Lightning Returns Reviews Thread

Vivi-Gamer

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Hello, It's been some time sicne I have been here but I wanted to post my initial review of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, I didn't see a thread for this so pardon me If I have made a mistake:

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review (01/03/2014):
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So having completed the game finally, I am here to give my full review on the game and see if it lives up to the end of the Final Fantasy XIII Saga. For this review I will be avoiding spoilers, however I will be mentioning about one specific side quest but has no involvement of the story. Though I shall be mentioning a few story arcs of Final Fantasy XIII-2. If this concerns you, skip the story section below.

Story:
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So the premise of this game is the follow up to Final Fantasy XIII-2, Which at it’s conclusion left the world in a state of timeless Limbo. It is now 500 years later, but the people of the world have no age and Lightning has awoken from her rest. Now Lightning is a servant under the might God Bhunivelze, who asks a task of Lightning. She is to go across the world and save the souls of this planet in hope of them being reborn in a new world Bhunivelze is to create. The God offers Lightning the chance of saving her sister Serah’s life in complying, so she does.

That is the basic premise which is introduced at the beginning of the game and I shall not mention any more on the detail of content. As a fan of the series and one who has followed the story since the first game, I can say I enjoyed the story. There are some brilliant moments in this game which equal the series finest, as for the conclusion... Well it is satisfying but a little over the top in my opinion.

Gameplay – Structure:
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Lightning Returns has a very different structure from its predecessors. Firstly there is a time limit as the world is set to end in 13 days. A lot of the games structure revolves around this. A day consists of a 24 hours period starting from 6am and each minute of the in-game clock is equal to about 3 seconds of our time. This is something which has persistently on my mind whilst playing, though I never saw this as a hindrance. I just found myself managing my time in an efficient manner. The map offers you a map that you can access and pin point where objectives are, which is something I did for a lot of my time on the game.

As I mentioned before Lightning’s objective is to save the souls of this world in hope of them being reborn on this new world. So the majority of the gameplay is focused on this. To save a soul you have to invest your time into doing side missions – Which are the generic JRPG fetch quest missions. The thing is, this is what will take up the majority of our time in the game, they’ve tried to add little stories within them to make them interesting, but I simply never cared for them and was just rushing to get them done in time. The thing is these side-quests are mandatory as in Lightning Returns you do not get experience from battles, you gain stat boosts from completing these side quests, so you will need to participate in them to make Lightning more powerful. This is one of my main problems with the game, as I simply did not care for these side-quests and it began to felt like baggage.

The game then has Main Quests, which progress the story and were in my opinion much more interesting. They played out similar to the side-quests but had much more interesting scenarios and when you would occasionally meet an a character from the previous games, these moments are what made the game for me. I won’t go into detail in what they involve but I certainly enjoyed these more than the side-quests. One thing I will mention though is that the boss encounters of this game are VERY difficult, my first boss encounter I was hanging on for a good 40 mintues being defensive, you can tackle the main missions at your own pace, but it is highly recommended you clear many siequests before taking them on.

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(Expect a lot of these)

The World in Lightning Returns is lovely in detail. The 4 main regions of the game are satisfying in scale and very diverse. You have two cityscapes and two landscapes, the landscapes being a desert and forest/grassland area. It can be really pleasent to stroll through these areas. As for the cityscapes both feel covered in culture of the in-game lore and are very different in tone. There are also a lot of people to talk to and events which happen through out the day, so there is a lot to find on your travels and the regions are a joy to explore. I spent a good 70 hours in the game and they never got tiresome. It was also nice to see the world presented by its own in game clock – certain events happening at certain times and how different each area is from day to night. The places felt very grounded and great to spend my time in. The worlds also feature many shops where you can buy items, weapons or inns to rest up and past time if you need to.

Gameplay - Battle Mechanics:
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The combat in Lightning Returns is very different from before but also has similarities to make it accessible to anyone familiar with the previous games combat. Firstly, you only have Lightning in battle, so that is a major difference to start with. In battle you have 3 classes overall to which you can assign 12 attacks. There is a huge sense of strategy involved in these battles, you really have to be weary of the enemies you may encounter in the environment and apply you 12 commands accordingly. The game also has an ATB system where you commands take up points on a bar and if you run out you will have to switch to another class while the other recharges. The main difference is that in applying the commands you use the 4 face buttons on the controller, you can also move Lightning with the left analogue but this has effect really.

The game also features a stagger system like in previous games, though it is represented over the health bar of the enemy by a scale this time. Each enemy has a weakness you must exploit to hit this stagger moment and when you do it is so satisfying. Then when the enemy is at its weakest, you can apply an ‘Overclock’ mechanic where you pause time and can unleash your heavy attacks in quick succession – However, this costs EP, which you earn in battle, EP can also be used to pause the in-game clock momentarily and for curing, so it is up to you to use it wisely. Also on curing, to do so you have to pause the game in battle and use items, which is a bit of a draw back but you really do need to focus your 12 commands on other attacks and debuffs – However, I used a guard command called ‘Mediguard’ which allowed me to heal as I guard, I applies this to two of my classes and switched back and forth, so there are was to get around this.

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In the games menu you can manage you classes. Each Garb (costume) has it’s own statistical benefit, like raising HP and Strength but some can be at a cost of your total ATB points or making your commands cost more points in battle – So you really have to take the time to manage you class. You can also apply weapons, head and arm accessories which also add other stats and these will be available through out the game in item boxes or completing side-quests. As I mentioned before, you will have to re-arrange all you classes frequently to apply to the new monsters you encounter.

Overall I think the game does have a steep learning curve, I was frustrated at first, but by the end of the second day I managed to get my head around the mechanics of the game and then I began to enjoy it.

The Last One Side-Quest:
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As I mentioned before I found most of the side-quests dull, however there was one huge task in the game that really made the 10x better for me. There is a side-quest that asks you to go about the game and defeat every monster in the game – Not just once, but permanently. The monsters have a limited quantity and when you reach a species down to it’s Last One, you fight tough version of it to then beat it into extinction. I just found the concept really interesting and found the quest really engaging. I had a lot of fun hunting every monster down to it’s last one and preparing for the final encounter it just made the game much more interesting for me and I thoroughly enjoy this feature.

Audio:
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The game features a very diverse soundtrack, to cover the diversity of environments and moments the story has to offer. Some of the new tracks were just fantastic, I found it less jarring than XIII-2’s soundtrack (Especially the track they played during the ending which in tone was in complete contrast to the events happening.) Say we have one area like the town of Luxerion. There will be different tracks for the time of day and areas of the town you step into. The downside to this is to cover such range they have used a lot of the tracks from the previous two games, which felt unnecessary – I would have been content with just having three tracks covering each region as a whole for Morning, Afternoon and Night. The same goes for battle, you have many different themes but many from previous games. However, one great feature is when you hit the peak of a stagger in battle an exhilarating theme takes over which really builds the momentum of the battle. My favourite track would be the choir piece which plays at The Ark where you teleport to at the end of each day to confirm your progress with your soul collecting.

I would also like to mention the voice acting, as Lightning Returns features some brilliant voice acting, I can’t mention my favourite moments due to spoilers but the voice actors did a tremendous in realising the emotional strain they’re character has gone through. I was sometimes shocked at how good it was so It certainly deserved a mention.

Conclusion:
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I think that just about covers it. I spent a good 70 hours with the game overall and I feel very satisfied with the experience of the game. If you have played Final Fantasy XIII & XIII-2 you owe it to yourself to see the conclusion. Does the game set ground of Final Fantasy’s future... I don’t think so, it does feel like a spin off in many ways with its new structure, being closer to the PSP Spin of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. However, I certainly had a good time with the game and hold it as an enjoyable experience, Final Fantasy XIII-1 will remain my favourite of the series though,

Pros +:
+ Daring new gameplay which is paysoff
+ Well established envrionments which are a joy to explore
+ Engaging Battle System
+ Decent Soundtrack & Voice Acting

+/-: Story has its high points and low points

Cons -:
- Side Quests are too mandatory to the experience:
- Soundtrack features too many tracks from previous games
- Graphics are average at best
 
The story is a minus for me...The story was convoluted and honestly, it just feels like a story designed to give "Lightning" everything she ever hoped for and more. And i didn't feel like the series came to a great close. I feel like the trilogy was a up and down battle of something they already achieved. In FF13, they got the happy ending they all wanted, but in FF13-2 its not all about a happy ending. Despite many issues of this game designed to have a second sequel, I actually liked that Serah had died in FF13-2 because it gave her character, she had a vision of what would happen to her, and she still went for it. It wasn't all about happy endings. But LR:FF13 just really messes everything up. Lightning coming in and wanting to bring Serah back felt way too forced. The plot was pretty straight forward, and overall, it doesn't make sense. They basically fought God himself in this game.

Sorry, but i'm someone who likes a good and original story, not a typical happy ending.


AS for gameplay...it was nice. Battles did offer more customization, and it wasn't just a button mash. But overall, the garbs just didn't grab much of my attention. although i was surprised i could customize them a bit. Most of them didn't feel all that great Especially when its Lightning. I felt it was the same character with a new coat of paint. I still saw the same person and it was pretty annoying. There were very few that grabbed my interest.


Side Quests were REALLY REALLY boring. its not that they were mandatory, but they were redundant. And overall, i didn't feel this world coming alive. Which was a shame because it had free roam and variation. But none of it felt compelling to visit. Its like the world of Dissidia 012. but not as bad (but the potential for it was far bigger than Dissidia's, so i felt even more disapointed).

The only thing that makes this game "decent" if you choose to get monsters extinct.
 
Oh the story was convoluted, but after XIII-2 how could it not be?:P I've always been against the approach to make Lightning this Goddess Warrior thing, especially as the focus of XIII-1 was to humanize the character.The thing is, when I encountered a main character from the series in the game, the story did really pick up for me. I don't think it's a spoiler to mention it now but when Lightning encountered Snow, I thought the moment was very touching. How he become lost in misery and regret. But that does not make up for the complete mess of a structure in putting the sidequests as the main focus of the game. Doing all them goofy tasks just felt so silly. They put all these little stories into them too but I simply didn't care. It just got in the way for what I really wanted.

I didn't care much for the customisation in the game - but then I never have in games. I just used Lightning's Etro suit from XIII-2 as i felt it suited the character still and the main promotional leather suit for LR looked daft. I did enjoy exploring the environments though :) The 4 main areas felt big and diverse enough, The Wildlands was a blast to explore on my Chocobo and I really enjoyed this piece of the soundtrack:
 
FF13-2 introduced time travel, and it was a bit of a convoluted mess, but it still had a focus idea. Despite the mess that i believe FF13 and 13-2 made, FF13-3 had the chance to say "this will all tie together naturally". We could've seen the alternate world that FF13-2 provided in a different light. Unfortunately, Lightning Returns only makes Lightning even more godlike and then as a plot twist creates an alternate discarded version of her (which looks nothing like her, and the only resemblance was the hair)which still doesn't make sense.

One of the things that FF13-3 ruined was bringing back everyone who should've stayed in the past. We could've seen new characters that Lightning can get used to and really bring out the humanity out of her. And one of the things we could've seen was an alternate "Noel" since he's from the future. But worst of all, the entire core of the story was just flawed. Unlike FF13 and FF13-2 where the basic idea had potential but ruined by poor characters, and certain key details and overall poor decisions on how to work with it. The idea of Lightning coming back and the world is going to be destroyed and bunivelze creating a new world, it all says "we give up".

FF13 and FF13-2 was still all about saving the world. And now LR:FF13 is all about " we can't do anything more, lets move one with a new one. And yet, despite all that idea, LR:FF13 is all about rehashing the same characters.


Its not only "convoluted' but even when you try to defend the story, its even worst than what it is. I always say FF13 series throwing up on itself. FF13-2 is throwing up on everything FF13 built with Lightning. But at least it builds a new character, such as Serah. but LR:FF13 is throwing up on both of them and builds absolutely nothing. LR:FF13 was only about tying up loose ends. Not that it did a great job.

And i do partly blame FF13-2 for setting up the story too much for a sequel. but even then if they setted up for a sequel, they should've planned properly.
 
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