Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review (PS3)
Story
The story takes place after the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2. After being awakened from the crystal stasis, Lightning is tasked by the god Bhunivelze to save as many souls she can to move them into a new world, as well as to save her sister, Serah's soul. However, she has a time limit before the world destruction, which is thirteen days. Lightning will reunite with her old friends as well during her journey, as well as meeting the mysterious Lumina.
The story is inconsistent and poorly done, due to the pacing and how poorly developed characters are in this game. The real hightlight among the cast would be Lumina, who is incredibly mischievous and mysterious that makes her rather unpredictable. Although many of the characters change in attitudes are understandable in the story's point of view, they are still rather underdeveloped in terms of character exposition. There are no interesting angles about Lightning's story, and she is also underdeveloped despite her being the main character. Other main Final Fantasy XIII characters are also poorly developed and shoved as side characters. The lore in the game is weak and not memorable, personally.
Gameplay
1) Exploration and Progression Section
The game's exploration is similar to previous Final Fantasy XIII games, except that it is more open-ended exploration where you can freely run from one place to another. This game has four main areas that you can explore, with one main home base that you must return after a certain period of time in a day. Each area is big and has different monsters to be fought with, so refer to your map to avoid getting lost. You may also open treasure chest to gain rare items and equipment.
Your objective in this game is to save as many as souls as you can to delay the inevitable doomsday of the world Nova Chrysalia. However, in order to do so, you must complete the main story missions as well as side quests. Story Missions in each area has multiple objectives to complete, such as retrieving items and defeat the story boss. In many cases however, completing the Story Missions are not enough to extend the deadline further, so you must opt to complete the Side Quests for regular civilians in the world.
However, the real challenge in this game is the Doomsday Clock. Doomsday Clock is the clock that is featured in the game, and certain aspects in the game are affected by it. For example, certain NPCs, Side Quests, and even Story Missions are only avialable at certain time such as at night. Due to this, careful planning on completing Story Missions and Side Quests is highly recommended as you may waste more time than necessary. However, the Doomsday Clock does not run in battles, and it is stopped when you are in the home base in the game. After a certain period of time in a day, you must return to the home base, and then you can go back again to last location that you visited.
If you did not manage to complete the Story Missions as well as extending the doomsday deadline to the maximum limit, the world will end and it is Game Over for you. If that happens, you can choose to play the game again with your stats, equipment, and items carried over.
2) Upgrading and Customisation Section
Unlike previous Final Fantasy XIII games, this game features a very extensive customisation options. You can equip Lightning with a variety of Garbs, which has different abilities and stats. For example, some of her Garbs specialise in elemental magic such as Fire and Blizzard spells, and other Garbs are specialise in physical attacks. Depending on stituations, you should have a balanced loadout of three different Garbs with different speciality to tackle different combat situations effectively. Many of the Garbs have locked Abilities, so keep an eye out on finding useful Abilities in the game and equip them to your Garbs.
Not only you can dress Lighting with different Gabrs, you can also equip her with different swords and shields. Different swords and shields also have different stats and passive effects, so choose your equipment wisely. Accessories may also be equipped as well. You may also choose to synthesise Abilities to create stronger ones to be used in battles.
Unlike previous Final Fantasy XIII games, you cannot gain stats increase by using Crystarium system. Instead, you must complete Side Quests and Story Missions to gain stats increase. Equipping certain accessories may also boost your stats as well.
3) Combat Section
Enemies appear in many locations in the game, and you can see them while exploring. You may choose to fight them or evade them. You may also strike them to gain an initiative.
The game's combat is more similar to real time Action RPG combat system, with some differences. Firstly, actions such as attacking, defending, or use magic consumes a certain portion of ATB (Active Time Battle) gauge. Your ATB gauge will recharge over time, and certain passive effects may influence the recharge rate. Secondly, you may equip up to three Schematas to suit in combat situations.
Schemata is a loadout of using a mix of Garb, Weapon, Shield, Ability sets and other equipment. In combat, you can freely switch to different Schemata to adapt to the combat situation. For example, you change to your second Schemata to continue attacking as your first Schemata's ATB is empty. This means that in combat, you have three ATB gauges and you can freely switch to another Schemata to suit different combat situations.
Stagger feature also returned in this game, as you can cause enemies in a stagger state by using different methods of attacking. For example, repeatedly use magic to cause an enemy to stagger. This is a great way to allow higher damage on enemeies.
Like many games, bosses pose a real challenge by havng different methods to stagger, as well as having unique attacks. Proper examination on the enemy using a certain ability, timed attacking and blocking will help you many boss fights. You may also use items to heal you in combat as well.
4) Gameplay Conclusion
Personally, I think the gameplay is the real highlight of the game. The game's combat is one of the best RPG battle systems, as well as being incredibly challenging. Not only that, the free exploration is better than the first game, as well as having more extensive customisation options.
However, there are certain flaws in the game. First of all, the Doomsday Clock is a constant pressure on players, as not only you have to manage your time efficiently, you must also plan out where you must go next to avoid time wastage. Secondly, generic Side Quests objectives. Many of the Side Quests have generic requirements, and not many of them are completely unique. Overall, the gameplay is still solid.
Graphics
While this game looks impressive with amazing in-game engine graphics quality for environments and character models, this game still suffers some issues like stiff animations and framerate issues. Framerate issues are rather common in areas condensed with crowd, so expect the framerate to be slower than usual while exploring.
CGI cutscenes are still gorgeous, but unnecessary. There are other two types of in-game engine cutscenes: the story in-game engine cutscenes are well-done, with nicely animated characters and speech, and the side-quest in-game engine cutscenes are done real-time with people moving around you. The later type of cutscene is problematic, since both main and NPC character's animations are not well-done. Fortunately, there are no major issues occur while fighting in battles, as the framerate performance in battle is rather consistent.
Sound
The English voice acting is decent, although none of the main cast's voices actually stood up of being extremely memorable. Personally, I think the quality of English voice acting in all three FFXIII games ranged from good to bad, with one or two voice actors stand out such as Caius' voice actor and Lumina's voice actress in this game.
This game's soundtrack is good, with new arrangements of previous game's tracks as well as reusing the original tracks from Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. The new themes for this game are good as well, such as the different battle themes in different areas in the game.
Replay Value
This game has good replay value. You can attempt to complete all Side Quests in the main areas in the game to extend the deadline of the world's doomsday up to thirteen days, fight the optional superboss in the game, or venture into a New Game Plus playthrough. In New Game Plus playthrough, you may find new rewards such as new Garbs and equipment as well. You may also choose to play the game again in harder difficulties.
Conclusion
This is the final game of Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, yet I personally think this is the weakest game due to several factors. The poorly developed story, many weak-developed characters, and the framerate issues. In many ways, all three Final Fantasy XIII games have specific aspects that they excel of. Personally, I think immediate sequels of Final Fantasy XIII are unwarranted, as the stories and lore in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns; Final Fantasy XIII completely ruin the original game's interesting lore.
Despite the solid gameplay, some issues prevent this game from being incredibly great. I still however, feel this game has the best combat and customisation options. Final Fantasy fans or action RPG fans should give this game a try, but with extreme caution and open mind.
Score
Story: 5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Final Score: 6.75/10.0 or 27/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent and challenging combat system.
- More freedom in exploration.
- Extensive customisation options.
- Nice looking characters and environments.
- Good soundtrack.
- Good replay value.
Cons
- Weak story and lore.
- Poorly developed characters.
- Doomsday Clock feature can be a deterrent to players.
- Moderate framerate issues while exploring in vast areas.
- Average voice acting.
**Images are from Square Enix's Web page of the game.
Lightning is back: as the saviour designated by Bhunivelze.
The story is inconsistent and poorly done, due to the pacing and how poorly developed characters are in this game. The real hightlight among the cast would be Lumina, who is incredibly mischievous and mysterious that makes her rather unpredictable. Although many of the characters change in attitudes are understandable in the story's point of view, they are still rather underdeveloped in terms of character exposition. There are no interesting angles about Lightning's story, and she is also underdeveloped despite her being the main character. Other main Final Fantasy XIII characters are also poorly developed and shoved as side characters. The lore in the game is weak and not memorable, personally.
Gameplay
1) Exploration and Progression Section
Explore in all four unique locations.
The game's exploration is similar to previous Final Fantasy XIII games, except that it is more open-ended exploration where you can freely run from one place to another. This game has four main areas that you can explore, with one main home base that you must return after a certain period of time in a day. Each area is big and has different monsters to be fought with, so refer to your map to avoid getting lost. You may also open treasure chest to gain rare items and equipment.
Your objective in this game is to save as many as souls as you can to delay the inevitable doomsday of the world Nova Chrysalia. However, in order to do so, you must complete the main story missions as well as side quests. Story Missions in each area has multiple objectives to complete, such as retrieving items and defeat the story boss. In many cases however, completing the Story Missions are not enough to extend the deadline further, so you must opt to complete the Side Quests for regular civilians in the world.
However, the real challenge in this game is the Doomsday Clock. Doomsday Clock is the clock that is featured in the game, and certain aspects in the game are affected by it. For example, certain NPCs, Side Quests, and even Story Missions are only avialable at certain time such as at night. Due to this, careful planning on completing Story Missions and Side Quests is highly recommended as you may waste more time than necessary. However, the Doomsday Clock does not run in battles, and it is stopped when you are in the home base in the game. After a certain period of time in a day, you must return to the home base, and then you can go back again to last location that you visited.
If you did not manage to complete the Story Missions as well as extending the doomsday deadline to the maximum limit, the world will end and it is Game Over for you. If that happens, you can choose to play the game again with your stats, equipment, and items carried over.
2) Upgrading and Customisation Section
Wear different Garbs for different effects and stats.
Unlike previous Final Fantasy XIII games, this game features a very extensive customisation options. You can equip Lightning with a variety of Garbs, which has different abilities and stats. For example, some of her Garbs specialise in elemental magic such as Fire and Blizzard spells, and other Garbs are specialise in physical attacks. Depending on stituations, you should have a balanced loadout of three different Garbs with different speciality to tackle different combat situations effectively. Many of the Garbs have locked Abilities, so keep an eye out on finding useful Abilities in the game and equip them to your Garbs.
Not only you can dress Lighting with different Gabrs, you can also equip her with different swords and shields. Different swords and shields also have different stats and passive effects, so choose your equipment wisely. Accessories may also be equipped as well. You may also choose to synthesise Abilities to create stronger ones to be used in battles.
Unlike previous Final Fantasy XIII games, you cannot gain stats increase by using Crystarium system. Instead, you must complete Side Quests and Story Missions to gain stats increase. Equipping certain accessories may also boost your stats as well.
3) Combat Section
Change your Schemata in combat to gain advantage.
The game's combat is more similar to real time Action RPG combat system, with some differences. Firstly, actions such as attacking, defending, or use magic consumes a certain portion of ATB (Active Time Battle) gauge. Your ATB gauge will recharge over time, and certain passive effects may influence the recharge rate. Secondly, you may equip up to three Schematas to suit in combat situations.
Schemata is a loadout of using a mix of Garb, Weapon, Shield, Ability sets and other equipment. In combat, you can freely switch to different Schemata to adapt to the combat situation. For example, you change to your second Schemata to continue attacking as your first Schemata's ATB is empty. This means that in combat, you have three ATB gauges and you can freely switch to another Schemata to suit different combat situations.
Stagger feature also returned in this game, as you can cause enemies in a stagger state by using different methods of attacking. For example, repeatedly use magic to cause an enemy to stagger. This is a great way to allow higher damage on enemeies.
Like many games, bosses pose a real challenge by havng different methods to stagger, as well as having unique attacks. Proper examination on the enemy using a certain ability, timed attacking and blocking will help you many boss fights. You may also use items to heal you in combat as well.
4) Gameplay Conclusion
Solid gameplay. Combat is the main highlight.
Personally, I think the gameplay is the real highlight of the game. The game's combat is one of the best RPG battle systems, as well as being incredibly challenging. Not only that, the free exploration is better than the first game, as well as having more extensive customisation options.
However, there are certain flaws in the game. First of all, the Doomsday Clock is a constant pressure on players, as not only you have to manage your time efficiently, you must also plan out where you must go next to avoid time wastage. Secondly, generic Side Quests objectives. Many of the Side Quests have generic requirements, and not many of them are completely unique. Overall, the gameplay is still solid.
Graphics
Nice looking in-game engine graphics. but suffers moderate technical issues.
While this game looks impressive with amazing in-game engine graphics quality for environments and character models, this game still suffers some issues like stiff animations and framerate issues. Framerate issues are rather common in areas condensed with crowd, so expect the framerate to be slower than usual while exploring.
CGI cutscenes are still gorgeous, but unnecessary. There are other two types of in-game engine cutscenes: the story in-game engine cutscenes are well-done, with nicely animated characters and speech, and the side-quest in-game engine cutscenes are done real-time with people moving around you. The later type of cutscene is problematic, since both main and NPC character's animations are not well-done. Fortunately, there are no major issues occur while fighting in battles, as the framerate performance in battle is rather consistent.
Sound
Decent English voice acting. Good soundtrack.
The English voice acting is decent, although none of the main cast's voices actually stood up of being extremely memorable. Personally, I think the quality of English voice acting in all three FFXIII games ranged from good to bad, with one or two voice actors stand out such as Caius' voice actor and Lumina's voice actress in this game.
This game's soundtrack is good, with new arrangements of previous game's tracks as well as reusing the original tracks from Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. The new themes for this game are good as well, such as the different battle themes in different areas in the game.
Replay Value
Good replay value.
This game has good replay value. You can attempt to complete all Side Quests in the main areas in the game to extend the deadline of the world's doomsday up to thirteen days, fight the optional superboss in the game, or venture into a New Game Plus playthrough. In New Game Plus playthrough, you may find new rewards such as new Garbs and equipment as well. You may also choose to play the game again in harder difficulties.
Conclusion
The weakest of the trilogy, yet has the best combat system.
This is the final game of Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy, yet I personally think this is the weakest game due to several factors. The poorly developed story, many weak-developed characters, and the framerate issues. In many ways, all three Final Fantasy XIII games have specific aspects that they excel of. Personally, I think immediate sequels of Final Fantasy XIII are unwarranted, as the stories and lore in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns; Final Fantasy XIII completely ruin the original game's interesting lore.
Despite the solid gameplay, some issues prevent this game from being incredibly great. I still however, feel this game has the best combat and customisation options. Final Fantasy fans or action RPG fans should give this game a try, but with extreme caution and open mind.
Score
Story: 5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Final Score: 6.75/10.0 or 27/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent and challenging combat system.
- More freedom in exploration.
- Extensive customisation options.
- Nice looking characters and environments.
- Good soundtrack.
- Good replay value.
Cons
- Weak story and lore.
- Poorly developed characters.
- Doomsday Clock feature can be a deterrent to players.
- Moderate framerate issues while exploring in vast areas.
- Average voice acting.
**Images are from Square Enix's Web page of the game.
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