Developer : Square Enix
Release date : March 9, 2010
Synopsis :
Final Fantasy XIII is a science fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and later for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Released in Japan in December 2009 and international in March 2010, it is the thirteenth title in the mainline Final Fantasy series. The game includes fast-paced combat, a new system for the series for determining which abilities are developed for the characters called “Crystarium”, and a customizable “Paradigm” system to control which abilities are used by the characters. Final Fantasy XIII includes elements from the previous games in the series, such as summoned monsters, chocobos, and airships.
The game takes place in the fictional floating world of Cocoon, whose government, the Sanctum, is ordering a purge of civilians who have supposedly come into contact with Pulse, the much-feared world below. The former soldier Lightning begins her fight against the government in order to save her sister who has been branded as an unwilling servant to a god-like being from Pulse, making her an enemy of Cocoon. Lightning is soon joined by a band of allies, and together the group also become marked by the same Pulse creature. They rally against the Sanctum while trying to discover their assigned task and whether they can avoid being turned into monsters or crystals at the completion.
Development began in 2004, and the game was first announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2006. Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of Final Fantasy games and is the first game to use Square Enix’s Crystal Tools engine. Final Fantasy XIII was critically acclaimed in Japan and received mostly positive reviews from Western video game publications, which praised the game’s graphics, presentation, and battle system. The game’s linearity received a more mixed reception from some critics. Selling 1.7 million copies in Japan in 2009, Final Fantasy XIII became the fastest-selling title in the history of the series. As of 2017, the game has sold over 7 million copies worldwide on consoles. The Microsoft Windows version has sold over 746,000 copies according to SteamSpy. A sequel, titled Final Fantasy XIII-2, was released in December 2011 in Japan and in February 2012 in North America and PAL regions. A second sequel, titled Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which concludes Lightning’s story and the Final Fantasy XIII series, was released in November 2013 in Japan and in February 2014 in North America and PAL regions. In September 2014, Square Enix announced the Final Fantasy XIII series has been widely successful and has shipped over 11 million copies worldwide.
On November 13, 2018, it was added to Xbox One Backward Compatibility along with its sequels making it playable on the console. It is also Xbox One X Enhanced allowing it to run at a higher resolution.
Final Fantasy XIII is set on the world of Gran Pulse (often simply called Pulse). Central to the story is Cocoon, a massive artificial sphere that floats above Pulse’s surface and is ruled by the Sanctum, a theocratic government. The two worlds are controlled by fal’Cie /fælˈsiː/, mechanical beings with godlike power. The Cocoon fal’Cie are responsible for keeping Cocoon floating, as well as providing light and water to the people that live inside. Each fal’Cie handles a specific task. The fal’Cie have the capability of marking the humans that live in Pulse and Cocoon as their servants. These servants, called l’Cie /ləˈsiː/, are branded with a symbol representing either Pulse or Cocoon and are given a “Focus”—a task to complete. If the l’Cie complete their task in time, they are transformed to crystal and according to legend gain eternal life; otherwise they become mindless monsters called Cie’th /siːθ/. The l’Cie are not explicitly told their Focus, but are instead given visions that they must interpret.
Several hundred years before the events of the game, a battle known as the War of Transgression took place between Pulse and Cocoon. During the battle, l’Cie from Pulse attacked and ripped a large hole in Cocoon. Eventually, the l’Cie completed their focus and were turned to crystal. The hole was patched with material lifted from Pulse, and Cocoon’s citizens have since lived in fear of another invasion; this fear is used by the Sanctum to remain in power. The Sanctum oversees two military branches: the Guardian Corps, responsible for keeping order on Cocoon, and the Public Security and Intelligence COMmand (PSICOM), the special forces in charge of dealing with any threat related to Pulse. The fal’Cie have given the humans advanced technology, including flying airships and mechanical creatures, and a form of magic also exists. This magic is normally only accessible to l’Cie, fal’Cie, and various monsters in Cocoon and Pulse, though distilled chemical forms can be used by normal humans through the use of Manadrives.
In Cocoon, the citizens of the town of Bodhum are being evicted, or Purged, after coming in contact with something from Pulse.[36] Over the course of the game, the player is shown flashbacks of the events of the previous thirteen days, which began when a fal’Cie from Pulse was discovered near Bodhum. Lightning’s sister Serah had found the fal’Cie from Pulse and been changed into a l’Cie by it. Lightning and Sazh derail a Purge train bound for Pulse in an attempt to save Serah. As Snow leads his resistance group NORA to rescue the Purge exiles, several of them are killed. Heading to the fal’Cie Anima to save Serah, Snow is joined by two of the exiles: Hope and Vanille. The two parties meet at the fal’Cie, and find Serah just as she turns to crystal. Anima then brands them as l’Cie and they are cast out into a different part of Cocoon. During this transformation, the newly crested l’Cie all have the same vision: a monster called Ragnarok. Arguing over the ambiguous nature of the dreamed Focus, the party finds Serah in her crystallized form; Snow remains with her as the others leave.
Snow meets Cid and Fang, two members of the Cavalry, after he is captured and detained aboard the airship Lindblum. Meanwhile, the others flee from PSICOM before getting separated by an airstrike; Hope and Lightning travel to Palumpolum, while Sazh and Vanille travel to Nautilus. In Lightning’s scenario, she unintentionally supports Hope’s goal of killing Snow to avenge his mother’s death. In Vanille’s scenario, Sazh discusses how his son Dajh was turned into a l’Cie by a Cocoon fal’Cie and was taken by PSICOM to discover his Focus. In Palumpolum, Lightning attempts to dissuade Hope from going through with his revenge and meets Snow and Fang. Fang reveals that she and Vanille were l’Cie from Pulse who were turned into crystals; they were turned back into humans 13 days earlier, sparking the Purge. Hope attempts to murder Snow, but after being rescued during an airstrike, he decides not to go through with it. The four then flee the city with Cid’s aid. In Nautilus, Vanille reveals herself to Sazh as a l’Cie from Pulse, and indirectly the reason that Dajh was turned into a l’Cie. Sazh and Vanille are then captured and detained on board the airship Palamecia.
On the Palamecia, the other members of the party reunite with Vanille and Sazh before they confront Galenth Dysley, the Sanctum’s Primarch, who is the Cocoon fal’Cie ruler Barthandelus in disguise. Barthandelus tells the party that their Focus is to transform into the beast Ragnarok and slay the sleeping fal’Cie Orphan, who keeps Cocoon afloat above Pulse. Slaying Orphan will result in the destruction of Cocoon. The party flees and learns from Cid that the fal’Cie believe that Cocoon’s destruction will summon the Maker, the creator of the worlds. The fal’Cie cannot harm Orphan themselves. Vanille and Fang reveal to the party that they were involved in the War of Transgression centuries earlier, and that their Focus then had been the same: to transform into Ragnarok and attempt to destroy Orphan. The party flies away to Pulse and journeys to Oerba, Vanille and Fang’s hometown, where they hope to learn how to remove their l’Cie marks. The town is deserted, and they find no living people on the surface. The party is unsuccessful in removing their marks, and Barthandelus confronts them again. The party learns that Barthandelus has made Cid the new Primarch to create chaos in Cocoon to force the Cavalry to attack Cid and Orphan in a coup d’état.
The party infiltrates Cocoon and heads towards Orphan but soon discover that the Cavalry have been turned into Cie’th. The party defeats Barthandelus, but Orphan awakens and merges with Barthandelus, then compels Fang to finish her Focus as Ragnarok while the others are seemingly transformed into Cie’th. The party reappears in human form, preventing Fang from transforming. The party defeats Orphan and escapes Cocoon, which is now falling towards Pulse. As the rest of the party turns to crystal for completing their Focus, Vanille and Fang remain on Cocoon and transform into Ragnarok together to prevent a collision between Cocoon and Pulse. The rest of the party awaken from their crystallization on Pulse and find their l’Cie brands gone; Lightning, Hope, Snow and Sazh reunite with Serah and Dajh.
Source : Wikipedia
