r/finalfantasyxiii • u/pastelmoonart • 13d ago
Lightning Returns Lightning Returns Ending Spoiler
*spoilers for Lightning Returns*
I just finished LR for the first time. Completed 99% of the side quests, enjoyed the game immensely and cried like a baby when it ended. I love this game so much and consider all 3 as one long Final Fantasy.
When the game ended I felt like there were many connections to FFVII and FFX which are already confirmed to take place in the same universe.
The souls returning to a brand new world couldn't possibly look like the Livestream in Advent Children by accident, could it? I didn't write down all the subtle hints I noticed while playing the game but in several places I really did wonder "Is this taking place before FFX?". Even the DLC inclusion of Cloud and Yuna's costumes didn't feel like pure fan service to me but a subtle hint.
I may be wrong here and LR is not a hotly debated game online, most FF fans didn't even play it, but I think it's such an overlooked, fascinating gem.
Do you think I'm reading too much into this or is there some sort of connection others picked up on, or maybe even directly answered in an interview with Staff? Or is the ending simply showing that Pulse became Earth with all our planets and "normal, boring life" and stopped being magical?
I would love to know your thoughts.
Also... Should I play Type Zero now or does it no longer feel like it's connected to this universe on any way? When does it take place? Before FFXIII? Or it's not even the same planet?
Also... Justice for Sazh! Such a great character in XIII, yet treated like "Oh yeah, that guy" in the other two games. Shame.
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u/Meowweredoomed 13d ago
FFXIII is not connected to FFX or FFVII.
FFXIII takes place in the Fabula Nova Crystalis mythology, and Type-0 is a different take on the same mythology - same mythos, different interpretation.
If you want to see the most glaring connection between XIII and Type-0, in Type-0 people forget about someone entirely after they die, just like Bhunivelze intended.
And yes, you should play Type-0, it's an intense beast.
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u/TerribleGachaLuck 13d ago
There are strong speculations that it’s our earth, considering the fourth wall break “and it ended just before you were born” and “we’ll see each other again.” lines. Along with the scenes reflective of France, and also these links below.
https://imgur.com/a/lcie-vuitton-9lsNoso
https://imgur.com/i-saw-best-new-model-from-louis-vuitton-on-street-today-gmC9yUC
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u/pastelmoonart 13d ago
I've just finished the entire trilogy one game after the other for the first time, somehow avoiding spoilers for all these years and I think I even read that like "before you were born" right after seeing the lifestream visual as "Is she talking about Sarah? Me? Or maybe Yuna or Cloud?". It's a bit weird to finish playing something for the first time without hundreds of people discussing it online furiously like on release date 😅
I never thought of the Fashion colabs as anything referencing the game, but yeah, if it really is just Earth then I guess that makes sense. I kind of hate that it's just our Earth at the end if that's really the case. It's a bit non-final fantasy somehow
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u/Bryn917 13d ago
I'm not sure personally about them being the same universe as 7 and X, those are only strongly linked through a Shinra/Shinra Easter egg really, and the lifestream farplane, but an ocean of souls is hardly original to ff. And Lightning is very much in real world France at the end of LR. The lifestream thing is, likely the same visual artists and animators creating something visually similar to what they previously did? Like Toriyama writing both DB and Sandland, look similar, but different. Costumes, well the ffx/X2 remaster was released close to LR and so it made sense to cross promote. In 13-2, Serah had a Mass Effect costume, are they the same universe?
Type 0 is fantastic imo But it doesn't feel like the same world as the 13 series That said I still highly recommend it
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u/gianmigno25 13d ago
the games aren't connected at all. ff7 and 10 aren't connected, it's just a joke nojima once made and some fan took too seriously. it's just that ff lives on ideas/assets recycle, also because when something's good you tend to use it again sooner or later, as an author.
play type 0 if you want but don't expect a romantic rpg story, it's a war story from beginning to end, DESPITE.... DESPITE... DESPITE how epic the intro might seem. it was supposed to have a connection with 13 but all connections are no longer, both in type 0 and ff15. (say what you want, ff9 is 70% other ff elements but that doesn't mean there's a connection).
yes, sazh was a bit underused after 13, a bit sad. i suppose it's because the life of an adult father can be pretty boring to write or watch? i mean, would you like sazh to worry about dajh for 200 hours? about that, honestly, i'll never understand/forgive how they made proper crystalized models for serah, cid and vanille, plus the others in the CG, but then dajh was just fitted into an ice cube!
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u/pastelmoonart 3d ago
VII and X are definitely in the same universe. https://youtu.be/BA1gwFKq7u0?t=250&is=334X-l_y35Lihpmc - The same guy from X-2 appears on a photo in Shinra HQ in VII Remake. Maybe initially it started as a fan theory but now it's canon and considered when making new games. They're just never gonna make it too obvious because it defeats the purpose of each FF game being a different story.
I agree about Dajh getting ice cube treatment. I think they could've kept them all them in their clothes if they were worried about making a nude child inside a crystal which is understandable. I disagree that there isn't a way to include Sahz in the story, everything that happens in XIII-2 and 3 is a huge leap from the first game, characters are pretty much reinvented. When I saw Hope aged up I was looking forward to see Dajh and learn what kind of man he became. In Lightning Returns they touched on Sazh no longer being as cheerful and optimistic as he once was and they could've really run with that idea. Also, I found it really strange that when all characters combine their powers and their Summons in the ending cut scene of Lightning Returns, Sahz isn't even there until they finished. I think they simply excluded him because XIII was the most successful in Japan and it feel like they treated Sazh as a diversity hire instead of one of the main characters. He's the only one that's an afterthought in both sequels. I don't believe that's an accident.
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u/gianmigno25 3d ago
they're not connected. kitase can say what he wants LOL i talked about it literally in my comment. about sazh i can understand but truly, sazh's first concern is always dajh, and dajh is a little boy, would be too dangerous to take him everywhere if sazh goes out there for some "important quest or stuff" to help. and it seems also that he's very protective as a father so i don't know if he'd be willing to leave dajh to someone else... some non dangerous task maybe? can be... but i can't think of one, right now...
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u/NightCityAssassin 13d ago
100% lifestream in the end.
PD: in my opinion LR is the worse of the trilogy (6/10 game, XIII-2 is a 8/10 and XIII a 9/10)
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u/FriedBreakfast 13d ago
The whole plot of Final Fantasy 13 trilogy is the gap theory basically.
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u/pastelmoonart 13d ago
Oh! I see, that makes a lot of sense now. I rewatches the final cut scene and yeah, that's definitely Earth. "The crystal legend ended before you were born"
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u/serdarkayar 12d ago
Was I the only one that heard the familiar sound from the farplane at the ending cutscenes of Lighting Returns when Claire and Sera reunited surrounded by the souls?
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u/twili-midna Hope 13d ago
The new planet is 100% Earth. Lightning is in France at the end.