Why Final Fantasy XIII is a Bad Game [NSFW]

Criticism of blockbuster RPG Final Fantasy XIII has rapidly mounted, with the initial observation that the game is almost comically linear giving way to a litany of further dissatisfaction, many quite unavoidable even for the game's many staunch defenders.

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[BadboyCivic360]

here comes all the Final fantasy hate now...let me guess FFv13 is better rite?
No reviewer will sway me from renting the game...i will be the only judge of its quality

[ClownBelt]

Here comes the swarm of hate.

[Chris Hansen]

Im still buying it on launch day but these points really worry me about the game:

1. There are hardly any towns.

2. Moving around is like a long marathon.

3. You can’t flee battles

4. Your party is completely healed after each battle.

5. The best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved.

6. Shopping is only done at “online” shops on save points, with no proper shops to be found. However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].

7. There have been next to no changes from the demo.

[Cold 2000]

Yeah the FF13 hate is getting out of hand.

Som people are going to be pissed in March when they'll actually enjoy the heck out of it lol.

[ClownBelt]

The only way to experience this is to actually play it. Just watching or reading won't justify the experience you will get.

If you're on the fence because of what you've read which I can't blame you, rent the game first.

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

But did you even read the complains?

All of the complains are exactly what I thought when watching the stream on justintv... You basically don't need to play the game because it plays itself. This is the most restricted FF game ever made and on top of that it's divided into chapters... This FF game was made for the casual gamers.

[gaffyh]

3. You can’t flee battles

4. Your party is completely healed after each battle.

^WTF? Being completely healed makes the game too easy, and not being able to flee a battle makes the game annoying.

I want to get this game, but the more I hear about it, the more worried I am.

[THE MAX SPEED 21]

On an earlier article some guys were already calling the game a FLop because the game had an 3.5/5 Average on the Japanese Amazon page when the game just came out. While they were had it somebody pointed out that MGS4 also had an 3.5/5 Average on the same site. So I guess that game is a Flop to right? SMH.

the hate is big this time because the game is not PS3 exclusive. "FF13Versus is better even though no Gameplay element has been released."

and I agree with BadyBoy's comment

[qface64]

damn i already didn't really want this game it was a 50/50 thing
but hearing things like that and hearing the merit behind these complaints
wow im put off the game even more now

[CrazzyMan]

There are people, who love MGS4 and there are who hate MGS4.
There are people, who love Demon Soul and there are who hate Demon Soul.
There are people, who love FFXII and there are who hate FFXII.
I`m lucky, as i can enjoy with all these games. Some people can`t, BUT that doesn`t make these games Bad.

There will be people, who will love FFXIII and who will hate FFXIII.
But i`m pretty sure, that i will enjoy FFXIII. For me there is Final Fantasy(EPICNESS!) and there are all other RPGs.

[specialguest]

It sounds like this won't be one of the greatest FF games in the series. I'll have to wait for more reviews.

[baum]

No rebuttal, just crying about "but teh hate". These seem to be legitimate points. Why is anyone surprised? FF has been going downhill starting with FFX. The last FF with a soul was FFIX and even then, 7, 8 & 9 lost some of it when compared to the 2D FFs.

[Redempteur]

so what if it's linear ? as long as the story is well made and well presented i don't care ..

All ff were linear ..so what ? people need to understand the différence between jrpgs and wrpgs once and for all .

You are healed after each battle ff13 is not the first game to do this ...what matters is that the battles themselves are fun ..AND/OR challenging ...

Some of you are critizing the game when each FF do things différently .and try to innovate a little ...what is the next complain ? no classes ?
Come on .!!

No stratégy ? SO WHAT AGAIN ? FF games were always the most easy rpgs released ...

all these points doesn't make FF13 a bad game.. however it show without a doubt that the writter of this "article" doesn't know s h * t about rpgs

[thehitman]

is not the type of game you rent too much hours you spend into it to rent it. Just buy it.

[Yarite]

-The party is fully healed because this is the hardest FF to date.

-The game is much more open then Final Fantasy 10, you just need to get halfway in to the game. The people saying it's linear are literally at max 15 hours in to the game. Probably less since importers only got it yesterday.

- You can flee battles however you can just run around the enemies on the field, also if you die theres a battle restart option and before you restart the battle you can re-arrange equipment and several other stats

- The character development so far is absolutely amazing with lots of backstory and flashbacks. The only people that will complain about it are non-ff fans who will buy this game

-There are minor to noticeable graphical improvements over the demo + huge gameplay improvements

-There aren't many towns at first but there are 3 large cities and 1-2 smaller towns

-The main character dying in battle is a lot like the other best RPG series ever which is called Persona

-There are levels, you level up and synthesis your weapons and your optima roles. Your main character is strengthened via a Sphere grid type system.

-The game is a lot more similar to FF10 then FF12....WHICH IS A GOOD THING

-Later in to the game you unlock more accessory slots

-Summon transformations are awesome

A lot of these aren't even legitimate complaints...

[MmaFanQc]

haters hate....

[Bigpappy]

If the game had changed since the early 90's then that would be news. This is the RPG Madden (Same every time with a new coat of paint). Have fun you guys that try to make this game of the year. May be it will win, but I will be playing ME2 and even 2worlds over this.
The kicker here is the criticism is coming from Japan itself, not western reviews. So I am not alone. Even some in Japan need a new game to seem ............New.

[Sarcasm]

Haters wanna hate, lovers wanna love, I don't even want, none of the above I want God of War... Yes I do... God of Warrrr...

I'm still getting FFXIII on the PS3 regardless. It's still going to be better than 95% of the JRPGs already out this generation.

[Venomish]

nice. the points makes me more excited for the game to be honest.
except the point "the best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved."
sounds like ffx, the only ff game i actually liked

[Redempteur]

@Bigpappy

OPEN ZONE IS the other way!!

What you're doing is ignorance at his best ...

EACH ff not only has a différent , story , battle system , always on the top graphics when released with kick ass sound .

EACH final fantasy is différent ..for you to call it a madden rpg just show that you don't know what you're talking about and thus should stop polluting this comment area with these pseudo comment that shame anyone with half a brain .

GIVE ME THE COMMON POINTS BETWEEN FF12 and FF13 ..

i DARE YOU !

The hate for this game coming from people who HAVEN'T PLAYED IT
is ridiculous ..

[Myze]

Most of these complaints are completely dependent on how long the person saying them has played the game. All FF games are VERY VERY linear for the first 1/4-1/5 of the game. FFVII, the first big chunk, you are stuck in Midgar. Almost all FF have a very linear path early on, because they are building the story. Later one they introduce new aspects to the story and gameplay mechanics, and allow you to move around and do stuff more freely.

Honestly, what this whole thing sounds like to me is someone played the game for a day, got frustrated because early on he was scared it might be linear, got 1/10 of the way through it, then decided to vent on a webpage, being completely ignorant about the full extent of the game. All from what seems like someone who isn't a big fan of FF or RPGs in the first place (no matter what they say).

Anyway, I don't care what anyone says or anyone else thinks, there is no way in hell I would pass up a numbered iteration of FF, even if everything they say is completely present in the entire game (highly doubtful). The reason is simple: FF's strongest point by FAR has always been the story, and none of the problems mentioned affect that in any way.

[Jinxstar]

The FF series is not what it once was and hasn't been for a long time ... looking much more forward to other RPG's next year myself. If it pulls a hat trick then great but with the amount of "Fail" coming from everywhere it's probably got some truth behind it. I expected nothing but universal praise for this game like Halo or LBP received.

However if FF is a must buy for you then you will get it. I think there are only a very select few who are on the fence about FF13. Those on the fence will have to see through the hype and make a choice. To me the "Fantasy" is long gone and replaced with much more "Sci Fi' which... For the most part... I detest in games. However if robots are your thing over magic and crazy cat-elf-midgets then rock on.

[ceedubya9]

But man, I loved that game. Probably my favorite FF game to date.

[morganfell]

PS3 fans aren't the ones with a reason to dislike this game. The more news that arrives, the more it solidifies the PS3 as the only next generation console.

There are however a group of individuals with a reason to dislike the game and play down the fact the PS3 version is far and away the one to own.

[sikbeta]

Its to soon for this kind of articles, I'll listen to someone that actually Complete the game

[Godmars290]

Unfortunately CrazzyMan you're making the mistake of lumping the people who hate those games with the ones who have never played them and hate them. Say that they hate them when they've never played them.

That's what this gaming generation seems to be about: going into public forums and saying you hate a game you have no intention of playing simply because its on a gaming platform that you also hate. Going to the length of saying you've played.

Meanwhile you brainlessly hype games that you "like" knowing you have no intention of buying it.

[GameGambits]

My copy is in Alaska right now and should arrive Monday morning. It's getting absolutely torturing to not try to get a fix of some new FFXIII footage and screenies to hold me over.

The complaints and the hate I've read from across the net has dismayed me not even a bit. The ONE thing and the ONE thing only that in my opinion was a mistake so far for this game is the elimination of exploring towns. Towns give the world life, and adding characters into them gives them personality. Odds are the game will play out that you save the world like most RPGs do, but if you can't have some connection to the planet you are saving it's a little wishy washy. Also from a gameplay aspect, the towns can also add side quests, places to revisit for later events, and more to explore.

I just keep thinking of FF9 which is my favorite FF. While some aren't fans of it, I do give the game props for making the whole world worth exploring. I looked in every knook and cranny for treasures, and the amount of side quests scattered about everywhere was staggering. :)

For people still on the fence then wait for the review in March from some of your own trusted sources. For the haters, go be more productive and get ready for Sunday when HHG shows up with some ridiculous article about "FF13 USA version gets extra character-Master Chief?" or some crap like that.

[FamilyGuy]

That this Final Fantasy is linear because of the 360 version right? It's right back to the PS1 days of mulitple disc where all exploration is done at the end and %50 of where you've been is inaccessible because the disc space couldn't handle it. The excuse was usually some cgi scene of past cities or areas being destroyed and this was the main reason why I love Final Fantasy 10 over all the other Final Fantasy's.

In Final Fantasy 10 you could re-explore ALL areas you had been to with no BS cutscene showing *Place was destroyed by giant monster/fire/bomb/main evil boss so far*

I'm still getting FF13 and I think it looks awesome, they just did what they had to do because they wanted to maximize profits. The overall outcome is still amazing from what I've seen so far so it's not really that big of an issue for me.