Playing Final Fantasy XIII in 2025 – Part 1

Playing Final Fantasy XIII in 2025 – Part 1

Final Fantasy XIII has been in the back of my mind for a long time. Not because I didn’t want to play it, but because I always meant to finish it. I’ve played most of the mainline Final Fantasy games over the years, and XIII has been one of the few I never actually saw through to the end. So in 2025, I finally sat down and committed to doing just that.

[Image placeholder: Title screen or early game landscape]

Visually, the game still holds up impressively well. On PC, it runs smoothly, and the cutscenes—both in-game and pre-rendered—are well-directed and detailed. The environments are a mix of linear paths and more open areas, and once the game opens up, there’s a surprising amount of freedom in how you move through zones. Some of the level design reminded me of how Expedition 33 clearly took inspiration from XIII’s visual tone and structure.

What stands out most to me is the combat system. It’s fast and feels more action-based than earlier games, especially compared to something like XII. The Paradigm system keeps you switching roles quickly, adapting to what’s happening instead of micromanaging every action. The party AI doesn’t always do exactly what I want, but the game gives you the option to manually cast spells or abilities when you need to. That said, manually inputting actions doesn’t pause the game, which keeps the pressure on during bigger fights.

[Image placeholder: Combat screenshot or Paradigm Shift in action]

The music deserves some praise too. It fits the scenes well and manages to carry emotion without being overwhelming. Some of the slower or quieter tracks especially do a lot of heavy lifting when the story takes a more reflective turn.

The pacing has been solid so far. The game moves you through a wide range of locations, each one building in scale and visual interest. I never felt stuck in one area for too long. That said, the story can be hard to latch onto in the beginning. The game introduces a lot of lore-heavy terms like l’Cie, fal’Cie, and Focus, and it doesn’t do much early on to explain them clearly. As the story progresses, it starts to make more sense, but it’s still presented in a way that feels distant or abstract. I’m currently just arriving at Oerba, and by now, I have a much better grasp of what’s going on, even if some parts still feel vague.

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Did you know?

• The game runs on Square Enix’s proprietary Crystal Tools engine, which was developed alongside Final Fantasy XIII and used for FFXIV and Versus XIII (which became FFXV).
• Actress Ali Hillis voices Lightning in the English version. She also voiced Dr. Liara T’Soni in Mass Effect.
• The game’s soundtrack was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, not Nobuo Uematsu, making it one of the first major FF titles to fully branch out in musical style.
• At launch, Square Enix described XIII as “the ultimate single-player cinematic RPG experience,” focusing on visuals and emotional storytelling over traditional exploration.

[Image placeholder: Oerba or wide outdoor area]

I’ll post my final thoughts after I finish the game, but so far, it’s been worth the time. There’s a lot to appreciate here once you settle into the pacing and mechanics. It’s not trying to be every kind of RPG. It just commits to its style and lets you decide whether that works for you.