"Once the war was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore. In places like the Hanging Edge. So the fal'Cie, they gathered up scrap from Pulse, and used it for rebuilding here. This is what was left: a bunch of garbage."
—Hope
"The Vile Peaks is one of Cocoon's lowland areas. It is an abandoned zone filled with the castoffs of materials lifted from Gran Pulse."
—FFXIII-2 Online Description
The Vile Peaks(ヴァイルピークス,Vairu Pīkusu?) is a location in Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. It is a range of mountainous peaks in Cocoon formed mostly from scrap metal. After the war with Gran Pulse, supplies were raided from the lowerworld to repair the damage done in the fight. The extra junk was dumped here, and this junk-filled terrain contains many dilapidated machines taken from Pulse. Many factions of Pulse machines fight lingering Cocoon robots here.
The Vile Peaks are built of debris—the castoffs of material originally lifted up from Pulse by the fal'Cie and used in the construction of Cocoon and later additions of landmass. These towering piles of refuse now serve as lairs for all manner of beasts, including lowerworld mechanical horrors that, intentionally or not, hitched a ride with what became the building blocks of Cocoon. The Sanctum military endeavors to clear out the dangerous inhabitants of the peaks, but some say they leave the job half done to discourage civilians from entering the lowlands.
Area Information Located in Cocoon, Vile Peaks is a massive dumping ground of waste and refuse. When the fal'Cie built Cocoon, and during later modifications, large quantities of material were lifted up from the surface of Gran Pulse.
The unused surplus was discarded here, and now it is infested with roaming war machines of ancient Pulse.
From the Editor's Desk: Forget about sightseeing. Not even the military is allowed full access That said, there are a few brave collectors of retro war weapons and relics who sneak in here to scavenge for parts...
The protagonists first arrive at the Vile Peaks after they crash land in the ship they took from Lake Bresha. After Lightning gets fed up with the others over their lack of stamina, the party splits, with Lightning and Hope separating themselves from Sazh and Vanille.
After traveling for a distance, Lightning explains to Hope why she volunteered to join the Purge. After Hope learns her story, Lightning leaves him. Sazh and Vanille eventually find him, and afterward regroup with Lightning. After a fight with a Dreadnought, the l'Cie, again, try to discern what their Focus is. Lightning feels that instead of completing their Focus, they should travel to Eden, Cocoon's capital, to destroy the fal'Cie, Eden. After a disagreement, Lightning and Hope yet again split up from Sazh and Vanille, and this time permanently after a PSICOM attack prevents them from regrouping.
On their way out of the Vile Peaks, Lightning and Hope find another Dreadnought, and Hope attempts to ride it. After powering through enemy forces with the tamed Dreadnought, Lightning summons Odin for the first time, out of anger for having to "babysit" Hope. After the two succeed in defeating the Eidolon, Hope vows to become stronger, and Lightning lets him stay with her.
Meanwhile, Sazh and Vanille make their way through an old trash repository, reactivating the power. At the end, the two still have no idea about where they are going but while sleeping, Sazh hears Vanille crying behind him and more signs appear that Vanille is not just any ordinary girl.
"10 AF. A large-scale distortion was observed in the Vile Peaks, a land filled with ancient debris. The Academy dispatched Blitz Squadron, an investigative unit, to check the area. The elite Academy force armed themselves with anti-paradox weapons. Their mission was simple: to find out just what was causing this spatial distortion. However, the airship carrying the crew disappeared within the clouds looming over the Vile Peaks. That day, six elite soldiers vanished without a trace. And it was my fault. I was responsible."
—Lightning shoulders the blame for the fate of Blitz Squadron.
Lightning calls herself the cause of a paradox that caused the disappearance of an Academy anti-paradox team called Blitz Squadron to get lost in time while they were scouting the area in 10 AF to deal with a distortion. She appears in the area at 10 AF, just before Serah, Mog, and Noel engage the paradox, a dark imitation of Odin called Twilight Odin.
In 200 AF, after they defeat Twilight Odin's true form, Lightning is released from the burden of Odin's shadow twin. She then recalls how she once fought alongside the men in Blitz Squadron years ago, and finds comfort in how they remember her despite her disappearance. As Lightning watches Noel and Serah from afar, she tells her, "So, Serah. If you keep me in your thoughts, one day, I am certain I will find my way home again", to which Serah answers that she will.
Serah, Mog, and Noel also meet Sazh here who is seemingly caught in a paradox. He tells them about how he is gambling for the thing most dear to him in a mysterious place. Later, when Mog reveals a phased-out image of Lightning, she tells Serah and Noel about how as a l'Cie, she first thought fighting for what she believed in alone was the only way but was proven wrong by realizing she wasn't alone since the others were burdened with the same fate.
Now being all by herself in Valhalla, she holds on to the memories of Serah and her friends to stay strong in her battle against Caius. Then she tells Serah that she misses her and prays for the day when they can be together again, and disappears.
The area is largely untouched in Final Fantasy XIII-2, although had been reduced in size to the beginning state from the Chapter Four of Final Fantasy XIII where the travel limits to circling around the area. The mechanical engines are absent, also disabling travel to the upper parts of the Peaks.
During the trek through the Scavenger's Trail, Hope manages to take control of a Pulse armament to clear out a path of Pulsework Soldiers. At the end of the minigame, two treasure spheres will appear whose content depends on how many Pulsework Soldiers were defeated in total and how many were defeated with the sweep attack.
The Vile Peaks' eponymous theme plays as a background theme in Final Fantasy XIII. However, "Sazh's Theme" plays in the Scrap Processing zone. The Vile Peaks theme reappears in Final Fantasy XIII-2 being played in the Archylte Steppe during cloudy weather. At 200 AF, "Blinded By Light" serves as the background theme. A number of other themes are used in this area at various points in Final Fantasy XIII-2 depending on the completion of certain story events, such as "PSICOM" and "Lightning's Theme".
In Final Fantasy XIII, the Vile Peaks is the only time other than riding on chocobos that the player controls a mounted character.
The enemies that attempt to prevent the player's passage are white Pulsework Soldiers, a regular enemy in the Vile Peaks. However, they cannot be fought in any way since the player is mounted while they appear.
While controlling the machine at a certain edge, it allows the player to look up to Eden in the sky.
In Final Fantasy XIII, Hope is seen climbing scrap in order to catch up with Lightning. This eventually makes it fall into the water, taking the bridge with it, but in Final Fantasy XIII-2 the bridge is perfectly fine in one of the time periods. This bridge may therefore be a minor paradox.
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, the Vile Peaks are, in contrast to the other visitable locations on Cocoon, the very same place as visited in Final Fantasy XIII. However, only a small part of the area is explorable. Also, it is the only location which is not required to visit in order to complete the game.
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The Vile Peaks 10 AF.
The Vile Peaks 10 AF.
The Vile Peaks 200 AF.
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