FFXIII-2 Toriyama Explains Ending

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Spoiler warning: This story broadly discusses the ending of Final Fantasy XIII-2. No story specifics are mentioned, but don't read any further if you're trying to avoid all knowledge of the game's ending.




As we reported last week, Final Fantasy XIII-2 ends with the words "to be continued," seemingly hinting at the possibility of Final Fantasy XIII-3. According to director Motomu Toriyama, that wasn't necessarily the intent; the ending is instead leaving room for downloadable content and the game's multiple "Paradox Endings."


Speaking at the Taipei Game Show this weekend, Toriyama said that the message is intended to point players toward the game's multiple endings. More importantly, it hints at the downloadable content planned for the future. As Square Enix announced last week, "there will be episodes which enhance the experience and complement the narrative of Final Fantasy XIII-2 with storyline branches for key characters in the story."

Specifically, Toriyama noted that a large DLC episode involving Lightning is currently being prepped. Episodes involving Sazh and Snow are also planned.




http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1218042p1.html
 
As expected of Toriyama, this raises more questions than it answers. I suppose he's waiting for a while to see what the overall fan reaction is before he sticks his neck on the chopping block and confirms or denies the possibility of XIII-3.
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I was curious about the meaning of the ending.
 
pretty cheap excuse to say its for people to look at the paradox endings. After going through a few i see they are totally off from where the story was going all towards the end so there not really endings, as just idk background info. Hopefully a good long DLC will end it soon. im assuming this Lightning DLC wont have much to wrap up the story.
 
Future downloadable content ?? :gasp2:


So they want us to pay for a $ 100 game + a whole bunch of downloadable things ? :ahmed:

Uhm.... how about no ? :srsly:

Why couldn't they just add a simple proper ending like normal ? -__-
 
I actually like the story and its ending so I'm not too unhappy to hear XIII-2 could be the final one sequentially. I know it's not conventional, but that does perhaps speak in its favour. :hmmm:

Regardless, I'm still rooting for a XIII-3! ;) I do feel there's a lot of potential for future twists in the plot which could easily make another game! If they choose to leave it as it is, though, I wouldn't consider it incomplete. Additional content is just a bonus for me - a very big bonus because I absolutely love XIII-2.

In regards to the one paradox ending I've encountered... SPOILER BELOW
The ending in which Serah decides to stay with Lightning in the dream world towards the end of Episode 4 was certainly laughable, but it did point at the fact that this was not meant to be the ending. Through Serah's entire monologue, her tone of voice and choice of words suggested that she knew she had picked a false reality and so, for me, it was only a matter of time before she broke free anyway and continued on her journey.

Am I right in thinking some of the paradox endings are only available after defeating the final boss?
 
I personally think Toriyama made a bad decision by saying that the purpose of the 'to be continued' is to encourage players to obtain paradox endings.

(no spoilers, but the following will describe the nature of the paradox endings)
Most people who read this article before watching any of the paradox endings are in for a HUGE huge disappointment. They may think that at least one of these endings may be a conclusive happy ending, but that's not the case.

He should just say clearly that there WILL be a real continuation to the normal ending via DLC, etc, instead of teasing us with paradox endings and midquel DLCs.


Lirael
About paradox endings, at first I thought that some endings can only be obtained after the normal ending too. But my friend from another forum actually got a paradox ending that I thought was impossible before beating the game at least once.

EDIT:But there's actually a fragment skill that is obtained after beating the game, called paradox scope. Its description is:
Challenge history’s possibilities. Activate alternative histories when replaying areas. Alternative battles leading to Paradox Endings.
Which means that some paradox endings really require beating the final boss first.

Hmmm I'm a little confused which endings require us to beat the final boss first o_O
 
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'To Be Continued' cannot intend for the paradox endings. The paradox endings for most of them were sadly horrible and I honestly don't picture an ending as great as it was, to end with DLC.

It doesn't really make sense in reference to the storyline either because if Serah is dead, how can that possibly continue? Even when Lighting crystallizes, you explore the paradox endings in the current belief that she is still alive in Valhalla. You know what I mean? It is just a messy cop out to refer to the paradox endings.

I do hope for a XIII-3 because XIII-2 certainly redeemed itself, but it was very shy from it predecessors.
 
(Lol, this is only my 5th post. I have no idea how to edit the post to actually hide the spoilers. So please take note where i have written spoiler so you dont read something that you may not have seen or done yet.)

As much as I don't want it to be true, I think the TBC frame was actually placed there strategically as a heads up to the fact that there were multiple endings to the game and extend the playability.

Although, those endings were not exactly conclusive to the main story of FF XIII-2 because they didn’t answer any questions or finalize any plot, and as a whole, the story wasn’t wrapped up. But in reality, I guess that was what was supposed to happen with an "Alternate Ending". They were all meant to be their own alternate ending to the story, even if they didn’t complete it in a way that was wholesome and satisfying. However, that cannot be classed as a continuation of the story. It is actually a finalization of the story, and TBC cannot refer to these alternate endings, because nothing was continued. So unless the DLC finishes the story, Toriyama could have contradicted himself.

To make matters worse, after collecting the final fragment, you get a message that clearly tells you that you can now view the final segment of the story, but after viewing it, it cannot possibly be the end. Because if it is, that means that Serah and Noel travelled back and forth through 700 years of time, collecting fragments of the past and future that had been lost and found in alternate times, fighting and struggling all the way to save Lightning, Fang, and Vanille primarily, plus the whole populace of the world they inhabited, only to reach the end of the line and Serah dies and Caius unleashes Chaos onto the planet.


How evil is Square Enix?

So, to conclude this confusing paradox: Even after collecting the final fragment and viewing the final cut scene, the story was still not wrapped up and in fact, it probably left most of us asking more questions.


Which means, all we have left is the DLC that Toriyama mentioned. However, he also mentions that the DLC's will revolve around story branches with Snow and Sazh, and Lightning.
Does this mean that Serah really is gone for good?
Or will the DLC lead to another final ending where Snow and Serah get married and everyone's finally back in the same time line and no one has to solve any more damn paradoxes....
[FONT=&quot]
The last resort is to hope that if FF XIII-3 Happens, it will conclude the story. However I definitely do not want FF XIII-3 to be an ending to XIII-2. So I am pinning all of my hopes on the DLC, that this segment of the story is wrapped up before we move onto the next.

[/FONT]
 
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The more i think about it, the more it seems plausible to finalise the story with a whole new game. Final Fantasy XIII-3 could potentially be all about saving Serah and Lightning and bringing the fight to Caius?

I would still prefer if the story was wrapped up prior to the third instalment, however, thinking about it that way makes it a little less painful.

Opinions?
 
EDIT:But there's actually a fragment skill that is obtained after beating the game said:
Basically, once you have beaten the final boss you unlock that fragment skill you mentioned and you begin a sort of post game. At that point, once you have unlocked all of the areas on the time line that you possibly can, you will notice that there are eight locations left except for the three prior to the first location. Those eight locations represent an area that can be reached via an alternative ending. So the areas that are near those eight contain the requirements for reaching that ending. With the paradox scope activated, you can close the gate and restart those areas in order to find the alternate ending. There is one near the end of the time line that i couldnt figure out though, i had to read a guide online to solve it.
Click to expand...
 
kalash
Yes I know about the 8 gates thing. What I meant was, some paradox endings require paradox scope, and some don't. Therefore, some paradox ending can be obtained even before beating the game once.
 
Cid Raines said:
@kalash
Yes I know about the 8 gates thing. What I meant was, some paradox endings require paradox scope, and some don't. Therefore, some paradox ending can be obtained even before beating the game once.
Click to expand...

I got the one with lightning on the dock in New Bodhum 700 AF, and at post game i found the one where you refuse the fragment crystal from Alyssa in Academia 4XX AF without the paradox scope activated i think. Those are the only two i can think of.
 
kalash said:
I got the one with lightning on the dock in New Bodhum 700 AF, and at post game i found the one where you refuse the fragment crystal from Alyssa in Academia 4XX AF without the paradox scope activated i think. Those are the only two i can think of.
Click to expand...

Actually, you can't get the second one you mentioned without having Paradox Scope activated. You'll automatically take the artefact if it's not active, instead of getting a decision.
 
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