March 19, 2024 - Day 444 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 479
Game: Final Fantasy XIII
Platform: Steam
Released: Oct 9, 2014
Installed: Jan 1, 2016
Unplayed: 3000d (8y2m18d)
Playtime: 19m
Final Fantasy XIII is third-person RPG set in a scifi/fantasy dystopia. I think.
I have an odd relationship with the Final Fantasy series. I did not come to it via console.
I came to it via World of Warcraft. Back in the day, when WoW was pretty much the only game in (my) town, I was part of a WoW guild with some workmates. Our east-coast guild merged with a west-coast guild that we raided with regularly, and we now kind of roam from game to game like a band of Ronin-nerds.
At some point, I got a free thirty days FF XIV game time card in a bundle, and decided to give FF XIV a go.
I didn't get it. It felt bizarre, a mash of things that didn't really seem to mesh., but I spent a month levelling a character before deciding not to subscribe. Then Square-Enix made it free to play to level 60. Unless you'd previously had a subscription (Allie wept).
I did end up playing again many years later, and it was this experience that I brought to Final Fantasy XIII.
FF XIV is a fairly typical third-person (MMO)RPG.
FF XIII... is not.
While it IS a third-person RPG, the battle mechanics are unlike anything I've experienced before. It uses an "auto-battle" system with no direct control of the character during fights.
The other thing that the Final Fantasy games have in common is... almost nothing.
While there are some games in the series that lead on from the previous game, it seems to be more of a "Part 2" than any direct continuity.
At least as far as I can work out.
Final Fantasy XIII is (at least I think... maybe?):