Lightning Fates are a disgrace to the series, and a broken promise? SPOILERS

[Jinrya-Geki]

I don't know, Lightning is only the second female protagonist in the Final Fantasy franchise, and despite Terra herself being rather dry, the girl is more human than Lightning throughout the entire plot. Dealing with issues of life, love, family, motherhood and courage. Ironic, seeing as she's hardly even human. Her plotline isn't even at the forefront of an ensemble cast reaching double digits and yet still she stands out as an icon within the series itself. Yet here we are, again with a new female lead and she's Cloud, a member of SOLDI- I mean, the Guardian Corp, where the plot seems to just revolve around her magically and her sis, and when that falls through, she becomes a leader and fighter and... leads and fights! An inability to use her emotions is a footnote to her character again and again, tying the fact she's has nothing to express to the viewer into her own storyline. It's quite brilliant really.

I felt like Lightning is supposed to be the person that let's someone build themselves up on their own, but tries to subtly motivate them. If she had an inability to use emotions then she would have left Hope for dead, which would have been awesome, and made him defend himself. She stayed with him all after Snow left him with her. Which is why I like her more than Terra. She has a confidence in herself, that Terra lacks without others.

[ZephyrK]

Dunno... as a long-time comic book reader, I'm just used to cross-overs being for funzies.

[Duelle]

She got three games because SE has realized Western publishing techniques require a game's engine to be utilized more than once to reap maximum rewards. Call of Duty IV all the way to Black Ops 2 used the exact same engine, slightly modified on a yearly release cycle. You have games like BF3-BF4 released within a year or two of each other for the same reason. The Halo series, Gears of War, Mass Effect, etc. The days of a game making an engine for a single game and not exploiting this cycle are coming to an end. You really think of all the Final Fantasy games to want a sequel from fans XIII just happened to be the newest game in the title and ironically was chosen to be it? Don't kid yourself.

Still would have wanted all that effort to go on something else. If the intent was to use Crystal Tools, then that could have worked for a new-gen version of Ergheiz. Maybe go a more "modern" SaGa game a la Saga Frontier. Hell, I would be down for a Mana game with a different art direction using Crystal Tools after how ridiculous Seiken Densetsu 4 looked.

I felt like Lightning is supposed to be the person that let's someone build themselves up on their own, but tries to subtly motivate them. If she had an inability to use emotions then she would have left Hope for dead, which would have been awesome, and made him defend himself. She stayed with him all after Snow left him with her. Which is why I like her more than Terra. She has a confidence in herself, that Terra lacks without others.

In her defense, Terra was also built off the amnesia thing. Everything she experienced was new to her, for the most part. I think Krystalynn is referring to the fact that despite her flaws, Terra did become stronger as the story progressed in a way that could be gauged by the player.

[Airget]

Was waiting til finally had a chance to comment on this topic, granted I do see it hasn't been responded to in a while, but I have to disagree with the OP.

I feel like maybe they haven't splayed 13-2 and that people who have played 13-2 and 13 would find more understanding behind the way the plot was.

In Lightning's universe the one setup in 13-2 the gods are kind of using them as playtoys, Lightning is forced down a role she has no choice over and I believe if this is Lightning before 13-2 then it just gives you an idea of an ordeal see went through before she wore the new armor. The gods have been shown to be dicks if you played 13-2 all the way you would see why but I found this to be an interesting plot.

Sure it's simple Lightning is there to kind of understand what she's fighting for, she's put into a world that has their own issues and even though she knows the world is to be more peaceful than her own, she still holds pride in her own realm and knows what she must do, to in a sense fulfil her "destiny" that was forced upon her ever since she was branded and further on for being the sacrificial lamb of the group taking on an even bigger ordeal.

She's a person that joined the army to protect but she wants to break away from the mentality of being a fighting machine, she wants the freedom to fight her own way and in Lightning Return we'll get a better understanding of how Lightning will go about it. While she had no freedom to choose her destiny in 13-2, in lightning's return the main focus is about in a sense getting the best ending in 13 days, where you actions effect the ending and you go through those days over and over again until in a sense you get it right.

[Volsung]

Here's the thing, I want more things like this, but I want more to them. Please don't stop
from developing things like them! However, when done, please pour a bit into them! It would
make me very happy to have more of these things, but at the same time to be more relevant
and engaging.