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[Perfo]

Interesting stuff from the Ultimania omega guide regarding the

Spoiler

"dark" Yuel

(spoilers of course):

Last weekend I got the Ultimania Omega guide. There's a lot of stuff in there and I plan to share what new info I can find in a future post on this forum. But right now, the Japanese blog (Rose Adagio) and the further comments here got me interested in this "black mist Yeul". There is a passage on her in the guide and this is what it says (summary, Spoilers):

The Yeuls from each generation are generally friendly towards Serah and Noel. But in Chapter 5 a Yeul appears that seemingly wants to stop them and is somewhat hostile. But who she is not really explained. This is part of the "unsolved mysteries" section in the Omega guide. What they do provide is a list of the 6 occurrences of this "black mist" Yeul

- The last Yeul you meet in Chapter 5 (The Void Beyond)
- During Lightning's Monologue at the end of Chapter 5 you can see Black Mist Yeul sitting on a bench in what appears to be Orphan's Cradle
- During the last chapter (Academia 500 AF) you hear this Yeul's voice telling you to turn back. You also hear her during the fight with the Pacos Luvulite and Amethyst.
- This is the Yeul you can see in the Snow DLC. Noel suggests Snow might have crossed someone lately and then we see Yeul
- We see this Yeul also in the Lightning DLC
- And lastly you can find her in some Live Trigger Events after you beat the game. For example in the Bresha Ruins (005AF) after you beat Atlas and you get the Live Trigger about the origin of the paradoxes. You can select "listen to the voice from the heart".

 

[Perfo]

So apparently Hope was going to be a playable character at start, they even made concept art for his weaponry. I don't know why then they decided to replace him with monsters. He was going to travel also with his companions wearing a backpack. Serah's weapon at start should've been Light's one and her costume the one from the first game, then Mog replaced the weapon and her costume changed (Etro's magic!). Maybe we will get to use Hope in XIII-2, I get the feeling the party next time will be quite large and divided in two different paths for most of the game.

 

[R_thanatos]

So apparently Hope was going to be a playable character at start, they even made concept art for his weaponry. I don't know why then they decided to replace him with monsters. He was going to travel also with his companions wearing a backpack. Serah's weapon at start should've been Light's one and her costume the one from the first game, then Mog replaced the weapon and her costume changed (Etro's magic!). Maybe we will get to use Hope in XIII-2, I get the feeling the party next time will be quite large and divided in two different paths for most of the game.

that would have been cool to have hope in the party ..i think it would have been better than the monsters ..

 

[Perfo]

A guy on gamefaqs is posting infos from the Ultimania Omega guide, starting with:

Last weekend I got the Ultimania Omega for XIII-2. It contains Interview and reveals a lot of information about the game. I want to share anything interesting I find with the greater community. But I won't be able to translate all of it. I realized even just summarising one bit will take much time and place.

Thus I will give you a detailed table of contents with commentary, so that you the community can tell me, which point you want to hear about (first). I will try to accommodate any wishes, I just need to know what parts are the most interesting for the community. Sorry for the ultra-long posts that are to follow. Oh, and of course this thread will contain spoilers.

After the table of contents you will find my summary of the interview with Toriyama and Watanabe. Please give me feedback if that is too thorough or to close to the Japanese original. Thank you and I hope you find something useful in the next few posts

1. Scenario view (the complete game as a picture story, also all live triggers detailed. This section end with in-depth story element analysis and unsolved mysteries)

1. 2. in-depth story analysis (headlines):
What happened at the end of FF13?
Lightning's rebirth
The weakening of the goddess etro
The power of chaos
Valhalla, the world fallen into chaos
The original human Yeul
The power to see the time-line with etro's eyes
The man named Caius Ballad
Caius' plan (700AF)
Paradox endings and the real ending

1. 3. unsolved mysteries
Black Haze Yeul
The things shown in the last time vision
Where do your friends have their power from (Sazh, Snow)?
Is Caius really dead?
The Lightning that turned into crystal
"Bhunivelze" Flying Ship

1. 4. The story of the gods

2. The Art of FFXIII-2

3. Omega on the side

Voice actor interviews
10 Interviews, one with each development department

1. Scenario-section Interview (Toriyama, Watanabe)
2. Level Design
3. Art
4. Environment
5. Character
6. Movie (FMV)
7. Cut-Scenes
8. Music
9. Sound Effects
10. Producer & Director (mainly about DLC and the game's development in general)

4. DLC Ultimania (standard guide-stuff for the DLC)

1. Weapons and Costumes
2. Sazh Story DLC (how to play Poker etc.)
3. Snow Story DLC
4. Lightning Story DLC (breakdown of all her abilities, how the score is calculated, how to get her crystal and how to get the secret event
5. Info on all the monsters you can tame (what abilities they get at which level etc.
6. How to beat the Coliseum Monsters

Scenario Interview with Toriyama and Watanabe

Toriyama at first didn't want a direct sequel to 13, so he started with the idea of having 13-2 take place some 900 years after 13. But when they created all the back-story of what happened in the 900 years between those two games, they came to the conclusion to make it a time-travel game. The theme of the game is to push forward and keep hope alive, even if the future is uncertain and dangerous.

The fight between Lightning and Caius in Valhalla is supposed to be an endless loop, of which both are not aware of. Only when Lightning becomes a crystal does this cycle end. Valhalla is a place between the Unseen World and the real world, where the flow of time has stopped and where people pass by on their way to the beyond. The buildings you can see there don't house people, so they do not need to have staircases or toilets (actual quote from Watanabe-san). At first it was supposed to be the place in 999AF that is also mentioned in FF-Type 0. That should have tied both games together but this idea was scrapped later.

The Caius from 700AF went to Valhalla to end the world with the Power of Chaos. From there he can send messages to all the earlier Caius'es. That's why for example Caius in 200AF seems to know Noel, although they shouldn't have met yet. Caius is basically not able to travel in time, but the Caius you fight in 500AF can conceivably be 700AF's Caius that travelled back in time from Valhalla. (I'm quoting now directly to be sure to get it right "Academia from that era (700AF I guess), before receiving the effects of Chaos, became a strange place and Caius could come back from Valhalla. (End of quote).

Then the people from the guide ask Watanabe if Caius doesn't involuntarily shorten Yeul lifespan by changing the future and making her see those changes. Caius is aware of that and set his plan into motion to destroy the world in a way as to minimise the adverse effects his time-changing has on Yeul. When Serah an Noel solve the Paradoxes, which they encounter, the possibilities of the future broaden. At the same time though, Caius goes ahead to put down possibilities. The reason for that is that Yeul's life span shortens the more the number of possible futures grow. That's why Caius tries to reduce the number of possible futures to the point where there is only the one inevitable future, where the world is destroyed. He silently allows Serah and Noel to solve the Paradoxes as the world is still heading for its destruction.

His motivation to end the world comes from the fact that he has seen Yeul die many times and knows that the world is going to end in 700AF anyway. So he just wants to shorten her suffering by ending the world sooner. Yeul's constant rebirths have nothing to do with her lifespan getting shorter. Caius probably really died at the hands of Noel, but only in his physical form. He may live on through Chaos. There is no love story between Serah and Noel as it seemed inappropriate, both having their own loved ones.

Serendipity is supposed to be reminiscent of the Golden Saucer in FF7. Alyssa was at first supposed to be a tough type of woman that would make fun of men. Her relationship with Hope should have changed both. But a character like that would have been to much like Nabaat. They had a few fun ideas for her but then decided to change her character. Although this game hasn't brought the "happy ending" for Lightning that Toriyama promised before (in the Ultimania Omega for 13), he hopes to tell more stories from the Fabula Nova Crystallis.

 

[R_thanatos]

So caius in 700Af gave himself the knowledge to his past selves ?
Just what i expected from such a crazy scenario.I guess he did saw all those possibilities then

 

[Perfo]

This is kinda funny:

The Snow-DLC was supposed to have a racing mini-game. You would take the Shiva Bike (as seen in FF13) for a spin through the Archylte Steppe. You would also fight monsters along the track. On the bottom left you have your boost bar. Your goal would have been to defeat 30 monsters. You would have abilities like jumping, spinning, drifting and some sort of water spell.

I've seen a screenshot of it and it's lol.

Also:

There was supposed to be Hope DLC, of which they even finished the interface. It would have been sort of a adventure game using live-trigger events, situated in Augusta Tower

The goal would have been to stop Alyssa from killing Hope (though not specified in the interview, I'm guessing he's talking about Duplicate Alyssa in the Proto-Falcie Adam time-line). You would happen upon terminals, where you would have to make some decision that would let you continue onward or end directly in game-over.

It would be some sort of puzzle, where you would have to figure out technical things like "redirect commands to terminal yadayada...". But at the end of the day it was all about guessing, the point being to having to redo this mini-game over and over again, each time learning what the right "answers" at the terminal were.

 

[Perfo]

Even more stuff:

From the in-depth info section, Caius' plans:

After Caius confirms that the world ends in 700AF, ravaged by the great construct war, he's thinking that he wants to hurry up and free Yeul of her suffering. With that plan he goes to Valhalla. His plan is to envelop the real word (seen world) with Valhalla's Chaos and let time end. For that reason, he plans to kill the goddess that has been holding down Chaos as a means to let Chaos flow out (graph: column A). There he is stopped by Lightning. Then he wants to make Cocoon fall and cause the death of many humans, thereby opening the Gate from which Chaos can flow into the world (graph: column B). Here he is stopped by Serah and Noel. Those two plans he is setting into motion at roughly the same time. Lastly, being stabbed by Noel, he can release chaos through the curse that is the heart of Etro. The Goddess erased and his plan comes to fruition.

From the Unsolved Mysteries section, Black Haze Yeul:

While generally every Yeul, from every timeline, seems to be in favor of Serah's and Noel's undertaking, you encounter another Yeul in Chapter 5 that seems to be hostile towards your trying to change the timeline. She is clouded in black mist, which seems to be an indication of the power of Chaos, but what is her true form?

These are the places you meet this black haze Yeul:

- The last Yeul you meet in Chapter 5 (The Void Beyond)
- During Lightning's Monologue at the end of Chapter 5 you can see Black Mist Yeul sitting on a bench in what appears to be Orphan's Cradle
- During the last chapter (Academia 500 AF) you hear this Yeul's voice telling you to turn back. You also hear her during the fight with the Pacos Luvulite and Amethyst.
- This is the Yeul you can see in the Snow DLC. Noel suggests Snow might have crossed someone lately and then we see Yeul
- We see this Yeul also in the Lightning DLC
- And lastly you can find her in some Live Trigger Events after you beat the game. For example in the Bresha Ruins (005AF) after you beat Atlas and you get the Live Trigger about the origin of the paradoxes. You can select "listen to the voice from the heart".

From the in-depth info section, The reborn Lightning:

Lightning, after being transported to the unseen world Valhalla, visits the shrine to meet the goddess Etro. They are made one for a brief moment. The goddess's isolation, having been abandoned by her father [They reference the story of the gods here], as well as her [I guess they mean Lightning] love toward mankind and also the memory of the countless people who end their fleeting lives... [There's literally an em dash here, so they want to break the train of though here. Pity.]

Lightning comes to know all this, and she decides to stay here herself in order to atone for this merciless law. Much like the goddess, she stays to contain the memories of the deceased and therefore becomes the goddess's knight [literally: mounted warrior].

--- okay, that one was hard. I have tried to stick to the original Japanese as far as possible, so sorry for the sentences being a bit bulky. I just think that this way I can give you the most out of the Japanese original, without already changing things based on how I understand it. My short summary would be: Lightning cannot bear that people die "in vain", forever forgotten. Thus she decides to keep their memory alive within herself. How she manages to do that for "countless" people is beyond me though

 

[Mario007]

Damn it all these concepts that they had for the game but ditched them actually would have made the game much better. Especially the one where you would start at 900AF without any connection to the original (presumably apart from Lightning). I'd assume that would actually be a story of Caius, Noel and Yuel and those were actually things that FF XIII-2 did right (story-wise).Also cutting the connection to Type-0 is awful, if all these are supposed to take place in the same mythology then the creators must link them. For this Kitase and Toriyama must should be slapped, because ultimately it was their decision not to develop these ideas.

(I actually think that maybe XIII-3 could be the story of 900AF that they thought off or some reskinned variation of it)

 

[dantehemi]

What's up everyone.

About 6 hours in, and I'm not sure what I think about this game as of yet?

I love final fantasy and have beaten all of them up till 13-2, but this game really has me scratching my head. The crystirium (spelling?) has me puzzled, up till now I have just been giving serah all the RAV slots and Noel the COM slots. Is this conter productive in anyway? I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to this crystirium. Also the whole time travel mechanic has me stumped. Should I just progress to the next timeline or is there benefits to going back to places I have already visited? I'm just gonna power through this game even though I'm not feeling it right now, but I do really enjoy final fantasy games so I'm hoping I just fall into it as I play more, and I'm sure I will get an understanding how everything works as the game progresses.

Maybe what I'm asking is plain as "does anyone know a good guide that explains the way the game works but doesn't spoil anything"

Thanks for your help GAF

 

[R_thanatos]

you can't really screw your bluid to the point you can't do anything ..
There is a perfect way to bluid up but you can platinium this game without it

 

[Perfo]

By seeing Valhalla's artworks in Ultimania Omega one questions why they didn't give us the chance to play in that beautiful location. Wasted chance, unless they planned from the beginning to make Valhalla central to XIII-3.

 

[PokéKong]

I think it's never a bad idea to level Noel and Serah's COM and RAV roles pretty much evenly, though they happen to be stronger in their respective roles, the difference in battles is negligible compared to the benefit of having two or three RAVs at the start of a battle to stagger beasts up like no one's business, and then switch to two or three COMs to blow them away in seconds.

 

[QisTopTier]

Just picked up the game since it was only 20 bucks and I enjoyed 13. Which dlc is recommended?

 

[Perfo]

Just picked up the game since it was only 20 bucks and I enjoyed 13. Which dlc is recommended?

Colosseum battles are fun and challenging, the extra-episodes don't add much in terms of story content but if you're looking for it I'd suggest just the "Requiem of the Goddess", it's made of two battles and ten minutes of extra-cutscenes expanding the ending of the game.

Now for another topic, looking at Ultimania Omega it appears alot of ideas got discarded in the end. For example the party should've visited at a certain point the city of Eden, now collapased on the surface and deserts of Gran Pulse. The 13th Ark too (the one flying above Accademia) was initially going to be a maze-dungeon of sort for the heroes but in the end we never got to visit it sadly.

 

[QisTopTier]

Is it possible to screw up leveling your monsters? D:

 

[Kronotech]

Back to playing this game after a long break. 2 questions for those who beat it.

Spoiler

I just found Noel in his "dream" state and we're trying to get out now.

Is the end near?

Also, I've got some great monsters that I would love to level higher but damn it's hard to find the high level items to level them up. Are there certain areas I can farm? I have Chichu although I want to grab Omega (I have him sitting there in the Colliseum) and would be willing to buy the DLC monsters if it doesn't take 20 years to level them up. Tips?..

 

[Perfo]

Spoiler

I just found Noel in his "dream" state and we're trying to get out now.

Is the end near?

Almost. Just a couple of hours more perhaps. The best two hours also

 

[Despera]

I'm 10 hours in, and the story is far worse than XIII's... How is that even possible? Oh, and fuck live trigger. An afterthought in a desperate attempt to add another layer of shit to the story. Only thing that's keeping me going is the battle system, but even that is slowly losing its appeal.

If only they went the X-2 route, with whimsical characters and story rather than a plot that takes itself too seriously. Why couldn't a grown up Dahj be the MC dammit?!!

 

[Yoshichan]

Despera, the story gets better if you're interested in Caius/Yeul.

 

[Perfo]

There are alot of fillers for more than half of the game, that's a problem when the central game is part of a trilogy. The final part is very cool btw, anticipating what could be the best episode in the trilogy.

 

[Despera]

Despera, the story gets better if you're interested in Caius/Yeul.

They are the only interesting characters so far.

There are alot of fillers for more than half of the game, that's a problem when the central game is part of a trilogy. The final part is very cool btw, anticipating what could be the best episode in the trilogy.

That's reassuring. Gonna have to endure a little longer then.

 

[Yoshichan]

They are the only interesting characters so far.

But... the Mog, kupo ?

And yeah, if you find Yeul and Caius interesting then I'm pretty positive you'll like the end results. Keep playing! I personally hated the story, then it took a complete turn near the end and now I love the story and Caius is my favorite villain since the early Final Fantasys

 

[linko9]

This is $20 on Amazon, and I'm considering picking it up. My question is: is any of the DLC good? I have no interest in costumes or whatnot, but I know there are some scenarios. Also, are the DLC weapons in any way better than the ones you can get in the game? I really hate the idea of getting DLC for an FF game, but if I'm not missing out by not getting the DLC, I've got no problem picking up the game.

 

[Yoshichan]

Buy the game, if you don't want to buy the DLC's you're not going to miss much. A couple of hours extra, that's it.

Buy FFXIII-2!

 

[linko9]

Sorry one more question, are the DLC scenarios essentially stand-alone, or do they incorporate characters from the main game in the gameplay?

 

[Yoshichan]

Sorry one more question, are the DLC scenarios essentially stand-alone, or do they incorporate characters from the main game in the gameplay?

There's one DLC that is actually part of the XIII-2 main story. It's the "Lightning's Story: Requiem of the Goddess" DLC. It's recommended to play that DLC after beating the game though.

 

[linko9]

OK that's kind of a bummer, but I guess one DLC isn't too bad. I'll pick it up. Thanks for the answers.

 

[Yoshichan]

OK that's kind of a bummer, but I guess one DLC isn't too bad. I'll pick it up. Thanks for the answers.

Enjoy! It really is a fantastic game! Take your time with it :3

 

[Jubern]

Hey guys, I went back to the game several months after clearing the story, in order to do all the side-stuff.

It's really fun and I'm really enjoying it, but I got to a part I very much loath and suck at every time it rears its ugly head in a RPG: the casino.

Is there a quick way to get all the coins I need for the fragments and artifact? I need 22 500!

 

[R_thanatos]

Hey guys, I went back to the game several months after clearing the story, in order to do all the side-stuff.

It's really fun and I'm really enjoying it, but I got to a part I very much loath and suck at every time it rears its ugly head in a RPG: the casino.

Is there a quick way to get all the coins I need for the fragments and artifact? I need 22 500!

I suggest doing chocobo races to raise the funds , you'll need more because you NEED to play the roulette to gain the extra fragment there ..

in short , make a gold/silver chocobo a powerfull racer and enjoy the ride

 

[NeoUltima]

So I finally Platinumed the game. Overall I was pretty satisfied with the game (well worth the $15 I spent lol). I liked the story but especially the villain a lot.

Spoiler

smh @ "To Be Continued" though

My only gripe was the combat scenarios seemed poorly designed compared to XIII. Rarely did I need to use anything but COM, RAV, or MED. In XIII I felt like I needed to use the other 3 roles much more often.



Can anyone lend me some info on what is included with the DLC? I get the "Opponent" ones are just Coliseum fights, but what about the other three?

Are they just the casino card game and more Coliseum battles? Do they actually continue the story, or at least make any interesting revelations?

Sorry, I know I could try to Google this, but I don't want to get spoiled.

 

[R_thanatos]

Requiem of the godess explain what happenned to lightning and offer and loop battle challenge battle between lightning in godess mode ( more roles unique to this fight ) and caius.
You can tweak lightning lv to make the fight harder ... the more harder the fight , the more points you get when you succeed.( there are leaderboards)

Once you clear the two fights , you get a talk between serah and lightning and some OTHER to be continued with lightning ( leading to the events of the next game maybe )

Sazh dlc is entirely in the casino ..you get a new mini game to play .This dlc explain how he and his son arrived in academia 500AF and has revelations on chocolina true identity.

The rest of the dlc are coliseum battles . You do get another story scene with yeul once you beat Snow dlc but that's minor stuff

 

[NeoUltima]

Requiem of the godess explain what happenned to lightning and offer and loop battle challenge battle between lightning in godess mode ( more roles unique to this fight ) and caius.
You can tweak lightning lv to make the fight harder ... the more harder the fight , the more points you get when you succeed.( there are leaderboards)

Once you clear the two fights , you get a talk between serah and lightning and some OTHER to be continued with lightning ( leading to the events of the next game maybe )

Sazh dlc is entirely in the casino ..you get a new mini game to play .This dlc explain how he and his son arrived in academia 500AF and has revelations on chocolina true identity.

The rest of the dlc are coliseum battles . You do get another story scene with yeul once you beat Snow dlc but that's minor stuff

Thanks. Doesn't sound too enticing to be honest . Might get the Snow & Lightning ones if there is a sale in the future.

 

[R_thanatos]

Thanks. Doesn't sound too enticing to be honest . Might get the Snow & Lightning ones if there is a sale in the future.

Both dlc offer the most broken monsters to raise in the game ( godess lightning & snow ) snow is really hard to get

 

[Lumpy Onion]

So, I was wondering something. When you select your paradigm pack monsters. Let's say you use the silver chocobo with the "Item Hunter II" ability. Does just having it in your pack allow that ability or do you have to finish the battle with it in your party to get the item bonus. I am pretty sure I just answered my own question because I did just notice the number of spoils when finishing with the silver choco is much greater than without.

I just can't effin believe it took three playthroughs to finally realize this fact.

 

[R_thanatos]

So, I was wondering something. When you select your paradigm pack monsters. Let's say you use the silver chocobo with the "Item Hunter II" ability. Does just having it in your pack allow that ability or do you have to finish the battle with it in your party to get the item bonus. I am pretty sure I just answered my own question because I did just notice the number of spoils when finishing with the silver choco is much greater than without.

I just can't effin believe it took three playthroughs to finally realize this fact.

That's a very good question but i think you need the monster in active position for such skills...

 

[MagiusNecros]

I had the GILGAMESH section of the Ultimania Omega translated.

It details where he got all of his weapons excluding the Excalipoor.

Here is what it says.

Excalibur-This was a holy sword I found in a hidden room of a Kingdom called Alexandria. With crystal shining the colors of a rainbow and glittering metal, it was dazzling. I wonder why a Unicorn was engraved on it?(From FFIX)

Muramasa-A short sword I found in the abandoned ruins of a place called Zanarkand. The hatred of those who lost their lives in the disaster of "Sin" still dwells within the blade.(From FFX)

Zantetsuken(Chaos Claw/Nail)-An object that falls off and is replaced as the nails/claws of Chaos, the chaotic king of discord, grow. It appears to be made of crystal. Because it's rare, I thought I'd pick it up. Even though it is just a husk, it is still endowed with the power of death.(From Dissidia) (revealed to be picked up from a manikin)

Masamune-In a kingdom called Doma, I picked up this sword from a river stained with poison. Even though I picked it up a long time ago and it must be many years old, it does not appear to age.(From FFVI)

Bashosen-Just a few years ago I was thinking of my comrade Enkidu, who at some point had been a craftsmen of Cocoon. So this is sort of in his Cocoon style.(From FFXIII)

^Regarding Bashosen, another has confirmed that GILGAMESH actually crafted the war fan in memory of his friend Enkidu, which means GILGAMESH is the craftsmen referencing his shop he had in XIII.

Cool stuff.

Sorry if old.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

never gonna 100% this game because of the stupid bestiarum fragment. I don't want to search all missing monsters like mad.

It's neither hard nor time consuming. You can do it in 10 additional hours of gameplay so like 3 days for 3 hours daily only doing the bestiarum.

 

[Oyashiro]

Cannot beat the final boss. Been stuck for a long time and Im starting to get frustrated now. I'd really rather not have to grind for hours, but I suppose that's what Im gonna have to end up doing :|

 

[R_thanatos]

Cannot beat the final boss. Been stuck for a long time and Im starting to get frustrated now. I'd really rather not have to grind for hours, but I suppose that's what Im gonna have to end up doing :|

Are you sure that's the final boss ?

Anyway ... pay attention to the big atack ( with all 3 ennemies , put a team of SEN to prevent damage.
Pay attention ot the countdowns ( kill the little sphere that will self destruc if you don't ) ..Use a good healer.
Use atb cancel to prevent rape from both sides ..
If it's your first time this fight should last at least 25 minutes, pay attention and don't rush , but don't stay on the defensive too long

 

[Ninjimbo]

Sorry to bump this. I got the game a couple of weeks back and have had a lot of fun with it. I think it's a great RPG.

I wanted to ask a question: is there any technique to the slot machines in Serendipity? I've wasted hundreds upon hundreds of turns on this thing and have won nothing. I ask because I'm trying to get the last Wild Artefact so I can do the sidequest at the Vile Peaks before I do the Final Act. Should I just grind for Gil instead of doing the slot machine thing?

 

[R_thanatos]

Sorry to bump this. I got the game a couple of weeks back and have had a lot of fun with it. I think it's a great RPG.

I wanted to ask a question: is there any technique to the slot machines in Serendipity? I've wasted hundreds upon hundreds of turns on this thing and have won nothing. I ask because I'm trying to get the last Wild Artefact so I can do the sidequest at the Vile Peaks before I do the Final Act. Should I just grind for Gil instead of doing the slot machine thing?

Easy way to get the wild artifact , requires 20 mins of prep time , 40 min + 1h of waiting

Get a gold or silver chocobo , follow a faq to put them into a race only mode ( meaning all the skill will help to win easily the chocobo races )
Win plenty of races , enough to have a stable set of casino coins

Start the slot machine, press R1( auto ) [find a way to let R1 always active ] and wait .... check regulary if you have the artifact .

 

[Ninjimbo]

I was hoping to avoid Chocobo races since the tutorial drove me insane with all those details. Guess I'm off to find a silver Chocobo. Thanks for the info.

 

[Ninjimbo]

So I reached the ending. It was pretty amazing in the 'I can't believe they actually did this' sort of way; and people complained about ME3's ending? If ME3's ending is a punch to the gut, FFXIII-2 is a bat to the chest. Crazy as hell, but I'm looking forward to whatever continuation SquareEnix is planning since I find this universe so goddamn intriguing. The final shot was haunting, in a good way. "What the hell happened?" was all I kept thinking during the end credits.

I'm thinking about buying the Lightning DLC, so I can play with her and see the portion of her story. What's the word on it?

Also, can anyone point me to any interesting speculation on the story? I think I wrapped my head around the plot, but there's a lot of stuff that I didn't even try to read into.

 

[Andrefpvs]

So I reached the ending. It was pretty amazing in the 'I can't believe they actually did this' sort of way; and people complained about ME3's ending? If ME3's ending is a punch to the gut, FFXIII-2 is a bat to the chest. Crazy as hell, but I'm looking forward to whatever continuation SquareEnix is planning since I find this universe so goddamn intriguing. The final shot was haunting, in a good way. "What the hell happened?" was all I kept thinking during the end credits.

I'm thinking about buying the Lightning DLC, so I can play with her and see the portion of her story. What's the word on it?

The Lightning DLC is kind of a continuation of the ending of the game, so you might be interested in that. Gameplay-wise, it's nothing special, and it's very short.

I also liked the ending, since it was very unconventional. I was like, "Can they do that? :O"

 

[R_thanatos]

the ending is really something but if you've just reached the ending , you haven't seen all ..there are 8 paradox endings that will give you hints on stuff that will expand the universe and getting all fragments will give you an extra scene with caius after the end you've just experienced .

You should do that BEFORE you try to spéculate on the story ..

the story was debatted a lot on this very thread i think , so you might read some page back to find those infos if you want ( personnaly not recommanded )

By lightning dlc i hope you mean "requiem to the godess" ..this is honnestly the only worthwhile dlc of the lot if you want to confirm some things regarding the story ..

If you enjoyed the battle system , have defeated raspatil and all the bosses and hidden bosses already and want more, the coliseum dlc is not a bad choice , there is no story in those.

requiem of the godess is not a bad dlc ..but it's not a regular dlc you've been accustomed to.
It's basicly lightning in godess mode in 2 fights against caius and the game doesn't give you the ending if you play poorly be warned.

You'll learn of lightning and serah fate and why lightning was sitting on etro throne ..

 

[Ninjimbo]

Wow, thanks. That got me pumped to play the Requiem of the Goddess DLC. Looks like I can squeeze out a few more hours out of this game.

I guess I'll avoid the speculation until I see more of the endings. I really do find the story interesting even if the internal logic is suspect.

 

[JaCy]

I got a question, I'm trying to fill the bestiary and do I have to get the check mark next to their name? Or is battling the monster enough?

 

[R_thanatos]

I got a question, I'm trying to fill the bestiary and do I have to get the check mark next to their name? Or is battling the monster enough?

You just have to beat the monster at least one.
Getting every info on the monster doesnt matter

 

[Ninjimbo]

Well, I beat Requiem of the Goddess. It took me awhile because I kept getting 4 stars instead of 5. It was very aggravating.

Spoiler

So about that ending, I'm still not entirely sure of what I witnessed. Lightning was frozen in crystal, but she somehow emerged back in the dying lands? So if Lightning emerged out of the crystal, does that mean Fang and Vanille are out there too?

And Alyssa was never explained correct? She was the one that tossed Noel and Serah out of the Historia Crux saying that in the timeline they're trying to save, she doesn't exist. What the fuck?

Time Travel plots are crazy. That's why I love them. I gotta think about this some more and read up on the fragments I haven't gotten.