Sora96's FINAL FANTASY XIII Review

[Sora96 17,256]

FINAL FANTASY XIII has been a great ride.

 

The story and cast of characters is one of the best in the series. A big improvement over FINAL FANTASY XII which only had two interesting characters.

 

The gameplay is fun, and easy to learn, however I found something strange. In the 13th chapter, I had more trouble defeating multiple monsters than the final bosses. I am being deadly serious, the bosses in the game were quite easy. Most I defeated after one attempt. I even defeated the three final bosses in one attempt. And the only training I ever did was with Dark Behemoth at the start of chapter 11 which I only did for an hour or two and through which I maxed out each character's main role as much as I could at the time.

 

When compared to the other FINAL FANTASY titles I've completed (FFX & FFX-2), I perfected my strategy when I defeated Seymour for the second time. And as for Sin, I did a lot of side quests before hand, so Sin was pathetic. And in FFX-2 I completed every area each chapter, and obviously this is going to make you quite powerful so that game was very easy.

 

As for the visuals, well where do I begin? It is the best looking game I've ever played (until FFXIII-2, Square Enix you've done it again!). The areas look fantastic, the cutscenes look great everything looks amazing.

 

A great selection of voice actors to boot. Fang & Vanille (Who I get the feeling are lesbains) being voiced by Australian actresses is a great bonus.

 

My only real disappointment, is the lack of a "Theatre Mode". I would love to go back and just watch all the cutscenes again.

 

All in all, it was a great experience. Next, I'm going to be completing all the missions and then we'll see what happens next. I would love to Platinum FFXIII, but we'll just have to wait and see. And then finally, I'll begin FINAL FANTASY XIII-2.

 

9/10

[OathOfOblivionXIII 20]

Nice work. Though I thought you'd mention the battles getting boring since we were talking about that on Facebook. 

[xxClouDxxmoon 901]

I have to admit, when you said its story and cast are some of the best in the series, I almost died.

[Jiraiya's Disciple 631]

Final Fantasy Xlll was the first FF i ever played and I have a lot of fond memory's it was fun and the story was good

[CardCaptorDeadpool 386]

Troy fuçking Baker!

[Imoore4 687]

Awesome game! Although I cannot beat the last mission no matter how hard I try! -_-

[Reyn 1,755]

FINAL FANTASY XIII has been a great ride.

 

The story and cast of characters is one of the best in the series. A big improvement over FINAL FANTASY XII which only had two interesting characters.

 

The gameplay is fun, and easy to learn, however I found something strange. In the 13th chapter, I had more trouble defeating multiple monsters than the final bosses. I am being deadly serious, the bosses in the game were quite easy. Most I defeated after one attempt. I even defeated the three final bosses in one attempt. And the only training I ever did was with Dark Behemoth at the start of chapter 11 which I only did for an hour or two and through which I maxed out each character's main role as much as I could at the time.

 

When compared to the other Final Fantasy titles I've completed (FFX & FFX-2), I perfected my strategy when I defeated Seymour for the second time. And as for Sin, I did a lot of side quests before hand, so Sin was pathetic. And in FFX-2 I completed every area each chapter, and obviously this is going to make you quite powerful so that game was very easy.

 

As for the visuals, well where do I begin? It is the best looking game I've ever played (until FFXIII-2, Square Enix you've done it again!). The areas look fantastic, the cutscenes look great everything looks amazing.

 

A great selection of voice actors to boot. Fang & Vanille (Who I get the feeling are lesbains) being voiced by Australian actresses is a great bonus.

 

I also loved how it showed how much better the PlayStation 3 is when compared to the Xbox 360. See comparisons/information here.

 

My only real disappointment, is the lack of a "Theatre Mode". I would love to go back and just watch all the cutscenes again.

 

All in all, it was a great experience. Next, I'm going to be completing all the missions and then we'll see what happens next. I would love to Platinum FFXIII, but we'll just have to wait and see. And then finally, I'll begin FINAL FANTASY XIII-2.

 

FINAL FANTASY XIII

 

9.0

 

*claps loudly* Well said man. I'm glad to find more and more people who actually appreciate the series.

 

Also a tip for XIII-2,. When you beat the game, go ahead and purchase Lightning's DLC, as it explains more about the ending, and ties up some loose ends. It also shows how the game leads into Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. I won't spoil the ending, but considering all the talk on LR FF XIII, you probably already know what happens. Nevertheless, XIII-2 is definitely a game worth playing, and it makes more sense to play it if you want to get into LR FF XIII.

 

Also one other thing. It is REALLY EASY TO PLATINUM XIII-2. XIII is a BITCH TO PLATINUM, due to the Weapon Hunter trophy which is so annoying and time consuming.

 

I have to admit, when you said its story and cast are some of the best in the series, I almost died.

 

Its the truth. Only us XIII fans realize that, all the haters won't believe a single word of that. 8)

 

Final Fantasy Xlll was the first FF i ever played and I have a lot of fond memory's it was fun and the story was good

Same here. Its a great game, way underappreciated.

[Sora96 17,256]

*claps loudly* Well said man. I'm glad to find more and more people who actually appreciate the series.

 

Also a tip for XIII-2,. When you beat the game, go ahead and purchase Lightning's DLC, as it explains more about the ending, and ties up some loose ends. It also shows how the game leads into Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. I won't spoil the ending, but considering all the talk on LR FF XIII, you probably already know what happens. Nevertheless, XIII-2 is definitely a game worth playing, and it makes more sense to play it if you want to get into LR FF XIII.

 

Also one other thing. It is REALLY EASY TO PLATINUM XIII-2. XIII is a BITCH TO PLATINUM, due to the Weapon Hunter trophy which is so annoying and time consuming.

 

 

Its the truth. Only us XIII fans realize that, all the haters won't believe a single word of that. 8)

 

Same here. Its a great game, way underappreciated.

 

I had a look at the trophies and XIII-2 seems harder to Platinum. And yeah, I'll buy the DLC Bundle Pack after I finish the story.

[Reyn 1,755]

I had a look at the trophies and XIII-2 seems harder to Platinum. And yeah, I'll buy the DLC Bundle Pack after I finish the story.

Trust me dude. The road to platinuming XIII-2 is infinitely easier then XIII. Take advice from someone who's already done XIII-2 and after months is still doing XIII do the countless grinding required to get the Gil to upgrade every Accessory and Weapon to their final levels for the last trophy. It is a humongous pain in the arse.

 

Also for the DLC Bundle, don't get Sazh's DLC, its not worth it. All it is, is GAMBLING. No Joke, that's ALL YOU DO.

 

The DLC Fights(Including Snow's DLC) and Lightning's DLC are worth getting though. Definitely.

[Sora96 17,256]

Trust me dude. The road to platinuming XIII-2 is infinitely easier then XIII. Take advice from someone who's already done XIII-2 and after months is still doing XIII do the countless grinding required to get the Gil to upgrade every Accessory and Weapon to their final levels for the last trophy. It is a humongous pain in the arse.

 

Also for the DLC Bundle, don't get Sazh's DLC, its not worth it. All it is, is GAMBLING. No Joke, that's ALL YOU DO.

 

The DLC Fights(Including Snow's DLC) and Lightning's DLC are worth getting though. Definitely.

 

The DLC bundle includes everything not copyrighted. I'll have no choice in the matter. Lol. And I want to do Sazh's story, you get to play as him afterwards.

[xxClouDxxmoon 901]

*claps loudly* Well said man. I'm glad to find more and more people who actually appreciate the series.

 

Also a tip for XIII-2,. When you beat the game, go ahead and purchase Lightning's DLC, as it explains more about the ending, and ties up some loose ends. It also shows how the game leads into Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. I won't spoil the ending, but considering all the talk on LR FF XIII, you probably already know what happens. Nevertheless, XIII-2 is definitely a game worth playing, and it makes more sense to play it if you want to get into LR FF XIII.

 

Also one other thing. It is REALLY EASY TO PLATINUM XIII-2. XIII is a BITCH TO PLATINUM, due to the Weapon Hunter trophy which is so annoying and time consuming.

 

 

Its the truth. Only us XIII fans realize that, all the haters won't believe a single word of that. 8)

 

Same here. Its a great game, way underappreciated.

Look, I know you are a fan of the series, but please DO NOT say it is the truth. I'll be ok with you saying that in YOUR opinion it is, but do not say I'm wrong, because just not as a dedicated fan to the FF series, but as serious gamer, FFXIII is a horrible game through and through.I understand when you fanboys enjoy the game, but for the love of all that is good, keep your opinions to yourself and other FFXIII fans. Because, not being targeted to you, I actually get annoyed when people say FFXIII is a good game, but for someone to say any aspect of the game is better then another FF, that really ticks me off. 

 

ty for reading.

[Reyn 1,755]

The DLC bundle includes everything not copyrighted. I'll have no choice in the matter. Lol. And I want to do Sazh's story, you get to play as him afterwards.

Oh. Ok then, nevermind. By the way, there's a free DLC costume for you to download for Serah aswell. But you have to access the DLC from the XIII-2 main menu, not on the PSN store, as it says its Free in the DLC menu for XIII-2 if you access it from the XIII-2 main menu.

 

Alright then, you're choice, i respect that you want him in your party for the actual game. Good luck with the gambling then.

 

One other thing, i recommend getting a Synergist Monster in your party. In this game, the Synergist's that you play as (Noel and Serah) can only put Defense buffs on your party, not offensive buffs. Only Monster allies can bestow Offensive buffs on your party. But Noel is the better Synergist of the two, while Serah is a better Saboteur.

 

Also, one last thing. In XIII-2, there is a pattern when you level up your characters in the crystarium, that allows you to maximize your stats better then you normally could if you just randomly leveled up your characters willy nilly. Here is a video showcasing that:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wx5dIYBvog&list=FLIXMelm7Bops7ViCAQdvumQ&index=130

Look, I know you are a fan of the series, but please DO NOT say it is the truth. I'll be ok with you saying that in YOUR opinion it is, but do not say I'm wrong, because just not as a dedicated fan to the FF series, but as serious gamer, FFXIII is a horrible game through and through.I understand when you fanboys enjoy the game, but for the love of all that is good, keep your opinions to yourself and other FFXIII fans. Because, not being targeted to you, I actually get annoyed when people say FFXIII is a good game, but for someone to say any aspect of the game is better then another FF, that really ticks me off. 

 

ty for reading.

Im saying its the truth for us who are fans of the series, and that it doesn't apply for everyone.

 

Ok then, fair enough.

[Sora96 17,256]

My FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 review.

My LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII review.

[Dio Brando 5,810]

*claps loudly* Well said man. I'm glad to find more and more people who actually appreciate the series.

 

Also a tip for XIII-2,. When you beat the game, go ahead and purchase Lightning's DLC, as it explains more about the ending, and ties up some loose ends. It also shows how the game leads into Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. I won't spoil the ending, but considering all the talk on LR FF XIII, you probably already know what happens. Nevertheless, XIII-2 is definitely a game worth playing, and it makes more sense to play it if you want to get into LR FF XIII.

 

Also one other thing. It is REALLY EASY TO PLATINUM XIII-2. XIII is a BITCH TO PLATINUM, due to the Weapon Hunter trophy which is so annoying and time consuming.

 

 

Its the truth. Only us XIII fans realize that, all the haters won't believe a single word of that. 8)

 

Same here. Its a great game, way underappreciated.

The story and cast are very good.........................until you get to the third game where all of them reduced to mere cameos(Seriously Caius barely has 5 minutes of screen time even though he was THE MAIN VILLAIN OF XIII-2,Sazh just sits there until you collect Dajh's smile "wat" and the other fragments,Vanille only appears in 2 cutscenes before the ending)in favor for the brick wall heroine

 

Btw,I read the datalog of XIII and XIII-2 and I memorized their stories like a book especially XIII-2 since I still love that game and STILL the third game makes 0 sense and contradict tons of established plot points from the first two games

[Reyn 1,755]

The story and cast are very good.........................until you get to the third game where all of them reduced to mere cameos(Seriously Caius barely has 5 minutes of screen time even though he was THE MAIN VILLAIN OF XIII-2,Sazh just sits there until you collect Dajh's smile "wat" and the other fragments,Vanille only appears in 2 cutscenes before the ending)in favor for the brick wall heroine

 

Btw,I read the datalog of XIII and XIII-2 and I memorized their stories like a book especially XIII-2 since I still love that game and STILL the third game makes 0 sense and contradict tons of established plot points from the first two games

I agree with that they contradicted too many things in LR like

REVERSING SNOW BACK TO A HUMAN? THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE, XIII SAID ITS IMPOSSIBLE. And that Sazh does nothing, and Noel doesnt give 2 shits about Serah, that was r*tarded in my opinion,

so i will agree with you on that point.

[Dio Brando 5,810]

I agree with that they contradicted too many things in LR like

REVERSING SNOW BACK TO A HUMAN? THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE, XIII SAID ITS IMPOSSIBLE. And that Sazh does nothing, and Noel doesnt give 2 shits about Serah, that was r*tarded in my opinion,

so i will agree with you on that point.

(This pretty much sums it)

 

 

Yeah,that moment made me facepalm really really hard

 

 

They screamed at us  in XIII so many times that you can NEVER COME BACK FROM BEING A CIE'TH

 

AND THEN SHITNING WITH POWER OF DISNEY MOVIES MAGIC HE COMES BACK WHEN MILLIONS OF OTHER CIE'TH COULDN'T??!!!

 

THE F** IS THIS NONSENSE

 

 

 

 

[Shana09 5,769]

(This pretty much sums it)

 

 

Yeah,that moment made me facepalm really really hard

 

 

They screamed at us  in XIII so many times that you can NEVER COME BACK FROM BEING A CIE'TH

 

AND THEN SHITNING WITH POWER OF DISNEY MOVIES MAGIC HE COMES BACK WHEN MILLIONS OF OTHER CIE'TH COULDN'T??!!!

 

THE F** IS THIS NONSENSE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well they technically did come back...near the end of FFXIII where they all turned Cie'th except for Fang and Vanille.

I think its because the Fal'cie don't want the people to know and the I'cie to know that you can reverse Cie'th transformation, in order to keep them in constant pressure that they have to complete their focus.

I mean, a lot of the stuff the government in Cocoon said, was all a lie. This could be one of them.

[Dio Brando 5,810]

Well they technically did come back...near the end of FFXIII where they all turned Cie'th except for Fang and Vanille.

I think its because the Fal'cie don't want the people to know and the I'cie to know that you can reverse Cie'th transformation, in order to keep them in constant pressure that they have to complete their focus.

I mean, a lot of the stuff the government in Cocoon said, was all a lie. This could be one of them.

Oh no they didn't

 

 

 

That was an illusion spell casted by Orphan to persuade Fang and Vanille into becoming Ragnarok

 

BarthandelusOrphan won't risk turning them into cie'ths yet because otherwise his plan will fail and he'll be forced to find yet another set of L'cies to do the job 

 

There is now way you can reverse out of becoming a cie'th because at this point you'll be just like a mindless zombie with no way to think for yourself

 

Every single cie'th in the series never managed to come back from their cie'th state and when they die some of them become cie'th stones like the ones in the original XIII

 

So how in the world of f***k did Shitning managed to bring Snow back???Power of Disney princesses magic??

 

Both XIII and XIII-2 established clearly that once you become a cie'th you're as good as dead,heck if you read the XIII-2's Ultimania,Caius couldn't escape his fate of becoming a cie'th without the help of the goddess Etro who gave him her heart and made him the guardian of time.And according the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology,Etro is a Fal'cie goddess

 

Only Fal'cie can reverse their own spell casted on a l'cie.Shitning wasn't a fal'cie nor did she ever had the power to become one.

 

 

I've memorized the story of XIII and XIII-2 like a book and there is no way to escape from the fact that Snow's coming back from cie'thing is a bad writing

 

Couldn't they add another main quest where you have to find the Fal'cie that made Snow a L'cie again(back in XIII-2) and ask him to reverse the curse?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2014 by Metal Snake

[tlozbj 74]

Oh no they didn't

 

 

 

That was an illusion spell casted by Orphan to persuade Fang and Vanille into becoming Ragnarok

 

BarthandelusOrphan won't risk turning them into cie'ths yet because otherwise his plan will fail and he'll be forced to find yet another set of L'cies to do the job 

 

There is now way you can reverse out of becoming a cie'th because at this point you'll be just like a mindless zombie with no way to think for yourself

 

Every single cie'th in the series never managed to come back from their cie'th state and when they die some of them become cie'th stones like the ones in the original XIII

 

So how in the world of f***k did Shitning managed to bring Snow back???Power of Disney princesses magic??

 

Both XIII and XIII-2 established clearly that once you become a cie'th you're as good as dead,heck if you read the XIII-2's Ultimania,Caius couldn't escape his fate of becoming a cie'th without the help of the goddess Etro who gave him her heart and made him the guardian of time.And according the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology,Etro is a Fal'cie goddess

 

Only Fal'cie can reverse their own spell casted on a l'cie.Shitning wasn't a fal'cie nor did she ever had the power to become one.

 

 

I've memorized the story of XIII and XIII-2 like a book and there is no way to escape from the fact that Snow's coming back from cie'thing is a bad writing

 

Couldn't they add another main quest where you have to find the Fal'cie that made Snow a L'cie again(back in XIII-2) and ask him to reverse the curse?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though Snow, didn't go full Cie'th, he hold to a piece of his humanity, that piece is what Lightning used to bring him back, by using that human piece still there, his love for Serah is what brought him back, along Lightning's Savior powers. She wasn't a human anymore, when she woke up, she was molded by the God himself, so that she could become the new Goddess of Death, it is no surprise, she could communicate those feelings to Snow and bring him back from what he was becoming, the original Goddess of Death did it herself afterall.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2014 by tlozbj

[Sora96 17,256]

Well they technically did come back...near the end of FFXIII where they all turned Cie'th except for Fang and Vanille.

I think its because the Fal'cie don't want the people to know and the I'cie to know that you can reverse Cie'th transformation, in order to keep them in constant pressure that they have to complete their focus.

I mean, a lot of the stuff the government in Cocoon said, was all a lie. This could be one of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Though Snow, didn't go full Cie'th, he hold to a piece of his humanity, that piece is what Lightning used to bring him back, by using that human piece still there, his love for Serah is what brought him back, along Lightning's Savior powers. She wasn't a human anymore, when she woke up, she was molded by the God himself, so that she could become the new Goddess of Death, it is no surprise, she could communicate those feelings to Snow and bring him back from what he was becoming, the original Goddess of Death did it herself afterall.

 

 

 

Spoiler policy ended guys. Haha. Anyway, I had no issues with the story. I spoke to our partner, Everglow8444 and he really likes all three games too and had no issues with the story.