The Only Competent Human is a Party Member! FFXIII SPOILERS WITHIN

DISCLAIMER: This rant contains spoilers from Chapter 10 of Final Fantasy XIII. If you have not yet reached that point in the game, and wish to remain unspoiled about the storyline, please be careful. The section outside the spoiler section will contain no direct spoilers, but may give information that can allow you to draw some idea of the spoiler content. Read at your own risk.


(SPOILER)Ok, so during Chapter 10, you run into Cid Raines in the Fifth Ark. You guys talk, and he reveals that he is no longer going to be all buddy-buddy with you and attacks you. Before doing so, however he transforms. Why? We fight hundreds of throwaway human minions throughout the game, but as soon as we get to an interesting fight with a human with a face, the game forces him to transform. There is not even a story based reason for it. It isn't mentioned in the Datalog at all, nor is there any hint that l'Cie have transformative powers, other than becoming Cie'th when they fail (since he hadn't failed, his brand looked find, he kept his mind and purpose, and he turned to crystal at the end, he wasn't becoming a Cie'th). So why does he transform? I wasn't looking for a fight against some demihuman monster, I was looking for a clash of human against human, l'Cie against l'Cie. An awesome epic battle against a cool character. It was not what I got.

Of course, this isn't the first time a human adversary has taken another form during combat. The first true incident I can think of is Hojo, in FFVII. Kefka doesn't count because he wasn't a human, he was a crazy god of magic (and Sephiroth doesn't count for similar reasons). Then we got Ultimecia with her crazy form changing in VIII, and Seymour and Yunalesca in X (didn't get that far in IX, but I know at least Beatrix stayed human during her fights). Some of these are more explainable than others, but the reasoning behind it is beyond me.

Why? What is wrong with giving us a fight with an actual awesome human? We know that humans can fight well in their natural form, because our party is quite capable of doing so. So why is it that any named enemy can only fight in a nonhuman form?

Well, FFVIII had Seifer and Edea remain in human forms for your fights against them.

And then there's Beatrix, as you've pointed out.

But in FFXII, there's plenty of human v. human action. Every fight against a Judge, for example. And I think Cid remained human in your fight against him.

(SPOILER)Cid Raines looks really stupid after his transformation, so I don't blame you for being disappointed.

Fighting against a human character is pretty exciting, usually, because it's rare. I like it, too.

Your party usually consists of multiple magic wielding superheroes that can mow down entire armies of people by themselves. By the end of the game you are almost inhuman yourself, so to create a boss that poses some sort of challenge it kind of seems natural that they would be further along the path of becoming less human and more super magical being.

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Originally Posted by VeloZer0

Your party usually consists of multiple magic wielding superheroes that can mow down entire armies of people by themselves. By the end of the game you are almost inhuman yourself, so to create a boss that poses some sort of challenge it kind of seems natural that they would be further along the path of becoming less human and more super magical being.

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Yet obtaining those super magical powers does not ditort our characters into nonhuman entities. So why does it happen with the villains we fight?

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What is wrong with giving us a fight with an actual awesome human?

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Nothing wrong with it there is plenty of cocoon's army , Speaking of cid, he is a L'cie and part of his body is Shi-gai/Cie'th , the Cie'th of Cocoon fal'cies have mostly smooth, white crystals formed along their body you will encounter them soon.

Tales of the Abyss is the only game I can think of off the top of my head where the final boss was a human.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

Yet obtaining those super magical powers does not ditort our characters into nonhuman entities. So why does it happen with the villains we fight?

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The enemies we are fighting are (story wise) significantly stronger than the party is. It always seemed that the transformations were meant to accentuate how much more powerful than an ordinary 'mortal' they have become. The objective is to create an opponent that doesn't look out of place taking on three people at a time.