Disclaimer: This maybe the most cringey, most lame, most dumb, bull review you have ever read.
Be warn.

August 9th, 2025: 5 years later, and played a fair amount of Final Fantasy Installment, Lightning, Lightning trilogy and Lightning returns still holds #1 in me.

With this at this point of writing - August 9th, 2025
I had finished (or at least tried to finished):
- Final Fantasy 16
- Final Fantasy 15
- Final Fantasy 13
- Final Fantasy 13-2
- Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13
- Final Fantasy 12
- Final Fantasy 10/10-2
- Final Fantasy 9
- Final Fantasy 8
- Final Fantasy 7
- Final Fantasy 7 Remake
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis - The First Soldier (Ongoing)
- CRISIS CORE –FINAL FANTASY VII– REUNION

So, this is the last installment for the Lightning Trilogy of Final Fantasy.
13 it set the scene for the gang and their struggle
13-2 set the scene about Serah's love to Lightning and what that love did to her.
Lightning Returns basically Lightning's redemption arc for the entire trilogy.

In 13, we saw Lightning is s cold, blocked all emotions shown female character and we know why.
13-2, she finally open up and trusted on Serah more, after open her heart a little bit at the end of 13. But that trust, that open of heart betrayed her by the result of her actions to Serah.
Lightning Returns, we saw how the impact of her blocking off un-needed emotions to Lightning.
In the end of LR, she FINALLY admit she needed help, accepted and show her warm emotion again.

If the first appearance of Lightning was a focus, serious, deadly girl (I don't think she passed teenage years yet). Then the last scene of Lightning in Lightning Returns, was that an adult Lightning smiling, happy, calm Lightning.

She learned how to open herself out to her friends, the thing that she never could done and asking for help.

All of the game, we all see the main message is to love yourself, to express yourself. Lightning can help others, but she can't help herself nor truly expressing emotions, feelings

The one that eventually that helped her was the one that she killed, the one that she never showed how deeply she love her until she was gone.

In a way, Lightning is sort of similar to me in some aspect. I'm not strong like her, I'll give you that.
But ever since after a few incidents that happened almost a decade ago, till this day I still haven't able to forget it and it serves as reminder to me every time I interact with anyone. Never dare to be true to myself, never show anything real, just be in the background, have a persona of their own on me. I know that I should try to overcome the past, it's all in the past but still, I still can't do it.

That is one of the main reason I like Lightning and this trilogy as a whole. Well, another reason is that I like short hair type lol

TLDR: It seems like most people I encountered still questioned why I like this game and this trilogy as a whole, I'm gonna try to summarized the review.
The reason why I like this trilogy is because I like how Lightning changed her personally from the 1st one to this installment. From the stone, cold, bury your feelings deep down, to slowly open up, then finally atone to the times that she was a cold person.
I see her, Lightning, similar as myself. Sometimes want to show out but most of the time I just bury it deep down, sort of like a Persona. I considered her as someone I need to be, need to do, and Lightning Returns successfully in doing it, something like a role model to me for me to try to be like her