@catonline878 my pleasure! like I said in my description this is something I've been chasing and taken with since I was single-digits so I'm glad to talk about it and feel it out some more, haha.

fucking right? once in a lifetime type shit. best FF by a mile for my money and it's not even my FAVORITE game in that series

Second EVA for Xenogears. Thanks so much for having links for the recommendations.

@catonline878 I think the inherent melancholy is a big part of it, but it's moreso an unapologetic sincerity and bearing one's heart on one's sleeve more than anything... FFXIII is very concerned with the rhyme and reason of its world and explaining everything in depth, whereas I think a big part of The Vibe is just Going For It and expecting the audience to catch up and Get It as they go along... which is why I think The Vibe extends itself well to distinctly weird games like FFVIII. FFX is very thorough with its worldbuilding too but I think it actually does something really interesting in Tidus being a clueless outsider who needs to have shit explained to him like he's a little kid, because his character arc is about reclaiming his agency and individuality and becoming the protagonist of his own story (after taking a backseat to pretty much everybody and being a passive observer in all facets of his life, from living in Jecht's shadow to Yuna being the protagonist of the actual capital-s Story, to even things like Seymour intervening in his romance with Yuna).

FFXIII definitely has that vibe in spades in certain parts though - really I think the flashback scene where you're playing as Snow and wandering around on the beach as Serah's theme plays is a really good example of the sort of things The Vibe invokes as far as emotional storytelling goes. FFXIII's character writing is also a bit spotty in terms of pacing and execution to the point where I don't think XIII has the strong emotional payoff these games here usually have, and IMO games that have The Vibe are very character-focused to the point of usually doubling as character studies