We are currently running around Pulse post-story and having fun with it. It's nice to be able to explore at a leisurely pace, and to stomp most of the monsters on the plains with little trouble (although we haven't been able to take on the Adamantoises yet).
I did see that quick scene of Cocoon soldiers and civilians standing on Pulse, presumably based on Rosch's order to evacuate, but I don't know that necessarily implies that everyone or even almost everyone made it out. And the landing of Cocoon seemed pretty violent, even on its crystal "cushion". But I agree it seems clear that there were at least *some* survivors, and I see lots of room for interesting "what happens next" stories about the people of Cocoon adjusting to life on Pulse and without the Fal'Cie (although I'd bet there are at least some Pulse Fal'Cie left alive).
Re. the Datalog: my complaint isn't so much that game events and backstory exposition weren't clear without it -- I liked that part, especially at first; I thought it was a great way to fill us in on the background without too much infodump, which I agree has been a problem in some other games. What I didn't like so well was when character motivations and development *in game* were shunted to the Datalog. Like when Lightning started to have doubts about using jealousy to motivate Hope: we knew she was having doubts because the Datalog told us, not because Lightning showed us. That's the kind of thing that bothered me. I can totally see how this is an area in which tastes may vary, though.
Re. fic: Thanks! The first one is actually already finished, but it was the kind of story where writing it raised more questions than it answered for me, so I suspect that more will be forthcoming... How is yours coming? Are you planning on XIII fic for both of the upcoming Big Bangs? (I actually thought about saving the Raines/Rosch storyline for megaflare_ff, but I decided I didn't want to risk it with a bunny that new.)
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I did see that quick scene of Cocoon soldiers and civilians standing on Pulse, presumably based on Rosch's order to evacuate, but I don't know that necessarily implies that everyone or even almost everyone made it out. And the landing of Cocoon seemed pretty violent, even on its crystal "cushion". But I agree it seems clear that there were at least *some* survivors, and I see lots of room for interesting "what happens next" stories about the people of Cocoon adjusting to life on Pulse and without the Fal'Cie (although I'd bet there are at least some Pulse Fal'Cie left alive).
Re. the Datalog: my complaint isn't so much that game events and backstory exposition weren't clear without it -- I liked that part, especially at first; I thought it was a great way to fill us in on the background without too much infodump, which I agree has been a problem in some other games. What I didn't like so well was when character motivations and development *in game* were shunted to the Datalog. Like when Lightning started to have doubts about using jealousy to motivate Hope: we knew she was having doubts because the Datalog told us, not because Lightning showed us. That's the kind of thing that bothered me. I can totally see how this is an area in which tastes may vary, though.
Re. fic: Thanks! The first one is actually already finished, but it was the kind of story where writing it raised more questions than it answered for me, so I suspect that more will be forthcoming... How is yours coming? Are you planning on XIII fic for both of the upcoming Big Bangs? (I actually thought about saving the Raines/Rosch storyline for