when it first came out i went and bought the new final fantasy game, and it was 13, and it was the first one i have every played, ( i know, i cant believe i never played one either), anyways, i got to the part where your on the outside world? i think its pulse, where it opens up a bit more, and i havnt played the game for at least over a year.

what im trying to get to is, i am interested in going back to play it because i would like to play the second part, but want to know if i should just make a new save game and start from the beginning so i can get the story and everything. would i enjoy it more like that or just jump into it mid game?

Go buy a SNES and play FFIII (VI) from the start, You can thank me when your done.

That game is so long and tedious that I would honestly just say trying jumping back into it. Trying doing some sidequests around Pulse or just fighting random mobs to familiarize yourself with the game's combat system. You're about 5-15 hours (my memory is a bit fuzzy) from the ending without doing any sidequests so I would just say try to push through it.

Depends if you feel like you were enjoying the story. If you were deeply enjoying the story then, yeah start over. Otherwise just boot it back up where you left off.

Personally, I would recommend just jumping in. Though that might have everything to do with the fact that I really didn't like the story.

Skip that shit

i guess we will see, i think i stopped playing because it was so tedious but as soon as you get to pulse i was getting owned by everything lol, gotta get a proper paradigm setup i guess

Did you enjoy the story the first time through? How much of a handle did you have on the combat system? These are the crucial questions.

You can take it easy and do some leveling on pulse and read that travel log or whatever it's called and be right back up where you were.

Jump back in. I beat it on 360 and then started it again before XIII-2 came out on PS3. I've been going back to it every couple of months. You just need get the hang of the battle system and what tactics and paradigms you like to use again.

As a person that has played through FFXIII and done everything in XIII-2, I'll be the first one to tell you that I've retained very little of the story. I got the gist of the first game and all that, but I forced my way to the conclusion because...well, I just had to finish it. Were it not for the battle theme and the graphics (which are both pretty sexy), I doubt I would've finished that thing.

FFXIII-2, on the other hand, is a much better game. The story, for the most part, is still pretty nonsensical, but at least there was enough there to keep me interested. After about 80 hours of story/tedious sidequests, I walked away feeling slightly confused. I've played many jrpgs during the span of my life and many of them are better than XIII and XIII-2, but I just couldn't prevent myself from feeling attached. Other than the handful of characters that I like, the only things keeping this series on my radar are the battle system, the graphics, and the music. As much as I hate to admit it, my inner child is secretly hoping for some of that Squaresoft magic to come back and make the next game pretty awesome.

Long story short: Jump back into it and just race to the ending. If you like what you see, then consider playing XIII-2 afterwards.

Prepare for some serious handholding for a majority of the game.

Even as someone who enjoyed XIII playing through the first half or so a second time is really tedious.
Just load up your save on Pulse and try and get back into it. Pulse is kind of designed to kick your ass anyway, go after the weaker looking enemies and take some of the early missions so you can get used to the battle system again. Once you get back into it check out the behemoth leveling trick to buff up your characters.

Load your save and finish it, DO NOT start over.

Play Ni No Kuni or a SMT game instead

I like Liked the first half of FF13. In same ways I prefer it to the second. That detour in Gran Pulse is a nice chance of pace though. I say to keep going, even if you forget the story. You could always read the codex equivalent if you care. The story was not the draw for me and I like FF13 more than most.

I have no idea how anyone could stand going through those opening chapters more than once. Pick it back up where you left off.

I'd probably restart personally. I think I got about 8 hours into FInal Fantasy XIII before I stopped; and i been back logging a bit recently as I am trying to not spend money on new games as well as having a huge collection of stuff I've just never played.

I know I'd personally go back to the beginning but I wasn't that far in in the first place and I could get back to where I was in 2 play sessions easily or one very long one.

Keep in mind you have that giant codex in your menu, with summaries of every chapter in the game. You could flip through that to refresh yourself on the story beats.

I'd say, only start over if you really want to see all the scenes again. Pulse is rough, so it's not like you messed up while leveling your characters. You just need to find the areas you can handle.

I was actually okay with FFXIII, but it's still the one FF I haven't felt inclined to play through again... just because there's almost nothing I can do to spice up a second playthrough. It's not just that it's a long and linear path ('cause that's most games these days), but your gameplay options are similarly constrained throughout. I guess I'm saying the 'replay value' isn't there for me. Meh.

I wouldn't want to go through all those corridors again. You have the Datalogs, just read those to refresh your memory of the story and fight a few enemies in the open world area to regain your understanding of the battle system. I actually stopped playing not far after you. Those damned Boxed Phalanxes stopped me from advancing =(

@Luca717 said:

i guess we will see, i think i stopped playing because it was so tedious but as soon as you get to pulse i was getting owned by everything lol, gotta get a proper paradigm setup i guess

That's what is cool about Gran Pulse. You're finally at the part of the game where they take the training wheels off of the battle system, giving you the full control to master it. Gran Pulse is an ecosystem that you have to figure out your place in. There are monsters wandering around that you are supposed to avoid, and ones you need to level up/gather materials from. I think once you get back in there and get your head around the gameplay, this part of the game is where the fun begins.

Don't start over!