i love FFXIII

Personal Experience

Recently I have been playing Final Fantasy XIII. I knew this game was divisive when I decided to play it but I didn't realize just how divisive it is. To me, the only thing worth noting was just how different the battle system is. In fact, that was the only thing I knew before my boyfriend graciously gifted it to me.

What shocked me the most when it arrived was that it arrived complete in box. The manual and the product registration card were in the case as well. Worried about how much he may have paid for this, I decided to look it up on ebay. Copies complete in box are being sold for under $25 with the discs only being sold for under $10. Still, I decided to take this as a sign of good luck. Actually, I found out pretty recently that he paid $10, not including fees of course. I think thats so crazy.

In my opinion, this game is very similar to Final Fantasy X, my favorite Final Fantasy game. There are some similarities between both games: Hanging Edge reminds me of Dream Zanarkand, The Warpath Home sounds similar to Time of Judgement, characters from the past interacting with and affecting the present, and the fact that both games are linear in story progression. Don't let this fool you, the game very much is its own thing.

The story follows 6 characters who are trying to have hope and keep their humanity intact after turning into Pulse l'Cie. These characters' stories intersect in many ways including Sazh and Dajh, Hope and his mother, Lightning, Serah, and Snow watching the fireworks at the same time in Bodhum, Sazh's first encounter with a l'Cie happens after Vanille and Fang attack Euride Gorge and so on. While the main plot is the characters attempting to complete their Focus and trying to figure out Serah's Focus as well, the biggest thing driving the main plot is the characters' attempting to maintain their humanity. Everyone believes that they are inherently dangerous due to their l'Cie status when they have done nothing to support these claims. There is a scene when Snow and Hope are trying to reach Palumpolum to see Hope's father when they are bombarded with civilians. Snow ends up having to use his status as a l'Cie to destroy part of the infrastructure to create a barrier between them and the civilians. When this happens, Hope attempts to hand a plushie to a scared child by placing it on the debris.

In all honesty, my personal favorite part about FFXIII is the paradigms system. When I first saw this in action, my mind instantly went to FFX-2 and the dresspheres. Unlike FFX-2, the paradigm shifts affect everyone at the same time and can't be done separately. There are 6 roles a character can be selected and assigned. These are: Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Medic, Synergist, and Saboteur. From what I understand, there's roughly 82 different combinations just from these roles listed! I keep creating new paradigm shifts and the names are just so fun. Personal favorites are Bully (commando+saboteur+synergist), Relentless Assault (commando+ravager+ravager), Yin and Yang (ravager+medic), Scouting Party (commando+saboteur+medic), and Premeditation (sentinel+saboteur+synergist).

What roles the characters initially are given are determined based on early interactions. If Vanille is constantly on Medic duty for the first portion of having her, she will have that role. For the majority of the base game, the characters will develop 3 main paradigms before unlocking the ability to teach characters the last 3. I was pretty disappointed when Hope didn't get the Commando role but now I'm using the Chrystarium points to get it. Sadly this comes pretty late in the game, chapter 10 for anyone who is curious but yeah.

name	song
Lightning's Theme
Atonement
Hope's Theme
A Brief Respite

Characters

Lightning Farron - After her parents died, she took the name Lightning in order to stay strong for her younger sister Serah and herself. At some point, she begins working for a division of the Guardian Corp and quits in order to save Serah when the Purge happens. In the beginning, she's shown to be cold and detached emotionally but after accidentally putting Hope in danger with her Eidolon, her demeanor changes. This is extended to the rest of the party members. Along with these changes, she also lets others call her Light, therefore becoming the Light of the group just like Hope is. She fights with a Gunblade just like Squall.

Serah Farron - Lightning's younger sister and Snow's fiancee. After wandering into the Pulse Vestige when the doors were opened, she is branded a Pulse l'Cie and becomes an enemy to Cocoon. Scared for the safety of herself and others, she attempts to call off her engagement after telling Snow that she will complete her Focus. Deciding to stay with him after all, she and Snow tell Lightning about the engagement and her l'Cie status though Lightning believes she's lying. While trying to escape PSICOM, Serah is taken prisoner by the Pulse Vestige and the final time she is shown is when she turns into crystal, completing her Focus.

Snow Villers - Serah's fiance and member of NORA, a paramilitary group he created. Shown to be overly confident to a fault and refuses to give up, leading to the joke that he's "too stubborn to die". When Serah is turned into crystal, he becomes desperate, wanting to save Serah in any way he can. He acts as a foil to Lightning; Lightning already has the belief that Serah is dead the moment she completed her Focus and turned to crystal while Snow believes that there is a way to bring her back since the legends say those who complete their Focus are blessed with eternal life. He is inadvertently responsible for Hope's mother's death.

Hope Estheim - The youngest member of the group. Originally coming down to Bodhum for vacation with his mother, he and his mother were forced to be quarantined and joined the Purge despite the both of them being from Palumpolum. As the city around them is destroyed by PSICOM, Nora decides to join forces with NORA (paramilitary organization) when Snow asks for volunteers. After witnessing the death of Nora when Snow fails to save her from a bridge collapse, he holds a strong grudge against him. This culminates in Hope nearly killing Snow as revenge, hence Operation Nora.

Terms

PSICOM - Public Security and Intelligence Command is the military force in this universe.
Guardian Corps - A division of PSICOM that deals with more domestic issues. Lightning originally worked for this division before she quit to join The Purge.
Fal'Cie - The Gods of this universe. When a person becomes a l'Cie, their focus depends on what that Fal'Cie wants done. For example: Sazh's son Dajh was marked by a Sanctum Fal'Cie, meaning he was praised as a hero instead of being someone that needed to be killed. His focus was to locate Pulse l'Cies and this was revealed when Dahj reunited with Sazh for the first time since he was in confinement, completing his Focus right in front of Sazh and Vanille.
l'Cie - People who are branded and have a Focus to complete. The brands are always given by the universe’s Gods. Depending on the sect, these brands look different. For instance, Fang's brand looks dried with no visible progression while Vanille's brand looks fresh and shows progression.
Cie'th - Transformed creatures who were originally people who failed to complete their focus.

Personal Critiques

The biggest issue I have with this game is just how linear this game is. Roaming around freely isn't an option in this game which hurts it the most. A lot of what happens in this game is following a set path for the characters. What makes this even more disappointing is that there are ladders in the game which aren't interactable in the same way stairs are. Instead of going up or down a ladder, the characters jump. It's very distracting at times and has taken me out of the game a bit.
This actually connects to the point above. I have learned that I really enjoy the "hallway simulator" gameplay and while aspects of the gameplay gets on my nerves sometimes, I was a bit disappointed when I got to Gran Pulse. Unlike the rest of FFXIII, this area is free roam. The characters exist freely with the animals and even come across l'Cies that weren't able to complete their focus and were turned to crystal. What was disappointing about this area for me is that even though the area is free roam for a bit, there isn't a lot to see or take in aside from doing side quests. I wish there were some points of interest in the main area though I'm aware in the story that people haven't been on Gran Pulse for a very long time. Might sound a bit nitpicky but I wasn't the biggest fan of this area.
There are genuinely gorgeous areas in the game but because the cast is running away from PSICOM, there isn't time to show it off. I found Lake Bresha to be a beautiful area. This was once a lake, as the name presumes, that was turned into crystal. The area has a destroyed city as well and even has a guardian called Phoenix who looks after the Bresha Ruins. Since everything is linear,the true scope isn't felt. It makes some of these locations feel like an afterthought with just how little can be interacted with outside of enemy encounters or what a character observes on their own.
Though this is something I've seen others complain about, I'm grateful the game came with a database. Having a space that catalogs every enemy, every person, new destinations, and key events has helped me better discuss the game to people since I have a point of reference. I also love the set up of the database. The game came out in 2009 and the designs shown throughout the game are very sleek and modern for the time. Mac OS is a huge inspiration for what the save chip looks like when approached.
Honestly, my favorite part of this game is the character interactions. It's definitely set up as a found family scenario since every character has lost people who are most important to them and end up relying on each other because of this. Hope learns to trust Snow after realizing that he didn't intend to let his mother die when Snow saves him when the building they were on exploded. Or my personal favorite being Lightning and Snow's relationship. Throughout the beginning of the game and even before the story begins, she didn't like Snow. She believed he wasn’t a good match for Serah and thought the marriage proposal was some sort of sick joke.
Oerba is done justice in this game. While the critique of not being able to explore certain parts of the game is valid, this does not apply here. Oerba is a desolate town that was at some point in the past. It was community driven and people took care of each other. The first housing explored has bunk beds people slept on, abandoned pots and pans set out, stuffed animals are seen; it's definitely a highlight of the game in my opinion. Walking down the crumbling roads as creatures roam about is harrowing since the Oerba Fang and Vanille once knew is gone.

Thank you redcrown for the images used throughout this shrine!