New Bodhum



New Bodhum 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. In Final Fantasy XIII-2 Fragments Before it is stated the Cavalry also helped in the town's construction.

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

''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.''
 * Area Information

''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.''

''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!'''
 * From the Editor's Desk:

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 live together, though still unmarried, and she becomes a teacher to educate kids on how Cocoon fell. One day Snow tells Serah he believes her about Lightning being alive somewhere. Giving Serah his engagement necklace, he promises he will bring her home.

A year passes and Serah never hears back from Snow. One night, a crystal meteorite lands outside of town and mysterious monsters appear and attack the residents. As NORA fends them off, Serah gets caught in the chaos. A young man saves her and, with little time to talk, he hands Serah a weapon, enabling her to fight the monsters with him.

The man introduces himself as Noel Kreiss, and after they fight Gogmagog that emerges from a time rift, he tells Serah he has met Lightning and can take her to her, but NORA won't believe he is telling the truth. Noel shows them the meteor is really a Time Gate.

The next day, Serah and Noel search for an artefact to unlock the Time Gate. After finding it Noel reveals he is the last human alive in his time, 700 AF in the future. Before they get to the Time Gate, they have a rematch with Gogmagog, after which they reach the gate and step into the Historia Crux. If they return to New Bodhum later, they will find NORA marveling how they have barely been away.

After Caius puts Serah into sleep in the Void Beyond, she ends up in the dream world version of New Bodhum from 3 AF where she is married to Snow and Lightning lives with them. Serah doubts the reality of the world and when she rejects the fake Lightning, a pathway to the Meteorite Crash Site area opens. At its end Serah is surprised to meet Vanille who explains the New Bodhum is a dream world, and Fang appears out of a portal. Vanille says that Serah's friend is trapped in his dream world somewhere in the Void Beyond and she must help him lest he'll be lost in it forever. Fang says Serah's rejection of the fake Lightning allowed them to enter her dream and opens a portal to Noel's dream world for Serah to continue on her quest.

At 700 AF, Serah, Mog, and Noel meet Lightning in the blackened ruins of New Bodhum. Lightning tells them they are in a future she couldn't save, before explaining everything that happened to her after Cocoon's fall and how Caius plans to turn the world into another Valhalla. To stop Caius's plan, Mog reveals a new Time Gate for Serah and Noel to pass through, leading to Academia 500 AF, the time Caius is to enact his plan.

If Serah and Noel return to New Bodhum in 3 AF where they had begun their journey, the members of NORA sense their final battle looms near and wish them the best of luck.

Areas
The layout for the town area of New Bodhum is taken from playable section of Bodhum from Final Fantasy XIII, albeit with architecture change. The town is smaller than Bodhum, although it's possible that the buildings seen across the sea are part of the town as well. The building that evolved from the cafe's concept, was re-imagined into a bungalow which serves as a house and a bar. The wooden pier along the beach is also recreated. One of a fragment entries mentions that Gadot designed the houses along the shore. The village has a vegetable patch, a pier, and raised residences with walk ways between them.

The uninhabited area of the locale is a hilly area and for a proper travel requires people to jump over ledges and pits. Tidal Shallows is occasionally submerged, and the Meteorite Impact Site is a small recess in a previously flat hill created when the meteorite hit it.


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

Enemy Formations
3 AF - Initial Visit=
 * 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


 * -|3 AF- Subsequent Visits=
 * 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, Spiceacilian x2
 * Sarracenia x2
 * Exoray
 * -|700 AF=
 * Apotamkin
 * Pantopoda
 * Pleuston
 * Strigoi
 * Seeker
 * Metallicactuar

Musical Themes
New Bodhum has two tracks, 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. The aggressive mix plays whenever enemies appear on the field, during the duration of the Mog Clock. When New Bodhum is being explored in 3 AF 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 Final Fantasy XIII - plays as the background theme initially, but 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 song is reused in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII as the theme of Canopus Farms in the Wildlands. Street musicians in Luxerion will also play the song.

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 he was able to respond to the basic concept of "music that's unlike Final Fantasy".

In one of early demos, the "New Bodhum" theme plays in the Bresha Ruins.

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

Trivia

 * 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.
 * appears in a wall portrait in the NORA house of New Bodhum.
 * If the player skips the cutscene in which Noel asks Serah if she is ready to go with him on the journey at the meteorite, the game will not continue. Players will need to watch the cutscene otherwise the Live Trigger menu for Noel's question will not appear.