Final Fantasy XIII is a game I started, then stopped a few times. It only took the silly notion that I'd play alll my games in alphabetical order to get around to getting deep into the game to the point where I feel comfortable enough so share my thoughts about it.
Released an appropriate thirteen years ago; on the Xbox and PS3; the game follows the character Lightning, and a haphazard, linear storyline which can only be surmised as a hot mess.
There's the need for a few things to understand the plot - a drammatis personae - the type you see at the start of theatre shows; and a glossary. You hear the complete vernacular of the game in strange terms. Imagine that you're confronted with the terms:
Guys
Bad Guys
Pulse Bad Guys
Leaders of the Bad Guys
Other Bad Guys
Somehow, they're all linked, but have different names; which sound the same.
Thankfully, the game gives you an depth game menu dedicated to these terms, and if you read it all, and pay attention the whole time, you might be able to follow the story.
Apart from this; the game is thankfully not bereft of enjoyment; even if the story is difficult to follow and.. as I said earlier - a hot mess.
What isn't a hot mess, however, is the game's presentation. For a game released in 2009, it has aged well. Character models are detailed, full of embellishments and details on their garments, weapons, and facial animations are passable. They're not on par (though, what really is?) with something like Half-Life 2; but as there are no other words to describe it, the characters are all pretty to look at.
This is true for the majority of the main cast, which are incredibly detailed; but not so true for minor characters and NPCs.
Speaking of NPCs, there's no memorable NPCs except for a powerful moment early in the game which leads to the addition of a party member. It's a highly emotive moment and one that is haunting.
Outside of this, there's interesting back story to each character, which is often more interesting (and easier to follow) than the main story. Even attempted summaries of the story don't make it as interesting (or enjoyable) as these side-stories that unfold through the entirely linear main plot.
Criticisms of linearity are entirely justified here. In prior Final Fantasy games, (and in particular, following FFXII) there was the option to go and do things as you pleased. You'd stray off the main path and probably get destroyed by monsters far more powerful than your party; but at least you could. Here - you dont even have branching paths. You go the way the game commands, or you don't go anywhere at all.
The only place where you get some freedom is within the combat system, but this isn't truly unlocked until I was about 20-30 hours into the game, where it was barely holding my attention.
The fact that there are two more games set in this universe makes me nervous for my sanity. With the confusion inherent in the main story (and the battle system being the exception) I'm not sure how so much dev time was invested into this trilogy, but hey, I purchased it. :/
Back to discussing the battle system now - each player starts with a role / class; and this levels up using the spoils of monsters, CP. You also get some loot, which can be used to upgrade weapons and accessories.
Battles are rather railroaded by the type of monsters you encounter. You need to use specific strategies and roles against specific monsters; leading to much of the character customisation you become enveloped in to be mostly meaningless. Coupled with spiraling difficulty (And incredibly shallow spikes in the effectiveness of your characters) combat goes from a "I'm not sure I like this" to "This is fun" to "This is too easy" to "Everything I know has failed", with the realisation that "And there's nowhere obvious to grind, and even if there were, it would take forever".
Ultimately, this lead me to abandoning the game half way through its final chapter. I did watch a video of the conclusion of the game to ensure that the story didn't wrap itself up nicely in a bow at the end; but it didn't.
I'm told that there's a happy ending, but, to quote the meme - at what cost? Fifty or more hours of grueling combat down needlessly linear corridors (even when there's the illusion that you're in a massive outdoor space) doesn't justify itself with a particularly good plot.
I am placing this particular title well down the pecking order in my Final Fantasy tier list, and I imagine that the only thing the devs got out of this attempt was some "next gen" console development experience.
The art is wonderful, its a beautiful game to look at, but its beauty is only skin deep.If it wasn't called Final Fantasy XIII; it would be a generic JRPG with poor execution, muddled by a overly convoluted story.
I don't recommend this game.