Final Fantasy XIII?

[ciancon]

I'm 7 hours into the game now and so far i'm loving it!

The bosses can be incredibly frustrating, with you dying plenty of times before figuring out the only tactic that will work. But on the other hand, the fact that you need to actually think about what you're doing instead of constantly attacking really makes the battle system stand out.

 

[Kris015]

Or be like me and be stuck with a Useless disk as a trophy of how much a Fanboy you have become and how much bullshit they can do on fan before they feel like rape.

They feel like rape, buddy. They feel like rape.

PS: I liked almost nothing about it and I liked every FF I've tried so far (atleast the main ones). I still say go for it, just for the experience. It taught me quite a lot about game design (as in how 'not' to do certian things). You can get it cheaper than 36 bucks, probably less than 10 when you check the net.

Nope, 36 is as cheap as it gets over here..

 

[Senaro]

I like FF13 a lot, but I recently lost all of my data after reaching chapter 6, and had to start over. My one real complaint is that the Tutorial really shouldn't be 4-5 hours long. We learned this from Kingdom Hearts 2, this is NOT a good idea. Hell, you can't even learn how to LEVEL UP until roughly two hours into the game. I think the game is great, but you can easily be turned off at the beginning if you don't have the patience to work through the tutorial areas.

 

[ScatterBen]

I thought that it was absolutely terrible. Really, the worst game in the series. The story and characters were all awful anime cliches (something you'd have thought SE might have grown out of by now) and the gameplay, while interesting and invigorating for the first 15 hours, became repetitive after that due to the linear nature of the game world (note: I do not complain about the linear nature of the story, just the game world), which is basically a long corridor with enemies sprinkled along it (but always in the same positions with the same group).

I would be more forgiving, had the game incorporated some variety. Literally the only thing to do in the game is fight. People will tell you that it "opens up" about 20 - 30 hours in. Well that would almost be a lie: You get one huge vast area (which is genuinely mesmerizing and beautiful) but then it's right back to the corridor with set enemy patterns. Even the wide open area has set pathways and mobs, which gets quite grating when you see the same Behemoth chasing the same wolves for the 50th time as you enter the area. Even then, the only "side quest" is a selection of marks, where you accept the hunt, look on your map for where it is, go to said position, fight, rinse, repeat.

That said, I do recommend it for a reasonable price. The battle system, for the first half of the game, is refreshing, even though it's flawed in many ways and could be worked on. I cannot, however, tell you that the story and characters are in any way interesting - by the end only one of them wasn't irritating the hell out of me. You don't need me to tell you how good the graphics are, but I can't help but feel that the only reason they're so good is because of the limiting nature of the games world - had we really been able to explore I'm not sure that the details would have been nearly as beautiful.

 

[foxlovingfreak]

I liked the game but it's not perfect. One the story is not the easiesit to get in two espically compared to other entries in the serise. There is also not much in the way of side quests which basically boils down to monster hunting missions I also wasen't to impressed by the games ultilmate hidden boss which I beat quiet easily. My advice if your someone who's not to big on side quest to begin with and you can get into the story then yeah it's worth a pick up but you might want to try before you buy.

 

[Kinokohatake]

With the exception of two characters, I wanted to choke the rest of the cast to death with piano wire. The villains are non existent except for the Emperor Palpatine character. I relatively hated it. But play it. There is no way to change something we don't like unless we can give solid facts for what we want to change. And damn do I have a list of changes.

 

[Jodah]

I didn't hate it. Not one of my top JRPG choices but it wasn't bad per say. If you can find a discount or used copy I would grab it. If its full price, maybe wait a bit.

 

[04whim]

If you stick with it, it becomes highly enjoyable. I can see the logic of mediocre + fantastic = average, but it's good + fantastic

 

[CrankyStorming]

No. Point in case, Japan (which are big in both JRPG and Final Fantasy) mostly return their copy. If that country can't stand it... what chance do you get. Here's the pic of it.

The game you should be buying is a DS game that features the enenies seen on the left of this picture. It should be at least six dollars cheaper.

 

[Thaius]

Great battle system, great story, great music... if you want a game that is good as a work of storytelling art, and as long as you don't mind linear gameplay, go for it. It was really, really good.

 

[Sky Captanio]

Great story. Meh Gameplay. And it gets ridiculously difficult after a while. 4 hour boss fight? No thanks.

 

[Legion IV]

I doubt you'll listen to what i say cause am the WEIRDEST FF fanboy i've seen. I loved 1-5 there masterpeices. I was so hype for 6. It came out. I HATED IT!! 7 came out Bleck. 8 TERRIBLE!. I liked 9 cause it was a throw back to the oldschool 1-5. I thought 10 was okay 12 was bleck. I gave up on FF at that point and hated on it immsenly.

My friend told. Josh FF13 its gonna change your thoughts i know you hated 6 but just try it.

I decided to buy it. LOVED it. beat it like 3 times first month. Bought everything with the logo FF13 (All i need is serah to complete my playarts set) Its my 2nd favorite game Behind stacraft.

Take as you will from what i said. This is one of the most underrated games i've played. Now excuse me am gonna go play it more.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Characters annoyed me, combat was little more than pressing the "auto-battle" thing, VERY linear but, like yahtzee, I only played roughly 6-7 hours, but those were some of the worst hours I'd ever spent playing a game. It literally felt like a chore. I kept hearing it gets better, but I really didn't see the point in punishing myself further in the hopes that it would suck a little less as time goes on.

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

 

[Kris015]

I would not call it a bad game. I would say that it is not up to FF standards, however. You could do worse for your money though. Research it yourself, find a place that will rent it if you're unsure. Assuming those places still exist.

You mean a library? Yeah i work at one, but the game is currently rented and reserved by 2 others so it won't be back in the next 4-6 weeks..

 

[Lord Xtheth]

This is a review I wrote for another forum. I posted as I played it, and generally didn't like the game at all. Here's my review in it's intirety... hope it helps:

The game is absolutely beautiful (on my HDTV with HDMI in use)! Square has gone out of their way to make everything you look at in the game as nice and smooth and awesome to see as they posably could.
HOWEVER the level design is EXTREMELY linear to the point where you could almost tape the controller stick up and you wouldn't ever have to use it again... ever. The combats all boil down to "Press A to win" making me wish there was one of those 3rd party controllers that had the "auto fire" button within easy reach.
The leveling system is fairly well done. They use a simple "follow the path" style level track where each character has a few combat types to follow and you chose what they learn next on any of their paths whenever you have the urge to and have enough points to do it.
Every single cut scene in the game makes my Pedo-senses tingle. The first character you play looks like hes a 20-somthing stoner and you later find out he's engaged to a 12 year old. Every female character in the game that looks under 15 is wearing hot pants and a belly shirt... or less in some scenes. The stoners 12 year old girlfriend eventually turns into a nude cristaline ... something or other because the Bad guy (or good guy?) was finished using her. There is also a 14-or-so-year old character in your party who at times makes these ... noises that shouldn't be coming from the mouth of someone that young ever.

All in all, they could have made FF13 a rail shooter and I wouldn't know the difference between that and what it is now.
The game play is over simplified and gets old fast, to the point where during a boss fight I just mashed A for 20 minutes while my back was to the screen and I was talking with a friend about other, more interesting things.
The game does look nice though, extremely nice, and the story, as always, is well thought out and is presented very naturally throughout the game.

All in all the game is worth giving a try, I just suggest waiting for a copy to hit the pawn shop or half-price bins

(continued later on)

So... I'm finally about 16 hours into Square/Enix's latest movie and it seems I'm finally allowed to explore a little bit of the scenery. Not much mind you, but at least I get to go places that aren't "up".
Combats have finally gotten a little more difficutl, I catually have to swich paradigms to win now, which is good and bad. Good because its finally drawing my attention, bad because I now have to sit through these 10 minute fights of attrition.

I hated the "chase the chocobo chick for no reason" section of the game. It was soooo pointless to chase that little bastard arround from cut scene to cut scene. I'm glad I have a newer gen xbox or I'm sure the loading screens would have red circle of doom'd me.

One thing I've noticed is that you don't get nearly enough items or gil to do anything realy important. I'm used to having buckets of money and items I dont use this far into the game, but no, I have a couple hundred gil and a few trinkets to make my weapons slightly better with.

On the subject of making weapons better, the system itself is pretty simple, but figuring out what peice of useless junk is goo or bad takes a little bit to figure out, but the differences in your weapon quality is almost intantly noticeable so it is worth your time to do this.

(After this last post, I quit playing the game entirely)

 

[Kris015]

I would not call it a bad game. I would say that it is not up to FF standards, however. You could do worse for your money though. Research it yourself, find a place that will rent it if you're unsure. Assuming those places still exist.

You mean a library? Yeah i work at one, but the game is currently rented and reserved by 2 others so it won't be back in the next 4-6 weeks..

Your library rents video games? Wow, you have a cool library. Most libraries where I live are tied to the education system and thus are fervently anti-gaming. There really isn't any place around here now where you can rent games. (Another reason why used game purchases from Gamestop have become so popular.)

Yeah, i think all (or at least most) danish library do that
Perhaps that's why we're all so happy here..

 

[WittyInfidel]

I like RPG-ish games where you can control what your party does. I loved the old turn based ones. I don't know why, but I do. I think the attempt they made to keep it flowing and acting in real time (somewhere around the time FFX2, FFXI: Online, and XII) seems to be a bit too much like an MMO.

FF XIII takes this to extreme. You really have very, and I mean very, little control over any party members not directly being controlled by you. They follow a script based upon what skill set you give them.

Another thing I loved about JRPGs was the open world exploration. I would trudge around the little pixelated continents for hours looking for every conceivable cranny and hidden item.

Starting around FFX, this idea seemed to fall out of favor. The world became corridors to be rushed down, the goal to be the end point, the reward another cut scene. FFXIII takes this to an extreme, making you feel as if you are walking down the corridor alone, the enemies visible ahead and strategically placed to be more of a hindrance than to serve any plot device.

I guess, in all honesty, I started to dislike the franchise around the end of FF7. Everything became high tech. Long lost was the mystical, the fantasy, the magical moments of dark ages feudal settings. Replace alchemy with cybernetics, swords with gunblades and assault rifles, and airships with spacecraft and high tech fighters.

It went from High fantasy to Sci-Fantasy. And thus the franchise flounders. It went from open-world exploration to a walk down the schoolhouse hallway. And the franchise coughs a death rattle. It went from team based squad battle to AI controlled fight cut scenes. And thus the franchise becomes rejected.

All games change, all companies evolve, all genres morph. What Final Fantasy is now is nothing like what Final Fantasy was then. Give me shoddy translations, pixelated maps, and turn based combat. It's what made the genre grand.

I think this episode of VG Cats makes the best argument I can think of.