I'm not lying when I say this game changed my life, I bought it in a moment of hardship, and at the end I grew up loving every character and I learned something from each one of them. I dare to say is one of the best ensemble of characters in RPG
One thing I really love about the trilogy is the mythos, it's super interesting and ambitious. Kinda made me hope Versus XIII was made to expand on the lore
The lore of this game is excellent!! I wish Versus 13 would have made it out of the development hell that it was stuck in and not be transformed to 15 (although I like 15 as well).
The script was really well done. A breath of fresh air from the tired and stale presentation of retrospective videos from other creators . Keep up the good work. You got a sub
The script was well done? It bombarded you with terms and concepts in the opening hours which will not mean anything to you for several hours and you most likely have to go through the ingame Lexikon to understand some of them. You will rarely find a game which does a worse job.
@@brotbrotsen1100He was talking of the video's script. Beside honnestly never understand that critic, I understood the story and didn't struggle understanding what the term mean, despite that I didn't read the logs sooooo yeah I don't get the issue.
This was my first Final Fantasy game. I played it in 2013. At first I hated it because I didn't really understand how to properly play and unintentionally made the game drastically harder for myself and ended up dropping it about halfway through the story. Speaking of the story I honestly didn't understand it. I was confused about most of the terms the characters were using and didn't bother reading the in-game glossary. Fast forward to late 2014 and I found out that I could stream the game on my PS4 via PlayStation Now. I decided to give the game a second shot but this time I watched videos on how to properly play and watched a spoiler free video that explained the story and certain terms and made a point to read the in-game glossary when necessary. I ended up LOVING the game and got back to where I originally was in the story in just 3 days (took my about a week the first time around). Unfortunately the game was removed from Playstation Now so I wasn't able to finish it. But I plan on getting a Series S this year so I'll definitely be playing through the trilogy this year.
That’s an awesome journey that you’ve been through with this game! That’s very similar to my experience with it too. I picked it up in 2010 and played it on and off for about a year and then dropped it because I couldn’t get into the battle system or the story. But in 2015 I picked it back up and struggled to get through the first 1/3rd of it for about 6 months and then finished shortly after that and fell in love with the game! I also replayed it on a Xbox series and it was great! Runs really well with no real issues. Hope you get to play it soon and finish it!
Without game guides, I wouldn't have defeated the first appearance of Barthandelus. I still don't get the story and it's a lot of lore. I mean Star Wars has lots of lore but it can be understood or at least more fun to understand.
After enduring the first 15 hours or so on PSNow, I wasn't best pleased when it was taken off before I could finish it. It took me another 8 years before I could face picking it up again and starting from scratch on PC. I'm pleased I did, in the end, but I cancelled the PSNow subscription after that experience and will never do cloud gaming again.
I genuinely LOVED this game. The battle system is so underrated. Some of the end game battles felt like action games because the speed you had to change paradigms was so fast. The amount of strategy that you could go into was actually quite deep. My only negative was the lore. I struggled to keep up with all the different terminologies. Even by the end I was like "what's a L'cie again?" 😂 overall though, this is a great game that I have replayed a few times over the years.
@@yaknowwhoitis606 It must be an attention deficit disorder. Because I found it difficult as well. It was like there was plot missing to make me acknowledge the types. I can only hope to find a way around this issue.
The myth that the game plays itself and you can beat it by button mashing is an absolute lie. There are enemies that require quick and frantic paradigm shifting, there are enemies that require precise timing when switching to SEN SEN SEN or MED MED MED. There are enemies that require debuffs like Deprotect. There are enemies that are immune to stagger. The fact that they don't know this tells me they are noobs who played on Easy and didn't need any strategy.
The lore is actually really well done. The game logs every single piece that you need to understand, which is actually quite unheard of in heavy story games. You can simply open up the menu and read the lore
I never used autobattle, this is the most fast-paced battlesysteme ever if you select manually, and the soundeffects if you time your attacks is awesome
Yes! This is my story, I played till Pulse auto-battling, and it felt so bad that I was in the dungeon part before it running past all battles. I stopped, realized I must be doing something wrong, and started again with the goal specifically of not using auto-battle, and it was a completely different game. Even early, playing for speed, it was so much better.
I love Lightning. She's both gorgeous and a badass. I've played through the game maybe 20 times each with different weapons and accessories. Most who play it don't realize there are weapon and accessory combos that make battles easier. But I love Lightning. I think she's one of the best video game characters of all time and I would love to see her back in a game in some capacity.
I stood in line for hours waiting for that game to be released got the strategy guide the collectors edition. I loved every second of it. Was I confused as hell about the story? Yes but like you mentioned once that padagrim system finally opened up. Oh man it was on a whole mother level of strategy. The final boss fights were pretty tuff and then going after all the hunting missions! I wonder how many people ever killed that elite adaimatum or what ever that huge dinosaur was called lol
I didn't get the game on launch, but I picked it up a couple months afterwards and I got the strategy guide with it and I hated it initially and gave up on it for several years. I came back probably 6 years later and finished it and I loved it! And yeah the final boss and the Adamantoise are very challenging which I love!
i recalled that i've watched a video about defeating whatever that huge dinosaur was. if i remember correctly, the dinosaur was defeated pretty easily. .. just a few rounds of Paradigm Shift.
FF13 was my very first Final Fantasy and I loved it. I was so very very confused about the story, but I loved the music, the stunning visuals, and the combat as well. I never finished the game bc I never understood the paradigm shift mechanic and like you, I don’t need too until I hit chapter 11. I picked up 13-2 some time after and loved it even more. I’m a sucker for monster capture systems. Overall, I enjoyed the game and watching your video made me wonder if it’s time to finally go back and beat it.
Bro get back into the game and finish it. The paradigm shift is way better to use after chap 11 where it’s fully expanded. The basic when fighting is stagger monster-->do a lot of damage. This guys explains the whole mechanics. Try to understand the vid and give the game a go again
As far as Final Fantasy games go, this is one of my favorites. Not to say it didn't have issues. By God, it had so many issues. But, in terms of favorites, its sequel is actually the one I like the most. 13-2 gets rid of most of the linearity, its music slaps, and though the story was even more convoluted than 13 (time travel of all things?), I was willing to put up with it so long as I had Plains of Eternity blasting in the background. Plus battling and collecting monsters brought me back to my Pokemon roots and the game's need to give you things to find managed to be both intriguing and tedious at the exact same time (looking at you, graviton cores). All in all, I really loved the video, and I'd very much like to see your opinion on FF 13-2.
13-2 gets rid of mostly anything, no? the paradigm fights become absolutely weird with mostly 2 characters. the story is basically a blackbox, you just jump into random time points, you dont get to bond with serah and the other guy either, unlike the first game... im really curious why you would prefer 13-2 over 13 D:
Finally good FFXIII takes, 13 imo has the best atb combat of the whole series n they even do a lot to try and teach players even before it opens up wit the eidolon fights.
I do like the Crystarium system for increasing stats and gaining new abilities. I was initially thrown off on first play through by the lack of a traditional experience points building up to a level up system (like Kingdom Hearts and FFXV use), but capping how far you can upgrade the roles each character has based on what point in the story you’re at is a good compromise for not making the characters overpowered and only fully unlocking it by finishing the story. The weapon upgrade system could have done with more help ingame though.
What a great video, you definitely addressed both the critiques and praises of the game in a digestible format. It definitely touches on the more broad things that I feel people overlooked about the game. I love this trilogy but I can see why it may have put some folks off especially if you've played the other FFs first, namely 10 and 12. I always think that if this game didn't have "Final Fantasy" attached to it, then it probably would have done much better or at least been given more of a chance. (Something like the Last Story for Wii, which is also another great game from the creator of the original FF and the composer of FF7) Can't wait to hear your thoughts on FFXIII-2 or any other FF games! Only one major problem here... You only have 10 subs at the time of my watching, I will gladly be number 11 😤
Thank you so much Therius!! I’m glad that you enjoyed the video and I appreciate the sub!! FF13 gets a lot of hate but I wanted to voice out my opinion on it for people like us that love it. I’ll definitely be making more videos on different FF titles but I’m thinking about doing a few more interesting videos on FF13 as well. So I’ll have more videos out soon! And again thanks for the support!
This is hands down one of my top 3 FF games and I agree, a lot of people are/were turned off by that opening section and missed out on the paradigm system in all its glory.
I got this game yesterday and I spent around 5 hours in it and I am enjoying it! Good job on this video it really sums everything up. can't wait for your next vid!!
I'm VERY much here for your video. It's one of my Fav FFs of ALL time (I'm 40). What you said about the soundtrack makes me smile ear to ear because, I too listen to it in my free time and consider it one of the best FF soundtracks. Great video, great game. Most underrated FF title.
I absolutely love Final Fantasy 13. It's a little more linear than I'd like it to be, but it doesn't take away the amazing-ness of the title. The story is beautiful. Characters are great! Hell, my first couple's cosplay was myself as Serah and my partner as Snow
Always a fan of underdog games. The big draw for me to consider this game is that it’s a trilogy. Being able to play a large narrative over several games resonates with me.
@@feiwong3634 I have tried so hard to get in to this series, but for various reasons I just haven't been able to. I mean, I own the first 6 games, but never got further than the first mission in Trails in the Sky 1 and a hefty amount of time in the first of the second series that's eluding me at the moment. You're right: this series on paper should totally do it for me.
I'd actually agrue that the combat system is better when you do a mix of auto battle and manual entry. I'd reccommend starting with manually entering aoe moves like blitz and the higher level spells while targetting the enemies closest to the middle of the group. Then switching to auto battle once either enemies spread out a bit more or you only have 2 left. I find this to be faster and more enjoyable since I actually have to do more than press 1 button and wait. Also getting a good idea of how much your healing spells heal is very important so you don't over heal because you can cancel actions that have yet to be performed and keep the progress on your ATB guage. Making a switch to healing and throw out 2 or 3 heals then switching back to your damage paradigms is also very useful. None of this is necessary but i find it to be more enjoyable and makes the end game alot easier.
I fucking love FF13's battle system and there are so many little optimisations you can make right from the beginning of the game. Things like, targeting the best enemy for an AOE move and timing it right, and knowing when it's worth attacking without fully filling ATB. And as soon as you get paradigms you can start taking advantage of ATB refreshes to deal more damage or quickly stagger enemies way faster. People also neglect TP moves like quake that can be used to keep stagger gauges up (particularly useful with pre-emptive strikes on large groups). And one of my favourite things to do as Sazh is abuse his blitz move against larger enemies to deal way more damage than regular attacks would. There are so many quirks and bits of tech to make use of, but admittedly because it's such a unique system I think most players won't necessarily take advantage of them, which is a massive shame.
Talking about this game in 2023 makes me so nostalgic... I bought FF13 when I was 17 and in a very depressive and dark phase of my life. Playing this game, gave me so much as a teenage girl. I was already a big FF fan then and still am today. Next to FF10 and FF7, FF13 has a very special place in my heart. I love the music so much and still listen to it nowadays. The design of the world and of the characters is mesmerizing even for a game that came out in 2009. And I really liked the journey of the story. There is something about it that is so unique. Yes, many things also bothered me, such as individual characters (yeah SNOW, Hope, Vanille, and even Lightning sometimes even though she is my favorite character). Also, the battles and the leveling up were tedious as hell but still, I enjoyed everything about the game. It surely felt like a journey for me and seeing these characters struggling and fighting against destiny is just so important to witness!! As a player, you see things differently once certain aspects of the game impact your heart. Thanks for bringing back these memories. 💗
This game has a massive place in my heart, I watched my mom play this game and played it myself, and the music sort if rented part of my brain to itself and paid for lost Odyssey's room next door. Its so good and i love it.
I'm so glad to find people loving this game. I've loved it since release. I played it twice in a row, something I only ever did with 7 and 9 at release.
My two biggest problems with FFXIII is: 1. the story isn't presented well at all and is mostly in the datalogs, not a huge problem for me personally since my top two favorite games of all time are long JRPGS that aren't voiced (Sora No Kiseki FC and SC) though FFXIII does just lazily throw most of the interesting worldbuilding in its datalogs. 2. You only get the full combat system in chapter 9, which is criminal since FFXIII has the best combat system in any FF in my opinion (though, there's still some cool stuff you can do really early on, stuff like ATB refresh, Paradigm shifting when your party leader is in the air to skip the animation that happens the first time you shift in every battle, Sazh's blitz and probably some more stuff I'm forgetting.) And my third slightly smaller gripe is that the localization is really bad in FFXIII. All in all I enjoyed the video, though I felt it could've been a bit longer since some parts felt a little rushed, like the OST part, you could've let blinded by the light get to the actually good part but I assume you cut it short so as not to get smited by squeenix.
Thank you for comment! Yeah I totally agree with those points, it's a shame that most of the story is really behind datalogs, is told very poorly, and that the localization is very bad as well. I know that several cutscences have complete different meanings in Japanese. Also, the battle system is absolutely the best in the series but it takes too long to open up. But, once it does it's great! And yeah, I cut the music bits short and used various different tracks because of potential copyright issues lol
Thank you for speaking well of my childhood haha❤ I was about 10 years old when my father took me to the gamestop to buy a game. He said: "a game within this amount of money" I don't remember exactly how much now but I think it was about twenty euros, as a little experienced child I was very impressed by the cover of final Fantasy xiii but at the same time I loved the cover of catherine (thank god I didn’t choose that one at the time, who knows understands that it wasn't really a game for children) but in the end i chosen ff. I had no idea of how to play the game properly since the games I played before were the sims, various tomb raiders, the prince of persia etc so in short titles quite different genres from ff. I remember that even in those titles I was stuck so many times in parts that if played again now are very easy , but ff xiii had all my willpower as a child I’ve been stuck at least 100 times I freaked out so many times in beating the bosses because I couldn't and after hours of attempts ,if I kept losing, I started looking for the walkthroughs of the game managing somehow to play around 9/10 chapter arriving in barthendeus or whatever it was called boss, and that’s where i got stuck in a definitive way when i was a kid hahah, I tried again to do it recently and damn it I didn't remember it so complicated that damn thing. I remember that I was amazed by the realism and graphics of the game, that for being a 2009 game it was stunning and still is visually remarkable in my opinion today. I also loved many characters and I loved the fact that for a part of the game I had the characters divided into small teams, I loved the team with Hope and Lightning where she was a bit like a "mom”, there was even a chapter dedicated on Hope’s personal growth were he was like put on charge to become more brave and strong? I don't remember the plot well but it should be something similar but anyway I really appreciated the growth of his character so much. It was also very nice the duo of Sazh and Vanille both very comical characters who in my opinion were a very good combination. Maybe as a child I was kind of sad cause I wanted to play more with Snow alone because I remember the difficulty in beating shiva but it was damn inspiring I remember perfectly that I finally beat her one morning before school and that says it all 😂 I also think that playing Snow solo fits his character better ngl. But yeah, it made sense why they didn't do it. There’s no need to talk about the world to be honest, full of such different and detailed environments were magic for my eyes. The characterisation of each map was nothin but mesmerizing and I loved using chocobo in areas where you had some open world gameplay. Thank you for this review that made me want to play it again 😂
Thank you for watching the video! And yeah I agree with all of various different praises of the game that you make! I hope you get to play it again and enjoy it all over again!
@@thechance-lore4711 thank u for reading all the comment hahahaha After I sent it I realized how long it was. And don't worry I think I'll play it soon since i still have my old working ps3 and the game
Honestly everything prior to I'd say the first Barthandalus fight and everything past him might as well be two different games for how wildly my enjoyment swung around. When I first played this game I was just walking forward, mashing X and getting mad whenever that failed. I got up to the first Bart fight and got repeatedly destroyed by what I now consider the first boss in the game to put up a fight. I tried a few more times, didn't manage to beat him, and ended up dropping the game for roughly half a year because "whatever's past him couldn't be good enough to justify this". I was basically fully on team hater at this point. I came back to it later since I was a highschooler with nothing else to play, did the grinding needed to get my stats up to a point where Bart was actually fightable, beat him, and found myself kind of enjoying the next chapter(I love the Cid fight especially). Then I hit Gran Pulse and good lord I could barely put the game down. Between having every character, having access to every role on every character, more or less having the full crystarium, having frankly a ridiculous amount of hunts just dumped into my lap, I was well and truly hooked. I then went back in for a second run, this time not allowing myself to upgrade my weapons, rather choosing to play around with the passives on your gear(since run number 1 I basically just crafted obscene stat-stick weapons on certain characters super early and thought they'd carry me forever). It was potentially the most fun playthrough I had of any game in the series, mixing and matching gear for bonus effects it can trigger, popping specific weapons onto my characters because their passives are beneficial against specific foes.
I actually had a very similar experience with dropping the game at first and hating it and then picking it up years later and making myself playthrough the whole game and I'd say around Chapter 11 I just fell in love with it and it became one of my favorite games! And yeah this game is also very very deep with the battle mechanics but it's very approachable as well which is great!
This soundtrack was on repeat when I was in middle school. I was a huge orchestra nerd so all the strings always intrigued me. I started playing this game again and have been loving it! Especially now that I understand it more with my adult brain.
My main complaint about the paradigm shift besides how long it takes to let you play it fully, is that the single leader thing was badly done in some aspects. For example: the leader ALWAYS drew aggro, which meant being the leader as squishy characters like Vanille and Sahz was a pain and you often got game'd over because the game made that leader die = game end, which was stupid. Vanille and Sahz were incredible buffers/debuffers and having control over their actions was much better than leaving the AI to decide, but you could never do it because you would normally die. Also, Summon was only available to be used by the leader, so you had an array of summons you would rarely use because, again, the leader gets aggro-ed and you die. So most of the time you would summon Odin or Bahamut because the best leaders were the commando and ravagers who had the vit and HP to handle the aggro. Other than that, best system SE invented. GReat mix of semi action, RPG and gambit system.
With regards to combat and auto-battle, I'd also like to add that while the game is mostly playable by using auto-battle, the game actually rewards entering commands manually if you know what you're doing. For example, Sazh spamming Blitz can be better dps than him using Attack if you're fighting a large enough target due to the unique way his Blitz functions, and Lightning's Attack command can be better DPS than using Ruin on a specific ranged boss during the story - auto-battle will usually pick Ruin iirc, due to it doing more damage per attack, but the attack animation for her attack in that battle is so fast that it's higher dps in practice. Another, much more applicable optimization, is that auto-battle will often alternate between a spell and an attack. This is especially common in XIII-2. The issue with this is that there is a significant animation delay when a character swaps between attacking and casting, so your whole turn can take almost twice as long if you let auto-battle handle it. This is less of an issue when an enemy is more resistant to one type of damage, as auto-battle will choose only one type of action, but if they're equally vulnerable to both and your character has balanced stats, this is a big issue. The game heavily rewards knowing the game well, and that's awesome, but most people will never encounter these nuances because the game never encourages you to do it, so you'll usually only find this stuff out very late in the game, often from guides written by other players.
I picked this one up because I found it cheap at a hobby store and the case looked cool and all holographic, plus I wanted to break into FF. I’m only at chapter four and I’m enjoying it so far!
Played on Xbox360 long time ago, sadly people hated it cause was not open world and too much tutorials. As a dungeon crawler was fun as hell, and the race cinematic I found up epic till this day.
I love replaying this game every now and then. Actually gonna start another play through in a couple minutes! I enjoy that there's a lot of ways to play the game. It's heavily story oriented but the characters are so well done
Thanks, enjoyed your summary, and subbed. It would be awesome if we could eventually get some remasters of the 13 series for PS5, etc! This series is special if you actually let yourself experience it!
tbh the autobattle doesn't even always pick the best option it only takes into consideration buffs and damage resistance, not your character's stats If an enemy is weak to water and you have both Water and Aquastrike, but your character has higher strength than magic, it will still try to use both despite Aquastrike doing more damage because of how your character is set up autobattle can get you through the game but it will never be the best option and that's not even taking into account roles such as Synergist or Sabateur where sometimes autobattle will simply try to apply all buffs/debuffs that it can instead of what you want, which is another reason not to use autobattle
Just finished playing ff16 and I can say this from all the main ff titles 13 by far is my favourite and I agree with everything you said about the game. 13 years later and it still looks and plays beautifully
I feel if they re-released the entire XIII trilogy as a remastered definitive collection, I would give these games a lot more time than I did back then. I feel now I would just have no expectation for these games vs me back then, so I'd probably be more up for just enjoying the games for what they are.
Great keep on going bro, I’m 34 and I’m just starting content creating as well. I’m on Tik Tok but will be on Twitch and YT from there. But good luck 🤞🏻🎉
I've been revisiting the franchise and am now up to FF 13-2 so FF13 is very fresh to me. I totally get why people knock this game or even outright hate it...but in my revisit of the franchise its sitting at number 1. I absolutely love the WWE style party drama that make up the first 9 chapters. The game then opens up build options and combat progression while backing off story and in doing so it becomes my favorite combat system in the entire franchise. The characters are iconic to me but so are many in the franchise as a whole. This is also a game that just plays wonderfully with my modern gaming sensibilities of a dual monitor setup for podcasts and shows. Its excellent for playing for 15 minutes...getting a nice little story chunk and then 15 more minutes and repeat. Perfect flow of demanding your attention for a while but letting you enjoy a zen experience for a nice little chunk. This aspect paints my opinion of FF13 a LOT because in a vacuum, if I had to rank FF games on their own played without any other distractions there is no way I'd rank this game number 1 anymore. Games like FF6 and FF4 would quickly rise to the top in that case. But that's not PC gaming for me in 2023 and I suspect its not PC gaming for many of us. Edit: I HATED FF13-2 back in the day and I can safely say that I still absolutely hate that game now on this revisit. Its bottom 3 in the franchise for me.
That's a really good point about the Zen experience! As I was playing through the game again for this video I noticed that I would watch a video on my phone or on a secondary monitor or listen to a podcast in between major story chunks and I really enjoyed that playthrough
This was my first final fantasy game on the PS3. It isn’t my favorites but I definitely hold a special place in my heart of the trilogy. This game got me into JRPs and RPGs. I love the characters and the soundtrack. Good video!
The linearity in FF13 would have been fine if the gameplay actually switched it up, but it didn't. FFX works because you're going from battles to puzzles to towns to blitzball and that sort of thing, so it doesn't feel like you're doing any one thing for too long. FF13 is pretty much walk forward, find hidden sphere chest and do boring battles for 20 hours until the combat system opens up later on in the game. It wouldn't have taken much to fix this - just add some puzzles and add more depth to the towns. There are some areas in FF13 that are just LONG and very samey, where the corridors really do feel like they are copy-paste from others that you just passed through. That's also a problem.
FF13 is good, it's flagship to SE's Crystal Tools, my only complaint of the game is that later in game you realize that you're playing a movie instead of actual RPG, even every fight is predetermined from how your paradigm setup was, it's good during its time of release
Thanks for defending the battle system, besides actually being very engaging it’s just very kinetic and beautiful. Also my favorite battle theme in the series
Actually for the battle system it takes time to get use to it sure, but when you get fast enough (and learn that there is a repeat command which the game never tell you about for some reasons), manual inputs is actually more efficient than Auto-Battle, require more skills but imo it with the ATB Refresh makes the battle system so much more fun to play, the issue of this game is the typical Square issue, they have a great battle system but doesn't give enough challenge to push the player beyond the basics outside of self impose challenge or fighting optionnal boss earlier than intended.
I’m so glad the tide of hate for this game has passed. It was the ff that came out when I was at that key age to deeply be influenced by an FF. I had played 12 when I came out and LOVED it, but 13 was a huge event for me, and I got in trouble right before it came out and my parents made me lose video games for a week and the game just sat on the counter until the week was over. The anticipation it created, and how much I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEDDDD it the moment I finally started it, made my bond with the game like no other. The combat is so enthralling, the characters tied to my heart, and the music can bring me to tears like nothing. I so hope more people get to experience the joy of this game in the 2020’s.
Great review! You covered every aspect in great detail and even though my first entry to FF was XVI, I was old enough to know about the launch of XIII way back in early 2010 but I never knew about the fan backlash until a few years later. Also this is irrelevant but what’s the name of the ost at the start of 2:15? Btw liked and subscribed
I did enjoy the game overall. I found the combat extremely easy and very hands off. Story was ok, probably would be better if i read the story notes in the game, but im not into doing that. Beautiful game and incredible music.
I currently am playing through it at the moment. At launch, this killed my love for Final Fantasy which I wouldn’t get back till 15. I haven’t played 11, 12, or 14 to this day and I hope to give them a try at some point. Back then, I was looking for something different from Final Fantasy and this didn’t deliver nor connect with me. Present day, I’m enjoying my play through. I’m on chapter 5 and I hope to finish the Lightning trilogy.
Aaah, amazing. I just did a cover of March of the Dreadnoughts on my channel and have been super high on FF13 for the past few weeks. This video is amazing, and I'm glad you mention the music so strongly, and so early on. Awesome video!
Yeah I felt generally similar after finishing it for the first time last year. I bought it on the Xbox 360 back in the day, but gave up during the open world section (Chapter 13?) with all of the hunts. I tried to skip ahead and ignore that section, but found myself hitting a brick wall of a boss later, and wasn't able to progress. It's probably fair to say that the open world section is probably mandatory for grinding the hunts, unless you've specced your characters 'correctly'. Perhaps I was just bad at the game, I don't know, but it felt a breeze for me until that point, and I was using the role system properly too. Regardless, I found it much easier last year and finished it for the first time. I felt it was a surprisingly competent game. I didn't feel that way when I initially bought it in college, but without those expectations I had back then, I found it to be a 7/10 game for sure. Nothing bad, pretty good in fact.
Great video. Agree with everything you were saying except for the linearity because I actually like linearity to keep focused on the story. Whenever I play games like Skryim I just end up sidequesting for 20 hours or more, becoming too OP, and losing track of the story. I actually liked having shops at the save points too because I can craft and buy stuff on the fly in dungeons vs needing to go to a town FF13 is an awesome game
I grew up with it on release but i didnt understand the concept of gridning and upgrading weapons so i had a tough time and dropped the game for most of my middle and highscool years, when the game works and im switching styles smoothly for any given situation. Its just amazing feeling
I liked 13 when I played it. I still do. I'm not into the future cyberpunk aesthetic, but I did love how colorful and beautiful the world is and how much 'fantasy' was in the air.... and the music is brilliant. The story should've just ended where it ended. One of the best endings....13-2, while I did enjoy it to an extent is what made things strange for me...and it put even more cyberpunk...rip. i hate is really puzzling bc they are really superficial and just so incorrect. There's nothing wrong with linear games. The storytelling is good that this works for it (10 does this formula. People like 10. 7R also does this, which is also made by the 13 team. It's well recieved) Definitely recommend. It's one of the most if not the most beautiful FF game.
I didn't like this game much my first time through it. I thought the combat, visuals, and music were great but I had trouble getting behind the story, characters, and lore which are usually the most important elements for me when it comes to enjoying an RPG. It's been well over a decade since I last touched it but I think I want to try and give it a second chance, having matured more and experienced what's come after this title in the franchise I think I might enjoy it more this time. Still not sure if I can enjoy this lore of the game since it really feels like they kept giving it soft reboots with the premises of 13-2 and 13-3 making the events of this game seem not as important, but I think I may have been way too hard on the story and characters.
Back in 2011 I started FF13 on my PS3, and didn't finish it because my console went on the frtiz. I'm currently playing the Xbox 360 version thanks to it being backwards compatible, and I'm loving every single aspect of it, having just completed chapter 9 last night.
I’m playing number 13 right now it’s my first Final Fantasy game I’ve ever played. I research a little bit and decided to start with this one because the story sounded the most interesting and I’m not really into that old pixelated look of some older school games I think the story is pretty cool I definitely think a lot of the responses. The characters will gift or questions are really dumb or open ended and don’t really make any sense, I haven’t finished the game yet and I’m only on chapter 9 right now but I think it’s pretty all right. I really do like the fighting. I am planning on playing number 12 next more than likely because I like the style of it.
You're right at the point in 13 where the game really starts to pick up and become significantly better! So let me know how you like it after you finish it and If you enjoyed it more or if your enjoyment of it stayed the same or even if it lessened
I remember first playing this game and thinking this is how a realistic group of strangers would react to eachother in a high stress, traditional FF scenario. To this day, i still think it has more realistic character building than most FF's where everyone's buddies right away (except for 9)
One thing I tried when I got back to the game (played it on ps3 and got it on steam a few years later) was doing manual battle. And man did combat open up even more. If you time it right, you can have Lightning do just 1 attack and she can backflip away from a melee attack. Also, when the leader is not being targeted, you can spam 1 ruin and it will trigger "blindside", causing the player to move backwards, separating the leader from the rest of the group, which can prevent you from getting hurt from AOE attacks. I highly recommend it (but healing is a pain so I just use the auto command for that 😭😭😭😭😭)
Thank you for a great video. I love this game. I was no rookie to FF in 2009 as I grew up with the NES and SNES. I feel as if this game easily stands up against any FF out there
You're very based for this: the Fabula Nova Crystallis series has really setup Lightning as a great protagonist. Not only that, Lightning Returns when seeing the ending for the first time, after having done XIII-1 and 2 left me crying and wanting more.
Finished the whole trilogy of Final Fantasy 13 on 2022. It was amazing, especially the first game. The story, settings, characters, combat are really something I have not experienced in other games. Don't get me started with the music. It really is so good as this reviewer said. Btw this is my first Final Fantasy game series. I planned on playing them all, and getting their Platinum trophies. Next on the list FFXV.
Don't use autobattle to often, sometimes it's wise to use attacks manually cause Aurora for example can stop some enemies from using special attacks, there's many more benefits of manual battle
I wanted to play FF XIII ever since it launched, but I never had the opportunity due to not owning a PlayStation or a good computer when it came out on Steam to play it up until this year now that I finally bough my firs gaming computer. So, after 14 years of the game having been released. I decided to play FF XIII straight up with a difficulty mod installed, and yeah, I'm on my first 11 hours, and it has been a total gauntlet but for nearly every fight, even the easier ones, I had to paradigm shift a bunch of times and really plan out the roles of my party.
Maybe my only problem with the game story-wise is the amount of times the team goes through: Face danger > Lose hope/get sad > One suddenly becomes wise and does a hopefull speech > Team gets hyped up > Repeat. It's really distracting once you notice. It's like the writers wanted the party to feel like a family, but didn't have time to write actuall bonding moments, so they're always doubting themselves out of nowhere, so someone cheers them after a speech.
Honestly this game is beautiful. The soundtrack and art style is phenomenal. I fell in love with this game when I was in school. The battle system. My favourite after FFX turn based system. The paradigm system was super enjoyable.
Ive just replayed 13, 13-2 and (first timeplayed) LR just recently. After all, the thing that really stays with you is.... the Soundtrack. I think all 3 games combined have the best games soundtrack of all time, no exaggeration. The story is up and down, the gameplay is marmite, the grind is.... soul destroying sometimes. But the music lives on for so much longer.
Not gonna lie, I would've told people that this game want with playing back when I finished it in 2010. This game just want for me, but I enjoy seeing other perspectives and I'm glad that there are some people that enjoyed it. Great video.
I agree with all of your points, I really did enjoy FFXIII when I first played it, but I understand why a lot of people won't like it or won't even try it and it's a real shame. They should've really shortened the time it took for things to open up and the map to feel less linear. And yeah Hope and Snow are annoying and inconsistent, but I think Hope takes the cake for me, he was so annoying I wanted him out of my party, but I hate that he's just too good of a unit 🙃
The stagger system is without a doubt the best implementation of it in a FF title. The give and take of it is so well done. Doesnt feel that way at all in FF7r or FF16, those games feel more like a shield that you have to chip away, especially in 16.
an ff13 video in 2023? sign me up!
Thanks! Stay tuned for more soon!
I just start play this game and damn the CGI is gorgeous
YAAS
Just scored the platinum trophy today
Too bad you can’t play it on ps4. I have the Xbox 360 version but my Xbox broke!
it breaks my heart that so many fans disown this game. its a masterpiece to me, and I sing its praises whenever I get the chance.
I definitely agree! This is absolutely a beautiful game!
Nope still shit
No towns. No exploration simple as that
@@EAchank no getting lost and annoyed, like in the other games!
@@ryan_deakin 13-2 did it right
I'm not lying when I say this game changed my life, I bought it in a moment of hardship, and at the end I grew up loving every character and I learned something from each one of them. I dare to say is one of the best ensemble of characters in RPG
This is a wonderful game and I'm glad it's finally getting some of the recognition it deserves! Glad it helped you through a dark time!
Me too, the message of changing your fate is pretty strong
I feel the same way. every character is so good. im so happy to see that nowadays I see more and more people popping up and praising this game
This game helped me in a bad moment too!!
FACTS! Amazing game that's hated for some reason
One thing I really love about the trilogy is the mythos, it's super interesting and ambitious. Kinda made me hope Versus XIII was made to expand on the lore
The lore of this game is excellent!! I wish Versus 13 would have made it out of the development hell that it was stuck in and not be transformed to 15 (although I like 15 as well).
there is Agito, also known as type-0, but it doesn't necessarily expand the mytho so much as it gives it another take
The script was really well done. A breath of fresh air from the tired and stale presentation of retrospective videos from other creators . Keep up the good work. You got a sub
The script was well done? It bombarded you with terms and concepts in the opening hours which will not mean anything to you for several hours and you most likely have to go through the ingame Lexikon to understand some of them. You will rarely find a game which does a worse job.
@@brotbrotsen1100He was talking of the video's script.
Beside honnestly never understand that critic, I understood the story and didn't struggle understanding what the term mean, despite that I didn't read the logs sooooo yeah I don't get the issue.
This was my first Final Fantasy game. I played it in 2013. At first I hated it because I didn't really understand how to properly play and unintentionally made the game drastically harder for myself and ended up dropping it about halfway through the story. Speaking of the story I honestly didn't understand it. I was confused about most of the terms the characters were using and didn't bother reading the in-game glossary.
Fast forward to late 2014 and I found out that I could stream the game on my PS4 via PlayStation Now. I decided to give the game a second shot but this time I watched videos on how to properly play and watched a spoiler free video that explained the story and certain terms and made a point to read the in-game glossary when necessary. I ended up LOVING the game and got back to where I originally was in the story in just 3 days (took my about a week the first time around). Unfortunately the game was removed from Playstation Now so I wasn't able to finish it. But I plan on getting a Series S this year so I'll definitely be playing through the trilogy this year.
That’s an awesome journey that you’ve been through with this game! That’s very similar to my experience with it too. I picked it up in 2010 and played it on and off for about a year and then dropped it because I couldn’t get into the battle system or the story. But in 2015 I picked it back up and struggled to get through the first 1/3rd of it for about 6 months and then finished shortly after that and fell in love with the game!
I also replayed it on a Xbox series and it was great! Runs really well with no real issues. Hope you get to play it soon and finish it!
Without game guides, I wouldn't have defeated the first appearance of Barthandelus. I still don't get the story and it's a lot of lore. I mean Star Wars has lots of lore but it can be understood or at least more fun to understand.
After enduring the first 15 hours or so on PSNow, I wasn't best pleased when it was taken off before I could finish it. It took me another 8 years before I could face picking it up again and starting from scratch on PC.
I'm pleased I did, in the end, but I cancelled the PSNow subscription after that experience and will never do cloud gaming again.
play 12
Just play them on pc. No reason to get xbox just to play xiii
I genuinely LOVED this game. The battle system is so underrated. Some of the end game battles felt like action games because the speed you had to change paradigms was so fast. The amount of strategy that you could go into was actually quite deep. My only negative was the lore. I struggled to keep up with all the different terminologies. Even by the end I was like "what's a L'cie again?" 😂 overall though, this is a great game that I have replayed a few times over the years.
Yeah totally agree with all of these points!
Wait what, the terminology and lore is really not that hard to understand wdym?
@@yaknowwhoitis606 It must be an attention deficit disorder. Because I found it difficult as well. It was like there was plot missing to make me acknowledge the types. I can only hope to find a way around this issue.
The myth that the game plays itself and you can beat it by button mashing is an absolute lie. There are enemies that require quick and frantic paradigm shifting, there are enemies that require precise timing when switching to SEN SEN SEN or MED MED MED. There are enemies that require debuffs like Deprotect. There are enemies that are immune to stagger. The fact that they don't know this tells me they are noobs who played on Easy and didn't need any strategy.
The lore is actually really well done. The game logs every single piece that you need to understand, which is actually quite unheard of in heavy story games. You can simply open up the menu and read the lore
I really want some sort of Paradigm shift to be introduced in a different final fantasy game because it was SO FUN
It’s such a good battle system!! I had a blast battling in this game!
And he’s more games should do some type of battle system like this!
I never used autobattle, this is the most fast-paced battlesysteme ever if you select manually, and the soundeffects if you time your attacks is awesome
I agree!!
Yes! This is my story, I played till Pulse auto-battling, and it felt so bad that I was in the dungeon part before it running past all battles. I stopped, realized I must be doing something wrong, and started again with the goal specifically of not using auto-battle, and it was a completely different game. Even early, playing for speed, it was so much better.
I love Lightning. She's both gorgeous and a badass.
I've played through the game maybe 20 times each with different weapons and accessories. Most who play it don't realize there are weapon and accessory combos that make battles easier.
But I love Lightning. I think she's one of the best video game characters of all time and I would love to see her back in a game in some capacity.
I agree with the take on Lightning!!
Fang was my waifu. I remember playing this game when I was in college and loving her and thinking is it normal to be obsessed with a game character 😂.
I thought lightning was kinda boring until XIII-3 then i developed a crush on her 😅😅
Shes such a badass 🔥🔥
she's the best
@@bort_hill amateur, i had a crush on her before final fantasy xiii even existed
I stood in line for hours waiting for that game to be released got the strategy guide the collectors edition. I loved every second of it. Was I confused as hell about the story? Yes but like you mentioned once that padagrim system finally opened up. Oh man it was on a whole mother level of strategy. The final boss fights were pretty tuff and then going after all the hunting missions! I wonder how many people ever killed that elite adaimatum or what ever that huge dinosaur was called lol
I didn't get the game on launch, but I picked it up a couple months afterwards and I got the strategy guide with it and I hated it initially and gave up on it for several years. I came back probably 6 years later and finished it and I loved it! And yeah the final boss and the Adamantoise are very challenging which I love!
i recalled that i've watched a video about defeating whatever that huge dinosaur was.
if i remember correctly, the dinosaur was defeated pretty easily.
.. just a few rounds of Paradigm Shift.
About 1:40 to kill a basic toise. The long gui and baby gui are tougher imo
My first final fantasy game. So much nostalgia just exploring the pretty world. The cut scenes were epic too.
it's a great game!!
Exploring a hallway with nothing in it is so amazing!
Hey it’s my first Final Fantasy game too.
Final fantasy 13 is my fav ff game of all time. It connected with me on an emotional level and helped through my depression for 3 months😊
Glad that you love the game like so many of us do and glad it got you through a rough time!! ❤️
Same here, the developer poured their souls into this game.
13-3 is the best one. The second one was kinda meh
ff13 gave me depression it was so bad
@@ahabgaddis7277 your despicable making jokes of people's depression no wonder no 1 likes you or watches you
FF13 was my very first Final Fantasy and I loved it. I was so very very confused about the story, but I loved the music, the stunning visuals, and the combat as well. I never finished the game bc I never understood the paradigm shift mechanic and like you, I don’t need too until I hit chapter 11. I picked up 13-2 some time after and loved it even more. I’m a sucker for monster capture systems. Overall, I enjoyed the game and watching your video made me wonder if it’s time to finally go back and beat it.
Thank you!! And yeah I think it’s time to go back! The very end of this game is very good!
Beat it.
Use the SEN, it fuckin rocks late game. 3 sentinel will save your ass late game.
Bro get back into the game and finish it. The paradigm shift is way better to use after chap 11 where it’s fully expanded. The basic when fighting is stagger monster-->do a lot of damage. This guys explains the whole mechanics. Try to understand the vid and give the game a go again
As far as Final Fantasy games go, this is one of my favorites. Not to say it didn't have issues. By God, it had so many issues. But, in terms of favorites, its sequel is actually the one I like the most. 13-2 gets rid of most of the linearity, its music slaps, and though the story was even more convoluted than 13 (time travel of all things?), I was willing to put up with it so long as I had Plains of Eternity blasting in the background. Plus battling and collecting monsters brought me back to my Pokemon roots and the game's need to give you things to find managed to be both intriguing and tedious at the exact same time (looking at you, graviton cores). All in all, I really loved the video, and I'd very much like to see your opinion on FF 13-2.
FF13 is wonderful and I can’t wait to play through FF13-2!
13-2 gets rid of mostly anything, no? the paradigm fights become absolutely weird with mostly 2 characters. the story is basically a blackbox, you just jump into random time points, you dont get to bond with serah and the other guy either, unlike the first game... im really curious why you would prefer 13-2 over 13 D:
Finally good FFXIII takes, 13 imo has the best atb combat of the whole series n they even do a lot to try and teach players even before it opens up wit the eidolon fights.
This battle system is wonderful!!
Final fantasy 7 remake has better at combat
@@mystertom100just play the original lol
I do like the Crystarium system for increasing stats and gaining new abilities. I was initially thrown off on first play through by the lack of a traditional experience points building up to a level up system (like Kingdom Hearts and FFXV use), but capping how far you can upgrade the roles each character has based on what point in the story you’re at is a good compromise for not making the characters overpowered and only fully unlocking it by finishing the story. The weapon upgrade system could have done with more help ingame though.
Absolutely agree with all of this!
What a great video, you definitely addressed both the critiques and praises of the game in a digestible format. It definitely touches on the more broad things that I feel people overlooked about the game.
I love this trilogy but I can see why it may have put some folks off especially if you've played the other FFs first, namely 10 and 12. I always think that if this game didn't have "Final Fantasy" attached to it, then it probably would have done much better or at least been given more of a chance. (Something like the Last Story for Wii, which is also another great game from the creator of the original FF and the composer of FF7)
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on FFXIII-2 or any other FF games!
Only one major problem here...
You only have 10 subs at the time of my watching, I will gladly be number 11 😤
Thank you so much Therius!! I’m glad that you enjoyed the video and I appreciate the sub!! FF13 gets a lot of hate but I wanted to voice out my opinion on it for people like us that love it.
I’ll definitely be making more videos on different FF titles but I’m thinking about doing a few more interesting videos on FF13 as well. So I’ll have more videos out soon!
And again thanks for the support!
This is hands down one of my top 3 FF games and I agree, a lot of people are/were turned off by that opening section and missed out on the paradigm system in all its glory.
Yeah it’s in the same spot for me as well!!
My third favorite FF game! Always fun to discover new people who like the game
It's a wonderful game! And thanks for the comment! What's number 1 and 2 for you?
I got this game yesterday and I spent around 5 hours in it and I am enjoying it! Good job on this video it really sums everything up. can't wait for your next vid!!
Thank you so much and glad to hear you’re having fun with it!! And more videos to come soon!!
I'm VERY much here for your video. It's one of my Fav FFs of ALL time (I'm 40). What you said about the soundtrack makes me smile ear to ear because, I too listen to it in my free time and consider it one of the best FF soundtracks. Great video, great game. Most underrated FF title.
Thank you!! And Amen to that!! The music is wonderful and I listen to it in my free time as well!
I absolutely love Final Fantasy 13. It's a little more linear than I'd like it to be, but it doesn't take away the amazing-ness of the title. The story is beautiful. Characters are great! Hell, my first couple's cosplay was myself as Serah and my partner as Snow
That's awesome!! and I absolutely agree with all of these takes!
Always a fan of underdog games. The big draw for me to consider this game is that it’s a trilogy. Being able to play a large narrative over several games resonates with me.
If you haven’t played it give it a shot!!
Then you will love Legend of Heroes, it has a huge narrative still going for 12 games since Trails in the Sky.
@@feiwong3634 I have tried so hard to get in to this series, but for various reasons I just haven't been able to. I mean, I own the first 6 games, but never got further than the first mission in Trails in the Sky 1 and a hefty amount of time in the first of the second series that's eluding me at the moment. You're right: this series on paper should totally do it for me.
I'd actually agrue that the combat system is better when you do a mix of auto battle and manual entry. I'd reccommend starting with manually entering aoe moves like blitz and the higher level spells while targetting the enemies closest to the middle of the group. Then switching to auto battle once either enemies spread out a bit more or you only have 2 left. I find this to be faster and more enjoyable since I actually have to do more than press 1 button and wait. Also getting a good idea of how much your healing spells heal is very important so you don't over heal because you can cancel actions that have yet to be performed and keep the progress on your ATB guage. Making a switch to healing and throw out 2 or 3 heals then switching back to your damage paradigms is also very useful. None of this is necessary but i find it to be more enjoyable and makes the end game alot easier.
That’s a good point! I’ll have to try it out!!
I fucking love FF13's battle system and there are so many little optimisations you can make right from the beginning of the game. Things like, targeting the best enemy for an AOE move and timing it right, and knowing when it's worth attacking without fully filling ATB. And as soon as you get paradigms you can start taking advantage of ATB refreshes to deal more damage or quickly stagger enemies way faster. People also neglect TP moves like quake that can be used to keep stagger gauges up (particularly useful with pre-emptive strikes on large groups). And one of my favourite things to do as Sazh is abuse his blitz move against larger enemies to deal way more damage than regular attacks would.
There are so many quirks and bits of tech to make use of, but admittedly because it's such a unique system I think most players won't necessarily take advantage of them, which is a massive shame.
Talking about this game in 2023 makes me so nostalgic... I bought FF13 when I was 17 and in a very depressive and dark phase of my life. Playing this game, gave me so much as a teenage girl.
I was already a big FF fan then and still am today. Next to FF10 and FF7, FF13 has a very special place in my heart.
I love the music so much and still listen to it nowadays. The design of the world and of the characters is mesmerizing even for a game that came out in 2009.
And I really liked the journey of the story. There is something about it that is so unique. Yes, many things also bothered me, such as individual characters (yeah SNOW, Hope, Vanille, and even Lightning sometimes even though she is my favorite character). Also, the battles and the leveling up were tedious as hell but still, I enjoyed everything about the game.
It surely felt like a journey for me and seeing these characters struggling and fighting against destiny is just so important to witness!! As a player, you see things differently once certain aspects of the game impact your heart. Thanks for bringing back these memories. 💗
Absolutely!! Thank you for your time!! I'm glad this game impacted you so positively in a tough time!!
This game has a massive place in my heart, I watched my mom play this game and played it myself, and the music sort if rented part of my brain to itself and paid for lost Odyssey's room next door. Its so good and i love it.
I'm so glad to find people loving this game. I've loved it since release. I played it twice in a row, something I only ever did with 7 and 9 at release.
That’s awesome!! And yeah I think a lot more people love this game than you’d think.
It is trust me
Agreed!
My two biggest problems with FFXIII is:
1. the story isn't presented well at all and is mostly in the datalogs, not a huge problem for me personally since my top two favorite games of all time are long JRPGS that aren't voiced (Sora No Kiseki FC and SC) though FFXIII does just lazily throw most of the interesting worldbuilding in its datalogs.
2. You only get the full combat system in chapter 9, which is criminal since FFXIII has the best combat system in any FF in my opinion (though, there's still some cool stuff you can do really early on, stuff like ATB refresh, Paradigm shifting when your party leader is in the air to skip the animation that happens the first time you shift in every battle, Sazh's blitz and probably some more stuff I'm forgetting.)
And my third slightly smaller gripe is that the localization is really bad in FFXIII.
All in all I enjoyed the video, though I felt it could've been a bit longer since some parts felt a little rushed, like the OST part, you could've let blinded by the light get to the actually good part but I assume you cut it short so as not to get smited by squeenix.
Thank you for comment! Yeah I totally agree with those points, it's a shame that most of the story is really behind datalogs, is told very poorly, and that the localization is very bad as well. I know that several cutscences have complete different meanings in Japanese. Also, the battle system is absolutely the best in the series but it takes too long to open up. But, once it does it's great!
And yeah, I cut the music bits short and used various different tracks because of potential copyright issues lol
Thank you for speaking well of my childhood haha❤
I was about 10 years old when my father took me to the gamestop to buy a game. He said: "a game within this amount of money" I don't remember exactly how much now but I think it was about twenty euros, as a little experienced child I was very impressed by the cover of final Fantasy xiii but at the same time I loved the cover of catherine (thank god I didn’t choose that one at the time, who knows understands that it wasn't really a game for children) but in the end i chosen ff. I had no idea of how to play the game properly since the games I played before were the sims, various tomb raiders, the prince of persia etc so in short titles quite different genres from ff. I remember that even in those titles I was stuck so many times in parts that if played again now are very easy , but ff xiii had all my willpower as a child I’ve been stuck at least 100 times I freaked out so many times in beating the bosses because I couldn't and after hours of attempts ,if I kept losing, I started looking for the walkthroughs of the game managing somehow to play around 9/10 chapter arriving in barthendeus or whatever it was called boss, and that’s where i got stuck in a definitive way when i was a kid hahah, I tried again to do it recently and damn it I didn't remember it so complicated that damn thing. I remember that I was amazed by the realism and graphics of the game, that for being a 2009 game it was stunning and still is visually remarkable in my opinion today. I also loved many characters and I loved the fact that for a part of the game I had the characters divided into small teams, I loved the team with Hope and Lightning where she was a bit like a "mom”, there was even a chapter dedicated on Hope’s personal growth were he was like put on charge to become more brave and strong? I don't remember the plot well but it should be something similar but anyway I really appreciated the growth of his character so much. It was also very nice the duo of Sazh and Vanille both very comical characters who in my opinion were a very good combination. Maybe as a child I was kind of sad cause I wanted to play more with Snow alone because I remember the difficulty in beating shiva but it was damn inspiring I remember perfectly that I finally beat her one morning before school and that says it all 😂
I also think that playing Snow solo fits his character better ngl.
But yeah, it made sense why they didn't do it. There’s no need to talk about the world to be honest, full of such different and detailed environments were magic for my eyes. The characterisation of each map was nothin but mesmerizing and I loved using chocobo in areas where you had some open world gameplay.
Thank you for this review that made me want to play it again 😂
Thank you for watching the video! And yeah I agree with all of various different praises of the game that you make! I hope you get to play it again and enjoy it all over again!
@@thechance-lore4711 thank u for reading all the comment hahahaha
After I sent it I realized how long it was.
And don't worry I think I'll play it soon since i still have my old working ps3 and the game
Of course! it was a good comment! and great! hope you have a good time with it!
Honestly everything prior to I'd say the first Barthandalus fight and everything past him might as well be two different games for how wildly my enjoyment swung around.
When I first played this game I was just walking forward, mashing X and getting mad whenever that failed. I got up to the first Bart fight and got repeatedly destroyed by what I now consider the first boss in the game to put up a fight. I tried a few more times, didn't manage to beat him, and ended up dropping the game for roughly half a year because "whatever's past him couldn't be good enough to justify this". I was basically fully on team hater at this point.
I came back to it later since I was a highschooler with nothing else to play, did the grinding needed to get my stats up to a point where Bart was actually fightable, beat him, and found myself kind of enjoying the next chapter(I love the Cid fight especially). Then I hit Gran Pulse and good lord I could barely put the game down. Between having every character, having access to every role on every character, more or less having the full crystarium, having frankly a ridiculous amount of hunts just dumped into my lap, I was well and truly hooked.
I then went back in for a second run, this time not allowing myself to upgrade my weapons, rather choosing to play around with the passives on your gear(since run number 1 I basically just crafted obscene stat-stick weapons on certain characters super early and thought they'd carry me forever). It was potentially the most fun playthrough I had of any game in the series, mixing and matching gear for bonus effects it can trigger, popping specific weapons onto my characters because their passives are beneficial against specific foes.
I actually had a very similar experience with dropping the game at first and hating it and then picking it up years later and making myself playthrough the whole game and I'd say around Chapter 11 I just fell in love with it and it became one of my favorite games!
And yeah this game is also very very deep with the battle mechanics but it's very approachable as well which is great!
I totally agree, I love the battlesystems and the story. A great game in my opinion.
Amen!!!
This is one of the most underrated FF titles, I don't mind linearity at all. I absolutely love the music (I listen to it a lot) and battle system.
Amen! I love all of those!
Best battle system , fast and dynamic .
This soundtrack was on repeat when I was in middle school. I was a huge orchestra nerd so all the strings always intrigued me. I started playing this game again and have been loving it! Especially now that I understand it more with my adult brain.
The soundtrack is amazing!! And glad that you still love it!
My main complaint about the paradigm shift besides how long it takes to let you play it fully, is that the single leader thing was badly done in some aspects. For example: the leader ALWAYS drew aggro, which meant being the leader as squishy characters like Vanille and Sahz was a pain and you often got game'd over because the game made that leader die = game end, which was stupid. Vanille and Sahz were incredible buffers/debuffers and having control over their actions was much better than leaving the AI to decide, but you could never do it because you would normally die.
Also, Summon was only available to be used by the leader, so you had an array of summons you would rarely use because, again, the leader gets aggro-ed and you die. So most of the time you would summon Odin or Bahamut because the best leaders were the commando and ravagers who had the vit and HP to handle the aggro.
Other than that, best system SE invented. GReat mix of semi action, RPG and gambit system.
I totally agree!! Hope they remaster and put these changes in!
it wasnt even worth playing on release for me xD probably the worst main entry of ff
haha fair enough! Not for everyone
no, it's not
Fair enough lol not for everyone
Do you mean to say that you want to play games that are fun and not hallway simulators with nothing to do?
With regards to combat and auto-battle, I'd also like to add that while the game is mostly playable by using auto-battle, the game actually rewards entering commands manually if you know what you're doing. For example, Sazh spamming Blitz can be better dps than him using Attack if you're fighting a large enough target due to the unique way his Blitz functions, and Lightning's Attack command can be better DPS than using Ruin on a specific ranged boss during the story - auto-battle will usually pick Ruin iirc, due to it doing more damage per attack, but the attack animation for her attack in that battle is so fast that it's higher dps in practice.
Another, much more applicable optimization, is that auto-battle will often alternate between a spell and an attack. This is especially common in XIII-2. The issue with this is that there is a significant animation delay when a character swaps between attacking and casting, so your whole turn can take almost twice as long if you let auto-battle handle it. This is less of an issue when an enemy is more resistant to one type of damage, as auto-battle will choose only one type of action, but if they're equally vulnerable to both and your character has balanced stats, this is a big issue.
The game heavily rewards knowing the game well, and that's awesome, but most people will never encounter these nuances because the game never encourages you to do it, so you'll usually only find this stuff out very late in the game, often from guides written by other players.
These are some good and fair points!!
I picked this one up because I found it cheap at a hobby store and the case looked cool and all holographic, plus I wanted to break into FF. I’m only at chapter four and I’m enjoying it so far!
That’s awesome!! Stick with it and let me know what you think!
I loved this game! I only have figures of two Final Fantasy characters. One is Aerith in her red dress (pretty recent), and the other is Lightning.
That’s awesome! I love this game too!
Played on Xbox360 long time ago, sadly people hated it cause was not open world and too much tutorials. As a dungeon crawler was fun as hell, and the race cinematic I found up epic till this day.
Yeah it was a great experience!
Laughing bc same I’ll never forget that moment when they burst in and the Orion robot gets close to Hopes face.
Completed the Story today after 13 Years❤
Thank You for the Video❤
Absolutely!! Thank you for watching!! ❤️
I remember getting the midnight release for this game. Couldn't stop playing it.
That’s awesome!!
I love replaying this game every now and then. Actually gonna start another play through in a couple minutes! I enjoy that there's a lot of ways to play the game. It's heavily story oriented but the characters are so well done
Thanks, enjoyed your summary, and subbed. It would be awesome if we could eventually get some remasters of the 13 series for PS5, etc! This series is special if you actually let yourself experience it!
Thank you so much!! Absolutely couldn't agree with you more!! I hope we get some remasters soon!!
Other than FF16, which I’ll get into on my birthday next week, I’d say the eventual FF13/13-2 remaster is the game I’m looking forward to most.
I’ve been playing FF16 and it’s great so next week should be fun for you! And I hope they remaster these too
tbh the autobattle doesn't even always pick the best option
it only takes into consideration buffs and damage resistance, not your character's stats
If an enemy is weak to water and you have both Water and Aquastrike, but your character has higher strength than magic, it will still try to use both despite Aquastrike doing more damage because of how your character is set up
autobattle can get you through the game but it will never be the best option
and that's not even taking into account roles such as Synergist or Sabateur where sometimes autobattle will simply try to apply all buffs/debuffs that it can instead of what you want, which is another reason not to use autobattle
That’s a good point!
Just finished playing ff16 and I can say this from all the main ff titles 13 by far is my favourite and I agree with everything you said about the game. 13 years later and it still looks and plays beautifully
That’s awesome!! 13 is a wonderful game!
I feel if they re-released the entire XIII trilogy as a remastered definitive collection, I would give these games a lot more time than I did back then. I feel now I would just have no expectation for these games vs me back then, so I'd probably be more up for just enjoying the games for what they are.
Absolutely agree!!
Great keep on going bro, I’m 34 and I’m just starting content creating as well. I’m on Tik Tok but will be on Twitch and YT from there.
But good luck 🤞🏻🎉
Thank you! You as well!!
I've been revisiting the franchise and am now up to FF 13-2 so FF13 is very fresh to me.
I totally get why people knock this game or even outright hate it...but in my revisit of the franchise its sitting at number 1. I absolutely love the WWE style party drama that make up the first 9 chapters. The game then opens up build options and combat progression while backing off story and in doing so it becomes my favorite combat system in the entire franchise. The characters are iconic to me but so are many in the franchise as a whole.
This is also a game that just plays wonderfully with my modern gaming sensibilities of a dual monitor setup for podcasts and shows. Its excellent for playing for 15 minutes...getting a nice little story chunk and then 15 more minutes and repeat. Perfect flow of demanding your attention for a while but letting you enjoy a zen experience for a nice little chunk. This aspect paints my opinion of FF13 a LOT because in a vacuum, if I had to rank FF games on their own played without any other distractions there is no way I'd rank this game number 1 anymore. Games like FF6 and FF4 would quickly rise to the top in that case. But that's not PC gaming for me in 2023 and I suspect its not PC gaming for many of us.
Edit: I HATED FF13-2 back in the day and I can safely say that I still absolutely hate that game now on this revisit. Its bottom 3 in the franchise for me.
That's a really good point about the Zen experience! As I was playing through the game again for this video I noticed that I would watch a video on my phone or on a secondary monitor or listen to a podcast in between major story chunks and I really enjoyed that playthrough
This was my first final fantasy game on the PS3. It isn’t my favorites but I definitely hold a special place in my heart of the trilogy. This game got me into JRPs and RPGs. I love the characters and the soundtrack. Good video!
Thank you so much and I'm glad that you love the game!
I first played this game in 2019. It deserves more credit, in my opinion. I should make some time to replay it.
Totally agree!!
Great video. I agree on most points. I appreciate the fact that you talk fast because I dislike slow-talking RUclipsrs
Thank you!!
The linearity in FF13 would have been fine if the gameplay actually switched it up, but it didn't. FFX works because you're going from battles to puzzles to towns to blitzball and that sort of thing, so it doesn't feel like you're doing any one thing for too long. FF13 is pretty much walk forward, find hidden sphere chest and do boring battles for 20 hours until the combat system opens up later on in the game. It wouldn't have taken much to fix this - just add some puzzles and add more depth to the towns.
There are some areas in FF13 that are just LONG and very samey, where the corridors really do feel like they are copy-paste from others that you just passed through. That's also a problem.
Fair points!
FF13 is good, it's flagship to SE's Crystal Tools, my only complaint of the game is that later in game you realize that you're playing a movie instead of actual RPG, even every fight is predetermined from how your paradigm setup was, it's good during its time of release
Very fair take!!
I gotta say that the main theme (Serah's song) is an amazing welcome to the whole experience.
The main theme is wonderful!
I loved 13 even though it’s linear or controversial
Amen to that!!
Thanks for defending the battle system, besides actually being very engaging it’s just very kinetic and beautiful. Also my favorite battle theme in the series
Of course!! And yeah it’s wonderful and fluid! And the music is great as well!!
Actually for the battle system it takes time to get use to it sure, but when you get fast enough (and learn that there is a repeat command which the game never tell you about for some reasons), manual inputs is actually more efficient than Auto-Battle, require more skills but imo it with the ATB Refresh makes the battle system so much more fun to play, the issue of this game is the typical Square issue, they have a great battle system but doesn't give enough challenge to push the player beyond the basics outside of self impose challenge or fighting optionnal boss earlier than intended.
That’s fair!!
I’m so glad the tide of hate for this game has passed. It was the ff that came out when I was at that key age to deeply be influenced by an FF. I had played 12 when I came out and LOVED it, but 13 was a huge event for me, and I got in trouble right before it came out and my parents made me lose video games for a week and the game just sat on the counter until the week was over. The anticipation it created, and how much I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEDDDD it the moment I finally started it, made my bond with the game like no other. The combat is so enthralling, the characters tied to my heart, and the music can bring me to tears like nothing. I so hope more people get to experience the joy of this game in the 2020’s.
I’m glad that you loved the game and yeah I totally agree!!
Great review! You covered every aspect in great detail and even though my first entry to FF was XVI, I was old enough to know about the launch of XIII way back in early 2010 but I never knew about the fan backlash until a few years later. Also this is irrelevant but what’s the name of the ost at the start of 2:15?
Btw liked and subscribed
Thank you so much!! And the OST is Fangs Theme!
I did enjoy the game overall. I found the combat extremely easy and very hands off. Story was ok, probably would be better if i read the story notes in the game, but im not into doing that. Beautiful game and incredible music.
That’s fair! It’s definitely not for everyone but I’m glad you found aspects of it enjoyable
I currently am playing through it at the moment.
At launch, this killed my love for Final Fantasy which I wouldn’t get back till 15. I haven’t played 11, 12, or 14 to this day and I hope to give them a try at some point.
Back then, I was looking for something different from Final Fantasy and this didn’t deliver nor connect with me.
Present day, I’m enjoying my play through. I’m on chapter 5 and I hope to finish the Lightning trilogy.
Stick with it!! It gets a lot better in the later 1/3
@@thechance-lore4711 I plan on it! I’m hooked! I actually yearn to play it every chance I get.
I can’t take anyone seriously if they say FF13 was a bad game.
FF13 is a masterpiece and has replay value.
Totally agree!!
Aaah, amazing. I just did a cover of March of the Dreadnoughts on my channel and have been super high on FF13 for the past few weeks. This video is amazing, and I'm glad you mention the music so strongly, and so early on. Awesome video!
Thank you so much!!
Yeah I felt generally similar after finishing it for the first time last year.
I bought it on the Xbox 360 back in the day, but gave up during the open world section (Chapter 13?) with all of the hunts.
I tried to skip ahead and ignore that section, but found myself hitting a brick wall of a boss later, and wasn't able to progress.
It's probably fair to say that the open world section is probably mandatory for grinding the hunts, unless you've specced your characters 'correctly'.
Perhaps I was just bad at the game, I don't know, but it felt a breeze for me until that point, and I was using the role system properly too.
Regardless, I found it much easier last year and finished it for the first time. I felt it was a surprisingly competent game.
I didn't feel that way when I initially bought it in college, but without those expectations I had back then, I found it to be a 7/10 game for sure. Nothing bad, pretty good in fact.
This was my 1st final fantasy and despite the flaws, I loved it!!! Introduced me to the world of final fantasy games.
That's awesome!! glad you had a good experience with it!
Great video. Agree with everything you were saying except for the linearity because I actually like linearity to keep focused on the story. Whenever I play games like Skryim I just end up sidequesting for 20 hours or more, becoming too OP, and losing track of the story. I actually liked having shops at the save points too because I can craft and buy stuff on the fly in dungeons vs needing to go to a town
FF13 is an awesome game
That’s a really good point! And thank you! Glad you enjoyed the video!
@@thechance-lore4711 I could have sworn my comment was much longer than this 🤔 ah anyway whatever
FF XIII is love the whole trilogy is awsome
I agree! Best final fantasy games!
I grew up with it on release but i didnt understand the concept of gridning and upgrading weapons so i had a tough time and dropped the game for most of my middle and highscool years, when the game works and im switching styles smoothly for any given situation. Its just amazing feeling
It's a tough one to get into, but if you do, I think you'll find it to be very rewarding!
I loved this game. The weapons development system was the real grind.
I did too! And yeah I agree
I liked 13 when I played it. I still do. I'm not into the future cyberpunk aesthetic, but I did love how colorful and beautiful the world is and how much 'fantasy' was in the air.... and the music is brilliant. The story should've just ended where it ended. One of the best endings....13-2, while I did enjoy it to an extent is what made things strange for me...and it put even more cyberpunk...rip. i hate is really puzzling bc they are really superficial and just so incorrect. There's nothing wrong with linear games. The storytelling is good that this works for it (10 does this formula. People like 10. 7R also does this, which is also made by the 13 team. It's well recieved)
Definitely recommend. It's one of the most if not the most beautiful FF game.
Absolutely agree with a bunch of these takes!
Agree I’m playing through 13-2 on the Xbox and they just made complex story much more complex with time travel and paradigm shifts.
I didn't like this game much my first time through it. I thought the combat, visuals, and music were great but I had trouble getting behind the story, characters, and lore which are usually the most important elements for me when it comes to enjoying an RPG. It's been well over a decade since I last touched it but I think I want to try and give it a second chance, having matured more and experienced what's come after this title in the franchise I think I might enjoy it more this time. Still not sure if I can enjoy this lore of the game since it really feels like they kept giving it soft reboots with the premises of 13-2 and 13-3 making the events of this game seem not as important, but I think I may have been way too hard on the story and characters.
That’s how I was initially and when I replayed it I enjoyed it much more!
I just came here to comment that RUclips recommended this to me *13 days* after it was uploaded and I find that a lil' spooky.
Yeah that’s very “timely” haha
I loved this game. Once the crystarium and map open I found it way more interesting and fun
Totally agree!!
Back in 2011 I started FF13 on my PS3, and didn't finish it because my console went on the frtiz. I'm currently playing the Xbox 360 version thanks to it being backwards compatible, and I'm loving every single aspect of it, having just completed chapter 9 last night.
That's awesome!! I'm glad you're enjoying it!!
I think one of my favorite characters in this game was in fact Snow. Snow and Lightning were by far my two favorite characters.
Totally fair!!
Music brings tears to my eyes. Bought thia game the DAY it came out. Got my 360 setup just to play all over.
The music is amazing!!
I’m playing number 13 right now it’s my first Final Fantasy game I’ve ever played. I research a little bit and decided to start with this one because the story sounded the most interesting and I’m not really into that old pixelated look of some older school games I think the story is pretty cool I definitely think a lot of the responses. The characters will gift or questions are really dumb or open ended and don’t really make any sense, I haven’t finished the game yet and I’m only on chapter 9 right now but I think it’s pretty all right. I really do like the fighting. I am planning on playing number 12 next more than likely because I like the style of it.
You're right at the point in 13 where the game really starts to pick up and become significantly better! So let me know how you like it after you finish it and If you enjoyed it more or if your enjoyment of it stayed the same or even if it lessened
This game blew my mind!!
They absolutely COOKED!! 🔥
Totally agree!!
I remember first playing this game and thinking this is how a realistic group of strangers would react to eachother in a high stress, traditional FF scenario.
To this day, i still think it has more realistic character building than most FF's where everyone's buddies right away (except for 9)
Totally agree!
Honestly one of my favorite Final Fantasy games of all time, all the hate it gets is so weird to me.
Agreed!!
One thing I tried when I got back to the game (played it on ps3 and got it on steam a few years later) was doing manual battle. And man did combat open up even more. If you time it right, you can have Lightning do just 1 attack and she can backflip away from a melee attack. Also, when the leader is not being targeted, you can spam 1 ruin and it will trigger "blindside", causing the player to move backwards, separating the leader from the rest of the group, which can prevent you from getting hurt from AOE attacks. I highly recommend it (but healing is a pain so I just use the auto command for that 😭😭😭😭😭)
That's really good advice!! Thank you!!
Thank you for a great video. I love this game. I was no rookie to FF in 2009 as I grew up with the NES and SNES. I feel as if this game easily stands up against any FF out there
Thank you so much!! And I totally agree!
You're very based for this: the Fabula Nova Crystallis series has really setup Lightning as a great protagonist. Not only that, Lightning Returns when seeing the ending for the first time, after having done XIII-1 and 2 left me crying and wanting more.
Thank you!!
I put it down after 15h because i was quite bored by the characters and the combat system, but after your video I might give it another try soon
You should!!
Finished the whole trilogy of Final Fantasy 13 on 2022. It was amazing, especially the first game. The story, settings, characters, combat are really something I have not experienced in other games. Don't get me started with the music. It really is so good as this reviewer said.
Btw this is my first Final Fantasy game series. I planned on playing them all, and getting their Platinum trophies. Next on the list FFXV.
Absolutely agree with this!! And good luck with the platinum trophy hunting, you got it!
Don't use autobattle to often, sometimes it's wise to use attacks manually cause Aurora for example can stop some enemies from using special attacks, there's many more benefits of manual battle
that's fair!
I wanted to play FF XIII ever since it launched, but I never had the opportunity due to not owning a PlayStation or a good computer when it came out on Steam to play it up until this year now that I finally bough my firs gaming computer. So, after 14 years of the game having been released. I decided to play FF XIII straight up with a difficulty mod installed, and yeah, I'm on my first 11 hours, and it has been a total gauntlet but for nearly every fight, even the easier ones, I had to paradigm shift a bunch of times and really plan out the roles of my party.
That’s awesome that you finally got the chance to play it!!
FF13 is not super great for RPG enthusiasts but I liked it because I played this when I was a wee impressionable lad.
Yeah I’d have to agree! I played when I was young too but I’m telling you this battle system and world design is great! Lol
Just recently started this game about a week ago and I’m really enjoying it so far
That’s awesome!!
Maybe my only problem with the game story-wise is the amount of times the team goes through: Face danger > Lose hope/get sad > One suddenly becomes wise and does a hopefull speech > Team gets hyped up > Repeat.
It's really distracting once you notice. It's like the writers wanted the party to feel like a family, but didn't have time to write actuall bonding moments, so they're always doubting themselves out of nowhere, so someone cheers them after a speech.
That’s a good point!! And yeah I could see that for sure!
Honestly this game is beautiful. The soundtrack and art style is phenomenal. I fell in love with this game when I was in school. The battle system. My favourite after FFX turn based system. The paradigm system was super enjoyable.
Totally agree and I'm glad that you love it like I do!!!
It was my first Final Fantasy and still my favourite Final Fantasy! I love FFXIII-2 the most
It's a wonderful title!!
Ive just replayed 13, 13-2 and (first timeplayed) LR just recently. After all, the thing that really stays with you is.... the Soundtrack. I think all 3 games combined have the best games soundtrack of all time, no exaggeration. The story is up and down, the gameplay is marmite, the grind is.... soul destroying sometimes. But the music lives on for so much longer.
I can't agree more with the music! It's outstanding!
Not gonna lie, I would've told people that this game want with playing back when I finished it in 2010. This game just want for me, but I enjoy seeing other perspectives and I'm glad that there are some people that enjoyed it. Great video.
Sad it's not for you, but glad you have this perspective on it!
I agree with all of your points, I really did enjoy FFXIII when I first played it, but I understand why a lot of people won't like it or won't even try it and it's a real shame. They should've really shortened the time it took for things to open up and the map to feel less linear.
And yeah Hope and Snow are annoying and inconsistent, but I think Hope takes the cake for me, he was so annoying I wanted him out of my party, but I hate that he's just too good of a unit 🙃
Absolutely agree with all of this!
The stagger system is without a doubt the best implementation of it in a FF title. The give and take of it is so well done. Doesnt feel that way at all in FF7r or FF16, those games feel more like a shield that you have to chip away, especially in 16.
Totally agree!!