So i got FF XIII does it get interesting or fun at any point?

[Arina Love]

Wow? Seriously? You need PROOF that they're biased?

Have you ever been to IGN or Gamespot, the two most horribly biased of them all?

yes i do need proof. even if ign gamespot biased (i doubt it, coz i see good reviews there pretty much all the time) how you explain 71 more reviewers?

Simple.

Most reviewers are biased, and those that aren't who actually enjoy a game and whatnot, well it's simply a matter of their opinion. But then, that's THERE opinion, not mine.

However, unlike an opinion, it is a fact that final fantasy 1 through 10, including the direct sequals like Interlude, the After Years, and X-2, all have a turn based menu-selection combat system; it is what made final fantasy such a hit in the first place.

Is innovation a bad thing? Certainly not, Final Fantasy 12 is the first to actually introduce something a little more real time for it's combat, but it was still a menu selection system and still turn based that's why it worked.

Final fantasy 13, on the other hand, failed at this, and it's why many view this not only as a boring game, but a game that actually deviates from what "Final Fantasy" actually is.

i will take majority of opinions over minority in Metacritic it's 73 vs 1 Pro Reviews and 107 vs 56 User Reviews. simple facts. Just because you didn't like battle system doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed, FF brand recognition is fine without old system.

 

[Rolf]

NO- Don't let the people talking about gran pulse fool you. That place suck. The only good part about it is the cutsceen when they fly over it. After 20 hours running straight forward the open world looks good but it is a dirty lie. The only thing you can do at the open plain is do 500 million sidequests that is all about finding one type of monster and kill it. After that the rest of the world is a straight corridor agian. And the monster have 3 or 4 times more health then the enemies on coccon.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I enjoyed it but the combat is really shit and the fact that it is so linear early is actually a plot point. Kinda put a lot of people off but it makes sense.

 

[Sylveria]

Easily the best combat mechanics in any Final Fantasy as well as the most tactical. To each their own.

No, just, no. Best? Okay if you absolutely hate the turn based/ATB style and love this faux-twitch-based stuff, I'll give you that.

But most Tactical? Just no. You can auto-fight your way to victory in this game (except the final boss) with a commando/healer/sab combination. Is it the best way to do it? No, but it certainly works and you will never lose a single battle unless you're drastically under-leveled.

The enjoyment of the game is certainly subjective, but making it twitch-based and creating mechanics which quite literally allow the computer to do ALL the work makes it, maybe not the least tactical, but certainly not the most. The sheer idiocy of the medic AI prevents that.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

Wow? Seriously? You need PROOF that they're biased?

Have you ever been to IGN or Gamespot, the two most horribly biased of them all?

Game review sites rarely are thorough, and adhere to one principle; explain to a person with no prior knowledge of the game/series about why they may or may not enjoy it. With this in mind, the review must than incorporate sound, gameplay, mechanics, story, characters, and a who slew of things into their review. Final Fantasy XIII may have many qualms however the graphics are arguably the best released even now. The story at its base level is actually good and the combat isn't bad. In comparison to many games in the genre, FFXIII is definitely superior but not quite on the elite tier, which was acknowledged by it being the first FF title in over a decade to not break the 9.0 barrier.

If you want a heavily analyze of a particular game, few would survive the criticism. Mass Effect 2 is hailed a phenomenal game, yet the main plot is mediocre at best, rubbish otherwise. Gamespot and IGN do not go into that amount of detail, nor should they.

 

[ciancon]

The point it all started to come together for me was when i was fighting the Scorpion robot for the second time (http://guidesmedia.ign.com/guides/826843/images/590/03-013.jpg). After dying 6 times i finally managed to get the paradigms right and kicked his ass!

That sense of achievement coupled with the stunning graphics and really good storyline (yes it's linear but it's still good!) made me love this game.

 

[Alphakirby]

>.> might i inquire as to WHY you, the OP felt the need to subject your self to FF13?

The same reason I did,minus the curiosity. When I got it,I didn't know it was a linear corrider a thon for 20 hours,nor did I know the battle system sucked,nor did I know Snow was an asshole who's one defining characteristic is "SARAHHHHH!!! SARAHHHH!".
I never beat FFXIII because I had 0 incentive because I was still waiting for the "fun" part of the game.

 

[Slash Joel]

In short: No

In long: NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

[DexterNorgam]

Its telling how many people fell for the old trick of a world map or a linear dungeon with a few wrong turns included convincing them its not linear.

That's like saying a plane with multiple points is the same as a line with multiple points. Or, to be more topical, saying that Minecraft is the same as a rail shooter. But I guess if I spent the past year desperately telling myself over and over that 13 and 6 are the same game, I'd lose all sense of reality also.

No its not.

Try going to get Yang before you hit up the village of mist in FFIV. Oh, ya cant, because you have to travel along a linear route, (granted its wider but no real choice (aside from wandering around lost, wasting time, exists.) going through a linear series of events in a specific order which is driven by the story. The only difference is that IV gives an illusion of an open world with a world map.

There's nothing desperate in noting how linear the original FF games were. Or calling out the fanboys who seem to forget that fact.

I'm not saying XIII is without flaws, but its just funny to hear people cry over how linear a FF game is because they have (brace for it) ALWAYS BEEN LINEAR. The truth of the matter is that the people crying about it are crying about bad level design, but aren't smart enough to avoid calling it linear. Personally I didnt mind that the game didn't waste my time with simplistic wrong turn and backtrack dungeons of yesterdays games.

 

[Da_Schwartz]

I really enjoy the story but i'll admit that i haven't finished it yet. Bit of advice turn on teh subtitles and take time to read through the recaps. It helps ALOT in understanding wtf is going on.

 

[Torrasque]

Nope.
Once you get to the part that you have waited for for the first half of the game; the open world "do whatever you want now" part, where you can kill what you want, lvl as much as you want, and can take your sweet time... It becomes a ridiculous grind fest that makes me miss FF1-6.
Return it if you can, because unless you like grinding away for 20+ hours, you are not going to get much enjoyment out of this game...

 

[CannibalCorpses]

the simple answer to the question is no. It's tedious in it's entirety and the story is even more batshit crazy than ever. the final boss has a cheat attack that can kill your entire team even if you do everything before reaching him, and is more luck based than strategy.

 

[Aeonknight]

So you came to the escapist wanting an unbiased opinion on JRPG's? ...That sounds like a bigger waste of time than playing FF13.

anywho, to answer OP's question:

FF13 is very black and white. You either love it or you hate it. There is no middle ground, and both sides have decent arguements for why it was good/sucked.

If you don't like it now, you probably won't later. Save yourself the trouble.

 

[krazykidd]

I'll be the odd man out and say i liked the game . If your nOt having fun now then i suggest you stop . I finished it and enjoyed every moment , but it might just not be your thing . Protip: don't buy FFXIII-2. The game is really more about story than it is gameplay , you really need a certain mindset to truly enjoy it.

 

[krazykidd]

Nope.
Once you get to the part that you have waited for for the first half of the game; the open world "do whatever you want now" part, where you can kill what you want, lvl as much as you want, and can take your sweet time... It becomes a ridiculous grind fest that makes me miss FF1-6.
Return it if you can, because unless you like grinding away for 20+ hours, you are not going to get much enjoyment out of this game...

At no point in this game is it necessary to grind unless your doing the extra missions on grand pulse at the end of the game . Hell i got through the entire game without even upgrading anything. The battles are about switching your classes with timing and strategy . I can however understand why a lot of people dont like the game . But a grindfest it is not.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Iv'e been playing for about 6-7 hours running down one way paths and i'm getting bored out of my mind, so do i have to bear with it a little longer to get to the interesting or fun part or am i with in my rights to fuck it.

Yeah, in Chapter 11, you get to Gran Pulse and actually get to play a "true" Final Fantasy game: wide open areas to explore, different monsters to kill for CP and valuable items, and small quests that will have you fighting challenging foes and earning rare valuables.

However, Chapter 11 is a long ways away. By that time, the story will not make much sense, you still won't find any "real" towns, and the experience will be dulled down because of the hours and hours of linear exploration.

If you are still interested, you can continue playing until you reach the Final Fantasy promised land that is Gran Pulse. If not, you can always wait for FF XIII-2, which will probably be more like previous FF installments within the FF XIII universe.

 

[Arina Love]

This is probably one of the crappier things about FFXIII.

The story is so well written, well spoken and thoroughly conceived that it is kind of worth it to make it all the way to the end, or at least chapter 11 like other people are suggesting.

The problem is that the gameplay is so horrendous and linear that it's hard to actually give a shit about the story when your focused on constantly dying from Odin because you can't power level and there's only one combination of paradigm shifts possible to kill him despite supposedly being allowed an open ended fighting system like Crystarium.

I say go for it, only for the sake of finishing the story. If the gameplay is just boring but you might be able to drudge through it, then have at. But then again, if the gameplay is so utterly annoying and frustrating and boring that you feel compelled to toss this game in a grinder, then maybe this isn't the game for you.

i actually didn't have problem with odin or other character bosses because they are NOT in game battle system. They require, each one of them, certain strategy to defeat them (it's even said in tutorial) even if it's just one combination, all other bosses in game are absolutely open to different strategies.

Yes, each one requires a certain strategy. That's my problem.

Final fantasy has always been linear with it's exploration but entirely open with it's combat, you could defeat enemies however the hell you wished to.

In FFXIII, until chapter eleven, this is not true. Even if you have some freedom to beat a boss with your own custom paradigms and stuff, the fact that you have a limited crystarium grid until you beat the game makes the combat so much more repetitive and boring.

well i really enjoyed battle system even before chapter 11 and i didn't find it repetitive more so some enemies and bosses are quite hare if you don't know what are you doing with shifts. for me other FF battle systems quite boring because i don't want to choose every character spell and skill it's very boring, i rather choose roles and control 1 character.

Problem with that concept is that the former system is what's boring to most people and the latter system, the one you find boring, is actually the trademark of final fantasy games. It's what people come to expect when BUYING a final fantasy game.

Actually FFXIII is praised for it's innovative battle system pretty much in every review. stagnation =/= good, innovation is always interesting, even if it will turn off some people.

Yes, it was praised by reviewers.

We all know THEY aren't biased in any way :rollseyes:

if you have prof that FFXIII reviewers biased than show it to us. until now i accept judgement of 73 pro reviews who gave it good score.

What makes those 73 people that liked it (and got the game for free) any more credible than the hundreds of people I have seen so far online who constantly trash the game.

they are professional reviewers and i've seen just as many people who liked this game. in fact there is more likes than dislikes in user review section on metactitic.

 

[Abbyrose07]

After you finish it so you don't have to play it anymore...har har har.