Let's talk about Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus (SPOILERS!)

Wow, November has been a very short month.  I can't say I've been particularly productive this month, but it seems like I'm getting a bit better about exercising again.  Now I just need to fix my sleep schedule (again...).

Anyways, I've been playing Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus the past month as I suspected I would.  I finished the game in its entirety (with the exception of one last alternate final battle) earlier this week and really thought through on how I felt about the game compared to Burst, of which I had just finished earlier this year.  It's only been a little over a year since Senran Kagura Burst first reached North America (launched Nov. 14th) and I already feel like I've been a fan for the longest time.  In the span of three years (within Japan), Senran Kagura has already exploded into popularity with 5 games (with one more coming out next year), several manga adaptations, and an animé (albeit, it was dumb).  I enjoyed SK Burst immensely; however, I was sorely disappointed with the animé adaptation.  So when I got SK Shinovi Versus, I was concerned about the quality of the game and was thinking maybe the first game was a fluke.  Thankfully, SKSV is a great continuation of the series despite some weaker points.

Story
I was very worried about the story when I found out that 10 new characters were added with the addition of two new groups being added to the fray.  When you put too many characters into a story, it's difficult to give them all a chance to shine and connect with the player.  It also makes for some really messy story telling when trying to get all the characters to interact with each other.  I had a lot of problems with the stories and character interactions, but it seemed to have panned out pretty well overall when you look at the end result.  I also like all the comedic side-stories they had for each character.  There will be a lot of complaining from me, but know that I still liked the story overall.
[Hanzō Academy]
The overall campaign for Hanzo Academy was a bit weak this time around and didn't have as big of a impact as Skirting Shadows (Hanzō side of Burst) did.  The characters individual stories all expand off of the ones told in Burst and gives the player a better understanding of the characters.  Their campaign compliments the stories of the other 3 groups rather than being an important one individually.
[Gessen Girls' Academy]
This campaign was probably my favorite out of the four as it had the best story to tell.  All the characters in this group lost their parents against the Evil Shinobi and were all adopted, raised and trained by a renegade Good Shinobi named Kurokage.  Kurokage also lost his parents to Evil Shinobi when he was younger and believed that the world wouldn't find peace or happiness as long as "evil" existed.  He was good friends with Hanzō (Asuka's Grandfather) during his days as a Good Shinobi, but he had conflicting beliefs on what their job as Good Shinobi should be.  Hanzō believed that "evil" is found in all humans and that there must be balance between good and evil for there to be harmony in the world.  Kurokage believed that ALL evil must be vanquished, and thus he became a renegade to kill as many Evil Shinobi as possible while being hunted down by Good Shinobi and Evil Shinobi alike.  This ideology was passed down to the five Gessen Girls and devoted themselves to that belief that only good should exist and evil should not.  Hanzō provokes the Gessen Girls to fight against the girls from Hanzō Academy and later fights Homura and her crew only to find doubt in their beliefs that all evil should be eliminated.  It's the same struggle both groups faced in Burst when they were challenged with the question of "what is a good shinobi and what is a evil shinobi?"  Kurokage himself is found in such conflict with his own belief and slowly reveals his acceptance in his mistake and hoped that his beloved girls would find their way without facing the same mistake that he did and influenced upon them throughout the campaign.  You could say it's a copy concept of the original story, but I really liked the delivery and found it both touching and memorable.
[Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy]
This was a weird campaign.  It felt kind of rushed with no real substance, yet it still achieved what it sought out to do in the end.  The story starts out at the end of Burst when both Asuka's group and Homura's Group was fighting Orochi.  Miyabi, the leader of this group, is in a coma like state after a mission against a Yōma went awry and was forced to use drastic measures to stop it.  She awakens from that state when she bear witnesses the destruction of her school and vows to restore it to its former glory.  This leads her to finding members to add to the Elite team which ends up being the weirdest group of characters in the game.  Besides Miyabi, there is her best friend Imu, who is strict, passionate and loyal; Imu's sister Murasaki, who is often quiet and secluded but becomes loud and crazy when in combat; Ryōbi the foul-mouthed sadist and her twin sister Ryōna the perverted masochist.  In order to raise back the reputation of the schools' name once more, the group goes around and dunks on the other three groups.  Their interactions with the other characters don't seem nearly as important as the ones they have with each other.  The main conflict is between the members within the group and it finally exposes itself at the end before several deadly confrontations brought them together to a mutual understanding of each other.  I want to say it was a decent story, but it felt kind of dumb at the same time.  The story is mainly the very beginning and very end of the campaign, everything else was kind of a filler.  This group has an interesting group of characters, but their potential is unfortunately wasted (which I'll get into detail later under "characters").
[Homura Crimson Squad]
This was the story I was most interested in, which I'm sure most would agree after the ending of SK Burst.  Homura fled as a renegade ninja after she killed one of Hebijo's biggest investor, and her four friends followed her.  Fleeing as renegades, the group can no longer be shinobi and take on jobs; however, Homura mentions that the lowest of the low can accept assassination missions from shady dealings for money but also points out that it would hurt her pride.  They can no longer live peacefully either as renegades are hunted down and eliminated since they've learned the secrets of their school.  As they are no longer shinobi, they are always on the run and seem to have lost their purpose in life.  "What's the point in living if the day to day life is running and scraping for food?"  It's no wonder this story was a locked and hidden campaign until you finished the other three.  I really liked it and it reveals a bigger picture on the whole plot for the series.  It leads to a new found purpose for the girls and foreshadows an even bigger adventure for all the characters in the future.
[Overall]
I think the overall story in Burst was better than Shinovi Versus, but I still really enjoyed it and am craving more.  I can't wait for Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson and Senran Kagura: Estival Versus to release next year.

Gameplay/Combat
I have to admit that Shinovi Versus is much better in terms of gameplay compared to Burst.

Pros:
+ From 2D Side-view to 3D Behind-the-Character, the new orientation gives more room to fight in
+ The three stances: Yin, Yang, and Flash, are all integrated in combat
+ Different techniques for different situations add variety to utilize in combat
+ Smarter AI for boss fights, they're a lot more challenging
+ A Hard difficulty can be chosen after the first playthrough
+ The environment feels more dynamic and diverse
+ Changes in attacks and the addition of elements further distinguishes the characters' playstyle
+ They tried to shorten the story-telling parts without cutting too thin on it
+ Character side-stories is a nice diversion that further develops the relationship between characters

Cons:
- Loading takes so long!  Sometimes, they're longer than the actual fight!
- Camera can go haywire and get stuck in a wall or start spinning around
- I don't really like the button mashing sequences
- I'm scared to try PvP, the characters are totally not balanced for it
- Combo chains aren't as long as the ones in Burst, though they feel more well-rounded

So even though the story might not be as good as Burst's, I think the gameplay is a huge improvement.  I thought Burst was either way too easy or way too hard.  SK Shinovi Versus feels very balanced all the way through as long as you don't do the side-stories first.

Music
The quality of the music is higher than Burst, but I feel like the compositions are weaker.  There are a few tracks that really stand out, and I suppose Burst was much the same way.  But overall, I think character themes were more distinguished composition-wise in Burst.  In terms of the opening theme (video up top), I really like the opening riff and guitar solo.  But the rest of the song is only okay compared to the likes of the first two opening themes for Burst (Skirting Shadows and Crimson Shadows), both of which I really liked.  The opening to Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is also amazing and I can't wait for it to reach here in North America.

Characters/Character Themes
Hanzō Academy
[Asuka]
Asuka doesn't get much character development this time around as she continues to find her way along the path of the shinobi.  She acts as a sort of trigger to help the girls of the other groups find their way in their lives.  I'm not really feeling it for her theme song.  I don't really like the intro compared the themes she had in Burst, but the main parts are alright.
[Ikaruga]
Ikaruga struggles with preparing for the final exam and then it dawns on me: "are the girls going to be split apart after they graduate?"  It'll be interesting to see new characters and see the remaining ones change, but it'd also be a bit sad to see the group split apart.  They do mention that they might not get to see each other as much as soon as they graduate and start taking on missions as a full fledged shinobi.  It's also not surprising to see that her brother shows up again; however, it was surprising to see him try to change and find it in his heart to accept Ikaruga.  I also really liked her interaction with Murakumo from Gessen Academy and their involvement with Yomi.  Ikaruga remains my favorite character as her fast dashes, long reach, and crowd control fit my playstyle.  She really respectful, fair and just, and always speaks formally.  Her theme in the past was kind of weird the first time I heard it, but I really grew to like it.  So I wasn't sure if I was going to like the new one.  I do like it.  It still has that flavor and a melody that you can follow.  I just really like her character.
[Katsuragi]
I've come to really like Katsuragi more and more as a character.  In terms of combat, I thought she was kind of hard to use in Burst and she's even harder to use in Shinovi Versus.  She's slower with short range, but is strong.  I thought they presented her even better in Shinovi Versus as they show many different sides of her.  She's usually loud, confident, perverted, and seems to fool around a lot.  In Burst, she reveals the truth about her past in how her parents disappeared and how she finds them.  The player is then shown a much more serious and determined side of her.  Her parents are renegades on the run.  And in SK Shinovi Versus, it explains why.  Her parents were assigned to assassinate Kurokage.  But after seeing how he was just a frail old man taking care of 5 orphans, they decided to live as renegades seeing as they can't bring themselves to kill him and failure meant death.  The game also shows a hypocritical and sensitive side of Katsuragi as she reveals that she doesn't like to be sexually harassed despite doing it ALL THE TIME!  Despite all the love of fighting she has, she is also shown to have a strong will when she refuses to kill Yozakura.  She was a great character in Shinovi Versus.  Her theme song is alright.  I never really noticed it before, but her theme songs all sound kind of like they're from a Chinese Kung-Fu film.  But I think that's what they were going for.
[Yagyū]
I listen through all of her themes from Burst, to Shinovi Versus, to Deep Crimson and I realize they're all really good!  Each and every one of them has this beginning riff that makes it sound really cool.  It evokes the feeling of "it's time to kick butt!"  I don't really quite remember the melody like I do in Burst, but it's something I'd be willing to listen to.  It's hard to say how I feel about Yagyū's character.  Her back story is sad, but it's not very strong.  She loses her younger sister in a car accident and it forever changed her.  In Shinovi Versus, it finally explains why she wears an eye patch.  She is told that time can heal the pain as memories fade.  She starts to forget some things about her sister and that frightened her.  So she wears a coin and ribbon over her eye so that she always has one eye on the memories of her sister because she never wants to forget her.  So when she first meets Hibari, she is reminded of her younger sister.  This is Yagyū's character: the big and overprotective sister.  Her character revolves entirely around Hibari to the point where she's even mean to her own friends in the group.  She's a pretty cool character, but there just isn't much to her other than she wants to protect the one she loves most who happens to be Hibari.  And maybe she wants to protect her friends too, but she has threatened to behead Katsuragi if she feeds Hibari's mind with indecent thoughts.
[Hibari]
Hibari is a dumb character.  Why am I talking about her anyways?  Okay, I'll admit that I like her a bit more after she reveals that she has a special power that lets her control people.  It's the reason why her eyes are different with little flowers in it.  She explains why she doesn't like her powers since she feels all the help and friends she has is due to her eye and that she's been living a lie.  Haruka is the one who points out to her that people want to help her and she has friends because of her "charm" and personality and not because of her powers because that power only lasts temporarily.  But now it explains why she always seem so down when not being able to pull her own weight and help the others.  She supposed to be such a cute character with a cheerful personality, but a lot of the times she's depressing, air-headed, and dumb.  One of her moves causes her to face plant the floor!  Her normal air attack is awesome, though.  She a bunny bouncing up and down into the ground killing everything around!  Her song is as dumb and silly as her other themes.  Yes, I like her a little more, but she's still a dumb character.

Gessen Girls' Academy
[Yumi]
She's quite the lady.  Her ninja outfit is a kimono, she's prim, proper, and full of grace.  She was also haughty and rather conceited for most of the game.  Brought up with the belief that all evil should be vanquished, she finds it deplorable that Asuka and her friends had any involvement with Evil Shinobi.  Her ice element is pretty strong as it encases opponents and allows her to continue wailing on them.  Yumi is supposed to be an Ice-princess of sort: cold, resolute, with deadly conviction.  This is to counter Asuka's personality who is energetic, passionate, with a hot determination.  Yumi's theme is an arrangement of Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor/Dies Irae and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 (Sonata Pathétique).  I don't know if I like her or not.  I guess I feel rather neutral about her character.  I really liked her character progression throughout the Gessen campaign, though.
[Murakumo]
She is absolutely adorable!  She's a very interesting character in terms of personality.  When she has her mask on, she's strong and rather scary as she comes on very strong and aggressive.  But the second she loses her mask, she's this incredibly timid and cute girl who just breaks down and can't even talk correctly.  The voice actor did an incredible job capture the essence of who this character is supposed to be.  For wielding a large cleaver and spear, she's incredibly fast.  Her story is that she was an orphan living in the slums where she meets Yomi.  She was adopted by Kurokage to be raised and trained alongside the other 4 Gessen girls.  She was then adopted to rival Ikaruga's adoptive father's company.  She resents Ikaruga's existence as this caused her to be pulled away from Kurokage.  Unfortunately, she has the least appealing character theme song.  It's supposedly based off of Sergei Prokofiev's Scythian Suite Op. 20, and it's a rather creative arrangement.  But it only seems to really emphasize the scary part of her.  Still, I think she might be my favorite among the Gessen Girls.
[Yozakura]
There's a lot of mention of being a "big-sister" in the series, but she's the real big sister with 12 younger siblings.  She was pretty much the mother figure in the house who cooked and cleaned as their parents were both Good Shinobi and always out in the field for a mission.  After losing both parents due to Shinobi battles out in the field, relatives and distant relatives split all the children apart to raise them.  Yozakura wanted to take care of all them on her own, but she was only 9 at the time.  After being adopted by Kurokage, she sought forth to improve herself until she was strong and responsible enough to bring all her siblings back together again.  Not a very realistic dream as all the kids will have grown up and be living their own lives, but a dream nonetheless.  She fights with large gauntlets of which I knew immediately she was going to fight Katsuragi (Fists vs. Feet).  I like her theme the most out of the Gessen girls and I think it's one of the ones that stand out most in the game.  It's an arrangement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight Sonata).  Yozakura is a very serious character.  I feel kind of neutral about this character as well.
[Shiki]
Shiki is a rich and modern girl who's always talking on the phone, using modern slang, and talking about fashion.  She knows she grew up rich and spoiled, but she kind of changed after losing both her parents.  Kurokage teaches her the sutras of Buddhism to calm her mind when she's not feeling right.  So she's often very outgoing with a happy-go-lucky personality, but she also has a calm and zen side of her when she's more serious.  In combat, she uses a Scythe with stupid range which is why I don't play PvP because I'd have to struggle through fights with her among others.  Her theme is an arrangement of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, particularly Winter.  She's a fun character with a bubbly personality.
[Minori]
HER!  This right here, this is the character Hibari should have been!  When I first started up the game and saw Minori as she opened up her mouth to talk, I groaned and complained "not another Hibari..."  But holy smacks, I fell in love with this character so quickly.  She's not the air-head that Hibari is.  Rather, Minori is the epitome of a child-like personality who acts and thinks like a child.  She doesn't have much of a back story other than losing her parents due to Shinobi related business like the other Gessen Girls.  What made me really like her was who she was.  She's as innocent as a child could be in her response of why she wants to play.  When she lost her parents, she says there was no one to play with until Kurokage adopted her.  Then Kurokage was bedridden with illness.  And then she said that one line along the lines of "If everyone just played, we wouldn't have to fight and then my parents wouldn't have to die".  That just tore me up.  I loved that response.  Whenever she had to fight someone, it was never "fighting."  She just wants to find friends to play with and she'll say it's "playing shinobi" if it's a fight people are looking for.  She's such an adorable character.  Her character is a bit difficult to play, though.  With short-to-medium range attacks with medium speed, she doesn't have much coverage.  Her specials also come out a bit slow and don't have as much coverage as other characters.  She fights with a frying pan and bucket full of candy.  Her theme is an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, of which I've gotten really sick of hearing since it's a theme often heard during Christmas every year in a lot of cartoons.  It kind of bugs me that she has such a large chest for being so child-like.  I'm sure it pains Mirai most of all.

Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy
[Miyabi]
I feel like the majority of this group's characters have great potential for character and story development, but they all fell short of greatness.  Miyabi is an extremely intimidating character with a dominating attitude.  She had the most graphic back story in the game.  Often left alone at home with her parents out on a mission, Miyabi and her best friend Imu would play while they wait for their parents to come home.  One day, she and Imu decide to go to the place their parents forbade them to go to because it sounded dangerous and they wanted to see what it felt like to be real shinobi instead of pretend play.  While they ended up playing there, a black, ravenous monster came out and lunged towards Miyabi.  Miyabi's mother, who was looking for her and Imu, saw the monster and ran forward to protect Miyabi.  The monster devours Miyabi's mother's head in one bite as her lifeless body falls just near Miyabi as it splatters in blood.  Miyabi's father kills the monster and explains to Miyabi what the Yōma are and their role as Evil Ninja is to eradicate the monsters.  So Miyabi's drive in life is to become strong enough to fight the Yōma.  She doesn't have any strong relationship to ANY of the characters other than Imu, and I think that's wasted potential.  I don't really remember much about her play style other than that half wing she uses was really strong.  The intro to her theme doesn't really match her character.  I was thinking it'd be more darker and heavier.  The middle portion of the song is alright.  I think Miyabi was wasted potential as a character, but I can hope that she gets more character development in future installments.
[Murasaki]
I want to love this character SO MUCH, but she is also wasted potential.  Murasaki is the younger sister of Imu and possess a strange ability that causes her to be inhumanly strong.  Often times, she's extremely reclusive and wants to be in her own dark room.  She's a "hikikomori" or a "shut-in" and doesn't like coming out.  During practice battle when they were younger, Murasaki unleashed her special powers but blacks out when she does so she doesn't know what happens.  She was upset that she hurt her sister and didn't want to fight again.  She talks very softly and slowly, which often annoys me when she talks in the game, but then explodes and screeches and yells when fighting.  I wish they had rode off of this little gimmick of her personality and went with it.  Make her one crazy !@# $#!@% when she's fighting or transformed.  It would match her theme a LOT better.  By the way, her theme song is THE BEST song in the game.  I really wish it was Imu's theme because it matches the speed that Imu has and her passionate loyalty to Miyabi.  I really want to see this character snap and just go insane with this theme going.  I love this song so much.  She fights with large shurikens and yells as her special while unleashing her secret ability.
[Imu]
She shares her backstory with Miyabi and Murasaki.  Imu feels guilty about the death of Miyabi's mother as it was her idea to go to the forbidden area.  Imu is jealous of Murasaki for having the special ability when she did not (but then she finds out she does at the end of the campaign).  There isn't much to her character.  She's very angry looking, stern, but very girly and vulnerable around Miyabi who she clearly is deeply in love with.  I like her interactions with Miyabi and Murasaki, but there isn't enough of it in this game.  She's an extremely fast fighter who uses a staff with an electricity element.  If I ever PvP, I'd use her because her regular combos would stun enemies pretty easily.  Her theme is so normal.  It doesn't feel or sound very special.
[Ryōbi]
The Sadist of the twins.  She starts off being foul mouthed, but she kind of trails off and doesn't have that personality as much near the end.  She doesn't have as much long-ranged attack as I thought she would considering she uses a rifle.  Ryōbi and Ryōna lost their older sister and believes Miyabi to be her killer.  They plan to ruse as a member until they find the right time to take their revenge.  They later find out that a yōma had killed their sister and not Miyabi.  Her theme is pretty heavy and grungy.  I kinda like it.  There isn't much to this character.  She didn't play her Sadist part enough.
[Ryōna]
The Masochist of the twins.  She does show a much softer and understanding personality when she's not annoyingly masochistic compared to her twin who is often aggressive and demanding.  She uses dual pistols with the handles connected which totals to four pistols.  She moves like an ice skater and a lot of gun-slinging moves as her fighting style.  She such a weird character.  I've seen the "masochist" type characters in animé and games before, but she goes far and beyond that.  Her walking animation is this weird skipping, her voice is whiny, and she just wants to be beaten.  I found her very annoying at first, but she ended up being the one with the most personality of the group.  Her theme sounds a bit similar to her sister up until when the melody starts.  I like her theme more.  I like her character more, too.

Homura Crimson Squad
[Homura]
I liked the story of this group back in Burst, so I was looking forward to this one too.  And it was pretty good.  Homura has crazy range and coverage with a move that gives her invincibility.  I love her theme song this time around as I felt the previous two themes she had started with a good intro but it never built up to anything.  Her theme song in this one had a great intro like she's getting pumped up, and then the melody starts and goes somewhere with it.  Homura is pretty solid this time around.
[Yomi]
Yomi took a 180 degree turn in personality in this one, it's strange yet wonderful at the same time.  She's super warm and friendly in Shinovi Versus.  She moves and attacks slower in this one, but she has super armor and a stronger attack this time around.  Her theme is very her; you know it's her theme, but it's just not as catchy as her other two themes.  She cooks for her friends everyday and still talks a lot about beansprouts.
[Hikage]
Hikage also changed a bit.  She was confused and didn't think too much about herself or others because she didn't understand emotions.  In Shinovi Versus, she's actively learning more about herself and others while grasping the idea of different emotions.  She's super fast and also has a special that makes her temporarily invincible.  She also can apply poison damage.  Her theme is alright.  I liked her older themes more.  But the intro is really good.
[Mirai]
Mirai's character is expanded even more as she has found confidence as a shinobi but not quite as a person yet.  She shows interest in writing novels and Otaku culture with a series called "Super Sengoku Wars".  Her interactions with the other characters are really good.  They changed her combat system drastically.  She is almost entirely ranged with a lot of different bullet moves.  She's also the only character to back dash as her normal dash to put space between her and her opponent.  Her theme is very forgettable compared to her other two themes in Burst, which were my favorites.
[Haruka]
Haruka's theme has always been one of the most distinguishable ones.  Her theme is pretty good in this one too.  I never really liked playing her, and she's even harder in this one with short dashes, short reach, and slow attacks.  She has a lot of good interactions with other characters, especially with Ryōna.
[Suzune/Rin]
I wanted to point out that she finally goes back to Hanzō.  I really liked that scene.


Okay, I think I've written enough.  I really liked Shinovi Versus.  I really like Senran Kagura even more now.  I'm probably going to even get that music rhythm game.  I can't wait for Senran Kagura 2 and Estival Versus.

Let's talk about the Final Fantasy XIII Series (SPOILERS!)

So I completed Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII last night and now I feel great!  It was just finishing the game, but completing a journey of wondering what the game was about all these years.  I first heard about Final Fantasy XIII back in 2006 when it was announced at E3 and I thought it would never come out.  When it finally released, I bought it on the first week it came out and played 15 minutes of it.


But then I had to go back to school away from home and didn't touch it for years.  Final Fantasy XIII-2 eventually came out, but I was less excited since I didn't even play through the first one.  I eventually bought it when it dropped down to $15.


And then Lightning Returns was announced and I got super excited as I saw the change in the combat system and how open-ended the game was.  It was pretty, exciting, different and I totally wanted it.

So with the end of the trilogy releasing its last installment this year, I decided to finally get through the series.  To make short of what I thought: the first game I hated a lot of things but still enjoyed it; the 2nd I thought was an impressive adventure with a really good presentation that lacked in terms of gameplay; and the last one felt much weaker in overall story but was probably the most entertaining one which had the best ending and made me forgive everything the series had fault in.  The ending for Lightning Returns wraps up the entire trilogy in a way I felt very content with.  It was so good that I thought very differently about the entire series.  Because of that, I want to dissect the series a little.


Graphics & Music
I'm just going to go through with this because it's the easiest to talk about.  I don't think there really is a need to point out how magnificent the graphics to the entire series was.  The environment, the animation, character models, effects, level design aesthetic and overall presentation is simply the best the videogame industry has to offer.  The music might not have been Nobuo Uematsu, but it played a pivotal role in creating such a magical experience with some unique flavor in the last 2 installments.  There are some songs throughout the series that were so good that I kept listening to them over and over:


The first one had a lot of nice acoustic tracks with various styles of music such as Bossa Nova, orchestrated, Blues, etc.  It did have some more upbeat songs such as Sunleth Waterscape (song above).  The 2nd game had a wide variety of music stretching far into metal and electronic music.  They wanted music that players normally wouldn't hear in a game for the 2nd one for a unique experience.  I thought it was very effective and worked really well.  And the 3rd expanded into all sorts of genres and revisit a lot of music from the first two games (although, the 2nd game also revisits music from the 1st as well).  Whatever faults the Final Fantasy XIII series might have, no one can really deny the quality and presentation of the game's graphics and audio (some might argue about the voice acting, but that's something I'm not going to get into).


Gameplay
The number one complaint I heard about the series (at least for the first two games) was how linear the exploration was and how incredibly boring the combat system felt.  These two topics are due to the initial impression players got from the first game.  The first 10 chapters of the first game felt like one huge tutorial and consisted of maps that lead from point A to point B with a few branched off paths to collect items.  It wasn't until Chapter 11 where the player was presented with a gigantic map where they can freely take up quests and fulfill them in an open-world environment.  And then if they go past that optional part of the map, they go right back to a linear path.  The combat consisted of switching between roles for the characters and pressing "accept" for "Auto-attack".  Not to mention that you only control one out of three of the characters in the party.  Put them together and you essentially have a game where you walk forward and press "accept/confirm" throughout the entire game.  The complaints on Lightning Returns were a little different.  Breaking free from a linear gameplay, Lightning Returns is ENTIRELY open-world and open-ended where the player can take on any quest in any area in any order they want.  The complaint for this one is the time-limit and time-sensitive quests was annoying and limiting for those who wanted to 100% the game, a lot of quests were mundane and required a lot of backtracking, and some felt that combat wasn't too different from the first two games.  Here's how I felt on each of the games:

[Final Fantasy XIII]
Okay, yes, exploration was dumb in this game because they were all hallway simulators; however, I....kinda liked it....I've played over a few hundred games the past few years and there were many that had level designs that didn't make sense, were convoluted, and constantly got me lost.  So it was kind of refreshing not having to worry about getting lost, missing an item that I didn't collect, or figuring out where to go next.  I just moved on forward and faced whatever I needed to overcome to progress.  It did get boring after a while and it was a nice change in pace when I got to the open-world area in Chapter 11, but I didn't really feel like it was something I'd complain about.

I also kind of liked the combat system, but not entirely.  The auto-attack system is so smart that it chooses the correct attacks and element for you once you've learned what an enemy is weak and strong against.  So it was kind of unnecessary to ever choose your own attacks and abilities unless you were buffing and healing.  This made it kind of boring.  What I did like was the paradigm shift mechanic.  Having to plan out which characters excelled which roles, mixing and matching the party, and switching between the roles mid-fight made it a lot more interactive with the fights than most past Final Fantasy games.  Because if you really think about it, the player still mashes "accept" on "attack" for most FF games unless it's a boss.  You're still doing the same thing in FF13, but you also need to switch between roles depending on the situation.  It definitely felt casual friendly with the "Auto-Attack" doing all the decisions for the player, but the fast pace in turn-based fights and paradigm shift mechanic kept me interested long enough to make FF13 somewhat enjoyable.

[Final Fantasy XIII-2]
I have mixed feelings about the exploration in this game.  It's more open-ended than Final Fantasy XIII, but it requires a lot of running back and forth.  Despite having the same battle mechanics as FFXIII, I didn't like it as much in this one (which I'll get into more detail) so I avoided fighting even more for this one.  The music for the game was really good though, so traveling around the maps wasn't THAT bad.  There was a lot of variety in environments for this iteration which made the game feel less slower than the first one as the scenery changed more often and more quickly.  It was interesting traveling back and forth between time and seeing the same areas change.  Exploration did feel like it had more purpose than the first one, but it was kind of annoying running back and forth sometimes.

So why do I dislike the combat system in this installment when it's the same one as the first one?  The first one had 6 characters to choose from which distinct combat abilities.  Lightning was a balanced character with possibly being the best Medic, Snow was the best Sentinel, Hope was the best Ravager, Sazh was the best Synergist, Fang was the best Commando, and Vanille was the best Saboteur.  In FFXIII-2, you have Noel as the best Commando and Serah as the best Ravager.  Those two never leave the party and the 3rd slot is filled by a friendly monster that you capture.  Because Noel and Serah doesn't switch out, the variety in party builds are extremely limited and boring.  You also had to go out hunting the best monsters to get the most out of your party capabilities.  Furthermore, the monsters don't level with you!  The player has to find or buy items to feed the monster in order for them to level up.  The items are extremely expensive and the the monsters level up very slowly.  It might seem like it adds a lot of options to party builds since you get to choose from a whole list of enemies, but most of them you won't ever touch.  I don't like the combat system as much because of this.  There were also quick-time events, ew.  There is one new mechanic that I did like though.  When an enemy appears on the map, you can attack them and gain an advantage such has receiving a haste buff at the beginning of the battle.  This mechanic was carried over to Lightning Returns as well.  So although FFXIII-2 had the best story and music (in my opinion), it had the worst combat experience out of the three games.  By the way, the very last boss for FFXIII-2 took me 46 minutes to beat since I practically rushed FFXIII-2 and was under-leveled.  That was painfully long...

[Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII]
To break free from the linear level design and gameplay, the developers decided to make an entirely open-world and open-ended experience where the player can choose to do any quest in any order so long as they're available.  Exploration was definitely the best in this installment as little secrets are hidden throughout the world and there's a lot to do.  It is kind of annoying running back and forth sometimes, but it's nothing like old-school World of Warcraft or the Elder Scrolls series where you're walking forever to reach your destination.  There's also key points that the player can warp to.

Lightning Returns is definitely my favorite out of the three in terms of gameplay.  The combat system is kind of what I wanted since the first FFXIII where it was more action-orientated with more control over the character's action.  The player can actively block or dodge out of attacks, execute spells on the spot, chain attacks together, and move around.  I spent a lot of time mixing and matching outfits, weapons, shields, skills and abilities and figuring out strengths and advantages that can be put together in conjunction with the other builds.  The stagger system is still there, but a little different in how it works since you only have one character instead of three this time around.  The combat is flashy, a lot more involving, and a whole lot of fun.  What I didn't like was after I finish the main quests, the flow of the game came to a halt as the only things left to do were side-quests and mini-quests with a majority of them being very mundane tasks.  If it weren't for the fact that I have such a large backlog to get through, I wouldn't mind going through the game once more in New Game+ because I seriously had a lot of fun with the combat in this game.


Linearity
Final Fantasy XIII: Chapter 1-10, 12, 13 = Yep; Chapter 11 = Have fun grinding~
Final Fantasy XIII-2: In the beginning, a little.  After that, have fun exploring!
Lightning Returns FFXIII: HAVE FUN!  Oh what?  Too open-ended?  Not sure where to go?


Story
When I heard they were making two more sequels to follow up Final Fantasy XIII, I thought the developers were crazy.  Critics might have given FFXIII praises, but there seemed to be a lot of fans and non-fans of the FF series that did not like FFXIII and didn't want to see anymore of it.  When I finished the first FFXIII, it felt like a complete game.  There was a beginning, middle, and end and I was happy for it.  No cliff hangers or anything like that.  So when I started up FFXIII-2 and realized that things had changed and that the ending of the first one wasn't true anymore, I felt like it was an excuse to create these two sequels.  Maybe it was, but man did they do a great job of it.  The story for FFXIII-2 might seem like it threw out everything you knew about FFXIII with a convoluted twist to the whole series' plot, but when you figure everything out and put it together it's actually mind-blowing on how good it is.  FFXIII-2 definitely ended with a cliff-hanger that made the anticipation for Lightning Returns all the more painful for those who wanted to find out how it all ends.  Luckily for me, I played all three in a row.  I thought the story was okay for the first one as it was poorly presented to the player.  It made much more sense when reading through the datalogs, but it's a very boring way to find out the story.  The 2nd one had the best overall story to tell and I liked it the most.  There isn't a strong story to tell in the 3rd one as it's more of an adventure experience that finally wraps up everything in the entire series at the end.

[Final Fantasy XIII]
So it's actually kind of difficult to explain the story of FFXIII without being long-winded, so I'm going to try to not using as many esoteric terms as possible.  In the beginning of the game, Lightning is seen riding a train to find her sister.  The other characters all have their own motives and meetings with each other but they all seem to end up at the same place to meet Serah.  In their world, there are greater beings that rule over humans.  If those beings mark a human, they become a servant of that greater being and must carry out the duty entrusted to them or end up being a mindless monster.  If they fulfill their task, they turn into crystal and are preserved until they one day awaken again.  All those around Serah get marked and are tasked with turning into a great beast to destroy their home world "Cocoon", an artificial sphere floating above the planet "Gran Pulse".  So the whole game is about the 6 characters defying their task and fate as well as the higher beings to gain back control over their lives, to free Serah from her Crystal state, and to save Cocoon.  All the characters have some sort of relation or reason for meeting each other which causes conflict and turmoil between the group.  They face all sorts of difficulties and find forgiveness between themselves and each other so that they can go through with facing the impossible.  It's a nice and simple story that seems very effective, except it was told very poorly.  Reflecting upon the story of the first game, it was really solid.  But it was masked over by awkward dialogues, annoying character motive and reactions, and it lacked reason for the player to really care.  I liked the story, but I hated the way it was presented to me.

[Final Fantasy XIII-2]
At the end of FFXIII, Serah and Dajh (Sazh's son) is freed from their crystal state, Fang and Vanille become Crystal again to hold up Cocoon in the air high above Gran Pulse, and Serah is reunited with her beloved sister once more.  But in the beginning of FFXIII-2, Lightning is seen donning a warrior outfit fighting in the name of the goddess Etro against an unfamiliar man of great stature and ability.  A young hunter named Noel falls into the place Lightning was fighting and is quickly rescued before falling to the ground.  Lightning asks Noel to bring the only person she truly trusts, which is Serah, to the place they're at.  Noel goes through a portal and ends up where Serah is, but not without bringing a ton of other monsters and mysteries with him through the portal.  The player then finds out two major things: Reality was altered and Lightning did not come back with the other 5 members at the ending of FFXIII, yet Serah is the only one who remember her being there and giving her blessing to her and Snow to be married; Noel is the last human being on the planet in the future and has gone back in time to change the outcome of that future.  With that established, the player realizes that the portals transcends both time and space.  So both Noel and Serah journeys through different time lines and even alternate realities to guide the world to one where life still continues and not one of extinction.  I found the story to be a lot more interesting than the first one because it was so unpredictable and the concept of space-time continuum shifts and parallel alternate realities really interested me.  As the story progresses, Noel and Serah meet a young girl that looks exactly like someone Noel knows but isn't the same person.  Much of the story revolves around this girl and how the main antagonist, who is fighting Lightning at the beginning of the game, wants to "save" her.  Noel and Serah seems to have stopped the antagonist, and the future seemed bright.  But then things happen, Serah dies, and the world is plunged into darkness as it slowly meets its end.  All these foreboding events setting up for Lightning Returns.  And if you get the true ending to the game, you would see that the main antagonist has been pulling the strings to everything, even the events of the first game.

[Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII]
So the main antagonist in Final Fantasy XIII-2 killed the goddess of time, Etro.  Because of that, time has stopped and the unseen realm of the Chaos is unleashed upon the world.  People stopped aging but can still die of illness and accidents.  500 years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2, which ends at 500 years after FFXIII, the world is ending as the cloud of darkness from the Chaos starts to consume the entire planet.  Lightning is released from her Crystal prison and is summoned by the world's god Bhunivelze to serve as a savior to gather all the souls to bring into the new world.  Bhunivelze knows that the world is no longer salvageable and can't be saved, so he decided to build a new world and bring the souls of the living to it.  Bhunivelze promises to bring back Serah from the clouds of Chaos and reunite her with Lightning if she does everything he set out for her.  Lightning then travels around the world to save as many souls as possible by fulfilling wishes and desires.  She meets many familiar faces and faces many unfamiliar ones.  Lightning Returns doesn't necessarily have a strong overall story.  But it's quite the adventure as Lightning tries to save humanity, one person at a time.  Along the way, Lightning learns more about herself and the intentions of those around her only to find out that Bhunivelze was using her to create a world he deemed fit.  As such, all the souls of dead were planned on being destroyed with the memories of them gone from those of the living.  This included Serah, which is why Lightning and her friends decide to defy a higher being once again.  The ending then wraps up all loose ends and ends the trilogy.  As a bonus point, players who get the secret ending to Lightning Returns sees Lightning get off a train as if starting a new adventure.  The series started with Lightning getting on a train, and then it ends with her getting off one.  One adventure has come to an end, but another one begins.

[Overall Story of Final Fantasy XIII series]
When you put the entire series together and look at the story, it's quite a grand adventure that the characters journey through.  They faced a greater being and power against impossible odds to change their fates and free themselves from the shackles of their former masters.  Then they traveled through time and space to save a ruined world of extinction only to unleash a power that would end the world for good.  But in doing so, they reveal an even greater power that governs all that is on the planet who takes no interest in human will, interest, or beliefs.  As long as the world He created was to his liking, he was willing to do which included destroying all life and memories of the past.  They thwart God's plan and guided all the souls to the new world to be reborn and start life again.  No longer will humans be governed by Gods or higher beings.  Humans themselves will govern themselves, for better or worse.  All of this didn't dawn on me until last night when I finally finished Lightning Returns and reflected upon the entirety of the story.


Characters
There's a lot to say about the characters, but I'll keep it short.  Essentially, the game doesn't do a very good job of show casing the characters.  Their personality feels so scripted and their motives are unreasonable.  It was difficult to relate to the characters or even care about them.  But when you step back and take a look at them based on their adventures and how they change, they're actually not THAT bad.  I feel like a lot more could have been done for character development, but it never really reached there.  I eventually warmed up to the characters as they've become familiar faces in the series, but I still don't think they have enough depth to them.

[Lightning]
Also known as Claire Farron (yup, she has a real name).  I didn't really like her, much like many others that played the first game, because her character was so flat.  She lacked personality.  She's presented as a hardened soldier and took action rather than talking it out, but it felt so forced and awkward.  It isn't until many hours later that you learn more about Lightning.  She lost her parents at the age of 15 and only had Serah, her only sister, left in her life.  With those circumstances, Claire took up the name "Lightning" to toughen her image so that she can protect Serah; however, her cold demeanor strained the relationship between them.  She often hides her emotions but reveals them when someone calls out on how she really felt.  It was then that I realized she was a "tsundere".  That's when I started liking her a bit more.  But it wasn't until she opened up to the character Hope and showed that she cared for him (much like a mother would) that I accepted her as a character.  She faces the most difficult tasks in the series as she was marked by the fal'cie in the first game, the guardian of Etro in the second, and the servant of Bhunivelze in the 3rd.  She is always facing impossible challenges and wants to bear them alone, but then realizes she must open up her heart and call for help (finally works together with everyone in FFXIII, asks for Serah's help in FFXIII-2, and cried out for help at the very end of Lightning Returns when she was stuck in the Chaos).  I can see the developers made it their mission to create a strong female protagonist, and I feel like they achieved it at the end.  I liked her character development and the changes she went through.

[Serah Farron]
Lightning's sister and Snow's fiancée, she becomes a crystal in the beginning of FFXIII and asks them to save Cocoon.  I actually really liked Serah's character right from the get go of FFXIII-2 when a lot of people actually hate the fact that she and Noel were the main characters for the game rather than focusing on previous characters within the series.  Many complained that she was a weak character with little development and little personality.  I disagree as she was the most natural and most human-like character out of the whole cast.  You don't really get to see much of Serah in FFXIII.  But right in the beginning of FFXIII-2, the player immediately sees that she's a sensitive girl who cared about those around her.  She cried when reality was altered and her sister wasn't there anymore and no one remembers the original reality.  You can see she wants to be brave and is still worried when Snow decided to go out to look for Lightning, having to leave Serah.  Then she is described as a strict but kind teacher for the kids of where she lives.  She's a warm and playful girl who consistently shows courage throughout the game as long as there was someone that needed help.  Then she starts seeing premonitions much like the character Yeul was.  Despite seeing her own death, she still went through with all the events leading up to her death.  She wasn't a battle hardened character like everyone else in the game, but she braved through every challenge and showed courage.  She showed strength through her weakness, and that was something that made me really respect her character.

[Snow Villiers]
Snow is sort of an emotional mess, and kind of a "meh" character in the beginning.  He's charismatic and a bit too laid back.  As leader of the resistance group "NORA", he tries to save those who were going to be purged.  Those who were saved wanted to fight alongside NORA, one being Hope's mother Nora.  With the incident that caused the bridge to collapse which led to the death of many volunteers and Hope's mother, Snow held the burden and guilt of not being able to protect them.  He's seen as stupidly optimistic and keeping the morale up.  He's thick-headed, stubborn, and inapprehensible.  It isn't until he starts breaking down that his character starts to kind of make sense.  He takes the blame for not being able to save Serah, Hope's mother, and all others around him.  He knows he's powerless in those instances, but he doesn't want to fall to despair and only wants to look forward towards hope for a better future.  He is filled with doubt multiple times throughout the series, but there always seems to be someone there to remind him who he is and what he represents to the group.  Even in Lightning Returns when he finally threw in the towel and gave up all hope, he is reminded that he's still needed.  His charisma and optimism lifts the spirit of those around him.  He's the kind of guy that will watch your back and take care of you, no matter what.

[Hope Estheim]
THE WORST CHARACTER IN THE FIRST GAME!  Hope probably has the most character development and changes the most throughout the entire series, BUT MAN WAS HE ANNOYING IN THE MAJORITY OF THE FIRST ONE!  A young boy who loses his mother due to her volunteering to help the resistance group fight back, Hope Estheim whined and complained how Snow was responsible for the loss of his mother.  Perhaps that's a natural response, but the way he responds in the game just felt so off and awkward.  All throughout the game, he keeps saying he's going to kill Snow.  Then he blames Snow for getting him involved as a marked one for the higher beings.  This was due to his motive to kill Snow and thus followed him.  Hope was such an unreasonable character.  What the developers wanted to capture was how Hope was very much a child in the beginning of the game and how he develops into a mature young man.  He's powerless and lacked courage.  He eventually follows Lightning at one point when Lightning went off on her own so that he can toughen up and become stronger.  He finally comes to reason with himself and realizes that killing Snow wasn't going to bring his mother, make him feel better, or solve anything.  He eventually becomes a voice of reason and of hope (thus his name) as he suggests plans and ideas to the group later on in the game.  And then he's seen again in FFXIII-2 as a young man and a genius at that.  He's mature, calm and collected, and full of confidence.  He was great in FFXIII-2, and that carried over to Lightning Returns pretty well except for the fact that he looks like his younger self again.  In the end, Hope was the one that saves Lightning.  But man, you cannot believe how much I hate him in the beginning.  In the end, he became one of my favorites since he had the most character development and changes and turned into a character I could appreciate.  Also, he was the strongest ravager in the first installment in the group and helped me get through the hardest enemies.

[Sazh Katzroy]
Sazh was kind of the comic relief character in FFXIII, but not nearly enough of that was seen in FFXIII-2 and LR.  He was also the voice of logic and reason which contrasted all the crazy things everyone else in the group did.  Lightning tells him to jump off the train and he says that's crazy.  The group says fight and he said it might not be such a good idea but they do it anyway.  The group says someone needs to fly, and he says he's not sure about this.  Despite being the voice of reason and sounding pessimistic a lot of the times, he is also shown smiling a lot and joking all the time.  And even though he tries to reason with the others, he'll still follow whatever crazy things they'll do to back them up.  He's also shown as a loving father.  There isn't much development on Sazh as he sort of stays kind of the same character with two occassions where he was very serious and depressed: once in FFXIII when he finds out how his son was marked by the higher beings, and the 2nd time in LR where Lightning finds him secluded away from all signs of life with his son in a deep slumber he won't wake out of.  It was kind of strange in LR that Sazh doesn't react to Lightning's presence after 500 years.  They finally show a bit of his original personality again once you fulfill the quest.  He was an okay character.

[Oerba Dia Vanille]
Vanille is a strange character.  She changes accents multiple times throughout the series, she starts off annoyingly peppy and happy and then ends up being depressing throughout the rest of the series, and she progresses very little as a character.  Her "character" is essentially the one who is overly cheerful.  But then three things happen that changes her character entirely.  She lost her memory of what happened before she went into Crystal form the first time around and couldn't figure out what was bothering her.  The game eventually reveals that she's responsible for getting Serah marked, Dajh marked, and killing a bunch of people when she turned into the beast "Ragnarok" the first time she was marked.  Because of all these events, she is filled with guilt to the point of constant depression for the rest of the series.  She's there to cheer people up a few times (FFXIII) and reach out to them when they're lost (FFXIII-2), but then she still feels guilty and tries to find atonement (LR).  Sad to say, but she probably has the weakest character development.  She gets so depressed that you kind of wish she was annoyingly cheerful again.

[Oerba Yun Fang]
Fang probably has one of the strongest personalities in the game.  She's a tough and very determined character who is shown to have a semi-laid back manner while still talking like she's getting down to business.  She's very protective of Vanille and even lied about being the one who turned into Ragnarok and killing all those people.  She's brimming with confidence and can be curt when speaking.  But she's always been very honest unless it was to protect someone.  She even took a slap from Lightning and asked her if that made her feel better in a sincere manner and not a mocking one.  The English voice actor did a great job in molding her into a unique character with such a defined personality.  Unfortunately, she doesn't get much character development throughout the series.

[Noel Kreiss]
I like Noel.  He's a pretty cool character.  But I can see why a lot of people disliked his character design since he looks like he just came out of a Kingdom Hearts game.  Noel is a hunter who scavenges the land for food and monsters to slay for food as the time period he comes from, humans are near extinct with him and two others as the last remaining two on the planet.  One dies and the other one mysteriously leaves.  He then travels through space and time to end up where Lightning is only to have her ask him to bring Serah to her.  He travels back in time and joins up with Serah to get her to Lightning while hoping to fix the world so that it doesn't become the ruined wasteland of his timeline.  The game reveals that he knows of the reoccurring character "Yeul" and wants to save the one that he knows as she's the only person he really knows and loves in his timeline.  Throughout the game, there's a lot of things he doesn't know about because of the time he's from and is amazed by all the sights he sees of which he only knows from stories.  He's portrayed as an honest character who wants a future with people in it.  His naivety to the world of the past plays in part with his personality and the kind of character he is.  I'm not sure why people disliked or even hated Noel so much since he has an actual back story, character development, and a realistic personality.


So yes, the Final Fantasy XIII series has a lot of flaws in gameplay, characters, and story telling, but it was an overall enjoyable experience that I don't regret getting into.  I'm looking forward to seeing what Final Fantasy XV holds as it's supposedly in the same universe as XIII unless they changed it.