Review

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (LR: FF XIII) is the last entry in the FF XIII trilogy. A trilogy that has suffered a lot of criticism for the changes made to the long standing RPG formula, especially Final Fantasy XIII-2. Longtime fans of the series weren’t exactly jumping up and down to get a third XIII title. With that being true, Square Enix looked to correct any missteps with LR: FF XIII, hopefully winning over some of their lost fans. After spending hours in game, I feel that they’ve accomplished this feat. Not to say that there are no problems or issues, but you can tell Square Enix paid attention to the fans!

In LR: FF XIII you take control of Lightning 500 years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2, in a time where people don’t age anymore. Lightning is the savoir, tasked by Bhunivelze to save as many souls as possible by guiding them to a new planet before the word ends in 13 days. Lightning takes on the challenge for a chance to be reunited with her sister Serah – the story will make more sense if you’ve played the other two entries. As a standalone game, the story seems a little rough to follow and in some cases can be a little off setting to some people. LR: FF XII has a very strong religious tone. It is constantly reminded in towns with worship of Bhunivelze and the late Etro.

For those who played all three (or just fans in general) Square Enix definitely listened to our complaints. First things first, the linear gameplay is no longer an issue. LR: FF XIII is one of the most open games I’ve seen in the Final Fantasy series. Besides the tutorial and first day, you are free to go to any of the four towns. You’re not obligated to go anywhere or even finish the entire main quest if you don’t want to.  This is possible because of the mission structure; quests are given via NPC’s in each town. It’s not what you would expect from your typical Final Fantasy game. In fact it’s more comparable to Western RPG’s such as Dragon’s Dogma and Dragon Age.

Though the game isn’t linear, because of the story, time is one of the most valuable resources in the game. Running around aimlessly isn’t recommended – Square Enix really tried to throw in a sense of urgency. Saving souls by doing side quest will extend the time you have in the world. So the more side quest and main story quest you do the more time you have to finish. The one problem I have with it being timed is that every day at 6:00 am you’re sent back to the main base of operations. It can really cut the flow of momentum you’ve built up completing quests. You do get the ability to teleport back to where you were but it still slows you down. And with a watch counting down your time placed conveniently on your HUD, you’ll “feel” every minute go by traveling to and from places.

What is probably the shining point of Lightning Returns is the combat. The combat takes almost all of the mechanics found in the other FF XIII titles and improves upon them. For one, the combat is actually challenging which was a common complaint in the other entries. It’s still basic at its core so anyone can jump in and play. However, be prepared to take a healthy amount of time if you want to master the mechanics. Combat is in real time; the ATB gauge is still there but it works more like energy for actions rather than a delay before an action. Paradigms come back but as Schema. Schema is where you put together your sword, shield, garb and accessories to make a set. You can have up to three schema each with their own ATB gauge so you have to know how to manage your resources. This makes Schema serve more than just a way to customize Lightning’s look as it allows for different fighting styles. With the Schema system it’s almost like you’re using Lightning as three separate characters.

With the real time combat timing your attacks are a big deal. Guarding or attacking at the perfect time can give a major advantage in battle. This can be seen in the new Stagger feature. The stagger bar is still present, but by timing you actions well you can instantly stagger an enemy. It makes for more interesting fights as you’re more engaged in battle. One issue I did have with the combat is you have free movement on the battlefield. Normally that would be a good thing but I don’t see the purpose it served. You can’t run across the battlefield (just slowly go to one side or the other), I haven’t been able to use it as a way to dodge an attack and it rarely matters in terms of positioning. It seemed like a wasted feature; I typically ignored it during combat.

Another issue I had was with the way encounters are handled. Just like in FF XIII-2, enemies will pop up at random times. You’d still have the option of fighting or fleeing (outside of boss fights of course). That said, there didn’t seem to be a way to start a fight without an advantage or disadvantage. When a monster pops up there are three possible ways to start the battle. If you strike first without the enemy noticing they will start the battle with 25% less health. If the enemy notices but you still strike first they will start with 10% less health. Lastly, if the enemy lands the first strike, Lightning will lose 5% of her health. It can be annoying to have to hit enemies if I decide to fight them or face a penalty.

Losing a battle works differently also. Normally death in Final Fantasy games means a game over screen. In Lightning Returns dying doesn’t mean it’s over right away. You can use a reviving item after you die to get back up or if you don’t have any, you can use the escape command and start as if you never got into the battle. Using the escape command will take an hour off the world’s time though, so you don’t want to use it too much if you haven’t done everything you wanted to do. All and all, outside of a few minor issues, I enjoyed FF XIII’s combat.

I have to applaud Square Enix for not having a traditional leveling system. Usually you’d fight stuff to get stronger and learn new abilities but, that’s not the case in Lightning Returns. Well…sort of; you have to fight enemies to learn new spells. Also, the difficulty scales based on what day you’re on. Meaning that the stronger enemies will drop upgraded versions of spells you need to fight tougher enemies later on. As far as leveling Lightning herself though, you gain stats by completing main or side quests, with the amount of stats earned based on the difficulty of the quest. It’s an interesting way of leveling in an RPG. I can’t say I like it better than the old way things were done – I have to play more games like this to offset years of old RPG gaming habits – but it’s a change that could grow with me over time. Basically, Square tried something new that won’t immediately annoying FF fans.

Beyond all of the changes, there is one thing that I was very surprised to see. The Final Fantasy series has been praised many things over the years, two of which were its graphics and musical score. And while the music in FF XIII was great, the visuals are severely lacking. The main cast looks amazing. Highly detailed with vibrant colors; they just looked great in every sense. Everyone else looked absolutely awful. Some of the environments didn’t look too appealing either. Areas were inconstant with cities suffering from a lack of detail and lighting but open fields were great (mainly the wildlands). To be honest this is some of the worst visuals I’ve seen in a Final Fantasy title.

Lighting Returns is a good game. Much better then what I expected after playing the second game in the trilogy. Even with the minor complaints and graphical inconsistencies, I was pleased with Square’s latest RPG. Though fans will probably always be on the fence about these games as a whole, I feel most will be pleased as well. Square really listened to us this time around. This is more evident in how many easter eggs are present. I was caught off guard by how many references there was to other Final Fantasy titles. My personal favorite involved two reoccurring characters everyone loves, Biggs and Wedge. After completing a quest for them they’ll end up in the city playing the Terra Theme from Final Fantasy VI. Awesome right? That said, even if you aren’t a FF fan I’m sure you’d enjoy the gameplay. This is definitely a fitting end to the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy!