170°

In Defense of Final Fantasy XIII

For all the graphical, mechanical, and conceptual upgrades Final Fantasy XIII-2 may have brought to the table, the best feature Square Enix's latest apparently has going for it is that it's not Final Fantasy XIII. At this point, it's not exactly a secret that popular and critical reception to Final Fantasy XIII was, shall we say, divisive. As The Escapist's own Susan Arendt most eloquently put it, "Final Fantasy XIII made a lot of series fans "very, very angry." Indeed.

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escapistmagazine.com
torchic4415d ago

the disagrees :O

this is a very well written article. 100 hours now invested in XIII I can agree with most that the man said.

the only thing that keeps me going is the battle system. against difficult foes in the latter cie'th stone missions, it's the most fun battle system I've experienced in a long time (even better than Amalur's). main reason why I play games is for gameplay, not story. XIII story was too "up it's own ass" as the writter quite rightly put it

its just a very true assesment of FFXIII two years after the game's release.

Son_Lee4416d ago

FFXIII > FFXIII-2. I loved the story, graphics, and battle system of FFXIII. Unfortunately, only about 20 other people agree with me.

iamtehpwn4416d ago

I'm confused with how you could love XIII more. At least with XIII-2 there is actually 'fun'.

Son_Lee4416d ago

Cause I had more "fun" with XIII. Linearity has always been in favor of FF. Maybe not to the extreme, but in XIII-2, I did not care for the story one bit, so it was a chore for me to play through it.

Razongunz4415d ago

i'm one of those 20, i loved XIII-2 the world was alot bigger and noel was so much better than lighting, serah was boring but okey, i never used if i had the choice of playing as noel. and i like that u can capture monsters to aid u in battle. but, the lack of playable characters and story in XIII-2 made it my second most favorite game. true final fantasy XIII was linear but the story was so much more fun and interesting and touching and the story felt so much better on XIII and i liked how the story had 6 characters and explained all their stories. XIII-2 was VERY good but XIII was a little tiny bit more interesting to play through. but XIII-2 is deffinantly the funniest to play Post-story since u have alot more to do in xiii-2.

Final Fantasy XIII still was a tiny bit more interesting to play.

Neko6084415d ago

Nice break from all of the BioWare derangement!

MySwordIsHeavenly4415d ago

I'm not necessarily a big fan of Final Fantasy. I just expected XIII to be at least decent. It was NOT. It was absolute CRAP! Luckily, White Knight Chronicles I & II have given me my JRPG fix this generation. I also enjoyed The Last Remnant and Blue Dragon, but finished neither. :/

Hicken4415d ago (Edited 4415d ago )

No Valkyria Chronicles? I am disappoint.

That said, I enjoyed XIII almost exclusively on the merits of the story and characters. I'll admit that, like XII, XIII and XIII-2 lack some things that make them feel like Final Fantasy games, but that doesn't stop them from being good games, on their own.

And I find myself enjoying XIII more than XIII-2, honestly. Even though Square-Enix listened to people's gripes and addressed them, by and large, I feel the story isn't as compelling, even while it's as easy to follow. I don't dislike XIII-2, but I like it less than XIII.

Edit: Really? To me, it's decidedly rpg. It may be more in line with FFTactics or Tactics Ogre or Disgaea, but it's definitely an rpg. Leveling up, various classes, equipment, and attributes. The more mechanical, scientific nature of it changes things a bit, but less so than Front Mission (not the newest one), which is still an rpg.

Plus it's got the varied cast and epic story to fit, as well.

MySwordIsHeavenly4415d ago

I wouldn't put Valkyria Chronicles in the "RPG" genre. It is incredible though!

Pokemon_Master4415d ago

the game was wonderful. I certainly dont need to be convinced

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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."

Einhander1972117d 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.

Nyxus117d ago

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

Shane Kim116d ago (Edited 116d ago )

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

Elda116d 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_B116d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125116d ago (Edited 116d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic116d ago (Edited 116d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic116d ago (Edited 116d 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.

Gamingsince1981116d ago

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

-Foxtrot116d 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.

Elda115d 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.

-Foxtrot115d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy115d ago

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

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gold_drake117d ago (Edited 117d 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

Eonjay116d ago

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

Snookies12117d 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!

Eonjay116d ago

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

shinoff2183117d ago (Edited 117d 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

KillerB116d 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