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party-of-rpg-muses · 5 years

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Mun Plays Final Fantasy XIII

I’m much earlier than usual when it came to talking about my playthrough of FF13. And there’s a reason for that, part of it being that I was able to play earlier than usual. There’s also another reason, which I’m sure you already know what that reason is.

Okay, so in Orphan’s Cradle, I stopped off in Fal’Cie Eden White last time and today, I continued where I left off. I ran into a few problems with normal enemies, mainly when I had to fight three Dagonites and one Aquila Velocycle or one Aquila Velocycle and two Sacrifices, but I managed to emerge victorious. Continuing on, I found myself reaching the boss room, fighting Bandersnatch and Jabberwocky. I wanna say this right now, I am SO glad Bandersnatch doesn’t look like THIS fluffy nightmare fuel from Final Fantasy IX! However, I ended up losing the fight, partially because I struggled to deal decent damage. So I rearranged the party to include Sazh, Hope, and Vanille, since they were all about magic. And after a while of dealing damage, I learned the Jabberwocky could heal Bandersnatch to full health, so I switched focus onto Jabberwocky, occasionally taking breaks to heal, buff the party, and debuff the enemies. It took a while, but I managed to kill it with Bandersnatch falling shortly after with little trouble. Juggling also helped to keep the creature in line while I dished out magic damage.

Continuing on even further, I found myself up against an Immortal, which I was hesitant to fight at first, but my curiosity got the better of me. I switch Sazh out for Lightning and tackled the beast... only to lose. I ended up switching Vanille out for Fang and tried again, this time being even more cautious and focusing on the Centurion Blade whenever it came out. But I still got a game over when they used Electrocute, instantly taking Lightning out of the fight. I tried again, this time making sure to heal regularly and I eventually managed to win, especially thanks to Juggling the Immortal. I was also thankful for the Fortisol I applied just before the fight. After that, I went through the portal it was guarding and found some really good items before returning to the normal path. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place; fight Sacrifices and 4 Dagonites at once, or try to fight two Aquila Velocycles.

In the end, I chose the latter, but somehow managed to slip past them without a Deceptisol. Only to find myself having to deal with a Megrim Thresher and Sanctum Templar with no way to sneak around them. I ended up getting a game over or two before I managed to pull off a Preemptive Strike and take out the Templar with Fang tanking damage before turning my attention to the Thresher. However, just after that, I had to deal with a Megrim Thresher and two Sacrifices. I managed to get another Preemptive Strike and tried fighting the two Sacrifices before giving up (I didn’t get a game over, it just took a while and I was getting annoyed) and turning my attention to the Thresher, taking it out before easily cleaning up the Sacrifices. After that, I saved the game and did a few things before continuing on.

I fought the Wladislaus and it proved... quite easy. I just had Fang draw its attention while Lightning attacked and Hope healed. Sometimes, I had Fang go Saboteur for a moment to debuff Wladislaus and had Hope go Synergist, switching to something more defensive when someone got low. And the thing it, against Hope, it could easily take him out in two hits, taking him down to critical health with one blow. But once things were in place, Wladislaus fell very easily with Lightning attacking and Fang tanking.

In the next area, I just went on, just barely managing to squeeze past the enemies on the ramp upwards. Though I did fight the Wladislausm since it was easy enough the first time. But I was forced to fight the three Sanctum Templars. I managed to beat them, taking them out one by one before reaching the Tiamat Eliminator.

It took quite a while before I managed to make any progress, what with its Overdrive healing a good amount of health for it and buffing it. I eventually did a strategy I used early on; attack a few times with a Commando, then spam as much Ravager magic as possible to bring the Chain Bonus up. Though I mostly had Fang tank damage, I occasionally had her take the Commando while while Lightning and Hope went Ravager. Eventually, I managed to beat it, even though it took a few minutes.

With all the bosses defeated, I moved on, went down a sterile white hallway, saved the game once again and did a few things, and went through the door for the final fight. I also worked on everyone’s Crystariums except for Lightning’s, since I at least knew I would gain another Crystarium level after beating Barthandelus

And speaking of Barthandelus... I got a game over against him, so I switched Fang out for Vanille, so I could take a moment and just heal. I took some time off attacking to go defensive, having Lightning heal while Hope buffs and Vanille debuffs. When everyone was at a full or near-full health and if Barthandelus had Imperil, I would start attacking. Lightning deal some physical damage while the others healed before switching to the Tri-Disaster Paradigm and rack up Chain Bonuses, even occasionally using Lightning’s Army of One. It took a while, but I managed to beat him.

After he fell, I was surprised to see myself fighting Orphan already. Or rather, Barthandelus fused with Orphan. I was expecting a small reprieve and a chance to save or something before the next fight. My jaw nearly dropped when it used Merciless Judgment and almost instantly defeated Hope from full health, so I took time off to once again have Hope buff everyone while Lightning healed everyone and Vanille debuffed Orphan. While fighting it, I noticed that it was being healed by a small orb of light, though it wasn’t able to heal much. I had to be a bit more defensive when he summoned an orb of darkness that constantly attacked, but I eventually managed to win against that too.

After that... whew boy! I couldn’t believe Fang actually betrayed everyone, all to save Vanille. I was expecting to fight her... only to see everyone else sans Vanille turn Cie’th. And it was hard seeing Lightning and the others, now mindless Cie’th, just beating on Fang, who refused to fight back. And to suddenly see her turn into a Ragnarok-like creature, I thought this was the end, but she regained some sense of self. And yet, they weren’t done yet, torturting Fang by shocking her and healing her over and over again until Lightning and the others somehow managed to regain their minds and bodies. For a good while, I thought that was it, but no. All that remained was the Orphan Core (at least, I call it the Orphan Core).

And lucky me... Another Doom counter, but at least that one counted down slowly. But it didn’t matter, since I ended up getting a game over. I managed to Stagger Orphan, but when it recovered, Lightning was defeated. I thought I’d have to do all those bosses again, but no. I was given the chance to readjust my team if I so chose (I didn’t) and worked on Lightning’s Crystarium in hopes of getting a slight edge. When I tried again, things were WAY easier! I once again had Vanille and Hope perform their supportive abilities and after that, I used magic to quickly Stagger Orphan, then switched Lightning to the Commando role while Hope and Vanille remained as Ravagers. I defeated the boss in, like, less than a minute and got the Superstar Achievement, which is granted when you get 5 Stars against the final boss.

With all that finished, I relaxed and watched the final cutscene play out. It was something special, seeing Vanille and Fang forming Ragnarok together to save their friends and even turn to crystal to save Cocoon. Though my heart did break someone, as that means they won’t be able to enjoy the newfound peace with their friends. I sat back, reveling in my victory as the credits played, expecting some kind of post-credit cutscene, but nothing. I saved post-game and found myself plopped back in that white hallway before doubling back and returning to Orphan’s Cradle, where I decided to go to Edenhall, where I saved the game and turned it off.

All-in-all, FF13 was a really fun game. I’m okay with the linearity, since the series as a whole was always rather linear, but hidden by a few factors. If I had to pick a problem I had with the game, it’s certainly the Upgrade System and the weapons in general. Upgrading is a cool idea, but it’s very easy for the weapons you find early on to surpass any future weapons you find. Heck, most of the weapons I did during the final battle were the same ones I found very early in the game. Any weapons I found after had lackluster stats and I had no components to upgrade them, leaving me to not use them, even if they had good bonuses.

But yeah, FF13 was a REALLY good game and I had tons of fun with it, especially with it being a fast-paced RPG game where characters can switch their roles on a dime. And one of the best parts if that I never felt like I had to grind. Sure, there was a moment where I had to doubleback and fight a few enemies, but that was because I missed an ability that would prove helpful against an enemy. It was more my fault and even that, that was very late into the game. Truly, there is no such thing as a bad Final Fantasy game.

And even better, I finished the game just in time for KH3 to be released this upcoming Tuesday. I look forward to playing it and I look forward to eventually playing the FF13 sequels someday too. But right now? Not really. Next FF games I plan on playing are FF3 and FF5, both being on Steam. I won’t get them right now, but sometime down the line.

#Final Fantasy XIII #Final Fantasy XIII spoilers #outofexp

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