Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII)/Dissidia (PSP)

Unreleased

Lightning is one of the new characters introduced in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, representing Final Fantasy XIII. She battles using a variety of swordplay and magic using her three Paradigm roles to change fighting styles during combat. In her EX Mode, she wields the Omega Weapon, and her EX Burst is Odin's Gestalt Mode under the name of "Gestalt Drive".

Attire
Lightning's appearance is identical to her appearance in Final Fantasy XIII. She has light pink hair and pale aqua eyes, and wears a primarily white military uniform, adorned with several belts and buckles, with a red cape. Her weapon of choice is the Blazefire Saber gunblade, which can shift between gun and sword forms.

Lightning's first alternate outfit, named "Midnight Cloak", is based on concept artwork by Yoshitaka Amano. Lightning's cape is dark brown, her hair is white, and her uniform has an overall darker color scheme.

Lightning's second alternate outfit, named "Guardian Corps Uniform", is the uniform of female Guardian Corps soldiers in Final Fantasy XIII. She wears a khaki coat held closed by a black belt and several buckles with blue and gray sleeves, brown leggings, different boots and a black officer's cap.

Lightning's DLC outfit is based on Aya Brea, the protagonist of The 3rd Birthday, another Square Enix title. The outfit consists of torn blue jeans, different boots, and a sleeveless black shirt that exposes her midriff. The outfit is only available by purchasing said game.

Lightning's Manikin version, Fleeting Flash, is scarlet pink.

Story


Lightning comes to after finding herself by Cosmos's side. After meeting Jecht and Kain over the Warrior of Light's earlier words, she is advised to see if she is stronger than the Warrior by teaming up. Though Lightning rejects the idea, she and the Warrior team up against the waves of Warriors of Chaos. During the fight, Lightning meets Cloud, who warns her not to underestimate their opponents. Soon after, she meets up with Jecht and Kain over her impression of the Warrior of Light.

Later, after obtaining her dormant crystal with the other Warriors, Lightning leads Laguna, Vaan, and Tifa back to the battle field where they are ambushed by the Manikins. When Kefka arrives with Kuja, Lightning fights the latter while others scatter to hold off the Manikins. Defeating Kuja, Lightning expresses disgust to Kefka for taking his comrade's demise in stride before he hints at the overall nature of the conflict prior to taking his leave. She then finds Kain with an injured Bartz, shocked to learn that Kain attacked him. After Lightning fights off Kain, Exdeath and Garland appear with the former revealing the extent of Kain's actions. Kain leaves with the unconscious Bartz with Exdeath in pursuit while Garland takes his leave, deciding to leave Lightning for the Manikins to destroy while telling her that most of her comrades may have likely been wiped out by them.



Barely escaping with her life, Lightning reveals to Cosmos of what she has been though while complaining about the mission she gave them. Though she wants to save the world, Lightning believes the quest for the crystals is nothing but a suicide mission, before the Warrior of Light agrees before raising his sword on her, as she is shocked to find another traitor. However, learning that the Warrior and Kain have been working together to ensure their side's victory in the next cycle only serves to further anger Lightning, unable to actually believe it yet feeling utterly betrayed by Cosmos, as Laguna, Vaan, and Yuna arrive. She is the first among the four to insist not being put to rest but instead take out the Manikin infestation as the Warrior could do nothing but wish her and the others good luck.

At some point in time, she talks with Firion, stating that she senses something about his rose, which surprises him. Later, after learning the Manikins are making their way to Cosmos, Lightning leads Laguna, Yuna, Kain, Vaan, and Tifa in a final stand against the Manikins at the Empyreal Paradox, where they eventually succumb to them and lose their power. Lightning sheds her light, but not before she gives a soft smile at the Warrior and fades away.

Battle
Lightning is described as a Paradigm Commando, using her Paradigm Shift abilities from Final Fantasy XIII to shift between Commando, Ravager and Medic roles during battle by pressing R while holding L (Faster than the usual L and R). Each role has its own moveset, allowing Lightning to change her fighting style completely. As a Commando, Lightning uses primarily melee attacks, as a Ravager she casts magic, and as a Medic she uses Cure spells to recover her Brave without attacking. Lightning's attacks are close to mid-ranged, but using her to her full potential requires mastery of all her roles and their unique abilities. The player also has the option to omit some of Lightning's Paradigm roles by not equipping any moves for them - for example, if no attacks are equipped for the Medic Paradigm, Lightning will skip it when switching Paradigms in battle and go from Ravager to Commando.

EX Mode
Gestalt Drive qJWagp9bDMM Lightning's EX Mode is Omega Weapon equipped, swapping out her Blazefire Saber for her strongest gunblade in Final Fantasy XIII. While in EX Mode, Lightning gains the abilities "Omega Weapon" and "Grav-Con Unit." The Omega Weapon bonus automatically inflicts Break on opponents when she attacks with a Bravery attack while their Bravery is less than 30% of its base value, and Grav-Con Unit completely protects her from all Wall Rush damage.

Lightning's EX Burst is Gestalt Drive, where she attacks the enemy with Odin's double-ended sword. The EX Burst starts off with Lightning doing a backflip and shooting at the same time, similar to the final Attack in her combo when she has four ATB gauges in Final Fantasy XIII. The Gestalt Mode dial will appear and the player must input the button and analog combination to unleash Storm Blade, Lightning Strike, Razor Gale, and Thunderfall on the enemy before the time runs out (this does not have a specific order). Should the player miss an input combination, Lightning will skip directly to the final blow, Zantetsuken.

Allusions

 * Lightning's quote says when initiating her EX Burst, "I control my fate!" is sometimes said by her when initiating her Full ATB Skill, Army of One, in her original game.
 * Lightning's EX Mode ability, "Omega Weapon", refers to the Quick Stagger ability in Final Fantasy XIII, an ability that instantly staggers opponents when attacking if their stagger gauge is 90% full. Lightning's strongest series of weapons come with this ability. "Grav-Con Unit" refers the device in Final Fantasy XIII, which Lightning uses when she jumps from high altitudes in order to slow her descent to prevent injury.
 * In the game's opening FMV sequence as she battles Garland, aside from the rose petals Lightning's charge is nearly identical to the one seen at the Palumpolum's Agora (beginning of Chapter 7) of Final Fantasy XIII. As the scene ends, the camera zooms in on Lightning's eye, imitating the opening of Final Fantasy XIII as she enters the Hanging Edge.
 * Meeting with Firion, Lightning comments a sense of familiarity with the wild rose he possesses, referring to the rose shape of her Eidolon Crystal and the rose petal motif in her attacks.
 * While Lightning's Bravery attacks are based on the actual moves she uses in Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning's HP attacks and Brave to HP attacks are used by Odin in both his modes. Many of Lightning's Commando-based attacks are amalgamations of two separate skills she uses, like Blitz formed from the spinning Blitz attack, and ending with her Scourge attack with the gunshot.
 * As Lightning is about to fight a Manikin of herself in a cutscene, she has her Blazefire Saber in Gun-Mode, the camera zooms in on her as she looks to her right to see the Warrior of Light's manikin. This is a reference to a similar scene in the opening of Final Fantasy XIII when she is surrounded by PSICOM soldiers.
 * Her Paradigm Roles, Commando, Ravager, and Medic, are based upon her primary roles in Final Fantasy XIII.
 * When Lightning uses the Bravery attack Army of One, a visual distortion appears on the top and bottom of the screen, the same distortion that appears in Final Fantasy XIII when a Full ATB Skill is used.
 * When performing certain actions, Lightning will exclaim quotes similar to the ones of her comrades from Final Fantasy XIII. For example, when using Lightning Strike, she exclaims "This is gonna sting!" this is a reference to what Sazh says when he performs an attack.
 * Lightning's relation to the Warrior of Light reflects her earlier association with Snow Villiers, annoyed with his noble ideologies and more so on what she sees to be the words of a crazy person who believes in fairy tales.
 * When Lightning faces Garland he says "You dare to oppose your fate?", alluding to Lightning's attempt to deft the fal'Cie and resist her Focus in Final Fantasy XIII. It also references Barthandelus/Galenth Dysley.
 * At the end of Prologus when the Warrior of Light orders Lightning to stay and wait for Kain and Jecht, she replies, "Who died and made you Primarch?", referring to Primarch position of leadership of Cocoon's government.
 * While fighting Onion Knight, Lightning will say "Need someone to toughen you up?" referring to when she took Hope Estheim under her wing in Final Fantasy XIII. Onion Knight's quote when facing her also alludes to this, "Maybe I can pick up some pointers." One of Lightning's quotes when entering battle, "Some things in life you just do." is a reference to another of her conversations with Hope, "It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do."
 * The name of her Manikin, Fleeting Flash, is a reference to the conversation she had with Hope about her choice of name: "Lightning. It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys."

Trivia

 * Lightning was originally set to appear in the first Dissidia, but was scrapped as the developers did not want to lock down her character design and move set before Final Fantasy XIII was released.
 * Prior to the official announcement, a hoax had "revealed" that Lightning would appear in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Universal Tuning. The hoaxes involved elaborate fake magazine pages created in Photoshop and complete with fake Lightning 3D models.
 * Lightning's artwork is based on an artwork of her for Final Fantasy XIII. Her Dissidia art was the first time Tetsuya Nomura drew the Blazefire Saber, which he found difficult due to it having so many parts.
 * Coinciding with Lightning wearing Aya Brea's outfit in Dissidia 012, Aya can also wear Lightning's Final Fantasy XIII attire as an alternate outfit in The 3rd Birthday.
 * Lightning and Aya also share the same Japanese voice actress.
 * In the Japanese version of Dissidia 012, Lightning knows Curasa, which she cannot learn in Final Fantasy XIII. This is fixed in the English releases, when Curasa is renamed to Cura, which Lightning can learn in Final Fantasy XIII.
 * Lightning, along with Firion, Tifa, and Prishe, are the only Warriors of Cosmos who never summon their weapons. In Lightning's case, she draws her weapon from her holster.
 * Lightning is the third character in the Dissidia series to wield a gunblade, after Squall and Bartz.
 * Lightning's holster for her gunblade is absent in her victory pose, causing her gunblade to disappear behind her back. This is especially noticeable for her second alternate and DLC costume.
 * Despite Lightning making many quotes related to other characters from Final Fantasy XIII, she is the only character from the said title to appear in Dissidia 012, unlike other heroes or villains who have a direct opposite or another character from their original game.