I am a big fan of the Final Fantasy series of games and have finished most but not all of the numbered games. I have finally gotten around to playing Lightning Returns on PS3.

Final Fantasy XIII has mixed reviews. Personally it is one of my favorites. I think it came out in a time when open world games were the big thing, and it didn't really deliver in that category. I enjoyed XIII-2 as well. XII-2 and Lightning Returns have more freedom to move around the "world" to try and remove the linear feeling from the first, but I still think the first is the best of the three.

I think this trilogy has a great cast, music and visuals. Each of them has a similar but different combat system.

I've completed the first 5 chapters of Lightning Returns, which I think only leaves me with the ending as far as the main story goes. I have about 5 days left of game time before that happens to do remaining side quests. The time mechanic in this game had me stressed out a little at first because I wasn't sure how to manage it, but it turns out its not as bad as Hope makes it sound when you first start the game (and how he kind of nags you about it throughout).

Has anyone else played through the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy? What do you think about the three games?

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Re: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
By: Ganiman to All on Wed Aug 28 2024 01:18 pm

Final Fantasy XIII has mixed reviews. Personally it is one of my favorites. I think it came out in a time when open world games were the big thing, and it didn't really deliver in that category. I enjoyed XIII-2 as well. XII-2 and Lightning Returns have more freedom to move around the "world" to try and remove the linear feeling from the first, but I still think the first is the best of the three.

Long time fan of Final Fantasy here as well. Played ever since the first one on the NES back when I was about 12 or 13. This was a fun series to watch grow and evolve over time, with each installment introducing something new. Some good, some bad.

I think FFXIII deserves a lot of its criticism. My main issues with the game are: the stats and character growth don't feel earned; everything just kind of happens on a schedule based on where you are in the story, the story itself is highly convoluted with important story elements tucked away in the game's datalogs; making your audience go searching for key plot points is a bad way to tell a story, and the gameplay isn't very engaging; I don't recall many battles that required input from me beyond pressing A or waiting a little longer to press A. Then there's the equipment crafting/upgrading process... My memory gets a little fuzzy here, but it seemed like my party's original gear was what I stuck with the entire game, and everything else I found was crap. I'm pretty sure I was able to inflict massive amounts of damage just my upgrading my original stuff a little bit, so I never bothered seeking out different weapons or armor.

I don't want to totally dump on the game, because there were some legitimate times of fun I had with it. It was the first game I bought for my XBox360, and it was fun to play a new Final Fantasy game again at the time. I just wish the world was a little more realized with things to do and places to explore.

I do agree that the two sequels that followed it were weak. I played XIII-2 about a decade ago for a couple months, got stuck, and bored, and never picked it back up. Similar experience with LR.

Maybe this winter I'll try to replay FFXIII with a fresh perspective after I set my gaming area back up, and finally give the other two a chance.

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Long time fan of Final Fantasy here as well. Played ever since the first one on the NES back when I was about 12 or 13. This was a fun series to watch grow and evolve over time, with each installment introducing something new. Some good, some bad.

I think FFXIII deserves a lot of its criticism. My main issues with the game are: the stats and character growth don't feel earned; everything just kind of happens on a schedule based on where you are in the story, the story itself is highly convoluted with important story elements
tucked away in the game's datalogs; making your audience go searching
for key plot points is a bad way to tell a story, and the gameplay isn't very engaging; I don't recall many battles that required input from me beyond pressing A or waiting a little longer to press A. Then there's
the equipment crafting/upgrading process... My memory gets a little
fuzzy here, but it seemed like my party's original gear was what I stuck with the entire game, and everything else I found was crap. I'm pretty sure I was able to inflict massive amounts of damage just my upgrading
my original stuff a little bit, so I never bothered seeking out
different weapons or armor.

I don't want to totally dump on the game, because there were some legitimate times of fun I had with it. It was the first game I bought
for my XBox360, and it was fun to play a new Final Fantasy game again at the time. I just wish the world was a little more realized with things
to do and places to explore.

I do agree that the two sequels that followed it were weak. I played XIII-2 about a decade ago for a couple months, got stuck, and bored, and never picked it back up. Similar experience with LR.

Maybe this winter I'll try to replay FFXIII with a fresh perspective
after I set my gaming area back up, and finally give the other two a chance.

I finished Lightning Returns and overall I enjoyed it, but I think for the the trilogy, I like them in the order XIII, LR and XIII-2.

About a year and a half ago Digital Foundry did an excellent video on FFXIII and a followup video for XIII-2 and LR. It focuses mostly on the technical side of the games related to performance and framerates and comparing them on each platform the games are available. One of the people who made the videos is a friend of mine, and I even got a minor credit for the first video for helping out with a very *very* small piece of production. They re-released them 2 months back as a single video with 4k upscaling. Check it out (and watch to the end to catch my credit ha):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLZ0a1rHUYs

Which of the Final Fantasy games to you like best between I-VI and then from VII-XVI?

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Ganiman
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Re: Re: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
By: Ganiman to Codefenix on Thu Sep 12 2024 10:34 am

They re-released them 2 months back as a single video with 4k
upscaling. Check it out (and watch to the end to catch my credit ha): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLZ0a1rHUYs

Very cool, I'll go check that out.

Which of the Final Fantasy games to you like best between I-VI and then from VII-XVI?

Depends on the criteria. VI has the best story and presentation, and is an absolute masterpiece on the SNES. However I find myself coming back to V the most. The first time I ever played it was like 25 years ago, thanks to that now famous English translation patch. At the time I was so hooked by the job changing system and all the end-game discoverables that I couldn't put it down. Despite VI being superior for so many reasons, V might actually be my favorite in terms of gameplay.

It gets harder to pick a favorite between VII and XVI, especially considering I haven't played XVI yet. So I'll just narrow it to the three on the Playstation. VII, VIII, and IX are each very good and highly replayable. IX certainly holds up the best, and it's easy to enjoy how it calls back to every FF game that came before it in some way. But I think VII really nailed it with the Materia system and all of the end-game quests. I wish it had a more satisfying ending, but it's still a joy to play through. Despite some people label VII as overrated, I think it gets my pick of best in that lineup.

Starting with X, the series started to drop off for me. X itself is still a pretty good one, but it's here you that can begin to see the series change. For example a major, recurring theme in any FF game is acquiring an airship and using it to freely travel anywhere in the world. Not in X; instead the game's "airship" is simply a list of previously visited locations you instantly arrive at upon selection. It took away that sense of exploration and discovery. Let me fly, man! That trend seemed to continue after X, taking away longstanding traditions, and adding things I didn't really like.

What about you?

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What about you?

I've always been a big fan of FFIV. I think VI is great, but for me IV is where all of the right classing Final Fantasy elements first come together - its the most classic/peak example of FF for me that I feel the rest have been chasing ever since. It doesn't have some of the systems that the games after it had, but it didnt need them. The story, music and gameplay all perform in perfect harmony. Second to that VI would be my next favorite. I recently played through I, IV, and VI thanks to the Pixel Remaster release.

For the PS1 titles, FFVII is my favorite. I don't care much for VIII and I am embarassed to admit I've never played IX (even though I have multiple copies for different platforms). I'm sure I will like IX, but I can't say its my favorite if I haven't played it.

I'm a big fan of X. Its the first jump into decent 3D graphics, voice acting, etc... and I think the addition of the new tech and DVD storage allowed them to try new things (not just to FF, but to video games overall), and some of the other elements like actually navigating the airship, got a little left behind - but I'm ok with that, I can see they were trying new things all around.

I've played through XVI and I think its an excellent game, DLC included. Pick it up when you get a chance. Again, things have changed - like there is no party system.. or least nothing you can control, but you do get "companions", however ineffective they may seem in combat. The story is very engaging, the character development is well done and the soundtrack from Soken is just awesome.

I really enjoyed my time playing FFXV too - I love the full true multi-media experience between the movie, the anime, the main game, the mobile game and the beat-em-up side game. I really get fully immersed when there is so much to do around a single title like this (.hack games too!). I can overlook other issues when so much of this is going on for me.

My least favorite has to be XII. Its the one I've started a handful of times and never get more than 2 hours into it. Its just a thing for me with that game.

My favorite overall has to be XI. I played XI from the North American launch on PS2 until they changed the level cap from 75 to 100. I founded and operated an extremely popular premier community site for XI that had over 500k unique visitors a month, which I eventually sold and it became part of Wikia (now called Fandom). The site is still there called FFXIclopedia. I was able to interview the game developers and met Hiromichi Tanaka many times during this era. My experience with the game is unique, but the community around XI is like none before and it will never happen again. We went through a lot together in that game, and the bond is still strong today even among the people who no longer play. I still host and maintain and private server for XI, and expect I will until I am no longer able to.

Adjacent to Final Fantasy, I think the Octopath Traveler games are awesome.

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