I’ll try this as my default while I ascend the tower!
Yeah I will admit SEN-COM-MED feels like a little bit of a waste in most cases that I use it. I don’t stay on it long either, unless Vanille is being slow. I do like having commando in these situations for the slow decay, but maybe I’ll change it up!
Just wrapped up Chapter 11 using @sapphicvalkyrja 's strats and it worked! The monsters in the tower melted like butter when going through it. To be honest I really didn’t need to sentinel much at all.
| FANG | LIGHT | VANILLE |
|---|---|---|
| SAB | RAV | SAB |
| COM | RAV | RAV |
| COM | RAV | MED |
| SEN | MED | MED |
| SEN | COM | MED |
| SAB | MED | MED |
After the chapter wrapped up, the Crystarium unlocked and now that Hope has Haste, I might rotate him in to have a Synergist on the team, his magic stat is insane.
Also gotta say - that opening cutscene to chapter 12 still looks amazing. I’m pumped and ready to run past as many enemies as I can to get to the end.
Glad to hear it helped! Hope is a solid Synergist and probably my pick for anyone who isn’t going to be really diving into the end-game stuff. Haste is very good in this game, so it’s probably worth the swap (though I’m not sure how I feel about separating Fang and Vanille… 
)
Talking about the endgame a little made me miss one of my favorite things to do in the game:
I got the Platinum Trophy back in 2011 or 2012, but when I replayed the game at the tail end of 2023, I almost got it again on Steam just because I have so much fun farming turtles. I’m actually only one achievement away from finishing, but it’s the most tedious one (Treasure Hunter). Since I had more than enough footage in the event that I decided to make an actual video essay about the game, I ended up stopping shy of the final trophy this second time
But there are absolutely days where I could probably boot the game back up and hop right back to it, though I’d be on the Shaolong Gui at this point, not the Adamantoises. The former aren’t nearly as fun to fight!
Protip: when the XBox 360 version boots the very first thing it says is “press any button” in order to select the storage device.
When they mean “any key” this is one of the few times they mean any key. Just tapped the R-stick in the left direction and it closed the dialog box. Amazing!
I’ve been forestalled in making progress because my computer setup currently shares a room with my youngest’s bed. I’m hoping to get back to it this weekend. But just one detail:
Anyone else absolutely button-mash the auto-battle options in most battles, rather than waiting and calmly selecting auto-battle or the next moves you want? I don’t always button mash, but something about the timing in this game makes me continually press that button during battle, almost like a rhythm game.
There’s definitely a rhythmic quality to the combat. i think that’s part of why I like it so much, honestly
When has any Final Fantasy character ever directly challenged the validity of one of the game’s proper nouns? Far from the winking irreverence of the Whedon dialogue that’s in everything now, this kind of remark is very human. The general parallel with Cloud is intentional and appropriate to point out but I think Lightning’s angry attitude is immediately more righteous/justified than Cloud’s angst
If anyone’s curious, this is what she says in Japanese (which I don’t know well enough so relying on Google here)
| 直球すぎて笑えるぞ。 | It’s so straightforward it’s funny. | It’s a stupid acronym. |
| ノラは野良猫。 | Nora as in noraneko (“stray cat”). | Their little code. |
| 権力のイヌと違って、気ままに生きるんだと。 | Unlike the dogs in power, they’re free to do as they please. | Stands for ‘No Obligations, Rules, or Authority.’ |
| いいご身分さ。 | What a privilege. | Must be nice. |
See, in the original language it was actually “の obligations, rules or authority.” … because that’s the name of the character. Look, this is the only joke I’m qualified to make “in Japanese” and I’m going to take the opportunity!
Just got onto an airship and I am very very very tired of hearing the alarm klaxon that just blared the entire time.
Also, the frame rate in Nautilus on the 360 just completely tanks. Started making me mildly motion sick. I was very glad to be done with that section.
Well, I beat the game. Those last two chapters were a lot of fun and I liked some of the boss gimmicks toward the end (though I did skip a lot of the optional fights). I actually liked the final boss even if Phase 2 was kind of unfair. I’ve been on a very long journey with this game, from it being the reason I bought a PS3 but finding it disappointing, to my rediscovery and deep appreciation, now to having a more nuanced re-evalution in 2025. I have long considered it somewhere in the middle of my ranking of Final Fantasy games… and though at times it felt like it was slipping from the pedestal I had put it on, the party dynamics, frenetic battle system, and overall spectacle really do pull it together to make something better than the sum of its parts. I still think it’s somewhere below FF9 and above FF8, but there is something special to it, and I feel like as I step away from it again, I’m going to forget the more repetitive or more punishing moments again, and just remember how incredibly satisfying it feels to play at times.
Fang and Vanille’s ending is fantastic, and I think the way that they handle Vanille’s guilt throughout the story is especially great. Knowing what her sacrifice would be during the scene with Sazh wanting to kill her added another layer. Plus the acting and character development made a scene that is over-the-top still work on a lot of levels. There’s also a subtle moment later when Vanille and Fang reunite where Sazh is conflicted that the people responsible for him losing his son get reunited, but thinks better of it. That moment really completed Sazh’s arc, and allowed such a rational guy to start to buy in on Snow’s optimism. I really like how they handled that.
The same idea of a conflicted reunion is returned to at the very end with Hope is as Snow & Serah, Sazh & his son, and Fang & Vanille get together. He recognizes that his mom isn’t coming back and Lightning is there to comfort him and offer a sense of belonging. She’s a truly underrated emotionally intelligent character under that hard exterior. She was also the one who convinced Fang not to go alone, and holding Snow to higher standards made him a better partner for Serah. After all…
As I posted above, I was frustrated at times with this game, and I think with the state of the world and the timing of playing this game at the start of the Trump administration, made me unfairly put some expectation that this game would have more to speak to about the moment we’re in. It’s kind of an unfair thing to ask of a game (particularly one that’s 16 years old) but the themes of defying a dark fate and standing up against a corrupt government that scapegoats and undermines the will of the people is right there. While this game spoke some truths, it doesn’t offer an optimistic or really unique take on the situation like I was hoping for.
I think the closest I felt to FF13 doing that was when it reminded me of conversations I’ve had with friends. There was a moment when the party was at a low and unsure of where to go next, and Fang reminded everyone that they just have to survive and figure out a plan later. We don’t have a clear picture of the damage being done or what might be next. We have to just keep our focus, take care of the people around us, and keep pushing forward. Opportunities will come up to make the world a better place, we just have to be present and prepared for those opportunities.
FFXIII is, for better or worse (probably worse, given the way many people react to it) one of those games that works holistically. As a package, I still think it’s the closest Final Fantasy has come to realizing their dream of a coherently-realized narrative-driven JRPGs with cinematic but strategic combat (we’ll see if the FFVII Remake trilogy tops it once it’s complete). On an individual level many of its elements are far from unimpeachable, and any one of them might be the snag that keeps someone from appreciating the rest
But perhaps that’s why I love it, in the end. I’ve said before that FFXI is accidentally one of the greatest MMOs (and games, if I’m honest) ever made, in that Square didn’t necessarily know what they were doing in making one but somehow created something unforgettable (to the right kind of person) anyway. I think something similar happened with FFXIII: first, unsure and stumbling steps into a new direction for the series that didn’t fully and broadly resonate but nonetheless coalesce into something meaningful if you’re willing to follow where the game is going
I’m glad that at least some of the people who worked on FFXIII seem to realize how good its good parts are, since they brought so many of those things forward for the Remake trilogy
Something I really appreciate about the game is that for all of its melodrama, it relies a lot on subtlety, too. Many of the best character moments are quiet, understated, and serene, existing in and strengthened by their contrast with the frenetic pace of the game’s action and its heightened melodrama
My favorite scene isn’t without a little dash of melodrama, but it ends here, with Lightning using her fist not out of anger but out of resolve, not to maintain distance between herself and others but to bridge the gap between her and Snow
There’s lots of other character moments I love in this game, but this is the one I will always think of first
Looking more like a futuristic Tomb Raider than a standard role-playing game, FFXIII blindsided fans at E3 with its distinctive new look and dynamic combat system. Although it certainly appears to be a departure from the series’ roots, looks can be deceiving.
“At first sight, it might seem like an action game,” Kitase says. “But FFXIII inherits the series’ long tradition of active time battles.” This time, though, you won’t have to wait to input your commands…so expect the fastest turn-based battles ever.
-EGM
The video game history foundation is great, love going back and reading the magazine articles about these games. “Before you start sewing your cosplay outfit, be warned Vs. XIII probably won’t hit until 2008.” lmao
Odds look good that these games will use the PS3’s new fangled motion-sensor controller!
(all of which was completely fake)! It’s almost hard to believe that we just weren’t as savvy about fake trailers back then as folks often are now. I suppose I can’t fault Square too much for that one, though: without that trailer finally giving the team its vision, who knows what FFXIII might have looked like in the end. It almost certainly would have ended up a much less focused game, at the very least
this part very funny, and also
I’m floored by the expressiveness of the animation at 1:48
Barthandelus was a PITA. And he just turns into an owl?
Also has anyone else noticed that Jhil’s character design is “20-something Shion from Xenosaga”?
Finally made some progress again. Chapter 8, Sazh and Vanille. Still good.
I noticed a bit of environmental hinting going on: a numbered circle that goes up to 13. Is that the number of eidolons? The 13 days? An allusion to FF13 itself? Something as yet unrevealed?
I have somehow never noticed that before! I’d guess it’s just Square alluding to the number of the game itself, since they have a habit of doing that, but now I want to find this and examine it…
Cid is my current PITA boss fight. I’m resisting the urge to put any of Lightning’s points into Sentinel, but it’s no fun being one-shot.
Update: after several days worth of sessions, I finally killed Cid. I had to fall back to putting a sentinel in my party. I ended up looking him up and it seems there’s a transformation at 60% health and he takes a LOT less damage after that point. I almost juggled him with Lightning, Sazh, Vanille, but an errant one-shot killed lightning. That’s my primary complaint about the otherwise good battle system. The leader is too important.
I am not participating in this, but I did want to show you all the official art for the Magic: The Gathering Final Fantasy set of cards releasing later this year.
If you were curious about my thoughts on Final Fantasy XIII:
Sazh is my favorite character because he is a normal man reacting to the anime freakazoids he is with.
