200°

In Defense of Final Fantasy XIII

Paul from DamnLag writes: "Fans had high expectations going into this game, and there were quite a few who felt that their expectations were not met. Not only is this normal for a new installation in a series that’s been around as long as Final Fantasy, but it’s also expected when changes are introduced that are as drastic as those in XIII. I understand where the hate comes from, I just flat out disagree with it."

Mastersnake104879d ago

Seriously. Thank you for this.

People got so caught up in the lack of towns that they ignored how the battle system was more innovative than any other FF (once you got past the auto-battle in the beginning of course).

VersusEM4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

I totally agree, does towns REALLY matter, so I guess if there are no towns in any games means equals automatic fail, or "yeah Final Fantasy XIII didn't live up to my exceptions so it sucks"-yeah great attitude. I personally loved Final Fantasy XIII, the gameplay was fast paced and fun, story was solid and graphics were beautiful.

NovusTerminus4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

I think the game was decent. But I just wish I could control the entire party, since the computer won't play along with my plans very well.
The story and graphics were great.

ikkokucrisis4879d ago

I'm going to have to disagree and hate. Because really, all I was doing for the first 3 hours of my life in this game was pressing 'X' on my controller in battles. Seriously, I understand you want to gradually get the player up to speed with things, but there is such a thing as TOO gradual!

After that though, the game does start to really shine, but very bad game design choice in beginning!!

karl4879d ago

what? with that kind of thought we only press 3 more bottoms

and up down left and right =S wtf

u need to select attacks with this battle system.. of course u would end up using X a lot

it was really complex though...

i still think it was a game lacking a lot... (yeah towns included) but the battle system was really complex and well done..

i died countless times and had to plan a different strategy every time.. and press X like a million times by the end of the game.. LOL

zireno4879d ago

@ikkokucrisis

I'm with you on this one, I managed to get to chapter 11 and I have no idea how I did it, those were the most boring 15+ hours of my life. Once you get past the pretty visuals there's nothing to back this game up. I mean, it plays itself. Got it for 20 bucks and I regret it.

RedDead4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

Same, this is my argument against it a few days ago.

""""& quot ;"""Sorry, Aghost, but I hated FFXIII, it may be my most disliked game in the last 10 years. I think it's the first game I ever conciously/decided to stop playing due to boredom. I was told to wait till chapter 11 till it got good, that was 20 Fu**ing hours and after all that crap it was not any better, it was still the same sh** except the field was now open in one area.

You see the problem is it had no breaks from battles besides cutscenes. And every battle for the first 20 hours besides boss fights was the same thing over and over again. Although Boss battles where good I think, they involved a little more srategy than, libra/Auto/Auto/auto/P.shift. The reason past FF's didn't get boring was because you had breaks from battles, FF10= Temple puzzles, blitzball, towns. FF7= alot of minigames, that Phoenix tower, towns. FF8=cards, towns.

Also, the characters are the most annoying in any RPG i've played, especially that spanner Snow and his crew Nora(thank god they weren't in it for almost the whole game after the first few chapters)

The enemy was truely below other FF standards, Baldanders was an emotionless piece of crap, I just didn't care what so ever for him. I didn't hate him or like him, I just didn't care.

What else have I got for it...? The new sphere grid was linear until ages into it.

THe story was alright, the music was probably the only thing on FF standards. But even that wasn't as good as about half the previous ff's.

Edit----I watched the rest of the game's cutscenes over youtube after I stopped playing by the way(halfway through C11) """"" """"" & quot;"

Battle system was good after a while, but it wasn't good enough to want to do nothing but battle for the whole game. It got boring pretty quickly

BISHOP-BRASIL4879d ago

I think we all agree it isn't a great game but not a crap one too. It just didn't lived up to what we expected from it. And wordt of all, although we'll never know for sure is SE underdelivered because of 360 or not, the 360 space constrains of DVD format can be related to most of what we have complained, plus it made the game get delayed for a multiplat on release status on western.

The game definetely had it's good points. The graphics are good, the art style is great, the story isn't the worst on a FF game, the battle system is pretty good although many people still prefer the classic gameplay or at least a option to control the entire party.

But we can't deny the cons here, it not only lack towns, it lacks the immersion feel you got from being part of a world. Talking to more NPCs was about getting to know what's going on in their world, have the story's background, taking on simple quests that was about commons citizens needs (not everything have to be about put your neck in danger in a dungeon to get a key story iten and defy a story related boss). In other FF it was interesting to see how what you do interfere with common peoples' lifes as you can go and get the feedback yourself just asking them. The town's situation would usually interfere with what you can do there so it also added complexity of being in a place where, for example, merchants have better of some itens or services while lacking others, were people warmly accept you or places were they want you to leave, places where you have to something else in other place to be able to access,

Towns aren't just towns, they are the people in it, it's culture, it's architeture, it's sounds... They have the potential to make the game's universe a lot more rich and complex.

The simple lack of towns make the game lacks in things to do when not progressing through story. So you are either defeating bosses and progressing or leveling up to be able to defeat bosses and progress. It's very linear objective wise and some people don't consider this too much fun, specially in RPGs, as the gameplay itself isn't the biggest enterteinment of the world (you are basically choosing between limited options).

If were a reviewer I would of had give this a 7~8 (good but no where near from great) judging it for what it is, but as a gamer I don't think it's worthy more than 30 bucks, much less the 60 it costed on release date, so I can understand people's frustation back in the day, it was just natural to be angry at a full priced game that lacked so many former great thing from the franchise. I actually plan on buying it down the road (I just never happened to find it used and most stores here don't have it new anymore too, the few that have still hold it at near full price - around 105 USD, 175 BRL, the full price here is 200 BRL)

AAACE54879d ago

People bashed FFXIII for everything they could just to make it seem like going multiplat was a bad idea, even though the game sold about 4 million units on Ps3 and about 2 million on 360.

Personally, I liked and still own FFXIII! Truthfully, with the way things are going, it looks like we will hear an announcement about FFXIII Versus going multiplat as well!

Same thing happened with XIII! They pulled it out of the spotlight for a while and then we got the announcement at E3! Same could be in the works for this one as well, except it will release for both consoles in every region.

DaTruth4879d ago

That pretty much says it all! The people who didn't like it, didn't know how to play it! If you feel it was boring and it played itself, you weren't playing it right!

It was on my second playthrough that I realized how bad I was at the game the first time around and I didn't pick it up till near the end!

There actually is two endings to the game. One is the main story ending and one is the trophy hunt that plays more like an RPG and after two 100 hour playthroughs I still haven't finished it. The last guy is a serious b1tch!

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Max Power4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

Here is my problem with the battle system...I hate how your medics won't over heal you, they'll try and heal you to you exact max HP instead of over healing you, which is slow and stupid. I also hate the delay between the Paradigms, why do I have to watch a magic field appear on my team one after the other (for the first shift) when the enemy can attack me during that time? I am sure there are more, but right now those are my two major problems with the battle system in Final Fantasy XIII, other than the back and forth in the beginning. Other than those few grips, I am enjoying the game so far, actually I beat it already, but I have two more trophies to get until the Platinum, Treasure Hunter and Superstar, and I should get those tomorrow.

Redempteur4879d ago

"why do I have to watch a magic field appear on my team one after the other (for the first shift) when the enemy can attack me during that time?"

please play the game .
the ennemy can't attack you during the shift anmation.
And no you don't even lose you progress with the action bar

Max Power4879d ago

Yes, they can attack you during the shift animation, I get hit all the time against Shoalong Gui when I shift paradigms.

Redempteur4879d ago

in that case you're doing it wrong ...

never happenned to me

Max Power4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

How am I doing it wrong? I switch my Paradigms when I need to, is there a correct way to do that? Maybe it is because I had the battle speed on fast, not normal? Well, I guess it doesn't matter to me anymore I just got the Platinum this morning.

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Simon_Brezhnev4879d ago

the story was extremely weak and the most annoying characters i ever played in a video game.

iamtehpwn4879d ago

How to make FFXIII Better:
- Party member switching mid-battle
- Party configuration from start of the game
- Make Gran Pulse and Cocoon one planet. This way Gran Pulse could've served as an Overworld connecting Previous environments allowing you backtrack (requiring a lot of rewriting of the story, but still).
- Remove Autobattle, Manual inputs and add more strategy.
- well.. some Towns, Dammit.

Lionalliance4879d ago

The Battle system was ok.
But the rest was total MEH!

Marceles4879d ago

Honestly the battle system is the absolutely only thing that kept me into the game, if it wasn't for it I would've passed on platinuming it. In most RPGs, you start off by pushing only one button for a long time until you level up. Later on in the game you'll get destroyed for using the auto function.

4879d ago
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VersusEM4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

Finally someone is standing up to the haters. I've been saying this for years, all Final Fantasy games are liner except for XII.

Godmars2904879d ago

Though linear, all FF games before XIII were able to hide it. Offered world maps you wondered on while going from point A to B of the plot. Were comparable to a degree to Metroid in that vehicles and Chocobos allowed access to priorly restricted areas.

giantchicken4879d ago

I'm sure the game gets great eventually but if it takes me ten hours to get into it it's not worth it. That's what people don't like about this one.

Buffniceguy4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

I disagree with this article sorry I bought the game completed the whole thing and felt so stupid for buying it the writing was god awful the script made me cringe at every word spoken by the cast.

Bolts4879d ago (Edited 4879d ago )

Only a blind fanboy would defend this game. It's utter trash. Leave it up to Square to focus on aesthetic designs and absurd emo-meldodramatic nonesense over solid RPG design and gameplay.

Once upon a time JRPGs were just as feature packed and inovative as their western counterparts. It would be nice if a Japanese dev would realize this and crank out something that can compete with the Mass Effect and Fallout that dominate the market instead of making more JRPGs with the pretties boys possible.

So far Demon Soul is the only JRPG that gets it.

HereticDan4879d ago

yes if only they had given us the freedom to wander around and see all the dungeons which are barely distinguishable from each other and had included characters so doped up on steroids and what was with that stupid kid crying just because his mother was murdered 20 feet in front of him? what a pussy. When well SE go back to it's quality days where they give us a plot where nobody is bothered by anything traumatic and responds only with grim indifference or gallows humor. You know, A REAL PLOT

Kinetix4879d ago

loved the game. Few trophys away from a platinum. And I only do that to games that I really like. Battle system and enviroment are great although the story could of definitely been better.

tplarkin74879d ago

It's "could have" or "could've", not "could of".

HereticDan4879d ago

That was important and needed to be said.

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70°

The 7 Best Final Fantasy Characters: Unveiling the Legends

While FFVII ranks highly, there's more to the series than one game. Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best Final Fantasy characters.

220°

The older it gets, the more I respect Final Fantasy XIII

Alex Donaldson: "Hindsight is a hell of a thing, however, and in the years since Final Fantasy XIII, my respect for the decisions its developers made has skyrocketed. In the two Final Fantasy titles since we see both the brilliance and the folly in alternative approaches - and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, we get a more nuanced understanding of what FF13 was trying to accomplish from many of the same development leads."

Einhander1972116d ago

FFXIII is actually one of the best Final Fantasy games.

I also sort of was disappointed at the time, never as much as the bandwagon. But really all the fantastic 3D rendered cutscenes and I actually liked the characters and the story though convoluted was actually fantastic and the ending was extremely emotional. So much budget and time were put into that game Square had such big plans, I actually have always felt kind of bad for how things played out.

I have been thinking for years how great it would be to get all three games on one disk for PS4 or 5.

Nyxus116d ago

I always liked this game, and I agree, a rerelease for current gen would be nice.

Shane Kim114d ago (Edited 114d ago )

Gotta take off the nostalgia glasses. It's the worst FF. Shiva as a bike, I mean come on.

Elda114d ago

Shiva as a bike is strange but saying FFXIII is the worst FF is not at all a fact, that's simply your opinion.

Terry_B114d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125114d ago (Edited 114d ago )

When I got my series X a year ago, I bought FF13 for nostalgia reasons but ended up being disappointed. When I first played it around the time it launched, I didn't have a lot of experience with final fantasy games, so I enjoyed it. Fast forward to when I played it again, I found that the game had many unnecessary filler moments instead of just giving us meaningful content.

The game is also very linear and a quote on the article said it best. "It is like a sewage pipe that leads to the ocean until it opens up on Grand Pulse."

The story didn't make much sense either and I believe it is my mistake as I played the FF7 remake on PS5 prior which is a night and day difference in terms of pacing, storytelling and likeable characters even though cloud is aloof.

FinalFantasyFanatic114d ago (Edited 114d ago )

Probably was a mistake to play any of the golden era FFs first (e.g. FF6 through FF10), it makes it harder to enjoy some of the FFs that aren't as good. I think FF12 was where major issues with the series started becoming apparent, and it just got worse from there.

FinalFantasyFanatic114d ago (Edited 114d ago )

I didn't really care for it that much, the only saving grace was that it had a better story than 15 (overall it was better than 15) and possibly 12, and even then, you had to read some of it through primers, like reading a book. Plus the battle system was reasonably fun for what it was, even if it was more the spectacle that was exciting for me (e.g. summoning). And to be fair, the 13 trilogy got better with every games, I still don't like Snow though.

Gamingsince1981114d ago

Ff13 is only good if you haven't played a ff before, or any other games that are decent for that matter.

-Foxtrot114d ago

It is in fact no way the best Final Fantasy game, it's one of the worst

Linear corridors, Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene...rinse and repeat

Dialogue and characters are pretty bad, especially Lightning as the main FF hero, they literally said they tried to make a "Female Cloud" and they failed.

Story was pretty awful

I could go on

I think the only alright thing that came from the game was the music.

Elda113d ago

That's not a fact that's your personal opinion. The game sold 11 million copies between its 2009 release up until 2014 including critically reviewed as an 8 out of 10 or an 80 out of 100. The game does have some issues but it's not at all a fact as one of the worst FF games.

-Foxtrot113d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy113d ago

N4G commenters such as yourself aren't the majority. The game was well received.

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gold_drake115d ago (Edited 115d ago )

i liked the game alot but i didnt like how they handled the terminology.

i dont mind reading data logs but it had soo many.

but i always loved the music and how it looked. the battle system wasnt too bad either.

but i like 13-2 more :)

i still dont understand why we never got a remaster of the trilogy

Eonjay114d ago

Xbox kinda did. Besides the video files of course which are still best on PS3 due to bluray.

Snookies12115d ago

XIII is a pretty solid game, but XIII-2 is WAY better. XIII-2 was one of the few games I decided to go for a Platinum trophy in, early on. Had so much fun the entire way through getting it too!

Eonjay114d ago

Totally agree. FF 13 was okay but 13-2 is my favorite FF game ever.

shinoff2183115d ago (Edited 115d ago )

I hated this to when it released. I haven't much liked a ff game since ff10 as much , aside from ff7remake. I decided to give it another shot on my series x since it's not on a current ps and was liking it quite a bit(just takes me some time to get over things ) until star ocean 2 remake came out I was all over that.

Square should definitely remaster it or something for ps4 ps5

KillerB114d ago

my favorite jrpg trilogy ever

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70°

Interview: Making music with Masashi Hamauzu

Square Enix Blog: "How do you compose iconic songs that help define a legacy? We speak to legendary composer Masashi Hamauzu about his work on Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy VII Remake, and how to make unforgettable music."

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square-enix-games.com