I, Final Fantasy fanboy, hated Final Fantasy XIII; confessions of a disappointed gamer.

[Daxrus]

Everything made after X, I didn't like. Love X though.
1 was cute to start and epic to finish, 4 was perhaps one of the best games ever made, 7 was a great game, but not was great as everyone says. 9 was and will forever be my favorite.
13 was meh. Not bad, but meh.

 

[deth2munkies]

I, one of the 10 people on earth who liked FF8 the most, says that he likes FF13 better than any other, having played all of them. Well, actually...It's tied with 8. Changes based on mood.

Then again, I'm the person who adored Chrono Cross, and thought that Trigger was "meh".

I, who am also one of those Chrono Chross + FF8 loving players, decided to forego the Final Fantasy series after the abomination that was FFXII, I am so glad I never bought XIII in the first place.

 

[James Cassidy]

No, they had depth, that revelation with Tidus at the end was great, Yuna has a personality beyond her task, unlike Lightning who is very much based around her task. Tidus and Yuna were likeable, they were better written and the story drove them. X had a great story, whereas XIII was just flat and uninspired. As for Final Fantasy XII, I agree, Vaan didn't really stand out much as a main character, but characters like Balthier, Fran and Basch really redeemed it. The main element that redeemed XII though was that it did have a good story, and the battle system went as deep as you wanted it to go. It wasn't the best of the series, but next to XIII, it's a winner in my eyes.

No, I don't expect to come to a consensus; clearly with the replies I've gotten there are lovers and haters, but different strokes for different folks. The article's an opinion piece, so it's open for debate, but the way I see it, Final Fantasy XIII stands as a failure in the series, and a failure that shouldn't have happened.

So wait...wait wait wait....Vanille is not really a main character in FF13. Vaan is THE main character in FF12. Now Vaan's character development just sucked so bad. The story itself was bad ever since they took the romance element out of it, but here you believe 3 other characters in the story redeemed FF12, but one character in FF13 who is more of a background character rather than a main character ruins FF13?

Isn't that a bit of a hypocrite statement? Especially since we play Vaan in the whole entire game and see everything from his POV.

This is one character against another. Not "three characters makes up for one stupid so it evens out." I could say "Well, Vanille was bad, but Snow, Hope, and Lightning made up for the lack in Vanille. So it evens out." I am sorry, but no amount of secondary characters can make up for a main character that blows because then you are not admiring the character themselves you admiring the characters around them.

Bringing Balthier, Fran and Basch into the argument doesn't really count because you can say that for any game really "Cloud would be nothing without Sephiroth, Tifa, and Aeris," "Squall would be nothing without Rinoa," "Tidus would be nothing without Yuna." Some of these are kind of a no brainer and the story would have never existed without the other characters.

es.

BTW, in FF13 there was a character who told Vanille off for her bullshit and that was Fang. If you remember that scene. The other characters didn't know Vanille that much and while they thought she was weird, they just thought it was her personality. I do seem remember a few scenes where Hope especially gave her a weird look or a confused look.

They weren't oblivious to her, they didn't stress on it because they didn't know her. It's not like Tifa with Cloud where they knew each other for a long time and she distinctively noticed changes in him. Fang knew Vanille for a long time and she and Vanille both complimented each other. Vanille was the emotional support and Fang was the realist. She noticed the bullcrap Vanille was pulling, but I agree it took a little too long for someone to finally call bullshit.

The way I see. FFXIII is the best FF since FFX. XII was the worst. XI doesn't count since it is an mmorpg. VIII was the best. VII is closely behind VIII almost tied with it. III or VI I guess was also really good. X and X-2? I have no comment.

 

[Fidelias]

I, who have played only 4 FF games, those being FF7, which I finished and liked, FF4, which was the DS remake and I hated, and FF7 Crisis Core, which I loved(If you consider it a true FF game, which some don't) thought that FF13 was decent.

It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, either. I am not one of those "all new games are crap" people, I'm not a FF fanboy, I'm just looking at this based on the game alone. It kinda cool, the story was immersive. But the problems were the very boring and hands-off combat, and the characters. Oh God, the characters. I mean, in every jrpg, you have to expect some kind of cheesiness and retardism(not sure if that was a word, but it is now) but with 13 it was too much. As others have said, Vanille was... let's just say, if I would have been able to kill her at some point in the story, it would've been the happiest day of my life. And Snow. First off, great name. Very original. Bet it took about a full two miliseconds to come up with that one, huh? Then there's the whole "A hero never..." Fill in the gap, and you have about half of what he says. I mean, seriously, he needs to be ***** slapped and told to shut up.

Alright, srry for the rant, but it really is a decent game, just not good. I wouldn't suggest buying it.

 

[Loves2spooge]

No, they had depth, that revelation with Tidus at the end was great, Yuna has a personality beyond her task, unlike Lightning who is very much based around her task. Tidus and Yuna were likeable, they were better written and the story drove them. X had a great story, whereas XIII was just flat and uninspired. As for Final Fantasy XII, I agree, Vaan didn't really stand out much as a main character, but characters like Balthier, Fran and Basch really redeemed it. The main element that redeemed XII though was that it did have a good story, and the battle system went as deep as you wanted it to go. It wasn't the best of the series, but next to XIII, it's a winner in my eyes.

No, I don't expect to come to a consensus; clearly with the replies I've gotten there are lovers and haters, but different strokes for different folks. The article's an opinion piece, so it's open for debate, but the way I see it, Final Fantasy XIII stands as a failure in the series, and a failure that shouldn't have happened.

So wait...wait wait wait....Vanille is not really a main character in FF13. Vaan is THE main character in FF12. Now Vaan's character development just sucked so bad. The story itself was bad ever since they took the romance element out of it, but here you believe 3 other characters in the story redeemed FF12, but one character in FF13 who is more of a background character rather than a main character ruins FF13?

Isn't that a bit of a hypocrite statement? Especially since we play Vaan in the whole entire game and see everything from his POV.

This is one character against another. Not "three characters makes up for one stupid so it evens out." I could say "Well, Vanille was bad, but Snow, Hope, and Lightning made up for the lack in Vanille. So it evens out." I am sorry, but no amount of secondary characters can make up for a main character that blows because then you are not admiring the character themselves you admiring the characters around them.

Bringing Balthier, Fran and Basch into the argument doesn't really count because you can say that for any game really "Cloud would be nothing without Sephiroth, Tifa, and Aeris," "Squall would be nothing without Rinoa," "Tidus would be nothing without Yuna." Some of these are kind of a no brainer and the story would have never existed without the other characters.

es.

BTW, in FF13 there was a character who told Vanille off for her bullshit and that was Fang. If you remember that scene. The other characters didn't know Vanille that much and while they thought she was weird, they just thought it was her personality. I do seem remember a few scenes where Hope especially gave her a weird look or a confused look.

They weren't oblivious to her, they didn't stress on it because they didn't know her. It's not like Tifa with Cloud where they knew each other for a long time and she distinctively noticed changes in him. Fang knew Vanille for a long time and she and Vanille both complimented each other. Vanille was the emotional support and Fang was the realist. She noticed the bullcrap Vanille was pulling, but I agree it took a little too long for someone to finally call bullshit.

The way I see. FFXIII is the best FF since FFX. XII was the worst. XI doesn't count since it is an mmorpg. VIII was the best. VII is closely behind VIII almost tied with it. III or VI I guess was also really good. X and X-2? I have no comment.

Three redeemable characters is better than one, and when those three have some sway in the story and better personalities, yeah I'd say that evens things out more than one good character. I didn't say Vaan was a good character, but he wasn't unlikeable like Lightning; yes, as a lead character he was poor, one of the worst FF characters, but that very factor gave you the impression something much greater was going on around him. FFXII wasn't one of my favourite FF games, but I can say with all confidence, it was better than XIII.

You may have liked Vanille, but surely you know the mass consensus is that she was poorly written, had a terrible voice actor to portray her, and by the time people got to see beyond the layer of the cheerful, carefree, annoying girl, it was too late; she was sullied by her past connotations.

Yes, characters in Final Fantasy can be valued upon their involvement with one or more party member, but XIII almost FORCED you to feel for these players, and the story was so poorly told and characters so haphazardly established, I just got to the point where I felt "I could not give a shit what becomes of these people", and after I was beyond the story, what am I left with? The game, and that was the biggest let down of them all.

 

[KeyMaster45]

*snip*

if you don't like the grind my friend i have 2 words for you:Cheat. codes. (note i have never used cheats on a ff game but i admit the grind does get tedious.)

I actually did cheat on FF10 and "beat" it, but because I cheated I don't consider it as ever finishing the game. I was actually quite fed up with it by the time the "Go forth and grind" part came along and just said "Fuck it, I'll see the end of this game if it kills me"

 

[King Kupofried]

XI doesn't count since it is an mmorpg.

Sorry to ignore the vast majority of your post.
I always feel sad whenever someone says this. The world of Vana'diel is so well expanded and characterized with so many especially enjoyable characters, very large plots that bring around a feel of fantasy that Twelve and Thirteen rather stumble with, with a great variety of classic monsters, Avatars, it's own nations and religions, weaving them into the world that fits with the stories.
Of course that might just be being gushy. I can't honestly expect people to cough up monthly fees and so many more hours than other games just to see them, but XI feels much more "Final Fantasy"-like than any of its sequels, for whatever that is worth.

 

[Pompey71]

i would rather be alone in a dark forest with the South Park Xmas Critters than play Final Fantasy 13 ever again

 

[Loves2spooge]

*snip*

if you don't like the grind my friend i have 2 words for you:Cheat. codes. (note i have never used cheats on a ff game but i admit the grind does get tedious.)

I actually did cheat on FF10 and "beat" it, but because I cheated I don't consider it as ever finishing the game. I was actually quite fed up with it by the time the "Go forth and grind" part came along and just said "Fuck it, I'll see the end of this game if it kills me"

I found you didn't really have to grind in Final Fantasy X, until you got to the Dark Aeons and you needed to be substantially equipped to face them. I remember when I missed out getting Anima, and I had to go back to the temple where I got Shiva. However, Dark Shiva was there now, and at that point I couldn't defeat her, so I had to throw almost a million gil at Yojimbo to finish her with one hit, and it worked! That's the closest I ever came to cheating in a Final Fantasy game... but I did pay for it.

 

[Enigmers]

I didn't clarify this in the article, but FF9 is actually my favourite, FF7 was my 'dawn of a new era' moment.

I am you.

I played Final Fantasy 6 for about three hours and in those three hours, those few pixels of characters became more likeable than the ones in Final Fantasy 13 who developed from boring pricks into annoying pricks.

 

[Snarky Username]

I who played FFI, III, IV, V, VII, and X thought that FFXIII wasn't bad. I certainly didn't think it was good, though. The whole new battle system takes away nearly all control away from the party so that you can have some more control over the main character, which is retarded. The linear story was a terrible idea. It's a fucking Final Fantasy game, I expect there to be sprawling worlds that take hours to explore, not just one extra large place where you go to have fun every so often. The storyline is rehashed from countless other plots, and he characters are either overly optimistic 10 year olds, or emo teenagers.

The game is not bad, but it's just not noteworthy, especially not for a Final Fantasy game

 

[twaddle]

personally my hope is for ff 13 versus. i lost hope for 13 the moment tetsuya nomura said "i wanted to make a female Cloud." (i like ff7 but square enix has beaten this dead horse to bloody hell and shoved several large spikey red hot steel handled brooms up it's arse.)

If you play the game or do any research, Lightning is scarcely at all similar to Cloud. Appearance wise, yes they possess similarities. Personality was, I believe Lightning may be the superior of the two and are ultimately to distinctly different characters.

actually i know lightning is not like cloud except in appearance. i read the entire strategy guide. also i said i lost hope,meaning i wasn't hyped up like i was before.

 

[twaddle]

my god if someone bashes ff12 one more time. it wasn't that bad. it was a break in tradition and i liked the fact how square actually tried to do something new without a sappy love story thrown in there. The story was a bit loose, but for the most part it really came together toward the middle and end and it was linear but not so much that you had a large world to explore after the first 30 min-1hr. I've seen worse storyline. My god the bloody haters are killing me. it's not my favorite game (not even in my top 20) but i am so tired of ppl bitching about it. At least it wasn't like Dirge of the Cerberus

 

[CmdrGoob]

I, one of the 10 people on earth who liked FF8 the most, says that he likes FF13 better than any other, having played all of them. Well, actually...It's tied with 8. Changes based on mood.

Then again, I'm the person who adored Chrono Cross, and thought that Trigger was "meh".

Bad taste confirmed...

 

[Tony2077]

I, one of the 10 people on earth who liked FF8 the most, says that he likes FF13 better than any other, having played all of them. Well, actually...It's tied with 8. Changes based on mood.

Then again, I'm the person who adored Chrono Cross, and thought that Trigger was "meh".

Bad taste confirmed...

personal opinion!!!

 

[Tony2077]

I like all the ones I've played 10 12 13 crisis core ff 1

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

The fact you can admit you dislike 13 expressly makes you NOT a fanboy. A fanboy are the guys that take all the shit they are given and gobble it up like it's good. It proves you're a true fan, that loves what the series once was, and the abyss of terror it now is.

FF is the emptily of modern game design, flash + shallow + making up sht as you go and if you slap a brand name on it you will sell millions before people wake up to find it SUCKS....

That's most JRPGs for you. The Shin Megami Tensei series being an exception to the rule. And Shadow Hearts 2, which is amazing in all it's intentional campiness.

I can agree mostly but sometimes they try and do something with the game ...god I miss not being able to fck over a bad game with a code breaker and really bring out the lulz. Legia 2 had this weight remove code so you could stack accessories and do some crazy sht it made the game a 100 times more enjoyable.