We had another "FFXIII is actually good" thread not too long ago.
Cross-Posting here.
One of us! One of us!
I stan hard as heck for XIII, and I always bring it up when underrated games becomes a part of the conversation. I played it in 2012 and I was BLOWN. AWAY. But time has made sure to open up some of the flaws of the game to the trained eye over the years - I can't fault anyone for being underwhelmed by it if they played it in, say, 2018 or 2019. But it'll always be a special and dear journey to me.
Final Fantasy XIII is an awesome game, for so reasons.
I love the setting and backdrop, the world building isn't the best, in ways that has been covered by posters above me, with its over-reliance on the assumption that players read through tons of text, as well as the confusing "everything ends with 'Cie" naming conventions. But - I'll say that the setting is nothing if not wildly imaginative, and imaginative settings that isn't afraid to go the extra mile is something I deeply respect in creative works. The world feels wondrous, fascinating, and you move through the locations feeling as if you're really in, that's right, a fantasy.
I love the story and characters, Lightning takes center stage in this game, and she wears the uniform of the protagonist (as well as her impeccably designed real uniform in the game) with both poise and pride."Badass female protagonist" was once so sought after in games, but it's something that can also be a stereotype, a character that is badass for the sake of being badass, and doesn't get more traits than that. Lightning doesn't exactly bathe in character traits, nor does she, like some other characters in the game, acquire real development, but she is badassness personified!
Early on in the game, when Serah fulfils her Focus, it becomes clear that Lightning and Snow doesn't like each other and I LOVE this. This sort of "sister and sister's boyfriend tension" is a great starting emotional hook that it's easy to relate to, and that feels like it grounds the game a bit, a welcome contrast to its fantastical, borderline absurd world. Lightning and Snow becomes L'Cie, as does two kids called Hope and Vanille and a guy called Sazh, and them all getting lumped together is exactly what Final Fantasy is all about - a bunch of misfits being forced together under dire circumstances, becoming friends in order to fight off evil. Except in XIII, it happens immediately, goes off on a wrong foot, and is happening under a pretty awry situation.
Now, while I do like the characters, they're admittedly pretty thin, and sometimes they feel kind of wooden, mostly due to the sometimes pretentious dialogue. But what I do like, is the emphasis on them. Coming off XII, who felt very plot-lenient, it's cool for XIII to sort of relegate the L'Cie stuff to the background - for good reason - and instead spend ample amount of time on cutscenes and dialogue. Even though it's cool that the cast gets together so quickly, I also like how they get divide shortly after that, with Lightning teaming up with Hope, and Vanille with Sazh, and it allows them to bond and connect with one another, and small nuances like Hope getting amazed by how Lightning fights gets brought to the surface.
I love the combat. Like with other FF games, FFXIII reinvents combat. I really adore what they did with this game. When it opens up, it's unwaveringly exciting to play, and it speaks to the strength of the combat when I always have fun, even though all there is is combat. It's a known criticism that the game isn't that good until you play with a full party. And it's totally true - the intro is glorious, but fighting with only 2 party members gets trite quickly.
When it all gets unlocked though, I'm always, always having a blast. Paradigm shifting is a fantastic idea for combat, and it's a way to perfectly intersect on-the-fly strategic decisions with intense, real-time action. There's just so many different setups and liberties one can take with the system, that really highlights how other FF combat systems can fall short on - for example, fully capitalise on the idea of switching between offense and defense. You don't just stand by for a round to cast Cure here, you can switch to different quantities of Medics, you can perhaps go Tortoise for a second, maybe utilise the Sentinel class, but always keep an eye on the characters and their real-time stats, to make sure that nothing goes wrong, which can easily happen in a game built on such quick decisions.
This results in combat where things just seem daunting at first - you don't make a dent in the enemies, and you might die a lot. But when properly managing the paradigms, when properly paying attention to the stagger, you can end up in a state where you launch enemies up in the air, slicing through their health in a matter of seconds, which is immensely satisfying, always.
I love the art direction. Something sometimes touched on, but that always, always needs to be mentioned - the art direction is just sublime. Like with the world building, but much more clear and concise, the game presents a world that just feels so.. rich. Rich with everything, detail, imagination, graphical prowess. It's not just sci-fi, it reaches beyond it - beyond any aesthetic genre, in fact. I think it just looks gorgeous, even today, because true art direction stands the test of time. It's a far cry from the toned down desert cities of XII, or the straight played realism of XV.
It really feels like all bets were off when it came to designing this world. The attention to detail is there, and the designers just went all out and created one impressive locale after another. And then, there are the character designs, of course - Nomura is on fire in this game!
And I love the OST. To top it all off, FFXIII sports incredible music. It feels like the game just has some degree of quality in every aspect of it, and the music is no exception. It fits the tone, presets catchy themes, and runs through the adventure as a sort of silver thread, adding a distinct sense of flair and richness to everything.
