FINAL FANTASY® XIII

Amazing world and lore, beautiful graphics and music, great characters, fun combat, and it's no more linear than FFX. Severely underrated in my opinion. Just make sure to read the lore entries in the codex between chapters.

This game is cinematically beautiful, everything about it is a work of art. the characters are insanely well written and the story line is bomb. id recommend this game to anyone However, there are three things i wished i knew prior to buying this game
1. this is a TURN BASED GAME. for some reason, i didnt research anything about it before buying it so me learning its a turn based game threw me for a loop. i hate turn based games but this game somehow made it non-repitive and fun as hell
2. to avoid awkward dialouge, the creators put most of the "terms" used in the story in the datalog. Now, you can read it all or you can infer as you go. if youre not willing to think about a story and want it all spelt out for you, this aint the game for you.
3. the port doesnt suck, but it does rubber band slightly pretty often. Im not sure if theres a mod to fix this or not and it really didnt bother me to the point i wanted to stop playing, but it was jus a small issue

besides that, buy it. it changed my outlook on life i swear on my mama

It's very similar to Bleach. Or you love it or you hate it. Me? Cmon dude, I LOVE Bleach.

It has an engaging story and is visually beautiful. The combat system isn't my favorite in a Final Fantasy game but it's not terrible. The leveling up system is easy to use. It's overall an enjoyable game.

I recommend Final Fantasy XIII because of its captivating blend of strategic depth and extensive customization option. It encourages thoughtful planning.

~ DIFFICULTY ~

🔲 An old person could play it
🔲 Easy
🔲 Normal
✅ Hard
🔲 Hardcore

~ GRAPHICS ~

🔲 MS Paint
🔲 Bad
🔲 Meh
🔲 Graphics don't matter in this game
✅ Good
🔲 Beautiful
🔲 Masterpiece

~ MUSIC ~

🔲 Bad
🔲 Not special
🔲 Good
✅ Beautiful

~ VOICE ACTING ~

🔲 No voice acting
🔲 Oblivionly bad
🔲 Acceptable
🔲 Good
✅ Pure talent

~ STORY ~

🔲 This game has no story
🔲 Like playing Temple Runners for the story
🔲 It's there for the people who want it
✅ Well written
🔲 Epic story

~ PRICE ~

🔲 Free
🔲 Underpriced
✅ Perfect Price
🔲 Could be cheaper
🔲 Overpriced
🔲 Complete waste of money

~ REQUIREMENTS ~

🔲 You can probably run it on a calculator
🔲 Average
✅ High end
🔲 NASA computer

~ LENGTH ~

🔲 (0 - 2 hours) Very Short
🔲 (2 - 15 hours) Short
🔲 (15-50 hours) Average
✅ (50-90 hours) Long
🔲 (90-110 hours) Extremely long
🔲 No ending

~ FUN ~

🔲 For the Achievements
🔲 I'd rather watch paint dry
🔲 Hard to enjoy
🔲 Repetitive
🔲 Actually pretty amusing
✅ The kind of fun you'll remember
🔲 Ride of your life

~ WORTH BUYING ~

🔲 No
✅ Wait for sale
🔲 Yes

I never expected to give a negative review on a FF game but here we are.
17 hours in I have been simply running on a straight path.
The environment is pretty boring.
I had no input whatsoever in defining character progress.
Weapon and item upgrade is substantially pointless.
The music in nothing special.
It is nothing more than move forward, auto battle, distribute points.
I played all FF titles up to XIII, and this is the only one I have no desire to finish.

great game no lie,there is a few bug but not really bother for me 8/10.

A childhood favorite, with older eyes it's still a captivating story with good old gameplay.

The gameplay is an evolution of old rpg style.
It's fun to play without waiting for the opponent to attack.

No bug, very nice cutscene.

Only the PC port is disapointing but some mods (FF XIII fix on github) fix the performance issue and 30 fps cap.

I played FF13 long ago when it first came out on PS3. I couldn't beat it back then, so I wanted to finish my childhood game this time.

Back then, I was bewitched by Lightning's beauty and never really paid attention to details. But as I play this game again in the 2020s, I am starting to see many flaws I didn't recognize back then.

This game has many annoying aspects that JRPGs had back then. You cannot save whenever you want, and the linear storyline can be very exhausting. The ATB system was interesting, but I eventually grew tired after hours of repeated battles. Also, fuck all those Cie'th Stone Missions.

PC optimization is one of the worst in the series. However, Square Enix was never known for smooth PC optimization, so I wasn't surprised.

Even with all that, I still clicked thumbs up because I appreciate how pretty Lightning was in this game.

2 years in the making, I finally finished this game. It took me so long, as I was savoring it like a fine meal during a warm night. I was right to, as rushing this game would have made me not enjoy it as much. The music, the cutscenes, the story and the visuals of this game are stellar even nowadays apart from a couple of sections. Masashi Hamauzu has made a soundtrack up to par with Uematsu's compositions, and each track suits this game like a fine silky black glove. Great entry point into the Final Fantasy franchise, more so than games like 10 or 7, and I would encourage you to play this if you have the 40 hours that you need to finish it (Grinding included).

It's been a while since the game launched, if you wanna play this then you know exactly what you're getting into. Bought it on sale and I live playing it. Getting the hang of the combat. I see why people complain about the linearity of the game and yes it is all true but if you accept that and want to experience a final fantasy very unique then go for it.

Lightning is a badass. This is my second time playing through the game since I first played in on it's original release on the XBOX 360 many years ago. It's not my favorite FF but it definitely has it's high points, a fine story, and great music. I give it around a 7.5/10 if I were to give it an all around score. The 13 series unfortunately gets progressively worse imho after this game. But still a good go for any Final Fantasy fan.

So this game definitely got a bad complaint especially from me when it first came out when i was in my 20s but i decided to play it again bc of the song and MAAAAAN i so do not regret giving it a second chance i love this game . i did not like the upgrades back then now i dont care lol. The graphics on the pc is so freaking amazing and the music oh the beautiful music **chefs kiss**. Definitely the story line is awesome so i will continue the trilogy bc i want to know what happens in the end. Just give it a try the story line is worth it and the music is just awesome. Then again i never dislike final fantasy music i am glad the composers put thier all into them.

Game starts slow. No denying that. But it's so worth it by the time you get where you're going.

This game is like Metallica's Load and Reload era. Everyone hates on it because it's not what they expected it to be. But if you open your mind, shut up, and listen... You might find a new favorite.

Final Fantasy XIII offers stunning visuals, a thrilling combat system, and a compelling story. While its linear progression may not be for everyone, the game's world and characters are captivating, making it a memorable RPG experience.

There's a 129KB patch for this game made by fans. it fixed crashes, increased my FPS and the stability of it and gave me more options to adjust the in game settings.

129KB. That's all it took to make this game more playable, yes Square Enix cannot take half a day out of their time to make this PC port far more playable.

Thanks fans for fixing the game but it's a hard thumbs down for buying a game that the player has to fix.

The game is mostly enjoyable. Right up until the forced Eidelon fights. Where they take all the freedom away from you with party combinations and force you to fight the boss in a specific way, with specific party members, with a forced time limit, usually focusing on a certain class role that you may not have even been leveling up that much.

Such a stupid design choice that actually ruins the game for me and made me stop playing it. Forcing me to retry a boss fight countless times to find some specific and convoluted series of commands that go completely uninuitive to everything ive been taught by the game up to that point. So dumb.

Game is OK but the bosses make this game almost unplayable as they are very unfair, and u often meet them when ur underleveled. 6/10

I need to be sincery i never was someone who knows a lot about Final Fantasy's games but i really got impressed when i started playing this the people costume to say the it's one of the worst Final Fantasy's ever released but at least for me it isn't to bad you should give a chnace for that and in my opnion it compensed a lot.

That game is awesome! I'm played in many of FF games, and in their times each of them surprised me with the gameplay, plot and graphic. I'm playing in this game in 2025, it should be outdated, but not at all. It still continued that wonderful tradition to surprising me. My personal rate is 10 of 10.

7/10 Played with mouse and keyboard.

I have played and beaten FF1 through FF10, FF10-2, and FF12. I finally played 13 and it really leaves me wanting more. It's missing it's heart.

Now I know several key figures related to the franchise are missing from this game but as a game in general it feels lacking.
The pacing feels off both in story and game play. I don't feel the characters or myself are being connecting to the game world successfully enough. The majority of the game play feels to circle around combat and grinding similar to the original 3 FFs. While I do like the combat design most of the battles feel like they are part of a MMO where I have to play a certain way. I can't just do what I want. Each location does not feel like it could actually be alive and filled with creatures. There are hints of the history of the world but it is never gone in depth during game play. More often you have to read about if there is anything at all.

I could go on but really all I am really seeing is hidden potential. There is so much. I wish this was being remade. The world is good. it just needs some more to it.

As a game FF13 is not bad just lacking. It is fun once you learn the combat flow. As a Final Fantasy though, I feel it's missing it's heart and deserves more work to bring it out.

Sill worth a play through if not at least a try. You may need to download a mod because the game is not completely compatible on PC. I played in windowless mode.

I love this game.
I bought this game at launch for the PS3 and every time I played through, I never finished the game. Something always happens when I make it to chapter 13 and either my save gets wiped or the game disappears.
Now I have a digital copy so I can FINALLY get to play all the way through the game from beginning to end.

This game is factually not good at all, but the combat system is good and the soundtrack too, shoving aside those, everything else is bad, cheers to who designed the encounters, they are bad :(, but give it a try, maybe it's for you.

A great game in a great series of games, everything is done wonderfully, I haven't finished the game yet, but I can say with confidence that FF13 is an example of a great JRPG. Despite the fact that Nobuo Uematsu did not contribute any works to the game in terms of music, the soundtracks are still amazing. Keep an eye on ATB and Crystarium. It would probably be best to watch the guides and save up the Gils after the ninth chapter. The atmosphere is wonderful, the design is amazing.

Shame about the story, characters, worldbuilding, level design, and gameplay





But the music is good tho

I tried to like the game, I really did. Compared to all prior Final Fantasy games, the battle mechanics along with pretty much every aspect of the game are just abysmal. The worst one out of the 13. The only positive I can think of is the effort that went into the cut-scenes. I don't understand why Square-Enix designed FF13 the way they did but it made me feel obsolete. As others have already mentioned, the story is linear, the battles are semi automated and you can't fully control your character. You only have control of 1 member of your party until way further into the game and you go into the game not knowing enough of what's going on to really appreciate the RPG aspect of it. Not worth your time if you're expecting the same caliber as the more modern Final Fantasies like 7, 9, 10/11 or even 12 (which I liked, minus the grind).

I always say "Always play to reach your own conclusions". It's no surprise to anyone that FFXIII is a game involved in several controversies, however it was quite important for the portfolio at Square, as it also built a saga. I recommend the first title if you like Final Fantasy, good stories and captivating characters, otherwise stay away from it, the linearity bothers to a certain extent, but with that in mind, you will enjoy an excellent JRPG

Overall, it's a good Final Fantasy game, and my review will only focus on the negative aspects (my personal opinion):

1.This version of the game only comes with Japanese audio. There's no option to change the audio language.

2.The gameplay is very linear. The path feels like a long tunnel or corridor. The only place where you can start free-roaming is in Grand Pulse (Chapter 11).

3.The mini-map is rotated, with no compass directions (North/East/South/West). It became so annoying when I reached Grand Pulse; I lost count of how many times I had to open the big map just to check my position and make sure I was heading in the right direction.

This certainly IS a game.

I think this game is way too hated, however, I do get why people don't like this game at all. At best, I would definitely rate this game like a 6.5 out of 10, it's not a terrible game as people make it out to be. But it sure does have its faults.

To start:
- The beginning of this game is really boring, up until Chapter 3 where the "real" mechanics begin. Yes, the combat (paradigm/crystarium system) finally works 3 Chapters in. I can see why people who don't know absolutely nothing about the game will quit it before Chapter 3 begins because it is SO BORING.
- The beginning of the game also makes you think you should know everything that's going on and it kinda forces you to make you read about the events unfolding. Yes, this is a common negative a lot of people talk about, the "datalog" and the lore. However it isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Yes, it's way too much information going on, and the narrative should've explained things much better instead of just blurting out names from the characters.
- You won't get a full 3 person party until Chapter 10. This honestly kinda pisses me off, the game is close to ending and you're barely giving me the permission to have a 3 person party. Yes, events happen where the previous chapters are only 2 party members. Still, it is really annoying just missing a person for almost the entire game.
- "The game opens up at Chapter 11." So you're telling me, the game actually becomes a game, 2 chapters before it ends. ??? Not only that but man does the difficulty spike hit super hard once you get to this chapter. You are forced to grind which depends on the type of player you are can either be really annoying or just part of the rpg genre. Had to grind about 2 hours because a basic enemy was 2 shotting my entire team lol. Call that a skill issue on my part. Still, this game makes Chapters 1-10 a glorified tutorial which is baffling to me, I just don't know how to feel about that.
- The main villain sucks and his name is literally Bart. Plus the final boss has an random chance instant kill spell, which is super dumb.
- Nitpick; when entering combat and switching paradigm, you're forced to watch a 3 second cutscene of your whole party switching classes. This is just me but this pissed me off because you can get a game-over during this small cutscene.
- Your party AI can sometimes be utterly brain dead to the point where YOU have to put matters in your own hands. Especially healer AI, they don't Esuna or Raise UNTIL all the party members are full health. This is stupid and I hated it.
- You cannot control your character's movements during combat, meaning ALL of your party members WILL stack together to get hit by an AOE attack. WHY????????????????????
- Upgrading system sucks.
- Save station menu navigating SUCKS.
- Whoever designed the camera needs to get punched in the face.
- If the party leader dies it's game over, go fuck yourself.
- My biggest disappointment, and others can definitely say that I'm wrong about this, is that the summon system is terrible? Summons, KNOWN for dishing out TONS of damage hit like a wet napkin. They're only ever used for getting your party out of dangerous situations only for a short while.
- PC support is horrendous and the game looks horrible if you don't get a modfix. Base FF13 has a weird diagonal cut?? It's really bizarre, also the game is capped at 30fps along with ugly as hell graphics. The mod made this game look amazing though, so good on them for fixing it.
- The story is just mid. There's some good moments and then there's RIDICULOUS moments. JRPGs are known for being really tropey, but this game does it to an extreme. There are several parts in the story that legit makes no sense and the characters just play it off as nothing happens.
- Speaking of characters, I feel very mixed. I like them, but mostly their entire personality consists of just talking about one person, THE ENTIRE GAME. SHUT. UP. SNOW WE GET IT. The first half the characters are unlikeable, which I kinda like, they're all douchebags to one another and eventually will come together as a true party. Especially Hope, who can be super annoying at the beginning of the game. Vanille's stupid "noises" during combat and exploring is really annoying too. Lightning can also come off as having the personality of stale bread and I'm pretty sure anyone who played this game has called her "Girl Cloud" at least once. Fang is too cool to change. Either way, this game is way more character-driven than story-driven.
- The music is pretty good!

I've said a lot of bad things about this game but when it's good, it is actually engaging. The paradigm system can be a lot of fun once you start learning how to get around encounters, switching back and forth to see what meets and what not. A gripe I had is that some characters are miles better than others, Hope has a faster animation of casting compared to ANYONE else which kinda makes him a must have near the end of the game. However, any character can be viable, which is cool.

I've said enough; TLDR: This game has lots of faults, and can be summed down to be just a mid game, but it does have its highs.

I've tried very hard to get into this title but after 27 hours I can't safely say this game isn't for me.

The premise is very interesting and the characters do feel fleshed out enough to see where the writers wanted to go with them but I feel like the pacing despite being linear till chapter 11 is all over the place and I feel like the writers were butting heads with each other over interpretations of certain character arcs and the plot itself seems to be padded out for a much longer length then it really needed to be.

Combat is really a mixed bag as in the beginning it feels like they're afraid of you getting confused so they limit the amount of actions you can do till your a Lia'ce (magic user) and it doesn't really open up in terms of customization till about 10 hours in and hell you have no actual control of your party set up till....20 hours into the game. (at least for me) and for a 40 to 60 hour game to do that is abysmal.

If you do consider getting this game please install the fix mods as the port is terrible on its own.

Personally I'd say get it on a sale and try it on your own as I feel this game is made for a certain type of player and that player isn't me unfortunately. I wish steam could give a mixed rating as I feel that is how I feel about this game as it's not necessarily bad but it's not for everyone.

Normally, I'm not a fan of turn-based combat, but I have been enjoying this game so far. I got it mainly for the story, which doesn't disappoint, even though the pacing isn't the best.

The second half of the game is where the really good stuff starts to happen.
Beyond that, I vastly prefer Final Fantasy X all round.
But still, it's a classic FF that warrants download and playing it to the finish.

i love hope estheim & lighting. 10/10 game containing my favourites of the final fantasy series <3

I know the story is all over the place and the exploration is nonexistent. but i LOVE this game and its combat system. I don't know, maybe its just me. Love fang and Lightning. Trying to 100% the game.

Replaying this game after more than 10 years has been an incredible experience. I've never enjoyed it so much and it always ranked as one of my least favorite Final Fantasy games, but playing now is making appreciate it so much more. The music, art direction, combat system, characters and story (Which was the aspect i disliked the most back when i played it the first time). The combat system especially is incredibly deep and once you get it and start experimenting with it, it makes you never want to stop fighting enemies and it also makes battle end very fast, which was an issue i had the first time, where battles were insanly long, but it was due to me not utilizing the combat system properly and all the mechanics the game provides.
The characters and stoy this time around were so memorable to me. I could understand the story better because i was actively reading everything and paying attention (It's still a problem with the story "requiring" you to read the datalog). Definitely recommend it to everyone!

A game with peak story, world, characters but very boring combat (hope it improves with later games in the trilogy)

"We live to make the impossible possible. THAT is our focus!"

This game is really special to me because it is something that I have obsessed over as a child just because of the cool characters, flashy fight scenes, amazing cutscenes, and I thought the character Lightning was the coolest person ever; but I knew absolutely nothing about the game as a whole because I was too young. This game has its ups and downs for sure, and it is not the best Final Fantasy title, but I have a special place in my heart for this game and it is surely my favorite Final Fantasy series (FFXIII/Fabula Nova Crystallis).

After becoming much older and being able to actually absorb games and understand them, I am enticed with this game it has a crazy mythology with a story that can become like static at times, but as a whole it is a game that I highly enjoy. Lightning is a character that I have always loved and seeing her before Lightning Returns is amazing due to how much character growth she has. Snow has the coolest Eidolon design imo, Twin Shivas that turn into a motorcycle is sick asf. I'll always defend this game series and I really hope that it gets remastered someday all three games in one.

I am not gonna draw this out though, so I will end it with this: you either really love this game or you really hate it, there's no in between. I really love it lol. I love the characters, I love the lore with gods and the L'Cie (especially since it still tied with the whole crystal mythos theme of Final Fantasy). I do agree that this isn't the strongest game by itself story-wise, but if you are going to play this game you might as well play the others to finish the story.

Thank you Nomura for the amazing character designs as always and Toriyama for creating the expansive world of FFXIII, it will forever go down as my favorite game title(s) of all time.

Until we meet again!
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people hate on this game, but to me, it is absolutely great. just like pineapples on pizza, dont let the internet influence you.

long story short: this games is a VIBE. and if you're into the vibe you're gonna enjoy it a whole ton.

Too unstable, especially at chapter 11. I had to give up playing. It sucks because this was the last turn based final fantasy and the last one with a female protagonist. I hope it gets a remaster that actually works well.

I enjoyed playing Final Fantasy XIII. I have played a lot of the other final fantasy titles, but this is the first one I have played on Steam. There are good sides as well as bad sides to this game. In my opinion it was really good, but I can definitely see why some would not like it.

The main problem that most people have with this game is that is too linear, and I do agree with this. It is very different from a lot of other final fantasy games. It is not an open world game and you just do what the game tells you to do. There are no side quests or decisions you can make; it is mostly running on a straight path and fight the next group of adversaries. This may cause a lot of people to not like this game, but I didn't mind it much.

One thing that may get annoying is the fact that a lot of the fights are basically the same. Sometimes the game gives you hallways full of groups of opponents that you have to fight to move on. These fights get old after a while because it doesn't matter what attacks you do or anything you do in these fights - it becomes spamming any attack or just using auto-battle finish the fight quickly.

Aside from the last issue, the combat system in Final Fantasy XIII is pretty alright. It is simple: you have something called an ATB gauge that you have to wait for it to fill up in order to choose what your character will do. You can have a different number of moves that are possible depending on how advance your character is. You can use the move slots in the ATB gauge to use items, heal party members, or attack, basically.
One thing I believe could have been better is if it was just turn-based. I feel like the combat system could have benefited a lot from this because it is really awkward how the game works between attacks; it can just turn into you attacking an enemy the same time an enemy is attacking you.

One thing that makes the combat system stand out is the paradigm shift feature, which you will need for most boss battles. It is a little weird learning how to use it at first (partly because it is introduced already a few hours into the game), but it becomes very helpful later on. This is the feature that makes the game interesting. It allows you to change it to fit your characters and fighting style. You can, and will, change between paradigms in battle. They will suit what each character in your party needs to do at the moment; for example: if your characters just took a lot of hp damage, you can press tab and switch from a paradigm that is more offensive (like having two commandos and one ravager), to a paradigm that is more balanced (like two commandos/ravagers and a medic or a commando/ravager, a sentinel, and a medic) or a paradigm that is more defensive (like a commando/ravager and two medics, a sentinel and two medics, or three medics). One thing that is annoying is that you may need to switch them quickly in some battles, like at the end of chapter 5 or in the fight against Odin. You need to be very precise with when you use which paradigm. You don't know when you will receive a new attack so there is some uncertainty. You can play it safe and switch quickly to a paradigm that has offense and defense, but you also risk not doing enough damage to your opponent's stagger bar. This adds to my criticism that Final Fantasy XIII should be turn-based, or at least pause when shifting between paradigms or using items.

Relating to the Paradigm Shift, Final Fantasy XIII has a "level-up" system called "Crystarium." The Crystarium system is also easy to maneuver to suit your fighting style. You level up specific roles your characters can play in different paradigms. You start off with three roles per character, like Commando, Ravager, and Sentinel for Lightning, but about halfway into the game you can upgrade any role for any character in the Crystarium, as well as customize your party members (with a limit of three). Depending on how much you have played, you can upgrade different qualities like health, strength, and magic with Crystarium points.

My last remark about the combat system is that you only control the actions of one character, and the entire party will lose if your character dies. I wish it was different because then you wouldn't have to switch to a defensive paradigm and lose progress on stagger bars.

Going on to the story of Final Fantasy XIII, I thought it was decent. The main premise is that there is a land called Cocoon, and people from Cocoon fear outsiders called l'Cie who have magic powers. l'Cie are given a vision called a focus that will lead them to complete a mission. The main character, Lightning Farron, was a soldier of Cocoon, but resigned after her sister, Serah, became a l'Cie. Trying to help her sister, Lightning becomes a l'Cie as well, and joins with other people who have also become l'Cie (Snow, Hope, Sazh, Vanille, and Fang) to complete their focus.
There are beings named Fal'Cie who give the l'Cie their focus. The fal'Cie are supernatural beings. To not give out spoilers, I will not say much more about the fal'Cie to not give out spoilers, but there are great plot twists at the end.
One comment about the story is that they sometimes throw a lot of information at you, especially at the beginning, and it may be hard to follow for some. You jump right into the story with all the information given to you in the dialogue. If you aren't paying enough attention, you may miss out on some details of the main conflict.
Another thing is the pacing. I really liked the pacing on some parts and hated it on others. There were sometimes contrasts between these, like when you go from Chapter 7 to Chapter 8. Chapter 7 was an amazing part of the game; it was fast-paced but still good, it was epic, there were awesome fights, and a lot of things happened that made it great, but right after that, the story switches to two other characters (Sazh and Vanille) at a Chocobo Park. Events important to the overall story were still happening, but it felt out of place. And it was the same with the contrast between Chapters 6 and 7, and Chapters 8 and 9. They all switched the pacing too much.
I guess you do need to change up the pace a little, but it felt way too drastic at times. It also may have contributed that in the more action-full chapters you are playing with characters like Lightning, Snow, and Fang, while in the chapters that felt slower you would play as Sazh and Vanille, who aren't as good to use in a fight.
That was it for the story.

Final Fantasy XIII looks amazing for a game that was originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The cutscenes almost look like they were made for a PS5 game, but the actual gameplay looks alright. It definitely looks better than some Final Fantasy titles released years after (like Final Fantasy Type-0 two years later). One thing that was weird is that, from the beginning, there was a small stutter approximately every second. It doesn't stop whether you are in a cutscene or in a battle, but you can get used to it after a while. After an about hour of gameplay I ignored it - it doesn't really affect anything.

These were my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII. I think it was a great game. I would definitely play it again (and I most likely will). I hope this helps.

If you're planning to play this on PC: install fan-made mods to prevent crashed
Great game otherwise

15 years later, I decide to play my first Final fantasy game, despite growing up surrounded by friends who were fan of the serie, especially FFVII. I have always loved JRPGs (mostly star ocean and Tales of series) but I don't really know why I never tried Final fantasy games, even though it has been the most popular entry to the genre in the west for years.

Obviously I remember how FFXIII was critisized at its release : at the time, open world games were extremely popular and the linearity of FFXIII was controversial. I decided to grab it recently to actually try it and meet this franchise. I was definitely not expecting much from a controversial 15 years old game, but I thought its linear gameplay could actually be relaxing to "try" it and wouldn't bother me too much.

Then I started it and after 2 hours, I thought "Damn, It's not too bad actually, I like the atmosphere and I'm curious about the lore".

25 hours in, I was getting hooked by the combat. I don't really know why, but there is something well designed about it, its pace, the animations, the simplicity was pleasant but at the same time it was really fun to try different strategies and think about some build ideas. At the same time, I actually loved the linear progression in the story, it was so refreshing after all those years with lazy open world games, filled with tedious tasks... The story, and mostly its characters started to be deeper, more interesting and I definitely wanted to understand the world more.

Several hours later, I get further into the game, when it opens up, witnessing a great part of the world, filled with huge mobs. There, I started playing for the fun of testing build strategies and combat as this moment into the game allows this kind of freedom, nearly telling you "go ahead, now play". At that point I was having so much fun that I wondered "What if I tried to actually platinum this game? I love it so much what the hell". For the context, I am definitely not an achievement hunter and actually try to "100%" games extremely rarely. But this time I was enjoying every part of the game so much, I wanted to achieve a lot here.

And here I am, afetr a bit more of 100h of playtime, the game 100% completed with a huge smile on my face. What a journey that was... It is so rare, but I actually loved everything about this game, the story, the ending, the combat, the progression, the world building, the challenges. It was the kind of experiecne every gamer dreams to have with his games, the one which is really special, that leaves a mark in your brain, the one you want to tell everybody about, the one you want to find again.

Okay... So, that was a Final Fantasy game, I guess... Glad to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you...

Great FF game but on my recent playthrough i finally figured out why people haaaaate this game . It is so slow and monotonous but once you get to maybe the end of Chapter 9 the game picks up . I have never felt so sexy playing an ATB Style turn based game as much as i did here . It's so fluid once you master the battle system . Download the ram mod and the FF13fix mod though ( ridiculous how you need them to make this game run half decent)

It's a lot of fun -unless you want to do the Ceith stone missions. The player would have benefited from having a north point on the HUD compass, and the expandable map not moving. It would also be great to know where each exit on the map leads too, so the player doesn't need to look up a guide. I know the game wasn't made with Oerba in mind, but they threw a massive open map with unclear navigation. I've been told that all of these issues are fixed in the subsequent games, so I'm looking forward to playing them. Being able to flee combat would be nice too. New game+ would have been nice, considering you can't unlock the 10th tier of the Crystarium without beating the final boss.

My biggest gripe: if the player character dies in combat, it's over. You can immediately retry the battle with all of your items restored, but it's so BS.

All that aside, my pros...
I like the cast. The combat is fun. Being able to switch out every member of the party is great for strategy. Even though the party is split up before you reach the 10 hr mark, it gives you a chance to learn the strengths of each character. It's cool to see character development separate from the whole cast. I'd happily play this again, while avoiding the Ceith stone missions.

I really enjoy the dynamic fighting style with the paradigm shifts, as well as the visuals that compliment the story.

music is great, combat system is different but does have a learning curve, graphics are great for time frame of the orignal release. fantastic story as usual with ff games.

love it <3 great story, memorable characters with exciting stories <3

Finally gave this game a chance. It's not like other final fantasys before it, in that it is VERY linear for the first half of the game - battle enemies watch cutscene, run down corridor, repeat. Though It does open up later on, about 20 hours in. The music is incredible and the characters are all likeable in some way (just vanilles voice and personality in the beginning is really annoying to me). Overall I recommend.

Been playing it with no mods on steam deck mainly, runs flawlessly.