As you all know, Lightning's Saga (also known as the Final Fantasy XIII saga) has just recently ended. And I thought that I should post my entire thoughts on what i think of all three Final fantasy XIII games. Also before reading this post I warn you that it is FILLED with spoilers (I think). So if you have not played all 3 games yet then please don't read my thoughts on the entire Lightning/ Final fantasy XIII saga.
Ah, where to begin? Oh yeah, I'll begin with the very first Final Fantasy XIII game. Ah, I remember back when it was coming out. The story seemed fresh, the characters seemed good and memoriable, and the graphics were incredible for a PS3 game (It still looks like a next-gen game). I have to say, while the gameplay isn't exactly the best, the story was pretty good. And this is coming from someone who doesn't like Final Fantasy XIII all too much with its lineary path and automated battle system. The story greatly made up for this game's gameplay. I mean everyone had their own share of problems. Lightning wanted to do what was best for her sister, Serah. Snow, while Lightning didn't approve of him dating Serah, wanted to really prove himself that he will take good care of her. Hope was just distraught about his mother's death. Sazh wanted to save his son. Fang wanted to regain her lost memories (I think). And Vanille just wanted to be united with her best friend, Fang and be with her. But they all had one thing in common, they wanted to fight and be free of their fates. They wanted to fight and prove that you can change your destiny. I have to say, while this Final fantasy game didn't have the things that we usually expect from a FF game (turn-based combat, dungeons, free roaming) it was still alright story-wise.
Now, let's move on to Final Fantasy XIII-2. When I first heard that Square was making a sequel to this game I didn't know wheather this was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. And I say that because it could either ruin what made the first FF XIII game great or worse in terms of the story. I was not that very excited from it since it didn't seem to improve much from the first game. I mean having monsters as alies? That didn't seem too interesting. Now the story, it was...not as great as the first game. I didn't really like the idea of multiple endings, the graphics were downgraded (even though I don't care about graphics), and the gameplay looked the same as the first game only with some minor tweaks. I did, however, loved the newest villian Caius and the fact that the game felt more open world like. But let me TELL YOU about Caius. He was one of the best villians the Final Fantasy series has ever gotten in a long time. I simply LOVED his character. He was not just another villian with just the same motivations like ruling the world, or creating mass genocide. He did what he did all because he just didn't want to see Yuel suffer any longer. He wanted to Yuel to be freed of her torment and become happy. After seeing Yuel die countless times, it finally made him snap and decide to finally take action to stop her fate. This character ALONE makes XIII-2 interesting (even though the story is not as good as the original XIII). He had a pretty good and interesting agenda. Also, I was sad when Serah died because I was really beginning to like her since she was just starting to have more screen time and character developement. I even started to like her more than Lightning.
Now, time to talk about Lightning Returns. This game had so much fanservice stuff in it imo. The costumes to be more specific. It just felt like they were turning Lightning into the next Erza Scarlet. I also didn't really dig how we had to do tons and tons of sidequests JUST to level up. That didn't seem like a very fun mechanic on Square's part. I mean i know they wanted to try something new and be a bit more innovitive but this wasn't all that great imo. But the gameplay, however, looked tons better than the first two games. Despite the dressphere system the gameplay looked great and didn't look as repetitive as the ATB sytem in XIII and XIII-2. I just wish the fights weren't completely meaningless sicne you didn't gain any EXP. But enough about the gameplay, let's talk about the story. I have to say, the story just seemed "meh" to me. Mainly because it was just so similiar to Majora's Mask except instead of having 3 Days to save the entire world you have 13 days and ther was no creepy moon watching you from above. So to me it felt like a "been there, done that" kind of thing to me. But still, all lightning wanted was to save her sister and bring save tormented souls from the end of the world. The ending was pretty good. It was not bad but not all that great either imo. Though I kinda find it funny how the new world is actually Earth (the planet we all live in today)
So there you have it folks! My entire thoughts on all three Final Fantasy XIII games. What do you guys think? Were my thoughts good? Or was it a bit biased and there was some things I missed and/or am incorrect on? Please post what you think of this.
As you all know, Lightning's Saga (also known as the Final Fantasy XIII saga) has just recently ended. And I thought that I should post my entire thoughts on what i think of all three Final fantasy XIII games. Also before reading this post I warn you that it is FILLED with spoilers (I think). So if you have not played all 3 games yet then please don't read my thoughts on the entire Lightning/ Final fantasy XIII saga.
Ah, where to begin? Oh yeah, I'll begin with the very first Final Fantasy XIII game. Ah, I remember back when it was coming out. The story seemed fresh, the characters seemed good and memoriable, and the graphics were incredible for a PS3 game (It still looks like a next-gen game). I have to say, while the gameplay isn't exactly the best, the story was pretty good. And this is coming from someone who doesn't like Final Fantasy XIII all too much with its lineary path and automated battle system. The story greatly made up for this game's gameplay. I mean everyone had their own share of problems. Lightning wanted to do what was best for her sister, Serah. Snow, while Lightning didn't approve of him dating Serah, wanted to really prove himself that he will take good care of her. Hope was just distraught about his mother's death. Sazh wanted to save his son. Fang wanted to regain her lost memories (I think). And Vanille just wanted to be united with her best friend, Fang and be with her. But they all had one thing in common, they wanted to fight and be free of their fates. They wanted to fight and prove that you can change your destiny. I have to say, while this Final fantasy game didn't have the things that we usually expect from a FF game (turn-based combat, dungeons, free roaming) it was still alright story-wise.
Now, let's move on to Final Fantasy XIII-2. When I first heard that Square was making a sequel to this game I didn't know wheather this was going to be a good thing or a bad thing. And I say that because it could either ruin what made the first FF XIII game great or worse in terms of the story. I was not that very excited from it since it didn't seem to improve much from the first game. I mean having monsters as alies? That didn't seem too interesting. Now the story, it was...not as great as the first game. I didn't really like the idea of multiple endings, the graphics were downgraded (even though I don't care about graphics), and the gameplay looked the same as the first game only with some minor tweaks. I did, however, loved the newest villian Caius and the fact that the game felt more open world like. But let me TELL YOU about Caius. He was one of the best villians the Final Fantasy series has ever gotten in a long time. I simply LOVED his character. He was not just another villian with just the same motivations like ruling the world, or creating mass genocide. He did what he did all because he just didn't want to see Yuel suffer any longer. He wanted to Yuel to be freed of her torment and become happy. After seeing Yuel die countless times, it finally made him snap and decide to finally take action to stop her fate. This character ALONE makes XIII-2 interesting (even though the story is not as good as the original XIII). He had a pretty good and interesting agenda. Also, I was sad when Serah died because I was really beginning to like her since she was just starting to have more screen time and character developement. I even started to like her more than Lightning.
Now, time to talk about Lightning Returns. This game had so much fanservice stuff in it imo. The costumes to be more specific. It just felt like they were turning Lightning into the next Erza Scarlet. I also didn't really dig how we had to do tons and tons of sidequests JUST to level up. That didn't seem like a very fun mechanic on Square's part. I mean i know they wanted to try something new and be a bit more innovitive but this wasn't all that great imo. But the gameplay, however, looked tons better than the first two games. Despite the dressphere system the gameplay looked great and didn't look as repetitive as the ATB sytem in XIII and XIII-2. I just wish the fights weren't completely meaningless sicne you didn't gain any EXP. But enough about the gameplay, let's talk about the story. I have to say, the story just seemed "meh" to me. Mainly because it was just so similiar to Majora's Mask except instead of having 3 Days to save the entire world you have 13 days and ther was no creepy moon watching you from above. So to me it felt like a "been there, done that" kind of thing to me. But still, all lightning wanted was to save her sister and bring save tormented souls from the end of the world. The ending was pretty good. It was not bad but not all that great either imo. Though I kinda find it funny how the new world is actually Earth (the planet we all live in today)
So there you have it folks! My entire thoughts on all three Final Fantasy XIII games. What do you guys think? Were my thoughts good? Or was it a bit biased and there was some things I missed and/or am incorrect on? Please post what you think of this.
Edited by Tails