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.
No comments:
Post a Comment