Thanks for the comment, I’m glad there are more people who see how great the character and the series are.

Very true, and yes it was refreshing to have a female lead who could handle herself in just about any situation but at the same time vulnerable and fragile enough to still need help from her family and friends. Definitely. Not to say that the FFXIII trilogy was completely flawless or anything. Far from it. But the games are a lot better than most would give them credit for and it’s a shame that the story itself wasn’t told as clearly in the games as it could have been.

What you said about re-purposing parts of a story into other forms of content is very true. I personally don’t mind as long as I’m aware the content exists and that it’s available to people world wide if game developers are going to do so. But what gets me about the FFXIII trilogy is that if you don’t live in Japan, not only do you not have official access to the material (i.e., translated copies in every native language they bothered to release the games), but most people aren’t even aware these novella series exist outside Japan. If they weren’t going to officially release them, then at the very least they could have drawn more attention TO these novels for the fans EVERYWHERE that liked the story and probably wanted more from it.

They didn’t make this mistake with FFXV with things like FFXV Brotherhood and Kingsglaive released BEFORE the games came out. I don’t think there was an official English release of Brotherhood (or any other language really), but at least there were subtitled so that everybody could be clued in on where the characters came from, their motivations, their quirks, and what have you before the game came out. I’m not that crazy about FFXV personally but at least SE put more effort into spreading awareness to the other parts of FFXV’s story told in other media. I really wish they’d done that with FFXIII and its sequels.

As for the RPG podcast, I’ve never really done anything like that. I’d be really nervous to do that to be honest, though thanks for the invite anyway.

Thanks for this amazing comment. I agree that in the end, Lightning did need some help. But I was mainly trying to highlight the point that she wasn’t the stereotypical female FF heroine that needed to be rescued buy a pretty boy. When she needed help, it was integral to the overall story and character development of Lightning.

Thanks for referencing those works that expand on the story. I really hate that Square sometimes omits important parts of the story in order to re-purpose them into other forms of content. On the surface, it’s great for fans like me and you who are willing to do the extra work to get the full story, but for the gamers who just want to play the game, it impacts their experience. Then as a result they bash the game and give it a bad name. This is exactly what happened to the XIII series. They were amazing games really, but the negativity towards them really affected the perception of the series in the long run.

I’m glad I got to speak with you in private to find out more about the novellas. I hope to pick your brain about certain things more in the future. We’d also love to get you on our RPG podcast sometime if you’re interested.

Overall, I share your sentiment regarding Lightning and I’m happy that there are fans of her character out there. I agreed with the majority of your points but that last one I’m kind of iffy on. I mean sure, Lightning herself isn’t the typical damsel in distress character and is really a badass warrior, however, if her complete story suggests anything (especially in the last game) is that her own heart and soul were in desperate want and need of salvation more than any other character (something that was hinted at as early as the first game with Vanille’s narration “When the fear sank in it tore us all apart. Lightning, she was suffering, reaching out to us but none of us could see”. I always thought that this was the most tragically ironic thing about her character, even more so in the last game (The “Savior” needing salvation of her own). The existence of Lumina all but states just how fractured Lightning’s Heart and Soul had become over the years. She’s repressed her feelings of pain and anguish for so long and is so far removed from her true heart that she doesn’t even recognize her younger self. Lightning deep down wanted nothing more than to feel whole again, not be alone anymore and just wanted to be with her friends/family and her sister, feelings she’d denied for herself ever since she lost her “real” family all those years ago. By coming to terms with her pain and vulnerabilities she was able to call out for help from her friends and they wasted no time in coming to her aid after everything she’s done for them and she, along with them and the rest of humanity that she’s saved come together to strike down Bhunivelze. Such a truly underrated character. One of my favorites in the series honestly.

Though a lot of the problems in the FFXIII trilogy stemmed from the haphazard way SE insisted on presenting the story. A good chunk of the finer details are told across various novella series that were never released outside Japan. The first game’s plot would have been much easier to follow if they had officially translated FFXIII Episode Zero ~ Promise (which is a prequel story that goes into WAY more detail about the 13 days that led up to the events of FFXIII instead of just the vague flashbacks we get in the main game). Does a much better job of introducing the characters, giving each character some backstory that’s only hinted at in the main game, gives more insight on the characters and their relationships with their loved ones as well as other people before everything goes to hell, gives some insight on what Fang and Vanille were doing from the time they woke up until the Purge (as well as explains how Fang got tangled up with the Cavalry as well as how Vanille ended up in the Purge line). There’s also another story called FFXIII Side Story: A Dreaming Cocoon Falls into the Dawn that takes place along side FFXIII. Goes into more detail about some of the Cocoon’s citizens lives during the Purge as well as showing that some of them were working with NORA to help the survivors of the Purge as well as trying to expose the Sanctum’s lies while Light, Snow and the others were doing their thing.

Same deal with FFXIII-2 Fragments Before (with FFXIII Episode I being only the first part of this novel), and FFXIII-2 Fragments After (The former going into more detail about everybody’s lives after the ending of FFXIII from 0 AF to 3 AF right before FFXIII-2 starts and the latter filling in holes that take place during the game as well as a bit between the ending of FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns). Then there’s FFXIII Reminiscence ~ Tracer of Memories which takes place after the ending of Lightning Returns. Shows everybody leading peaceful lives with their loved ones as well as filling in gaps from the “Chaotic Era” (500 year gap between FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns). There’s also a creation myth story titles Fabula Nova Crystallis That goes into detail about the Gods and where they came from (namely Pulse, Lindzei, and Etro) and what Bhunivelze’s deal was.

The games tell their stories and start in the middle of things because it assumes the player has already read this material and doesn’t really NEED a whole lot of exposition on this stuff (which is a bad way to present a story really). Branching off into other media to tell a story is one thing (The FFXIII trilogy is hardly the first to do so), but when a company doesn’t even bother to clue in half of its fan base that they’re gonna do so much less that these novellas even EXIST….then that’s a problem. It’s a shame too because once the player puts all this info together it’s actually not a bad story (certainly no more or less convoluted than any other FF game IMO) and the characters all have some very realistic motivations and humanity. An official translation for some of this could have helped the pacing of the plot A LOT. Thanks to some dedicated fans, people can look up translations of these and read the stories (and they’re all very interesting) but it still would have been better for SE to do this themselves alongside the releases of each game.

Glad someone else out there agrees 😉

i found lightning to be good but she became quite bland and stale at parts tbh.. Ellie on the other hand is SO relatable and ‘human’.. Her weaknesses were always present A LOT more than her strengths were, but when it came to demonstrating her strengths she had no problem reminding you why she was the other half of the games protagonist duo!

She also lives in a world thats COMPLETELY against everything she is and living in such a hostile environment and maintaining being ‘herself’ in all sense of the word is actually soo commendable..

I personally just think Ellie is a notable heroine whether she’s the best or not is of course up for debate and peoples opinion but she DEFFO deserves her spot in the light..? lool

Ellie was a great character, but the best heroine? hmmm.. That could be an interesting debate I suppose.

Agrias was amazing

Aya Brea…man, Square Enix could make a REALLY GOOD Parasite Eve reboot. Or pass it off to one of their affiliate companies so it gets done in a timely fashion.

Rei Kurosawa

Glad that there are people out there that share my love for these games.

Can’t wait for that conversation lol

Good choices there man. Yeah there were a ton of great FF females in old games (such as VI) and games like Tactics come to think of it, but I think you’re right in that them being sprites holds them back from the discussion.

I appreciate the feedback. Thanks for reading.