The legends had told of her coming... Banisher of darkness, bringer of light, redeemer of souls. She'd come at the end of days... to guide our souls to salvation.
Beaten: 2014
Version played: Xbox 360
Lightning is my all-time favorite character. Of course I wanted to play the conclusion to her story. In a lot of ways it wasn't the game I expected, but it gave me all the closure I wanted from FFXIII-2's wild ending.
Plus, I have a great fondness for apocalyptic fiction. Lightning Returns entails the end of days: the last 13 days of the world. The plot is a little ridiculous at points, but as with the other FFXIII games, the characters are what sell it. It's fantastic to see familiar faces from the previous two games and see how things have changed for them over the series's long timeline.
The setting is what I love most about Lightning Returns, especially with how it dovetails with the gameplay. At this point, the world is nothing more than four areas, all of which you can fully explore. It's fascinating to go from the Wildlands to the more populated areas. There are tons of quests to do across the thirteen days you have to play the game. The entire game is timed (though you can pause the clock with a certain ability), forcing you to make the most of your gameplay lest you run out of time to save the day. (Which can happen: you can literally run out of time and hit a game over.)
I've been dying to replay the game for years, but Square Enix has yet to give me a modern remaster. I might have to cave and play it on PC.
Favorite character
Lightning, obviously. She is a completely different woman from where she started in the first game, and yet, very much the same. Watching her change and grow over the course of this game is incredibly rewarding.
I continue to love the entire FFXIII cast, though. Lumina is a particularly fun addition but most every character holds a place in my heart.
Favorite music
This OST doesn't rank quite as highly for me as the previous two in the subseries, but that's fine. It'd be very difficult to follow up FFXIII-2 regardless.
Some favorite tracks:
I also adore the version of "Eternal Wind" that plays in the game, though it's not on the main OST.
Favorite location
The whole game, no contest. Like I said above, Lightning Returns has one of my favorite settings. I love seeing worlds on the brink of collapse.
Gameplay thoughts
This battle system did manage to stick in my memory, mostly because it's ridiculous. I mean, come on, you change Lightning's clothes to change her abilities? Uh, sure, okay.
In practice, though, it works like a charm. Different outfits — sorry, schemata — serve as this game's paradigm system, and you can freely swap between them in battle. I only remember a handful of the good ones, and in fact I actually remember the weapons better, because I had this super good sword I got off a behemoth for like half the game. Also Caius's sword, that was fun.
As mentioned above, the entire game is on a timer. You can stop time, at a cost. The entire game revolves around the clock, and while you can pretty comfortably beat the main quests, it gets dicey when you start going for side content. Even then, it's possible to complete nearly everything before time is up.
One of my favorite features in this game is one that leans into its apocalypse setting: you can make monsters go extinct. I mean that literally: you can kill every single instance of a monster, until it just doesn't show up anymore. It's a very eerie feeling to walk through the empty zones and know that everything is just dead.
Further reading
