Lightning Returns Initial Thoughts

You could argue I've been waiting for a sequel to FFXIII-2 since February 2012... and I have. Lightning Returns is the ending to the FFXIII trilogy, and so far it's been pretty fun, but also very confusing and overwhelming! My initial thoughts for around 3 hours inside.

First of all, this game is crazy. I haven't done much of anything at all in the ~3 hours I've played so far. That's mostly because the amount of tutorials is absolutely insane. They've done away with the Paradigm system of the first two games and replaced it with a Schemata system. That's essentially easier, but there's so many mechanics going on in the game, it's a little confusing.

Even with my guide, I've really messed up because one of the enemies I fought was crazy difficult and I ended up losing two of the in-game hours off the clock. Lightning Returns is a timed game. You can potentially extend the time by doing side quests and not wasting time like I did, but if you fail to beat the game before the clock reaches its end, you actually have to start over at the beginning. Thankfully, you're given New Game + options if that were to happen. 

I don't want the game to be so hard first time through, but the key is to not lose time with enemies like I did. The key to more time is those quests. I've never faced a challenge quite like this in a game, so maybe I'll use the guide more straightforwardly this first play through, then go through another time doing all of the quests, instead of most. Unless I can fix this setback (which can probably be done pretty easily.)

The customization is awesome. Not only are Lightning's clothes, swords, and shields changed in battles, the over world, and cutscenes, but you can tweak all of the parts to whatever color you want. The battle system will take a lot of getting used to because of the guarding aspect. No longer do Sentinel class characters guard for you, it's more of an action RPG in that fact that you guard on your own. It's a much more involved experience, not menu-switching-based as it was in the first two games.

Ultimately, so far, I'm having a lot of fun. I've got some DLC from the collector's guide, the demo, and the Target steel book edition, which is cool. I plan on reading through the guide a little more to kind of come up with a road map I can use without constantly having to open the book. It also came with a map with item locations, which will be extremely helpful. 

Look for more thoughts soon!

In the Olympics front, there was some moguls and speed skating that was very exciting yesterday. Also there was some downhill skiing which is always very fun to watch. Tonight, Shaun White is going for a gold medal on the snowboarding half pipe, which would be his third. At the time of me writing this, it shouldn't be long before he makes his attempt on NBC's coverage, so that's gonna be pretty cool. So far I've enjoyed the games a lot this year! That's all I got for today.

- It's Clear