Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review (PlayStation 3)

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the most recent Japanese role-playing game release from Square Enix, a title that is set to bring the current story arc of the Fabula Nova Crystallis to an end and give all those who have played the previous two titles based on it a sense of closure.

It also represents a major change for the franchise in terms of storytelling and mechanics and it will be interesting to see whether the ideas that the team behind the title is trying out will become mainstays for future installments.

Story

Bhunivelze is the big God of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, the entity that has the power to shift around the rules of the world that the player is exploring, but still needs to get a lot of help from the gamer and from protagonist Lightning.

His name is weird and he has no meaningful presence in the other two titles that are part of the latest installment in the long-running Japanese role-playing game series.

At the same time, Bhunivelze drives the plot of Lightning Returns because he gives the main character powers that she would otherwise not be able to access, while also hinting that no full explanation of what is happening will ever be offered to the player.

Creature battle

Lightning move

The world, which has evolved for hundreds of years since the events of the other two titles in the Final Fantasy XIII series, is ending and the only way to save its inhabitants is to simply help them with their problems, which also adds more time to the apocalypse timer.

Final Fantasy is known for the complex narratives that it can deliver, but in this most recent installment, creativity basically becomes a justification for lack of meaning and even long-term fans of the franchise might struggle to explain everything that’s happening.

Gameplay

If innovation for its own sake does not add much when it comes to the narrative of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, it adds an extra dimension of fun to the gameplay, which in many ways does not resemble that offered in the main game of the series or in XIII-2.

This is a title that actively rejects much of what Square Enix has created before for the series, a move that will prove controversial among the community.

Lightning Returns is entirely open, which means that gamers can choose exactly where they want to go and who they are interested in talking to, with no restrictions based on the main narrative and a small number of limitations connected to the day and night cycle.

Players are able to accept missions from the extensive NPC cast, some of them interesting and some created clearly just for humor’s sake, and if one progression path is too difficult, they can grind in another area in order to progress and unlock more items.

Lightning levels up when she completes tasks and not from battle, and that adds to the need to embrace side content.

The combat system has also received a lot of changes and Final Fantasy XIII almost feels ready to abandon the core tenets of the series entirely.

Lightning needs to use three schemata, which are basically outfit setups and come each with their own set of carefully chosen powers, in order to attack enemies at just the right time.

This either causes major damage or simply stuns them and leaves them open for more strikes, but the player will also need to pay attention to the attacks that opponents launch and block as many as possible.

The setup is very action oriented and battles can feel both exciting and frustrating, especially once the game progresses past the first few hours and some engagements can easily last a quarter of an hour.

One of the smartest ideas that the team at Square Enix implements is to make sure that all the toughest boss fights are not included in the main quest progression, but scattered among the side activities of the JRPG.

This means that those who just want to experience the world and the story can do so without having the combat as an obstacle, while obsessive fans who want to understand the entire structure of the game can spend hours learning how to defeat all the big monsters they meet.

Combat system

Character customization

It’s also a good idea to put the difficulty level on Easy for the first run through the game and only then increase it if you feel like experiencing tougher battles.

I had fun running around the world of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII in order to experience the various types of designs and the diversity in terms of quests that a gamer can pick up.

But in order to gain time and complete the experience, battles are required and the system created by Square Enix is too demanding and grind oriented even for the most dedicated JRPG players.

The game also has a focus on dressing Lightning up in various costumes that starts as fan service, but which has a darker undertone because it objectifies her as a human being, albeit a virtual one.

Graphics and audio

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII can look truly impressive at times, with areas where the development team at Square Enix has clearly been careful to craft every little detail in order to amaze fans.

At the same time, there are some sections of the game world that look like they were created for a previous generation of consoles, victims of the fact that this new title embraces a much more open structure.

All the characters look good, which should be a strong point for long-term fans, and the variety of costumes and designs is also interesting.

The team at Square Enix excels when it comes to cutscenes and that’s clearly visible in this release, even if their number has been reduced somewhat and there are moments when I wondered why they insist on building games around Final Fantasy when it could so clearly do better as a movie series.

The voice work is less satisfying and the relatively low quality of the actor’s delivery manages to combine with the poorly written text in order to create a feeling of bad soap opera, although there are a few moments when the emotion that the game aims for manages to come through.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion