GR: Lightning is back... again.
Square Enix has been pouring a lot of time and effort into the Final Fantasy XIII universe. After following up FFXIII with a direct sequel, the studio has put together yet another game staring the super powerful sword-swinging heroine, Lightning. Fortunately, the developer has mixed things up this time around in a big way, retooling the combat mechanics to make it feel far more involved and engaging.
I must admit, I was quite skeptical when I first approached the demo station for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Having not been a major fan of Lightning's first adventure, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this new game. But when I got my hands on the controller and started playing it for myself, I was totally won over.
Final Fantasy 13 was first introduced to us back in 2009, almost four years after Final Fantasy 12 was released, and fans had been eagerly anticipating the next installment. But when it finally arrived, there were mixed reactions, including complaints about its linearity, the lack of towns and NPCs, and the limited control over the characters. At the time, Square Enix kept its game production behind closed doors and didn't take in a lot of feedback — especially from Western fans.
The game has been revisited by many different Final Fantasy fans since then, and some, like myself, have come to love it again. Almost all staple entries in the series have found their way to modern consoles, so it's about time that the FF13 trilogy gets a remaster
I've been thinking about this. I agree. While I really disliked it at first I never played it again. After hating ff15 so damn much I just think it can't be worse then 15 and if I'm not mistaken atleast it's turn based. I need more of that in my life.
Recently replayed them and I agree a remaster would be great. The complaints about linearity are fair, but they only really apply to the first half of the first game and while I agree that it would've been nice to have proper towns, minigames and subquests, it didn't detract from the intriguing story, interesting characters, tactical gameplay and amazing soundtrack in my opinion.
XIII-2 fixes a lot of the issues of XIII and expands on the story in interesting ways. The combat and progression builds on top of the systems of XIII and the nonlinearity and discoverability of secrets is a big inprovement over the original game. It's easily the best game of the trilogy.
Lightning Returns was probably a bit too experimental for it's own good. It tried to reinvent the wheel for no reason. The solo party for most of the game and the outfit based combat felt like a downgrade over XIII-2 combat system. It does have a unique vibe, but the plot kinda goes off the rails and many of the story beats didn't land as much for me as they did in the first two games. The race against time aspect was an interesting idea, but it never felt like it mattered, because it wasn't much of a challenge to manage the remaining time even while doing all the subquests.
As we celebrate Final Fantasy’s 35th anniversary, let’s look back at the underrated soundtracks of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.
It's alright but I mean with so many other FF games it's not even in the top 10 for me
You just can't beat IX, VII, X and my personal favourite VIII when it comes to music
Even the theme song sucks, instead of just having an English version of the Japanese theme they got X Factors Leona Lewis to do the song which didn't sound like FF theme song.
I agree, regardless of the general consensus of the game itself, FF rarely lets down when it comes to the music at least.
After about five years since the last patch was released for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Steam version on PC, Square Enix released a new patch today.
i find it sich a waste that they didnt release them on the ps4.
i know alot of ppl dont like 13, but 13-2 is amazing ha.
Sounds cool
I know lots of people didn't,but I really liked 13-2.
Liked the previous two. Definitely going to get this one.
I appreciate risk taking in the games industry. It says to me that a developer isn't just interested in feeding into conventional ideas of videogames and in this case rpgs for the sake of turning a profit, which is such a dispassionate and cynical attitude. People's assumptions need to be challenged. Sure there's plenty of entertainment out there if you just want to be lazy and passive, but every now and then we need to have our preconceptions shaken (in an ideal world, MUCH more than we do these days). Final Fantasy XIII was narrative driven. Everything about the game reflected the narrative and the central theme: running from your fate. I think the XIII is a narrative success for this reason. It was nothing like previous games, and while in some cases such a departure can result in a poorly conceived game, this wasn't the case with XIII. Not only was it a great little narrative experiment, but the soundtrack was probably the best I heard all gen, not to mention the overall visual design (be it environments or monsters or characeters) was top notch.
That said I know the previous two games weren't without their flaws, but they weren't nearly as bad as people say. People who complain are either jumping on the hatewagon because they need that kind of social approval, or are simply lazy, and can't accept change. When games cease to innovate, that means the capitalists have won - it means they've brainwashed us into thinking more of the same is good for us, meaning they've cornered the market and have a stable source of profit, which is all they ultimately care about - i.e. they don't really care about other people when they make this stuff. We've got to make sure creativity and unique experiences doesn't stop being the sole point of entertainment media and the arts.