The Focus [Spoilers about ending]

[chaosweapon]

Spoiler: I think that Lightning and her friends' focus was to save Cocoon rather than destroying it by killing Orphan. In fact, Vanille and Fang turned into crystals only after they transformed into Ragnarok and saved Cocoon. They didn't turn into crystals right after killing Orphan. I wonder if Fang and Vanille have another focus to finish before they become free. I guess we'll know in Final Fantasy XIII-2 if it ever gets released.

[Che]

Cocoon is powered by the fal'Cie who are powered by Orphan. When you kill Orphan the power of Cocoon and it's fal'Cie are obviously knocked out. Cocoon then loses it's gravitational field and begins to plummet towards Gran Pulse. Fang/Vanille become Ragnarok and create a pillar of crystal to hold Cocoon up and of course, save Cocoon. They've completed their focus and turn to crystal.

Everything that happens when Fang/Vanille/other group members turn into Cie'th is an illusion. At first Barthandelus is trying to get Vanille to turn into Ragnarok and then of course switches to Fang. Barthandelus doesn't really have any power of his own, he uses illusions to get people to do what he wants. He's trying to make them feel so terrible that they willingly transform into Ragnarok.

Person from another forum that explained it quite well. ^

[Ralz]

Everything that happens when Fang/Vanille/other group members turn into Cie'th is an illusion.

The Barthandelus side of Orphan was using an illusion for that bit, then? That's kind of good, because it would totally go against the game's direct mentioning that Cie'th are eternally doomed and nothing can save them.

Also, they changed their focus. They originally had it set that ther focus was to save Cocoon, but it was later changed to destroying Cocoon, and then they changed it for themselves, to officially save Cocoon.

When they changed their focus, their l'Cie marks scratched out, and they could do whatever they wanted without fear of becoming Cie'th.

[Xithor]

Spoiler: I wonder if Fang and Vanille have another focus to finish before they become free. I guess we'll know in Final Fantasy XIII-2 if it ever gets released.

Final Fantasy XIII-2? Are you referring to a sequel to this installment or do you mean Final Fantasy versus XIII? Because they are part of the Nova Crystallis Compilation that includes Versus, Agito, and Haeresis. Is there a sequel in the making that I'm not away of. Che put it the best by quoting the member from the other forum, very well explained.

[Che]

There's no sequel announced. The original poster simply meant that he didn't understand from the ending if Vanille and Fang had another focus to complete or not, and that he'd understand if there was a sequel made.

[Zargabaath]

Also, they changed their focus. They originally had it set that ther focus was to save Cocoon, but it was later changed to destroying Cocoon, and then they changed it for themselves, to officially save Cocoon.

Spoiler: Them changing their focus was figurative and not literal; they decided to make a choice that was going against their focus - their focus stayed the same regardless of what they decided. Actually Snow was the only one thought his focus was to save Cocoon. Vanille knew the truth and didn't want to deal with it and Sazh didn't believe Snow because they were Pulse L'Cie and Snow was grasping at straws. Lightning was out to take down the Sanctum Fal'Cie, she had no regards to the state of Cocoon. Hope wanted to kill Snow and then later joins Lightning's short-lived crusade against the Sanctum. In chapter 9 the party decides to topple the government to end Fal'Cie rule but that move is not apart of their focus. The toppling of Sanctum was more of a choice they made that became their "focus"/mission but not their actual focus. It was never changed to destroy Cocoon; it was clarified by Barthandelus that it was to destroy Cocoon. That their interpretation was incorrect, thus their actual focus was revealed. There was no change, it was a revelation. At the end of the game they make a choice to go against their focus, somewhat, but thanks to a Deus ex Machina they are able to save the day. L'Cie can't change their focus all they can do is either follow it, rebel against it, or do nothing and become Cie'th. Of course, their focus could have been to protect Cocoon from the beginning as exactly who/what gave the party their focus is unclear as they were transported to another dimension where an entity marked them, which shouldn't be Anima. The dream sequence of their focus is clips of what happens at the end, except the scenes are brief and violent that the party thinks their focus is the destruction of Cocoon. However, Vanille decides to keep her mouth shut which she possibly could've clarified the whole process of being turn into a L'Cie - was what happened to the party how it is normally or was it something special? The nature of Ragnarok needed more explanation: What powers does it have? How did Ragnarok come into existence? Who can become Ragnarok (it appears only Fang or Vanille could've become Ragnarok)? Does the person who becomes Ragnarok lose control? Remember how only Ragnarok could destroy the Fal'Cie and how that went? Yeah, good ol' Deus Ex. Now if it was another entity that gave the party their focus, it must have fooled Barthandelus; another thing is who was that whom gave the party their focus? If it was some other entity, possibly one of the gods, it was not gone into detail creating a weak point in the plot.

[chaosweapon]

Spoiler: Fang didn't kill Orphan as Ragnarok. She and Vanille transformed into Ragnarok to save Cocoon, and I believe this was their actual focus which was misinterpreted the whole time even by the Fal'Cie.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 hasn't been officially announced but Square Enix said that if Final Fantasy XIII proves to be successful then they might make a sequel to it.

[Zargabaath]

Spoiler: Fang didn't kill Orphan as Ragnarok. She and Vanille transformed into Ragnarok to save Cocoon, and I believe this was their actual focus which was misinterpreted the whole time even by the Fal'Cie.

Was this directed towards me? I know that, that person didn't accomplish that "focus". If their focus was what you said, as I hypothesized in my post, then it needs to go into more detail because that would be a new angle. An angle that needed a tad more clarification and possibly would have made the plot better and more full.