[Spoilers] Gran Pulse

[SaShman]

Was anyone else disappointed with this part of the game? I knew before I played XIII that I would get the opportunity to visit Pulse but I thought it would at least be populated. I thought leaving cocoon and exploring pulse would be the equivalent of leaving Midgar and exploring the rest of the world in FFVII.

This section of the game was a let down for me. All that happened was the party walked around for a while, got stronger and went back to cocoon. It was kind of a let down for me since Pulse was made out to be this huge mysterious land which posed a constant threat to the people of cocoon. But there weren't even any signs of an ongoing civilization.

 

[Beyer]

I didn't find it to be much of a let down, I wasn't too upset with the lack of population. I liked how it helped add to the fact that the Sanctum was telling so many lies.
I am sure it would have been populated if making towns using that level of graphics wasn't so difficult. SE expressed their disapointment with this. I think EVERYONE who had anything to do with the game was disappointed a little.

 

[Linnaete]

Before I reached Gran Pulse, I wasn't expecting a lot of civilisation anyway. I had it in my mind from the opening scene of the game that it will purely be a huge stretch of natural land with intimidating monsters in every corner.

When I first reached Archlyte Steppe, it was simply incredible and awe-inspiring at first. It was the first (and perhaps only) time that you can escape the confines of the linearity from before. Instantly, I seemed to have my faith restored in the game.

I did however, did get more disappointed when I discovered that there was not a single Pulsian around. Fair enough, I wasn't expecting towns and cities I thought, but there wasn't a soul around apart from Cie Stones! I have to assume that Pulsian civilisations were wiped out centuries ago during the War of Transgression.

And the fact that there wasn't a soul does hit home the extent of Barthandelus's lies to the Cocoon populace.

 

[Altair]

Yes it was a bit disappointing. Call me a conspiracy theorist. But it wouldn't suprise me if the cocoon fal'c wiped out the population of pulse and now the pulse fal'c want revenge.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

At first, I liked the look of it, it offered something different from the linearity and story driven part of the game. Nevertheless, eventually I figured it didn't offer much, once you beat the game and start beating the marks, grinding etc it's just essentially one HUGE repetitive piece of land that you're constantly going back and forth over, venturing now and again down linear routes to find marks. It wasn't that impressive in the end.

 

[chatua]

Yes it was a bit disappointing. Call me a conspiracy theorist. But it wouldn't suprise me if the cocoon fal'c wiped out the population of pulse and now the pulse fal'c want revenge.

That's not at all what happened....

Spoiler

Everyone from Cocoon was originally from Pulse. Cocoon was built by an evil god Lindzei and some falcie to lure the humans on Pulse to Cocoon. Some went to Cocoon and those who stayed behind on Pulse saw Cocoon as a threat and wanted to destroy it, leading to the War of Transgression. A lot of the rest of the population on Pulse was killed during the war. After that, the population on Pulse just died off. Many were turned to l'cie and given obscure focuses, hence becomming ceith and eventually ceith stones.

So actually, Pulse not being populated was essential to the broader FF13 canon. Although it could just be a lazy excuse for SE to not put any humans on Pulse. Even so, it's not like you'd be able to interact with them lol.

 

[Æon Flux]

I have pretty much the same feelings as everyone else....At first it was nice not to "Have" to do this or "Have" to do that it was nice to just be able to wander arround on my own for a while....But I swear at this point I have the whole damn map memorized!
It would have been nice to have some form of people arround Even if it was veiws of far off towns,even though I understand the premise of not having any it dosent make me want to see them any less. Even if it was just scattered people here and there.....Damn them for this hidious move!

 

[wehttamrd]

I definitely didn't expect towns, but I think little campgrounds here and there of previously purged cocoon citizens would have been cool...

 

[Linnaete]

I think little campgrounds here and there of previously purged cocoon citizens would have been cool...

We do find out quite early in the game that the "Purge" is just a front by the Sanctum to massacre people supposedly "tainted" by Pulsian magic. People were never going to be sent to Pulse. They were just like cattle to be executed as demanded by a paranoid populace.

Therefore I don't think we were going to expect to see any purged Cocoon citizens on Pulse at all. There could have been the odd Pulsians around, but SE probably did think it would be more convenient for themselves not to put anyone on Pulse to save them the work.

 

[SaShman]

I'll admit that I also liked pulse when I first got there. Seeing that big plain with the huge Adamantoise's and shit was pretty cool. I ended up doing about 2-3 marks before I got bored of them and after that I just felt like rushing through this section of the game.

The main thing that annoyed me though was Oerba. I mean fair enough Pulse is supposed to be a rough land, survival of the fittest etc etc.. But after going through the tower and beating that boss, I was expecting to find out more about Vanille and Fang's home town. Granted they lived there some 500 years ago, so I wasn't exactly expecting a flourishing city or anything. But still, I would've liked to have learned more about Oerba other than the fact that it had communal housing. For the sake of the storytelling it would've been nice to have met at least some survivors there.