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[Lights and Waves]

What are some things that you enjoyed about the FFXIII Trilogy? These games receive a lot of hate, but they also have some very passionate fans that really enjoyed playing through the story of Lightning and crew.

Let's share some of the things we liked about these games. It'd be nice to have a serious and positive discussion, so please don't post "I'm happy that they're over!111!" and clog this thread up with your poop.

Mythology–
XIII's Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos is just fascinating! While it takes a bit of reading to really get the full picture (and they could have done a better job by just being straightforward and telling the creation story from start to end all at once) I think the idea of gods and lesser gods all backstabbing each other and none of them having an agreed upon opinion for dealing with humans was really interesting.

Characters–
"If you like Cloud, Why don't you like female Cloud?" - Karen, Mean Girls (2006)

Something that was really well crafted about this trilogy was the character arcs. Every main character, in all three games, went through a complete arc that made for a complex cast of people with interwoven stories.

I think Fang and Caius Ballad come to mind as some of the best characters in FF, period. The series also had some great designs (Lightning, Bhunivelze, the Eidolons) that made for great eye candy.

Trying something new–
Each game learned from its predecessor and tried something new. XIII-2's battle system was a perfected version of that in its predecessor, allowing you to switch the party leader on the fly and preventing a Game Over when your leader died. Also letting you recruit monsters and NPCs like Lightning was a really fun bonus.

The coliseum in that game that let you fight against Ultros from VI, Gilgamesh, the aliens from VIII, and Nahbot from XIII was just such a love letter to FF fans.

Lightning Returns' battle system was the ultimate test of skill for FF fans. It was the X-2 system on speed and the game is easily the most challenging of any single player FF yet. The designers weren't afraid to try something new and in doing so created a really awesome battle system that tested the player in ways FF hadn't done before.

Cinematic–
This is where all three games excel, and where XV fell very short. The production of these games, the cinematic experience of the cutscenes and FMVs are just outstanding. Square mastered the movie going experience of the FF games with this trilogy. The FMV were all beautifully rendered, generously distributed throughout the games and really added to the experience.

That's my bit. Now GAF, challenge cynicism and share with us – what did you enjoy about the XIII trilogy?

 

[goldenpp72]

Unfortunately, turning them off.

 

[cafemomo]

Turning the game on

 

[Eylos]

i enjoy that for a main final fantasy game, its the new low parameter for me (never played FF2)

edit: ok, the music and the graphics are very good

 

[Dunkley]

The music was pretty good.

edit:

For example Blinded By Light is one of my favorite FF Battle Themes. Too bad the long buildup barely made you hear the rest of the track as regular battles would often last shorter than it would've needed for the track to get to its' main part. The track itself is still great however, and the Dissidia remix of it is killer.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

The music, locations, and mythology until the end of Lightning Returns.

 

[Adam_Vania]

combat was pretty much it. and it was really fun. timing it just right so that you're juggling an enemy for extra damage. great stuff!

the story/characters/etc is a messy blur.

cutscenes were great, but also portraying the utter nonsense and incomprehensible story.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

The fucking Queen. That's what I loved most.

 

[Zantetsuken]

I enjoyed the battle system, especially in LR, followed by the XIII and then XIII-2. The music was great as well. I thought Caius was a good villain.

 

[LiK]

The music was pretty good.

This.

Spoiler

Still haven't played LR yet.

 

[kromeo]

I quite liked XIII up until Pulse. Mostly good music (Gapra Whitewood is one of my GOATS), graphics were great at the time and I didn't dislike Lightning or Hope anywhere as much as a lot of people.

Spoiler

Snow was garbage.

. A lot of faults but I still enjoyed it

I tried XIII-2 but really couldn't stand Serah or Noel

 

[Galang]

-Amazing music
-Lightning's design
-Battle system

 

[Adaren]

The music, the combat (XIII-2's difficulty notwithstanding), and the overall presentation are all top tier, imo.

I also liked the silly customizations options in the sequel games. XIII took itself too seriously, but XIII-2 and LR found a way to maintain the drama while also allowing you to put a novelty beard on Lightning.

While the story isn't always great, I appreciate that it manages to maintain an entertaining level of melodrama. I would rather have a story that veers into being too dramatic, than a story where the characters often don't feel like they're actually reacting to the plot at all (XV).

 

[Ouroboros]

I really enjoyed the music and environments. I'm not so keen on the characters of XIII, but by LR, Lightning grew on me.

 

[pizzacat]

People forcing themselves to like Lightning to annoy others to the point that they unironically call her queen

 

[Jolkien]

Music was great and late game combat as well. Especially Lightning Return, I think it's the only aspect they really nailed it was tricky. Only Final Fantasy I'd consider the super bosses actually tricky.

 

[raven777]

Amazing music - Blinded by Light is my favorite normal battle theme in FF.

Amazing combat - All 3 games had fantastic combat system. Also probably my favorite in the series along with X-2.

cutscenes - yea despite not liking the story or characters most of the time, it had some great cutscenes.

 

[Blablurn]

Stop making me wanna play it again, GAF

 

[Tathanen]

The music was unbelievable, some of my favorite songs of the generation.

The battle system in Lightning Returns is probably my favorite RPG battle system full-stop.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

LR has the best battle system ever, so satisfying to tear enemies to shreds.
Lightning is cute too; meow meow choco chow.

 

[BadWolf]

Fang was my fave character, great design and voice. Lightning was cool too.

The story, though not well explained in the first game, was actually pretty cool when you read up on it and had an interesting setting and premise. And the whole story arc with Noel, Caius and Yeul was memorable as well.

The visual style and music were top notch, the music especially felt like it fit the world perfectly. Dat Caius theme.

The combat is of course fantastic, definitely one of the better combat systems in an RPG. Combines ATB, jobs and gambits in a very satisfying way. And the combat system in Lightning Returns borders on a character action game.

Overall I enjoyed every game in the trilogy very much.

 

[Ruruja]

Soundtrack and cutscenes.

 

[Cloud7]

I think the time management aspect of Lighting Returns is completely awful. The story is trash too. I also didn't like the story of XIII-2 but loved the combat and exploration. I thought XIII wasn't great but a solid game minus the hallway running.

A trilogy that had a lot of potential but fell short. Not as bad as people claim but not as great as the XIII diehards say it is.

But Lighting is the Queen and She #MustNotBeForgotton

 

[Astral]

I enjoyed all of XIII-2 actually. The story was a little stupid with the whole "it must be a paradox" thing, but Noel was cool, Serah was surprisingly likable, making powerful monsters was fun, Caius was cool, the music was amazing, and I absolutely LOVED the ending. I thought it was pretty ballsy.

 

[Foffy]

I liked the battle system.

I didn't like how the game assumed a lack of confidence with the auto battle stuff, so I always set it to manual and got a lot more out of it.

 

[stargateheaven]

the graohics.. they were good (even today they look good).

Some of the scenes were beautifully made.

the music, always good.

13-2 tried to save it and did OK. lightning returns was a good game but i think many people avoided it because of the stigma of the 13 series.. hated the time aspect though. Time limit in an RPG? :-/

edit: you know, i hated 13-1.. but when i think back, i felt like i enjoyed it. weird. lol

 

[Lionheart1827]

The OST for 13 is amazing. The graphics were really good for the time, too.

I also really enjoyed the battle system despite it being more limited in control. Battles were pretty fast and snappy, and the harder battles in the end game, some felt like puzzles and you needed to use strategy to win.

I liked the whole background story until 13-2 fucked it up with stupid time paradox bullshit.

Didnt play Lightning Returns so I have no opinion on that one.

I still to this day feel like FF13 would've been better received by gamers if it didn't have an FF tag attached. I enjoyed it despite its flaws.

 

[Fancolors]

I didn't finish the game and quit around the 12-13 hour mark, but I liked the music.

 

[PhilipDoesMatter]

Lightning has the greatest personality since Celes.

 

[Lights and Waves]

Unfortunately, turning them off.

Thank you for ignoring the OP and doing exactly what I asked every one not to do.

That one experiment where the GAFer proved that people don't read the first post really hit the nail on the head.

 

[shiftplusone]

I think i finished 13 earlier this year (might have been last year) and thought it was actually pretty decent. I did skip all of the cut scenes up to granpulse(started watching them then) and just read the data logs, but I really liked the game. fun battle system, characters I thought were likeable enough, and just some really great looking environments and a good soundtrack

I put about 12 hours into 13-2 and I think it's pretty terrible

 

[mrmickfran]

The combat system is great in all 3.
The music is fantastic as well.

 

[Wagram]

After playing XV it makes you appreciate the story more. I still think Lightning is a great character.

 

[ffvorax]

I say the OST and Lightning.

Not much more unfortunately... for sure not the "transformer" summons...

 

[Maxim726X]

Music and battle system are phenomenal.

Once you get to Gran Pulse, the game opens up and feels less restrictive. Too bad this happens towards the end of the game.

 

[Reptars Revenge]

The meltdown when it went multiplat

 

[Linkark07]

Of the entire trilogy?

The music was nice
Loved Serah and Noel
Graphics were good
Combat gameplay is interesting in XIII-2

Guess that is all.

 

[Iced]

My mind went here after reading the title:

And I thought, "They made three of those damn things?"

 

[Ogawa-san]

I thought the combat was a nice twist to the turn-based ATB formula. People harp on it being an one-button thing, but it works almost the same way it did with turn-based and cursor memory on.

Great music as well.

 

[SoulUnison]

The music is some of the best and most consistent in the series, and the art direction and world design of Cocoon is breathtaking.
If anything, the extremely linear nature of the game is so taunting and painful because there are so many amazing places I wish we could explore "off the beaten path."

I could take an entire game just set in the City of Palumpolum.

Also, real cutscenes, with actual direction and cinematic flair.
So many scenes in XV fell flatter than they deserved because the cutscene direction was just "point the camera towards the characters, and close ups on faces for drama."
XIII's cutscenes were visually arresting even when the plot and dialog were being wonky.

 

[BaraSailey]

I haven't played the last game, but I really enjoyed Noel, Caius, and Yeul. Their whole story was interesting, and Caius is definitely one of the best villains in the series,

Spoiler

he essentially tricks everyone and actually wins in a sense.

The games also had some pretty great music, and the combat system was pretty solid. I didn't love it, but I thought it was still good.

One day I'll pick up XIII-3 to see how it all ends; it just needs to be really really cheap, haha

 

[Anteater]

I love the graphics

haven't played much of LR yet tho

 

[Mellahan]

I REALLY enjoyed the music. I consider FFXIII's battle theme to be among the best in the entire franchise. I never tire of it.

 

[ULTROS!]

The intro of FFXIII - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GujB6SX8CLM
Blinded by Light - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfu0XBf8kmk
FFXIII's battle system
Lightning Returns' Secret Ending - https://youtu.be/h7yBfzdCgDo

 

[PaulBizkit]

nothing. the graphics for XIII were good for its time though...

and sazhs (or whatever his name was), he was cool.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

The production values, especially with the visuals in the first game, were amazing. In my opinion all three but in particular the first are the most polished games of the last gen. The XIII trilogy reignited the spark of my love for Final Fantasy that I kind of dropped around the SNES era. I skipped out of the PS1 and PS2 era and went back because of these games. You may love her or hate her but I think Lightning is great! Serah in XIII-2 being just as amazing as well.

 

[Haunted]

I liked that one open world-ish chapter in the first game.

Seems like they kinda took that as the blueprint for the version of XV we got, so I'm pretty happy with it. The one good thing that whole XIII mess brought us, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[redcrayon]

The graphics were pretty cool and I liked some of the songs. Erm. That's about it.

 

[DarknessTear]

XV definitely makes you appreciate the story more. I feel that Toriyama could make a good game if he had someone co-directing to pull the bad ideas out. Ito come back.

Things I enjoyed about the trilogy are... well, the music. The combat in XIII and 2. Though 2 seemed a lot easier than XIII. LR is trash overall and shouldn't exist.

 

[Hycran]

I loved that the games were actually pretty good and that people enjoyed them despite a vociferous internet backlash which still baffles me until this day.