Lightning Returns XIII-3

[Elcura]

I don't see what's so bad about the story, in fact I think the FFXIII saga as a whole has the best story in the series.

Too bad they never actually tell you about it.

FFXIII's story is one part interesting setting/lore and one part typical teenage melodrama. I don't mind the latter (though using it on everyone--but Fang for the most part--is overkill) if executed properly or framed well, but it never was. In the end, the presentation of the story (for the most part) won me over. There are times when Lightning is talking to someone about quest shit and they're trying to give you information about the world/certain chars but there's this procedural animation that's fucking hilarious and really off-putting. Half the times the NPCs weren't even facing Lightning because someone bumped into him or OH LOOK A SHEEP. Doing quests wasn't that bad unless it was about resolving character issues (not even main characters), because they did give you some info about the world and what happened. Not enough, but some.

XIII would've been more interesting if Bartandelus(sp) had revealed his intentions earlier and the cast didn't just spend 8-11 chapters running away from shit. XIII would've made more sense if they had started revealing the role of the gods/fal'cie sooner and presented that rather than Hope's desperate need to kill Snow (AND/OR HIS DADDY), saving Serah/Dajh, trying to figure out their focus and whether Fang and Vanille are straight up lesbians (ARE THEY? YES? I DUNNO).

XIII-2 was just a mess, with characters no one cared about (except Mog) taking center stage in a story about time travel and paradoxes. So...what does this have to do with the gods and the overarching story? Honestly, I don't really remember. Caius wanted to do some shit because Yuel and Etro bad touched him, Noel went back in time to save humanity and/or Etro, succeeds...kinda, but it doesn't matter anyway. So what happened to the cast of XIII that we kinda grew to like (more or less)? Well, they're just minor side characters and some don't show up entirely but why is Hope like 400 years old? Cryosleep is a helluva drug, also Sazh was doing a thing in a place for some reason then shows up and Snow is fighting giant flans because crystal pillars. I could go on, but this shit is stupid. Real stupid. But ultimately this happened because Etro wanted to change something and fucked up, leaving Lightning and Noel to clean up the mess. That's a better story, but that was hardly even hinted at because this is Serah and Noel's adventure in time and space to fix time and space to save humanity from extinction.

The flow of events leading up to Lightning Returns is a mess, so looking at LR's story with anything but contempt is hard. Lightning isn't a bad character, but holy shit they fucked up. LR did a decent job of resolving shit and wrapping up, but it was too little too late.

The game is fun though, hardmode playthrough does seem mostly to get trophies since there isn't a great deal of content to do fresh. I kinda wish I could've just started on hardmode.

[Eurell]

I enjoyed the game. But the story... Idk

It sort of felt like they wanted to tell this story, but were too lazy to make their own characters for it, so they just threw in the cast of XIII. Snow running a city? Noel fighting against the church? Vanille has super powers? Having the XIII characters adds literally 0 to the story. I honestly feel like it would have been a much stronger stand alone game with its own characters and just a bit more backstory for those new characters.

[Exoduso]

Only part of the story I cared about was after the final boss lol... especially

Spoiler: show

the real Serah popping in to say hi at the end, Caius redeeming himself and saving the last Yeul, and Lightning appearing in what seems to be a more realistic world, perhaps setting up XV.

[Tyrath]

Is there any way to check how many more of a monster I need to kill to make the Last One show up?

[Alkar]

Is there any way to check how many more of a monster I need to kill to make the Last One show up?

Other than monster drops no. The only exception is the Skeleton if you have the sidequest active.

[Tyrath]

What do you mean monster drops? Counting them up? D: A lot of mine have gone into quests x.x

[Alkar]

What do you mean monster drops? Counting them up? D: A lot of mine have gone into quests x.x

Well yes. That's the only way to know how many you've killed but you also need to know their extinction rates. Or be lazy and fight them all in the Ultimate Lair (except a select few that only pop during the final day).

[Tyrath]

I see.

Also how do you get the Helter-Kelter outfit that's supposed to be reward for the first outerworld service contest?

[Gokulo]

I see.

Also how do you get the Helter-Kelter outfit that's supposed to be reward for the first outerworld service contest?

You need to look for an Outerworld NPC (the one's with blue 'names') that says something like LR13: Outherworld contest... Talk to it and when you exit their screen (don't have to buy their item) the garb will show up for 'download' in your menu.

[Aerin]

Only part of the story I cared about was after the final boss lol... especially

Spoiler: show

the real Serah popping in to say hi at the end, Caius redeeming himself and saving the last Yeul, and Lightning appearing in what seems to be a more realistic world, perhaps setting up XV.

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Totally had FF7 flashbacks when the green energy was surrounding the planet. Can't help but think about how they're all connected.

[Tyrath]

You need to look for an Outerworld NPC (the one's with blue 'names') that says something like LR13: Outherworld contest... Talk to it and when you exit their screen (don't have to buy their item) the garb will show up for 'download' in your menu.

Any idea where to find them? D: Haven't seen it yet

[Gokulo]

Any idea where to find them? D: Haven't seen it yet

They appear randomly, but your best bet is busy areas in Luxerion or Yusnaan. If you wanna focus on finding it then go to the city, run a round a bit and if you don't see it, reload your game.

[Tyrath]

Randomly found the one for Duelist in the Dead Dunes ruins D:

Does that mean Helter Skelter one is gone or are they separate NPCs?

Edit: Nvm, found old one too!

[Seol]

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Totally had FF7 flashbacks when the green energy was surrounding the planet. Can't help but think about how they're all connected.

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Not to mention when they are heading to the new planet, it looks like they become lifestream

[brozy]

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Bhunivelze

is a complete bitch on hard mode :S Been at him for like 2 hours trying different things but always end up getting destroyed

[Tyrath]

So I'm on Day 9 with 3 days left. Thats 12. Am I missing a day or does it not count the last day? Because Im pretty sure I have all the main and sidequests done. Just have some odd canvas quests left.

Also will the special dungeon/extra day trigger on its own after day 12 or do I need to do something?

[Gokulo]

So I'm on Day 9 with 3 days left. Thats 12. Am I missing a day or does it not count the last day? Because Im pretty sure I have all the main and sidequests done. Just have some odd canvas quests left.

Also will the special dungeon/extra day trigger on its own after day 12 or do I need to do something?

It triggers on it's own if you did enough quests.

[Alkar]

The extra day only appears after you reach the final day if you've done enough sidequests.
Also did I miss something in the ending or

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Team NORA is basically nowhere to be found in this game other than a small reference in one sidequest? I know they're side characters but at least showing them briefly would've been nice.

[Tobi]

Finally finished the game(and Platinum) after taking my dear sweet time. As much as I want to go through this game on Hard Mode, I feel I burnt myself out too much on my first playthrough, which has 62 hours. I even went through all the trouble to extinct all mobs as well, except for 2 that are nearly impossible to extinct outside of Ultimate Lair. I also found Ultimate Lair boss a bit tougher than Aeronite, but I kinda want to try fighting it again and see if it's much smoother fight with 100% magical resistance.

In the event I do end up doing Hard Mode, anyone aware of what's the best weapons to get/upgrade? As well as Shields.

[Elcura]

Finally finished the game(and Platinum) after taking my dear sweet time. As much as I want to go through this game on Hard Mode, I feel I burnt myself out too much on my first playthrough, which has 62 hours. I even went through all the trouble to extinct all mobs as well, except for 2 that are nearly impossible to extinct outside of Ultimate Lair. I also found Ultimate Lair boss a bit tougher than Aeronite, but I kinda want to try fighting it again and see if it's much smoother fight with 100% magical resistance.

In the event I do end up doing Hard Mode, anyone aware of what's the best weapons to get/upgrade? As well as Shields.

How do you plat on normal when you need stuff from HM to unlock trophies? IIRC you need to upgrade accessories, weapons and shields for trophies, which I could not do on normal for my first playthrough.