Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII

[Sapientes Gladio]

Black Khak - Telluric

As long as Noel and Serah Lightning are the main characters and not Lightning Serah, I don't give a damn.

You typo'ed, I helped you out though.

But seriously looking forward to FFXIII-2 even though I hate FFXIII . . . so so much. neutral
It had so much potential and it went practically no where. :/
It wasn't a deep storyline (well, I'm on Chapter 12, so I can only seriously hope it gets better. . . even though the next chapter is the last), it wasn't anything but a Cloud-ish heroine that actually has a lot more emotional development than Squall and Cloud can imagine when you progress through the game, a blond pretty boy that needs to shut up about Serah, a shota, a pretty legit- however underrated black guy (or as I call him, The Token), a girl who for the record- is the reason for 99.9% of the plot and a bad a** female who was originally supposed to be a guy. You only have two worlds to go to (maybe three if I progress farther in the game), and the only side-quest you have is doing missions and even that can get boring from time to time.

Seriously, the only good points about FFXIII is that: Masashi Hamauzu's composition of the soundtrack, the graphics, and how I don't have to be at a Save Point to switch out my party members.

For Enix's sake, they better hope FFXIII-2 is a reverse trap compared to FFX-2 (that I . . . kinda liked, atleast until I replayed it again and realized, it was the pretty dresspheres, the songs, the dancing, and the good & perfect endings I liked).

I mean seriously, haven't people caught on to the fact that sequels are kinda a risky thing to do? FFX > FFX-2
FFXIII ? FFXIII-2
I can only hope that XIII-2 is better than it's predecessor, because it looks so promising . . . but it too can be a trap. stressed

[Sapientes Gladio]

Black Khak - Telluric

No, I didn't typo.

Lightning is a terrible protagonist. I wouldn't compare her at all to Cloud, considering the only thing they have in common is their pasts as Soldiers.

And Cloud is a much better protagonist.

As much as I love Cloud, I wouldn't really compare him to Lightning.
Cloud honorably went around being Zack Fair about four - five years after he died, as cute as that was, it's not needed.

Lightning didn't have too much of an identity crisis, all she did was change her name and turn into a harsh cynic, nothing wrong with that. If you think about it, you could loosely compare her to Lulu in some respects.

I will not say she's the best female lead, but I would much rather choose her than hearing Laura Bailey's (Serah's) voice again. Seriously.

[ShingamiX]

Black Khak - Telluric

No, I didn't typo.

Lightning is a terrible protagonist. I wouldn't compare her at all to Cloud, considering the only thing they have in common is their pasts as Soldiers.

And Cloud is a much better protagonist.

I'm sorry, but who would compare her to Cloud..? Only thing that Square Enix said the two would have in common was their personalities. I think you may have let your self down if you thought they'd be just alike.

Comparing Lightning to Cloud seems a little degrading for her. They're both soldiers, but she out ranks Cloud. She goes by a code name for security reasons and Cloud tries to live his friend's life. As far as abilities go, Lightning felt way more confident about hers than Cloud did about his.

You'd probably see Cloud as a better character because he was strictly the main character in VII. That sort of thing kin of stopped after IX though. XIII jumped around because everyone was of equal importance in the game.

@Machiavelique Amour-
I agree. I like XIII, but it was pretty lacking compared to previous titles. I definitely seen a sequel coming for XIII, for obvious reasons. If you don't see them after completing the game, just ask. A sequel's pretty risky, but I think that XIII-2 will definitely be a better attempt at a sequel than X-2, which was just completely unnecessary in the first place. Come to think of it, Lightning does have more similarities to Lulu.

[Sapientes Gladio]

ShingamiX

@Machiavelique Amour-
I agree. I like XIII, but it was pretty lacking compared to previous titles. I definitely seen a sequel coming for XIII, for obvious reasons. If you don't see them after completing the game, just ask. A sequel's pretty risky, but I think that XIII-2 will definitely be a better attempt at a sequel than X-2, which was just completely unnecessary in the first place. Come to think of it, Lightning does have more similarities to Lulu.

Black Khak - Telluric

I'm not comparing Lightning to Cloud. If you carefully read my post, it says "I wouldn't compare her to Cloud." And she does not go by a code-name for security reasons; it's to change her entire persona after her parents died. Notice how no-one else in the Guardian Corps goes by code-names except Lightning, not even her CO?

And no, I don't see Cloud as a better character because he was strictly the main character of VII. I see him as a much better character because he is a much better developed character than Lightning is, who was the worst character in XIII, right along with Fang.

And in terms of abilities - something I wasn't even talking about - Cloud far outstrips her in that department as well, being superhuman and all.

ಠ_ಠ @ ^

I really like Lightning, but so much of her character needs to be brought out. In terms of female leads for the FF series, she's one of the more decent, realistic ones. Well, if you take out the fact she changed her persona and her name to shield herself after her parents die, then yeah you can definitely say that. I mean honestly, who wouldn't change after their parents died?

@Telluric; That's that "Security reasons" mean, that she wanted to protect herself, hence the undergoing of a personality and name change. What do you mean "notice how no-one else in the Guardian Corps goes by code-names except Lightning" how can you be so sure? The game is so linear that the only thing you know about the Guardian Corps is what they tell you in the game, and even still . . . there's no further depth to it.

Cloud isn't a much better character, in fact, read this:



Final Fantasy VII Cloud Strife

In fact, these events did not occur as Cloud describes; rather, they are an amalgamation of Cloud's actual past (as a member of the Shinra army who failed to enter SOLDIER) along with his friend Zack's own past, mixed with memories gleaned from Tifa's mind, created out of a combination of shame, Jenova cells and manipulation by Sephiroth. The effects of this self-fabrication are made noticeable to the player prior to Cloud's discovery of the truth—Cloud, at mention of names from the past or moments related thereto, will experience a brief flashback and collapse momentarily, suffering from apparent physical pain, and visual and audio cues are given to indicate discrepancies. It is not until after he and Tifa fall into the Lifestream that he, with her encouragement, can piece his past back together, and restore his own personality from underneath the amalgam where he had subconsciously hidden it, and dismisses Sephiroth's deceit that he is an artificially-constructed Sephiroth-clone



He failed to enter Soldier, while Lightning succeeded. Zack Fair (plus Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal) are the only characters in the FFVII-universe that have entered Soldier. Even Cloud says in Advent Children / Advent Children Complete when Rufus seeks his help, referencing him being in Soldier, Cloud admits "Hn, in my head."

As much as I like Cloud, and the fact that he went through a hell of a mental problem, Lightning is probably the saner one out of the two. Even though Cloud knows who he is and what's apart of him now, that doesn't make him a better character. Superhuman anything is not a valid support reasoning for him either. To further criticize you, Cloud only has superhuman strength because he has taken Mako energy into his body. And guess what? When Lightning became a L'Cie, she too had superhuman strength as well. Oh look at that, they both have something in common.

Superhuman strength, realistic ideas on both parts and the burning vigor to fight for their loved ones? I'd like to say that Cloud and Lightning do share a lot of similarities. Whether you're too opinionated to accept that, I'm not sure yet.

[ShingamiX]

That's why Cloud is weak, in my opinion. You can have all the physical strength in the world, but why bother if you're mentally weak. You start to set limits for your body and Cloud is my proof. What do you think basic training is for today's military. Their PT isn't that hard, depending on what kind of shape you're in prior to it, it's usually the drill sergeant that chases people away because the mental abuse they put you through. I'm pretty sure a sergeant ranks higher than a grunt in any organization, by the way. And if you seen more growth and change in Cloud than you did with Lightning, what does that tell you about Lightning because it certainly tells me that Cloud had a lot more of it to do than she did.

And superhuman strength? I'm not going to say anything about that because we're talking about Final Fantasy here, a universe where gravity is nothing more that a spell. Lol

[Malee]

Black Khak - Telluric

It tells me that Cloud has several years of characterization under his belt, spanned across several video games and other media, while Lightning only has a couple days worth.

Then you can't really compare the two. The viewer/player has more time getting to know and watch Cloud's character development unlike Lightening were you only get a few hours of game play.

To be fair to both characters you would have to just compare their development in the base games. In which case I think Lightening develops more as a character.

For Cloud he goes from a jerk to less of a jerk but its only in the subsequent games and movies that we see him develop into a more independent, stronger character.

And my whole original reason to come here... I dunno about this new game. I can't see Noel without seeing male Yuna. Freaking me out a little.

[Bitchzard]

I hope they're adding more characters to the party instead of a bunch of monsters.

[Lyrrien]

Bitchzard

I hope they're adding more characters to the party instead of a bunch of monsters.

This

[Bitchzard]

Found this in old photobucket.

[Stalwart Defender Cid]

All I'm going to say is that Noel better not go trying to steal Serah away from Snow.