hylian_snow
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
46h 7m
Days in Journal
12 days
Last played
February 22, 2021
First played
November 7, 2020
Platforms Played
Library Ownership
This review contains spoilers
Lightning Returns was a very pleasant surprise in a lot of ways, and a tad disappointing in others. As someone that absolutely loved the battle system in XIII, and XIII-2 although less so, I was a little skeptical going into LR seeing as it was more action focused. Not that I don’t like action games, I just wondered if I was going to find battles as engaging as I did in the last two games. It took a while, but I’m happy to say that I really dug the battle system here.
I’m a sucker for customizing character outfits, and the fact that they’re tied to your abilities and stats is just wonderful. There’s so much variety I was always switching to see which schemata I liked best. Enemy encounters still encourage you to use debuffs, look for elemental weaknesses, and stagger just like the last two games, but now they also have you pay attention to time your blocks and look for openings. The only issue I had throughout the game was the fact that I felt like I didn’t really get synthesizing abilities, and I unlocked the option to level them up way later than I would’ve wanted.
This game’s structure is pretty interesting. It was a pleasant surprise to be presented with a Majora’s Mask-type adventure where I have a limited number of days to do things. Figuring out when to do main quests and which side quests to tackle was very satisfying. In the end, I managed to do quite a bit on my first playthrough. While the open-ended nature of the game is nice, it does come at a cost.
Out of the XIII trilogy, I’d say this one has the weakest story. Throughout the game I kept thinking to myself: “Man I miss this character or that character. I wonder what they’re up to.” Unfortunately, a lot of the cast, even when they have main quests dedicated to them, still feel like they’re sidelined or only marginally involved in the story. It’s a very Lightning focused game, which I have no issue with on its own, but I really grew attached to the XIII gang and after XIII-2’s ending, I guess I wanted a bit more. It probably doesn’t help the fact that, to me, the main story felt like it took up a very small minority of my time playing. Most of it was spent in side-quests with NPC that, frankly, are hideously designed (and reused) and don’t make for very compelling interactions.
It wasn’t till late in the game that there began to be a little more mystery around the story and I started to get pulled back into it. That being said, the ending stretch makes for some nice touching moments that remind me why I grew to love this cast of characters. Given the nature of Final Fantasy, we were pretty lucky to get three whole games with this cast. So, even though this is probably the weakest game out of the three for me, I had a blast playing it and appreciate a lot of the things it did to shake the gameplay up.
I’m a sucker for customizing character outfits, and the fact that they’re tied to your abilities and stats is just wonderful. There’s so much variety I was always switching to see which schemata I liked best. Enemy encounters still encourage you to use debuffs, look for elemental weaknesses, and stagger just like the last two games, but now they also have you pay attention to time your blocks and look for openings. The only issue I had throughout the game was the fact that I felt like I didn’t really get synthesizing abilities, and I unlocked the option to level them up way later than I would’ve wanted.
This game’s structure is pretty interesting. It was a pleasant surprise to be presented with a Majora’s Mask-type adventure where I have a limited number of days to do things. Figuring out when to do main quests and which side quests to tackle was very satisfying. In the end, I managed to do quite a bit on my first playthrough. While the open-ended nature of the game is nice, it does come at a cost.
Out of the XIII trilogy, I’d say this one has the weakest story. Throughout the game I kept thinking to myself: “Man I miss this character or that character. I wonder what they’re up to.” Unfortunately, a lot of the cast, even when they have main quests dedicated to them, still feel like they’re sidelined or only marginally involved in the story. It’s a very Lightning focused game, which I have no issue with on its own, but I really grew attached to the XIII gang and after XIII-2’s ending, I guess I wanted a bit more. It probably doesn’t help the fact that, to me, the main story felt like it took up a very small minority of my time playing. Most of it was spent in side-quests with NPC that, frankly, are hideously designed (and reused) and don’t make for very compelling interactions.
It wasn’t till late in the game that there began to be a little more mystery around the story and I started to get pulled back into it. That being said, the ending stretch makes for some nice touching moments that remind me why I grew to love this cast of characters. Given the nature of Final Fantasy, we were pretty lucky to get three whole games with this cast. So, even though this is probably the weakest game out of the three for me, I had a blast playing it and appreciate a lot of the things it did to shake the gameplay up.