“The world is ending in a matter of days”
Being a sword in FFXIII: LIGHTNING RETURNS
The world is ending in a matter of days. Doom is upon Nova Chrysalia, the corrupted, dying world created when the world of Gran Pulse and the limbo realm of Valhalla, collapsed together. Chaos surrounds this last bastion of humanity against the endless nothingness of non-existence, and when the doomsday clock hits zero, the apocalypse shall arrive.
On the edge of apocalypse, Lightning, a hero from the past, returns. Awoken by the god Bhunivelze to save as many of the remnants of humanity’s souls as she can to be reborn into a new world, Lightning must race against time itself to not only save as many people as she can, an act that she has been promised will see her reunited with her deceased sister Serah, but also herself.
So opens the closing act in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy of games and, for me, one of the most epic but nuanced storylines gaming has delivered. Lightning is a flawed savior, operating in a flawed world, one ruled by flawed gods, but despite her personal demons she must fight on to the bitter end, making choices that will save some but doom others, in a world that she herself has helped bring to its final days.
MATURE AND COMPLEX
Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns is a complex game, and one that I would argue is very much made for older gamers. It’s not just the tone the game radiates, which is melancholic, nor the themes, which center around vulnerability, duty and sacrifice, which lead to this mature, complex experience, but also the game’s very systems itself, from its oppressive doomsday clock mechanic (Lightning has a maximum of 14 in-game days to complete all five main quests or its game over), to its actually scarily deep and hard to master combat system.
I’d go as far to say that playing Lightning Returns for the first time is actually daunting. But like all truly great pieces of art, if you persevere and sacrifice (like Lightning herself must) the time needed to understand just how this world works, then the resultant experience is truly unforgettable.