feared planet full of monsters and strange creatures. Both planets are ruled by fal’Cie, mechanical godlike beings who sometimes brand humans as their servants for specific tasks, called a focus. Those who fulfill their focus are turned into crystals and obtain eternal life. Those who do not fulfill their focus turn into mindless monsters. Lightning is a former soldier whose sister, Serah, is branded by a fal’Cie and taken to be purged. Lightning sets off to rescue her.

Gameplay:

Going to say this now – the worst gameplay in the entire Final Fantasy series.

The battles are Active Time Battles but instead of you inputting individual commands, there are what’s called paradigms. Paradigms are somewhat like Job Classes from the old Final Fantasy games, except less fun and more automated. You can switch to a Medic paradigm in battle and every time you press “Auto-Battle” your character automatically performs a series of necessary cure and restore spells, based on what’s going on in the battle. The Sentinel paradigm specializes in keeping the enemy at bay. The Ravager paradigm uses magic. The Commando paradigm uses physical attacks. You get the picture.

As a result, the gameplay could be best described as:

With occasional switching of paradigms whenever you see fit. You can set up a number of combinations across the characters. Two Commandos and one Sentinel. One Sentinel and one Ravager and One Commando, etc.

The party automatically heals after each battle – you can even press start during a battle and restart the battle.

I probably only used an item once or twice. I honestly don’t see why they bothered putting any items if you hardly ever use them.

You can upgrade your weapons with pieces and junk you find after battles. You find so many of them that you hardly ever think about what you’re upgrading so long as whatever you make upgrades your stats. Is this better? No? What about this? Okay, good. Moving on.

Like Final Fantasy X, the game is linear. Much more linear. You follow a long hallway for about 30 hours of the game before you can do sidequests. The sidequests involve completing other people’s focus. That’s about it. There are no towns, no inns, no villages. You are entirely on the road, constantly in battle (Okay, there’s like one time where Sazh and Vanille are in a casino or something but that’s about it).

I wrote a blog piece a while back about what exactly was wrong with Final Fantasy XIII, and it’s not that it’s linear. We play really great linear games all the time. It’s the automation – the feeling that you’re not really doing anything.

There isn’t an ounce of customization. Leveling up is similar to the Sphere Grid of Final Fantasy X. It’s called the Crystarium but it follows a strict path. You can’t actually stray anywhere or customize anything. If that’s the case, why bother making you open the menu to level up through the Crystarium? Why not just automatically do it? I guess they want to give you some ounce (more like a milligram) of control over the game.

Basically – you’re watching a long movie and occasionally get to move the people around. That’s how I see it.

Graphics:

PLAYSTATION 3 HD GRAPHICS HOMG DO YOU HAVEA BONER YET? LOOK AT THIS. FIRST FINAL FANTASY GAME IN GLORIOUS HD.

Everything is pretty in this game. Everything. There is nothing wrong with this at all.

Story:

The characters appear to reference those in Final Fantasy VII. Director Motomu Toriyama wanted Lightning to essentially be a female Cloud Strife. She’s a no-nonsense, athletic female lead. While Cloud and Squall were introspective and antisocial, Lightning is slightly different by actively ordering people around. She comes off as a dick to everyone, and that’s due to her ex-soldier background. Think of your stereotypical ex-cop/ex-CIA/ex-military action movie hero, like Liam Neeson (Bryan Mills in Taken) or Bruce Willis (John McClane in Die Hard). That’s basically Lightning.

Can we go on a short tangent for a moment to talk about how weird it is that Lightning was also used as a model for advertising in Japan?

Here she is driving a Nissan.

And wearing Louis Vitton.

Cool? I guess? Unless you start to realize that Toriyama wanted to design his own personal waifu, and that he’s completely obsessed with her. That gets really weird. And sad? A little? Anyway.

Vanille has some reminiscent of Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII, although with more character via her inner monologues and narration. Fang is vaguely like Vincent Valentine. Sazh takes the place of Barrett as the token black dude, except instead of being aggressive he’s more like the comic relief and wants nothing to do with anything. Every time you control him, jazz music plays, because black people I guess. Hope doesn’t appear to be reminiscent of anyone – he’s just this boy who yells and complains a lot with Lightning. Snow meanwhile is a ripoff of Zell from Final Fantasy VIII, except somehow even more annoying.

(Every time I see his picture I think about your typical dude bro at a frat.)

The story starts of a bit choppy as you follow almost each character separately, then they run into each other, then separate again, then join again. The first 30 hours or so gives flashbacks of 13 days prior- BECAUSE IT’S FINAL FANTASY XIII GET IT? Vanille actually narrates some events but it’s not exactly clear why or from when – but that’s a spoiler. Along the way, I got really confused because I didn’t know why some people were fighting each other when they were on the same side a moment ago. The concept of the “focus” is really weird and sometimes confusing. People with a focus simply have visions or a general idea of what they’re supposed to do, but they don’t actually know for sure unless they actively seek it. If the gods granted them a focus, wouldn’t it make more sense if the gods just told them what to do? Seemed to work in Final Fantasy XII. 

In short, the narrative weaves around a lot. If you stop playing in the middle and pick up the game again months later, you’re bound to forget what’s going on. I know I did.

The characters didn’t annoy me as much as you would think they would on paper. They all have character development and that’s good. The only character that effectively got on my nerves was Snow. Snow is Serah’s fiancé, and Lightning hates him because of course you need some family drama. I don’t blame Lightning though. Snow shouts cheesy lines left and right, like “Heroes never die!”. He shouts Serah’s name the same way Christian Bale shouts Rachel’s name in the Christopher Nolan Batman films. Snow is quite possibly the most irritating character of all the Final Fantasy games. He will not shut the fuck up about what it means to be a hero.

The rest of the cast works well in that their motives and desires clash with each other. But I’m still sore about the wasted potential for a great character in Jihl Nabaat. Sazh wants his son Dejh back, who was taken to be purged by the sinister and extremely hot Jihl Nabaat.

 Goddaaayyyum. Seriously, look at her.

Too bad, because she’s only featured in a handful of scenes and then dies. Her death isn’t a major spoiler, at least one that I consider, because she hardly does anything except get in the way for a moment. You don’t even fight her. How lame is that?

Then you have this annoying bastard – Primarch Dysley.

When I think of him, I think of Mitch McConnell.

Old. Disagreeable. Been in power for too long. Always in the way of progress.

Primarch Dysley happens to be as annoying as Seymour from Final Fantasy X, so expect to be overjoyed every time you run into him.

Overall, the story isn’t as bad as you’d think. You just have to pay close attention. The gameplay is far worse than the story. I could easily slip into a coma while playing this game and still make it pretty far.

Music:

Final Fantasy XII saw the departure of Nobuo Uematsu (well with the exception of the pop song “Kiss Me Goodbye”). Final Fantasy XIII continues to head into the unknown without the beloved longtime composer. This game’s score is composed entirely by Masashi Hamauzu, who if you haven’t been paying attention, already partly worked on Final Fantasy X.  I immediately saw how “Saber’s Edge”, the boss theme, is similar in nature to the boss theme of Final Fantasy X.

Final Fantasy XIII made the most radical changes to the score. There are no signature themes from the series. No “Prelude” theme, no “Main Theme”, no “Victory Fanfare” theme. Instead, we get a theme called “Fabula Nova Crystallis”.  It plays frequently throughout the game, and almost acts as Serah and Snow’s love theme. In some portions of the game, some woman is singing along. Yes – this is the first time where you roam around a world in a Final Fantasy game with actual pop music playing in the background – “Sunleth Waterscape” to be exact. Final Fantasy XIII’s music gets pretty poppy.

Not saying it’s a bad idea.

Just.

You got pop music playing in the background now.

“Lightning’s Theme” is pretty sick. Her theme plays during the battles in a rendition called “Blinded by Light” – HA GET IT BECAUSE SHE’S LIGHTNING. SO CLEVER.

But Hamauzu was a good choice – the entire score holds up well and sounds like a movie score, with varying motifs running across. It can be a bit more subdued but that’s how contemporary instrumental music is nowadays, especially with film composers like Hans Zimmer.

 Notable Theme:

“Blinded by Light”

Really epic, unique song. I always scat along to it as it plays.

Verdict:

Uff. 

Look, if you just search on YouTube for all the cutscenes, there you go. That’s the game. And it’s entertaining to watch. But it has the worst gameplay that doesn’t feel like you’re even doing anything. No sense of customization or originality.

Direct Sequel?

Yes, two.

Final Fantasy XIII-2.

I started it around the time it first came out, but I’m still in the middle of playing it and I have no idea what’s going on in the story. NO idea. NONE at all. They use time travel but none of it makes sense. Apparently changing things in the future can change the past. I don’t know how. I only understand a vague semblance of a plot with the bad guy Caius. While it doesn’t tarnish the dignity of the original like Final Fantasy X-2 did, it’s still offbeat with its metal (yes, metal) music and utterly confounding story. It’s infamous for this metal rendition of the sweet and innocent Chocobo theme.

Then there’s the third game, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

I plan on playing it after I finish Final Fantasy XIII-2, if I don’t already die from an aneurysm by then. It’s supposed to be better than Final Fantasy XIII-2 but lacking in graphics.

[goddessofroyalty]

I finished my current random scribble book. So expect some ficlets as I clean it out to toss.

If you remember my… Dissidia-but-everyone verse I made for another fic (https://goddessofroyalty.tumblr.com/post/637378735906127872/primer-for-a-final-fantasy-dissidia-style-verse) this is that, but omegaverse, and entirely written for the couple lines of exchange at the end. Because I like the idea of Vanille having absolutely no filter and people have to change the topic pretty quickly to not end up being informed of her personal sexual preferences.

 “Wait-“ Snow says after they cleared out the monster on the way back to the town Cloud’s friends were apparently in. “You’re an omega?”

Cloud looks startled at the question. Not that he had been keeping it a secret clearly but none of them had made that big of a deal about anyone’s designation. Cloud certainly not the only omega among them nor had he ever been.

Lighting supposes if Cloud is offended at it being so bluntly put to him than Snow can deal with whatever results of that offence.

“I thought that was obvious,” Cloud says after a moment, almost under his breath.

It was.

“You have to forgive Snow,” Sazh says, probably hoping to prevent too much offence being taken by Cloud. Aware that it is better to have him on their side than against it. Not that Lightning thinks Cloud would turn against them just because of Snow’s big dumb mouth. “He doesn’t always think before he speaks.”

“And sometimes he takes a bit longer to figure things out,” Fang adds. Probably more for the opportunity to tease Snow than anything.

“Hey!” Snow says because of course he can’t just leave it and has to defend himself. “It’s not like he carries himself like an omega! He acts more like Lightning.”

Cloud crosses his arms at it but doesn’t look mad.

“Why do you keep him around?” Cloud asks.

“He’s good in a fight. Also he’s engaged to my sister.” Lightning had tried to convince Serah off that choice but it only served to make her sister dig her heels in about it.

Cloud doesn’t respond to that immediately. But it’s clear by his gaze he’s sizing Snow up. The purpose of the assessment less clear.

“I won’t understand why someone would agree to marry him,” Cloud says once he’s done.

“Neither do I,” Hope agrees. A bit of a surprise seeing normally he wouldn’t do anything that might draw attention to the fact he’s an omega.

“I do,” Vanille says. Although Lighting has a feeling she doesn’t want to know the third omega in their party’s theory about it.

Cloud clearly doesn’t either going but how he quickly changes to topic back onto the town and his friends being just over a small hill.

[fyresaber]

"ffxiii: episode one" novel commentary & analysis

part ii - snow

opening snow’s pov with a lovely “white snow” imagery. “my mind is a simple thing,” snow is a himbo but he also undersells himself. he’s immediately broken out of his euphoria at the memory of fanille and the instinctive urge to go back for them.

side note: one thing i love about these novels is the transition and hand-off between narrators. the previous chapter ends with vanille addressing snow and we transition to his pov. the batton will continue to pass to hope and sazh, and then fang and lightning.

intrinsic loyalty and indomitable faith are such cornerstones of his character.

the time traveling turn of phrase that is serah bringing snow “back to the present.” love the explicit denouncement of fanille’s sacrifice as unfair, which is a foundation of this sequel and ffxiii trilogy’s themes. serah’s survivor’s guilt popping up again, permeating all her thoughts and actions.

snow underselling himself again. he knows the tenets of grassroots civilization better than anyone else and is the reason cocoon society survives. everything he learned and was doing on cocoon, that everyone mocked and wrote off, ends up being worth it.

will forever be obsessed with this interaction and the ease of lightning’s entry into snow’s narrative— important considering she was one of those previously mentioned people who initially wrote off snow and his livelihood as discussed above. this time lightning stands by him, changed, teasing him all the while. snow looks at her for reassurance and support, in a different but analogous way to the emotional support serah provides him at the beginning of the chapter.

lightning's response demonstrates the pinnacle of his influence on her throughout the game— she becomes increasingly more ambitious, flexible, and spontaneous, and is now willing to go along with and entertain his schemes, which aren’t entirely without merit.

as if this win wasn't enough, this is the first time they’re loving on each other in front of serah, who had always wanted to see the two of them like this! pinnacle of her happiness and her fulfilled desires.

snow and lightning locking eyes over serah’s shoulder and reading each others’ thoughts as they remember vanille’s words about finding family and home after having lost theirs, both thinking they’re the only two who can save fang and vanille. they are always tied together by the memory of those they love and there are so many threads of grief between them.

i could, and have, written essays on the above interaction and snow and lightning's conciliation as family. their mutual desire for the family they were never afforded is finally married and resolved here.

where lightning once hated the idea of snow stealing away her family, she now refers to him explicitly as such

unsure if this is truly them finishing each other’s sentences because of the weird indents in this translation but if so—

hope is this man’s son. “just home,” gorgeous phrase considering home and family’s all snow’s ever wanted since he grew up an orphan

and if snow’s his daddy, lightning’s his mom 😭 the intentional transition and comparison to dajh and sazh only confirms it

the physical tearing of snow from one part of his family! never mind the emotional split that is to come

lissar's translations of the novel