Final Fantasy 13
ing the launch of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I found myself falling headfirst right into a Final Fantasy-shaped hole. Sandfall Interactive’s RPG masterpiece is an obvious homage to Square Enix’s long-tenured series that you can’t help but think of it while traversing the vast yet doomed continent with Maelle and friends.
Inspiration from its characters, themes, and gameplay design are so embedded into its identity that to detach them would be to rob Clair Obscur of what makes it wonderful to begin with. So, now I’m busy looking through remasters and wondering which entry I want to revisit the most. Sadly, outside of Xbox’s backwards compatibility, Final Fantasy 13 isn’t available on modern consoles. That needs to change.
The Final Fantasy 13 Trilogy Deserves A Second Chance
I’ve written previously about how the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy is incredibly special in spite of its shortcomings, and remains a high mark for the series when it comes to its visuals, music, characters, and storytelling. It just leaned too far into the linearity of Final Fantasy 10 with its first entry and course-corrected much too far in other directions with the two titles that . But they’re still gorgeous to look at and fun to play, and I can’t help thinking about the ways in which those experiences can be improved with an official remaster.
Several years ago, we saw Final Fantasy 13, 13-2, and Lightning Returns come to the Xbox One, S, and X as part of the backwards compatibility programme. If you were playing on the more powerful console of the three, all of these games would output at 4K with considerably higher resolution, improved textures, and a general presentation that made it appear like a modern release. To this day, they look incredible and might just be the best way to play.
And What Better Way To Bring Final Fantasy 13 Back Than Remasters?
Have a search on the PlayStation Store and you will find modern versions of Final Fantasy 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, and a steady stream of spin-offs and remakes. It is easier than ever to enjoy the series and almost go through it chronologically if you’re a weird masochist, but for some unfair reason, 13 has been given the cold shoulder.
I understand the fact that it was released during a relatively cold chapter in the series’ history, in which Square was too busy putting visual fidelity over gameplay innovation and suffered as a consequence.
It took away towns for players to grow intimately familiar with and an open world to explore that connected them altogether. In so many ways, it didn’t feel like a Final Fantasy game, and even if there was brilliance to be found in its binding linearity, it was still a bitter pill to swallow.
It’s been over 15 years since Final Fantasy 13 first released, and since then, it feels like its entire history has undergone a critical reevaluation and is far more warmly appreciated than it ever has been. As a consequence, a remaster of sorts would go down pretty well. Besides, if the Xbox One X version is any indication, little work has to be done to bring it up to scratch. It already looks gorgeous and feels great to play, so with any luck, it’s a matter of visual and mechanical refinement alongside a few new additions.
Final Fantasy 12: Zodiac Age implemented higher speed modes, a more nuanced way to switch between and experiment with classes, and bonuses from Japan’s International release that never shipped to other territories. I’d be perfectly content with a package like this, and failing that, an affordable remaster that makes the 13 trilogy available on most of our current platforms instead of making it feel like an awkward outsider.
Make it happen, Square Enix.
