Royal Ripeness

Royal Ripeness is a boss in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Due to a Faeryl ingesting the Black Hole Fragment, various Miniflan from the Archylte Steppe in an unknown time ended up in the Sunleth Waterscape at 300 AF. From there, the Miniflan undergo a mass-merging into a formidable foe whose existence is eating away Cocoon's crystal pillar.
Snow Villiers attempted to fight it before Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss arrive, though they only temporarily break the monster up into its components as the Miniflan reform Royal Ripeness. Altering time by destroying Faeryl (and acquiring the White Hole Gem in the Coliseum), the number of Miniflan in Sunleth decreases with Royal Ripeness reduced into a smaller Mutantomato before being killed.
Royal Ripeness's boss theme is "Limit Break!". Noel launches fire spells at the boss during the cutscenes even if the player never advanced him in the Ravager role. Royal Ripeness absorbs fire damage in the battle, but flinches to the fire spells during said cutscenes.
==Stats==
==Battle==
While Royal Ripeness attacks, several of the base flan comprising it use Revitalize, restoring its hit points. Royal Ripeness does not have a stagger point, but the damage it receives grows as its chain gauge builds. Snow will cast Ruin to stabilize Royal Ripeness's stagger gauge. He has no health bar, and thus doesn't need healing and cannot be knocked out.
After enough damage has been dealt a story sequence will initiate and the party will escape.
Much like the Havoc Skytank from Final Fantasy XIII, Royal Ripeness is out of range of melee attacks; Serah will use her bowsword in bow form, Noel will throw his dual swords as a javelin, and both iterations of Lightning will use the gun mechanisms of their gunblades.
===Strategy===
To counter Revitalize, the party should begin with Relentless Assault or Cerberus to stabilize the chain gauge, then switching to Tri-Disaster to boost the gauge quickly. If Royal Ripeness uses Belch, the player should switch to a defensive paradigm to heal and remove the Poison ailment.
Once Royal Ripeness has 999.9% chain, the player should switch to Cerberus. It is advisable to stay on the offensive as it will heal. The only recommended time to switch to a defensive paradigm is when health is running low or to restore stats.
===Paradox ending battle===
The player can fight Royal Ripeness again after the initial encounter at its full strength without stopping Faeryl at the Archylte Steppe first, triggering a paradox ending. This battle is best attempted later in the game by closing the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF gate.
Royal Ripeness's HP and stats are much higher, and it cannot be staggered. It will use Quivering Wrath when it has lost about half of its HP to bestow Haste. Snow is still present, but the only thing he can help with is stabilizing the chain gauge.
It would be wise to start with Tri-disaster (RAV/RAV/RAV) to drive the chain gauge up. The player should switch to a defensive paradigm like Perpetual Magic (RAV/MED/MED), Salvation (MED/MED/MED) or Entourage (RAV/SEN/MED) to heal up. Safe Subversion (SAB/SAB/MED) or Infiltration (SAB/SAB/SAB) help with Deprotect and Deshell, but after Royal Ripeness has enraged, the player should not count on status ailments.
When it has enraged the party should have built the chain gauge to at least 400% and shouldn't waste time driving it any higher, and switch to an offensive paradigm like Cerberus (COM/COM/COM), Aggression (COM/COM/RAV) or Tireless Charge (COM/COM/MED). Cerberus is risky, but should get the boss down fast.
If the player wants to play it safe they can go in with a defensive strategy and start with Protection (SEN/SYN/MED) and buff up Protect, Shell, and Vigilance. Veil would be a waste of time, since Belch is a 100% Poison, so the player is better off buffing manually (since the AI chooses Veil as the first buff). Noel is recommended as the Synergist since he can buff many allies simultaneously. Monsters are not recommended since their buffs have a shorter duration.
After buffing, the party can switch to a semi-defensive paradigm, like Mystic Tower (RAV/RAV/SEN) or Thaumaturgy (RAV/RAV/MED), and boost the chain gauge. Matador (RAV/SEN/SAB) can also inflict debuffs before going offensive again. Whenever Belch is coming the party should switch to Convalescence (SYN/MED/MED) and bestow all known buffs except Veil while letting the Medics heal and rid status ailments.
The party should switch to a more offensive paradigm once the Royal Ripeness has been enraged. Tireless Charge is a good choice since it has a Medic. Offensive Screen (COM/COM/SEN) would also be a good choice.
== Other appearances ==
=== Final Fantasy Trading Card Game ===
Royal Ripeness appears in Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as Fire-elemental Monster cards.
RoyalRipeness TCG.png|Royal Ripeness [7-006U] Chapter series card.
Royal Ripeness 5-007H from FFTCG Opus.jpg|Royal Ripeness [5-007H] Opus series card.
=== Final Fantasy Record Keeper ===
==Gallery==
Royal Ripeness Art FFXIII-2.jpg|Concept artwork of the Royal Ripeness (left).
XIII-2 Sunleth Waterscape concept2.jpg|Concept art.
FFXIII-2 Royal Ripeness Face.png|Close-up face.
Revitalize.jpg|Revitalize.
FFXIII-2 Snow Protect.png|Snow protects the party from Royal Ripeness' attack (Cinematic Action).
Cinematic action sunleth waterscape.jpg|Cinematic Action against Royal Ripeness.
FFXIII-2 Cinematic Action Sunleth Waterscape2.png|Cinematic Action against Royal Ripeness.
Cinematic action sunleth waterscape2.jpg|Cinematic Action against Royal Ripeness.
Snow Sunleth LRFFXIII Retro.png|Royal Ripeness in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Retro-spective trailer.
==Related enemies==
*Flanbanero
*Seeping Brie
*Flangonzola
*Flandit
*Garganzola
*Flanitor
*Flanborg
*Miniflan
*Blue Miniflan
*Yellow Miniflan
*Black Miniflan
*Pink Miniflan
*Phosphoric Ooze
*Mutantomato (Boss)
===Final Fantasy XIII===
*Flan
*Dire Flan
*Monstrous Flan
*Rust Pudding
*Ferruginous Pudding
*Corrosive Custard
*Flandragora
*Hybrid Flora
*Alchemic Ooze
*Phosphoric Ooze
*Ectopudding
*Gelatitan
*Flanitor
*Flanborg
*Rotten Tomato
===Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII===
*Ectopudding
*Ectopudding Ω
*Flanitor
*Miniflan
*Miniflan Ω
Category:Bosses in Final Fantasy XIII-2
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