Final Fantasy 13 (The second 5 hours)

So, for better or worse, I've went another 5 hours into the game, and lost a good couple hours of sleep thanks to it. Either way, i guess all I can do is stomach it and continue moving forward in my pursuit of finding something truly god forsakeningly wrong with this game. Its not perfect but it's welcoming at least.

This part of the game, things begin to actually get more character development. Lightning and Sazh actually start to realize that they're not only working for themselves but Vanille and Hope (yes that's his real name) as well. Vanille manages to actually squeeze Sazh for information about himself. Sazh is a father of a young Dajh who was quietly mentioned by him earlier in the game. Dajh is a l'Cie himself but he was made one by a Cocoon fal'Cie which makes hm a celebrated warrior. I dunno about this but I can't help but think the army of Cocoon is lacking intelligence in key areas as this kid is only 6 or so years old and still relying on his dad. Vanille is placed in the scene with Dajh which leads me to believe that she was directly involved in this mess and it becomes obvious later on.

Lightning and Hope mean while have split off, with Lightning aiming for revenge and self fufillment due in part to her mind being unable to cope with her Sister. Hope follows her with the intent to get strong enough to get revenge on Snow for his mom. Hope knows that killing Snow won't bring her back but he doesn't care and just wants him to pay for it. Lightning doesn't know what to say as she pushed Hope into this mindset by not talking him down at all. Lightning and Hope make it to Palumpolum (A nod to Palum and Porum from Final Fantasy 4) and start sneaking into the city to gain transport to Eden so Lightning can exact revenge against the Sanctum for screwing her and her sister over so hard. She convinces Hope that the Sanctum is as much at fault for his mother's death as Snow is and that they also need to pay. Hope, blinded by revenge doesn't care and seeks to get over his grief by fighting.

Lightning and Hope make their way through the city fal'Cie (Carbuncle, I love the nods to the old games). Its then that Hope makes an anology about how the fal'Cie treat the humans more like pets than anything else. Lightning realizes that she's been on a leash her entire life and that this whole idea of attacking the sanctum is not only a bad idea but something that the pulse fal'Cie wanted her to do probably in the first place. Now thinking clearly, she abandons the idea of a raid. Hope, broken by the loss of will from Lightning starts shouting about how she can't lose her nerve and that this was all her idea. Lightning admits she's wrong and tells Hope that he can't lose his name sake because fighting without hope is just as bad as waiting to die.

The two are quickly spotted and surrounded by PSICOM soldiers and the finally enlisted Guardian Corp. They're both saved thanks to Snow showing up and with Shiva throwing off a multitude of of the soldiers and protecting the two of them. Lightning shoves Hope with Snow and runs off to cover their escape. The awkwardness from being thrust into Snow's protection beings grating on Hope immediately and the tension starts mounting wuickly as Hope gets more and more begrudged at Snow's straight forward and inadvertent hurting of his feelings. Meanwhile, the calvary that helped Snow after he was captured along with the Australian Chick going by the name Fang meet up with Lightning. It's with Fang that Lightning learns more about what really happened to her Sister and why this whole thing started. The realization that Dajh and Sazh are casualties of their interloping, that Fang and Vanille are both from Pulse and that Lightning's sister becoming a l'Cie are all Fang and Vanille fault pushes Lightning to the edge. She slaps Fang after the realization. Fang tells Lightning that Serah can come back from her crystal form, and that Fang and vanille will help, but Lightning and the rest need to help them too.

Fang calls up Snow an shouts at him after he doesn't check in. Lightning jumps on the com and talks with Snow a bit before remembering to warn Snow about Hope and his problem. before she can, Hope takes the com and says he's going ahead with his plan before it cuts out. Lightning panics slightly, realizing that Hope very well might kill Snow and ruin this whole thing before they get a chance to do anything. Snow and Hope make their way to the rendevous point which is Hope's house. On the way, Hope gets closer and closer to killing Snow with a knife that Lightning gave him on their trip to the city. After beating up on a boss, Snow finally pushes Hope to his limit. After the fight, Hope moves in on Snow to exact his revenge but an explosion send him in the same fashion of his mother lfying off the side of the railing. Snow in a break neck attempt lets go of the building edge and grabs Hope and they both fall with Snow hitting multiple objects and landing with the pair of them out cold.

That is where I stopped as it was 2 in the morning by that point and I'd started at 9 something that evening. It sucks because I know with some spare time, I could easily blow through this game very quickly but school is a gint obstacle and Spring break is just next week. Regardless, the characters are really coming together and the motives and stuff concerning them is starting to not only take shape but it's compelling. Each character has something that relates them to me in some way. Lightning and Snow grew on me instantly. Vanille was annoying but I ultimately see her vaive front is a shell to protect herself. Sazh was always a good comic relief but knowing what drives him now makes him a more wholesome character than I originally thought.

The game tries to make these characters as real as possible. Their fashion sense might be lacking but ultimately you can not argue that these characters are trying to be as real as possible. the put up fronts, they lie about their emotions, they act out agressively and have real breaking points. They sometimes more human than we are.

More to come, plus review of Final Fantasy 13 as well. I'll make sure to keep running this game down, even after I review. I more than sure I won't beat it when I review it but if I don't review it now, I lose the edge. Either way.

:D

Hope you all dig!