What it is
Final Fantasy XIII is a single-player Japanese role-playing game and the thirteenth main entry in the Final Fantasy series. Combat uses a real-time variant of the series' Active Time Battle system, in which the player directs one lead character while the Paradigm system lets the party switch between combat roles such as attacker, healer, and support. Character growth is handled through the Crystarium, a grid-based progression system that unlocks abilities and stat bonuses. Set across the floating world of Cocoon and the wilderness of Gran Pulse, the game combines science fiction and fantasy elements with series staples like summoned creatures and airships. It was followed by two sequels, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.
The game is set on Cocoon, a vast artificial sphere that floats above the feared lower world of Pulse and is governed by an authority known as the Sanctum. When people are found to have come into contact with Pulse, the Sanctum orders them purged from Cocoon. Lightning, a former soldier, sets out to save her sister, who has been marked as an unwilling servant of a godlike being from Pulse and branded an enemy of Cocoon. Lightning is soon joined by a group of strangers who are marked by the same power and given a shared, unclear task. Together they must interpret what is being asked of them while resisting the Sanctum and facing the threat of being transformed if they fail.
