Starting a Sequel...

[LadyTiresias22]

So, I had never played Final Fantasy before. I bought Final Fantasy XIII used. It was awesome, but then (fairly early on) my game froze. It always freezes at the same spot, so I suspect a scratch on the disc.

I bought Final Fantasy XIII part 2 for my boyfriend -- who subsequently broke up with me -- so I stole it, and began playing it today.

My question: how much is this going to mess up my understanding of the story line? Does it matter much? Keep in mind these are the first two I've ever played...

[Kuja9113]

LadyTiresias22

So, I had never played Final Fantasy before. I bought Final Fantasy XIII used. It was awesome, but then (fairly early on) my game froze. It always freezes at the same spot, so I suspect a scratch on the disc.

I bought Final Fantasy XIII part 2 for my boyfriend -- who subsequently broke up with me -- so I stole it, and began playing it today.

My question: how much is this going to mess up my understanding of the story line? Does it matter much? Keep in mind these are the first two I've ever played...

Oddly enough, whenever Square-Enix releases direct sequels, they're jarringly different from their predecessors. So honestly you could probably make it through XIII-2 just fine without having played XIII first.

That said, if you want to watch the story cutscenes for FFXIII, you can view them here.

Alternatively, if you want just a quick spoiler cast of relevant plot points (well at least it start off as quick), highlight below:
*-Fal'Cie are kind of like the gods of the world in that each fal'Cie existed for a specific purpose.
-l'Cie are slaves, used by the fal'Cie in order to accomplish tasks that they could not otherwise perform themselves.
-The main party (Lightning, Hope, Sazh, Vanille, Snow and Fang) were all branded as l'Cie by the fal'Cie in order to their bidding.
-Their orders were to summon Ragnarok in order to destroy Cocoon, their homeworld. These orders were given to them in a brief dream-like hallucination called a Focus.
-Being branded as a l'Cie is no better than a curse, because it's a lose/lose situation. If you succeed in completing your Focus, you become crystallized for a presumed eternity. And if you fail, you become transformed into a zombie-like, shambling corpse state until you die.
-Cocoon is a giant, fal'Cie-made planet that hovered in the sky, high above the feral world of Gran Pulse.
-Vanille and Fang were originally from Gran Pulse, but 500 years ago, they were branded by Pulse fal'Cie and sent to destroy Cocoon in a similar Focus.
-As it turns out, Ragnarok was not merely a summon, but rather a transformation that required a fusion of Fang and Vanille.
-Vanille was unable to go through with the transformation out of fear, so Fang attempted to transform by herself. This made an incomplete form of Ragnarok. When she attacked Cocoon, she only managed to crack it's shell, instead of destroy it entirely. This event triggered an all out war between Gran Pulse and Cocoon in what was known as the War of Transgression.
-Having pseudo-completed their Focus, both Fang and Vanille were crystallized until the current day, 500 years later, when they were suddenly awoken.
-Still having their Focus, they (either intentionally or not) managed to gather the other four party members, as well as Serah (Lightning's sister) and Dajh (Sazh's son), and have them all branded as l'Cie as well.
-Dajh was branded by a Cocoon l'Cie, and his Focus was to locate Fang and Vanille, which he succeeded in doing and was thus crystallized for.
-Serah's Focus was to gather the remaining party members in order for them to be branded as l'Cie, which she succeeded in doing and was thus crystallized for.
-After Serah was branded, the Sanctum government initiated a Purge, which involved moving every single human being within Bodhum, the town that Serah had been branded and moving them all "safely" to Gran Pulse. In reality, the government planned to execute them all for fear of more l'Cie conversions.
-Lightning, Snow, Hope and Sazh all ended up being branded by happenstance.
-Lightning volunteered to be Purged in order to find and save her sister, Serah.
-Snow initiated a rebellion with his best friends and comrades: Gadot, Lebreau, Maqui and Yuj, otherwise known as NORA, in order to save his fiancee, Serah, as well as the rest of the Purge victims.
-Hope, his mother, and Sazh all happened to be in Bodhum during the time that Serah was found branded. So they were all a part of the Purge.
-Snow's liberation of the Purge victims led to Hope's mother's death. She volunteered to help fight, and was killed after an explosion. This led Hope to blame Snow for his mother's death and hold onto a revenge plot for about half the game. They eventually worked it out.
-Vanille was also being Purged, and ended up running into Hope, Snow, Lightning and Sazh within the Pulse Vestige where Serah was being kept. After Serah was crystallized, Lightning challenged the fal'Cie that branded her, and the five of them were branded as a result (though Vanille had already been branded).
-The five ragtag team of heroes all hated each other and split off into three groups almost immediately. Hope travelled with Lightning in an effort to become stronger and braver, Snow stayed behind with his crystallized fiancee, Serah, and Vanille travelled with Sazh because neither of them wanted to try and keep up with Lightning, the only soldier of the group.
-Hope eventually meets up with Snow again and tries to kill him but fails. After nearly falling to his death, Snow saves Hope, and Hope manages to forgive Snow for his mother's death (that wasn't even Snow's ******** fault to begin with).
-Sazh finds out the truth about Vanille's involvement in Dajh's branding and crystallization and nearly kills himself over it, but doesn't. He ultimately forgives her. Lightning eventually forgives Snow for being a total a*****e 24/7.
-Fang is revealed to be working with Cid Raines and Rygdea, of the Cavalry. They pick up Snow and want to help him save Serah. Or something.
-All six party members are eventually reunited aboard the Palamecia (an airship).
-It's there that they meet Galenth Dysley, who looks like the pope and is the acting ruler of everything ever.
-Dysley murders his bodyguard and lieutenant, Jihl Nabaat, and reveals himself to be the fal'Cie in charge of the world destruction plot, and goes by the name Barthandelus.
-After fighting Barthandelus, the party is sent down below to the feral world of Gran Pulse.
-On the way to Pulse, Cid Raines reveals himself to be a Cocoon l'Cie and is defeated by the party and promptly crystallized.
-They run around a lot and eventually run into Barthandelus again, who reveals the specifics of his plan.
-It turns out Lightning's real name is Claire. What a let down.
-It is revealed that the only thing keeping Cocoon afloat is the fal'Cie named Orphan. Barthandelus demands the party kill Orphan, which will then cause Cocoon to come crashing down into Gran Pulse. Doing so would, of course, cause a catastrophic number of deaths. The fal'Cie believe that in doing this, the Maker, who is THEIR god, would return to them.
-Protip: there's actually three Makers. Lindzei is the Maker of Cocoon. Pulse is the Maker of Gran Pulse. Etro is he goddess of death, and Bhunivelze is the Maker of everything (he made Lindzei, Pulse and Etro). There's also Bhunivelze's mother, Mwynn, who he killed and is irrelevant.
-The party then departs back for Cocoon in order to try and save Orphan from Barthandelus' clutches.
-They reach the capital city of Eden, and head for Orphan's sanctuary, battling PSICOM soldiers along the way and defeating Yaag Rosch, who's head of PSICOM or something.
-Cid Raines is shown having reverted back to a regular human form, and is executed by Rygdea.
-Rygdea and the rest of his squad are turned directly in Cie'th (the shambling corpse things) by Barthandelus. But apparently they wake up later and are fine. Rygdea is irrelevant though and we never hear from him again.
-The party finally faces off against Barthandelus, defeating him and his pet owl, another fal'Cie named Minrva.
-Orphan is then 'born' and demands death from the party so that they can see their Maker.
-The party, for no apparent reason, no longer wants to save Orphan, so they kill him, fulfilling their Focus.
-With Orphan's death, Cocoon falls the ******** out of the sky, so Vanille and Fang transform into Ragnarok and attempt to hold it up. Unable to hold it up by sheer strength, they crystallize the crap out of it, exploding into an enormous crystal pillar in order to hold Cocoon suspended into the sky.
-Everyone on or off Cocoon is crystallized in the process, and everyone is miraculously removed from Cocoon and placed safely on Pulse.
-Miraculously, everyone wakes up from their crystal state, and comment on the miracles that just took place. Dajh and Serah happen to be 50 feet away, and it's all one big happy reunion for everyone except Hope who has a dead as mother and a father nowhere to be found (but apparently they reunite later).
-And so humanity was apparently saved, and now starts a new life on Gran Pulse, though some people still hang out on Cocoon as well, as decrepit and crystallized as it is. But I guess the point is that they're now free from fal'Cie rule. Oh and all of the remaining Cocoon fal'Cie died in Cocoon's fall. The Pulse fal'Cie are still mostly alive but you don't really see or hear from most of them again.*

[LadyTiresias22]

Kuja9113

Yay! Thanks. (: