My version of FF13 should be

Raspberry

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I always thought it would be a promising idea for FF13 to be completely rebooted and revised. So, the following is an idea of what would make FF13 more enjoyable. This is just an idea of mine. I like to be an open forum and see if someone believes other things could benefit from making any revisions.

Revising terminology:
One of the things I believe hurt the series is its fondness for made-up words such as l'cie, fal'cie, and Cieth. and the name just derives from the French word "Ciel" or "Sky". These names mean nothing and don't add any lore other than trying to convince us this is a living, breathing world. It's because of this unclear terminology that FF13 feels the need to constantly add in additional words like "enemy of Cocoon" even though Cocoon itself isn't properly established within the main story yet either. its more jargon being thrown in that hurts its narrative. This includes real mythos based "Ragnarok"

Ragnarok, the foretelling of the end of Norse gods and the universe, is not given that context properly in FF13. And it's hard for fans to gravitate towards that meaning because no other Norse mythology is being highlighted anymore. The previous games that used the word "Ragnarok" were a weapon and an airship.

Here is the terminology I thought would be best for both the player and the overall lore implications of the series. It is my belief that Christian with some Norse themes helps provide more context and clarity or imply more meaning and speculation.

L'cie = Chosen
Cieth = The rejected.
Brand = Stigmata.
Fal'cie = Ophanim
Cocoon = Valhalla
Grand Pulse = Jotunheim
Ragnarok
= Ragnarok

This helps the story be told much more efficiently while giving enough context or clues to help avid players theorize the implications and casual players. We don't have to constantly hear "We are l'cie!!! Enemies of Cocoon!" every time, to just "We are Chosen" which will convey more clearly, which means we don't have to hear it so often. Just searching up these terms adds more to the story than the previously established ones.

The Norse mythology of the Giants and Aesir and their respected realms is made clear with Valhalla and Jotunheim to reflect the conflict between Gran Pulse and Cocoon. Ophanim are represented in a prophetic vision and are represented as a wheel within a wheel covered in eyes of Christianity. One of the few visions in Christianity that is hard to decipher but leaning towards mechanical design. The Fal'cie perpetuated this idea so well that Ophanim should've been their name.

More Cristian references could be Stigmata. marks or brands that resembled the injuries and scar as Jesus Christ fits perfectly with L'cie.
and L'cie being anointed or in other words, "Chosen" helps the connection to be clearer. I know it sounds obvious, but it does do a lot to get the story moving at a reasonable pace.

Revising the characters:
LIGHTNING
In the series, Lightning is an elite PSICOM guardian (like how Zack is in SOLDIER) but it is rarely ever relevant or beneficial to the story of FF13. The only real use it has is to establish to make her more "bad-ass" but doesn't help give her personality or explain who she is. Even Cloud voiced his personal reasons as to why he wants to be in SOLDIER. But Lightning isn't clear. It's just a job. SO why this job in particular?

I thought it would be a good decision to give Lightning a stronger backstory. That her parents became Pulse l'cie and abandoned her and Serah only to be executed. This could push Lightning to pursue the very job, to protect Serah from making the same mistake. This can give more foreshadowing as to why Lightning didn't believe Serah when she became a L'cie. In addition to that, something that could help build the story stronger is by establishing her role more as an Elite PSICOM soldier. Fighting specific people of PSICOM who have created a relationship with her on missions now become her enemy.

VANILLE:
Vanille is one of my most hated characters. Her backstory doesn't justify the portrayal she claims is fake or a trick. Vanille is a 19-year-old girl pretending to be a 13-year-old girl. and it's creepy as heck. It's like seeing 13 going on 30. For her change it's quite simple: act her age. She can still be optimistic and charming but in a less child-like way. Her relationship with Hope, I believe, should continue to grow, and become more serious.

SNOW:
Snow is one of those characters who is just a hothead who goes gun-blazing and doesn't use his brain a single time. It's no wonder Lightning hated him, and it dumbfounded how Serah could ever fall for him. For Snow, I would take the hero complex out. I would tone down his idiocy and brashness, and get called out for it when he is, and have him learn when he is being called out.

His backstory is so bland. He just wants to be a hero, so he made NORA and saved people for no real reason. To remedy this. I will add that he once fell in love when he was young and became a l'cie and saw her get executed in front of his eyes. The late-romantic would call him her hero and that he wishes for him to always have a smile and help others. And because she became a L'cie, NORA could be a group dedicated to helping l'cie instead of this personal idea of just being a hero for the hero's sake. The same with NORA being a crew of orphans of L'cie who don't agree with Sanctum.

HOPE:
Hope is one of the characters who have so much potential and being squandered at every point. But I believe the rest of the cast doesn't help him. Yes, he's a broody teenager at first, but other than that, I really don't mind him that much. I think the only thing I would change is to make him less obvious that he's about to kill Hope. Part of Hope's problem as a character bled into the other characters such as Hope and Vanille.

Revising the Gameplay
Part #1: The Battle System
Party Leader switching
Even if it doesn't amount to any real change gameplay-wise, it should have been available for FF13 from the beginning of the game. Some players need to know what kind of attacks the other party members have in their arsenal even if the AI were going to do the same commands the player was going to do. It can feel restricting to know all the party members are being controlled automatically but under the same system as the party leader and not even have access to see their move sets. It's this level of "trust" that players must give the AI. For some hardcore fans, this "trust" is all they need. But for other FF players who had always had a full hands-on approach, it is not an easy task.

Less flashy HUD
One of the things that stands out to me with Final Fantasy XIII is the ridiculously visual vomit of the HUD. The Hud looks like it is trying to be Winamp or Sonique program back in the early 2000s. I initially thought it was refreshing, but that amusement quickly goes away when it takes a marginal amount of effort just to read it. The Hud is full of heavy gradients that are also on top of plain white text. This makes it more difficult to read. On top of that, each option is separated into these oval-like modules or cells. When a command is chosen, the oval-like cells go on top of the Command menu and just sit there. The ATB bar fills up, and as it finishes the amount of that command, it disappears. But why have two separate things to indicate the same information?

To fix the mess of the HUD is to make it simple. There is no need for those heavy gradients on that menu. The menu can have gradients, but it shouldn't be too close to the font's color. Also have the Commands and the ATB-bar be one in the same. Instead of the bar filling up, we see the Command cell/module fill up. Also make them rectangular instead of oval-shape so we can see exactly when the previous command is complete and when the new command is starting to wind up.



Attack wind-up & animations
FF13 wants to be so fast that attacks sometimes don't feel different, and battles look same-ish. I can't tell the difference between a regular attack and a blitz attack because they are both executed with the exact same timing. They both have the same windup, and I must focus on the damage numbers to really get a more accurate method of seeing difference (and sometimes the difference in damage is so minimal that it's not worth focusing on). And when you're seeing two other party members attacking with the exact same succession, and in quick successions, it can be annoying to manage when the number doesn't immediately show up but counts to it. So, a lot of visual flairs but not presented in a way where it can be the most informative, it's clutter.

the numbers should be displayed automatically without the countdown, and they should be color-coded. If there was no damage made, do a null or zero in dark grey, white numbers for an average/weak attack, yellow for a medium attack, and red for a critical attack. maybe add a small animation with the numbers if it's necessary. Each attack that is objectively more powerful must add more wind-up before being executed.

MP/Ability COST
Having magic abilities costs something even if that MP regenerates is important. The only thing magic seems to do is take time from ATB on a fast-paced game. It is such a light strategy in the game if all you really manage is just what attacks work best and when to switch paradigms. resources and cost of abilities should be a factor in any staple of RPG. This includes adding cost to paradigm shifts. Paradigms get stronger in succession as they continue to remain on the same paradigm, choosing to shift to a different paradigm causes the multiplier gauge to reach back to level 1, which means, you need to think if the paradigm shift is worth the cost.

Better names for Paradigm Shifts:
This is partly due to Final Fantasy XIII not having a proper tutorial in the beginning. But the names for these Paradigm Shifts are not that easy to understand at a glance. Commando? does that mean I command the others and the party leader take a backseat? Or does it mean to go in guns blazing and throw whatever? Ravager? does that mean i just use my most heavy attacks? Does anyone else see the problem? These are the names i would've chosen:

Commando > Striker (implies physical attacks)
Ravager > Arcane (implies elemental attacks)
Sentinel > Defender (explicitly states its defensive)
Saboteur > Malice (implies debuffs)
Synergist > Enhancer (implies buffs)
Medic > keep it the same.


Revising the stagger system
The stagger system is not as engaging and sometimes not worth it. It needs to be simplified to something closer to Lightning Returns' stagger system. I really don't have much to say about the stagger system because I personally don't think the game is well designed for it but just a band-aid to one of the other problems it has. In replace of a Stagger system, the game is missing Limit-breaks. an all-out attack like the Persona series when you reach a certain level. Depending on what paradigm you are on, if you use your limit break on that paradigm there are after-effects like party buffs for a single turn or healing your team a small portion.

ENEMIES NEED TO HAVE PARADIGM SHIFTS TOO!
What makes previous Final Fantasy battle systems immersive is because they were for the most part "Representational". The way you fight in real life isn't how you fight in a final fantasy game, but both enemies and party fall under the same battle system. How the party fought was also how the enemies fought. For example: in FF12, there is no turn base. you move openly and freely just like the enemies. You won't have enemies stuck in turn-based while the player's party is able to move freely.

Granted, you may think that Limit Breaks break the mold in this. But in FF, limit breaks are just a unique attack with its own gauge. It's not a separate system altogether.

So, it is very awkward in an FF to have a system where you must switch abilities and "classes" in real-time for your party, but enemies don't have such a system applied to them. It breaks immersion and adds more to the linearity or "on-rails" approach. The enemies don't feel lived-in. It makes the game feel incredibly easy. Certain bosses indicate patterns, but nothing in the sense of restricted to paradigm-shifting.

Part #2: The World progression
World Map
FF13's problem isn't that the world progression is just too linear, it's that there isn't a real direction of where the story is going. Areas are interconnected without any understanding of what is around you. It can feel like a roller coaster at times, not a journey. In previous RPGs, many times they establish a destination, but also the obstacles in the journey or at least a pathway toward that destination before taking the journey.

FF13 desperately needs a world map to show players where they are in the grand scheme of things and where they want to go. Having Towns and side-quest is not that hard to implement with the story. But the characters need to use that world map and put context into it every time they can.

One more change can be that if you do a quest that is aiding another L'cie, you are not penalized for wasting time because it's all to help one get their focus. This will open the ability for side-quests and missions while also expanding the world. And lastly, some optional dungeons would be nice.
 
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