DF Retro: The Final Fantasy 13 Saga - Part 2 - FF13-2/ Lightning Returns Revisited!

DF Retro's massive collaboration with My Life In Gaming continues with this second part to our Final Fantasy 13 retrospective! Marc Duddleson takes point here in revisiting the sequels to the original FF13 - Final Fantasy 13-2 and Lightning Returns. All versions and back-compat renditions of the games are revisited and retested in this conclusion to DF Retro's Year of the Triple!

[surihix_hive]

30:21 I did not expect my guide will be seen by DF and let alone be showcased in a video. thank you so much for the shout out 🙂

[MarkSynthesis]

Like a lot of people, your last video actually got me to revisit XIII; I was 39 hours into it, at Chapter 11, and except for completely forgetting how the crafting system worked, I was able to clear the dungeon I'd left untouched since 2016! It's a game pretty friendly to returning to, at least with the visual upgrades on Xbox Series X (though it's a shame it never benefitted from FPS Boost).

[BoxandJacquilope]

FF13-2 is one of my favorite games of all time! I remember loving all three of these games back in the 360 era. The development of these games is so interesting

[Guckkasten]

FF XIII-2 is still one of my favorite FF games and the DLC ending was shocking to me. The timetravel was amazing

[nichamahamek]

Backward Compatible from MS is a magic this game looks great in Native 4K HDR on my Series X.

[ARIXANDRE]

Well, these games still look and performe better than 2022's Pokémon Violet.

[ChimpRiot]

Having recently played it, XIII-2 has my new favourite soundtrack out of all Final Fantasy games. It’s very ethereal and does feel like a futuristic journey through time.

[davidtobin]

I really enjoyed these two FF XIII episodes. A great collab as well! The sheer scale of work you all put it in really clear. Thanks so much for such a brilliant watch.

[Sappharad]

Thank you Marc for basically making the entire sequels portion of this video yourself.
13-2 was really cool and made it worth finishing 13 for me. I got 13 at or near launch on PS3 and I stopped playing it for over two years after I got half way through. At some point one of my co-workers at the time who hadn't finished 13 and watched it on YouTube instead because he got 13-2 and loved it, so I actually picked up my PS3 save years later and finished it then went on to buy and play 13-2 on Steam using some of the mods mentioned in this video. I agree with the Chrono Trigger comparison and that's one of the things that made it enjoyable for me.

I like the whole alternate timeline concept, plus it's an easy way for developers to reduce costs by re-using older assets. (I liked the PS3 exclusive Tales of Xillia 2 for the same reason, but have seen that others hated it for the asset re-use.)

[DVZ-one_three]

Lightning Returns is one of these JRPGs i just couldnt stop playing till finished. Very Underrated

[aninfinitemindofmusicandreams]

Really neat that you guys are posting this now. I'm playing XIII on my new system all maxed out with 4k DSR. Bought the game on Steam a while ago. Looks great and it's quite a fun game.

I'm looking forward to checking out Lightning Returns. It's the one game in the trilogy I haven't played.

[EduardoVasquezMedina]

Hey! Its me in the video 🥹 24:38

So glad you found my little contribution. It used it all the time when im feeling nostalgic and want to revisit the old 720p HD of the seventh generation.

FF13 ❤

[TLOWNSU]

I'm incredibly happy y'all are doing these videos. The XIII trilogy has a special place in my heart, with XIII-2 being my favorite FF game. These games do not deserve the negative publicity at all.

[cizzymac]

Crazy Chocobo is an absolute banger and I'm tired of pretending it's not.

[MulliganSnicker]

Love what DF does. Gotta be my favorite channel. You guys give us straight facts and data. I love video essays and opinion pieces as much as the next guy, but nobody does what y’all do. Been waiting for the perfect time to start FFXIII, looks like this is it

[danielstratton]

I'm an oddball too, my favourite was easily Lightning Returns, though less enamoured of the time mechanics. The richness of the music is amazing and joyful, and I often listen to it just to relax.

Great video!

[dajuiceman]

I played both of these games again last year on Series X, they both still look amazing today at 4k 60fps.

[GT-B]

Lightning Returns is still my favorite of the 3 games, I actually prefer the battle system, thanks to not only the high customization but also the fact that it takes good timing into account, a perfectly timed guard can even fully negate damage from boss attacks, and if you really pay attention to Lightning's animations you can certainly master hitting those perfect combos, with the extra damage you get from such mastery being very noticeable. These were great videos, and I hope people actually give these games the chance that they deserve. Great work John and MLIG!

[EvilLordCanas]

The FF13 trilogy is definitely underrated, my personal favorite has to be 13-2 however. I absolutely loved the improved battlesystem and the monstercatching & training. Also Noel and Caius are easily the best characters the trilogy has spawned, especially the latter is a truly epic villain with an extremely awesome theme.

[Ingel_Riday]

Thank you, guys. These videos have been great. Perfect timing, too. I saw the Final Fantasy games for sale on Steam during their holiday sale, noticed the mixed reviews for the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy that frequently complained about performance, and wondered if they were still available on Xbox with perhaps some performance enhancements.

Came to you fine gents to learn more and, lo and behold, you had a new DF Retro video up about the very thing I was looking to learn about. 😛 Guffaw! Got them for my Xbox Series X and wow. Never did finish this trilogy on the old machines, but now with this level of performance improvement... I think I will. At the very least, I'll make a go of it. Thanks again.

Also, thanks to the Microsoft Backwards-Compatibility Team. I think Microsoft is done with the whole initiative now, but the team did some stellar work! Most of the games I have installed on my Series X are old backwards-compatible games that run better than I could have ever dreamed. An incredible series of feats.