Lightning Returns is the third and final installment to the Final Fantasy XIII games. I’m a huge Final Fantasy fan, owning all numbered games, so of course I was going to get this game even if the previous one, Final Fantasy XIII-2, wasn’t that good. The first thing you’ll notice when playing is that the battle system has changed from the last two Final Fantasy XIII games – no longer do you have three characters in your party and the fighting goes away from the traditional Active Time Battle system. This did remind me a lot of another game, Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core, however it’s not as fun. In Lightning Returns, you can move around while fighting, but it’s a slow walk; while in Crisis Core, you ran when you moved around enemies. Then there’s this interesting twist about having thirteen in-game days to beat this game, which reminded me a lot of Majora’s Mask. In actuality, you only have six days to complete the game, but by finishing countless side quests along the way, one can push it to thirteen. That’s fine, but time flies really fast in this game and some of these side quests just takes too long to be worth it. Most of your time will be spent running back and forth to do mundane tasks, such as getting flowers for someone, waiting for certain drops from monsters, or even eating at six different restaurants. I usually run through the main quests and when I stumble upon somebody giving out a side quest, also if I have time to spare, I’ll accept the quest. So far it’s worked out for me – I’ve still got a good few number of days to spare to complete the game.  I’m not rushing to get through this though and neither should anybody else who plays it. [Read more…]