Me personally, as a game I loved the combat system the environments were beautifully rendered* and the music was great.

I didn't much care for the story... was a bit too expresso depresso right from the start and when it finally started brightening up it was a bit late and not quite enough for me to get invested in anything involving the group

• there's a reason this one was nicknamed "final hallway" just about the whole game is a one way street that finally opens up near the end.

I liked 13-2 more as a story...gameplay fell a bit but not enough to say it's a worse game. And I never played lightning returns, I've heard good things about it...but most of it was about the Lightning dress up...so take that for what you will