I am one of the rare Final Fantasy fans who doesn’t hate every game since the one they first played (until the next one comes out and then they hate that more and the last one is probably ok). I confess to actually liking Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, particularly Lightning Returns, and this is challenging as a PlayStation gamer because they won’t work on my PS5.
Then someone my brother works with said they were getting rid of an Xbox Series X for only £150 and I immediately said ‘yes please’. So here I am replaying the trilogy, having completed the original, and now part way through FFXIII-2. The original that people call a corridor simulator – still got a good plot, great characters, and innovative combat that changed the series (stagger mechanics) – and it still looks gorgeous for its age.
FFXIII-2 is still really innovative as a tale with the hopping back-and-forth in time. Noel’s combat is especially cool and flippy, and I can see elements of that in Tifa’s combat in the VII remakes. Cursed with an excellent memory I remember all the plot beats (and how the ending made me sit there and go ‘what the hell???’ and then not play it again) but that doesn’t harm the replay value.
And after this I am looking forward to a replay of Lightning Returns, which absolutely influenced FFXVI’s mechanics with its ability to swap between 3 ability sets during fights and chain them together to ensure you can keep pulling off the cool moves without running out of energy. Clive might look good in some of Light’s outfits too…
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