Final Fantasy XIII-2: Difference between revisions

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=== This game has examples of: ===

* [[Hundred Percent Completion]]: The game requires you to [[Guide Dang It|completely fill out every map and monster]]<ref>You only need to kill each monster once, not Librascope them to completion, but you will need to get their variants, another thing the game ''doesn't tell you''.</ref> and [[Last Lousy Point|obtain all of the Fragments]] in order to view the Secret Ending. However, in order to do this, you ''will need to'' [[Guide Dang It|obtain several of the hidden monsters]] that would help against the [[Nintendo Hard]] status of the game.

* [[Hundred-Percent Completion]]: The game requires you to [[Guide Dang It|completely fill out every map and monster]]<ref>You only need to kill each monster once, not Librascope them to completion, but you will need to get their variants, another thing the game ''doesn't tell you''.</ref> and [[Last Lousy Point|obtain all of the Fragments]] in order to view the Secret Ending. However, in order to do this, you ''will need to'' [[Guide Dang It|obtain several of the hidden monsters]] that would help against the [[Nintendo Hard]] status of the game.

* [[Action Commands]]:

** During battle, you'll be asked to input commands via the Cinematic Action system, which allows you to do things like climb on enemies, and other cinematic stuff. Mostly, they do superficial stuff, like buffing the party, staggering the boss or just to take it down in a flashy way. Doing the last on will get you an adornment for each boss; doing them all will get you an achievement.

** Monster allies' [[Limit Break|Feral Links]] require the input of commands in order to increase the synchronization, which increases the chance of obtaining the monster killed by the Feral Link. Makes you wonder why support Feral Links even have synchronization...

* [[Adult Fear]]: Sazh loses Dajh while time traveling during his downloadable episode. He is more than a little worried.

* [[After Combat Recovery]]: Your characters are healed after every battle, which is carried over from the first game.

* [[AI Is a Crapshoot]]: {{spoiler|The A.I. of Augusta Tower did not like the idea of the Academy limiting its power, so it killed off the Academy higher-ups and took control of the tower and Academia. Its self-defense system for Academia City involves turning the citizens into Cie'th and sending them in droves to attack intruders.}}

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* [[Beef Gate]]:

** In order to unlock the gate in the Archylte Steppe to reach the Vile Peaks, you'll have to defeat three Gigantaurs (one at a time, not all at once), which are very powerful the first time you visit the location.

** A near-''literal'' one can be found in Academia 400 AF. While you're following Caius, the path you're ''not'' supposed to take is blocked off by a large Undying. You know, the Cie'th that were [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] in the original game? At this point, your attacks will barely make a dent in it even when Staggered, and all its attacks one-shot you. Yeah, I think the game is reminding you to [[Continue Your Mission Dammit]].

** A near-''literal'' one can be found in Academia 400 AF. While you're following Caius, the path you're ''not'' supposed to take is blocked off by a large Undying. You know, the Cie'th that were [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] in the original game? At this point, your attacks will barely make a dent in it even when Staggered, and all its attacks one-shot you. Yeah, I think the game is reminding you to [[Continue Your Mission, Dammit!]].

** Long Gui is one if you decide to abandon all common sense and fight it instead of scaring it off with thunder like you're supposed to.

* [[Betting Minigame]]: You can play slots and chocobo racing (and in a [[DLC]], cards) in Serendipity and bet coins.

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* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: All Paradox Endings except #3 (the Flan one) and #5 ({{spoiler|Alyssa's secret}}. The ''canon'' endings are {{spoiler|listed under [[Downer Ending]].}}

** The canon ending is made out to be this with Lightning's Episode in consideration. {{spoiler|Sure, the world is still enveloped in chaos, Serah is still dead, and Lightning is crystallized, but there's hope: Lightning reveals she will reawaken one day, and she and Serah will meet again one day.}}

* [[The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In]]: Lightning's gunblade, apparently, which she then uses as a [[Stepping Stone Sword]] to swing herself into the fight. An obvious [[Shout Out]] to [[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|her base character]].

* [[The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In]]: Lightning's gunblade, apparently, which she then uses as a [[Stepping Stone Sword]] to swing herself into the fight. An obvious [[Shout-Out]] to [[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|her base character]].

* [[Blackout Basement]]: Yaschas Massif 10AF is under an eternal "eclipse" due to a paradox bringing the global eclipse of the sun from after Cocoon's fall (in Noel's timeline).

* [[Bleak Level]]: A Dying World 700 AF, New Bodhum 700 AF, and Valhalla. Also, by proxy, the Void Beyond.

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** Also in half of the Paradox Endings. Just to list: {{spoiler|if you kill Atlas, a war erupts and you're killed in it; if you kill the giant Flan, it takes over the world; if you kill the Proto fal'Cie with the Paradox Scope activated, Serah, Noel and Mog are captured by it and have machine copies made of them; if Serah kills Caius with the Paradox Scope activated in the Void Beyond, time ends.}}

* [[Broken Bridge]]: The time gates themselves serve this purpose, only opening up the next area once you've advanced the plot enough to uncover the various Artefacts. There are also numerous other examples in the form of barricades, fallen rubble, time distortions, and so on. There's even two Broken Bridges that are almost literally broken bridges - they're bridges phased out of spacetime that you can't cross until you get Mog's improved search ability.

* [[But Thou Must]]: {{spoiler|The very final Cinematic Action scene. The resulting cutscene is the ''exact same,'' regardless of which option you pick.}}

* [[But Thou Must!]]: {{spoiler|The very final Cinematic Action scene. The resulting cutscene is the ''exact same,'' regardless of which option you pick.}}

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Mog. There are parts of the game where advancing the plot involves picking the little guy up and tossing him.

* [[Capital City]]: Academia

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* [[Cursed With Awesome]]: The Heart of Chaos. {{spoiler|It allows the user to have power of chaos itself and [[Immortality]]. Caius has it as a gift from Etro herself as being the sole Guardian of Yeul, and only the person who kills him can take it. This concept quickly makes a left turn into [[Deconstruction]] when Caius is later known to have [[Death Seeker]] tendencies after living for an ''extremely'' long time and witnessing Yeul die countless times.}}

* [[A Day in The Limelight]]: The three [[DLC]] story packs for Snow, Sazh, and Lightning.

* [[Damn You Muscle Memory]]:

* [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]:

** In this game, spells are ordered in the battle menu by power level (so first all the normal spells, then the '-a's, then the '-ga's) as opposed to the original XIII's ordering by element. (Fire, Fira, Firaga, etc.) For those who played the first game a lot, this can take some getting used to.

** On a similar note, many enemies from the first game return, but most of their weaknesses have been changed.

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* [[For Doom the Bell Tolls]]: {{spoiler|In scenes where Lightning is snatched from time and again at the canon ending.}}

* [[Four Is Death]]: "Unseen Abyss" (also known as "Invisible Depths"), {{spoiler|Caius' [[Final Boss]] theme}}, runs for 4 minutes and 44 seconds on the Soundtrack CD. {{spoiler|This comes after you fight him three times plus a fakeout in his human form.}}

* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] when it comes to fighting Caius. There are a total of five fights against him in the story. In each fight, he cast reraise on himself and the the first four battles end after it revives him. The next cutscene typically involves him standing up and kicking your ass. [[New Game ~~Plus~~|The Paradox Scope]] lets you continue fighting him after Reraise activates and Caius proceeds to use the same strength he demonstrated in cutscenes. Beating Caius in these fights results in a [[Nonstandard Game Over|paradox ending.]]

* [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] when it comes to fighting Caius. There are a total of five fights against him in the story. In each fight, he cast reraise on himself and the the first four battles end after it revives him. The next cutscene typically involves him standing up and kicking your ass. [[New Game+|The Paradox Scope]] lets you continue fighting him after Reraise activates and Caius proceeds to use the same strength he demonstrated in cutscenes. Beating Caius in these fights results in a [[Nonstandard Game Over|paradox ending.]]

* [[Gameplay Grading]]: Like the last game, your battles are ranked from one to five stars. This is important since not only do higher ranks increase item drops and the Feral Link gauge, but some achievements/trophies are only awarded for get five stars on certain boss battles.

* [[Genre Busting]]:

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* [[Hub Level]]: The Historia Crux serves as a menu-screen version of this. Each node on the map marks a different era and location. To unlock other nodes, you must activate time gates within those locations.

* [[Infinity-1 Sword]]: Like its sister game, the strongest weapons in the game are not the best (in fact, the actual [[Infinity+1 Sword|Infinity Plus One Swords]] only achieve their full potential once you have achieved [[One Hundred Percent Completion]], and thus [[Bragging Rights Reward|have nothing to use them on]]), and battle strategies are improved by weapons that grant beneficial statuses or speed up the fill rate of the ATB gauge, for instance.

* [[Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons]]: Bahamut, I'm looking at you. And the faeryl, which indirectly caused the events of Sunleth Waterscape 300AF to happen.

* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons]]: Bahamut, I'm looking at you. And the faeryl, which indirectly caused the events of Sunleth Waterscape 300AF to happen.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: When you first arrive at Academia 400 AF, you are given a [[Scenery Porn|very nice overview]] of the city. If anything, the city is a [[Captain Ersatz]] to ''[[Final Fantasy Versus XIII]]'''s own city, but that's not the main idea. {{spoiler|Proto fal'Cie Adam makes its introduction in this timeline by [[Final Fantasy XIII|arriving in an airship modeled after Etro, complete with a slow-moving tendency and greenish flashing lights]]. It then proceeds to remain above The Academy in the front of the map for rest of time.}}

* [[I Will Find You]]: Serah towards Lightning and, later on, {{spoiler|Snow}}. Noel towards {{spoiler|his}} Yeul, as he believes he will reunite with her in the future.

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* [[Last Lousy Point|Last Lousy Fragment]]:

** You'll also need to fight Long Gui and Yomi for two Fragments, who are considered by some to be even tougher then the final boss.

** Yet another Fragment requires that you earn tons of coins from the slot machine. And in this game, the slot machines behave like real ones--in other words, [[Luck Based Mission|your control over the outcome approaches zero]].

** Yet another Fragment requires that you earn tons of coins from the slot machine. And in this game, the slot machines behave like real ones--in other words, [[Luck-Based Mission|your control over the outcome approaches zero]].

** The Travel Guide: Academia fragment requires 100% completion of all Academia maps. Academia 400 has constantly-spawning, mostly inescapable enemies to trip you up. Academia 4XX is by far the most complex map in the game, full of little nooks and crannies that will take hours to explore fully. Academia 500 is a constantly shifting [[Unexpected Gameplay Change|platforming]] level with multiple switches changing which platforms are accessible. Bring a snack and a stress-ball.

** At least one of the Paradox Endings Beneath A Timeless Sky and Heart of Chaos will make you rage. Both of them are fights against a ''really hard'' version of Caius, who can ''and will'' kill you in less than a minute at max stats. The right strategy can make them easier, but you'll probably see a game over at least once.

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** With time and space itself overlapping and blending together, the entire game might qualify.

* [[Minigame Zone]]: Serendipity

* [[Min Maxing]]: The Crystarium has big nodes that give you a small stat bonus in either HP, ATK, or MAG depending on which role you decide to level up on the big node, which starts adding up if you concentrate on a single stat. As a result, some people opt to have an all-MAG and all-ATK build for Serah and Noel, respectively.

* [[Min-Maxing]]: The Crystarium has big nodes that give you a small stat bonus in either HP, ATK, or MAG depending on which role you decide to level up on the big node, which starts adding up if you concentrate on a single stat. As a result, some people opt to have an all-MAG and all-ATK build for Serah and Noel, respectively.

** Similarly, you level up your [[Mons]] with materials that enhance one of the same three stats at each node, or [[Master of None|all three to a slightly lesser degree]].

* [[Mon|Mons]]: Also known as "your third party member". Defeating most monsters will cause them to turn into crystals, and you can then use the crystallized monster in battle alongside Serah and Noel. Paradigm shifts switch monsters and they level up with you and can be customized to an extent. They're pretty much Pokémon. Mog also counts toward this.

* [[Monster Arena]]: The Coliseum allows you to fight optional bosses. All of them are [[DLC]], though.

* [[Monster Compendium]]: With a sidequest for [[Hundred Percent Completion]], to boot.

* [[Monster Compendium]]: With a sidequest for [[Hundred-Percent Completion]], to boot.

* [[Mood Dissonance]]: Chocolina, who's always cheery no matter where she is (with a few exceptions. In {{spoiler|Academia 400 AF, she's depressed that everyone's being turned into Cie'th. Right before the finale in Academia 500 AF, she also gets a little downcast when she realizes that if Serah and Noel resolve the final paradox, she may never see them again.}})

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Do ''not'' expect any mood in this game to last for long, especially if you're going for post-game 100% completion.

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** Some of the first trailers for this game had one of the members of NORA stating to Serah that Lightning was absolutely dead. Recent trailers, however, have that same character saying to Serah that Lightning "cannot help you anymore" at that same moment in the game.

** In a remarkable piece of false advertising, the trailer at the end of the playable demo showed Omega in the game. No "Omega Coliseum is DLC" or "Omega Coliseum sold separately" disclaimer, just a hook to get long-time fans to buy the game ... before the soul-crushing realisation that Omega isn't actually in the game and would be released a month later. For more money.

* [[New Game ~~Plus~~]]: This can be achieved by closing gates and re-entering them, causing you to play through the area's events again with all of your current stats and items.

* [[New Game+]]: This can be achieved by closing gates and re-entering them, causing you to play through the area's events again with all of your current stats and items.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: {{spoiler|In the normal ending where Noel kills Caius, he ends up letting Caius take over the world.}}

** {{spoiler|Taking it up a level, Etro herself for saving the l'Cie at the end of ''FFXIII'', which disrupts the timeline and sets into motion the events that inevitably lead to the above scenario and '''her own death'''.}}

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* [[Nintendo Hard]]: This game has been attracting attention for its ''insanely'' hard bosses.

* [[No Sidepaths No Exploration No Freedom]]: Intentionally and deliberately averted with areas more complex and intertwined than before.

* [[Now Where Was I Going Again]]:

* [[Now Where Was I Going Again?]]:

** The characters will be happy to remind you what's going on nearly every time you enter a gate. This is useful if you've been sidetracked [[Gotta Catch Em All|catching]] [[Mons]], [[Sidequest|Sidequests]], or by [[Sidetracked By the Gold Saucer|Serendipity]], but a tad annoying if you've played straight through and just heard similar dialog less than five minutes before.

** You can see sidequests you've accepted via the menu.

** When you load your game from the title screen, a brief [[Previously On]] will play, reminding you of the story so far.

** When you load your game from the title screen, a brief [["Previously On..."]] will play, reminding you of the story so far.

* [[Old Save Bonus]]: If the player has save data for ''Final Fantasy XIII'' on their HD, the success rate of the slots minigame in Xanadu/Serendipity will be higher. They also unlock several in game items, a theme for your Playstation Dashboard (for [[PS 3]]) and a gamer picture (for [[X Box]] 360).

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Played for ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|funny]]''. {{spoiler|The Miniflans in Sunleth Waterscape 400AF are attempting to destroy the crystal pillar, but they need others to help. Eventually, you have to fight them}}, [[Memetic Mutation|while Square-Enix plays inappropriate music]]. {{spoiler|They are defeated and scolded by Serah in mere minutes.}}

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* [[Pink Girl, Blue Boy]]: Serah wears pink and white, whereas Noel wears blue and black.

* [[Pop Quiz]]: There is a man named Captain Cryptic who asks Serah questions about the world they live in.

* [[Previously On]]: Every time you continue the game, some clips are shown of what happened the last time you played. It seems to be a random collection of clips from previous cutscenes, and sometimes doesn't really help the player remember what happened before.

* [["Previously On..."]]: Every time you continue the game, some clips are shown of what happened the last time you played. It seems to be a random collection of clips from previous cutscenes, and sometimes doesn't really help the player remember what happened before.

* [[Previous Player Character Cameo]]: Sazh, Vanille, and Fang make only cameo appearances in the game. The other three have slightly larger roles.

* [[Ragnarok Proofing]]:

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* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: A menu-based variant. When you initially progress through the game, you have a blue menu. Whenever the "Paradox" Fragment is turned on, the menu will become red.

* [[Replacement Goldfish]]: After Snow leaves to find Lightning, Serah adopts a cat and names it Snow.

* [[Ret Gone]]:

* [[Ret-Gone]]:

** {{spoiler|Lightning, of all people, in the "main" timeline.}} Makes seeing snippets of the ending of ''XIII'', only with that particular character missing (and Serah being the only one who notices anything is wrong--something she's considered mildly ''insane'' for believing) absolutely horrific. Doubly so since the player presumably remembers the original ending to the game.

** Ironically, this is [[Inverted]] as well in a big way. {{spoiler|Namely, Etro did the inverse, saving the party from ''XIII'' after the fight with Orphan, which causes [[It Got Worse|a few problems.]]}}

* [[The Reveal]]: Turns out, it's the moogle's bobble that allows them to fly. The wings are just for show.

** {{spoiler|The Eyes of Etro drastically shorten the lifespan of those who bear them.}}

* [[Ripple Effect Proof Memory]]:

* [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]]:

** Serah and Noel, alongside a few others.

** Somewhat averted {{spoiler|in Noel's case. Memories relating to his native era aren't impervious, as Serah figures out in a brief narrative moment roundabouts Academia 4XX AF.}}

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* [[Shipper On Deck]]/[[Ship Tease]]: Lebreau teases Serah about Noel at the beginning of the game.

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: Arguably. Timey-wimey stuff cancels out the seemingly happy ending from ''XIII''. The plot of this game centers around Serah searching for Lightning, who has vanished for no apparent reason. Various time paradoxes destroy progress made by the protagonists. {{spoiler|In the end, Serah dies after beating the [[Big Bad]], Lightning is crystallized, and the [[Big Bad]] gets better.}}

* [[Shout Out]]:

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** If you have seen ''[[Advent Children]]'', you will immediately recognize Lightning's action when she attempts to break through the meteor by going straight for it. Later on, the camera focuses on a chunk of said meteor and it resembles the ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' logo. Noel repeatedly saying "[[Arc Number|700 years]]" just adds fuel to the fire.

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** During the opening battle between Lightning and Caius, this happens twice. First traditionally, and then on pieces of metal frozen in place with a gravity spell.

** [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]] is basically this, complete with [[Unexpected Gameplay Change|an out-of-place platforming segment]].

* [[The Stinger]]: {{spoiler|The secret ending, which appears after the ending credits, after [[Hundred Percent Completion]], with the Paradox Scope enabled.}}

* [[The Stinger]]: {{spoiler|The secret ending, which appears after the ending credits, after [[Hundred-Percent Completion]], with the Paradox Scope enabled.}}

* [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion]]: Found in a Fragment that provides a poem about the sheep of Gran Pulse titled "The Melancholy of the Lambs:"

{{quote| ''It's hard to be sheep''<br />

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* [[Thanatos Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Caius never wanted to destroy Cocoon. His plan was to get the heroes pissed off enough to kill him. [[The Bad Guy Wins|It worked]].}}

* [[These Hands Have Killed]]: {{spoiler|Noel does this when he realizes that he indirectly and inadvertently killed Etro.}}

* [[Time Crash]]: {{spoiler|The actions of Etro accidentally cause this, [[Ret Gone|Ret Goning]] Lightning and directly leading to the plot of the game.}}

* [[Time Crash]]: {{spoiler|The actions of Etro accidentally cause this, [[Ret-Gone|Ret Goning]] Lightning and directly leading to the plot of the game.}}

* [[Time Paradox]]: The theme of the game.

* [[Time Travel]]: The Historia Crux system allows the player to travel through gates that lead to different time periods, akin to ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]''. It is slightly extended from the CT system, however, in that there are several alternate versions (in some cases up to 4, but a few are just for Paradox Endings) of most time periods.

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* [[We Cannot Go On Without You]]: This was mostly removed from gameplay, presumably as a reaction to complaints against this mechanic in the original game. If the party leader dies in battle, you'll be automatically switched to whomever wasn't the party leader, assuming he or she is alive. You may also switch between leaders at any point within the battle. However, if both Noel and Serah die in battle, it's [[Game Over]], even if your current monster knows Raise. Perhaps the monster takes the opportunity to high tail it before he's infused into another monster?

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Ultimately, {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Caius}} is ''not'' looking to rule/destroy the world ([[A God Am I|godhood optional]]). {{spoiler|He's hoping to create a timeless place where Yeul never has to die, which unfortunately will have the side-effect of collapsing every timeline ever.}}

* [[Wham Episode]]:

* [[Wham! Episode]]:

** After Serah and Noel are sent through a sabotaged time gate {{spoiler|by Alyssa}}, they get separated and both run into Caius. {{spoiler|Who then proceeds to [[Holy Shit Quotient|LITERALLY stab our characters in the back!]]}}

** Seconds before that you discover {{spoiler|that the original, correct history has ''everyone'' except Vanille and Fang dying at the end of ''XIII''. The only reason the party survived was due to the timely intervention of the goddess Etro...something that more or less ''killed her'' and ''doomed the timeline (and humanity) to a slow death.''}}

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: Several major players in the storyline vanish outright and are never mentioned again. Case in point, no mention of {{spoiler|Alyssa}} after {{spoiler|her betrayal}} outside of a Paradox Ending. This is almost acceptable with her {{spoiler|since her betrayal was apparently due to her discovering that the heroes succeeding in their next adventure would [[Ret Gone]] her}}, but less understandable when {{spoiler|Snow}} gets the same treatment.

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: Several major players in the storyline vanish outright and are never mentioned again. Case in point, no mention of {{spoiler|Alyssa}} after {{spoiler|her betrayal}} outside of a Paradox Ending. This is almost acceptable with her {{spoiler|since her betrayal was apparently due to her discovering that the heroes succeeding in their next adventure would [[Ret-Gone]] her}}, but less understandable when {{spoiler|Snow}} gets the same treatment.

** Noel's fate in the canon ending is left dangling, as {{spoiler|the world is consumed with chaos, we never see what happens to Noel, not even in any of the downloadable content.}}

* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]:

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