What's the Story?

[davfra]

I managed to bludgeon my way around and finished the storyline, using only relentless assault. diversity and combat clinic. I stuck with the three girls whenever possible. I only upgraded the weapons I had to their max. Obviously, this way, I missed out on a lot, but there'll be another time and I am still playing.
What i would like to know is what is the story supposed to be?
I found it difficult to follow. I did what was obviously needed, but the story itself left me completely puzzled.
Most puzzling - what happened to Fang and Vanille?
I've searched the net but there doesn't seem to be an explanation.

[Xithor]

Spoiler: Well what I got from the story was that Fang and Vanille had already completed their focuses before but were brought back from being crystals to perform a new focus which was to become Ragnarok and destroy the world. It was Vanille's fault that Sazh's son become a l'Cie and the rest of them became l'Cie's because they went after Serah. In the end Fang and Vanille did indeed become Ragnarok like they were meant to become in order to complete their focus but instead of helping to destroy the world they instead saved the world. So all of the characters became crystals (Lightning, Hope, Snow, and Sazh) until you heard Vanille say wake up. So Fang and Vanille used the last of their power to free the other four characters from crystals, removing their markings that designated them as l'Cie and giving them a second chance. The world was pretty beat up and Sazh remarks that Cocoon was in pretty bad shape so as far as destroying the world focus complete. Then of course they also brought back Serah and Dajh. In the end they sacrificed themselves in order to give the rest of the characters and Cocoon a second chance.

[Zargabaath]

Spoiler: Well what I got from the story was that Fang and Vanille had already completed their focuses before but were brought back from being crystals to perform a new focus which was to become Ragnarok and destroy the world. It was Vanille's fault that Sazh's son become a l'Cie and the rest of them became l'Cie's because they went after Serah.

Spoiler: Fang and Vanille hadn't really completed their focus. The Goddess Etro took pity upon the humans in Cocoon and Fang & Vanille. She crystallized Fang and Vanille to halt their plan to destroy Cocoon. Etro knew though that eventually that the Fal'Cie would try again to destroy Cocoon, but she stopped it this time. Fang and Vanille still had the same focus as before since they did not complete it, Etro had crystallized them pre-maturely. Fang and Vanille's original focus was to destroy Cocoon. Fang had become an incomplete Ragnarok and could not destroy Cocoon but that in part due to Etro intervening. From a certain point of view it is Vanille's fault that Dajh became a L'Cie but Fang suggested the idea to get close to a Cocoon Fal'Cie. Fang suggested the idea because Vanille, in all her "greatness", decided to keep the truth about her [Vanille] knowing what happened and their focus.

Spoiler: In the end Fang and Vanille did indeed become Ragnarok like they were meant to become in order to complete their focus but instead of helping to destroy the world they instead saved the world. So all of the characters became crystals (Lightning, Hope, Snow, and Sazh) until you heard Vanille say wake up. So Fang and Vanille used the last of their power to free the other four characters from crystals, removing their markings that designated them as l'Cie and giving them a second chance. The world was pretty beat up and Sazh remarks that Cocoon was in pretty bad shape so as far as destroying the world focus complete. Then of course they also brought back Serah and Dajh. In the end they sacrificed themselves in order to give the rest of the characters and Cocoon a second chance.

Spoiler: I found there to be a very interesting theory as to the true nature of the characters' focus: Was it truly to destroy Cocoon or save it from falling? If the person notices, what Ragnarok does in the scene where the characters get the clue of their focus is exaclty what happens when Fang and Vanille become Ragnarok. Ragnarok busts out of the bottom of Cocoon and Ragnarok keeps generating hands/arms. In the focus "dream" the characters take it as they must destroy Cocoon but at the end of the game, Ragnarok saves Cocoon. Could Etro have intervened again, knowing what Barthandelus and the other Fal'Cie were planning, and had Anima give them a focus to save Cocoon but that the "clue" was a deception to fool Barthandelus? There is also something else, did Anima really give the characters' their focus? In the datalog - a curse for this game - says that "after defeating the Fal'Cie, Anima, they are drawn through a rift into a dimension where an immense, otherworldly presence awaits." (Pulsian Menace Chapter 2) & "As they deal the killing blow to the master of the Vestige, a flash of light rends the air. They are pulled into a swirling void of chaos, where they are bound by an ominous and inexorable entity." (Bound in Darkness Chapter 2). I found it odd that Anima would have two forms especially since Anima wasn't a Fal'Cie of deception and illusion as was Barthandelus. It seemed to me that the entity that branded characters was not Anima but something else; remember that the gods - Maker (Gran Pulse) and Lindzei and possibly Etro - left the planet and supposedly went to another realm, the beyond. Were the characters transported here? And if so, was it Gran Pulse that gave them their focus (I could not see Etro being that thing)? After Orphan was destroyed the Fal'Cie lost their power to keep those who have served them in crystallization so those who were crystallized were free, hence why Dajh and Serah were freed as anybody else.

But I understand where you are coming from Davfra this story has something that are not clearly explained when they need to be, such as the Arks.

Spoiler: They say the fal’Cie made the Arks in preparation for battle against the menace that lurks beyond. Where is this ‘beyond’ of which they speak? Do they mean Cocoon, and the demons that dwell within? If so, they are mistaken. The legends of the Arks date far before that sphere was even crafted; whispers even hint at Arks displaced around the time of Cocoon’s creation, spirited away to be hidden in its shell. What, then, is the ‘menace’? What distant threat confronts us, and to what purpose? The gods vanished from this place. Are they now residents of the ‘beyond’? (The Menace Beyond Analect 10). Did the Fal'Cie truly desire to start the world over or to challenge the gods? They wanted to open a portal to the "beyond" with the cataclysm of Cocoon's destruction; was it so they could invade the "beyond"? I feel like there is a lot of good material in this game but it wasn't well thought out and executed sub-par.

[davfra]

Many thanks, everybody. That's great. I'm going around again now, and I'm not going to be in such a rush.

[Andromeda]

It's not so much about being in a rush or not play attention well while the cutscenes are going on. Nearly all of the information that is to be found in the datalog is all stuff that the main characters already know to be established facts or lies, depending on how you view things. A lot of things are things they would have learned in school classes or whatever. So they all take it for granted and it becomes unnecessary for them to bring up in their conversations.

It tends to feel awkward or strange at times when people explain things for the sake of exposition even though everyone in the party already knows exactly what they are talking about and it is not something that they need repeated. However, it tends to be something that is often almost required to be done, since the player/reader doesn't know these details. But when you think of it from the character's point of view it just seems out of placed and forced by the hand of the writers.

So while they certainly left out a lot of the small details that really explain a lot of things in the world. I think it probably a better way of doing. It feels more natural this way than it being randomly brought up for the sake of the player.

[Zargabaath]

So while they certainly left out a lot of the small details that really explain a lot of things in the world. I think it probably a better way of doing. It feels more natural this way than it being randomly brought up for the sake of the player.

Like how the datalog tells the player that Jihl graduated at the top of her class, when how many people know the what goes on in PSICOM. The datalog, some of the times, is a cheap way to further develop the story and/or characters. Another example: the datalog says that Jihl listened to Sazh's worries about his son Dajh. Really? Because all I saw was Sazh talking to a normal security guard possibly about what would happen to his son. I didn't see Sazh telling Jihl anything - that is cheap storytelling and character development - in this instance for the latter. Why couldn't Toriyama show that instead of telling? There are multiple times when the datalog gives information away that was not revealed by the characters, an NPC, or an event.

I understand about "why would the character say something for the player when it is common knowledge", but that is one function the NPCs are for. Example: when the Galenth Dysley first shows up in the "People" section, it says that he was a conservative leader who rarely intervened and if I recall generally a benevolent leader. Really? Where did this information come from? I wasn't told this, there was no NPC or scene showing his character before the purge. Now, the characters already know, but the player doesn't and that is what's important. For this instance - Galenth Dysley - the character's did not need to say anything, instead an NPC could've said, "How could the Primarch allow this, it is uncharacteristic of him. He has been a benevolent leader and he orders this", to that extent. While the developers didn't need towns to convey their story the absence of NPC hurt the game. Final Fantasy for the most part hasn't done towns or NPCs well, but here is when they needed NPCs most.