hard to believe i started this game after hearing plains of eternity from 13-2 on the daily ff music twitter account and falling in love with that ost, and hearing that 13 wasnt "that bad" nowadays.

i think this game is surprisingly decent and even kind of solid when it hits its strides. it has a great aesthetic with some really well done character and environmental designs that hold up great. the ost is fantastic, with probably one of the most memorable and hard to get sick of battle themes ive ever heard in a game. the characters and their stories were generally really good too, and i liked seeing them interact and develop! undeniably lightning is one of the best things the series has ever done.

the gameplay is the only major thing that drags it all down. typically i care a lot more if a games gameplay isnt fun, but this battle system is serviceable and i dont mind it in a general sense. but the game is pretty awful at managing difficulty and variety particularly around and after the 50% point, introducing things like side quests and more open environments that completely halt your progress. combined with the game suddenly cranking enemy numbers up and the combat system not allowing for enough creativity to defeat such tough enemies initially, it becomes a real sloggy numbers game where you're basically (and sometimes literally as part of the story) required to complete uninspired side quests or grind equally uninspiringly designed enemy encounters to level your team up. also the final dungeon introduces a few new enemies with terribly annoying quirks and just spams them over and over again. i had written before finishing the game that all of this didnt kill the fun for me. but ngl it sort of did at the end LOL

despite it all this game held my attention incredibly well for the 40+ hour runtime which is a pretty big feat for me nowadays. even though i'll look back on the "great" final fantasies more fondly with the higher highs in those games, i enjoyed a good part of the journey and experience of 13.