NPC Spotlight: Chocolina!

Have you ever thought "I'm going to dress and act like a Chocobo?" If the answer is yes then Chocolina should be one of your favorite NPCs to have graced the Final Fantasy series. If your answer is no, then you may want to reassess your life's priorities.

Who is this perky, peppy, colorful character and why should you care? Well the last part is up to you, but after you read over this piece today you may understand the greatness that is this shopkeeper. Chocolina first shows up in the game Final Fantasy XIII-2 as a traveling shopkeeper for the party wherever they need one along their adventures. She'll make a second appearance in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII as a supporting character managing quests.

First off let's discuss the look of this character as she is very unique in her attire. This cute girl is showing off startlingly blue eyes to accompany her mid-length brown hair. She's sporting a..... okay, move along, this isn't a dating ad. Chocolina is a spunky, quirky character who is dressed in a red and yellow Chocobo outfit. This outfit of course looks like it was designed by a fangirl who wanted to make a sexy Chocobo cosplay to woo all the boys at the cons. Not that most fans are complaining about that look, but the girl does stand out in the more stark background themes of this entry.

Originally Chocolina was created as a waitress for the large casino, Serendipity, in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Director Motomu Toriyama, being Toriyama, the same man who decided that Lightning needed bigger breasts in Lightning Returns, liked the look and design of her so much that he wanted to include her more prominently within XIII-2, and thus she was turned into the shopkeeper we encounter in the game. Art Director of Final Fantasy XIII-2, Isamu Kamikokuryo, said in an interview that the addition of the scantily-clad shopkeeper was innocent and harmless, but once Chocolina was integrated into the game, she was a stark contrast to the game's tone. Kamikikuryo went on to say, "If gamers were to find it surprising and shocking, then it was a job well done on our[developers] part."

In the games themselves, Chocolina is a time traveling merchant in XIII-2. That's right, a merchant who travels through time to help out your team whenever you need help. Convenient, no? Serah and Noel encounter her throughout all the different timezones they visit. Even in the most desolate of areas, Chocolina's still as perky as ever. Now if you don't want to be spoiled I suggest you avoid this next part. It's about her origin! Through the DLC Sazh's Story: Heads or Tails, that we reviewed here, you find out through a fetch quest of chocobos... that the Chocobo Chick that followed Sazh around in the original Final Fantasy XIII, or Frocobo as we originally called it on Eyes on FF, is Chocolina herself! She was trapped beyond time, and thanks to the fal'cie Etro, Chocolina's wish to help others was answered and thus she was turned into the Chocolina we now know and love. Okay spoiler is over, you can look back now.

As for Lightning Returns, we don't know too much about her character without spoiling anything for ourselves before the NA/EU release is out this February. What we do know is that she will be managing the prayer boards across the world. At these boards, players will be able to pick up quests and further their story along. She'll also make a dual appearance with the character mentioned in the previous spoiler you did or didn't click on! Other than that, there's not much we can say about the NPC in that entry.

If you haven't played Final Fantasy XIII-2 or aren't planning on picking up Lightning Returns, you'll at least know about this lovely shopkeeper that has warmed our hearts and possibly Toriyama's wall of cute FF girls.

Did you like Chocolina as a character? Did she a feel out of place to you? Did you like having a constant face to a merchant again? Share your thoughts! Choco-boco-lina!