![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arynisI've Platinumed the game as of yesterday, so I can finally put the game down. It's time for my review! A game about the end of the world, just in time for the end of the year. Heh. Ahem.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the final part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy, and the conclusion of the Lightning Saga. It's been one hell of a wild and entertaining ride, so I'm jumping into my thoughts right away.
As before, here's my breakdown of strengths and shortcomings.
Strengths
Strengths
Engaging and Fun Combat System
I think the biggest highlight of the game is its combat system, by far. Unlike XIII and XIII-2 where you managed your teams of 2 and 3 characters, you control only Lightning this time around, with the ability to swap between 3 "roles" (Schema). As the developers put it, it's similar to the Paradigm Shift system, but it also contrasts it. How you gear up and play Lightning is completely up to you. Do you want to build a Ravager or Saboteur akin to the previous games? You can. Would you want to mix roles and create a flexible setup? Go ahead! Lightning has dozens of garbs to choose from, a good variety of weapons and shields, and a bunch of head and arm accessories to tweak yourself for any situation. Lastly, you have 2-4 slots for abilities, which you obtain from slain monsters.
Contrary to most RPGs, you don't level up from grinding monsters in this game. In fact, recklessly killing monsters is shooting yourself in the foot if you don't know what you are doing. Monsters are limited in the world of Nova Chrysalia, so you need to ratio them carefully if you're collecting abilities or saving up EP. If you run out of a given monster and you need an ability from them, you have to wait until New Game+. Optimizing abilities is helpful in Easy and Normal Mode, but it is a necessity if you want to succeed in Hard Mode. Monsters are also special as their last remaining specimen, a Last One, are akin to boss fights. They are tough, but worth the trouble, as each Last One has an unique accessory drop. Some monsters cannot be eradicated, and one monster cannot be made extinct under normal conditions.
Fighting Schrodingers made me feel like the world's biggest jerk. (Despite the status effects. I swear.)
Regarding the garbs, many of them are quite nice and generally fit the role they are meant for. A small amount of outfits were a miss for me, but I very much appreciated the suit options. Considering that Lightning did appear in a men's fashionwear collection of all things, this isn't a surprise. Velvet Bouncer and Splendid Admiral are my favorites, it helps that the latter has a very useful endgame ability as well. You can also customize the color of your garbs if you want to stand out with a different look.
It's worth noting that your garbs influence NPC chatter, and your default outfit is used in cutscenes. Ornaments also make a return. So if you're dressed outright silly, well...
"You've seen me like this. Now you have to d--" Maybe not you. Except you.
How you build your Schemas is the half of success in this game, every piece of customization counts. The other half is how you play in battles.
Alongside returning monsters, there are plenty of new faces putting you to the test. But don't let your knowledge of the previous games cloud your judgment. If you think that Meonekton is going to be an easy fight, you're in for a painful lesson.
Staggering works differently in LR. Instead of having to fill a stagger gauge with Ravagers, you need to exploit the enemy's weakness(es) or attack in a certain way (e.g., use magic attacks, guard against an attack with perfect timing). On top of that, you need to make sure your abilities can stagger the enemy sufficiently. For example, the -ra spells are good at building stagger, whereas other abilities barely or don't build the stagger at all. Mastering the combat in LR is a lengthy journey, but a very rewarding one. While leveling up your stats helps, as do improving your abilities, you need to have a good grasp of the combat mechanics for the bigger fights. And that's why the superbosses have been superb in this game, and the final boss actually feels like a challenging finale.
In short, the combat is very much skill based from your equipment choices to your fighting skill. It's rewarding, intense and most importantly, fun.
New Game+
Lightning Returns has you save the world in a limited amount of days, similarly to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Of course, this means there's the possibility you don't make it and run out of time. (It's worth noting that chaining Chronostasis makes the time limit a total non-issue, you can get everything done way before the 13 days are over.) Maybe you missed quests and treasure on the way and you want to have another shot at getting them. You might be in the situation in which you aren't prepared enough for the final boss and need a way out. Or, you finished the game. The game offers the ability to replay the 13 days from the very beginning, with the included option of Hard Mode if you beat the final boss. NG+ allows you to grab anything you need, as well offer a new round of challenges on Hard Mode. It also introduces a weapon/shield upgrade mechanic that lets you make your favorite equipment even more powerful. Accessories can be also upgraded once you collect them again in NG+. Quests offer stat boosts upon repeated completions.
The idea of replaying the entire game can seem daunting, especially if you need to get just a few more things done for the Platinum, but it's nowhere near as bad. You know what you're doing on subsequent playthroughs, so that speeds up the whole process. If anything, rewatching Lumina's scenes knowing who she is serves as a nice "Aha!" moment.
Charming Side Quests
Given the open world nature of the game, the bread and butter of the story is the Main Quests, as well the dozens of Side Quests you encounter on your journey. There's a collection of fetch quests contained in the Canvas of Prayers. They are your means of improving your stats, which is an interesting design choice I'd like to see more of.
The quests themselves are fairly straightforward. You need to acquire quest items, talk to the right people, or need to perform a specific activity. A few of them have you fight monsters. Their stories paint the imagery of this wasting, dying world. The people of Nova Chrysalia deal with sorrowful pasts, long gone loved ones, and their struggles in their daily lives. But not all quests are grim, many of them have heartwarming or hilarious moments.
What makes the quests really shine in my eyes is that Lightning is quite the snarker, and wastes no time riffing on the absurdity of the situations before her. Among other things, she comments on someone's soul being stuck in a cat, or a chain of family members who fake their death so their child can live independently from them. So half of the fun is seeing how Lightning will react to the quests. She may be the Savior, but that doesn't stop her from being brutal.
This is on a date, no less.
Despite her blunt remarks, she is quite insightful and considerate of whoever she helps out, and commends people's accomplishments.
Another strength of the quests is that some of them offer moments with Lightning's feelings on her own past, or show Lightning's powers as a person who is more than a human at this point.
Here are my favorite Side Quests from each region:
Luxerion:
- The Angel's Tears: Luka is a girl who sells her tears to people to remind them of the emotions they lost across the centuries. Even though she's a child, she has an interesting backstory. She cried for others so many times that she forgot her own sadness, which makes her break down and cry. She resolves to smile for people instead, passing on hope to onlookers.
Yusnaan:
- Family Food: Seedy is a man who runs a restaurant with delicious food, but he's horrible at business matters. He needs advice from the resident food expert, Gordon Gourmet, who excels at saving failing restaurants. Lightning seeks him out for help and after a few tasks, she receives a recipe she is to deliver back to Seedy. It turns out that Gordon Gourmet is Seedy's long lost son, who split from his father after an argument, but Gordon actually wanted to find a way to help his father. The two start over and run the restaurant together.
- Free Will: Two diviners task Lightning with duties, claiming it's been predetermined by fate. Hope is baffled that Lightning would follow their orders, while she claims she's acting out of her own free will. Their banter is funny when you consider that Lightning's decisions are decided by the player.
Wildlands:
- To Live in Chaos: Canopus Farms gets engulfed in a Chaos infusion and the villagers are concerned about the Chocobos Dr. Gysahl was taking care of. Lightning and the Angel of Valhalla successfully slay the troublesome Chocobo Eater, but they were too late. The Angel, who is Odin himself, mourns his fallen comrades and Lightning offers her prayers for the creatures, which saves Odin's soul.
- Where Are You, Moogle: Lightning has to find three Moogles lost in the forest, who have a tough time finding their way home. Lightning deals with it the Farron way: Throwing the Moogle up into the sky like nobody's business. What makes it even better is that the Loading Screen commentary reveals Lightning wanting to play Moogle Catch with her sister when she's back.
- A Father's Request & The Old Man and the Field & Land of Our Forebears: This is a trilogy of quests resolving around a family and their messed up lies. Sarala's father, Cole, went missing, but it's revealed he faked his death so she'd be able to stand on her own... But Cole's father had done the exact same thing to him. The family somehow reunite without it seeming too awkward and dramatic, which is impressive. I kind of hoped you'd have a quest dealing with Cole trying to find his wife, considering Sarala's blessing was played up as an important requirement, but it doesn't go anywhere.
Dead Dunes:
- Life of a Machine: Bhakti was taken care of by people, but its caretakers got caved in. The AI was willing to hold on for its friends by conserving power. Unfortunately, its caretakers have died long ago, leaving the robot confused. Lightning reassures it that its team believed in it, just as how Bhakti loved its companions. Despite being a mechanical being, Lightning saves its soul.
- Last One Standing: An old man named Zanford wants to see Lightning challenge and kill every Last One in the world. This quest requires a NG+ to actually hand it in, but in turn Zanford gives a rousing praise to Lightning, calling her humanity's Last One. It's quite clever when you consider the interpretation that a Last One concentrates its kind's collective strength into itself. Lightning channels the entirety of humanity to defeat Bhunivelze in the finale.
The Canvas of Prayers are primarily fetch quests, which are notable for being able to read follow-ups to them when you hand in the required items. Several of them are quite interesting. My favorite one was the one featuring a certain "A. Z.", showing signs that she's not quite erased from the world as we thought she'd be.
Fitting OST
The OST goes well with the setting and sets the mood for the four locations. The background music also changes depending on the time of the day. The battle music is also pretty good. "The Showdown" always gives me goosebumps. Those Last One fights...
Songs from the previous two games also make their appearance, although their placement felt a tad random at times, even if I appreciated hearing some of my favorites again.
Great World Design
LR offers a big world to explore that is split into four areas. Since exploration takes a bigger emphasis in this game compared to the predecessors, making the places work well is important. I'd say it succeeded. Overall speaking, the setting is more down to Earth and perhaps realistic compared to the previous entries in the trilogy. Gone are the majestic cities and the advanced technology. Going from a modern setting to a medieval one is an interesting leap. The closest thing to magic is the Soulsong ritual and Snow himself, nobody is seen using magic otherwise. Which is a bit odd considering that XIII-2 noted that several people awoke magical powers after moving to Gran Pulse. Perhaps the cultural shift distanced people from their magical abilities, especially when they had bigger worries on their mind.
Luxerion was a great introduction to Nova Chrysalia. It gave you that sense of loss and mortality humanity went through after the Chaos engulfed the world. The sense of dread, the feeling of being broken. Apparently that design was the intention on the team's part, so they did good. The city is represented by black and white colors, which goes well with the darkness of Chaos and God's light. On one hand, you have the Order of Salvation, citizens devoted to Bhunivelze and the end of the world. On the other hand, you have the Etro cultists who kidnap rose-haired women and sacrifice them. So the city's duality certainly shows. The Clock Tower is also fantastic with its design, reminding one of the Pulse Vestige, making it an ominous sight. Unfortunately, the city fell short for me. Despite its strong beginning, the Main Quest didn't feel as strong as Wildland's or Yusnaan's. Thwarting Noel's belief in the vision he saw was cool, but part of me feels like Noel got wasted. Maybe it's because Luxerion is the city you start in, so the story as a whole isn't as heavy here compared to the other areas. For the setting's capital city, Luxerion sure felt underwhelming, especially when compared to Yusnaan. The Final Day had some good moments, though.
Yusnaan is easily the best designed area in the game for me. The intro already hypes up the location with Lightning's initial break-in. Yusnaan's carnival design makes it the fanciest location, making it a joy to take a stroll through it. Its Main Quest is also solid and makes a good use of the game's time mechanics, as well the city's sub-locations. It all ramps up to the confrontation with Snow, who is on the verge of becoming a Cie'th. Despite being miserable and suicidal, Snow manages to hold back on transforming completely, much like the Cid Raines fight from XIII. All of these factors make the fight with him very much climatic, with a tear jerking but heartwarming wrap-up. It helps that Lightning breaks out of her stoic nature as she pleads Snow to live.
The Wildlands is fascinating thanks to its Angel of Valhalla myth that permeated among the residing villagers. The Main Quest kicks off well with having to save and care for a very special Chocobo, even though it's apparent who it really it is. As you heal up the Angel, the map opens up, letting you get to places and treasure you couldn't before. The Angel is a must for getting around, as the Wildlands is huge. The Temple of Chaos towers above the peaceful scenery as well, giving it an eerie atmosphere. No matter where you go, you're reminded of the Chaos that surrounds you. Once you make it to the temple, you find out the true identity of the unseen Chaos: the many, many incarnations of Yeul. Caius is also here, and no less dangerous than he was before. I got excited that I can give him a happy ending this time around, but this is the man who tricked Noel into killing him, so he explains you can't really save him. Quite understandable, as he wishes to take care of the countless Yeuls, despite their contradicting nature making him suffer. Sazh is also in this zone, and completing his quest gets a sweet scene with Chocolina, Dajh and Sazh himself.
My favorite aspect of Dead Dunes is the exploration. As you navigate through the desert, you see familiar structures, namely Atmos and Titan's remains, not to mention an Admantoise skeleton. It's a grim reminder that Nova Chrysalia is the remains of Gran Pulse. The world you came to know in the past games is melting away into Chaos, facing inevitable destruction. The Temple Ruins is a neat dungeon with doors that open at odd and even hours of the day. It requires you to plan how to progress through the place, and you also need to remember which ladder leads where. The Main Quest felt bit meh with its "The Order snatches the Clavis, bye" conclusion, but it did reveal that Vanille is being misled and she's about to do something tragic and messed up. Also, having Fang tag along felt nice.
A Wild Ride Conclusion
Lightning Returns concludes the Lightning Saga, and holy moly what a conclusion it was. Through the story, Lightning saves souls and faces the woes of this world, as well her own. Lumina follows her trail, teasing her with mysterious remarks that do not seem to make sense. Lightning learns of the true nature of Chaos, and the dangers of the Soulsong ritual. She wants to see Serah and acts in the name of God, but by the end of the story she's more than willing to kill God and face an impossible opponent. Lightning stops the ritual with help from Fang and Snow, then departs to face Bhunivelze himself. She steps inside God's dimension, where she learns that God wanted her to take Etro's place, as someone needs to oversee the life and death cycle. She's having none of it, so she proceeds to kick God's ass in an amazing final boss battle. While the symbolism of the fight has been played down in the English localization due to Hope being 14, it reminds me of the end of XIII where you face off a divine enemy. While it was Pulse and Lindzei who created fal'Cie, there's a very strong "like parent, like child" element between the Orphan and Bhunivelze fights. Lightning already cleaned fal'Cie house, might as well throw out all of the bunch and free humanity from their divine chains. The following events are incredible: saving Hope, Lightning accepting the part of herself she cut out before, her friends and humanity helping to take down Bhunivelze. The Yeuls take Etro's place with Caius staying behind as their caretaker, but not before giving the last Yeul freedom, granting the wish he yearned for before. In the new world where magic, gods and fal'Cie no longer exist, Lightning, now a regular person, is seen sitting in a train, free from her old life and ready to face the new one.
The conclusion really tied together the three games and show that none of it was in vain. Defeating Orphan wasn't pointless. Serah's efforts weren't pointless. Lightning didn't win her fight alone, humanity won against Bhunivelze. Everyone gets to be reborn without coming off as a cheap revival of the dead. It feels earned after many battles against fate and the divine. Humanity has a new future.
Flaws and Shortcomings
While I listed only one point as a bigger flaw in the game, here are some noteworthy issues:
The length of the game it takes to full completion. Out of the three XIII games, LR took me the longest to Platinum. If I had gone into Hard Mode on top of that, it would have taken much, much longer to finally put down the game. However, it's worth pointing out that XIII didn't take as long because I got lucky with Trapezohedron drops. If that hadn't been the case, I would have needed to farm Platinum Ingots for the 2 million buy price, which would have taken its sweet time with the Admantoises. (Or get into leveling weapons to multiply Trapezohedrons, but that too costs Gil, so...) It's possible that XIII would have taken longer than LR.
The game does seem to have some annoying bugs, albeit nothing game breaking. The most notorious one is the patches of land in Wildlands, they may become unusable for no reason. Or, you need to interact with them multiple times to plant the seeds. I've had this only with the Gysahl Greens patches, not the Tantal or Sylkis ones.
Talking to the Moogles during the Where Are You, Moogle quest sometimes resulted in a black screen with nothing else happening. Turns out I needed to talk to the Moogle again, so I suspect a scripting hiccup in which the screen was made to fade, but the Moogle throw scene didn't initiate. So if you think you got softlocked, don't get scared, thankfully it's not the case.
Lack of Focus on Main Characters
I think one thing I found lacking in LR is that most of the main characters failed to make the impact they should have during most of the game. The only one who had a huge impact was Snow, given he's the last l'Cie and the closest thing to an alive family member for Lightning. I already touched on Noel earlier, who felt lacking as a Main Quest boss (even if the fight itself was challenging).
Sazh mostly stays in his airship cabin, but sometimes you can meet him in other places and he asks you about your progress. His lines for that encounter is quite nice, it's a bummer it's an optional thing you can miss. I think Sazh being more involved in tracking your progress (e.g., making it easier to run into him to talk with him) may have helped making the quest feel more meaningful.
Fang getting involved with a bandit gang kinda felt like a Fang thing to do, and having her tag along with Lightning was nice. But maybe that was the issue, she felt too much like a secondary teammate. Lightning was the primary focus for Dead Dunes's Main Quest, especially with the whole Crux thing. The desert was reputed to hold many dangers, then it turns out the Savior can waltz in and progress because... she's the Savior. It's possible it was intentional from Bhunivelze's part, seeing how getting the souls destroyed via Soulsong was one of his goals. It would have been nicer to see Fang do something more than drop the big plot twist at the end of the Main Quest. Her "oldest hag on the planet" comment is still one of my favorite parts of the Main Quest, though.
Vanille felt like the worst out of the bunch, but it's possible I missed events or encounters involving her. You don't see her during the day, she's around at night provided you have the means to access the Cathedral. Talking with her was definitely a highlight moment, because you can get a good grasp on how much she wants to atone for her wrongdoings, to the point of willing to die for it. It was a familiar emotion and affected me greatly. But that was it—you can't talk to her after that conversation, and so you go around doing other stuff until the Final Day, where you have to save her. I like Vanille and it upset me that I forgot she existed because of the lack of active involvement.
But I have to wonder, perhaps that was the point—that despite being heroes, the main characters weren't equal. Snow as the last l'Cie arguably towered above the rest. Just as the world drifted towards a more down to Earth way of living, so did the main characters. Noel blended in Luxerion's shadows as a notorious hunter, Sazh became a recluse as he watched over his son, Fang ran away to work on a plan to save Vanille, and finally, Vanille was locked up as a holy saint. And they all had their moments between the Final Day and the fight against Bhunivelze, so there's that.
Conclusions
When I wrote my XIII review, I noted that XIII had the shot at becoming my #1 Final Fantasy game, provided the other two games held up in quality. XIII-2 improved on XIII, while LR tried something new. Well, it's time for me to make that decision, haha.
I think I can say that the trilogy did succeed in becoming my top favorite, alongside FFIX. The setting was fascinating, I really enjoyed Lightning as a protagonist, the music was great (although XIII-2 has the best OST in the trilogy) and LR floored me with its skill based combat system. Caius is also one of my favorite villains in the franchise, although Barthandelus and Bhunivelze had their memorable moments. Lastly, the trilogy had a message that felt very much relevant in our times, encouraging us to keep fighting, no matter how bleak the future seems. Whether it was facing a powerful fal'Cie, fighting an everlasting man for an eternity, or defying God himself, Lightning never gave up on her mission to reunite with her sister and save humanity.
Even though I'm done with the Lightning Saga, there's one more game I am going to visit in the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe: TYPE-0 HD. The only thing I know about the game is that it's supposedly one of the darkest in the series and it heavily involves Eidolons, so I'm quite fascinated to see what lies in store for me.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the final part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy, and the conclusion of the Lightning Saga. It's been one hell of a wild and entertaining ride, so I'm jumping into my thoughts right away.
As before, here's my breakdown of strengths and shortcomings.
Strengths
- Probably the best combat system in FF so far
- New Game+ Mode
- Side Quests have their charm
- Decent and fitting OST
- Great world design
- A wild ride conclusion to the trilogy
- Outside of Snow and Hope, the rest of the main characters don't feel as prominent
Strengths
Engaging and Fun Combat System
I think the biggest highlight of the game is its combat system, by far. Unlike XIII and XIII-2 where you managed your teams of 2 and 3 characters, you control only Lightning this time around, with the ability to swap between 3 "roles" (Schema). As the developers put it, it's similar to the Paradigm Shift system, but it also contrasts it. How you gear up and play Lightning is completely up to you. Do you want to build a Ravager or Saboteur akin to the previous games? You can. Would you want to mix roles and create a flexible setup? Go ahead! Lightning has dozens of garbs to choose from, a good variety of weapons and shields, and a bunch of head and arm accessories to tweak yourself for any situation. Lastly, you have 2-4 slots for abilities, which you obtain from slain monsters.
Contrary to most RPGs, you don't level up from grinding monsters in this game. In fact, recklessly killing monsters is shooting yourself in the foot if you don't know what you are doing. Monsters are limited in the world of Nova Chrysalia, so you need to ratio them carefully if you're collecting abilities or saving up EP. If you run out of a given monster and you need an ability from them, you have to wait until New Game+. Optimizing abilities is helpful in Easy and Normal Mode, but it is a necessity if you want to succeed in Hard Mode. Monsters are also special as their last remaining specimen, a Last One, are akin to boss fights. They are tough, but worth the trouble, as each Last One has an unique accessory drop. Some monsters cannot be eradicated, and one monster cannot be made extinct under normal conditions.
Fighting Schrodingers made me feel like the world's biggest jerk. (Despite the status effects. I swear.)
Regarding the garbs, many of them are quite nice and generally fit the role they are meant for. A small amount of outfits were a miss for me, but I very much appreciated the suit options. Considering that Lightning did appear in a men's fashionwear collection of all things, this isn't a surprise. Velvet Bouncer and Splendid Admiral are my favorites, it helps that the latter has a very useful endgame ability as well. You can also customize the color of your garbs if you want to stand out with a different look.
It's worth noting that your garbs influence NPC chatter, and your default outfit is used in cutscenes. Ornaments also make a return. So if you're dressed outright silly, well...
"You've seen me like this. Now you have to d--" Maybe not you. Except you.
How you build your Schemas is the half of success in this game, every piece of customization counts. The other half is how you play in battles.
Alongside returning monsters, there are plenty of new faces putting you to the test. But don't let your knowledge of the previous games cloud your judgment. If you think that Meonekton is going to be an easy fight, you're in for a painful lesson.
Staggering works differently in LR. Instead of having to fill a stagger gauge with Ravagers, you need to exploit the enemy's weakness(es) or attack in a certain way (e.g., use magic attacks, guard against an attack with perfect timing). On top of that, you need to make sure your abilities can stagger the enemy sufficiently. For example, the -ra spells are good at building stagger, whereas other abilities barely or don't build the stagger at all. Mastering the combat in LR is a lengthy journey, but a very rewarding one. While leveling up your stats helps, as do improving your abilities, you need to have a good grasp of the combat mechanics for the bigger fights. And that's why the superbosses have been superb in this game, and the final boss actually feels like a challenging finale.
In short, the combat is very much skill based from your equipment choices to your fighting skill. It's rewarding, intense and most importantly, fun.
New Game+
Lightning Returns has you save the world in a limited amount of days, similarly to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Of course, this means there's the possibility you don't make it and run out of time. (It's worth noting that chaining Chronostasis makes the time limit a total non-issue, you can get everything done way before the 13 days are over.) Maybe you missed quests and treasure on the way and you want to have another shot at getting them. You might be in the situation in which you aren't prepared enough for the final boss and need a way out. Or, you finished the game. The game offers the ability to replay the 13 days from the very beginning, with the included option of Hard Mode if you beat the final boss. NG+ allows you to grab anything you need, as well offer a new round of challenges on Hard Mode. It also introduces a weapon/shield upgrade mechanic that lets you make your favorite equipment even more powerful. Accessories can be also upgraded once you collect them again in NG+. Quests offer stat boosts upon repeated completions.
The idea of replaying the entire game can seem daunting, especially if you need to get just a few more things done for the Platinum, but it's nowhere near as bad. You know what you're doing on subsequent playthroughs, so that speeds up the whole process. If anything, rewatching Lumina's scenes knowing who she is serves as a nice "Aha!" moment.
Charming Side Quests
Given the open world nature of the game, the bread and butter of the story is the Main Quests, as well the dozens of Side Quests you encounter on your journey. There's a collection of fetch quests contained in the Canvas of Prayers. They are your means of improving your stats, which is an interesting design choice I'd like to see more of.
The quests themselves are fairly straightforward. You need to acquire quest items, talk to the right people, or need to perform a specific activity. A few of them have you fight monsters. Their stories paint the imagery of this wasting, dying world. The people of Nova Chrysalia deal with sorrowful pasts, long gone loved ones, and their struggles in their daily lives. But not all quests are grim, many of them have heartwarming or hilarious moments.
What makes the quests really shine in my eyes is that Lightning is quite the snarker, and wastes no time riffing on the absurdity of the situations before her. Among other things, she comments on someone's soul being stuck in a cat, or a chain of family members who fake their death so their child can live independently from them. So half of the fun is seeing how Lightning will react to the quests. She may be the Savior, but that doesn't stop her from being brutal.
This is on a date, no less.
Despite her blunt remarks, she is quite insightful and considerate of whoever she helps out, and commends people's accomplishments.
Another strength of the quests is that some of them offer moments with Lightning's feelings on her own past, or show Lightning's powers as a person who is more than a human at this point.
Here are my favorite Side Quests from each region:
Luxerion:
- The Angel's Tears: Luka is a girl who sells her tears to people to remind them of the emotions they lost across the centuries. Even though she's a child, she has an interesting backstory. She cried for others so many times that she forgot her own sadness, which makes her break down and cry. She resolves to smile for people instead, passing on hope to onlookers.
Yusnaan:
- Family Food: Seedy is a man who runs a restaurant with delicious food, but he's horrible at business matters. He needs advice from the resident food expert, Gordon Gourmet, who excels at saving failing restaurants. Lightning seeks him out for help and after a few tasks, she receives a recipe she is to deliver back to Seedy. It turns out that Gordon Gourmet is Seedy's long lost son, who split from his father after an argument, but Gordon actually wanted to find a way to help his father. The two start over and run the restaurant together.
- Free Will: Two diviners task Lightning with duties, claiming it's been predetermined by fate. Hope is baffled that Lightning would follow their orders, while she claims she's acting out of her own free will. Their banter is funny when you consider that Lightning's decisions are decided by the player.
Wildlands:
- To Live in Chaos: Canopus Farms gets engulfed in a Chaos infusion and the villagers are concerned about the Chocobos Dr. Gysahl was taking care of. Lightning and the Angel of Valhalla successfully slay the troublesome Chocobo Eater, but they were too late. The Angel, who is Odin himself, mourns his fallen comrades and Lightning offers her prayers for the creatures, which saves Odin's soul.
- Where Are You, Moogle: Lightning has to find three Moogles lost in the forest, who have a tough time finding their way home. Lightning deals with it the Farron way: Throwing the Moogle up into the sky like nobody's business. What makes it even better is that the Loading Screen commentary reveals Lightning wanting to play Moogle Catch with her sister when she's back.
- A Father's Request & The Old Man and the Field & Land of Our Forebears: This is a trilogy of quests resolving around a family and their messed up lies. Sarala's father, Cole, went missing, but it's revealed he faked his death so she'd be able to stand on her own... But Cole's father had done the exact same thing to him. The family somehow reunite without it seeming too awkward and dramatic, which is impressive. I kind of hoped you'd have a quest dealing with Cole trying to find his wife, considering Sarala's blessing was played up as an important requirement, but it doesn't go anywhere.
Dead Dunes:
- Life of a Machine: Bhakti was taken care of by people, but its caretakers got caved in. The AI was willing to hold on for its friends by conserving power. Unfortunately, its caretakers have died long ago, leaving the robot confused. Lightning reassures it that its team believed in it, just as how Bhakti loved its companions. Despite being a mechanical being, Lightning saves its soul.
- Last One Standing: An old man named Zanford wants to see Lightning challenge and kill every Last One in the world. This quest requires a NG+ to actually hand it in, but in turn Zanford gives a rousing praise to Lightning, calling her humanity's Last One. It's quite clever when you consider the interpretation that a Last One concentrates its kind's collective strength into itself. Lightning channels the entirety of humanity to defeat Bhunivelze in the finale.
The Canvas of Prayers are primarily fetch quests, which are notable for being able to read follow-ups to them when you hand in the required items. Several of them are quite interesting. My favorite one was the one featuring a certain "A. Z.", showing signs that she's not quite erased from the world as we thought she'd be.
Fitting OST
The OST goes well with the setting and sets the mood for the four locations. The background music also changes depending on the time of the day. The battle music is also pretty good. "The Showdown" always gives me goosebumps. Those Last One fights...
Songs from the previous two games also make their appearance, although their placement felt a tad random at times, even if I appreciated hearing some of my favorites again.
Great World Design
LR offers a big world to explore that is split into four areas. Since exploration takes a bigger emphasis in this game compared to the predecessors, making the places work well is important. I'd say it succeeded. Overall speaking, the setting is more down to Earth and perhaps realistic compared to the previous entries in the trilogy. Gone are the majestic cities and the advanced technology. Going from a modern setting to a medieval one is an interesting leap. The closest thing to magic is the Soulsong ritual and Snow himself, nobody is seen using magic otherwise. Which is a bit odd considering that XIII-2 noted that several people awoke magical powers after moving to Gran Pulse. Perhaps the cultural shift distanced people from their magical abilities, especially when they had bigger worries on their mind.
Luxerion was a great introduction to Nova Chrysalia. It gave you that sense of loss and mortality humanity went through after the Chaos engulfed the world. The sense of dread, the feeling of being broken. Apparently that design was the intention on the team's part, so they did good. The city is represented by black and white colors, which goes well with the darkness of Chaos and God's light. On one hand, you have the Order of Salvation, citizens devoted to Bhunivelze and the end of the world. On the other hand, you have the Etro cultists who kidnap rose-haired women and sacrifice them. So the city's duality certainly shows. The Clock Tower is also fantastic with its design, reminding one of the Pulse Vestige, making it an ominous sight. Unfortunately, the city fell short for me. Despite its strong beginning, the Main Quest didn't feel as strong as Wildland's or Yusnaan's. Thwarting Noel's belief in the vision he saw was cool, but part of me feels like Noel got wasted. Maybe it's because Luxerion is the city you start in, so the story as a whole isn't as heavy here compared to the other areas. For the setting's capital city, Luxerion sure felt underwhelming, especially when compared to Yusnaan. The Final Day had some good moments, though.
Yusnaan is easily the best designed area in the game for me. The intro already hypes up the location with Lightning's initial break-in. Yusnaan's carnival design makes it the fanciest location, making it a joy to take a stroll through it. Its Main Quest is also solid and makes a good use of the game's time mechanics, as well the city's sub-locations. It all ramps up to the confrontation with Snow, who is on the verge of becoming a Cie'th. Despite being miserable and suicidal, Snow manages to hold back on transforming completely, much like the Cid Raines fight from XIII. All of these factors make the fight with him very much climatic, with a tear jerking but heartwarming wrap-up. It helps that Lightning breaks out of her stoic nature as she pleads Snow to live.
The Wildlands is fascinating thanks to its Angel of Valhalla myth that permeated among the residing villagers. The Main Quest kicks off well with having to save and care for a very special Chocobo, even though it's apparent who it really it is. As you heal up the Angel, the map opens up, letting you get to places and treasure you couldn't before. The Angel is a must for getting around, as the Wildlands is huge. The Temple of Chaos towers above the peaceful scenery as well, giving it an eerie atmosphere. No matter where you go, you're reminded of the Chaos that surrounds you. Once you make it to the temple, you find out the true identity of the unseen Chaos: the many, many incarnations of Yeul. Caius is also here, and no less dangerous than he was before. I got excited that I can give him a happy ending this time around, but this is the man who tricked Noel into killing him, so he explains you can't really save him. Quite understandable, as he wishes to take care of the countless Yeuls, despite their contradicting nature making him suffer. Sazh is also in this zone, and completing his quest gets a sweet scene with Chocolina, Dajh and Sazh himself.
My favorite aspect of Dead Dunes is the exploration. As you navigate through the desert, you see familiar structures, namely Atmos and Titan's remains, not to mention an Admantoise skeleton. It's a grim reminder that Nova Chrysalia is the remains of Gran Pulse. The world you came to know in the past games is melting away into Chaos, facing inevitable destruction. The Temple Ruins is a neat dungeon with doors that open at odd and even hours of the day. It requires you to plan how to progress through the place, and you also need to remember which ladder leads where. The Main Quest felt bit meh with its "The Order snatches the Clavis, bye" conclusion, but it did reveal that Vanille is being misled and she's about to do something tragic and messed up. Also, having Fang tag along felt nice.
A Wild Ride Conclusion
Lightning Returns concludes the Lightning Saga, and holy moly what a conclusion it was. Through the story, Lightning saves souls and faces the woes of this world, as well her own. Lumina follows her trail, teasing her with mysterious remarks that do not seem to make sense. Lightning learns of the true nature of Chaos, and the dangers of the Soulsong ritual. She wants to see Serah and acts in the name of God, but by the end of the story she's more than willing to kill God and face an impossible opponent. Lightning stops the ritual with help from Fang and Snow, then departs to face Bhunivelze himself. She steps inside God's dimension, where she learns that God wanted her to take Etro's place, as someone needs to oversee the life and death cycle. She's having none of it, so she proceeds to kick God's ass in an amazing final boss battle. While the symbolism of the fight has been played down in the English localization due to Hope being 14, it reminds me of the end of XIII where you face off a divine enemy. While it was Pulse and Lindzei who created fal'Cie, there's a very strong "like parent, like child" element between the Orphan and Bhunivelze fights. Lightning already cleaned fal'Cie house, might as well throw out all of the bunch and free humanity from their divine chains. The following events are incredible: saving Hope, Lightning accepting the part of herself she cut out before, her friends and humanity helping to take down Bhunivelze. The Yeuls take Etro's place with Caius staying behind as their caretaker, but not before giving the last Yeul freedom, granting the wish he yearned for before. In the new world where magic, gods and fal'Cie no longer exist, Lightning, now a regular person, is seen sitting in a train, free from her old life and ready to face the new one.
The conclusion really tied together the three games and show that none of it was in vain. Defeating Orphan wasn't pointless. Serah's efforts weren't pointless. Lightning didn't win her fight alone, humanity won against Bhunivelze. Everyone gets to be reborn without coming off as a cheap revival of the dead. It feels earned after many battles against fate and the divine. Humanity has a new future.
Flaws and Shortcomings
While I listed only one point as a bigger flaw in the game, here are some noteworthy issues:
The length of the game it takes to full completion. Out of the three XIII games, LR took me the longest to Platinum. If I had gone into Hard Mode on top of that, it would have taken much, much longer to finally put down the game. However, it's worth pointing out that XIII didn't take as long because I got lucky with Trapezohedron drops. If that hadn't been the case, I would have needed to farm Platinum Ingots for the 2 million buy price, which would have taken its sweet time with the Admantoises. (Or get into leveling weapons to multiply Trapezohedrons, but that too costs Gil, so...) It's possible that XIII would have taken longer than LR.
The game does seem to have some annoying bugs, albeit nothing game breaking. The most notorious one is the patches of land in Wildlands, they may become unusable for no reason. Or, you need to interact with them multiple times to plant the seeds. I've had this only with the Gysahl Greens patches, not the Tantal or Sylkis ones.
Talking to the Moogles during the Where Are You, Moogle quest sometimes resulted in a black screen with nothing else happening. Turns out I needed to talk to the Moogle again, so I suspect a scripting hiccup in which the screen was made to fade, but the Moogle throw scene didn't initiate. So if you think you got softlocked, don't get scared, thankfully it's not the case.
Lack of Focus on Main Characters
I think one thing I found lacking in LR is that most of the main characters failed to make the impact they should have during most of the game. The only one who had a huge impact was Snow, given he's the last l'Cie and the closest thing to an alive family member for Lightning. I already touched on Noel earlier, who felt lacking as a Main Quest boss (even if the fight itself was challenging).
Sazh mostly stays in his airship cabin, but sometimes you can meet him in other places and he asks you about your progress. His lines for that encounter is quite nice, it's a bummer it's an optional thing you can miss. I think Sazh being more involved in tracking your progress (e.g., making it easier to run into him to talk with him) may have helped making the quest feel more meaningful.
Fang getting involved with a bandit gang kinda felt like a Fang thing to do, and having her tag along with Lightning was nice. But maybe that was the issue, she felt too much like a secondary teammate. Lightning was the primary focus for Dead Dunes's Main Quest, especially with the whole Crux thing. The desert was reputed to hold many dangers, then it turns out the Savior can waltz in and progress because... she's the Savior. It's possible it was intentional from Bhunivelze's part, seeing how getting the souls destroyed via Soulsong was one of his goals. It would have been nicer to see Fang do something more than drop the big plot twist at the end of the Main Quest. Her "oldest hag on the planet" comment is still one of my favorite parts of the Main Quest, though.
Vanille felt like the worst out of the bunch, but it's possible I missed events or encounters involving her. You don't see her during the day, she's around at night provided you have the means to access the Cathedral. Talking with her was definitely a highlight moment, because you can get a good grasp on how much she wants to atone for her wrongdoings, to the point of willing to die for it. It was a familiar emotion and affected me greatly. But that was it—you can't talk to her after that conversation, and so you go around doing other stuff until the Final Day, where you have to save her. I like Vanille and it upset me that I forgot she existed because of the lack of active involvement.
But I have to wonder, perhaps that was the point—that despite being heroes, the main characters weren't equal. Snow as the last l'Cie arguably towered above the rest. Just as the world drifted towards a more down to Earth way of living, so did the main characters. Noel blended in Luxerion's shadows as a notorious hunter, Sazh became a recluse as he watched over his son, Fang ran away to work on a plan to save Vanille, and finally, Vanille was locked up as a holy saint. And they all had their moments between the Final Day and the fight against Bhunivelze, so there's that.
Conclusions
When I wrote my XIII review, I noted that XIII had the shot at becoming my #1 Final Fantasy game, provided the other two games held up in quality. XIII-2 improved on XIII, while LR tried something new. Well, it's time for me to make that decision, haha.
I think I can say that the trilogy did succeed in becoming my top favorite, alongside FFIX. The setting was fascinating, I really enjoyed Lightning as a protagonist, the music was great (although XIII-2 has the best OST in the trilogy) and LR floored me with its skill based combat system. Caius is also one of my favorite villains in the franchise, although Barthandelus and Bhunivelze had their memorable moments. Lastly, the trilogy had a message that felt very much relevant in our times, encouraging us to keep fighting, no matter how bleak the future seems. Whether it was facing a powerful fal'Cie, fighting an everlasting man for an eternity, or defying God himself, Lightning never gave up on her mission to reunite with her sister and save humanity.
Even though I'm done with the Lightning Saga, there's one more game I am going to visit in the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe: TYPE-0 HD. The only thing I know about the game is that it's supposedly one of the darkest in the series and it heavily involves Eidolons, so I'm quite fascinated to see what lies in store for me.