Final Fantasy VII Remake Shows That Pacing, Not Linearity, Is Final Fantasy XIII’s Problem

Final Fantasy VII Remake released to critical acclaim, which is kind of surpising when you think about how similar it is to the black sheep of the family.

[no_more_heroes]

and having likeable characters and a story that makes sense. I'm nowhere near as hard on FFXII as mist, but I'm definitely not blind to its obvious flaws.

Also, while the story was still snook-a-loopy, I loved the hell out of FFXIII-2.

[RpgSama]

100% agree,

The biggest issue for me was that XII didn't have any likeable characters, personality and design wise they were completely uninspired, Lightning was ok, but the rest I find it hard to even remember their names.

[Rebel_Scum]

Snow and Hope were the worst.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I actually find Hope more redeemable, Snow is just, a cardboard cut out.

[FallenAngel1984]

Why are y’all talking crap about FFXII in an article about FFXIII

[FallenAngel1984]

Didn’t FFX already prove that?

[Godmars290]

Prove what? It may have been linear, but at least it had an interesting story and characters. Presented a world.

[Nerdmaster]

That's exactly the point......
People say FFXIII was bad because it was linear, but FFX, and now FFVII, proves that linearity is not a problem when done right.

[Godmars290]

@Nerdmaster:
No, you're not registering the point. FF13 did linearity, story and several other game aspects wrong where by most counts FF7r is doing them right. Just because FF7r does them right does not justify or redeem FF13. At best made it an example of what not to do.

[WraithSpire]

There is nothing wrong with linear and yes, Final Fantasy X did prove that and now Final Fantasy VII Remake confirms that.

Final Fantasy XIII's problem is that it lacks personality, an interesting story, and compelling characters. Battle system wasn't too good either.

[Godmars290]

FF13 turned out as it did because of over ambition, a complex graphics engine, then compromise once everything was a through mess.

[-Foxtrot]

Every since FFVII Remake released we are having a lot of people defending FFXIII

I'm sorry but no...the game was trash, end of, and even with it being a trilogy it only got a tiny bit better each game and that's not good.

When you have all the issues of FFXV and it still comes out as a better game then XIII , you have a problem.

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

It really was. Such an awful, terrible game.

[franwex]

I agree. It was trash.

Just like FF8.

:P

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I still think 13 was a better game than 15, but different strokes for different folks.

[Elda]

To each their own but I had no problem with FFXIII,enjoyed it immensely as I am enjoying FFVII:R immensely.

[Razmiran]

Same

[SegaSaturn669]

FF13, has a majority female cast that is unrelatable, but that's not the main problem. You can mash the X button for 99% of the game to win every battle. I remember enjoying the motorcycle blizzard rescue part only.

[Razmiran]

huh? It was 3 males 3 females
Fang, lightning, vanille
Sazh, Hope, Snow

[Rebel_Scum]

Hope was a girl lol

[Torrises]

Hope was transitioning MtF, there were multiple cues through the story.

[Lionsguard]

The first part of FF7 is allowed to be "linear" in a sense, since there's pretty much no other way to handle it. You can't make Midgar open world, it doesn't make sense. If the rest of the FF7:RE is played in hallway sections like this first part, it would definitely be a problem. I don't mind it when zoning into towns and stuff. The one major issue I had with FF13 was just the story. The story was garbage. I to this day, I still have no idea wtf is going on in the world of 13. I enjoyed FF13-2 and Lighting Returns much more though even if the story still sucked, everything else improved..

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

They really shouldn't have forced people to read half the story in the compendium, that stuff should have been acted out through the gameplay/cutscenes.

[AK91]

I disagree I actually liked the pacing of 13 but it was it’s lack of side quests and exploration that made it underwhelming.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Lack of towns as well, I understand why you couldn't explore them, but the game would, have been better having them, every time you finally reach an interesting locale, you couldn't explore it, the story just pushes you from point a to b.

[Imalwaysright]

The pacing, the characters, the voice acting, the story and the combat system. It was an all around bad game.

[Lilrizky]

Yeah maybe it was that. I remember feeling like I was getting to the end of XIII at one point then it just continued on and on.

I also remember not having a clue what was happening and looking back at it, i barely remember anything about it aside from a couple moments. I do remember beating the game and asking myself WTF just happened? lol

Whereas FF7, which up until the remake I hadn't played in 20 years I remember the story beats and big moments vividly, which were definitely triggered while playing 7 remake.

Pacing is part of it and I can see what the author is saying, because FF7 remake's flaws (which are small), are mostly related to the pacing and not due to non linearity at all.

But 13 had a lot of other problems too.

[kayoss]

Til this day, I still don’t know what the stories of ff13 Trilogy was about. Played all three and can’t even remember a single characters name (except lightning) .

[borneFROMblood]

Don't understand the hate, 13 is still fun. Great Combat and don't let met start on music, it's amazing.
Characters could be better and story was dropping syllables at you that made no sense. But it was still a pretty and unique game. Gamers are just too spoiled and want only 10's ;(

P.S. Lightning is a Goddess

[jaymacx]

Good characters is important for an rpg. In 13 you had Lightning and her supporting characters didn’t gel well with her personality and most of them were just strange acting. In 7 , Cloud is surrounded with great characters and it makes for great dialogue and story progression. Barett fighting with Cloud, Jessie’s flirting, Tifa’s empathy, and Areith’s happy go lucky attitude helped bring out the story . 13 tried to do that but the characters failed at it.

[Lexreborn2]

When people in gaming going to accept that ever final fantasy is Linear EXCEPT 2? This is straight annoying constantly hearing people talk about how linear 13 is and bad it was. First off if you don’t understand that every final fantasy funnels you to the directive and literally only gives you so much options. You haven’t been paying attention.

Nothing is wrong with 13 or 12, the only thing wrong with any of the titles is the person playing them. If they aren’t interested or engaged they won’t like it... very simple. I loved13, I was upset at first because I didn’t like lightning. But, the story truly opened up for me and made the journey worth it. And, had me playing 13-2 in hopes of saving Fang and Vanille.

Granted... the sequels let my expectations down. But, when accepting the story for how it is it’s not bad at all. I just made it worse then it truly was, that was on me.

[PiNkFaIrYbOi]

No, FF XIII just sucked overall, the linearity of the game was just one of many issues with it.