Final Fantasy XIII
“This game is incredible.”
I uttered this after Lightning merely twitched her eyes. She had just realized her sister’s unwanted fiancé was not in fact a stupid oaf, though he is, but a better human than her in every way. Her single minded life pursuits had destroyed the relationship with her sister, who was now a crystal.
But let’s talk about me. I was a FFXIII hater for years. When I hosted a game show for my friends and acquaintances, Tigress of this website stood up and said “Final Fantasy XIII” to a room of 30. The question had been “What game will you defend no matter how many people are against you?”
I did raise my hand against Final Fantasy XIII at that time, just as I had put my hand down on the counter two months after its Japanese release, weeks before its US release and bought it for 900 yen new from Yodobashi. These things used to happen.
I would proceed to play through the opening twice. Once alone, once with friends. It was entirely Japanese and my Japanese was not up to deal with Pulse, Cocoon, La’Cie, Farsei, or the in menu encyclopedia of terms and events that were not being presented on screen.
I’d see my party of photogenic heroes fall beneath the air city inside of a sphere onto a crystal lake. They’d make the decision to “keep running.” I’d sell that copy for 30USD on ebay.
Having pulled out my PS3 to have unfiltered access to the games I already own, made me look at the library again. Then I happen to be in a BookOff where Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and Lighting Returns:Final Fantasy XIII were 108 yen each. I reckon you can’t beat that price.
So I started it up almost 13 years later, and ended up eating the whole game. It’s a game with a whole battle system and when I arrived at the open world-side quest fest I did not feel joy. I did laugh that every single sidequest was
“500 years ago I failed to kill this monster and turned into a crystal. That monster is 40 meters to your left. If you can kill it that won’t save me or anything but it would be chill of you.”
The battle system is good, but that eye flick really sent me. Here is a game that is entirely about characters’ motivations. It took me on a spiritual journey where I kept repeating “This character sucks” until I declared “He Rocks.” Later in the game Lightning is being bombarded with questions by Hope and she replies, “Look thinking is new to me. Please give me some time.”
Well Lightning and the rest of the cast of FFXIII I thought a lot about you this year, and I did follow up with FFXIII-2 (2 out of 5 paradoxes) and will see what happens when you Return in 2026.
Hinge Problems 
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