History VideoGame / FinalFantasyXIII

''Final Fantasy XIII'' is the thirteenth game in the [[RunningGag ball]]-[[GroinAttack crunchingly]] popular ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series and first entry of the ''Franchise/FabulaNovaCrystallisFinalFantasy'' series of games. It was first released on [=PlayStation=] 3 and Xbox 360 in late 2009/early 2010.

The game was ported to Steam in October 2014; the entire trilogy is on Steam as of December 2015.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: [[spoiler:Orphan, despite all the references (name, the changes between its forms, its music, its dungeon, thirteen orphans, etc) is called Ophan often, because it also alludes to the type of angel, Ophanim. Of course, the English release confirms "Orphan" as canon.]]
** [[spoiler:Galenth Dysley's true name is another matter of contention.]] Most agreed that he was named Baldanders after the mythological creature, but they Latinized it to Barthandelus in the English release.
** Some of the names in the Spanish translation are slightly different, like Baldanders instead of Barthandelus (as referenced above), Paals instead of Pulse, and lu'Cie instead of l'Cie. Some of them are closer to the original Japanese. Some of them are way too different.

* {{Bishounen}}: Cid Raines is the youngest and most attractive Cid so far. Hope will qualify in a couple years, if he doesn't already.

** [[spoiler:Snow ''doesn't bother covering up his Pulse l'Cie tattoo'', so he ends up causing the exact kind of panic that the party went back to Cocoon to prevent. [[MortonsFork However, not long after this Cocoon is mass-invaded by Pulsian creatures thanks to Barthandelus, so even if he'd covered up the panic would've happened anyway]].]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: For [[spoiler:Yaag Rosch]], though his sacrifice merely takes out a couple of monsters the party were capable of taking on. [[SadisticChoice It was either that, or let them tear his wounded body to shreds...]] least the thought counted.

* Class 1. The Maker departed the cosmos long before the events of the game; the plot revolves around the fal'Cie wanting to [[ColonyDrop smash two planets together]] in hopes that the millions of deaths might summon Him. The protagonists obviously have to stop this, and succeed...[[HeroicSacrifice sort]] [[TakenForGranite of]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: Pretty much all of the Tier 3 weapons, due to requiring an extremely rare component that can only be bought for obscene amounts of Gil or won off the Adamantoise-type enemies. Since most Adamantoise varieties are stronger than the final boss, this means the Tier 3's are only really good for killing more turtles and wrapping up the last few marks. A sufficiently leveled party with well-developed Tier 2 weapons can get a five-star rating on the final BonusBoss.

* BonusBoss: Most of [[OmnicidalManiac the Undying]], most notably Attacus and Vercingetorix. Also, the Oretoises who have insane Strength and Health, the exception being the Adamanchelids.

** [[BonusBoss Vercingetorix]], who has 15.8 million HP (although it's worth noting that the default damage cap in this game is 99,999, not 9,999, and the fight will probably take no more than 15-20 minutes).

* NonIndicativeDifficulty: A strange example where while the party levels act as one would expect, enemy level seem to be picked out of a hat and has no correlation to their actual strength -- the first boss is level 75, the last is level 51, and a mid-boss in the final dungeon is level 15; the first regular enemies encountered are level 21 where the strongest version of the same enemy is level 13.

** The Eidolons are giant mechanical humanoids who can convert into the forms of vehicles or robotic animals in their Gestalt Modes. [[{{Transformers}} Sound familiar]]?

-->Lightning: Keep running—it's die or turn Cie'th. There's no place for l'Cie to hide. No…they want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door!
-->Sazh: This isn't a game!
-->Lightning: No. That's for damn sure. It started with Serah. The fal'Cie took her. Now I'm a l'Cie. And the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings? A fal'Cie. Eden. Cocoon's sustainer and guiding light. It probably ordered the Purge, too. Pulse and Sanctum fal'Cie? They're all the same. And we're all the same to them: expendable. I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave.

* NoticeThis: Treasure Spheres emit a distinctive chiming noise. You will sometimes hear this before you can see the sphere.

* NonIndicativeDifficulty: A strange example where while the party levels act as one would expect, enemy level seem to be picked out of a hat and has no correlation to their actual strength—the first boss is level 75, the last is level 51, and a mid-boss in the final dungeon is level 15; the first regular enemies encountered are level 21 where the strongest version of the same enemy is level 13.

* NonIndicativeDifficulty: A strange example where while the party levels act as one would expect, enemies level in reverse—the highest level enemies are the weakest, where the lowest level are the strongest.

* BreakingTheFellowship: At the outset, a group of humans are marked as l'Cie by the fal'Cie Anima, with an unclear Focus to accomplish. While they initially stick together, they very quickly break apart, due to most of them being complete strangers to one another, and each having their own thoughts and feelings about the task at hand. Snow splits from the group very early on due to his devotion to Serah overriding everything else, while later, Lightning, still reeling from losing her sister, splits off from the group on a suicide mission to defy the fal'Cie, and is followed by Hope. Sazh and Vanille, both overwhelmed by and despairing at their situation, don't follow, and decide to run in the opposite direction. It takes a good amount of story progress for all the heroes to re-unite, and it's not until [[spoiler:they reach Pulse]] for them to truly come together as a team and act towards a common future.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Is Vanille having TheImmodestOrgasm on her Eidolon? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFTLDl9Cg2U Judge for yourself.]] Or not... they even cuddle at the end. And on a lesser note, considering the noises she makes throughout the game, it can ''sound'' like Vanille might constantly be having one.

* BareYourMidriff: Vanille, Fang, Lebreau, and Lightning (although it's not as obvious).

[[caption-width-right:349:The Defiers of Fate.[[note]]From left to right: [[OnlySaneMan Sazh Katzroy]], [[TheBigGuy Snow Villiers]], [[TagalongKid Hope Esthiem]], [[TheHero Lightning Farron]], [[SixthRanger Oerba Yun Fang]], [[TheChick Oerba Dia Vanille]].[[/note]]]]

** TheChick (Vanille)

* [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience Colour Coded For Your Inconvenience]]: The ''Palamecia'''s colored security codes in Chapter 9 don't make any sense. First an intruder alert causes Code Red, which later escalates to Code Green, and after the prisoners escape to Code Purple. Hope wonders aloud what the heck it all means, and then it's completely lampshaded when Jihl Nabaat starts having her epic VillainousBreakdown, shouting ''"This means we have a Code Blue! Or maybe Code Yellow. Or maybe Code Orange. If it was Code Orange that would mean...?"'' But then Primarch Dysley puts an end to it and remarks that ''"Desperate times demand flexibility:'' [{{beat}}] ''[[SnowMeansDeath Code]] [[KillEmAll White!]]"''

* FreezeFrameIntroduction: PlayedWith. Party members' stats screens have their portraits in the background. However, said portraits are taken from their respective in-game introductory scenes and are actually short videos that start playing when the screen is opened and freeze when the character faces the camera.