Final Fantasy 13 Review

[@cantbehelped]

GamingBrit is a l'Cie now and his focus is to play the rest of the XIII games

[@mbrillon765]

I think it should be our Focus too

[@harrisonlichtenberg3162]

My focus is to eat a fuckton of spicy food this weekend

[@Valkenhyne]

It's honestly so worth it, they get better with each one imo.

[@lithon01]

@@Valkenhynespicy food?

[@davidhan635]

XIII 2 was one of the worst ff ive played

[@adam711s]

This game looks so good visually, even years later.

[@deathandrebirth-y8x]

agreed.

[@Nigel222]

Yup visually it always looked great. I feel like ff7 remake is not *that* visually ahead of this game.

[@bearerofbadnews1375]

I love the soundtrack for 13 it might have favorite ost in an ff game.

[@ElectricBarrier]

Genuinely the best looking 7th gen game.

[@Victorcolongarcia]

Wait! This is an actual “game”? I did not notice because it was so BORING!! Omg who the hell thought walking and pressing X for 60 hours is fun?

[@jpatel0398]

I have to applaud making a banger review of Final Fantasy 13--one of the most controversial/divisive FF games of all time--as a means to soften the blow of telling the audience you like it more than both 15 and 16 at the end

[@Danny-gg9gs]

that's just ridiculous

[@haughtygarbage5848]

@@jpatel0398 what a wild opinion he has, and that fact that it's correct too! My my

[@TheNuts1225]

15 is unfinished and bad. The open world has nothing to offer and the combat is braindead. 16 is just a DMC game stretched out to 60 hours, making it a drag to get through. I think 13 leaves a bad first impression, but has such good combat mid to late game, it completely outweighs the mid story and bad characters (except Snow and Sazh).

[@reloadpsi]

15 wasn't finished. I'd play 13 over 15 any day and I despise it :P

[@genderender]

@@Danny-gg9gs yeah, 15 isn’t even worth playing

[@ChuongDang185]

This year is Final Fantasy XIII's 15th Anniversary. What good timing to drop a review for the game now.

[@tehSunBro]

Perfect time for a remastered triology. Come on Square you know you want to. Also my guess is it would sell a lot and prove to Square that the games were overhated, and they went too far with the course correction.

[@clydu91]

​@@tehSunBro if FFVII Rebirth can't even sell a lot Idk what in the world tells you this would.

[@tehSunBro]

@@clydu91 Well depends if its a PS4 or PS5 version. You are aware the only reason Rebirth and 16 sold so badly because they skipped the PS4. Also the 13 series sold like 12 million units, for all games combined, so i wouldn't be surprised if a 13 collection would outsell 7Remake. Lotsa people talked shit about the series sure, but it still sold.

[@ElectricBarrier]

@@tehSunBro Less that they skipped PS4 and more didn't put it on xbox as well, like they're doing with their other properties like Kingdom Hearts. PS4 would have helped but I don't think those games would have run on it, certainly not the base or slim models. Square has of course learned from this mistake and have finally realized less people have PS5s than amount of sales they want to make and are going to put shit on PC at least. So I'd imagine a 13 trilogy for modern systems and PC would sell well enough to justify that cost. I'd love one honestly even if I don't like 13-2. Of course if I'm able to will one HD Trilogy Collection into being I'd rather save that for Xenosaga but, I know that's a lost cause. I think Harada hates Xenosaga fans.

[@tehSunBro]

@@ElectricBarrier Xbox has never made a difference in Square sales. 15 was 80% PS4, 11%PC 9%Xbox. I'm sorry, but if we take the same figures, 300k extra sold would not make a difference and Rebirth would've still be considered a underperforming. Same goes for PC. It is purely because it wasn't on PS4, because Sony failed to get people to move up, and still asking for 500 on an almost 4 year old platform will also not change that. If you want another figure. 13 sold about 5.5 mil on PS3, 2mil on XBox and about 700k on PC. And that was during the time where 360 was still the dominant platform.

[@tobiasarevalo9929]

Charlie is surprisingly really good at talking about final fantasy games

[@cldpt]

he is. As an FF veteran, I've really liked and empathized a lot with his views. And I find it amazing the amount of depth these videos get to.

[@juliokazuki5185]

Best review channel by far, but i still want to know why does he hate fromsoftware games lol

[@RageaholicCensorsPeople]

The youtuber clement did a better job

[@MerlinTheCommenter]

@@RageaholicCensorsPeopleew, no. Clement is absolutely one the most average KZbinrs out there. He makes middle grade low brain content. It’s little more than a top 10 list in some cases. His retrospectives are just blatant opinion pieces with very little to back up his beliefs. He’s a more abrasive Spoony except without the benefit of being first to market with his style of video. And we’re not even touching on his annoying voice. That alone is preventing him from ever getting to 1M subs. Maybe as Gen Alpha ages up, they’ll give him a better shot.

[@mcbill7352]

i find it difficult to believe this game is from 2009. The cutscenes still look great

[@RageaholicCensorsPeople]

Erm.....lots of games from the 2000s still look great. Resident Evil 4. GTA 4. Metal Gear Solid 4..DMC 4.. God of War. Batman Arkham. Heck. Final Fantasy 6 from 1994 still looks great. FF13 having pretty graphics ain't special. It's ps3 slop. Which is still relatively modern. Come at me when you find a good looking 80s game that isn't mario.

[@mcbill7352]

@@RageaholicCensorsPeople none of those games look as good as ff13 lmao. And I'm talking about graphical fidelity here, so ffvi doesn't count

[@RageaholicCensorsPeople]

@@mcbill7352 god of war 3 looks better than 13 in every way. And it's the bigger success. play a better final fantasy

[@mcbill7352]

@@RageaholicCensorsPeople the success of the game is not related....

[@MetalGearyaTV]

Many cutscenes in FFXIII -- especially good-looking -- are 100% pre-rendered. This is not in-game graphics at all.

[@SapphireCarbuncle009]

23:54 Even despite how much FF13 was very much "not my thing" I loved how the Summon Fights were done, especially Lightning's Odin fight. The fact it happens because she's trying to go it alone, and the way to do it properly is to have her heal her teammate every now and then is a great way to show character development through gameplay.

[@alexhaupt2134]

The Eidolon fights convey so much character through gameplay; they're a highlight of the game for me, as easy as they are once you know the right way to do them.

[@tbcoop]

Long time viewer here. B-Mask style of video essay was made for stuff like Sam and Max and The Sly trilogy. You're at some of your best with obscure, interesting horror games. However, this is the best video you ever made to date. Their so much baggage with FF13. You were the perfect person to cut through the chaff and take the story and gameplay on its own merit. Best of all you did it with class. Not hyperbolic, with simple but concise editing. Perfect tone of voice throughout the video. Ending on the same sentimental high as the game. Sadly KZbin tends to reward bad behavior. So in a meta way. I hope this video gets the same respect in time you gave the game. Really enjoyed the video, hope you make more like them. However, My advice, if you want those KZbin clicks in this day and age. I believe you're the perfect guy to take something like fear and hunger. To cut the "masterpiece" rhetoric down to size and give a genuine assessment. Anyway. All the best man. Keep up the good work!

[@EddDoubleDD]

13 was originally a late PlayStation 2 title whose development team was randomly tasked with creating the Final Fantasy VII PlayStation 3 tech demo. The positive reaction to a trailer showcasing a next gen VII remake convinced the team that XIII should be next-gen media franchise and form the basis of the entire company with Crystal Tools. What an accomplishment this game was...

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

Lightning = 1$ Female Cloud Sera = 1$ Aerith

[@EddDoubleDD]

@@rumplstiltztinkerstein tired X rip off as well

[@pedroportela6476]

Why the fuck did Square think that tech demo was a good idea again?

[@EddDoubleDD]

​@@pedroportela6476 to show they could handle the polygons I guess

[@christianlopez707]

​@pedroportela6476 In fairness, this is just stuff that they did to test out the hardware. They had a PS2 tech demo where they recreated FF8 dance scene. They probably didn't expect the FF7 tech demo would lead to so much demand for an FF7 remake.

[@WhoIsSirChasm]

I don't have time to watch this right now, but I hope Sazh Katzroy is given Charlie's approval.

[@Jordan3DS]

Sazh is definitely the coolest character in the game

[@draketheduelist]

I quit playing at the junkyard level. If I go back, it'll be for Sazh, pretty much the only character I don't hate... including Lightning.

[@BknMoonStudios]

This genuinely might be one of the most positive Final Fantasy XIII reviews in the last decade. While I think the game has A LOT of issues and it constantly undercuts its potential with baffling decisions, it has many ideas that are great, and the story is surprisingly poignant once you push through the confusing terminology. Overall, I think it's a flawed yet valuable gem that deserves a second chance with the community.

[@DocDarkAngelo]

Too bad the gameplay sucks tho.

[@Profilejc98]

​@@DocDarkAngeloIt's pretty good in the late game once you have access to everything

[@SaintMarianne]

I’ve seen a few more positive reviews of the game recently. I think it’s undergoing a sort of soft redemption as its fans finally come out of the woodwork a bit.

[@zynux8252]

@@SaintMarianne Makes sense. With Final Fantasy forever stuck in MMO 14 hell for better and for worse, the reliance on retrending FF7 yet again with it's remakes, another round of poor FF7 spin-offs that came and went, even more remakes with the Pixel Remasters, no one caring about Strangers of Paradise and 16 drifting so far away from the franchise's identity it's easy to see why some may look back on it more fondly.

[@DeadPhoenix86DP]

@@DocDarkAngelo The game opens up during Gran Pulse.

[@themightybagle99]

Unironically one of my favorite Final Fantasy games, it was very misunderstood when it was released, it tried something new and paid the price.

[@ProjectRedfoot]

Paid*

[@Jordan3DS]

Better than I - IX and XII...?

[@SaberRexZealot]

@@Jordan3DS interesting how you left X out

[@Jordan3DS]

@@SaberRexZealot I find X extremely overrated. It's a really average RPG with a badly written plot and characters, and some absolutely horrendously bad game design towards the end as well as a rushed and unfinished finale. It's fun to play and it has good music, but when people say it's better than the other FF games it baffles me, it comes off as total nostalgia.

[@CarlosReyesNunez-hy8xj]

@@Jordan3DSThe writing in videogames is bad in general, not even FF is spared from that and it is understandable because the development of a videogame is too complex and tedious, the purpose of this development always has as a conclusion to deliver entertainment to the consumer, not a good super complex writing worthy of being on a shelf, the videogame community has a very big inferiority complex with cinema or literature. Although it is good that it is so, for some reason the nerds addicted to videogames believe that these should be closer to cinema or literature, forgetting what is important in a videogame, which is basically that they are fun, have good OST and good graphics. That is why videogames are misinterpreted by pseudo-intellectuals who never read a book or saw a movie outside of Hollywood, that is a problem in videogames that nobody talks about, how their community is nothing more than a bunch of pathetic people desperately trying to prove themselves superior to the tastes of others.

[@konradfun]

A hint that Vanille is already a Lcie is when you start playing as her she gets three bars of ATB while up to that point everyone else had two.

[@reloadpsi]

I was always really glad I called that the first time I played it.

[@Grebeny]

There is a lot of little touches to show how much love they added to this game.

[@MerlinTheCommenter]

For me it was her clothes. Everyone is wearing normal or future wear and here’s this girl with fur on and she isn’t openly depressed. They made a really compelling pixie manic dream girl.

[@ryudjn6590]

I love all of FF13. If you ever go to 13-2, you will quickly notice that it is refined in so many details when it comes to mechanics, that it will be hard to go back to 13. Also 13-3/ LR is one of the most unique game I have played yet. Super interesting mechanics all throughout and even arcade like in its structure, which you will understand in NG plus. It is co developed by tri ace, who made super interesting games such as valkyrie profile and resonance of fate, quite literally the most bonkers rpg I know, so it is no wonder LR turned out to be the way it is.

[@JohnnyBurnes]

So weird we're living in a time where we actually got Type 0, FF15, and a FF7 Remake since all of those seemed unlikely after FF13's release.

[@Jordan3DS]

Too bad FVII Remake both wasn't a good game nor even a remake... at least Type 0 was great

[@axel7801]

I dont know why not considering two of those titles are connected to xiii

[@Guciom]

​@@axel7801 15's story was completly rewriten to cut all ties to 13. Type 0 was to far in development so the mythos stayed in.

[@TheJadedJames]

It only took 100 years

[@Chelaxim]

@Jordan3DS Type 0 is awful.

[@jacktwelve1710]

You did a review of FFXIII before projared!!!!! Well done

[@Sckarton]

projared did his review in 2010 when he was with screwattack.

[@adcon00]

Who?

[@chipslight738]

Why are we bringing up ProJared ?

[@baconcatbug]

@@chipslight738 The joke is he is reviewing all the mainline FF games. He's done up to 12, then skipped 13 to do 14 because 13 is so bad.

[@doomdimensiondweller5627]

dammit I was just about to comment that

[@BadlyRoy]

I love your vids. Has to be said. You always have interesting insights and an interesting way of presenting them. Keep on truckin'

[@ProjectRedfoot]

They don't call them trucks they call them "lorries", so KEEP-ON LORRY-ING!

[@julesbrass9411]

I'm really glad that after all this time, we're finally getting some actual in-depth reviews of ff13 that talk about all the interesting things it does instead of just going "linear game bad". This game really holds a special place in my heart, especially on the art department. Be it the music, environments, bestiary, animations, everything really, this game has such a polished and unique style, it has to be my favorite of all time.

[@foottothenuts]

There are no interesting things in it. You all are just blinded by no nostalgia, or are just stupid.

[@vjbd2757]

I mean FF10 was a linear game just like FF13 yet that title was widely praised.

[@SebLeCaribou]

@@vjbd2757 which says more about how FFXIII is not as compelling to people than about a bias against linearity. Like, yes there have been a lot of people hating on the corridors (not that they're wrong imho). But FFXIII released the same year as Modern Warfare 2 or Uncharted 2, a year after Gears Of War 2...corridors were the design flavor of the most sold and played games of that generation. If it was decried in FFXIII it's not specifically because it's linear. It's because it doesn't do much with it and doesn't do much with it for more than 40hrs...

[@keikurono6571]

Never understood that aspect of FF XIII hate. Linear isn´t bad as such. Many JRPGs are extreme linear. All FFs in the PSone era are. I guess FF XIII was a little bit to earnest about it. If they would hid it a little better maybe nobody have bat an eye to it.

[@TheSpongyMallard]

@@keikurono6571 When it was new I probably would have hated how linear it can be, but now after playing so many open world games and how so many open world games are filled with filler and needlessly large, I'm more than down for a shorter linear game.

[@uhobme2028]

My critiques of the game aside, that group shot of their return to cocoon with the summons is one of my most striking from the seventh generation

[@tehSunBro]

One of the most fun mechanics in this game, which the game forgot to explain, is restoring atb on paradigm shifting at the right time. Basically after the atb gauge has completely filled up and is use twice, you can swap into another paradigm, and you will have your entire ATB bar full. This new bar also counts for the next switch, so after using it and filling it up again, you can swap again, creating a very fun and fast paced playstyle, of swapping paradigms at thw right time, and atill beeing able to use all your buffs, debuffs and healing you will still need to do

[@gamedotfilm3929]

This is one reason why I like the game. Combat is fast paced as hell I would be switching like crazy

[@AsterBTT]

There are so many minute details about combat in XIII that I absolutely adore. Another great example is that attacks actually have hurtboxes - both for the player characters and the enemies. If you time your attacks correctly, OR cancel an existing string, certain characters like Lightning can jump away from an attacking enemy at just the right time, or interrupt an attacking foe by forcing them to flinch as they rush at their target. In battles against certain enemies, like Behemoths, smart use of this detail can make a huge difference.

[@AndreasFleissner]

It's simply based upon elapsed time. Your first paradigm shift after the battle's start refreshes your ATB. Once you activate the refresh, it takes 12 seconds for the effect to recharge.

[@mythriljojo]

There's also the stagger mechanic where once it's filled it's not just about damage, it's also about how you and the party can time your attacks to keep an enemy immobile. The commando launches them in the air and lays on the damage. After that a Ravager can attack and keep the enemy airborne. You mess up the timing if you just mindlessly start your next action so sometimes you can afford to wait a bit until the others stop attacking. I love setting these strings up.

[@tehSunBro]

@@AndreasFleissner It's definitely not a cooldown tho, you can shift early for half an atb bar. if you need an emergency heal for example, or swap into sentinels to quickly defend

[@superbro6413]

It's impressive to look back and realize that FFXIII is nearly 15 years old now. The sheer impact it left when it dropped, and it's legacy (many of its era would call it an "infamous" one) has deep, *deep* scars that I don't think its creators will ever recover from, truly It just wells up complex feelings in me when I think of "old" games like this and think, "this game, and what happened around it and because of it, it's historic" I always appreciate this particular niche you sit in with your genre of reviews, they really hit home, you know? Good work, cheers

[@realdomdom]

@@superbro6413 XIII certainly influenced how Square treated Final Fantasy up until now.

[@TheElectricUnderground]

Thanks for covering the combat of the game in-depth, it s funny how hard it is to actually hear about details of combat in reviews. Quick question, apparently there is a hard mode mod for the game. Do you think making the combat harder would help with the issues of the combat in the early game? It seems like the actual mechanics of the combat are pretty interesting, but maybe the intensity isnt there to get the most out of them?

[@plotinusreadinggroup]

It's pretty intense if you are playing it blind. Even if you don't die in a fight, you're incentivized to get that sweet 5 star ranking and getting anything less feels kinda bad, like you failed to 'understand' it. Because star rank is purely time-based, you'll want to learn how to optimize paradigm shifts to minimize downtime. in short, there's a hidden mechanic in the game that will allow optimal dps by timing your shifts in order to get an immediate atb refresh. it's an intentional mechanic, but is never explained in game. I haven't heard of the 'hard' mod, I'll have to check it out.

[@sydklem1023]

Oh hey, fancy seeing you here. Huge fan of your videos. I haven't played the hard mode mod myself (currently I don't have a PC that can properly run XIII, so I play on Xbox lol). However, as @plotinusreadinggroup said, the game can still be pretty intense if you're playing it blind. Going for those 5 stars is a rush. Even in a lot of Charlie's footage of the "easy" fights, you can still see him getting less than 5 stars because he was making a lot of sub-optimal moves. The game is ultimately about figuring out how to kill each enemy formation and boss as quickly and efficiently as possible, and because of the way the battle system is designed, being efficient also equals looking sick as fuck. I think I remember you saying in some of your videos that you're not big on self-imposed challenge runs. But - if I can be allowed the indulgence of a "but" - FFXIII's NCU challenge run is great if you want a "hard mode" without mods. The only rule is that you can't use the Crystarium (the system for leveling up your characters) whatsoever. You can still upgrade your equipment (and you'll need to), but outside equipment buffs, your characters stay at their base stats. It makes even the early game battles surprisingly intense. Things like interrupting enemies with partial attack strings, dodging using the "jump back" animation that comes after certain moves, optimizing your shifts with ATB refresh, properly prioritizing targets, using healing items at the right times in addition to healing Paradigms, suddenly become really important. I'm currently on Chapter 11 in my current NCU playthrough and I've been having a blast figuring out how to still efficiently kill enemies (and still get those 5 stars) with a weaker party. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants to experience XIII in a challenging and incredibly satisfying way... though maybe not for your first playthrough, haha.

[@One.Zero.One101]

I actually think this game is harder than most FF games. I died here more than other FF games that I played. Of course trash mobs are a mindless fight like all FF games, but there are bosses here that you won't beat without the right paradigm. There are bosses that took me 20 tries to beat, because of trying to time defending and healing, and then go on the attack because you won't beat that boss if you don't stagger him. These are tactics that don't exist in many FF games. In other games you can just over-level and stomp on the enemy. People who say you can beat the game using auto-battle probably played on Easy and didn't use any tactics, because that statement is absolutely 100% false. Switching to SEN-SEN-SEN on precise timing and healing with MED-MED-MED is a requirement in some battles.

[@PyroVox]

This is a wonderful review. It was clear you love the game, while also not ignoring its flaws. It felt properly critical, while also trying to meet the game where it's at and understand what the developers were attempting. The sections discussing the music and story and characters gave me goosebumps. You've given me a deeper understanding and greater appreciation of a game I already loved, and now more so.

[@TheSpongyMallard]

I wish more people made nuanced and in-depth reviews. I stopped watching game reviews because they're too far onto either side.

[@One.Zero.One101]

@@TheSpongyMallard Yep it's either ""This game is trash and here's why" or "The haters are wrong this game is a masterpiece". If I like a game but recognize its flaws, the bashing can sound too nitpicky and the over-praise can sound too fanboyish. It's hard to find a place in an extremist social media.

[@TheSpongyMallard]

@@One.Zero.One101 Whitelight is another good one.

[@AtreyusNinja]

i literally started this game yesterday and this video showed up, perfect timing TheGamingBritShow

[@TropicalTendencies]

Always loved the XIII series. Wait until they discover the depth of Lightning Returns combat system... lol people were not ready for XIII series.

[@lordmango6060]

13 is one of my favorite Final Fantasies for the setting, aesthetic and music. I did enjoy the job system even though sometimes it felt clunky, but overall this game was really fun, especially chapter 11

[@DrakeDoe]

hour-long video essay on Final Fantasy XIII? let's go!

[@ericrhodes5174]

More fun than playing the actual game.

[@PPX14]

Coming straight from a rewatch of the Ratchet 2016 review - your voice is all grown up!

[@TheGman4747]

Flaws and all, I did enjoy playing through the game. Sazh ended up being one of my favorite characters in general, not just the series.

[@kevinsuarezmacena1003]

This review actually makes me wanna play FFXIII. Is like a whole different aproach after all these years of reading and hearing harsh reviews of this title. Now that I've watch your comprehensive analysis and perspective of this game, It left me feeling like I was missing out of a pretty nice time.

[@DashingDavid]

We are seated for this. Need more Final Fantasy content from you man.

[@nealjiles5251]

FF13 will always hold a special place in my heart. Thanks for the video I enjoyed your perspective. The soundtrack is legendary.

[@homerhat420]

This game maxxed out on a 32:9 ultrawide with an fov mod is pure eye candy.

[@mrfreddorenton]

Something that I don't think was covered properly; there is an in-game encyclopaedia that is crucial for understanding what is going on. L'cie, Fal'cie, Cieth, focuses and governments of these worlds don't get properly explained during cutscenes or game play. Even if my English/ Japanese was better, I still get confused by how things are presented until I stop playing the game to read the text dump. 15 had a similar problem, compounded by some information being literally unavailable if you don't buy a movie/ watch a cartoon/ download the mobile phone game

[@Everdistance]

I think the reason 16 is comparatively more serious is because a lot of the overtly goofy/over the top stuff is in 14, which is by the same director. The director obviously wouldn't want to just repeat himself, so he tried going in a different direction for 16.

[@SaberRexZealot]

*Producer, but yeah, 14 is as goofy as it is epic.

[@masterseal0418]

@@Everdistance Understandable at best.

[@manufacturingdiscontent8829]

One of my favorite games of all time, super informative for me at a younger age. The visual design and overall vibe is still amazing and I do love the character dynamics and moments throughout. Great vid as always Charlie.

[@BinaryDood]

anyone who loves "Blinded by Light" should listen to Unlimted Saga's battle theme. It might just be the very best. Sam compositor.

[@alexhaupt2134]

I really love the cast in this game! Any game where I'm paying extra close attention to the way characters are animated during fights or the random quotes they yell out is A+ in my book. The first time I heard Lightning say, "Nothing personal" after killing an enemy, I completely lost it. Also, I didn't realize until you played the clip that Snow saying "[Fighting is stupid] if it gets you killed" riles up Hope because Snow was the one who got his mother killed fighting...there are a lot of small moments like that in the game with strong subtext that doesn't bother explicitly calling back to the things it's playing off of. You really just have to be paying attention and remember those things on your own. It really feels like a novel where you keep paying back because something they said sounds familiar. To me, that's pretty much why the data log exists lol, since it mostly just reminded you of stuff the cutscenes already explained (outside of like, one instance where it gets explained in the *following* cutscene). It's a very literary game, very focused on its broad themes where even the small moments unrelated to the plot play into them. The characters don't develop and then plot happens, or waste time on slice of life stuff when they aren't fighting. The characters' development is deeply interwoven with the central conflict, and they both play into each other. Also, while I'm here, I wanted to point out that I really liked Hope and Lightning, since it wasn't touched on much. Lightning tries to teach Hope how to be stronger, but she sees how it changes who he is for the worse, which works ESPECIALLY well when his spiraling is focused on Snow, the very person Lightning also hates. She sees herself reflected in Hope, while at the same time inspiring him. It's a great dynamic.

[@AsterBTT]

What a fantastic fucking video. FFXIII is one of my favourite games ever, and got me into Final Fantasy as a whole. I adore the cast, the gameplay, the design of both Pulse and Cocoon, and of course, Masashi Hamauzu's incredible soundtrack. To see the game, so often maligned by the general fanbase and gaming public, being given such a thorough and fair review not only warms my heart, but makes me think about the game I love in fresh ways. I've certainly been more than critical of the game myself, but many points made here, about gameplay in particular, made me consider different aspects of the game, in different ways than before. All I can say as a result is: thank you. This game means a lot to me, and you did it justice.

[@ThiefofCrystals]

I remember having the distinct feeling, once I finished playing FFXIII, that I was content with the game. That it was an interesting experiment for the series. The sequels then came along and changed that perspective (I had a good deal of fun with XIII-2 until the ending) but having watched this video it's helped me appreciate a lot of the things I frankly took for granted when I first played this game as a kid. I was so fixated on getting a game that fit with the paradigm (heh) of what I'd come to expect from the series during the previous generations of 3D titles (I never had the chance to play XII) that I was effectively blind to the more interesting details in this game's narrative and characters. And frankly, how on earth I wasn't immediately all-in on a guy who punches biblical robot angels and rides a motorbike made out of women (the SHIVA sisters no less) is beyond me. Thanks for putting in the time and effort to make this video, it's a fantastic watch. Sincerely, A former FFXIII hater.

[@cryptix0]

Its interesting how after we got two mainline titles the hate for 13 has sorta died down a bit it's still seen as sorta controversial but people look more fondly on the game its kinda nice honestly cause ive always loved the 13 trilogy i hope one day we get a remaster of the trilogy or even a remake would be interesting

[@alzara3425]

This came to me exactly 13 days after you upload this. Nice. I just played for a week now. It definitely not the best FF in the series and has flaws but not the worst FF in the series. Gameplay wise you already summerize. The graphics can be hit or miss but when it hit, it hits HARD. combine with the Ost just breathtaking from time to time. Especially in Oerba like holy shit it was so good despite how small the map is. Excited to play 13-2 from it

[@DinixRodrigues-kv2fs]

Fabula Nova Crystallis after all these years is starting to receive the love and admiration that always deserved,these games have amazing characters,amazing story,amazing sound tracks.

[@kirigherkins]

I actually replayed this earlier this year and frankly loved it. Many of the infamous criticisms about the game like the corridors, convoluted story etc, I'd found had actually become the game's strengths. The open-world segment near the end is somehow the worst part of the game, because it totally ruins the pacing of what was otherwise a well-paced, gripping thrill ride of a story. Perhaps I'm old, and I was just too young for the game at the time, but...FF13 is lowkey really good. The characters are so subtle, and mature, and...real. Looking forward to a remake in 23 years

[@acrab6527]

nah it was a pretty awful game still. But if you just skipped all the open world stuff and went to only story missions the pacing fits perfectly. What I really hate was the pointless postgame. "you can do a bunch of harder fights and get the ultimate weapons!" yeah and what am I getting the ultimate weapons for exactly? I saved the world already, game's over. I despise pointless post games. You gotta add a whole new villain and new levels and such if you're going to do that. There has to be more plot to use the better gear and higher levels.

[@genderender]

the open world stuff is one of the best parts of any post X final fantasy. the gameplay loop actually makes sense

[@Jordan3DS]

I had the opposite reaction. Simplistic and boring dungeons that go on for way too long, bad combat, and a luaghably bad story and characters. The only praise I can give it is that some of the soundtrack is good and visually it looks amazing for its time.

[@LukaTheWanderer]

The linearity would be fine, if there was still things to explore. FFX was linear, but still offered enough side content and exploration to keep you engaged. Battles were fun and required strategy. Yes, you can use some barebones strategy with the paradigm shift in FFXIII's first half, but pressing a shoulder button to quickly shift while you continue to spam auto battle isn't fun or engaging to me.

[@MrMister681]

I like that the video doesn't directly address the infamous criticisms that are just wrong. Like people that don't understand the difference between the L'cie and F'alcie and think they can speak about the quality of the story.

[@MarziuzEvans]

As someone who has played the XIII+ saga, I can safely say I like the original game the most. Both XIII-2 and Lightning Returns are missing the "fun" adventure of the first game. They also change a lot of the story in ways I don't vibe with. As you said, the upbeat tone mixed with the serious moments is what makes a good Final Fantasy game. Story-wise, I would compare the XIII+ saga to Dark Souls and its sequels. They're fun to play in their own way, but they miss the point of the original while rewriting or retconning what it was about in the first place. Don't get me wrong-I think they're worth playing; I'm just not a fan of the fact that they exist.

[@realdomdom]

@@MarziuzEvans I share this sentiment.

[@ZRovas117]

Alright gamingbrit. This was an amazing review. When are you going to do the rest of the trilogy?

[@MrShadownetwork]

Man I miss these kind of RPG where the “Heroes” are humans first instead of cardboard cut out of humans in heroes skin giving the villains and you a lecture on how a “good human” is suppose to be like in so many modern day RPGs Non of the characters WANTING to be heroes until the near end of the game is just good story telling

[@jsh020]

You'd probably like tales of berseria but absolutly hate the game before and after it.

[@MrShadownetwork]

@@jsh020 o I did play it and it had a strong start ngl but near the end it kind fell flat

[@johnhogan8224]

The fact you didn’t show Lightning punching Snow in the face, twice, when you mentioned their family dynamic is a massive missed opportunity haha

[@Trauson]

I have a little story to tell, I rented this game back when it got released, I put on my console and I started playing, my friend found me out 8 hours later with the deadest stare I had in years and he literally saw someone like it was someone that lost their life and soul. As a massive final fantasy fan I wont forget the dissapointment when I played this game.... And I kept doing it expecting it to get better. It diddnt, I never touched it again. I do appreciate you wanted to do an extensive review on it. But I rather not remind myself o the PTSD I got from playing this braindead and abosultly unforgettable experience (And not because it was good for me) I still wonder how in the F it got 2 secuels. PD : Music was good NGL

[@rouviews1864]

It has its flaws (too long, too repetitive) but the heart and soul of final fantasy is still here. It wasn't a weird, side project, it had all the care to put into it that a mainline entry deserves. Plus, and it's hard to remember now, it pushed the frontiers of storytelling in gaming. There's an enormous amount of voice acting and animation with the purpose of realizing the characters.

[@grinkobaba9226]

Yknow I had many many years of hearing disparaging remarks about Final Fantasy XIII, but I’m really happy you covered this. I did watch the entire video (besides the part at the very end but I’ll get to it soon!) and I have to say that this game seems really beautiful and good, I find myself agreeing with a lot of opinions you’ve shared in the past and I think I really slept on this one. The story seems really well done too, something that I didn’t get to see when trying the very beginning a long time ago. I still think I’d like to play this sometime soon. Thank you Gaming Brit this was a good video

[@doctorcoke5072]

While there are undeniable gameplay and design improvements in the sequels, if you like 13's story and ending as much as this video implies you will find very little to recommend the narratives of 13-2 and Lightning Returns.

[@backyarddad4198]

One thing that really improved my experience with ff13 and ff13-2 was learning about the paradigm refresh system. It’s a hidden counter that takes i think 13 seconds to fill. If you then paradigm shift you will get a full max atb bar fillup for free, allowing you to quickly perform the same action again to press your advantage or aggressively juggle a combo. It makes the game feel much more fun and encourages other tactics like using two paradigm slots on copy paradigms so you can swap between two of the same paradigms when you perform a refresh. It’s a ton of fun and makes the pace of the game feel akin to the speed and freedom of playing a devil may cry game, where aggression is rewarded and lets you control the pace of battle. You can keep doing it every 13 seconds or so and it really lets you break alot of limitstions on the rpg side of the design and blitz through challenges you’re underleveled for at a fiercer pace. It’s basically speedrunner porn.

[@chandler7493]

There's lots of tech in this game that is super interesting but sadly hidden from casual play.

[@Dimchek970]

FF13 is peak 2000s euro-techno-trance-jpop kino and I'm sick of everyone pretending otherwise....... It just takes a while to show you all of it. Also the story to gameplay integration is the best FF has ever done, battle system is the best evolution on the classic turn based ATB system, the story itself and the dialogue are absolutely hilarious, environments are jaw dropping, music is gorgeous, ethereal and different from the rest of the series. People hate the music and especially the post battle fanfare, but if you ever went to a european underground rave....

[@hcohic9884]

i never played the game but the footage im seeing this is a perfect description. idk about the gameplay but aesthetically this is pure class.

[@Dimchek970]

​​@@hcohic9884 It's very similar to MGS4 in a sense that it's an experimental highpoint in a time when gaming was starting to become homogenized with games like Gears of war and Uncharted unifying genres, so i find it fun from that historical standpoint. Though theres also the fact that I'm quite tired of the last 15 years of open world slop that drained so much energy with all these different paths and decisions that it just felt nice to play a game where you don't need to make any game changing decisions or whatever and just chill out and vibe with what is actually a very ps2 kind of experience, where you always know where the main path is and where the side paths are and just go and engage with the battle system and enjoy the wacky beautiful world. It's not perfect for sure, but again, like MGS4 it has that unique quality where, whether you like it or not, there hasn't been anything quite like it before or since. Certified ps3 classic. Even if i played it on pc with upscale mods and music volume boost

[@hcohic9884]

@@Dimchek970 i had the same experience with the ps3 era on one hand i was so impressed by the visuals but i wanted more from the ' next gen ' in terms of mechanical complexity for example in heist game to plan my heist scout the location prepare exit talk to npcs smuggle guns hide evidence ect .but what we got from the next gen was the same old games but they just look better because the aesthetics and player agency is what immerses you not fancy graphics and and large maps. so the only way for devs to give play agency was to create interconnected systems with many probabilities and possibilities but that is very expensive and hard to do with high resolution graphics .so graphics and gameplay together cannot be be implemented or mass produced in games. this is why the ps3 era was stale for many us.its mechanical simplicity and use of tried and tested formulas meant it was neve going to match the innovation of the ps2 era let alone surpass it. luckily japan wasnt as effected as the rest of the industry and kept giving classic linear titles and ofc the indie scene in the last 7 years.

[@XFR18]

I never used auto battle. you don't have to select it manually all the time, right or left and it'll redo the last que.

[@ragekage209]

my god i forgot how yuri vanille and fang's story was

[@Phantosification]

It's refreshing to see a critique of this game that actually gets the characters, instead of just saying "REFUGEE CHILD IS WHINY!!".

[@jairekambui7738]

I hate when people unilaterally decide that they hate characters because they’re “annoying” or “brooding” or whatever surface level personality trait because they refuse to understand the reasons why they behave that way. Hope is my favorite character in this game. Really I think the whole cast is pretty underrated.

[@Civappu]

Whaaat?! I have randomly started thinking about FF13 lately and now I found out you uploaded a review recently! Now this a surprise gift ❤

[@MegamanNG]

I gave FF13 a chance and I enjoyed it. For better or for worse, it's a solid game. I feel we judged it too harshly back then.

[@deang.5636]

I can understand why, it came after FFX and FF12 which were both incredibly received. This game didn’t quite meet the expectations that those two had built up as well as their other extremely strong predecessors. FF13 wasn’t bad but compared to previous titles and the god tier games that had come out that year. It got hate

[@12ealDealOfficial]

I gave it three sincere attempts over the span of 8 years and I still can't get into it. It's the equivalent of a road trip but with a crowd you just can't seem to like or have fun with- pretty, but boring.

[@Jordan3DS]

Nah, it's one of the worst RPGs I've ever played. Way too long and mind numbing for how little substance it has. It's like Wallpaper: The Game

[@genderender]

@@Jordan3DS >plays rpg >complains it’s too long >is shorter than ffx

[@Jordan3DS]

@@genderender The issues is that it has no content or substance. It has barely any dungeons that are stretched to be as long as possible, so there's no variety to the game. The same length that's fine in a good game is painful in a bad game.

[@A23Channel1]

After getting through the whole review, I'm bummed there was no mention of the change in music in the final scene. In the Japanese version, the song used for Kimi Ga Irukara; a song about joining as friends. When localized, the song used was My Hands by Leona Lewis, a emotionally potent song about personal turmoil being overcome. When I finally beat FFXIII after a 2 hour boss fight, the song complimenting the visuals brought me straight out of my heavy anxiety and into euphoria.

[@omaniels]

The main issue I had with 13 was nomenclature. I can only imagine kids/teens/young adults asking them selves “what are L’Cie again?!” for the 50th time, feeling lost and eventually giving up on an otherwise great story/characters. It’s a shame really, cause if instead of L’Cie the were called Branded or chosen and if instead of Fal’Cie they were called Espers or Eidolons or Aons, I think people would have given this game a much fairer chance. The naming conventions were unnecessarily complicated, imo.

[@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502]

This, 100%. The terminology makes the game seem so much more confusing than it is, when more recognisable words would have worked just as well.

[@reloadpsi]

You know what's annoying about the term "l'Cie?" It's not even using the l' correctly. L' is for when the following noun begins with a vowel sound. It should be le Cie or la Cie. There's also the way the first hour of the game throws all these terms around in ways the other characters understand, but the audience doesn't, which is just lousy storytelling. If there were at least one character present who didn't understand this it would make more sense, but to have characters say exceptionally weighty things like "I'm not a l'Cie" or "I'm after the Pulse fal'Cie" and _then_ have the significance of that explained to the audience after the fact... I'm sorry, are we supposed now to recall that moment and feel the shock retroactively? It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in the history of narrative convention. It's like a bad comedian who has to explain his joke and then gets mad when the audience still doesn't laugh. I've never played a game or experienced any other story where the story itself made me feel like I was being intentionally kept out of the loop by it, and it makes me not _want_ to engage with it.

[@chilimcwilly9718]

Am I the only one that restarted the vid? He went straight to the point without the usually intro for said video game he does. Not a complaint, just something I noticed.

[@sonicwontletmeleave]

i loveeee ff13 the aesthetic is so awesome

[@esotericthunderdragonstyle]

its been 13 days since you uploaded this i started playing it again and i've actually been having a better time than the first run through cool video

[@SonicKick]

If I had a nickel for every time I passingly played a game for a month and then forgot about it, and then TGBS makes a review on that same game, I'd have three nickels. Which is strange but it's weird that it's happened three times in a row.

[@brennanwn]

That’s quite the lucky streak 🤗🍀

[@Piizzachuu]

Which ones

[@snopdogofficial6369]

real

[@charaznable8072]

Woah cool such an original comment I've definitely never heard that one before.

[@SonicKick]

​@@Piizzachuumirror's edge, Nights, And now FF13

[@Vieyram]

Raziel: You said it yourself Kain, your coin only has 2 sides. Kain: Apparently so, but suppose you flip a coin enough times and one day it lands on its edge.

[@LyrisTheCat]

my dude, you do not have to always re input the same things while selecting, just hold right before pressing on abilities and it instantly queue your last cast spells .-. i literally play the game with the normal speed while selecting everything its far more fun and exilerating because you do NOT have time to fuck around.

[@sydklem1023]

Yeah, I'm surprised Charlie missed that *and* ATB refresh, when he was able to figure out things like interrupting enemies with partial strings and using back jumps at the ends of combos to dodge attacks. XIII's combat is surprisingly deep when you start delving into all the unique tech. Still love replaying it and trying to improve my skills at it to this day.

[@masterseal0418]

⚠️Warning: Long-ass comment⚠️ FFXIII is very solid, albeit flawed. The OST slaps as well, including my favorite track Blinded By Light(especially it's best part where the Shimomura-esque violin kicks in). The Japanese and English voice acting too(Hope is voiced by Vincent Martella, aka Phineas, and other VAs like Ali Hillis as Lightning, Troy Baker as Snow, Laura Bailey as Serah, Reno Wilson as Sazh, and others especially the addition of Australian VAs as the lesbian duo Vanille and Fang were delights to hear; same goes with Maaya Sakamoto's badass performance as Lightning in the Japanese dub). The cutscenes themselves are breathless, like previous installments and the action is pure eye-candy, including the character design from Tetsuya Nomura himself. Everyone hated Final Fantasy XIII years ago because of it's linear stages(such as the first level in Cocoon), which is now seen as a weak excuse(even one of my favorite youtubers, Jontron made a review of FFXIII and later FFXIII-2 with the iconic title 'Final Hallway XIII', and despite being hilarious, aged poorly). To be fair, FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns are seen as good sequels themselves, though like the first installment in the Lightning Saga, they still have dents that many pointed out to be half-baked and pretentious. For this trilogy being a part of the proposed but failed universe Fabula Nova Crystallis, there could've been so much more out of the titles outside of Lightning's saga. Final Fantasy Type-0 would be a separate spinoff series, and not just the starting installment, and the Japan-exclusive Agito, but an example of what could have been, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the illusive FF game, planned to be Nomura's magnum opus. Though we all know it never came to be, Versus XIII became Final Fantasy XV, Tabata's vision was fucked up too by the SE executives, Dawn of the Future was forced to become a novel, eventual expansions including the potential to make fan favorite Aranea playable were canceled, yadda yadda yadda. FFXV turned out to be divisive thanks to these baffling decisions, and clashing with the creative ideas from both Nomura and Tabata. At least Versus XIII's legacy lived on with Yozora, Verum Rex, and Quadratum in Kingdom Hearts as a revenge tactic from Tetsuya Nomura, and FurYu created the game's spiritual successor Reynatis(crossing over with TWEWY even), but there's still hope for the lost chapter of this fractured subseries with Versus XIII influencing other works from it's initial team. I could compare it to Silent Hills, and how the canceled title, and it's demo P.T. impacted survival horror after the horrendous treatment Hideo Kojima got from Konami(furthermore interfering with Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain's post-production, let alone the infamous Nikkei Report that exposed Konami for engaging in Japan's ever-so-problematic workaholic culture), but the differences are quite obvious. Whereas FF Versus XIII became FFXV, so it wasn't technically shelved for good, rather altered to be a part of the mainline titles.

[@Pzafrk]

I’m still sad we couldn’t get to play Versus Xiii instead of getting XV. Seeing the old trailers with the Kingdom Hearts 2-esque menus during gameplay makes me think about what could have been Nomura’s possibly coolest project

[@MahoganyBlack]

I don’t really think that 13 needed sequels but considering how it was criticized for its linearity back then, I see why. That being said the sequels are a fun experience and do add to the story in some pretty interesting ways. 13-2 in particular has a dope battle theme I play on Spotify to this day

[@DonutSwordsman]

Really sad you didnt cover ff 10 first. Its short, sweet, and amazing world building that is subtle with really neat things to catch

[@12ealDealOfficial]

Talking about FFXIII while X is in the room is like drinking Kool aid from a paper cup while fine wine sits in an aged cask nearby.

[@MrShadownetwork]

@@12ealDealOfficialI don’t drink at all so am enjoying that kool-aid

[@shionsonozaki5730]

he did do some videos of him playing ffx on ps2 quite a long time ago. It would be nice if he did do a ffx vid though.

[@Evanz111]

No matter how long we have to wait for your content, it’s absolutely always worth it! I think 13 is one of the most worth revisiting with a critical eye, especially considering it had two enjoyable sequels imo.

[@xXcabotajeXx]

the first final fantasy i finished and i loved it, never got into their sequels.

[@genuinesaucy]

Switching your party's classes mid-battle had a lot of gameplay potential, but FF13 kneecapped itself by only having 6 classes. You know, the same amount as Final Fantasy 1 in 1987.

[@haughtygarbage5848]

Best battle theme in the series

[@Bevtone]

8*

[@Jordan3DS]

You're really not saying that when I - IX exist, lol. Like, it's a good battle theme, but best? Really? You'd like SaGa Frontier 2's soundtrack probably, it's the same composer as XIII

[@lindthechaoticheretic8708]

@@Bevtone Water and Water and Water Water...

[@_Ikelos]

Those who Fight is one of the most iconic pieces of Videogame music ever. Close enough are proof of a hunter and any Devil May Cry 3 battle theme. Blinded by Light is ok, but it's not even XIII's best track.

[@Jordan3DS]

@@_Ikelos That's a great one, but honestly I like the III - VI, VIII, and IX battle themes more.

[@hcohic9884]

i cant help but enjoy your microanalysis of games i never even played. the samm details like the menus presentation cutscenes transitions themes and setting and how its all connected to create the atmosphere. the japanese artistic vision of the anime style euro adventure in a futuristic pseudo utopia with cheesy dialogue and touches. this is was pure late 2000s aesthetics

[@acrab6527]

About FF15's ending switching to just Noctis: they originally planned 6 dlc's. If you completed the DLC's the easy way, nothing changes. Each DLC you completed the hard way changed the ending, though. If you completed all 6 DLC's the hard way, you'd get a different ending, where all your friends being stronger and more emotionally balanced let them Save Noctis so he doesn't have to die. But they only got to make 4 of the 6 DLC, so that's just a blog post now.

[@isauldron4337]

Wasn't the good goodest ending also in a novel?

[@SinHurr]

And that's why you don't ship unfinished games!

[@aeroga2383]

They only planned 3 DLCs. The other 3 were cooked up later and heavily retcon the story to such a degree that there's no way they were always intended from the start.

[@ThePreciseClimber]

Christ, don't you just hate when developers have a concrete plan for something but then they're not allowed to finish it? Reminds me of the Swordquest games for the Atari 2600. Only 3 games and 3 comic book issues out of 4 came out and only 2 out of 5 treasures were given out as prizes. We never got the Airworld video game, nor the final comic book issue (so the story just stops on a cliffhanger) and the last 3 treasures were given back to the Franklin Mint to be melted down & destroyed.

[@acrab6527]

@@aeroga2383 except the blog post, and the art book they put out both say otherwise. The alternate end was in there since the concept art stage. They didn't have time because Square Enix kept demanding it be a live service game. Add new cross overs with other games every month. Add more stupid costumes people can buy for noctis. Stop working on 15 and go help them make the FF14 crossover. They didn't even get the ability to take the car off the road until a year and a half after the game came out.

[@brennanwn]

5:56 - 8:28 This transition are very smooth and amazing

[@EpsiIonEagle]

My favorite Final Fantasy. Yes, I know I’m in the minority

[@Jordan3DS]

Meaning you've never played another FF xD

[@EpsiIonEagle]

@@Jordan3DS I played them all except 16 and the VII remakes

[@sofaris576]

​@@Jordan3DSI only played a few FF games but I do like FFXIII more then FFV, FFVIII and FFXII.

[@MagmaRiver]

There are dozens of us!

[@EpsiIonEagle]

@@MagmaRiver Haha 😂😂

[@Pzafrk]

Very stellar job elaborating on a lot of the finer details about this game’s story and gameplay, wonderful video!

[@Iowan3-0]

Notification gang rise up! I have been waiting for this video for 6 years!

[@bohdanvakulenko4266]

I believe that the gaming in late 2000s/early 2010s had that special mix of being in an industry that is well developed enough but not afraid of being subversive while also being aware it’s a just a game . Games like Bioshock, Spec Ops the line, Borderlands 2 come to mind. I think the AAA industry is just too developed like it’s in that “corporate soulless job” period. The budget for games are astronomical now (leaks showcased that Spider-Man games took hundreds of millions) so it’s no wonder they would take fewer risks.

[@cmdr.witloaf2039]

the best "overlooked" Final Fantasy trilogy imo

[@brennanwn]

I was looking forward to Gaming Brit to review this game 😤. Thanks for the long review 🫡

[@Tel1717]

A review of FF13, much less a positive one, was the last thing I expected it see from Brit. I know 13 has many problems but I've always had a soft spot for it.

[@draketheduelist]

Final Fantasy XIII seems a game best summarized by the old saying that the journey is more important than the destination. In XIII's case, the destination is gorgeous, engaging, and heartfelt, but the journey is obnoxious, frustrating, pointless, and generally ill-advised on the developers' part. I didn't watch _Attack on Titan_ long enough to know that one of the main characters turns into a titan. How much patience do you think I have for a 20-hour combat tutorial in the company of characters that I hate and Sazh? XIII had a lot of artful and interesting ideas that it _desperately_ needed to run past other people to make sure they weren't obviously stupid. It's almost as if the devs watched an explanatory video on ludonarrative dissonance and immediately hammered out a rough design document before the credits started rolling. And so they not only made the game aggressively linear, but did so on purpose. The thought must've been "tutorials are always kinda' hand-holdy and linear. Plus, for technical reasons, we're gonna' have to keep it pretty linear for a while anyway. What if we wrote the story around the _characters_ noticing the linearity and in the end rebelling against it? ...GENIUS!" Bold strategy, but when "and piss off the player" shows up on your design doc, you should probably realize that there's a nonzero chance that this could all go _catastrophically_ sideways. This more artful integration of narrative and gameplay is the home turf of your small-budget indie contraptions like _Five Nights at Freddy's, Undertale_ or _Doki Doki Literature Club._ This is precisely because indie devs don't have the resources to make 50+ hour high-def sprawling epic JRPGs with all the trimmings. Shorter games can get away with more experimental narrative structures than AAA because, worst case scenario, they don't overstay their welcome. AAA (much like a fal'cie, actually) is bound to its nature to overindulge with spectacle, polish, and massive girth, especially when it's time to shill the console that's supposed to replace the widely-beloved PS2 of all things. Considering the circumstances, they had no choice but to make a game that offered no choice. Ironic. I've been contemplating replaying FFXIII again for a while. And by "replay" I mean "get past the junkyard part this time." While I still consider XIII a failure, it's certainly one of the more spectacular and interesting failures I could be diagnosing. It comes from another time, where being a failure was because the makers had ambitions they couldn't live up to, not because they tried to browbeat their audience. (...Much.) I will _not_ play further into the trilogy because it plays with time travel, and time travel is to making sense what a shotgun wound is to physical wellness.

[@justkiet]

I feel like I’m defending square a bit too much when I say this, but I swear the main reason 15 and 16 took themselves more seriously is because of critic and fan outrage against 13’s eccentricity at the time. In that regard square changing direction has to be partly blamed on the fans and critics…

[@Phantosification]

I feel like a similar thing happened between 8 and 9. A very off-putting to casual fans entry, followed by a more simplistic, "return-to-form" nostalgia trip.

[@PolarPhantom]

I gotta say, though, XVI is more like XII in tone and I hear like Tactics as well. Also, from what I know from my friend XIV is also wacky as heck and like. Maybe it doesn't count because it's a Remake, but but both VII Remake and Rebirth are in the vein of XIII - and are even made by the same team. Hell, maybe that's what happened? Cause I see the VII R games as really good follow ups to what worked in the XIII Trilogy.

[@hosvet_animation]

@@PolarPhantom Basically Tactics resembles Game of Thrones because like GRRM, Yasumi Matsuno based it off The War of The Roses and history. Matsuno wrote Tactics Ogre, FF Tactics, and FF12. Matsuno writes characters and plot like GRRM does, so they FEEL like the same person wrote them. But 16 was written as a love letter to Game of Thrones where the team literally watched it as reference. Which is why it resembles Game of Thrones but is about one singular super man, and FF Tactics is about an army regiment (and why certain characters end up where they end up by the end).

[@aeroga2383]

Nah. Different dev teams. 7 Remake is made by the 13 team and it's just as bizarre. 15 was originally by the Kingdom Hearts guy so it was always supposed to be a little emo. 16 was made in the style of the old Ivalice games.

[@NealFowler]

13 is a game that feels really alien and really unsure of what it wants to be. The battle system has a great central concept (paradigm shift) but it forces the player to be so arms distance from minute to minute decision making that it’s hard to appreciate in the long run. Hope is the best character in the game.

[@lordmango6060]

The ending of this game is truly beautiful. One of my favorite endings to a FF game, and what the direct sequels did felt like they spat on that ending.

[@realdomdom]

@@lordmango6060 It's so frustrating when this happens to game series. Seen it way too many times.

[@yellowfamilyfunny3065]

@@realdomdomcough *kingdom hearts 2 *cough

[@ngchloe4877]

It's always nice to see some positive FF13 content, and that part at the end about the charm really hit for me. A lot of the newer games down really have some of those elements of fun that made FF13 so enjoyable by comparison

[@RoboGuy2K]

Gamingbrit does what Projared won't.

[@adcon00]

Who?

[@RoboGuy2K]

@@adcon00 Other semi popular gaming youtuber who over the course of many years has been doing long comprehensive reviews of every single Final Fantasy game, skipped 13 because he's still mad about it over 15 years later.

[@benifacio]

@@adcon00 Some guy who cheated on his wife and had his peepee appear on everyone's twitter feed.

[@Blammo94]

Well that’s probably for the best all things considered lol

[@GT3-787B]

Great review Charlie! At the time I had hoped that people's opinions would soften towards this game, and while XV and XVI certainly might have helped people look back on this one with a more positive outlook, the sequels also deserve some love. XIII-2 imho actually perfected XIII's combat in many ways and the game's structure is definitely more entertaining. As for the story, it takes a while to get going and to become as interesting and high stakes as XIII, but as a whole I found it a very worthwhile sequel, and even though I very much agree that XIII can and could've definitely stood on its own as a standalone game, thankfully for those that read the datalog in XIII, both sequels help answer many of the lore questions that were left unanswered. Did those questions need answers? Not entirely, but despite spotty execution here and there across all 3 games, it's a very satisfying trilogy. Lightning Returns for me was some of the most fun gameplay and combat the series had before the release of 7 Remake, and despite some of the quality of LR ibeing inferior from the bombastic beginnings of XIII (I'm not sure if the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray war had anything to do with it, since XIII was 3 discs on X360, while XIII-2 and LR were 1 each), less and less of the beautiful Crystal Tools CG cutscenes, shoddy textures here and there (like the dopey dog in a certain LR side-quest, but overall the time management stuff is easy to manage, even when going for a completionist playthrough and the ending is SO good! Also the music, the music for this trilogy is and always was amazing. Hope you find the motivation to play these games some day!

[@commandershepard3904]

Somehow, I just knew Brit would review this game soon. I've been playing this game again for the fourth or fifth time and I'm loving it, holy shit! Yeah it has its fair share of problems, but for me the visuals, music and gameplay are more than enough for me to have an absolute blast with It.

[@Kriss_ch.]

What a beautiful looking game. These guys really are the only ones in the RPG space that are able to make something looking like this. I never played this one, and in my experience, I don't trust the scenario writers at Square Enix to write me a post card. I watched a buddy(a positive guy who once cosplayed Snow, a real great guy) play through most of 13-2 at some point and that sure was the case with that game. Having said that, I think the way you presented the story for this game sounded cool and moving. Considering all the extra padding and stuff maybe I'd regret it, but it sure made me wanna play the game.

[@Jordan3DS]

Tbh, though, while it looks nice RPGs look way better when they have a stronger visual style. SMT/Persona and Disgaea look way nicer than XIII artistically

[@Kriss_ch.]

@@Jordan3DS well, I can appreciate stylization. I love the way those games look, Persona 5 in particular. But I also think nothing else looks like 13, and I do think what's in the video looks really nice on an artistic level as well as a technological one. About the only sorta weak-looking part is the organic plain down at pulse, which looks a bit, uh, plain. I think it does have a strong visual style - you look at 15 and 16 clips in the end, and maybe those games do have some cooler areas or whatever(and probably better organic plains) but despite being one or two generations earlier 13 still looks nicer than them to me. That's on the art side. If it's still Nomura on character design duty, I also think these are some of his better designs. Some are a bit messy, but compared to the dark clothing he often goes for I think there's a lot of life to these guys. Some of them look like they could walk into FFX and look perfectly at home, like Fang and Vanille. Square Enix' bigshot games can be a bit frustrating to me 'cause regardless of how the game or story came together, it usually looks insanely expensive compared to its peers. This can give the feeling that people only gave the game the time of day because it's a big budget game with a famous title. Personally I wasn't a fan of how the story panned out in FF7 Remake(for example, but far from the only example), so when some random filler robot fish boss in that game has more beautiful music and coreographed hi-res cutscenes than entire other games, it feels like throwing good after bad. "Why couldn't a game I like more get this sort of budget?" I get those sorts of envious thoughts. So if someone was frustrated with 13, I get why no amount of lavish graphics help. But I do wanna give props where its deserved and I think it's hard to look at what's shown in this review for example and say it's not really handsome, even 15 years or whatever after release. Can't say that for every 360 game from 2009, you know.

[@Jordan3DS]

@@Kriss_ch. I do agree with you, XIII looks way nicer than XV, VIIR, or XVI. It feels like it has more color and stylization to it, it's not just all generic realism. I think it would have been perfect if they had just gone a BIT more in the stylistic direction, turning up the colors a bit and making it a tiny bit more cartoonish. Not Persona levels, but something in-between. Yeah, XIII looks way nicer than XV. All I remember from XV was a giant desert wasteland with nothing in it, the world was so dull and unfinished. Tbh I'm not the biggest fan of Nomura's work, I'm much more of an Amano fan. VII has his strongest character designs imo and even then they're not some of the best or anything. Sazh is definitely my favorite design in XIII, though, and I think Lightning is a cool protagonist visually. You're right, VII Remake's story is hot garbage. I feel like they have the budget, but not the talent to make that budget worthwhile, mixed with intense corporate meddling, so you get really expensively made games that have no artistic value and are boring to play. I feel like classic FF games will be played for decades or even centuries to come, while something like VIIR and XVI will never be played again after this generation because they have no staying power. That's true, the one thing you can't call XIII is ugly lol.

[@MrBorderlands123]

Soundtrack and art direction are top tier for this game.

[@WCCXtra]

Lightning is one of my favorite FF character designs.

[@miahthepisces3813]

52:22 it’s confirmed in 13-2 that the party did indeed become cieth but the goddess etros stepped in and used what little magic she had left to turn them all back

[@Myrillin]

I should've waited for this review before putting this game down back in 2010 when I got stuck on the final boss and said to myself, 'Fuck it, I've had enough of this game and its paradigm system.'

[@Phantosification]

For me it was those damn Eidolon fights. The ones that seemed to have been designed for the "Elden Ring player beats every boss blindfolded without taking damage" god-tier gamers. Even though the rest of the game is meant for... You know, regular human beings.

[@WCCXtra]

I quit in the final dungeon. I just felt exhausted and wasn't invested enough in the story to want to see it through. The combat and music are great, though. It took me 20 hrs to get the battle system down, but once I did I liked it.

[@SinHurr]

@@Phantosification They're not even *hard* in the traditional sense, it's just nigh on impossible to discern the gimmick they want you to follow to beat the boss.

[@edwardarthurwardking6728]

I dont care much for final fantasy, but hearing tgbs reviews is always interesting

[@Gackt4awesome]

Final Fantasy XIII is a decent game. The issue is that the first half of the game should have had an overworld to break up the linear sections. So Cocoon can be the old design choices of overworld with Pulse being the Open real time 3D world

[@Phantosification]

It had to be shipped on four discs. And the PS3 and Xbox 360 likely would not have been able to handle that AND the amount of face polygons they wanted. That's my guess at least.

[@GrohiikVahlokJul]

The cap on upgrading classes is even weirder than you may initially think. Consider the fact that there are no random encounters, no place to stop and farm, etc, every enemy is specifically placed before you. Now I quit shortly after the airship with the spear person, so I can't speak on the whole game, but for the first 20 hours or so, they choose exactly how much EXP you can acquire in the game, so why the artificial barrier when they are actively controlling and limiting everything you can do.

[@tipsy634]

Thanks, you actually explained the plot of FF13. I think the difference between FF13 and the surrounding games can be largely explained by when it came out - in the middle of the Xbox360/PS3 generation. This generation was all about graphics and cinematics and bringing game worlds to life in HD, but it was also very arcadey. FF13's basic gameplay and linear path reminds me of the games on Xbox Live Arcade in many ways . Square Enix were pulling their weight by combining what they'd learnt with previous stories into a likable cast of characters in a cutscene heavy game that took four Xbox 360 discs. What was largely offputting about this game for me, really, is that it had two sequels. And I've not heard anything good about what they do to the story. But I wasn't aware that the story was self contained in the first game. I thought it relied on those sequels. Meanwhile Final Fantasy 15 and 16 move to the clinical open worlds of the PS4 generation. No more wacky arcade hijinks. No more goofy characters. Everyone wears black now and has to look super cool. Everything you do must be in a massive, barren open world with lots of sidequests that can be done in any order. You can't have character relationships change because then you'd have to establish an order of how you do things!!! Unacceptable!!! Environments might be the thing that have suffered most in games this past couple generations, as well as music, because developers no longer want unique music with chiptunes like in early Final Fantasy games and in the FF13 battle theme. They want epic orchestra. You're only allowed to explore one map, not a cluster of beautifully designed small worlds. There's no room for flavour.

[@salamander6361]

This guy never misses with his reviews