I have eaten three packets of strawberry laces and drunk four bottles of Sprite to fuel me through these next parts. My notes are still in shambles, so I hope they haven't lead me too terribly astray. Part 10 of my Final Fantasy XIII Walkthrough, ready when you are.
Let's check in with our Hero[]
Yeah, nice plan, Snow.
We're back on the Lindblum with the hardcore guitar theme to serenade us. Snow is still in PSICOM clutches, rubbing his giant head and dreaming of his one and only. In case you're curious as to why Lightning and Snow headed to the Pulse Vestige to find Serah, we get a quick flashback, courtesy of Day 12 in Bodhum. PSICOM are chasing Snow and Serah, so Snow lumbers into a velocycle, throws his girl on his lap and revs up for a ride. He doesn't really seem to be going anywhere or... really... I'm just curious as to what exactly he's planning to do. He flies up near the fal'Cie vessel and tells her to jump and then she gets like, assimilated into the structure or something? I don't know, seriously, what are you thinking? You are so slow you're almost moving backwards.
Back in present day, Snow is just brooding around on the Lindlbum, whilst Raines deploys his troops to find the l'Cie. Looks like we'll meet them in Palumpolum. Save your progress, when prompted.
"Well, I guess this is better than homicidal scorpion robots and mountains of trash."[]
Saccharine piano? Mindless giggling? Could it be? Vanille and Sazh, back in action. They've managed to find much greener pastures than the Vile Peaks. Vanille lead us here by the smell. She is so delightfully strange. Sazh is having none of it: "Just smells damp. And I think something bit me."
The sky fleet zoom overhead, and they realise the enemy is headed towards Palumpolum. You know what that means, right? We keep running! This time, with an end destination in mind.
Mission: Clear the Sunleth Waterscape to reach Nautilus.
We start off in the Old Growth, with Vanille as our party leader. You know the drill: hit up that Crystarium. Make sure you take Vanille through Saboteur and Medic - Vanille gets Cura and Esuna this time round. You'll also want to go for Aerora. As for Sazh, be sure to get him his new awesome Synergist abilities, like his En- buffs. Then hit up Ravager, then Commando (his Commando will expand to full awesomeness in a bit, but not right now).
Save Up and then hit up your Paradigm Deck:
Battle Team Change...
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We can pretty much just use the same Paradigms from before. The only thing to keep in mind now is that we are controlling the primary Medic - it's really not all that safe just to presume Lightning can do it.
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Hop over the greenery and face the Flandragora. They are everywhere in Sunleth. They're weak to Fire and immune to physical attacks, so cast Libra so the AI uses the most effective spells.
Follow the path around for Sazh to deliver a gem of a line (for the record, Sazh is on a total roll here and everything he says is absolute gold. I could comment on it all, but then I'd be interrupting myself every second sentence. Just enjoy it.) and to face our second enemy: the Hedge Frog, which is nothing really to worry about.
Now, the path actually splits (!) so we have two potential options. Take the left hand path first - on your way across some more Flandragora will appear from the ground, but if you run up to them before they've fully… materialised, I guess, then you can pre-empt them really easily. Follow this path to the end and you'll find a chest with Mysterious Fluid x8 inside. Yum.
Double back and take the other path now, and hop into the cave tunnel. There are some Hedge Frogs and some Flandragoras littering our way here. Eventually you'll reach a Save Point, with a Treasure Chest floating just opposite. It holds a Belladonna Wand, which is a great weapon for Vanille, so equip it before taking on the Gremlins playing ring-a-round-of-roses on the trunk ahead.
There's a clearing with a ton of Flandragora in it - they're usually in formations of two, but the three-man party is guarding a chest with a pair of Procyons for Sazh. Procyons have crazy good Stagger Maintenance, but if you're really struggling with these fights, keep your Duellers on for the Magic boost. On your way out of the tunnel, be sure to jump to the platform on the left and take out the group of Gremlins to get the Doctor's Code they're guarding before you make your exit.
jfc my feels.
Whilst we admire the view, we get a bit of character development for Sazh - this is where my heart begins breaking, from here all the way to its coronary and explosion in Nautilus, seriously. We get a flashback to Day 11, at the Bodhum Fireworks, where we see Dajh Sazh's adorable son, this little like, marzipan constructed toddler munchkin in the cutest jumpsuit ever. He's totally selfless and like six years old and he makes a wish on the fireworks not for a pony or a robot pony (I make no claim to be in tune with today's youth) but for his father to be happy again. If you've read Episode Zero you'll know why this scene is so sad (check out Sazh's article if you haven't), and Sazh's troubled face should hint that there's more behind it. If that doesn't tip you off that something's definitely up, that stone hearted bitch Nabaat is lurking about in the background.
We regain control back on A Shimmering Sky and immediately get given an Avoiding Encounters Tutorial. It's basically telling you it's okay to be a pansy, but I don't advocate that, so ignore it. No, I'm not expecting you to take on every Scalebeast you come across, but I'd like you to take on at least one (preferably one by a treasure chest) before you write them off.
Optional:
- In fact, there's one down to your left for you to take on. Avoid the first Scalebeast and jump down to the area below. It's easy to pre-empt the Scalebeast down here, so take advantage of that; you'll need it. Quickly push it to Stagger and then cast Libra so AI knows what it's doing. They're significantly weaker without their carapace, so that's when you should do all your damage. When it's naked, have Vanille debuff with her Saboteur role whilst Sazh focuses on damage. Don't bother trying any debuffs when it has its carapace, because they won't stick: instead, have Sazh buff your team in Synergist (if you're struggling a bit) and then focus on driving up that Stagger again. It'll take time because this thing has 32,000 HP, but it's worth it for the CP, and of course, your plunder: Iron Shells x15.
There's a Librascope for your taking in a chest near some Gremlins, and Scaled Wings x10 near another formation. You're basically fighting Gremlins until you reach the Point of Interest and trigger another cutscene. Vanille and Sazh both decide to take a rest, but Vanille wakes up solo. In case you'd forgotten, she can apparently communicate telepathically with Sazh's Chicobo, so she takes this as a sign to go look for him. There's no way you can mess this bit up since the Chicobo blocks everything that is the wrong path - that and there's an obvious Point of Interest to find Sazh at.
It turns out... Dajh was also a l'Cie (why am I alive). Flashback to Day 5 at the Euride Gorge, where Sazh is shouting around in a panic, whilst his son is lying unconscious on a bench inside... but wait, that's totally Vanille crouching over him before getting dragged away... the plot thickens! Sazh finally finds Dajh, but as he holds his son's tiny (sob) hand in his and sees the mark of the l'Cie, he's silenced. All because those pesky Pulse l'Cie had tried to attack the Sanctum fal'Cie, it branded Dajh - the only other person around - as its protector.
No one knows what Dajh's Focus is, which doesn't make the kid's future sound too bright. That's why Sazh was on the Purge Train - to track down the Pulse fal'Cie and hope killing it would save Dajh. But no - it just branded him his son's enemy. It might mean Sazh's death to save his son's life. Ugh, right in the kokoro.
Back in control, and in Lake Shayra. Head to the Save Station and do the obvious before going through to the next area. You see that strange orb that's hovering just head? That's a Climate Control Orb.
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Climate Control Orbs control the climate - it's a no-brainer. Different weather conditions mean different beasts. There are five orbs - including this one - ahead of you. In terms of formations, the easiest path for you to take would be setting each orb as follows: Rain - Sun - Rain - Sun - Rain
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There's a Metal Armband for grabs after the second Orb, and an Aqua Ring after the fourth. Since the enemies respawn every time you switch climates, this is a pretty good stretch to grind for a little extra CP, if you're so inclined.
You'll reach a Save Point, and Sazh tells you he senses something fishy up ahead, so that should give you a heads up. If it doesn't, then here is your heads up: there is a boss battle coming. Spend up any CP you've got and set your default Paradigm to Tide Turner (Sab - Syn), then walk on through...
| Boss Battle: Enki and Enlil | |||
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Level: 56 | 56 |  | |
| HP: 75,600 | 70,200 | |||
| Drop: Riptide + Fulmen Ring | |||
| CP: 360 | |||
| Difficulty: Med | |||
| Strategy | |||
| First off, toss a Libra, then focus your debuffs on Enlil first. Its weak to water, so switch to Slash & Burn: cast Water with Vanille, and hopefully Sazh will Enwater his shots. Its main attack, Raging Tempest deals heavy lightning damage, but it also damages Enki; Enki's Raging Torrent will also hurt Enlil. Keep an eye on your HP and just aim for Stagger. Once Enlil falls, switch to Enki - recast your debuffs, and hopefully your change in target will prompt Sazh to use Enthunder in his Synergist role. Rinse and repeat. | |||
Another Crystarium Expansion, party hard. A hop, skip and a jump and we're in Nautilus! Walk out to the Seabus Docks and through the hole in the fence for the rain to set up. Sazh and Vanille run into the station, where Vanille asks if Sazh hates Pulse. As he obliviously replies, she seems to come close to admitting her guilt in Dajh's fate, but instead, she breaks down in tears, running out into the rain to hide them.
The screen pans upwards and our chariot docks in. The City of Dreams awaits...
→ …but not before we check in over at Palumpolum
← Shut up, Hope.
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