I have a burning question

[concord5]

I feel really nerdy for joining this forum just to ask this question...but here goes.

If Snow is any indication, each character seems to be attributed to a certain element (Snow's default spell at the beginning of the game appears to be Blizzard, his summon is Shiva - an ice being, and his name is...well, "Snow." I hate how un-original and femanine his name is, but at least everything about his make-up makes sense so far).

I don't know about the other party members, but Lightning is the one who bothers me. Her basic spell at the beginning of the game appears to be Fire, her summon is Odin - a being without an element, as far as I know, and her name is..."Lightning?" None of that makes logical sense. I was expecting her basic spell to be Thunder and her summon to be Ixion (since the logo art for the game seems to show a woman transforming into a horse...which I used to think was Lightning turning into Ixion, but now I'm starting to think it's Odin's Gestalt form...which SORT OF makes sense, since she is apparently the harbinger of death (or something).

So, my question: why is Lightning's make-up so contradictory to her name, while Snow's makes perfect sense?

[Thula]

Odin was a thunder based summon if I recall correclty. So the Lightning-Odin couple makes sense, the only thing that is out of logic is just her fire based spells in the demo, which I honestly can't explian.

[Kuja Las Vegas]

I feel really nerdy for joining this forum just to ask this question...but here goes.

If Snow is any indication, each character seems to be attributed to a certain element (Snow's default spell at the beginning of the game appears to be Blizzard, his summon is Shiva - an ice being, and his name is...well, "Snow." I hate how un-original and femanine his name is, but at least everything about his make-up makes sense so far).

I don't know about the other party members, but Lightning is the one who bothers me. Her basic spell at the beginning of the game appears to be Fire, her summon is Odin - a being without an element, as far as I know, and her name is..."Lightning?" None of that makes logical sense. I was expecting her basic spell to be Thunder and her summon to be Ixion (since the logo art for the game seems to show a woman transforming into a horse...which I used to think was Lightning turning into Ixion, but now I'm starting to think it's Odin's Gestalt form...which SORT OF makes sense, since she is apparently the harbinger of death (or something).

So, my question: why is Lightning's make-up so contradictory to her name, while Snow's makes perfect sense?

Haha I have a *burning* question, pun un-intended. The answer is, Fire has always been a staple "beginning spell" for Final Fantasy games. Except in VII where Cloud starts off with Bolt and I believe Ice (but VII was radically different).
And you don't get Fire until you recruit Red XII. Or you can buy it from a shop outside Tifa's bar.

But in FF6 Terra's first magic is Fire. In FF8, the first thing you do is visit the Fire Cave and Recruit Ifrit (ironically, you need to stock Blizzards from those fins on the beach in order to fight Ifrit). In FF5 you may be able to buy all three elements at once from the towne where the pirates all go in the bar right away. In FF4 I believe young Rydia starts with Fire. In FF9, Vivi starts with Fire. You see where I'm going with this? It's just a staple of the series that the main character should start with Fire, even if her name is Lightning. Who knows, maybe they all get to equip all magicks later in the game.

Snow is just coincidence that he's a guy named Snow, who has Blizzard, and casts Shiva. That's just coincidence. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

At least Sazh's name isn't Black, who casts Shadow-based elemental spells and summons Ark.

[tanton18]

Odin was a thunder based summon if I recall correclty. So the Lightning-Odin couple makes sense, the only thing that is out of logic is just her fire based spells in the demo, which I honestly can't explain.

I don't remember Odin being a lightning summon. He was non-elemental. And about Lightning casting fire - it might be just a thing they put only for the demo since they said that magic will be unavaliable at that point in the game. Or she might end up being able to cast all elemental magics since her summon should be non-elemental. Or none at all, or only buff up magic like protect.

[Renzo]

In FF4 I believe young Rydia starts with Fire.

Actually that's the only spell she doesn't know, as she's afraid of fire. She learns it after a while though.

We still don't know if in the final version Snow will only be able to use Ice based magicks or not; I guess SE just wanted to show some spells, so they chose Fire and Blizzard as they're the most common.

[Kuja Las Vegas]

Actually that's the only spell she doesn't know, as she's afraid of fire. She learns it after a while though.

We still don't know if in the final version Snow will only be able to use Ice based magicks or not; I guess SE just wanted to show some spells, so they chose Fire and Blizzard as they're the most common.

D'oh! Thanks for correcting me. It's because they burned down her town with fire, right? Doesn't she learn it to burn down the ice on Mt. Hobbs?

[BlizzarddeX]

Odin was a thunder based summon if I recall correclty. So the Lightning-Odin couple makes sense, the only thing that is out of logic is just her fire based spells in the demo, which I honestly can't explian.

Thunder is Odins weakness. (thats how I beat Odin in FF4)

And Lightning doesn't do Fire attack but something known as Ruin (a non-elemental attack).

Or it could be another name for fire. So I don't know.

Question: If Snow knows blizzard/or if you called it "Ice" then how is Lightning or any other character going to learn it?

I haven't seen any other character cast "blizzard" except Snow in any trailer unless I have and forgotten it.

[Glacies]

Lightning uses a spell called Ruin as seen in one of the E3 trailer.
Odin in Final Fantasys is God of death (or something) so that fits quite nicely with Ruin magic.
But you're right, it does not fit with her name.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-final-fantasy/49972

[Sekai]

"Lightning" is because the control of gravity and magnetism that she has in the fingertip.

[Ramenzilla]

snow and lightning are the only characters *so far* with elemental names so it's not like you're going to have a "water" character that's named...rain or something.

As for Lightning being named Lightning, I always thought it was to follow suit with the weather tradition in some of the FF games, like...VII had Cloud, VIII = Squall, X = Tidus...so yeah, lightning, lol *shrug*

Also, in most FF's, almost ever character is capable of learning all the basic magic spells...unless there's a specific class sytem where only Black Mages can use them, but it doesn't look like XIII will follow in that direction.

I believe the Lightning based summon has always been Ramuh [not Odin]. X had ixion though.

that also brings up a good point, I have no idea what's going on in the FFXIII logo art, lol. but I'm sure it will make more sense once you play the game. Like....the meteor in VII's logo didn't make sense until I played the game so yeah. *shrug*

[Sekai]

I think the logo are the two Shiva sisters and Sleiphnir. (odin's horse)

[Cruxis]

Or Lightning and Serah?

[Sekai]

You're right Cruxis, I never thought this, good hypothesis.

[Moklin]

Snow is just coincidence that he's a guy named Snow, who has Blizzard, and casts Shiva. That's just coincidence. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

It cant be a coincidence, its just too perfect. Why the name Snow?



Or Lightning and Serah?


:ohmy: I never thought about that possibility, now ill stop to try to search for Carbuncle, Ifrit and Siren in the logo.

[Squirrel Emperor]

:ohmy: I never thought about that possibility, now ill stop to try to search for Carbuncle, Ifrit and Siren in the logo.

Think Carbuncle is on there too. On the bottom left of the sphere. That big swirly thing might be its tail and what looks like a little bit of it's face. It's hard to tell

I don't see Ifrit and Siren though...

[rise007]

Ifrit, Carbuncle and Siren are all there. Ifrit is obviously with Sazh, Carbuncle with Oerba, and Siren... maybe Hope. Well since he's the only other [main] character in the game, then Siren should be his. The only thing that bothers me with Lightning and Odin, is why the f**k does Odin turn into a horse?! Odin is not a horse, he rides one, Sleipnir. And then they have Shiva as a motocycle and Ifrit a racecar. What is Carbuncle going to be? A bicycle? And let me guess, Siren's gonna be an airplane.. :(

[Falsate]

Lightning uses a spell called Ruin as seen in one of the E3 trailer.
Odin in Final Fantasys is God of death (or something) so that fits quite nicely with Ruin magic.
But you're right, it does not fit with her name.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-final-fantasy/49972
Which is also a demonstration done by Toriyama and Kitase. Elemental magic spells bound to one user reminds me of Chrono Trigger except they each had a class.

[Zuraith]

Ask her. She's the one who named herself that. Maybe she used to be a track star in high school
and her coach would be like"dam gurl, u b fas as lighnin." Then she's like "dats wut i du, gurl." then she
does a hair flip and walk off.

But Sazh does fire magic and his summon is Ifrit. What the fuck does Sazh mean?

[iv4nsbc]

Ask her. She's the one who named herself that. Maybe she used to be a track star in high school
and her coach would be like"dam gurl, u b fas as lighnin." Then she's like "dats wut i du, gurl." then she
does a hair flip and walk off.

But Sazh does fire magic and his summon is Ifrit. What the fuck does Sazh mean?

Thank you ...

[concord5]

2012,

I HAVE noticed that little pattern (Fire being the basic, or starter, spell in most Final Fantasies), and it makes sense that the main character of this game would start off with Fire as well. It still feels funny, but if tradition is the reason behind it, then I can't really argue it - since it's tradition :p And wow; I'm punny, and I don't even know it! lol

tanton18,

I DO remember reading that magic was going to be included in the demo even though the final game will not have useable magic that early in the plot, so maybe it was just a demonstration of what the spells would look like. That puts my mind at ease, for now.

Relampago,

That's another interesting theory, and I'm actually leaning more towards that as to the reason why she's called "Lightning." I also recall reading that "Lightning" is just her codename; maybe her real name makes more sense.

[Sabin]

I feel really nerdy for joining this forum just to ask this question...but here goes.

If Snow is any indication, each character seems to be attributed to a certain element (Snow's default spell at the beginning of the game appears to be Blizzard, his summon is Shiva - an ice being, and his name is...well, "Snow." I hate how un-original and femanine his name is, but at least everything about his make-up makes sense so far).

I don't know about the other party members, but Lightning is the one who bothers me. Her basic spell at the beginning of the game appears to be Fire, her summon is Odin - a being without an element, as far as I know, and her name is..."Lightning?" None of that makes logical sense. I was expecting her basic spell to be Thunder and her summon to be Ixion (since the logo art for the game seems to show a woman transforming into a horse...which I used to think was Lightning turning into Ixion, but now I'm starting to think it's Odin's Gestalt form...which SORT OF makes sense, since she is apparently the harbinger of death (or something).

So, my question: why is Lightning's make-up so contradictory to her name, while Snow's makes perfect sense?

I have only seen the spell "Fire" being cast from one character and that was Sazh - and his summon is Ifrit. Snow has Shiva as his summon and casts "Blizzard". Maybe lightning will actually have "thunder" available as a spell in the final game.

I personally believe every character can cast every black magic as long as they are assigned the proper role in combat.