FINAL FANTASY XIII is one of the games people either love or hate, without a middle ground, mostly because of some of the design decisions introduced in this title. Personally, this game got me hooked from the very beginning. The story might be confusing at the start, but if you are catching up with datalog, it’s actually very interesting. Characters are great as well - every single playable character is different, and in the second part of the game, you can shape your party in any way you want to, with the team members you prefer.

Gameplay-wise, the majority of FF XIII is extremely linear, and this is the biggest problem for most of the players. It might sound strange, but I kinda enjoyed it. We’re living in an age with a huge amount of “open worlds”, or games that are giving us free hands, and it was actually something different, refreshing. I could fully focus on the story, characters, and the world of FF XIII, which is beautiful, because even today, after so many years, this game looks great. It’s also worth mentioning that the second part of the game, after reaching Gran Pulse, is more open. You can freely explore some areas, do side missions, or even ride chocobos!

The second piece related to the gameplay, which is dividing the community, is Crystarium - progress system introduced in FF XIII, which is somehow based on what was proposed in FF 10. You are developing your characters first in three, and later on, in six different roles, expanding their Crystarium by unlocking new skills, and improving parameters like strength or HP. If you are interested in only beating the game, you won’t need to grind CP - you can naturally progress with the story, and if you are not spending points in a weird way, you’ll be good. Other than that, I can say that the only downside of Crystarium is the fact that you’ll spend a few hours there. Upgrading all characters is time-consuming, and you are forced to do this because the maximum amount of stored CP is limited.

Switching to cool things, the battle system introduced in FF XIII is one of the best in the franchise. Encounters are very dynamic - in most of the fights, you’ll be forced to switch paradigms in order to change skills used by all party members. It’s also very satisfying, especially during boss fights, when you need to be really good in adjusting paradigms, using skill, etc. in order to beat the most difficult opponents.

As in almost every entry of the franchise, if you’re interested in having 100% in FF XIII, you need to be mentally ready for the grind. You’ll grind plenty of items that are sold for Gil (it’s not given after encounters), catalysts, etc. This part of the game will take you around 30h after beating the story. Personally, it took me 94h to fully complete this game.

Important note: Square Enix is known for its bad PC ports. Before playing the game, it’s strongly advised to read some guides on how to improve the performance and stability of the game. It worked like a charm for me - FF XIII was running absolutely great, and I had no crashes.

To summarize this review, in my humble opinion this is one of the best Final Fantasy entries in the franchise. If you can accept their design decisions about linearity and the infamous Crystarium, you’ll enjoy this game a lot. It has a great story, amazing characters, a captivating battle system, and visually it’s simply stunning, even today.

9/10