Defiers of Fate: FFXIII series

[Larissa]

Thanks Laura! I try to make it easy for people, haha.

New page... that wasn't on my outline at all, why am I making more work for myself, etc. I have all of the collector's edition guidebooks for the FF13 series, which include a bunch of bonus info, and since I've been replaying 13-2 I was looking through it when I found the developer Q&A at the back of the book. There's a lot of really great info in it, so I went ahead and typed it up.

Please note that this page has full spoilers for both FF13 and FF13-2.

[Chibi]

This was an interesting read! Helped me understand some things... and get more confused about others... haha! But I like content like this, because not everyone who played these games has the collector's editions, so it's great to read extra stuff like this! :D

[Larissa]

Par for the course for FF13, really :') I'm glad you liked it, though! Makes it worth typing it up, haha.

Another new page. Trying to get the super tedious ones out of the way so I can work on the fun ones.

[Lethe]

I'm so happy you signed up for Construction Zone with this - I know it's a huge project, but it's lovely to see that you've already produced some more pages since signing up!!

Thank you so much for typing up that Q&A, I am full of rage love reading about things like that, especially design notes, and notes about locations! So much talk about those flans wtf (GOD THOSE THINGS TOOK FOREVER TO DIE). ... That bit about Oerba is so, so, so beautiful. It's... basically the exact opposite decision compared to a certain significant location in FFX, and how it was handled in FFX-2, even though both that location and Oerba are similar. (I think you haven't played X-2 yet though, so I won't spoil it! It's just what immediately came to mind.)

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

“Alyssa actually died during the Purge that occurred at the beginning of Final Fantasy XIII. Her “survival” is due only to the course of history having been altered when Etro decided to save those who fought to defend Cocoon. She can only exist in this warped timeline, her very existence being a paradox of sorts. As Serah and Noel solve all the inconsistencies that alter the true course of events, Alyssa feels increasingly threatened. She is aware that the restoration of the timeline will lead to her demise. She eventually chooses to favor her own survival, by accepting Caius’s offer even when this means betraying her friends.”

I'm not sure whether this was adequately conveyed in the game?????? It's been a while for me ugh but I remember not being impressed at all and actually being disappointed, so I don't know whether something in the execution was off or what, because this sounds so interesting!

I'm glad you provide in-depth pages and fan sources for the novels since... apparently, the sequels delegate a lot of things to the novels and DLCs instead of tying up loose ends in the games themselves? (Snow in FFXIII-2, just wtf.) I've skimmed some novel translations before, but I guess I'll sit down and read them in earnest one day. Also looking forward to your DLC pages for the same reason... Just. what. you can't lock away things relevant to the story behind DLCs, wtf are you doing.

I'm really looking forward to your entire Depth section in particular because of my overwhelmingly negative feelings on the FFXIII sequels. But I've seen your FFXII site, and it shows how much you love the game while also acknowledging all the things that I'm bitter and disappointed about in FFXII - and seeing those things acknowledged in full along with all the love has allowed me to be kinder in my judgement on the game, I think. So I fully trust that you'll be able to criticize things while opening me up to new things, and that's always the biggest joy in reading about another fan's opinions.

[Larissa]

13-2 gallery is done! Couldn't sleep, decided to code since I collected all the art a while back. Also updated the 13 gallery with new art I found.

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Thank you Lethe! I'm intimidated myself at all the work this site needs but I'm trying to take the slow and steady route to get it all done.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Q&A section too! There's a lot of weird little tidbits in there (especially about the flan). I haven't played X-2 yet so I appreciate you holding off on spoilers

Re: your spoiler tag, I think that part was covered primarily in one of the paradox endings, although it is one of the more subtle parts of 13-2's storytelling. There are some things it does manage to convey subtly and that character's story is one of those things. It's something that's not clear your first time through the game, necessarily, but there are clues strewn about to make it more clear later on.

Unfortunately a lot of stuff is in the novels and DLCs and believe me I have an entire page planned where I yell about this. Square please stop, this is not a good way to tell a story, please just tell it within the game first and everything else second. Will they ever learn? (Looks at 15. Apparently not.)

I hope I can live up to your expectations! FF13 in particular attracts a lot of negative feelings, and while I certainly like the series, I'm not without criticism for it. It gets just as much right as it does wrong, really. But that gives me plenty to talk about! Now if only these pages would write themselves...

[Chibi]

Yay for galleries! :D I love these, now I have a go-to place for high quality FFXIII pictures!

(By the way, I'm getting an error when clicking on the character sketch of Serah in the XIII gallery and the image "cg_serah6" doesn't match with the preview - the preview is Serah with her weapon looking sideways but the image is Serah in the black outfit.)

[Larissa]

Thanks Chibi! They're both fixed now. I appreciate that you pointed out the specific errors -- I coded these galleries by hand and I occasionally make mistakes, but I don't always catch them all with so many images to go through. (Thank heavens for Brackets, it made it way easier.)

[Chibi]

Awesome, no problem. Those were the ones I spotted since I clicked on those images specifically. (And yes, Brackets is amazing.)

[Emma]

Ah, Larissa, this is so impressive! It's such a huge undertaking and it's inspiring to see your frequent updates so far. OH AND THAT Q&A, I'm just leaving that tab open to read when I'm less tired because it looks fascinating.

I really need to finish 13-2 and actually play LR. I've been entirely spoiled for the whole thing, mind you. (I think I have been anyway, I'm still a bit confused on some things)

[Larissa]

Did the music page for 13-2. I get on the game for a lot but it genuinely does have one of the best soundtracks.

@Emma: Thank you! I've been trying to slog through the pages one by one, in hopes that eventually I'll get through them all...?! We'll see!

I was actually spoiled for 13-2's ending by the time I played it, and I kinda think that made it a better experience; I went in with really low expectations all around and ended up pleasantly surprised by the game in a lot of ways. It's all about perspective. (Not that it's not still confusing........)