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I have noticed much hate toward FF13 among otherwise loyal Square-Enix fans. Personally, I like it a lot. I find the gameplay fantastic, the storyline enjoyable, and the characters very complex and lovable. But what are your opinions about the game?

I quite like it. I think the first suffered from its linearity a little as well as trying to force the player into its world too abruptly, but I liked the battle system and the characters were nice. FF13-2 was fantastic and fixed the problems I had with the first.

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In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
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I had trouble with it at first but I gave it another chance and found the battle system very addictive and the story very intriguing. It's an interesting change from turn based combat that requires I think more strategy. It keeps it fresh. I say this though stuck at a battle but still I think it's a great game.

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Chewbekah ^_^

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, Attack of the Firday Monsters, Animal Crossing: A New Leaf, Lego City Undercover, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix

Recently Finished: Fire Emblem: Awakening

Favorite Game: Suikoden III

Quote (Chewbekah @ 9th September 2013 18:27)

It's an interesting change from turn based combat that requires I think more strategy.

I got the opposite impression. For me it was more on reactive timing and mashing than strategy. With the auto-battles I found myself orchestrating what the characters would do and changing the flow, which was satisfying at times but quite samey with the changes being basic "Stagger", "Attack", "Defend", "Regen" and "Disable" generally. Toward the mid to late game having a mixed team didn't work as well for me. But hey I might've just really sucked at it.

I don't hate the game and there were some aspects I liked. But then there are aspects of every game I've played I liked so it's not special in any way. I put dislike, but I'd forgotten all about it until I saw this thread.

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

I liked FFXIII quite a bit. Though I don't mind linearity, I wasn't . While the plot didn't move any mountains for me, I felt FFXIII had the best character development I've seen in the series - even better than FFVI. Graphically, it is of course quite pretty; musically it is also a definite success.

Now, regarding battles.

Quote (Sweetdude)

Quote (Chewbekah)

It's an interesting change from turn based combat that requires I think more strategy.

I got the opposite impression. For me it was more on reactive timing and mashing than strategy. With the auto-battles I found myself orchestrating what the characters would do and changing the flow, which was satisfying at times but quite samey with the changes being basic "Stagger", "Attack", "Defend", "Regen" and "Disable" generally. Toward the mid to late game having a mixed team didn't work as well for me. But hey I might've just really sucked at it.

I guess I agree partly with both. I think that the paradigm system, and the various demands in-battle to switch from one to the other, is definitely a huge strategic aspect. I like this a lot, because it's innovative and interesting. On the other hand, there are the downsides that you can only control one character, battle tactics are often more repetitive, and certain characters are essentially unusable if one wants to complete the game.

At the end of the day, I appreciate FFXIII quite a bit for doing old things in new ways (battle, but also the equipment upgrading system) while really excelling at at least one of the staples of an RPG (character development). The things it does less well strike me as acceptable flaws. Not my favorite in the series, but certainly a game I am happy to have bought on release day and one to which I return with reasonable frequency (mark hunting).

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
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The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Wow, great answers, guys! I am glad to see that this post is getting some noise after my last three. It seems I have much to learn as a forum poster, but I am not discouraged. Anyway, thank you for the feedback!

Ha ha no worries. Sometimes some things generate a lot. Sometimes they don't. I've observed on my own that i tend to be a topic killer. I find I make a comment and no else comments anymore. It's probably just coincidence but well...it's been at least noticeable for me.

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Chewbekah ^_^

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, Attack of the Firday Monsters, Animal Crossing: A New Leaf, Lego City Undercover, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix

Recently Finished: Fire Emblem: Awakening

Favorite Game: Suikoden III

Hahaha yeah it happens. Like I said, I am not discouraged. Just perhaps momentarily nonplussed.

One thing that quickly kills topics, IMO, is taking them off topic. Like the last couple posts.

On topic myself, I really liked 13 in the end. It helped that I got it cheap, I'm sure, and even then I had a tough time getting really invested in it until probably around the time you get to Odin. Right around then, the storyline and battle system both clicked for me, and I really tore through the rest of the game, at least in terms of what qualifies for me in terms of fast-paced gaming. I still plan to go back sometime to fill in some more achievements, as I really did enjoy it enough to bother. I can't say the same for 13-2 yet - hopefully it will eventually click for me in the same way.

Edit

This is a good time for me to plug the CoNcast - I've talked a couple times in previous episodes about how much I like the game and why, I believe.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 11th September 2013 12:59

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I actually really liked FF13 despite the harsh criticism. I was originally skeptical about FF13-2, but ended up liking as well. Was actually better than FF13 in my opinion. I'm currently concerned about Lightning Returns however, which looks like a costume simulator more than anything so far.

What? better characters than ff6? are you nuts?

All hope does is whine all day and cry about how snow killed his mother.We don't even know hopes mom long enough to care.

Snow is an arrogant douche, and being arrogant gets him in trouble.

None of the characters have redeemable factors for me at all, it was just plain awful.Worse final fantasy ever.I may dislike ff7,ff8 and FFX, but FFXIII beats all 3 of those in having the worse combined of everything.Its not even the villain itself, but the story and the characters.

Hope is stupid kid who cries all day and i wished would just die
snow is a little more bearable but is still stupid, and i'd trade him for other characters.
Lightning is a female cloud who is tough at the beginning, and starts to whine during chapter 5 and 6, and becomes irritating.I especially liked it when she punched snow.
Vanille is a selphie clone who can't keep her australian accent and not much story.
Fang is another aussie who is a very pretty girl with not much story.

The thing that killed FFXIII for me the most, was the gameplay.If the gameplay had been good, i might forgive the annoying characters and archtype cartoon characters.Tell you the truth: i didn't care about sera or snow or about the world being destroyed.I thought becoming a le cie was kind of cool idea for implementing magic excuse, but i do agree that the whole system was rigged in such a way that it sucks out the fun of the game.

There are no mini games anymore:why?
No world exploration
No more towns or shops
No rare equipment drops
Too many cutscenes

old games were more immersive than FFXIII, because they didn't abuse the cutscenes like FFXIII did, which is why i think FFXIII is such a train reck.Cutscenes when abuse, ruin immersion.Now i understand that get used to not controlling your destiny or how the story is told.I get that, because final fantasy has never been about you unravelling your own story, but following along the story that is already told by the game designers.The story has to be really good though for me to appreciate it, and the issue became that i didn't like any of the characters or cared about them.I also thought the way the game played out in some ways to be stupid.Why didn't the le'cie go towards the open planes immediately where no guards were? the ground area is uninhabited and full of monsters.
I also really disliked the new cyrstalum system.I watched a review and i agree there is no excitement in it.
Why does hope need strength when he is a mage? hp a little, but strength?
Why can't i just build a character from the start to be a mage then?
Why are there level caps? This is so stupid.If i want to over level, i should be given that option.
Why the lack of content to do?

I thought barthandalus worked though, and his music was good, but i still think kefka was more effective, because of the synergy the characters had, and how he kept stepping on them.

My score:5.5

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 19th September 2013 22:15

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Holy mole. I have not disagreed this strongly in a while. I mean, you know, opinions and all that, but oh my. Not to start a flame war, but I wow. To quote some random Tumblr kid: Well that people twicely.

Hope is a tween who does not even throw proper tantrums. I am impressed. I got super attached to his mother. She was like, "Moms are tough," and I was just sitting there like, "Oh look at this character, she is so cool. I hope nothing happens to h--" and then I watched in horror as she plunged to her death.

Snow is arrogant? Alright, maybe a bit cocky, but I would not say arrogant. He is confident, but confidence is a good thing.

Lightning is strong, wise, and authoritative. A little dark, but not as dark as me so she cannot be that Cloud-like. She is heartless and arrogant at the start, but she gets better. Once she figures herself out, she quickly became my second-favorite FF character, right under Terra; and that says a lot.

Vanille and Fang: Not much story? You must not have played very far. Vanille and Fang were l'Cie 500 years ago, and then completed their Focus and turned to crystal. Fang became Ragnarok and killed a lot of people, and she could not help it. When she awoke, she lost her memory. Vanille said she did too, but really she just did not want to face her past. Some other stuff happens as well. These two have more backstory than any of the other characters by far. They may very well have more backstory than any other FF character.

I will agree that ten hours of cutscenes is a bit too much. But the battle system was just awesome. It was like a cross between Chrono Trigger and Mega Man, only with flipping amazing graphics.

Altogether, it really seems like a "love it or hate it" kind of deal, and it is not for everyone. Personally, however, I liked it a lot.

Wasn't a fan. The opening duel was kind of cringeworthy, and I wasn't too excited about the following cutscenes so I quit playing it pretty quickly. I think there were other reasons but I guess I didn't care enough to store them properly in my memory.

This post has been edited by finalalias on 20th September 2013 03:48

Quote (RavenLalonde @ 20th September 2013 02:10)

Holy mole. I have not disagreed this strongly in a while. I mean, you know, opinions and all that, but oh my. Not to start a flame war, but I wow. To quote some random Tumblr kid: Well that people twicely.

Hope is a tween who does not even throw proper tantrums. I am impressed. I got super attached to his mother. She was like, "Moms are tough," and I was just sitting there like, "Oh look at this character, she is so cool. I hope nothing happens to h--" and then I watched in horror as she plunged to her death.

Snow is arrogant? Alright, maybe a bit cocky, but I would not say arrogant. He is confident, but confidence is a good thing.

Lightning is strong, wise, and authoritative. A little dark, but not as dark as me so she cannot be that Cloud-like. She is heartless and arrogant at the start, but she gets better. Once she figures herself out, she quickly became my second-favorite FF character, right under Terra; and that says a lot.

Vanille and Fang: Not much story? You must not have played very far. Vanille and Fang were l'Cie 500 years ago, and then completed their Focus and turned to crystal. Fang became Ragnarok and killed a lot of people, and she could not help it. When she awoke, she lost her memory. Vanille said she did too, but really she just did not want to face her past. Some other stuff happens as well. These two have more backstory than any of the other characters by far. They may very well have more backstory than any other FF character.

I will agree that ten hours of cutscenes is a bit too much. But the battle system was just awesome. It was like a cross between Chrono Trigger and Mega Man, only with flipping amazing graphics.

Altogether, it really seems like a "love it or hate it" kind of deal, and it is not for everyone. Personally, however, I liked it a lot.

I beat the game actually.I played twice cause i lost one of my save files at chapter 5, and i made a new one just to beat the game.I actually skipped a lot of cutscenes because i didn't care.

And no:hope is anything but a good character.This of course is my opinion and you are entitled to yours in liking the game.He throws more than a couple of tantrums, like he's always whiny, even when he is with lightning and saying he's weak and has to grow up, and that is annoying to me.

In FF tactics i actually cared about ramza and delita.In ff6 i cared about all the characters with exception to gogo and umaro.in ff8 i cared about squall and quistis.

Thing is:As an adult i have low tolerance for whiny teens.I have seen lots of those disaster movies and in rpgs you also see whiny teens and the whiny teens you see also in fps games who insult each other to act like big tough guys.Also teens who cry on runescape.Anyways, the immaturity of teens really annoys me if there is nothing else but that superficial type of development.People were already annoyed with tidus in FFX, and he did whine quite a bit, but so does hope.

Vanille mostly just holds the one secret that she is the one who summoned raganarok and destroyed a village once, and might have to do it again.Aside from that, there really isn't much more, because she holds that secret.

Fang pretty much shares that secret and not much else about them being le'cie.

Snow is at least less annoying during chapter 5.I don't mind his optimism at times, but his arrogance annoys me, especially during that tutorial moment where you just get your powers and are dropped down, and he finds serah trapped in the crystal and starts trying to dig her out and gets caught.I was just thinking:oh man, what a moron.

To tell you the truth, FFX had more in the actual story than FFXIII, like anti religion and brainwashing people to think stereotypes are true.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Hmm, I just... I dunno. I was annoyed with Hope at first, but then I realized that the kid is like twelve and his mom just died. Violently. In front of him. I decided to cut him some slack. Crouching on the ground while calmly putting your feelings into words hardly constitutes a tantrum, and he does grow up pretty fast. I mean, he is not my favorite character from anything, and I am not sure he would even reach my top ten, but he is a good kid. Snow I guess is debatable, but I always got the idea that his apparent cockiness was just a defense mechanism to hide his hero complex. I never was over fond of Vanille and Fang, though, I will admit.

The reason i complain so much about FFXIII, is because it took away so much from previous games that i loved, and added next to nothing or nothing at all.Towns:i loved it.Customization by exploring and finding new equipment:i love it.Loads of side bosses and quests.FFXIII was bare bones linear, and took away every side quest FFXII had.Part of the fun was in the sidequests.FFXIII also has no customization at all, or hidden spells.

Even FFX had hidden summons you could get.Another thing that annoys me is how the skill perks is handled.There is no excitement in leveling up at all.In ff6, every character was different even if you maxed out everyone's magic and strength, it took more than that to make them the same.Example:sabims bum rush, and cyans sword slash, and gaus rages, or mogs dances.You had multiple characters in FFXIII who were the same, and they all end up the same.Take customization and multi class for an example ff tactics.That has so many ways you can play and so many strategies involved.FFXIII is neither of those, so it fails in that manner.

Maybe i'd enjoy FFXII more.It has loads of quests and tones of rares.I do like sand box games as long as the content is well worth getting.

This is why i think ff6 beats FFXIII in terms of character and villain:

Why make Kefka such a dominant presence in the game? One reason must be that with fourteen playable characters, it's difficult to center the plot on one issue that would be meaningful for each member. Kefka's big personality, his grandiose and cruel actions, his trademark laugh; they give the player and the characters focus. A cold, calculating villain picks his battles and doesn't fight everyone. Kefka, being like a literal psychopath, is wild and unpredictable. He's chaotic, talented, and dangerous. It's not hard to believe that everyone in the party--even members of his own faction, have problems with Kefka. It's not hard to believe that everyone in the world would be right to fear him. You cannot be on Kefka's side. What side is he even on? Kefka embodies disaster: impersonal, chaotic, incomprehensible. Much like a disaster, he brings disparate people together, including the 14 player characters.

Kefka also frames the theme of the game in a question during the final encounter. He says, "Why do people rebuild things they know are going to be destroyed? Why do people cling to life when they know they can't live forever?" It's kind of a daunting question, isn't it? I'd challenge anyone to pick a quote from a videogame that's as obviously (and effectively) directed at the player. And I'd challenge them to find a villain who can say it so convincingly in-character. It's a rare feat. So it's not really fair to say of the game that it's another in a long line of generic, world-saving adventures. The heroes are not succeeding in brilliant fashion; they're making do with the situation presented to them. (The NPC chatter reinforces this thematic approach quite obviously.) This is clearly reflected in the quest structure of the second half. Virtually every character has a quest about dealing with something they've lost. And it's definitely the characters that make the story, Kefka included.I think he is literally so strong, that he gives the characters themselves a larger than lifeesque picture.

FFXIII characters weren't that strong to begin with.Lightning was alright at first.I liked that she was a soldier and strong for some reason.I might like strong female characters.

I almost liked sazh, especially during the time where i found out he was a coward and was about to off himself because he was weak and pathetic.I found that interesting, because i never saw that before.It was the only moment i was interested, and it was lost.

On the other hand, it can't compare to the meaning of cyan's loss of his wife, and the trauma of getting over the loss.

Hope:

All of his problems come down to this:he is angry because his mom died and can't get over what snow did.I understand, because i too would never forgive someone who caused the death of a parent of mine, but thats all he has, and nothing more.He has no actual personality to speak of aside from his anger, and once you reach chapter 6, there is nothing left.He is an empty boring shell of a character.

Sazh:Same thing happens.What keeps sazh interesting, is the story between his child.You see:there is more going on with sazh than hope, because of sazh child being made a l'cie in order to be used as a plot twist, and done by a certain character in the game wink wink.He is of course very worried as a father.Once that is over, nothing more happens.

In FFXIII, everyone has their short moment, and then it is over, just like ff7 like their short development in their town.After that, they aren't developed outside of the town anymore.Its much better when all characters keep growing outside of their cutscenes.Take ff6 for an example:we see how the events effects everyone so much, and that they all have so much to lose.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Dislike. I only played a couple hours in... but it felt like a movie, not a game.

I'm personally not a fan of the auto battle either, because even though FFXIII allows you to just fight, it still adds boring grind fests that make the game unbearable during the end.An example is:Grinding on shao longui to upgrade your weapons to max, and getting gold.It would have been better if there had been areas you could go to, and do some sidequests at your current level and reach levels keeping you busy all the time.The 50 something or 60 quests aren't worth doing till you are already maxed out in level and maxed out in weapon and armor, because you will likely die before getting past the molbol part for that xp bonus, and what a stupid thing to put an xp bonus item, and i personally felt that the item placement was stupid.Sure make a challenge, but that item would have been nice earlier, especially since FFXIII is the biggest grindfest of them all, not including FFX, because at least in FFX, you had the chocobo race and other things you could do in between grinds.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Quote (Electricbassguy @ 20th September 2013 19:18)

Dislike. I only played a couple hours in... but it felt like a movie, not a game.

Quick question: would you say the same about FFVII? Does FFVII feel more like a movie or a game than FFXIII?

Because I got the feeling you mention...from playing FFVII.

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50/50

Some parts I really enjoyed and some parts really despised. Characters could of been so much better in parts, the storyline was really badly explained though it was decent, music was alright but not as good as the classics, it had some touching and emotional moments, and fighting while not the greatest thing ever in a JRPG was alright, not fantastic, just alright.

I do agree that it felt so much more of a movie than Video Game and that SE focused too much on trying to make the game look pretty than focus on actual gameplay. I did enjoy Final Fantasy XIII-2 so much more though.

5/ 10

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Top Three fave Final Fantasies Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy V [ GBA ]