History YMMV / FinalFantasyXIII

* PolishedPort: Picking up the slack of the original 360 release as mentioned below, Microsoft, thanks to getting the assets from Square, went back and rerendered the FMV files, as well as the rest of the game, into a higher resolution for the cutscenes to be more comparable to, if not better than, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 version of the game ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Fyy9jhBxs as discussed by Digital Foundry here]]) for the Xbox One and One X backwards compatible version of the game. The game, as well as its sequels, also received a 4K upgrade patch which, while doubling the file size of the first game, makes it exceed even the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and PC ports in terms of visual quality, which makes it look gorgeous. It also apparently runs a lot better than either original console version too.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The cynical Hope's hostility towards the heroism-obsessed Snow becomes this when both of their voice actors, [[WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood Vincent Martella]] and [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight Troy Baker]] would later provide the voice of Jason Todd, who has a similar grudge against Batman. Adding to it is that Creator/TroyBaker would also go on to voice Bruce Wayne in ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries.''
** A l'Cie can be created at any time for any reason, it exists solely to carry out a specific purpose, it lives its life in unending agony if it can't fulfill that purpose, and it essentially ceases to exist (at least in any meaningful form) once it succeeds. In short, to the fal'Cie, a l'Cie is basically nothing more than a glorified [[WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty Meeseeks]].

* VindicatedByHistory:
** This game has started to gain more popularity in recent years, partly due to the reception of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' being even more divisive than this game, and partly because Lightning's WolverinePublicity has been toned down a bit now that her game is no longer the most current one.
** The lore and backstory of the game received heavy criticism on its first release, for requiring the player to take time out of the actual gameplay to read long {{Info Dump}}s in order to understand the context of what was going on. Years later, with gamers having had the chance to properly digest all of the content, the game is now considered to feature some of the best world-building in the entire history of the JRPG genre, even if it's still agreed that it could have been delivered better.

** Many had hoped to see [[spoiler: Jihl Nabaat]] as the main villain or at least an active one and were very disappointed to see them killed off after a total of ten minutes of screentime. So, not surprisingly, those same fans rejoiced in the sequel where, in one of the [=DLCs=], you finally get the opportunity to give [[spoiler: Jihl]] the sound thrashing that's been overdue for years.
** Yaag Rosch, the leader of PSICOM, doesn't fare much better than the previous example. Despite being in charge of the organization that continually comes into conflict with the l'Cie over the course of the game, he ultimately has little relevance and eventually dies in a cutscene. And unlike [[spoiler:Jihl]], there are no direct battles with him in either sequel.

** '''GIVE ME COFFEE!! FOR THE HORSE!! ''FOOOOOOR!! THEEEEEEE!! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORSE!!'''''[[labelnote:Explanation]]The boss theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qyavbSmxW4 Born Anew]], with its OminousLatinChanting has been compared by way of mondegreen to that phrase[[/labelnote]]

* FanPreferredCouple: Despite not being particularly close to one another, Fang/Lightning rose to be the most popular ''Final Fantasy XIII'' ship, having the most written fics in Website/FanFictionDotNet and Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn. In canon, neither women is given an official RelationshipUpgrade with anyone, but Fang and Light have their own respective ImpliedLoveInterest in the form of [[LesYay Vanille]] and Hope. %%EDITOR'S NOTE: Neither Lightning/Hope nor Fang/Vanille counts as FanPreferredCouple, because they are the Canon-favoured pair, and because most fanfiction and fanarts show that they are less preferred than Fang/Lightning.%%

** Two words: '''Snow'''. '''Villiers'''. As one Website/YouTube comment puts him:

** The PC version of ''Final Fantasy XIII'' is fraught with issues. Performance is extremely poor, regardless of specs, with the cause being between busted resource management and a complete lack of multi-threading. Various effects like the shadows, depth of field, and bloom look worse and/or broken. Before the patches released, pressing the ESC button while in full-screen mode ''instantly closed the game without so much as asking for a confirmation''. The file size is a massive 60 GB, due to [=FMVs=] for Japanese audio being included instead of being a separate download. The game initially launched without ''any graphics options'', and later had a very small selection of settings patched in, all of which had been added prior by a mod.

* EvilIsSexy: Jihl Nabaat, the bespectacled PSICOM officer with considerable assets.

* DemonicSpiders: Anything with "attacks quickly and relentlessly" in its description is likely to be really annoying, especially if it comes in groups.

* AudienceAwarenessAdvantage: One of the most common criticisms of Hope is that he is unfair in blaming Snow for his mother's death. This criticism is mainly due to the fact that ''the player'' sees how Nora dies, but Hope doesn't. Nora dies due to internal injuries suffered in an explosion and slips from Snow's grasp, falling into a dark abyss beneath them. This is shown very clearly to the audience, but Hope only saw it from a distance and didn't know that his mother was already dead when Snow lost his grip. Thus, from Hope's vantage point, it appears as though Snow let Nora fall to her death so that he could save himself instead.

--> Snow is goddamned awesome. [[GoodOldFisticuffs He punches]] monsters in the face to get [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower strong enough]] to punch bigger monsters in the face. He faces beasts, [[EldritchAbomination abominations]], [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu god-like beings]] and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Lightning's wrath]] to [[DeclarationOfProtection save his fiancée]]. He nearly gets killed protecting Hope's life and STILL protects him after Hope made it clear he wants to kill him, and he rides a motorcycle made of women! If this dude [[RatedMForManly was any]] more bro, the game would be about him ([[AndZoidberg and]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Sazh]]) instead.

* AudienceAwarenessAdvantage: A major criticism of Hope is that he unfairly blames Snow for his mother's death. A major reason for this criticism is because the player sees how Nora dies, but Hope doesn't. Nora basically dies in Snow's arms and slips from his grasp shortly before he loses his grip himself and falls after her. Hope saw this happen from a distance and didn't know his mother had already died when Snow lost his grip, so as far as he could tell from his vantage point, Snow let her fall to her death to try and save himself.

** Barthandelus is quite a formidable opponent, particularly in his first and second incarnations. He has loads of HP and enjoys dropping a Doom timer on your party leader, so your damage had better be top notch. Thankfully his third battle is a piece of cake, though the TrueFinalBoss fights are a lot more difficult.

** The battle with [[spoiler:Cid Raines]] is a very difficult one at the time the player is required to fight him, [[spoiler:since he's more than capable of taking out any unprepared player in one swoop, and can apparently cast Doom if the player takes too long to defeat him, ouch!]]
*** However this can be a CurbStompBattle with the right set up, get him to stagger point and unleash Odin on him, the battle can be over in as little as ''four minutes'', and just for comparison the expected time for the battle? 36 minutes. Or alternatively, build up his stagger point without being outright damaging (ie Sab/Rav/Rav instead of Com/Rav/Rav) and then when fully staggered, lay into them before he can transform (repeatedly juggling him helps a bunch).

** The TrueFinalBoss's first form. He has the highest HP of any non-optional boss, causes tons of negative status effects including ''Death'', and has an attack that will always leave each of your non-Sentinel characters with less than 100 HP, unless your characters are poisoned, in which case they'll be dead before the attack animation is even finished. And the kicker is that this particular attack is the only one in the game you can't change paradigms during.

* AngstDissonance:
** Hope is 14, and went through a ''hell'' of a TraumaCongaLine that includes seeing his mom fall to her death, finding out he's basically a dead man walking, and being forced to rely on a bunch of strange adults (one of which he blames for his mother's death) for protection as the government tries to hunt them down and kill them. Yet many players hate him for his FreakOut and angsting, which can be regarded as unwarranted. A major cause of this dissonance is the fact that Nora died from wounds suffered in an explosion, after which she goes limp and slips from Snow's grasp, but Hope -- watching from a distance -- could not tell she was already dead. From ''Hope's'' perspective, it appeared as though Snow let his mother fall to her death in order to save himself, but ''the player'' knows that Nora was already dead and there was nothing Snow could have done for her.
** In the midst of her 21st birthday, Lightning is hit with the crappiest two weeks of her life and is trying to cope with a few metric tons of grief and guilt over what's happened to Serah and herself, and only starts to actually get a grip on things in the later chapters of the game. A faction of fans point to her {{Jerkass}} qualities as grounds to criticize her for her behavior and dismiss her later CharacterDevelopment.

** Vanille is either seen as a tragic StepfordSmiler whose optimism and naive temperament hides a guilt-ridden woman who is desperate to make amends for her actions, or an obnoxiously perky girl who behaves far younger and immaturely than someone who is in their late-teens should. Her English voice acting also got some flak, mainly due to the - ahem - ''interesting'' [[OrgasmicCombat grunts and moans]] Vanille makes in combat, which makes fights involving Vanille awkward to listen to.

*** And at 6'5/6'7 (accounts vary), his "feet" are actually small for his size.