13 Days of FF13: Hope

Hope never wanted to be involved and only took action after his mother’s death. Today we’ll take a look at how Hope went from a coward to a powerful mage and an important individual in the story.

FFXIII:

The best mage in the game, Hope is bar-none the best Medic and Ravager, and on equal terms with Sazh as a Synergist. Hope uses all elements as a Ravager, and a boomerang for his weapon.

Roles:

Hope starts out as a Ravager, Synergist, and a Medic. You’ll want to level Ravager as his primary, but keep his Medic at the same level as his Ravager. Don’t worry about Synergist right away. If you have extra CP after you max out the available stages for Ravager and Medic, put the rest in Synergist, but it shouldn’t be your primary focus.

As a Ravager, Hope can use every element. Hope’s ultimate skill Last Resort is also in the Ravager tree. On top of this Hope has the highest Magic pool in the game, which is deadly with the Ravager.

For Synergist, Hope’s Magic stat puts him on par with Sazh. Hope’s highest role efficiency is actually in Medic. Since Hope’s Ravager is needed more at the beginning though, his Medic takes a back seat to it.

Eidolon:

Hope’s Eidolon is Alexander. Alexander has little mobility in normal mode, and no mobility in Gestault mode. In normal mode, Alexander has no magic attacks. He fills the roles of Sentinel and Commando protecting Hope from damage and dealing physical damage to enemies.

Hope’s Story:

Hope was just an ordanary kid who got drawn into the fighting. Hope blames Snow for his mother’s death, and believes that if Snow hadn’t involved his mother she would still be alive. His goal is to take revenge on Snow for his mother’s sake.

He finally realises that revenge isn’t the way. During an incident in Palumpolum, Snow gets hurt protecting Hope. While in Palumpolum, they visit Hope’s father. Afterwards, Hope, Snow, Lightning, and Fang get picked up by the Calvary and head to the Palamecia to rescue Vanille and Sazh.

Hope struggles with an inferiority complex, but he’s brought to his senses when Alexander appears. He finally learns to trust in his own power and allows himself to rely on his companions a bit more.

Playing as Hope:

Like I said before, you want to make Hope’s Ravager your priority. Don’t let his medic fall behind though, you’ll need it later in the game. The Hawkeye tree is the best for Hope, it’s the highest Magic stat of any of his weapons. Hope gains no benefit from Strength.

As far as leveling order, I recommend Ravager, Medic, Synergist, Saboteur, Sentinel, Commando. I list Sentinel before Commando for the slightly better total HP increase.

FFXIII-2

Hope The Academy Director:

Hope plays a large part in the story, but has no playable aspects. He can’t even be unlocked for the Paradigm Pack. That being said, Hope plays a key role in certain time periods within the game.

Hope’s Part In The Story:

Hope is first encountered in Yaschas Massif 010 AF; he’s studying the Paddra Ruins and the Paradox there. Hope gives you an explanation of the Seeress and shows a prophecy that one of the Seeresses recorded. You also receive an Artifact from Hope here.

The second role Hope plays is offscreen. After your trip to Academia 400 AF, you go to Augusta Tower 200 AF. Augusta Tower is a research facility Hope used to create the Proto-Fal’Cie Adam. Due to a Paradox, Adam took control of the tower and killed the humans making AI duplicates. This event is known as the “Forbidden History.”

To fix this Paradox, you yell at Hope and he somehow hears it in the past. Hope decides never to build the Proto-Fal’Cie which saves his life and fixes Academia. Going to Academia 4XX AF, Hope is running the big research facility with Alyssa. They built one-way time machines to go into the future.

Here, Hope and Alyssa are working on research to raise a new Cocoon. They plan to jump ahead another 100 years once all the materials are gathered. You meet again right before the final fight in Academia 500 AF. Hope’s military clears the way for Serah and Noel.

Lightning Returns:

Hope The Kid:

For some reason, Hope has reverted to his younger self. In Lightning Returns, he serves as Lightning’s guide in Nova Crysalia. True to his role in FFXIII-2, Hope is still heavy into technological research. He developed a device that allows him to buy humanity a little more time.

For more FFXIII content leading up to Lightning Returns, check out my 13 Days of FF13 overview. Tomorrow I’ll take a look at Sazh throughout the series.