And here it is: the finale, the long, long awaited finale of this tale that started out well before taking a super severe and sudden nosedive in the final stretch. Part 28 of Paramina's Final Fantasy XIII Walkthrough, singing us out. Unrelated side notes: Miley Cyrus is an idiot. I am eating an almond franzipan.
The Narthex[]
Mission: lol who knows
Apparently Orphan combines his duties of fuelling the city of Eden with his promising upscale private dentistry venture. Two successful enterprises in this economy? Four for you, Orphan, you go, Orphan.
 This is your last chance to duck out and spend some time down on Gran Pulse, running free across the grassy plains of the Archylte Steppe, pointlessly ripping the wool off of unsuspecting sheep and sticking your gunblade into the sides of wolves and the like. Just hit up the Warp Gate - you can return directly to this point via the corresponding Warp Gate down in the Base Camp of Vallis Media. Check out the Sidies section on the Walkthrough Homepage for extra-curricular activities. |
Before you do anything else, Save Up, and open up the Retail Network. Go to B&W Outfitters, and pick up two Cherub's Crowns (three, if you missed the one in the Tesseracts). This is kind of a wildcard purchase: you may end up needing them, you may not. I haven't needed them so far, but maybe I'm just lucky (?)... I'd say keep them in your inventory just now, you don't need to equip them just yet.
We've got three boss battles ahead, so let's get our final Paradigms in place. As always, you can fight this with Lightning, Hope and Fang. However, if you've indulged in a some sidequests, then you might have tried out other formations and seen how they fare. The first time I played this game I spent quite a bit of time doing Missions down on Pulse before finishing up; I had a team of Sazh, Fang and Vanille (dipping into the post-storyline gameplay a little early) and upon returning to Orphan's Cradle, I geared myself up for an epic battle showdown and accidentally killed the thing before I even had a chance to decide on a strategy outside my first Paradigm.
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As the last few battles have been, the following fights depend on whether you've been skipping fights or doing extra ones. I'm going to post a strategy presuming you've done what I've asked of you so far. If you've skipped some battles or whatever, I'll also include an alternative strategy with a Sentinel. You're welcome. Your default Paradigm should be Evened Odds (MED SYN SAB) for the upcoming fight. As always you'll need your trusty Relentless Assault, but if you need a Sentinel, then go with Mystic Tower (RAV SEN RAV) and/or Delta Attack (COM RAV SEN). I'd recommend an offensive Paradigm that still heals, so crack out either Diversity (RAV MED COM) or Solidarity (COM MED SEN). For flat out healing, Combat Clinic (MED MED SEN) is your best bet. |
When you're ready, head to the back, pick up the vial of Ethersol on your way, and walk into the light...
The Nascent Throne[]
The party make the leap down to Orphan's Throne, marvelling at the fact that despite their best efforts of obeying Barthandelus' wishes, Cocoon is beginning to wisp away into crystal, just like Oerba. A familiar voice chimes in to join their musings. Ah. it isn't a party until you turn up, Barthandelus, is it?
Dajh and Serah's crystals appear, Hedwig soars in and Barthandelus shatters them both before our eyes. Snow, as always, commits to his regular habit of running at things shouting and bouncing straight off of them. But no, the party are stronger now, they're not going to fall for these mind-tricks anymore. They've learnt their lesson. Apparently. Barthandelus just smiles at them with this smug sort of smile, imploring them to kill Orphan swiftly as an "act of mercy."
"Mercy? You mean murder. And Cocoon won't die. We're not here for that."
…so you came all the way to Orphan's Cradle to not do this? Why didn't you just… not do this down in the Mah'habara or something, you know, somewhere where you can't accidentally do it. Damn it, guys.
| Boss Battle: Barthandelus |
 Level: 54 "If you truly seek salvation, you will obey." Round three of Barthandelus. You know how this guy plays. Open with Evened Odds - have Lightning keep everyone looking rosy whilst under fire from Barthandelus' usual laser attack, whilst Hope dishes out the Buffs (the first five are suffice: Haste, Protect, Shell, Brave and Faith) and Fang inflicts Deprotect, Imperil, Deshell and Slow. Switch over to Relentless Assault and push Barthandelus to Stagger - if you're struggling withstanding the lasers, use Delta/Mystic Tower as your primary Offensive - and switch to Diversity (or Solidarity) to heal. You should be able to get it to Stagger before you need to heal, though. Remember Thanatosian Laughter? Oh, you smile, fondly, Paramina. When he starts readying that, switch to Combat Clinic to take minimal damage and clean up HP before resuming your assault. He's brought a new toy, Ultima, along to this fight, but it deals moderate damage and is nothing to majorly throw off your game: Diversity/Delta after to clean up, whilst keeping some form of offensive going on. You should be able to get through this without having to redo any buffs, but if they fall, just revert to Evened Odds and reapply. Rinse and repeat. |
Barthandelus has a bit of a shudder before falling, and our team break out the party poppers and fist pumps. Guys, why are you celebrating? I thought we just had the "not anymore; learnt from our past mistakes" moment five minutes ago? This is like clockwork: stab Barthandelus → Barthandelus falls → Barthandelus gets back up with new grills. And right on cue, he rears his all-too familiar head from the pool we just knocked him into, this time in a bigger, stranger looking shell, with a lady-friend companion.
"A haven, yea. Yet it must fall ere we be saved. Too frail a shell, and humans should not thrive. Too stout a shell and they would not die. Slaughter and salvation! Two irreconcilable Focuses we bore. Yet bound were we in a cocoon prison, impervious to our power. And so we thank you for granting us our longed-for birth."
| Boss Battle: Orphan - Round One |
 Level: 54 "We are the Abandoned One, born but now to die. Our name is Orphan. By our hand, the world shall know redemption." There are two 'forms' to this fight, and the first - Consummate Light - opens with a doozy: Merciless Judgment. You'll want to immediately switch to Combat Clinic even quicker than ASAP to deal with that blow. Once you've recovered HP, cast Libra, switch to Evened Odds. Have Fang inflict Deprotect, Deshell, Imperil, Slow and Curse (Poison is optional; if it won't stick, don't waste time waiting for it) whilst Hope buffs the team. When you're peachy, switch to your Offensive (Relentless or your Sentinel-based alternative) but keep an eye on your HP. Any time it falls below about... half, switch to a healing Paradigm and get that back up to green - you really don't want to be caught out by another Merciless Judgment. Remember: Combat Clinic is your friend around about Merciless Judgment time. With all those debuffs and all those buffs, you should have managed to make a sizeable dent in Orphan's HP during the Stagger. If he still has >50% HP post Merciless Judgment, he'll go into Consummate Darkness mode, where he inflicts a bunch of status debuffs. The best plan is to ignore the debuffs - none are totally crippling - and just keep up your offence until you hit that sweet 50%. Because when you hit that point, Orphan starts whipping out Progenitorial Wrath, which has the chance of Instant Death. Fabulous. You should be able to finish him off before he even starts with that, but if not, I'm sure you can gather that speed is of the essence at this stage. He tends to target Sentinels with Progenitorial Wrath over other Paradigms, so Delta Attack will serve you well in this last stretch (unless, of course, your party leader is Fang. In that case, go for one with a Medic scapegoat, like Diversity). If you're unlucky enough to have your Leader hit with Instant Death, don't worry: just be sure to equip those three Cherub's Crowns I told you to pick up when you get a chance to reconfigure your setup pre-retry. |
Laughter. Huh. Don't tell me: we've done exactly what it wants again? Of course. A darkness falls ontop of everyone, the party writhes in pain and Vanille orgasms somewhere in the background. Eventually Orphan decides to stop messing about and casts Cruciatus or something on Vanille, which pushes Fang over the edge. Snow, Lightning, Hope and Sazh suddenly turn into Cie'th and assault Fang, ending their attack with... a body pile-on? Weird.
But then in this moment of utmost despair, we're given a montage of back when this game was awesome, to remind us of the better times, the sadder times, the sexier times, the repeatedly-punching-Snowier times... which all serve to calm Fang down from her Ragnarok-fit (you know what they say, nothing returns you to humanity like seeing Snow take one in the wind-pipe). It's Fang's turn to be the torture puppet, and whilst Vanille is all "Norrrrrrrrrr!" and having her Strong Moment down below, Fang falls, and... Snow catches her? What. Is. Happening?
"I had a glimpse of the future, everyone was smiling and laughing."
Uh, no, I have played your future: it has few laughs other than the really tragic mullet that's coming your way. Orphan dies from the sheer fuckery of the moment, I presume, and we see everyone's brand is whited out now. Oh, we're going to that place are we? An "Everybody! Love! And Peace!" place?
"The heroes never die. "
But... wh... I have no time to question what the hell just happened, because Orphan reappears again, this time in its ultimate, child-like form. Let's... mosey? W... what?
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Okay, I was going to just go ahead and write a strategy that well, was suffice, in that it defeated Orphan with the Paradigms you already have from the previous fights. However, since getting a five-star in this fight gets you the Superstar Trophy, I'm going to write two strategies: one method that should get you a five-star if you're swift and don't want to be taken out of the whole drama of the moment, and another method that's a lot quicker and more efficient, but will require a Pause/Retry/Paradigm Deck Reshuffle and ruin the dramatic momentum. So if you're going for the Reshuffle, set up the following: Guerrilla (RAV SYN SAB), Smart Bomb (RAV RAV SAB), Relentless Assault (RAV COM RAV), Aggression (COM RAV COM), Diversity (RAV MED COM). Guerrilla should be your Default. |
| Final Boss Battle: Orphan - Round Two |
 Level: 51 Orphan opens up with Doom, but that's kind of redundant because this fight is a cakewalk. Orphan is immune to all damage (except debuffs) until he is Staggered, so our primary objective is to fill up that chain gauge ASAP, and inflict a couple of debuffs to make it a little easier. Cast Libra, then sit in Bully to allow Hope to cast at least Haste, Protect and Shell. Switch to Smart Bomb; have Lightning and Hope plough away at the chain gauge (Army of One is pretty handy in this situation) whilst Fang tries to get those debuffs on. Don't worry if they're taking time to stick: Saboteur spells still contribute to the chain gauge, so no time is wasted in Smart Bomb. Keep an eye on HP and switch to Diversity to have Hope heal whilst you keep up the damage output. As soon as Orphan's Staggered, it's go time. If you didn't manage to get on Deshell or Deprotect, do that now. Otherwise, launch straight into Relentless Assault and hit it hard. Done. Reshuffle: Enter in Guerrilla, get your buffs on and then switch to Smart Bomb to give your debuffs a little more time. Switch to Relentless to fill the chain gauge, then swap out to Aggression to deal max damage whilst Staggered. Heal if absolutely necessary with Diversity. |
And... that's it. We've defied our fates and made the impossible possible...
Except what we've actually done is set into motion a catastrophically shit series of events that see happiness for absolutely no one, and spawns the worst Chocobo theme known to man. If we're to look at the bigger picture, we would have been better just letting these six turn Cie'th, truthfully.
So that's it, guys. It's over. Kind of. I like to pretend XIII ends here, where the story actually has some form of closure, ginormous deus ex machina be damned. If you were one of those kids who liked to pick off scabs, and reopen wounds, then by all means, proceed on to the rest of the Lightning Saga. Regardless of whether I see you over at my inevitable XIII-2 Walkthrough, it has been, as always, a pleasure to play Final Fantasy XIII with you, brah.
Peace out, brodudeskis. - Paramina x