As always, unless otherwise stated, my blog entries will be spoiler-free! Actually... Is there a way to hide things in spoiler tags on this forum? Please let me know!

So I bought Final Fantasy XIII way back in the day. That is, around 2009 when it released on Xbox 360. I played it for maybe 30 minutes and didn't enjoy it at all. I promptly traded it back in without ever going back to XIII or its sequels. Until now.

A little background: I grew up with the Final Fantasy franchise. I learned how to read very early on because of games like Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest and Final Fantasy II (US SNES release of IV). Along with the Final Fantasy Legend series on Gameboy, my love of role-playing games was borne from these titles. Some may consider it a crime, but I skipped over VI entirely and moved on to VII, which was one of my favorite games of all time.

In short, I've finished IV, VII, and Mystic Quest, and played every main entry except VIII and XIII's sequels.

Now, six years after its original release, I'm a different person. A different kind of gamer, even. While I've always enjoyed stories in games, being older and wiser now I am much more able to enjoy the intricacies of storytelling that games like this have. And Final Fantasy XIII is filled to the brim with lore.

What I failed to realize back in 2009 is that the first chapter is not indicative of the gameplay in the rest of the game. The game slowly introduces mechanics over the beginning chapters, layering in complexity in the strategy and decision-making departments. Today, I very much enjoy the combat system of FFXIII. It's not quite real-time, but it's not quite turn-based, either. If the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Remake has a combat system like this (or Kingdom Hearts), I will be satisfied. We don't need the same game we got on the Playstation with voice acting and better visuals.

As you can see from the screenshot I posted (if it did in fact post), this is a very nice-looking game. There are a lot of breath-taking sights to see, both in-game and during cutscenes. PC is by far the best way to experience this game if you are able. On its Steam release in 2014, there were apparently issues with resolution and graphics settings, but they have been resolved.

This turned out to sound a lot like a review, heh. Maybe I will use this for a Steam review sometime, perhaps after I've finished the game. But for now, I hope you've found some value in my ramblings about an aging game.