New Bodhum



New Bodhum (ネオ・ボーダム) is a coastal town in Final Fantasy XIII-2, located on a shore of Gran Pulse, built by NORA and the residents of the original city of Bodhum in Cocoon, after which the town is named.

Datalog
''New Bodhum is one of the settlements built by immigrants from Cocoon on the shores of Gran Pulse. Many of its residents, are former inhabitants of Cocoon's seaside town of Bodhum.''

''Serah's fiance, Snow, chose the settlement's name. The members of his group, NORA, help work the fields and protect the townspeople from roaming monsters.''

Travel Guide: New Bodhum

Area Information ''New Bodhum is a seaside village located some distance from Cocoon's pillar. Most of the residents are refugees from the former Cocoon town, Bodhum.''

''The residents are trying to recreate the fireworks festival for which old Bodhum became famous. If they succeed, the town is sure to become a major tourist destination.''

From the Editor's Desk: ''Be sure to drop by NORA House, a peaceful cafe right on the beach that serves up a fatally delicious dish of deadly whitefish. When we asked the very attractive chef what exactly was in it, she told us 'It's better that you don't know!'''

Story
In the two years after Lightning's disappearance, NORA builds New Bodhum and teaches the former Cocoon citizens how to adapt to living on Pulse, Snow and Serah are living together though still unmarried, and she becomes a teacher, educating kids on how Cocoon fell. One day on the beach, Snow tells Serah that he believes her about Lightning being alive somewhere. Giving Serah his engagement necklace, he promises that he will find her sister and bring her home.

However, a whole year passes and Snow goes missing as well. One night, a crystal meteorite falls from the sky and lands just outside of the town. Mysterious monsters appear and attack the residents. As NORA tries to fend them off, Serah gets caught in the middle of the chaos. Then a mysterious young man appears out of nowhere and saves her. With little time to talk, he hands Serah one of his weapons, enabling her to fight the monsters with him.

The young man then introduces himself as Noel Kreiss, and after they fight Gogmagog, he tells Serah that he has met Lightning and can take her to where she is. His claim leads to a confrontation with NORA, as they don't believe that he is telling the truth. Then he shows them the meteor that fell earlier is really a Time Gate.

The next day, Serah and Noel search for an artefact to unlock the time gate, while Serah reflects on the events after Final Fantasy XIII. After finding an artefact, Noel reveals to Serah that he is the last human alive in his time. Before they get to the time gate, they have a rematch with Gogmagog, after which they finally reach the gate, and step into the Historia Crux.

After Caius puts Serah into sleep in the Void Beyond, she ends up in the dreamworld version of New Bodhum from 3 AF. When Serah wakes up in this world she learns of the presence of Snow and Lightning, but is frightened with this and starts to doubt the reality of the world. When she rejects the fake Lightning, a pathway to the Meteorite Crash Site area opens and Serah follows that path. At its end she meets with Vanille and is very surprised to see her. Vanille explains that the New Bodhum where they are is a dreamworld and then Fang appears out of a portal. Vanille says that Serah's friend is trapped in his dreamworld somewhere in the Void Beyond and only she can help me or he'll be lost in it forever, while Fang says that Serah's rejection of the fake Lightning allowed them to come to her dreamworld. Then Fang opens a portal to Noel's dreamworld for Serah to continue on her quest. After Vanille and Fang fade away, Serah steps into the portal.

At 700 AF, Serah, Mog, and Noel meet Lightning, who tells them they are in a future she couldn't save, before explaining everything that happened to her after Cocoon's fall. Then she goes on to discuss how Caius plans to turn the world into another Valhalla.

Areas

 * NORA House
 * Town Square
 * Beachfront
 * Winding Way
 * Tidal Shallows
 * Meteorite Impact Site

NORA House

 * None

Town Square

 * Nekton
 * Meonekton

Beachfront

 * Gorgonopsid
 * Spiceacilian x3
 * Spiceacilian x4
 * Meonekton x2
 * Meonekton x2, Nekton
 * Meonekton, Nekton x3
 * Nekton x3
 * Pulsework Soldier

Winding Way

 * Gorgonopsid
 * Spiceacilian x3
 * Meonekton x2
 * Meonekton x2, Nekton
 * Meonekton, Nekton x3
 * Nekton x3
 * Pulsework Soldier
 * Gogmagog (Boss)

Tidal Shallows

 * Sarracenia x2
 * Spiceacilian x2
 * Spiceacilian x3
 * Spiceacilian x4

Meteorite Impact Site

 * None

Beachfront

 * Tabasco Toad x2
 * Tabasco Toad, Spiceacilian
 * Spiceacilian x2
 * Spiceacilian x3
 * Exoray
 * Gorgonopsid

Winding Way

 * Spiceacilian x2
 * Spiceacilian x3
 * Pulsework Soldier
 * Gorgonopsid

Tidal Shallows

 * Spiceacilian x3
 * Spiceacilian x4
 * Tabasco Toad, Spiceacilian
 * Tabasco Toad x2
 * Sarracenia x1, Spiceacilian x2
 * Sarracenia x2
 * Exoray

700 AF

 * Apotamkin
 * Pantopoda
 * Pleuston
 * Strigoi
 * Seeker
 * Metallicactuar

Music
There exists two tracks for New Bodhum, both composed by Mitsuto Suzuki and performed by ORIGA: "New Bodhum", and its remix, "New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-". The regular song is a calm and slightly upbeat tune. The aggressive mix plays whenever enemies appear on the field, during the duration of the Mog Clock. When New Bodhum is being explored in 3AF during the night, just after the meteorite's impact, a track called "Full Speed Ahead" plays as both the background theme and as the battle theme.

The next morning, "New Bodhum" and "New Bodhum -Aggressive Mix-" play in 3 AF, while in 700 AF, "Dust to Dust" - from the first installment - plays as the background theme initially, however, after the meeting with Lightning, "Lightning's Theme ~Unprotected Future~" plays as the main area theme. During battles in the area in 3 AF, "Paradigm Shift" plays as the battle theme whereas in 700 AF, "Blinded by Light" from Final Fantasy XIII plays.

Suzuki wrote "New Bodhum" while watching the beach around spring of 2011. He was fantasizing about going to a beach after finishing the song, and Suzuki traveled to Hawaii just as he finished writing. After returning he changed the melody of the vocal line, and just around summer time he asked ORIGA to sing the vocals requesting the vocals to be "as if you're walking along a beach".

The "Aggressive Mix" is the style in which Suzuki is most confident in, a techno sound that features beats and bass. Suzuki describes it as an unusual number for Final Fantasy, but is happy that he was able to respond to the basic concept of "music that's unlike Final Fantasy".

Lyrics

 * Do you remember a touch of the wind on you?
 * Softer than whispers of angel that falls in love
 * Do you remember the sound of the ocean waves?
 * Breaking alone time after time, ah
 * Believing in magic can make you strong
 * Tell everyone that﻿ this is a place where you belong


 * Ah, everything looks shiny in the sun
 * A day in your life
 * Close your eyes to find yourself
 * In wonderful world
 * Ah, everything feels like your fantasy
 * A night in your life
 * Close your eyes to find yourself
 * In mystic timeline

Etymology
The meaning of the Turkish word "Bodhum" is subterranean vault or basement.

Trivia

 * New Bodhum bears a strong resemblance to Kilika from Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2.
 * The layout for the town area of New Bodhum is actually taken from Final Fantasy XIII's playable section of Bodhum, albeit with changed architecture.
 * The area map in 3 AF shows New Bodhum to be in the south of the area, and the meteorite impact site to the north. However in Hollow Seclusion and in 700 AF, the village is to the west.
 * It is mentioned in a fragment entry that Gadot designed the houses.
 * One of Eden's concept arts, the late capital of Cocoon, is seen in a wall portrait in the NORA house.
 * In one of early demos, the "New Bodhum" theme plays in the Bresha Ruins.