FINAL FANTASY® XIII

Excellent combat system, but the pacing of the story element is a drag. Its one long corridor of random fights, stopping to talk about their feelings, and repeat.

This game is so incredibly ass. Let me tell you what happened. At 2 am, I launch this game offline, hoping its like previous FF titles, and future ones. Usually, a game I play at this time is so fun, that im up until the sun rises, but let me tell you, I almost fell asleep with this shit combat system. It's really a shame because lightnings design is pretty nice, but the linear plot and snooze fest kills me. It might just not be my taste but you seriously have to have never played a good game in the FF series in your life to like this game.

This game brings back my childhood of having it on my playstation 3. I just now got a gaming laptop but I had an HP laptop that ran this game great! I would not recommend this game if you're not into fantasy based games, but if you are looking for a simple grinding game this is it! The story is great as well!

I tried... I really tried but I fell alseep each time I try to play (and I'm not even joking, I literraly fall asleep in battle)

Its the first time in a Final Fantasy that I like no one. I hate all the characters. Battles seems cool at first but beside bosses it's VERY REPETITIVE and not fun at all.

I stopped at the weird junkyard so maybe it's getting good after but I don't have the will, sorry.

I know FF XIII get a lot of hate for how linear it is, and it definitely is but I still really enjoy this game. It's story is great and I'm glad I got around to playing it again.

I wish it was better optimized because my PC is well above the min/recc requirements and I still couldn't get decent fps. Such a shame I had to refund, looked really cool

Final Fantasy XIII Review (Steam Version)

Performance Issues:
The game has several technical flaws on PC, including crashes to the desktop and lag issues. To mitigate the lag, you had to install additional software like vJoy, which detracts from the overall user experience. These issues suggest poor optimization for modern systems.

Positive Highlights:
Despite the performance problems, the game shines in two key areas:

Battle System: The unique Paradigm Shift system offers dynamic and strategic combat, making battles engaging and fast-paced.
Storyline: The narrative is compelling, with deep characters and an emotional plot that keeps players invested.
Overall Impression:
While the core gameplay and story remain strong, the PC port's technical issues may leave some players disappointed, especially when compared to the smoother experience on consoles.

Playable at first (years ago, older pc) now for some reason I get the worst stuttering I've ever seen in a game (modern pc specs);freezes every few frames for no find-able reason.
Going to do some more digging but this is a hard pass since i'm seeing other people talk about this issue.
(going to try it on an older rig when i find the time to slap the parts together, and update review when that day comes)

Yeah this game BETTER have mostly positive reviews. My PC hours are low, I've played this game since it came out.

Man the reviews about a poor PC port for this and it's sequels are honestly heartbreaking and something SE need to address ASAP, the XIII mini series is a work of art and would benefit tremendously with faithful PC service.

Now, to the game.

13 is divisive and there is no getting around it. It's a best seller but that doesn't take away from plenty of legitimate gripes fans of the series have. Unfortunately, it isn't for everyone. I recommend my wife play Persona 3 and 4 and she may love those more than me, I cannot recommend her this game with the same conviction.

Still, it's one of best looking games of all time. The graphic design and attention to minute details is outrageous. The characters look great. The environment is cool and colorful and beautiful. It was such a step forward for it's time, and I think the disappointment long time fans felt was palpable and lasting, not to mention what folks outside of the JRPG sphere felt.

FFXIII is incredibly ambitious, yet it didn't reach all of it's fans. It's not worth wondering what would've happened if it did, the sales of this and it's sequels are proof enough that this game has a legacy. Heck, Lightning is the most reproduced character in FFTCG after Cloud.

Final Fantasy XIII is a fun game. The story is not one that I was particularly fond of, but it was enough to keep me engaged. Great visuals that hold up over time and a decent soundtrack. Where this game really shines for me is the Paradigm battle system. After a bit of a learning curve, which the game is very good at giving tutorials on, I was hooked. Trying out and customizing your own paradigms with each battle/boss had me coming back for more. If you're not into that or get confused, you can have the game come up with some for you, or you can use a strategy guide. The biggest criticism I have of this game is that it is very linear. This isn't open-world, except for about 1/3 of the game towards the end. Overall worth a try if you like Final Fantasy games. If you've never tried one, I'd say you can start with another game. As a life-long series fan, this is one I can truly say I really enjoy.

beginning of the game is a bit long winded, however, once you get into the plains the game opens up. after that so muuch to do.

Great game but its broken now. I wanted to replay it but the game doesn't even launch past the config screen, very disappointed.

I really enjoyed playing this game. Kind of sad that I have to say no to this.
I have been playing this for the past few days and I didn't have any problems the previous days. Although for some reason today the game has crashed multiple times. I am in chapter 7 where I am playing as Snow and Hope is in the party. Running through the town it crashed once. Then I was able to start up the game and get past that part to save. I then get to where the flying guys come in. I defeat them and get to the next cut scene. At the end of the cut scene it ended up crashing. I came back and tried multiple times and it is still crashing. I verified the files and it has still crashed. I am unable to get past this part because of the crashing.

not worth your time unless you are a completionist kinda guy and want to experience every FF

It has an interesting history a bit cliche or overthought but that is not affecting the principals mechanics. You can go through the fight mechanics like paradigms that make battles more enjoyable and make you think more about the pre battle stage

Game Summary and Opinion

PC Port and Performance

1. PC Port (Patched & Modded)
   
2. PS3 version (FF13 was specifically made for the PS3 and was originally suppose to be a PS3 exclusive until Square Enix decided at the last minute to port the game to the Xbox 360 prior to launch)
   
3. Xbox 360 version (This version technically doesn't have anything wrong with it. Hell, it's the version I played back in the day, it's just inferior to the PS3 version; particular with things like resolution and sound quality.)
   
4. Vanilla PC Port (This version is just a port of the Xbox 360 version)
   

Mod List/Guide

• 4K/60FPS FMV
  
• 1080p FMV
  NOTE : If you are to replace the FMV's; whether it's the native 1080p or 4K Upscales, BE SURE TO CLEAR UP A GOOD CHUNK OF HARD DRIVE SPACE! These files are absolutely massive in size with the 4K upscales in partiuclar being roughly 20GB...each.
  

• The FF13 HD Project
  
• HD Models Plus
  
• Clean ReShade
  

• FF13FIX
  
• FF13FIX-4GB Patch Installer
  
• FF13 Series Launcher
  

• Gameplay Tweaks & Hard Mode
  
[*] Crystarium Editing

Overall I give this game a 10/10
The only problem is that it is region restricted.
I am sure about this "Notice: This version of Final Fantasy XIII only includes the following languages:

Subtitles and interface: Japanese, Chinese (traditional), Korean, English
Voiceover: Japanese" notice but the other information is misleading

1. It says the file size is 60 gigabytes but it is actually 29. I paid for a full game and got half the content.
Storage: 60 GB available space
2. The information on the right for supported audio has both English and Japanese checked off

Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔ ✔ ✔
French ✔ ✔
Italian ✔ ✔
German ✔ ✔
Spanish - Spain ✔ ✔
Japanese ✔
but only the Japanese files are given!

Because it wasn't advertised as an Asian Region only and doesn't have the options to download the English files from another Steam region or with the use of VPN I cannot recommend people to buy this version as the console versions are smoother to play and come with the the files you pay for!

But if you enjoy reading subtitles and like the original voices then this is for you. :)
I hope STEAM does the right thing and let's people download all 60 Gigabytes!

This game runs with a really choppy framerate and even with a gaming graphics card it has bad frake pacing/ choppy fps.

Final Fantasy 13 is one of the first games, that I played, that is heavily story focused on a story.

The plot of the game is very long. “How to beat” suggest, that it takes around 48 hours to beat it.
This amount of time allows the story to develop well, with a lot of backstory of the main group of characters.

The story focus on Claire “Lightning” Farron, that is on a odyssey like journey, to save her sister Serah. During it, she meets various other heroes ready to stay by her side. This motley crew offer many different personalities and the game allows them to develop well. The protagonists, especially Farron are well written, with very good backstory and realistic reasoning for their actions. Authors made really good work with crafting our game avatars.

The same can be said about the story itself. The plot is interesting and quickly catches attention of the players. It offers a lot of developments and never gets to the point, where it’s boring or making the player feel worn out.

The visuals of this game are really stunning. Especially the cut scenes. They look very realistic and add a lot of personality to the characters. Outside of them, the visuals also look good. Taking into consideration, that this game was released in 2009, I can easily say that the craftsmanship of the developers is really impressive.

The audio side of the game was also met with a lot of care and love. The music and the sound effects fit really well and helps the feeling of great journey well.


It was my first ever final fantasy game, so I don’t have the possibility to say how this game performs in comparison to the other parts, but I can say, that this game is really well done and enjoyable.

Rating is 90/100

If you enjoyed this review, feel free to rate, or/and comment it. If you would like to see more of this type of reviews, then I can recommend you visiting my curator page. On it, I focus on story driven games. Maybe you could find there something for yourself? :p
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I really liked the smoothness of the game play, if you have a good graphics card it gives new life to this old game, so much better that the version I played on console. This is definitely the way to play if you are an RPG or Final Fantasy fan.

Amazing graphics and a very interesting story. Sure, it is like a hallway simulator, but sometimes, open world games can be daunting and frightening to people.

Chapters 1-10, kinda boring but not terrible. chapter 11 finally becomes a final fantasy game (takes about 30 hours to get here) chapter 13 goes back to long hallways with really bad designed enemies that can 1 shot you, have a bunch of health, and debuff you and buff themselves. overall its an OK game definitely not the worst this series has done

Could be better...
Too linear and the story is 'moo'.
The skill tree is not free enough. But very nice combat system and 'job' changes, though.
The port isn't the best either (can be enhanced with mods) ... but the graphics are good. The experience of this game was OK for me.

The most amazing story on all final fantasy. Period.

Originally played this game on the playstation when it released but never got around to finishing it due to my disliking of one character throughout the story. Fast forward to today and after giving the game another chance and diving much further into the story it's easily becoming one of my top five final fantasy games up until chapter 11 where i uninstalled because a boss fight should not be this aggravating after i've spent hours on hours grinding crystarium points only to still keep getting smacked around.(yes i'm salty you would be to at this point)

Little tip for anyone interested in giving this a shot be prepared to grind around chapter 10 and 11 the enemies begin becoming much more of a challenge if you aren't prepared.

ps barnthandelus in his second fight is the most aggravating thing in this game.

The most enjoyable Final Fantasy game. IMO.
I played it a long time ago, and also other FF games after it. They were good, but not as rememberable as this one.
The story spans three games, actually: XIII, XIII-2, and Lightning Returns. These games are long enough, and good from start to end.
I would say it's a good entry to the series.
Although I'm sure there are fans of other FF games who'll disagree.

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

ストーリー、映像見ごたえあって良い！
音楽もいいから、沢山聞こう！
レベル上げは大変だけどそういうのはスマホなどでsteam linkから気ままにやるといいかも！
ファイルの容量だけ大きいから気をつけよう！

This was so much fun, Sazh was my favorite character! He gave the game s much personality

Final Fantasy XIII was the first FF on Xbox, and at the time this released I was all over the 360. I loved this game, even though the first 20 something hours don't deserve any love. You're basically put into a one way corridor, and forced to push a button or two to win.

And then Chapter 11 comes around. The game quite literally opens up, and with it all the options at your disposal. And once you figure out the (unfortunately very well) hidden "synthesis" items you're given a massive number of options of how you like the game to play.

This game divided the fanbase quite a lot, and even though I get it most of the time, I just think not everyone saw what a wonderful game is hidden beneath the surface. But that's probably FF13's biggest problem; the best things are hidden. And sometimes hidden very well. If they ever "HD" remake this game or whatever there are quite a few things I would like to see changed, but even in it's current state it's a lovely game, it has that big FF release quality to it, and the gameplay has wonderful stuff hidden behind it's numerous possibilities. There it is again: hidden.

So to sum this up: a hidden gem that sold way to much for it to be qualified as a hidden gem.

For achievement hunters: I got them all in 70 ish hours, but it was my fourth time playing through the game. If it's your first time expect around 100-120 hours to get them all. FF13 is quite infamous for its endgame grind, and although I like it, that doesn't mean you will. So just a heads up. Luckily the game is around 14 years old, so there a numerous guides and strategies available for whatever you may be struggling with along the way.

This game is amazing. I recently 100% the game. Hopefully this game receive a remake or remaster in the near future.

Great game. Still looks great for a 15 years old game.

No matter what I do, the game won't launch. I've tried compatibility mode, changed the number of CPUs involved, checked drivers, set different resolutions and how much resource it's using for it's own pre-launch settings. I've downloaded mods, and I've edited the settings file. Nothing.

This game just does not launch any more. I'm still on Windows 10, and it just refuses to work. I don't know if they broke the game, or if I'm doing something wrong, or what. Do not buy this until they fix it!

This game is awesome. One of my favorite Final Fantasy games in the series. However this PC port is absolutely horrendous. Little to no optimization, I don't think the 3 options the game gives you make much of a difference. For some reason if you select the 1920x1080 resolution option you get widescreen support. lol
There are horrendous stutters and spikes that can crash the game to the desktop. Loading a cut scene, crash. Wanna exit the game with a controller, yeah that's not an option, you must press escape key.
THE BIGGEST ISSUE, CHAPTER 3, THE GAME WILL CRASH AFTER/DURING/BATTLE/CUTSCENE THAT HAPPENS EVERY 2 MINS, THUS PREVENTING YOU FROM SUFFERRING THROUGH THE REST OF THE GAME WITH THIS POOR PC PORT!!!!!!!
HOW IS THIS EVEN LEGAL? HOW CAN SQUARE ENIX KEEP THIS BROKEN GAME ON THE STORE?

I have finished the game but after extensive research on fixes and downloading wrappers (Wine3d and FF13fix) that amazing and caring fans of the game have found to make this game playable. Thank you to those people. I wouldn't have been able to play this without you.

Square Enix should be ashamed to have this on the Steam store in the condition it is in.

I'm running a 5800x3D an RX 7800 XT, for the record, my system should be running this game with ease.

you love it, or you hate it. i love it. game still looks superb even after so many years (due to its stylistics, not graphical fireworks, even though refreshment with modern mods is highly advised), battle system is very fun (even though could be a lil boring after long hours), plot is AMAZING, characters very likeable, voice acting top notch. it's simply a very good game.

Great game, second time playing it, first was a decade ago. Steam version keeps on crashing. overall great story and good for nostalgia.

I played the original of Xbox 360 to death back when it released. The original E3 trailer that had the fake gameplay to get people interested was what had me gripped to play it initially. I do have a long history with this game going through a lot in life and maybe that helps me have a soft spot for it, but I can't stress how much I enjoyed playing it all over again.

There was a tinge of fear that I may dislike since the internet is pretty vocal about it's issues. I won't say that I can completely dismiss them as there are definitely too many fights, not enough variety in activities and there is a SEVER lack of towns.

Yet almost none of it prevented me from being completely engrossed in it's cast, music and turn based combat. Building out the crystarium for each character and building teams to strategize for each fight only got more and more interesting as I went through the game. Granted it takes a LONG time for it to completely open up, but still held my attention long enough.

If you have a Steam Deck I HIGHLY recommend playing it portably. Some areas do dip in frame rate, but the ease of picking it up and putting it down helps with a lot of the poor pacing of fights. It's much more bearable to do a few fights, save, put it down and come back later.

Overall I still love this game. It's the most 10/10 6/10 game I've ever played.

It took me a while to get into FFXIII as it is quite different being more linear and having a different ATB system. The story is a bit confusing to begin with and the pacing is a bit too fast in my opinion, but it does end up making sense and getting better in the second half, and I still enjoyed playing the game regardless. It may not be the best entry in the FF mainline series, for many reasons, but is still an FF game at heart. Interested to see how FFXIII-2 pans out.

17 hours in and game no longer launches. Have user patch, 4GB update and DEP disabled. Redid all of it+ reinstall and it just won't start.

"FINAL FANTASY XIII" offers an overall fantastic gaming experience for me with unique mechanics and engaging, fast-paced combat. For me, the gameplay is like a mix of old and new RPG, like a mix of turn-based and action-based RPG so it's a good experience for trying out for first timers but I would say that the story is kind of complex. The introduction of the "Crystarium" system provides a fresh approach to character development, allowing players to enhance abilities and stats with a straightforward and visually appealing interface. I especially enjoyed the "Paradigm" system because you can customize your current team and assign roles to them, I loved it because you get the feeling of creativity on that part.

However, the game’s story, part of the complex Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology, can be challenging to follow, especially at the start. The intricate lore and terminology mean it takes time to fully understand the plot. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that the Asian version of the game only includes Japanese voice acting. An English audio option would make the narrative much more accessible, helping players grasp the story more easily, particularly given the story’s complexity. Overall, though, I would still recommend "FINAL FANTASY XIII" to fans looking for an engaging and creatively designed RPG experience.

FF13 is actually very good and people are just dumb for hating it.

I used to be the biggest hater of FF13, certainly bigger than you, back when it came out and for several years after. I saw it as the decline of FF, a giant hallway simulator that focused on graphics to attract the CoD fanbase of players for a no-substance movie of a game that you just spam X to win in, without actually playing it.

But then I gave it a fair shot when it came out on Steam and I ended up falling in love with it. The combat feels a lot better than I expected, the linear maps do well for its hyper-focused story which does open up later for tons of side-content that's actually fun and rewarding to do, and it shares a lot of similarities to FF10 in good ways. Is it the best FF? No. But it's far from the worst. The story is extra compelling if you're a Noticer.

I replayed the game again a couple of years later with a different party setup and build, and loved it even more that time, finding different ways to play. Each character has their place and each weapon has different styles. I definitely recommend it if you have the balls to admit when you're wrong about something and can enjoy an objectively good game despite already deciding beforehand you don't like it. I can't say the same for 13-2 though, I didn't enjoy it at all and couldn't even finish it, which killed my desire to play Lightning Returns. But FF13 it self is really good and the story wraps up just fine, so there's no need to play the sequels. And still has great replaybility. Think I'll try a third run again and use an even different build for another party.

EDIT: Also, I never had any issues with the port. Never crashed, runs at 60 FPS, looks great on highest settings. I've played through it on two separate PCs, neither of which were high-end, and like I said I've played since near launch with no mods. So anyone complaining about bad port or it's buggy are just dumb with computers and don't know what they're doing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

An appalling example of a JRPG, with terrible battles, painful levels of linear pacing, dull story and characters and awful voice acting. There is very little to enjoy in this game- it is incredible that a trilogy was ever made out of it.

Great game but not the best FF out there. didn't like how there is 13 chapters and 10 of them felt like a tutorial.
although had heaps of fun and kept me hooked for a week.

Fantastic story and characters backed up by an amazing combat system that rewards you for playing smarter.

Turn off the mini-map.

I'm really glad they never made sequels to this game, I can just imagine Square Enix ruining this story and world to put out cheap sequels.

I waited many years to replay this game to completion since its release. Being a long time FF fan, mostly enjoying the classics (7-10) it had been a long time since I decided to give this a proper play-through. It starts very modestly, at first it feels very linear and takes a bit of patience to get though the beginning areas and progress to a point in the story where the characters, environments and the general story really start to shine. Previously, I hadn't had the patience to progress too far, but now I have I realise how fantastic it is in all facets.

Getting to Gran Pulse felt like a monumental effort after progressing through so much of the more 'linear story' but it was truly rewarding. The shear amount of content there alone is astounding. Even the end game grinding (whilst tedious with the Gil farming, and the RNG on the Adamantoises' is frustrating) is rewarding in its on right. All of the Cie'th missions and their ratings can be pre-planned well. The Treasure Hunter achievement is a gruelling achievement, especially since you genuinely have no need for most of the weapons/accessories you need to level up. JRPGs of this era have these soul-crushing end-game grinds and that's part of the oddly alluring charm imo.

This game has a fantastic and cohesive story, engaging characters that whilst they take a while to develop are very relatable and well developed. The artwork and graphics are top-notch and still shine today. All in all a fantastic game worth the investment of your time, even in 2024 it is shoulders above some of the most recent RPGs!

Criminally underrated instalment of FF.
This has a beautiful story, in a interesting world, with fantastic characters, such as the often slept-on Lightning, who has one of the best character arcs of any FF protag.

The game itself is very good. One of the best Final Fantasies I've played.

I had only the last boss to kill, and then the game decided that it won't want to launch. Did some googling and seems I'm not the only one. It seems most people never found a solution to this issue.

SE, please fix this port.

cool but atleast give us the english dub option because NOT EVERYONE CAN UNDERSTAND JAPANESE

very good FF geting old so does the combat mechanic ...
Story is awesome but players need to be patient
lot of stories before you get full control of the game and exploration system

Despite the fact the first few (8 chapters) is technically the tutorial of the game and the fact the game progresses SO SLOWLY with the hall simulators, the story is engaging and progressing with the "tutorial" gameplay and with more characters keeps me engaged. I really like the crystarium(?) function, looks really cool when upgrading my characters like that.

Although i don't really want to recommend the game because of the reasons said above. But idk, give it a try lmao. It's really a hit or miss.