a90skid.com
  • Home
  • News
    • Nintendo
    • PlayStation
    • Xbox
  • Reviews
  • Opinion
A 90s Kid
  • Home
  • News
    • Nintendo
    • PlayStation
    • Xbox
  • Reviews
  • Opinion
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

For the latest video game news, reviews and more subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

  • Review

Revisiting Final Fantasy XIII

  • May 28, 2017
  • Mathew Falvai

Final Fantasy XIII is arguably the most controversial entry in the long-running series. The franchise is famous for introducing new elements with each installation, but XII’s linear corridors and absence of traditional towns and shops was a far more drastic change than many fans were prepared to accept. XV proved that fans are fine with a tweaked battle system as long as exploration and towns are present.

This Game Looks Amazing

Released seven years ago on the PS3/Xbox 360/PC, this game still look stunning.

The environments are overflowing with breathtaking detail, reckless imagination, and polished to a brilliant shine. The character and enemy models are just as slick and wonderfully animated. The game wouldn’t look out of place on a PS4.

However

On the negative side, those gorgeous environments lack interaction and end up feeling like a beautiful green screen. Most conversations and battles could take place anywhere and could have benefitted from some grounding to the setting. It feels like the game and setting were produced separately. The enemies lack logic. I’m fine with three-headed rock creatures with stegosaurus spines as long as they have a reason to exist. The character models are fun to look at but most feel meaningless.

 

The Story

The nucleus of the plot contains great elements: A rag-tag team in a race against time to complete a mysterious objective or be turned into horrible ghouls. The dynamic of Lightning and Snow arguing for the right to save Serah (her sister and his fianceé) is effective and entertaining. Snow’s incessant positivity is the perfect foil for Lightning’s no-nonsense demeanor. He calls her sis and she hates it.

However

The plot is quickly bogged down with too many confusingly named elements and exposition rather than actions that make us care about what’s going on. Cocoon and Pulse, Fal’Cie and L’cie, the Purge and the Vestige, PSICOM and the Guardian Corps, are names that are uttered often but rarely explained.

After wrapping my head around the initial info dump the game spends a few hours simply focusing on the team running from the authorities while searching for Serah. These moments are the strongest as they deal with believable relationships instead of weightless name dropping.

The Combat

The franchise’s original turn-based combat saw minor tweaks to an Active Time Battle system and X’s hot-swapping, but XI, XII, and XIII took much bigger risks.

XIII’s combat only allows direct control of the lead character, but the main twist is the Paradigm system, assigning different roles and abilities on the fly (Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Medic, Synergist etc). For almost every challenging enemy after the third chapter, you must also ‘stagger’ the opponent first (using at least 2 Ravagers to fill up the stagger bar.

The combat is fast, the animations are outstanding, and the paradigm shift offers enough control of party members to justify its evolution. Switching characters on the fly in X was a fantastic feature, and this feels like the natural evolution, especially after XI

However

Although you can customize your own Paradigm groups, it feels like many of the tough enemies can only be beaten a certain way. Solving that puzzle can be satisfying, but I usually felt confined to the one strategy that gave the most success rather than multiple strategies feeling effective.

Also, the first few chapters lack challenge, only to see a huge difficulty spike that can feel very frustrating.

Overall

Final Fantasy XIII is not as bad as many (myself included) made it out to be. Sure the exploration and towns are mostly gone, the story is overly complex gobbledy-gook, and the combat can feel as linear as the corridors, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

The visuals are stunning, the combat can be exhilarating, and many of the themes and relationship dynamics are strong.

Final Fantasy XIII lacks the execution of the best FF games, but it wasn’t afraid to experiment. With an open mind, there’s plenty of unique fun to be had, and a fascinating (for better or worse) adventure to behold.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Related Topics
  • 13
  • eview
  • final fantasy
  • jrpg
  • lightning
  • podcast
  • review
  • rpg
  • square
  • talkr
  • xiii
Mathew Falvai
Mathew Falvai

Mathew is a huge fan of Space, Strategy, and Shadowrun (Genesis version is #1). When it comes to games and films, he’d much rather experience a 10/10 classic from yesteryear than a 6/10 modern blandfest. He does feel we’re living in a gaming golden age with the power of indie developers at an all-time high, but wishes AAA publishers would take more risks. Mat believes it’s only a matter of time before the pendulum swings the other way and new ideas take their rightful place above reboots.

You May Also Like
Little Nightmares 2 Hunter Shack
View Post
  • 4 min
  • Nintendo
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • Review
  • Xbox One

Little Nightmares 2 Review – Tiny Terror

  • Matthew Owen
  • March 5, 2021
Hitman 3 Title Screen
View Post
  • 5 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Hitman 3 Review – The Thrill of the Hunt

  • Matthew Owen
  • February 21, 2021
Gate to Niwa Resort in The Medium
View Post
  • 6 min
  • PC
  • Review
  • Xbox Series X

The Medium Review – Resort of the Dead

  • Matthew Owen
  • February 15, 2021
Scott Pilgrim vs the World Seven Evil Exes
View Post
  • 4 min
  • Nintendo
  • PlayStation 4
  • Review
  • Xbox One

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game – Complete Edition Review

  • Matthew Owen
  • January 22, 2021
Overlooking Night City
View Post
  • 9 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox Series X

Cyberpunk 2077 Review – Neon Nights and Buggy Fights

  • Matthew Owen
  • January 3, 2021
Black Ops Cold War Vietnam
View Post
  • 7 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Review – A Satisfying Duty Done

  • Matthew Owen
  • December 13, 2020
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Hillside
View Post
  • 10 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla Review – A Wonderful Journey West

  • Matthew Owen
  • December 6, 2020
Watch Dogs Cargo Drone Flying
View Post
  • 10 min
  • PC
  • PlayStation 4
  • PlayStation 5
  • Review
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X

Watch Dogs: Legion Review – An Underwhelming Future

  • Matthew Owen
  • November 14, 2020
5 comments
  1. Tracy says:
    May 30, 2017 at 3:51 pm

    Agreed!

    Reply
  2. Budi Arianto says:
    June 8, 2017 at 12:23 pm

    this game artwork and final fantasy 8 are miracle! a lot people complaining ff13 so square drop few mastermind behind this game to develop the next title and the result is a crap = ff15 (shallow story)

    Reply
    1. Mathew Falvai says:
      June 18, 2017 at 1:11 am

      Seems like 15 got a lot more basic as a result, although I’ve also heard the story requires watching kingsglaive to truly make sense.

      It also seems apparent when 15 meets versus 13 as the latter half of 15 turns into tight corridors and endless enemies

      I iust bought 15 and am excited to check it out, outside the hype

      Reply
  3. King says:
    June 11, 2017 at 11:20 pm

    The fal’cie, L’cie, Pulse, cocoon, PSICOM, Guardian corps and purge were explained though. Vestige not really but my point still stands

    Reply
    1. Mathew Falvai says:
      June 18, 2017 at 1:09 am

      You’re right, my “rarely explained” remark is incorrect.

      I think it’s the lack of action behind the words that I find confusing. Constantly hearing the names and Saszh tell Vanille (the audience) who the groups are needs to be grounded in more action. Show, not tell.

      I also think the story could benefit from a clear antagonist. I’m ten hours in and have met the primark (who’s “just another tool of the falcie”) Fang, Cid, and the two different soldier groups. I recall meeting some baddies that affect Saszh later on, but right now it lacks ‘focus’ and is an enemy of cocoon destined to turn into a zombie!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

TRENDING
  • Super Mario 64 Blindfolded at AGDQ 2021
    The Best Speedruns of AGDQ 2021 Day Six
  • Little Nightmares 2 Hunter Shack
    Little Nightmares 2 Review – Tiny Terror
  • February NIntendo Direct
    Everything Nintendo Announced During the February Direct
  • Zelda Ocarina of Time Glitch at AGDQ 2021
    The Best Speedruns of AGDQ 2021 Day Seven
  • Gate to Niwa Resort in The Medium
    The Medium Review – Resort of the Dead
Instagram
Find the crpg for you in our newest YouTube video #crpg #divinityoriginalsin2 #baldursgate3 4 0
Get everything you need to know about the latest #nintendodirect on our YouTube. Including synced voice to my lips! 7 0
Celebrating the best game music of the decade in less than an hour on YouTube Facebook twitch dlive but not Instagram. 7 0
#gaming #gamingdaily #gamingmemes #morrowind #skyrim 6 0
#skyrim #morrowind #gaming #gamingmemes 8 0
#morrowind #skyrim #elderscrolls 8 2
#finalfantasy #nobuouematsu 7 0
#hyperlightdrifter streaming now. :) 7 0
When you typo links awakening and stumble into a very specific YouTube niche 6 0
Please check out our review of #MarvelsAvengers if you're interested! Many thanks to @msigaming_anz for letting us review the game on their powerful and sleek GE66 Raider. @intelanz is throwing you the game with any MSI laptop with a 9th or 10th Gen INTEL Core i5, i7, or i9 Processor H-Series (Australia and New Zealand) Link is in the bio! 10 0
Our review of #SeriousSam4 by @officialcroteam is live! Shout out to @msigaming_anz for letting us review the game on their super impressive GS75 Stealth gaming laptop (link in bio) 9 0
#itdobelikedat #belikedat 7 0
Follow
Author
Mathew Falvai
Mathew Falvai
Mathew is a huge fan of Space, Strategy, and Shadowrun (Genesis version is #1). When it…
View Posts

a90skid.com

21 User(s) Online Join Server

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

Find the crpg for you in our newest YouTube video #crpg #divinityoriginalsin2 #baldursgate3 4 0
Get everything you need to know about the latest #nintendodirect on our YouTube. Including synced voice to my lips! 7 0
Celebrating the best game music of the decade in less than an hour on YouTube Facebook twitch dlive but not Instagram. 7 0
#gaming #gamingdaily #gamingmemes #morrowind #skyrim 6 0
#skyrim #morrowind #gaming #gamingmemes 8 0
#morrowind #skyrim #elderscrolls 8 2
A90KID.COM

VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY & ENTERTAINMENT

A 90s Kid is an active website and media channel, dedicated to providing you information and entertainment related to the video games industry

Navigation
  • Home
  • News
    • Nintendo
    • PlayStation
    • Xbox
  • Reviews
  • Opinion
Recent Articles
  • Little Nightmares 2 Review – Tiny Terror March 5, 2021
  • Hitman 3 Review – The Thrill of the Hunt February 21, 2021
  • Everything Nintendo Announced During the February Direct February 18, 2021
  • The Medium Review – Resort of the Dead February 15, 2021
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game – Complete Edition Review January 22, 2021
A 90s Kid
© 2021

Input your search keywords and press Enter.