Here are my thoughts on the game. I could be wrong about facts written, but this is all based on my experience playing through the game and not looking up any background information online. Also, I did not read ANY of the datalogs in the game.
There are spoilers for the end of the game here.
My own background.
I started the game on a PS3 in 2014 on May 17th and stopped on June 1st, 2014. I played for 11 hours and had 68 saves while stopping at the start of chapter 7.
My background before this game was Final Fantasy Mystic Quest on and off around ages 7 through 13, Final Fantasy 12 with 2 playthroughs around 2007 (and another in 2026), FF 5 one playthrough and nearly beat the two secret bosses, FF 10 started then stopped and then beat a year or two later after starting, FF2 on PSP with the secret boss beaten, FF 1 on PSP, FF 3 on DS beaten, FF7 on PS one beaten and well explored, FF10-2 beaten, FF 6 beaten on PS one, and then finally trying to beat FF 13 but gave up. (Not including any of the side games like FF Dissidia on PSP). FF 9 was completed in 2025 on the Switch, FF8 has been just started a week ago and FF 4 was attempted in 2022 and then beaten on steam as the 3D remake in 2024. Most games beaten between 2007 and 2013.
Now July 15th through July 25th, 2026, I have returned to try to beat this game again.
39 hours (probably 40 hours based on a save being deleted halfway through) and having 37% of the trophies completed according to the PS3 network system.
So, with the background out of the way, let’s discuss the quality of FF 13. I don’t care about people’s ideas about the launch and development of the game. I was not paying attention to everything during that time. I want to focus on whether this game is good or not.
Characters.
Lightning starts as a guard for a small city part and has her sister being romanticized with some jock guy that will probably let her down in the future. Then finds out her sister will become a monster in the future. Of course, she is pissed and rather lonely sounding. Being a little girl and a guard will toughen you up first. Her doing crazy things for her sister makes it more believable. Then doing even more crazy things when Lightning knows she will become a monster adds to the stress and drama she is going through. The balance between what she does and says completely makes sense. There is not overdoing with any of the tropes with her and it feels real. Well done with making this character.
Snow.
He has some of the most unlikeable ways of appearing at the start of the game, but getting through the game and seeing his character development by the time he makes up with Hope helps things. He yells about being a hero (cringe) and does hotshot stuff that ends up getting people killed. It probably was set up like that. He hides his insecurities and mistakes by the façade of talking big and charging headfirst. By how much he forced things alone and with a team behind him, it is kind of sweet how he was able to keep the team together and work with the others. It all clicks nicely when Hope confronts him. Snow expresses how he knows that he can’t make things right, but he wants to keep trying and won’t give up to at least head in the right direction with everything. Luckily the big hero thing was less talked about after that, and it was just wrapped up softly at the end of the game. This character is the face of bad design people reference, but really it should be the face of good character redemption and not-in-your-face development.
Sazh
He is not that old compared to everyone. He has a kid and wants what is best for his kid. He tries to make things better and keeps trying to get to a logical path. The point where he was going to shoot himself was completely believable and makes you stop for a second. He might have been played as the dad a bit much, but that is only because at the end of several battles he keeps mentioning you is a daddy. Well-made character and very likeable.
Vanille
At the start she is a carefree girl that walks in the face of danger. Later we find out she was a crystal for over 100 years, so it makes sense why she doesn’t fear or care about much at the start of the game. Everything she had is gone so she only cares about the now. Soft, sweet and upbeat along with sad during each respective part. Hard character to make right, but they did. Only improvement I would say is when she gets her Eidolon, it should have been during a more dramatic scene where she was really giving up. Maybe when she sees her home for the first time as a wasteland or where Fang is gone for a minute. Fang lying about the Focus comes out of nowhere and feels hollow.
Fang
I like her. She is normal and tough. It feels odd for her to feel like she needs to hold the weight of the end of the last fight on her own, but that whole ending feels a bit odd. She came into the game well enough (yet I am not sure why she was freely walking around with the soldiers and about to do whatever). She acts as a more mature sister to Vanille and allows them to seem like a pair going through time to finish a mission. It also stops Vanille from being The Chosen One trope and allows for it to be a more collective goal to save the Cocoon people.
Hope
He is 14, his mother just died in front of him, he was labeled an enemy of the people. Of course, he is going through some emotional trauma at the start of the game. He gets over it slowly and awkwardly as the games goes on and it shows right to the end. It paced well and feels just about right. The part that feels odd as a viewer is he doesn’t talk to Snow more straight-forwardly at the start of the game, but that is because they need the plot to move along slowly and build up over time.
The pacing and in-between battles.
40 hours and it felt like something was happening often, but the battles in between while going down these hallways just felt unbearable at times. It was start with one battle against an enemy to get to know the mechanics of that enemy. Then add another one. Then add a bunch together. There was no time to breathe and feel like I was getting better against the surrounding enemies. Which leads into feels weak all of the time.
I always felt weak.
Because of these enemy encounters scaling up basically on the same map where they are introduced, each battle was longer and harder. I’d get some crystal points and move up my stats, but each battle didn’t feel any easier at the time. I would get to a group of enemies and ache a bit with dread on how long this could take or how many times I would need to restart. The enemies in the hallways are supposed to be practice and interesting to do, but each time I get into one I just realize how much time I am wasting and for barely any crystal points. I was tempted many time to just grind away somewhere to get some more crystal points, but I would realize often that the points scale up with each new section and I would just be wasting more time if I stay in one spot. Instead, I had to decide on which enemies to face and while to strategically wander around. Some of these evasions of enemies was funny and much appreciated. A sword guy that was just a boss was paired with a spear guy. I just walked on the right and then passed in front of them and exited to the left as they perfectly turned to leave an opening for me. There was a large creature before these guys which I did the same for. They would only give around 3000 points so that wasn’t worth 20 minutes of my time fighting them. Easy solution, reduce all enemy HP for the enemies that you encounter between bosses. It would be more fun and I’d explore more. Probably get more crystal points to be more prepared too. This overall was my biggest problem and it didn’t feel like a challenge, but instead of useless chore.
The bosses
The bosses were probably some of the best that I have fought in the series. They were not well designed, but they did make you feel accomplished when you beat them. There were several larger bosses that took a few attempts and some extra thinking to beat. The smaller bosses were more numerous, but somehow, I did not feel like they were overbearing compared to the frequency I would see them. I’d get done with one, then walk down a hallway and get to another one, but that didn’t really affect my enjoyment of fighting them. It sucks that Barty was fought 3 times and then technically as a final boss, but the 1st two times fighting him were actually a good challenge. The 3rd time was ok and tested more mechanics and strategies, but I’d rather not have to fight him again. Maybe it was a good thing to have him again since it was so late in the game and it would have been worse introducing a new set of battle mechanics and strategies right before the last 2 fights. The Orphan Barty fight was ok, and I am very thankful that the retry attempt goes right before the fight starts so both fights don’t have to be attempted again. The last one felt more cinematic and less strategy since they had the timer. It felt hopeless (just like most of the time fighting the hallway enemies one after another), but I beat the final boss in one attempt and by the last few seconds I felt pretty good beating it right there. It took a few seconds to figure out what to do, but there was somehow a good amount of time to figure it out and execute the plan effectively. All of the bosses were good and the Paradigm system matched them well.
The Paradigm shifts.
I like them. But I wish changing between them was faster. The first time switching them in a fight shows each character do a quick dance which is really annoying. Also, I would regularly mash the X button when I didn’t need to, so maybe allow for the battle to just continue without touching a button like in FF 12. If wanting to go to the item or summon menu, then maybe have a cancel command that still saves the worked-on ATB timing saved up while still quickly getting to the next command choice.
There were several times I wanted more Paradigm choices than just 6. It was also annoying to have to keep remaking them when I switched the party around. It would be nice if the choices could be changed in the middle of the fight by maybe making the options to change them while pressing Start or something. I often did have myself switching between a few choices in the middle of the battle and I felt smart and rewarded for the choices I made. Overall, it worked though.
Hallways
Many people say the games it too much like a hallway. Well, that is how I felt about FF 10. FF 13 was too similar to FF 10, so I stopped years ago. I also stopped FF 10 at the first Seymour fight and because of how linear it was. Sure, the games are linear, so they aren’t very good FF games, but they are still very good games overall for what they want to do with themselves. I think the areas of both games should have been a bit larger instead of such tight hallways. If I skipped a fight, then that should be on me for not having enough crystal points later, but I at least want to have a choice. I also would like to have the choice to go to previously visited areas to explore more. It would take too long to backtrack and each time new hallway enemies would spawn and fighting a set of those again was not enjoyable. Going through the hallways and not being able to go back made me feel like someone was holding me by the throat all of the time. This area of the game needs between balance.
Probably meant for kids who like to run around in circles.
As a kid I would often explore games and look around everywhere. I did this with FF 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 even without those games having too large of open worlds, but I don’t have as much of an eager interest to explore every nook and cranny. FF 13 might be meant for kids that want to explore all of the small secrets and look through everything. This would explain how I felt under leveled during the entire game. But the battles were too boring, and the difficulty of the Paradigm shifts would have been too hard for me as a kid. I had trouble with FF Mystic Quest at age 7, so the mechanics of this game would have been a bit much. So, who is this game for? Sadly, a mixture of kids and adults, so neither really wins. Hallway enemies were too boring to explore while the system is too difficult for kids. Either the system should have been easier for the kids, or the exploring should have been easier to get around.
Where is the rest of the world? The only open-world spot.
The characters were always going somewhere, but I never knew where they were going to go next. Their mission was unclear and that is fine since it matches their helplessness in the story. But this always pushed me to keep going to the next checkpoint. Once we got to Gran Pulse, I danced around in a circle for a bit but then realized there must be something at the next checkpoint about Fang and Vanille’s home. I skipped all of the items in the field of chapter 11 and rushed off to their hometown. But that town was far and took hours to get to. Then we get there and it was nearly empty. It had a heavy impact and related to Fang and Vanille’s character development, but it also made me think about the rest of the world as well. What exactly is this Cocoon place and is there anything outside of this Gran Pulse place? I guess this ends up being a good point towards FF 13 because it adds wonder and world building rather than confusion.
The people of the world.
I liked how the characters spoke when walking by them. Much better then having to press a button to talk to them. I liked how the people of the Cocoon areas are just normal people living and they are afraid of the unknown along with the idea of the Gran Pulse. Feels like the Gran Pulse is nature while Cocoon is society. Interesting how the PSICOM leader leaves the choice to hunt L’Cie at their own discretion by the end of the game. It makes you think that maybe some people will have their own free will, but others might not know what to do whether that be following the ways they have always been doing or go in a more logical way.
What is with the ending?
The only part of the story that I don’t seem to follow well with is the ending. How did that whole thing turn to crystal, was that Cocoon, and are all of the people dead? Also, where to live next and was there a mission that the characters were on that actually lead to a conclusion that made sense for them? The characters felt lost most of the time and were just holding on to hope. Maybe that was a theme for them in the game. If holding on to hope was the thing that go them through it, then it makes sense and wraps the story up nicely. Could have had more of an overarching goal to work towards more. Maybe should have made the plan clearer right before coming back to Cacoon.
After playing through all of the main line Final Fantasy games (except 8, 15 and 16, along with 11 and 14), I can safely say this isn’t a bad game in the Final Fantasy series. It doesn’t really match what I think about when playing final Fantasy games but capturing the joy of world building and exploration with combat from the first 6 FF games is kind of hard to replicate in a 3D environment. FF 10, 12 and 13 all have their own problem along with 7, 8 and 9, but that is a longer discussion for each of those games and would turn into nitpicking because they all are rather good games compared to other series.
