Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – Game Review

What do you get if you were to put elements of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn into a single video game? While some may not have ever thought the answer to that question would ever come into fruition, this is in essence how Square Enix have ended the XIII trilogy with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

I have to hand it to Square Enix… given that Final Fantasy XIII was met with lukewarm reception (When compared to their original promotional trailers) and wrapped up quite nicely in a single instalment, they could have just ended the series there and shifted development onto what was then known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Instead they pushed on with its sequel XIII-2 which featured numerous improvements across the board and an interesting storyline, even if it might not be heralded as one of the Final Fantasy greats in the years to come.

Now bringing the very diverse trio of games to a close, Square Enix have opted to go with an experience more comparable to Final Fantasy X-2, with more freedom, more open world gameplay and the opportunity to give all the characters from the past few games (Aside from the members of NORA) one last chance to shine before they become another part of Final Fantasy history. But while distinct from every other instalment in the long-running franchise…. is Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII actually worth picking up? Read on to find out more!

Storyline

While the game does provide some small attempt at recapping the events of the previous games, I strongly DO NOT recommend that anyone who has not played both games start with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Instead I highly recommend going through the trilogy in chronological order to get the full experience which… to be honest is necessary to understand almost everything that takes place in this game. Do note that this review may involve spoilers from the first two games.

When Final Fantasy XIII-2 ended, we were left with the promise of a sequel but they left everything open. Despite Serah and Noel having successfully defeated Caius, their victory was premature as not only did Serah pass away but Chaos began to flood throughout the world. 500 years passed since that day with the Chaos having pretty much destroyed most of the planet other than the small region of Nova Chrysalia.

The world in which nobody can age and nobody can be born is set to end in a mere thirteen days, with Lightning being released from her Crystal Stasis by the god Bhunivelze to serve as the worlds saviour. Unable to prevent this from occurring, she has the time to try to rescue as many souls to be reborn in a new world being formed but at the same time do enough to ensure that the world doesn’t end prematurely. The storyline is presented through two different types of quests, Main Quests where she assists one major individual with the problem they are facing (Conveniently this just so happens to be her allies from previous games) and sub-quests where she helps random individuals with their issues (From the notable to trivial) in order to save their souls.

Given that the attention was primarily on Serah and Noel during the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2 with several characters being out of the picture aside from small cameos, it was good to see that each character had the opportunity to shine once more, particularly Fang and Vanille who were out of the picture for all but one scene in the previous game. While Lightning can to some be considered a more introverted than other Final Fantasy protagonists, her character role was handled well and from start to finish each of the plots were handled well. But what I liked the most were the sub-quests which helped delve into the lives of the inhabitants of Nova Chrysalia, and at times made the trivial quests attached to them seem worthwhile.

Design

The visual quality of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is reminiscent to that of Final Fantasy XIII-2: Nice environments, solid character designs and flashy battle animations that comes with the Style-Change Active Time Battle (SATB). Featuring two open world environments (The Dead Dunes and The Wild Lands) and two expansive cities (Luxerion and Yusnaan), there is plenty of ground to cover with each area offering a different atmosphere and inhabitants. Also impressive was the decision to make both Luxerion and Yusnaan feel more lively, with different people wandering around the cities at different times of the day, with characters going into / coming out of their homes rather than simply vanishing.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII makes use of a new Schemata system over the original Paradigm system from the first two games. This allows Lightning to shift between three different sets of apparel “Garbs” during battle, with a range of different designs to obtain during the game. Some are more impressive than others, but they can also result in different battle poses, phrases and other small benefits when wearing them out-of and during battle. While characters such as Snow have received a design change, many returning characters still appear in the original attire with their designs not changing much. It works, but surely after 1,000 years they would have found a new pair of clothes… right?

Music / Voice Acting

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII features a mixed soundtrack featuring tracks from both earlier games as well as a range of new tracks produced exclusively for this instalment. The range suited every scene and environment presented to the viewer, from a range of intense themes during battle to the relaxing and subtle theme playing as Lightning wanders across The Wildlands. Oh, and there are new Chocobo theme remixes as well!

The voice cast from both games also return for this instalment, but for those who prefer the original Japanese dub it can be downloaded for free during the first two weeks from launch via the PlayStation Store / Xbox Live Marketplace. Ali Hilis once again takes the lead as Lightning, building upon her previous voice acting experience, while other personal highlights include Troy Baker as Snow Villiers, Vincent Martella as Hope Estheim and Rachel Robinson as Fang. The game is fully dubbed, with even sub-quest characters and those just wandering around the environment having voiced lines.

Gameplay

The most notable change to Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII the moment you jump into the game is that the development team more or less threw out the Party system with a couple of exceptions. There is no recruiting monsters to battle alongside you, no second character you can switch to at the click of a button… you keep control of Lightning and only Lightning. To make up for this, the Paradigm system has been scrapped in lieu of the aforementioned Style-Change Active Time Battle (SATB). Fortunately while there are a few more steps involved in it, returning gamers should find it easy to grasp.

Rather than having set character roles such as Commando, Ranger, Medic etc, Lightning is given access to three schemata which she can switch freely between during battle, with each having their own individual weapon, shield, garb, accessories and set of four skills. You can freely mix and match skills between the three, or take a logistical approach to them and have dedicated Attack and Magic schema. Caution is advised, as during battle each have their own individual ATB gauge which fills up slowly with time and quicker only if you have another one attached.

While there is more to this system, I will say that given that they wanted to have Lightning as the sole-player character, it was a good compromise even if only one schema can be equipped at a time as she is in essence all three party members at once. There was also more strategy involved than its predecessors given that other than a few last-resort skills tradable for EP, Lightning has no one else to save her should the battle go sour. Despite these changes making the game more challenging, I still feel to this day that Final Fantasy XIII has been more about flashy looking battles than the strategy earlier titles such as Final Fantasy X or even Final Fantasy XII required.

With only thirteen days left until the world ends and the more open nature of this game, Lightning Returns opts to monopolize this fact with the Doomsday Clock, giving players a limited time each day to do all their tasks, and falling behind could lead to the world being killed off several days before Day 13. It is a system very similar to the one Nintendo used in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and the game makes good use of it – only having certain events happening at certain times of the day and requiring players to ration out their time to best suit the demands on the NPCs. For those like myself who like taking things slow and appreciating everything a game world has to offer BE WARNED, it is possible for time to creep up on you before anything useful is done, particularly on higher difficulty settings where you have to balance completing sub-quests and undertaking main-quests.

Why be so concerned about completing sub-quests over main-quests? Because unlike almost every other Final Fantasy game in existence there is no levelling system. As the Saviour it is Lightning’s job to save the souls of Nova Chrysalia’s inhabitants, and therefore to increase her abilities she needs to complete as many quests as possible to have any chance of standing up to the “bosses” that stand in her way. While many of the quests offer decent storylines, most comprise of simple collection missions that you would find in any online game or RPG for that matter. They could have done so much more in this department.

Given that these missions equate to stat boosts and time you are more or less forced into undertaking them. In return, regular mob battles are primarily used to complete these quests rather than being directly related to Lightning’s strength. Some of this can be offset by the different skills and stat boosts associated with weapons and garbs, and the different skills Lightning has access to at the time… but unless you are playing on Easy mode this would have little effect on a battles outcome.

On the matter of difficulties, Square Enix really needed to find a middle-ground when developing Lightning Returns. I first jumped into the game on Normal and to be honest found myself being very pressed for time when juggling quests and main missions. On the other hand Easy took away much of the challenge I was expecting, with main-quests easily being tackled two-to-a-day in my playthrough on the setting. It wasn’t unplayable on either setting, but there needed to be a setting in between the two for those who like myself, don’t want to stress too much about timing but still enjoy everything the game has to offer. This doesn’t help when everything but the Easy setting has a one hour penalty for escaping a battle.

Final Words on Lightning Returns and FF XIII in General

The entirety of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy felt to be a bit of an experiment, with the development team testing and throwing around different ideas for the gaming community to see what they want out of a game.

Linear or Non-Linear Gameplay?

Party System, Party System With Monster or Single Player Character?

Event-Based or Quest-Based Storyline?

Either way I am glad to see that we can finally bid adieu to the Final Fantasy series for the last generation of consoles as we set our attention towards Final Fantasy XV which we first had teased to us back in 2006.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII proved to be a solid conclusion to the trilogy, and aside from the insane differences in difficulty settings proved to be an enjoyable experience from start to finish. It was good to see the storylines of the characters we as gamers have gotten to know over an entire generation of video game consoles wrapped up, and that they didn’t just do so by recycling environments and gameplay systems from earlier instalments. But still…. while all these fast-paced battles are a pleasure to watch, I can’t help but hope Square Enix throws more of a strategic element into Final Fantasy XV.

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