History Fridge / FinalFantasyXIII

* FF13 was designed in a very linear and non-exploration oriented manner, to make the player feel exhausted and isolated just like the L'Cie. The moment the game stops being so linear and more like a sandbox is the moment the team is finally out of the government's reach. TakeYourTime is also justified, since the BigBad needs them to get stronger and is content to wait for them.

* The logo for the game. At first, it's simply very pretty. And then you see the ending and look back at the logo - it's Ragnarok and Cocoon.

* At the beginning of the game, we find that Snow, Lightning, Sazh and Hope have two ATB bars each, gaining a third when they become l'Cie. Vanille comes with three ATB bars, foreshadowing the fact that she is already a l'Cie from Pulse. This is what we call InterfaceSpoiler - and GameplayAndStoryIntegration.

* One of Snow's best combat roles is as a Sentinel - a party member who takes abuse to shield others. A major role Snow shows in the narrative is to take abuse from everyone else until they can work out their problems. Snow's not just a Sentinel in gameplay - he's a [[WarriorTherapist psychological]] one too.
** It's also ''the'' role Snow is best at. His Hp caps at 30000, higher than everyone elses, he gains all the abilities, and most of his weapons augument the bonus Sentinel ability of "damage mitigation" (The Paladin route reducing the damage he alone takes, and the Umbra route reducing the damage the party takes). Sahz and Fang also fit this role well, but Snow is the best at it, adding further to the brilliance of his just dealing with all the groups problems.

* Our Chocobo Chick blocking a would-be upskirt of Vanille from Sazh is funny, but then you wonder why. Is it because the chick represents Sazh's conscience? Possibly. But when you go through XIII-2, we read that Dajh named this same chick Chocolina, after the mysterious woman of the same name (who's also implied in-game to be the sexy alter-ego of our chocobo chick). So perhaps it was also because of indignation?

* While on the subject of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', I thought it abandoned the idea of the traditional WhiteMagicianGirl[=/=][[MsFanservice Sexy]] Tough [=Girl=]/BrattyHalfPint pattern. But if you flip Lightning's and Hope's genders, she becomes a traditional hero, while he feels like a variation on the Staff Chick role; not only does he fit the role gameplay-wise, he is the person the tough, cold hero chooses to protect, who helps defrost the hero. This ''also'' explains the massive Hoprai shipping base - he fills the storyline role traditionally filled by the hero's LoveInterest, so everyone sees him as such.

* 'God machines surrounding the crystals' is more literal than you might think: they're literally God(made) machines surrounding crystals (their primary power source). And soon you'll notice that the 'crystal = power' theme is everywhere, not just in XIII but the trilogy - fal'Cie even gods either crystallize or disintegrate upon death, Eidolons are summoned/contained within crystals, L'Cie crystallize whether they succeed (literal crystal) or fail (crystal-abundant Cie'th), crystals being able to withstand the [[RealityWarper warping]] effects of Chaos itself where few things could... and so on.

* The ArtificialBrilliance present in your party AI actually extends to the enemies as well - and the human enemies are actually smarter than most of the animals and Cie'th enemies.

* All Cie'th have a crippling weakness to elemental magic. The characters (and other people) gain the ability to use elemental magic when they become l'Cie, and l'Cie turn into Cie'th when they fail their focus in time. It is made apparent that many consider being a l'Cie a fate worse than death, so when the player spams elemental spells against them in battle, they're rubbing their failure and their weaknesses right in their face. Ouch.

* Perhaps this doesn't count, but on first listening to the theme song, ''My Hands'' by Leona Lewis, it might not seem to be very fitting for this game. It doesn't really relate to Lightning, and would at best be a theme for Serah and Snow's romance, not a full blown theme song. In retrospect, it might actually be related to Fang and Vanille. Considering the amount of LesYay between them and Fang's AlwaysSaveTheGirl mentality, it seems fitting that a song about not letting go of someone would be related to her. Additionally, the ending ends with Fang and Vanille holding hands in their crystal form.
** It ''does'' work for Lightning... and her relationship with Serah. After reading the novella Episode Zero and finding out about how Lightning had to become the ParentalSubstitute for Serah, this song works to voice Lightning's true feelings on not wanting to let Serah go and give her to Snow. In Episode 1, the epilogue, when Lighting realizes that she knows she's the only one of the remaining party to go out and find a way to save Fang and Vanille, she finally allows herself to leave Serah in Snow's care, but is heartbroken that she has to go off and leave so soon, especially since they are reunited after all the trouble. The song can also explain the emotional turmoil Lightning may have gone through when her parents die. At 14 she had to learn the responsibilities of an adult and raise a little sister all on her own, so one can imagine that in the first year of being an orphan her thoughts would reflect the theme of the song...
** The song works for the fal'Cie too, except a bit darker: the events of the game occur because they want to call back the Maker, feeling abandoned after they were created and given their tasks, even if it means killing the people they were tasked to serve and protect. The ParentalAbandonment theme in the fal'Cie resembles Lightning's transition from a normal child to an adult before hitting the peak of her teenage years. The song talks of trying to move on and let go, but no matter how much a person tries the pain of being alone will always get to them, and with this in mind the fate of the fal'Cie can get a bit tragic.
** It also speaks to the very ambiguous future of a world without the protection and stability the fal'Cie provided. The narrator of the song is learning how to live without the co-dependent relationship that had previously defined life. While this is generally a good thing, the memory of that need and the comfort it provided is still strong. While it is good that the party stopped the fal'Cie from committing genocide, it's not certain that humanity will be any better off in the wilds of Pulse without their protectors standing by. Finding meaning for your life on your own is much more difficult and painful than having it handed to you.

** All of the l'Cie have the capability to break their fates and save the world because they are all imperfect humans living in an utopia: Lightning and Snow have no parents, and frequently go above the law to protect people. Sazh's wife died, making his life directionless save for protecting his son. Hope has trouble with his parents, causing him to hang out in forbidden areas. Fang and Vanille are agents who went against their mission to save the world in a different way. Even Serah and Dajh are rebellious in a sense, in that ignoring their closest related authority figures inadvertently grants them l'Cie power.

** With this in mind, one could look at his scene with Lightning on Pulse as her trying to give him some of his confidence back by telling him she believes in him in addition to finding some comfort in his optimism (even if it's partially faked at this point). Moments like that make one wonder what would've happened if Snow met Lightning first under similar circumstances instead of Serah...
*** That sounds like perfect {{Fanfic}} material. Anyone with a good idea should really get cracking!
*** Maybe [[CrackPairing cracking]] is a bad choice of words here....

** Good explanation, but It's probably just coincidence if not protocol as he is the ChildMage which is synonymous with a SquishyWizard.
*** That's not a coincidence. That's perfect logic to why a ChildMage WOULD be a SquishyWizard. He's not experienced in combat like the others, so he can't take a hit like them.
** This also explains Vanille, Fang trained hard to become a l'Cie by choice hence why she only has physical roles, it's what she trained for, so of course she'll use her l'Cie powers to augment that, Vanille became a l'Cie by accident so she focused on helping Fang from a distance, and in time became able to better take hits, but she still doesn't have training and always had Fang to protect her, which is why she's still squishy.

** No sense ruling out pure jealousy, either. Veering ''well'' away from Squick territory, it might also just be a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV Barts/Boko kind of relationship,]] and the chick could just be having a 'Hey! I'm still here!' moment.

** This extends to his weapons as well: Sazh gets far more stat gain out of his weapon that any of the other party members. Why? Because Sazh is using TWO guns, not one, hence the higher gain. And on a side-note, Fang's spear may be bifricated into two at times, but she still uses it primarily as a single spear, so she gets the standard gain.

** I interpreted that differently. At that point in the game, Lightning has just lost the only person she has a real emotional connection with, and therefore feels ''unbelievably'' alone - but she is the poster girl for repressed emotion, so she makes the tactically smart choice of sending Hope (not too useful at that point) away, rather than keeping him around for company like she really wants to do. However, this time she can't ignore her repressed despair because it summons a giant-ass mecha to pull her out of her slump. Odin goes after Hope, not Lightning, and the way to fill the Gestalt is to throw Cure around like confetti. Odin is forcing Lightning to acknowledge that she cares about Hope, because she needs some form of human company. And it works! She realizes that she actually does want him around, and lets him come along.

** It also explains why she sticks to physical attacks instead of her traditional attack style in the beginning; She's a WhiteMage, but while the civilians are being purged for just living ''near'' a Pulse Fal'Cie, they would utterly panic if they found out there was a Pulse L'Cie standing next to them.

** On a related note, the oft-criticized seeming inconsistency of Vanille's accent could be an [[InvokedTrope in-universe case]] of OohMeAccentsSlipping. She is a Pulse native who (especially in the early parts of the story) is trying to blend in among the Cocoon population, but her inexperience at trying to fake a Cocoon accent results in her native Pulse accent frequently slipping through. Fang, on the other hand, genuinely doesn't care about blending in with the Cocoon populace, and thus makes no effort to hide her Pulse accent.

** All the armed soldiers would hunt, while everyone else gathers edible vegetation?
** This is moot in FFXII-2. People have set up new towns, growing their own food and hunting the rest, getting water from streams and oceans and such.

'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

Due to the nature of this trope, there are '''unmarked spoilers''' ahead.

* Also about ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': I found it odd that Vanille, a young girl, had higher physical attack power than either Lightning (a trained soldier) or Snow (a brawler who fights by punching things). I looked at her stats to see if it was her weapon that did the trick, but it wasn't; she just has a higher base attack stat than anyone else, but suddenly turns it into the WhiteMage in the game proper. Then [[TheReveal a revelation came in the game]] that at first was just [[TheReveal a regular plot twist,]] but it just hit me five minutes ago [[FridgeBrilliance as to why Vanille's higher attack ability suddenly makes sense]]: [[spoiler: Vanille is]] ''[[spoiler: already]]'' [[spoiler: a L'Cie at the start of the game. Since L'Cie have magic to boost their statistics, this made her naturally stronger than everybody else, who at that point were just regular human beings.]]
** It also explains why she sticks to physical attacks instead of her traditional attack style in the beginning; She's a WhiteMage, but while the civilians are being purged for just living ''near'' a Pulse Fal'Cie, they would utterly panic if they found out [[spoiler: there was a Pulse L'Cie standing next to them.]]

* 'God machines surrounding the crystals' is more literal than you might think: they're literally God(made) machines surrounding crystals (their primary power source). And soon you'll notice that the 'crystal = power' theme is everywhere, not just in XIII but the trilogy - fal'Cie [[spoiler: even gods]] either crystallize or disintegrate upon death, Eidolons are summoned/contained within crystals, L'Cie crystallize whether they succeed (literal crystal) or fail (crystal-abundant Cie'th), crystals being able to withstand the [[RealityWarper warping]] effects of Chaos itself where few things could... and so on.

* The ArtificialBrlliance present in your party AI actually extends to the enemies as well - and the human enemies are actually smarter than most of the animals and Cie'th enemies.
* So why is it that when you return to Cocoon, the [=PSICom=] enemies you fight are much stronger, and even [[ArtificialBrlliance act smarter]] than the ones you fought earlier? Early on, you were fighting the recruits with little to no training, just with good equipment. By this point, you're fighting the people who not only have great equipment, but ''also'' proper training. Even the newer members have had more time to train too. Who says only ''you'' can level up?

* At the beginning of the game, we find that Snow, Lightning, Sazh and Hope have two ATB bars each, gaining a third when they become l'Cie. Vanille comes with three ATB bars, foreshadowing the fact that she is already a l'Cie from Pulse. This is what we call InterfaceSpoiler.

* At the beginning of the game, we find that Snow, Lightning, and Hope have two ATB bars each, gaining a third when they become l'Cie. Vanille comes with three ATB bars, foreshadowing the fact that she is already a l'Cie from Pulse. This is what we call InterfaceSpoiler.

** Alexander is a fortress, like the one the group just escaped. Hope feels like he's holding them back. By healing and buffing his allies, he learns that he isn't

* One of the few things I liked about the plot in this game was that the villain, for all his rhetoric, didn't fall into the trap of underestimating humans. That ''always'' leads to the downfall of the BigBad in other works of fiction. As shown by the PatrickStewartSpeech praising humanity in the last boss fight, the Fal'Cie actually believe that humans are far stronger than they are because of free will. And that is why they get ''almost'' everything they want in the end, in particular their own deaths: they are smart enough to bet ''on'' human willpower instead of against it!

* When the party reaches Oerba, they can encounter and fight smaller and weaker Cie'th in the middle of a plaza. Now, take a minute to think about it: why are there such Cie'th here, and not everywhere else? Well, remember: Oerba was a village, and near the plaza you can find a school. Those little Cie'th? They were [[YouBastard ''children'']]!

* When the party reaches Oerba, they can encounter and fight smaller and weaker Cie'th in the middle of a plaza. Now, take a minute to think about it: why are there such Cie'th here, and not everywhere else? Well, remember: Oerba was a village, and near the plaza you can find a school. Those little Cie'th? They were ''children''!

** Also regarding Vanille, I noticed on my second play-through that all the main characters besides Vanille (and of course Fang) start with two ATB segments while Vanille has three. Not a big deal until you realize [[spoiler:everyone gets a 3rd segment after being branded l'Cie by Anima.]] Another subtle hint that Vanille [[spoiler:is a Pulse l'Cie.]] When it came to Vanille, SE did [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Gameplay And Story]] [[JustForPun Integration]] quite well.

* Lightning comments that because she's a fal'Cie's pet, she was unable to live without her masters' leash. When the Cocoon citizens first become l'Cie, who is the first among them to find a path and a meaning to their lives? Snow. Which makes perfect sense, when you consider that NORA in Japanese is short for the word for 'stray cat'. In other words, Snow already knows how to live without a master.

* Also about ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': I found it odd that Vanille, a young girl, had higher physical attack power than either Lightning (a trained soldier) or Snow (a brawler who fights by punching things). I looked at her stats to see if it was her weapon that did the trick, but it wasn't; she just has a higher base attack stat than anyone else, but suddenly turns it into the WhiteMage in the game proper. Then [[TheReveal a revelation came in the game]] that at first was just [[TheReveal a regular plot twist,]] but it just hit me five minutes ago [[FridgeBrilliance as to why Vanille's higher attack ability suddenly makes sense]]: [[spoiler: Vanille is]] ''[[spoiler: already]]'' [[spoiler: a L'Cie at the start of the game. Since L'Cie have magic to boost their statistiscs, this made her naturally stronger than everybody else, who at that point were just regular human beings.]]

* One of the few things I liked about the plot in this game was that the villain, for all his rhetoric, didn't fall into the trap of underestimating humans. That ''always'' leads to the downfall of the BigBad in other works of fiction. As shown by the PatrickStewartSpeech praising humanity in the last boss fight, the Fal'Cie actually believe that humans are far stronger than they are because of free will. And that is why they get ''almost'' everything they want in the end, in particular their own deaths: they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy enough to bet ''on'' human willpower instead of against it!

* At the beginning of the game, we find that Snow, Lightning, and Hope have two ATB bars each, gaining a third when they become l'Cie. Vanille comes with three ATB bars, foreshadowing the fact that she is already a l'Cie from Pulse.
*** That's kind of an InterfaceSpoiler.
*** Look closely when everyone reveals their brands at the beginning, and you'll see that Vanille already has an arrow. You don't think anything of it at the time, but knowing that the arrows are a timeline for brand progression, it reveals that Vanille got her brand well before the others.

* 'God machines surrounding the crystals' is more literal than you might think: they're literally God(made) machines surrounding crystals (their primary power source). And soon you'll notice that the 'crystal = power' theme is everywhere, not just in XIII but the trilogy - fal'Cie [[spoilers: even gods]] either crystallize or disintegrate upon death, Eidolons are summoned/contained within crystals, L'Cie crystallize whether they succeed (literal crystal) or fail (crystal-abundant Cie'th), crystals being able to withstand the [[RealityWarper warping]] effects of Chaos itself where few things could... and so on.

** It was "PSICom" carrying out the Purge, not the Bodhum Security Regiment. "PSICom" recruits from all over Cocoon, so there'd be no need to assign any Bodhum natives (who'd have a conflict of interest) to this particular operation. Speaking of the Bodhum Security Regiment, though, it seems like Sanctum expected them to stand by and let their families be purged without protest, which is a horrible enough thought all on its own.

** It was PSICom carrying out the Purge, not the Bodhum Security Regiment. PSICom recruits from all over Cocoon, so there'd be no need to assign any Bodhum natives (who'd have a conflict of interest) to this particular operation. Speaking of the Bodhum Security Regiment, though, it seems like Sanctum expected them to stand by and let their families be purged without protest, which is a horrible enough thought all on its own.

** Hecatoncheir is a many-armed aggresive creature. As Vanille herself admits in an optional cutscene, she's told so many lies it's all a blur. Each of his extra arms is a representation of her many lies, and his aggresive battling represents Vanille's fight to run away from her Focus.