Introduction to Final Fantasy XIII

This post will serve as a sort of prelude to my coverage of the game, which starts on February 11th. The world of Final Fantasy XIII comes to a close this year, but the games in it have all been pretty cool. Fans will have their complaints, but that doesn't stop these games from being fun.

Obviously, the first game of this series, was Final Fantasy XIII. It released for PS3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010. First of all, this game was the reason I most wanted to get a PS3, and I was not disappointed. The combat system is fresh and interesting. You're mostly exploring weaknesses and auto-battling for attacks, but your characters have an arsenal of "jobs" at their disposal, in which you use to make a deck of "Paradigms" comprised of three jobs, one for each of your party characters.

It sounds confusing, and it totally is, but once you get the system down, and start tweaking your Paradigms for different moves, it turns into a lot of fun. The characters and story are pretty sweet, too. Led by Lightning, this is one of my favorite casts in a while. There's also some epic boss fights, probably the most epic-feeling fights I've seen in a game besides Persona 4. These bosses are presented on a crazy level, though. You should at the very least check out the final boss cutscenes on Youtube. FFXIII is a crazy game, and will always be one of my favorites. Six playable characters with parties of three and a seriously fun battle system make this a long, enjoyable ride through Cocoon.

Next up in the series is 2012's Final Fantasy XIII-2. In this game, you play as Serah, Lightning's sister from the previous game, and newcomer, Noel. With only two characters, instead of six, the game had to come up with a new way to do Paradigms, so they added a monster-capturing factor. Most enemies you encounter can be recruited and you can have a reserve of three with you to add their roles onto Serah and Noel's Paradigms. 

The game also introduced a time-traveling aspect. Now you can go to the different areas of the world of FFXIII in different time periods, and the changes will be pretty awesome to see. It's a fresh way to go through world's you've visited, and depending on what part of the timeline you're on, events will be different, as well as monsters you encounter. While not as incredibly epic as FFXIII, this game is also shorter and picks up a little faster in the gameplay department. You're in a much more open world way before you were in the original game. It can get tricky, but looking up some tips for what monsters and items to use will really help you through this one if you're having trouble.

Finally, comes Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. This will mark the final game in the series. I don't know much, as I've refrained from really watching any trailers at all. I did play the recent demo, though. The battle system ditches the Paradigm aspects and introduces "Schemata." I believe this revolves around three forms Lightning can transform to throughout battle, and the different attack and weapon setups you have for Lightning. She's the only playable character this time around, so the developers were able to make all cosmetic changes visible, instead of just the weapons, as was the case for the other two games. 

Also, this game revolves around the end of the world, and introduces a clock system to the game. I'm not really sure how it works, yet, but I'm excited to find out on February 11th! FFXIII is definitely a series I'd recommend to anyone. Don't think just because it's Final Fantasy, that it's not a good game. You won't know until you give it a shot, so take my word for it!

- It's Clear