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Final Fantasy XIII - What The Hell Happened?

Final Fantasy XIII is a game that has polarised RPG fans between those who believe it is oustanding piece of well crafted story telling, and those who think its is nothing more than a tedious corridor simulator.

We at the Games4M show on DualShockers are in the latter camp and in this video we explain why we think this is the worst Final Fantasy game ever and put the question to Square-Enix – What the hell happened?

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Ninferno5083d ago

i love FFXIII, best FF ever.

ClownBelt5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

I love it too. However, FF 8 is the best FF ever for me.

@below
Yeah FF X was awesome too. I'd say it's a lot more polished than 8.

iiprotocolii5083d ago

8 was great, but I think X did it for me overall. Great combat, story made me tear at the end, characters that I attached to, etc. I dare say that one, with 6, were the best ones I've ever played.

Hitman07695083d ago

I'm voting for FF6!!!!!!!!!!

I love 7 too though....

I LIKE all FF games though too for the record! So far so good, keep em coming!

Bodyboarder_VGamer5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

FFIV, FFVI, FFVII and FFVIII are the best FF games for me but the best game from Square is Chrono Trigger and from Enix is Terranigma. The only Dragon Quest that I liked was DQVIII... FFX was almost as lame as FFXIII IMO. Only people that doesn't care that much for the genre are the only ones that can stand games as linear as these but at least FFX had more things than 60 lame missions and corridors. FFXIII was all about going forward and nothing more cuz even the armor and weapon upgrades were useless...

BTW I totally agree with @Jon Ireson (first comment in the DS article). Is that guy you Hitman0769? Same avatar.

ShinMaster5083d ago

It's good...ok actually. But definitely far from being "the best".

The battle system pissed me off. I was actually watching something else while I blindly pressed "X" repedetely.

Everything felt too repetitive. It didn't feel like an RPG to me.

Oh, plus a mediocre story.

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cobraagent5083d ago

Prepare for a lot of disagrees but i will have to agree. I have no problem with the linearity nor with the complete absense of towns

Shang-Long5083d ago

How Come? i didn't disagree with you, because thats just your opinion, but why don't you mind?

exploring the open world is one of my fav parts of the series.

cobraagent5083d ago

You can explore the open world in the ff13(gran pulse). I don't want to talk to people that talk using speech bubbles and when i get in a town i want to get out of ,immediately

Shang-Long5083d ago

thats fair

alright i havent played FF13 but is gran pulse the only place thats open in the game?

cobraagent5083d ago

Have you played ff12? Imagine all the valeys in the game. Thats how big gran pulse is. Its huge. I have spent 90 hours in that place completing all the side missions

Shang-Long5083d ago

yea i have 12.

okay yea thats pretty big, and 90 hours is alot. so you enjoy the game for what it is. thats whats up

Redempteur5083d ago

actually having NPCS to tell you always the SAME thing over and over is ridiculous ... IMO

besides it didn't work with the setting .

Nothing was lost ..side missions are there ..there is plenty and they are far from being easy ( up to mission 30)

Carfting ? it's here
Shops ? it's here

My only real complain was that you went to this crazy themed park and you couldn't even play ONE mini game ..

ThanatosDMC5082d ago

^They took out A LOT from FF13 after all.

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Reibooi5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

I loved Final Fantasy XIII as well. I thought it was great. Certainly different then past Final Fantasy games but still incredible nonetheless.

The problem was people hyped the game up to no end and then when some parts of the game were not to their liking they blew them WAY out of proportion. Final Fantasy X was also quite a linear game. It did have towns and all that but was still quite linear. Yet no one complained about it back then.

Really I think people WANTED to hate Final Fantasy XIII and didn't really try to give a chance in a sense. Sure people played it. But if you play something wanting to hate it you are going to hate it.

And really this video makes me laugh with how ignorant it is. No ambition in FFXIII? The main reason they failed in most peoples eyes is they were TO Ambitious. They tried to evolve the JRPG when alot of people didn't want them to and in doing so made a VERY different game. That in and of itself was ambition. Ambition was relying on very little story and almost all character to drive the story forward. They tried alot of new things in FFXIII and just because poeple didn't like it doesn't mean it wasn't ambitious.

Games4M - Rob5083d ago

"Really I think people WANTED to hate Final Fantasy XIII and didn't really try to give a chance in a sense. Sure people played it. But if you play something wanting to hate it you are going to hate it."

What a load of bollocks.

People bought and played the game and have valid legitimate reasons for not liking it. You liked it - good for you, but dont try and downplay the fact that an overwhelmingly large portion of people (many of whom would have already been FF fans) thought the game was EXTREMELY dissapointing on many levels.

Reibooi5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

Notice how it's gotten to the point on N4G that you cannot say ANYTHING good about Final Fantasy XIII(or SE for that matter) without getting flamed or mass amounts of disagrees.

I could have left my comment at "I loved Final Fantasy XIII as well. I thought it was great. Certainly different then past Final Fantasy games but still incredible nonetheless."

Because that is a positive sentence about the game I would get nothing but disagrees.

People WANT to hate this game.

Bring up ANYTHING the game did very well. The incredible sense of scale or the fast paced battle systems or the incredibly beautiful CG or soundtrack or the massive open area of Gran Pulse and watch the massive disagrees and flame wars start.

That to me means people want to hate it. But then again everyone on N4G is always looking for something to complain about.

yess5083d ago

The game was one big autopilot..
You had no control of anything other than running to the next fight and watch the auto do the rest.
When upgrading the spheregrid i diden't even look at what i unlocked cause i had no control of using the powers i unlocked.
A bad boring FF with no soul..

Some thing that where good
The weapons, and i did also like the different enemy types...

Redempteur5083d ago

Well "coming out" saying that you loved playing FF13 is a crime for some ...

And there always this guy telling you that the game is " auto pilot "..

i just can't resist asking: " did you beat neochu on auto pilot ?"
Did you try the most challenging missions ? because you can't auto pilot them ... Also most of the epic fight FF13 has you are constantly managing the roles of your team ..

I laugh a lot when some people are telling me that the game is on auto pilot ... Titan quest #52 ?? sure do that on auto pilot and come back to tell the story because i sure won't believe you ...

I actually agree on reibooi on many points ... FF13 a was a ambitious game that tried many things..but when you get the "same path" reply you know that those that claim to know ff13 didn't went beyond the surface of this game ...
i spent 110 hours in ff13 and while i did 20h of grinding i'm still having fun beating the most tough foes ...

AUTO is for help ... and it's broken ..it doesn't work properly on many ennemies because you need proper input ( MANUAL ) to not waste turns like a noob

yess5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

I did beat the game 100% and you are right some fight you had to use tactics, keyword "some" and then ...Back to auto.

And another thing i really hated was, smal enemy smal damage, big enemy big damage..wtf???

Redempteur5083d ago

of course why need a stratégy (once you reach that point ?) your levels are enough ...

everyone use AUTO when they are farming Cps...

But auto during big bosses ??

And besides when you aren't auto ..you're probably switching paradigms ..

Meryl5082d ago

rubbish i was not even hyped for ff xiii(after SE's bad RPG's on x360 I had lost faith), but i was very sad after getting the platinum trophy, the story was nothing but rubbish, and that is what i play RPG's for a good story, ff xiii failed me so much, but it's no surprise as the genious behind FF left ages ago and is working on the last story as we speak

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darthdevidem015083d ago

I love it too but FF6 IS THE BEST FF EVER. come on thats undeniable, watcht he Opera Scene.

FOXDIE5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

lol this is one of the worst games I have played, the cut scenes suck the most. This is how the game plays:

walk straight path
face enemies
tap x repeatedly
watch cut scen
upgrade weapons/lvl
walk straight path
face enemies
tap x repeatedly
watch cut scen
walk straight path
face enemies
tap x repeatedly
watch cut scen
upgrade weapons/lvl

etc etc etc, every fucking 3-15 minuts, there is a cut scene, boring as hell, let me fucking play. Im at hour 20 and this is exactly what I have been doing those 20 hours, now im not gonna finish this shitty game sorry.

ThanatosDMC5082d ago (Edited 5082d ago )

People that supposedly "love FF13" are over looking that fact that we had to suffer for the first 10 hours of the game. 10 hours is a lot of sh!t to wade through.

Even if you loved FF games, it was too easy to hate FF13 because it makes you feel you werent playing the game, but just watching it. If whoever argues with what i wrote down and what Caso wrote, then please tell us if you didnt just tap X repeatedly on those many hours in the beginning.

I thought it was just a tutorial at first but hours went by and it kept on letting me just tap X to win. It was a horrible experience.

Meryl5082d ago (Edited 5082d ago )

even after you complete the game and get to do sidequests it very generic, walk to x mission find x mark, defeat x mark, upgrade weapons etc, it's all grind no fun, rubbish story, my advice to people stay away from ff xiii it is utter trash compared to ff1-ff10
my favourite FF;s in order
1. FF8
2. FF7
3. FF6
4. FF9
5. FFX

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iiprotocolii5083d ago

This video was hilarious. I haven't played the game as of yet, but I heard a handful of the same arguments made here by a couple of friends who have played it. I'm still going to get the game sometime soon, just not sure when. >_>

JoelT5083d ago

but at the same time he does make some very valid points. Good to see it from a different angle.

Dramscus5083d ago (Edited 5083d ago )

When I heard they were taking the parts of FF12 that I didn't like and adding more stuff I wouldn't like I didn't buy the game or even waste money on renting it.

No strategy in combat
No towns
No roaming
No backstory/more plot holes

They should have not gone multi platform, and not (from their own mouths) cut half of the game.
I know some ones going to say, but they said it's no worse for being muli plat. Bullcrap PR management.

Hitman07695083d ago

I like FF13 but I have to agree with some of the points made here!

Chadness5083d ago

This video is hilarious, even if you loved the game.

taz80805083d ago

FF13 is probably the only FF title to ever get so many mixed reviews. Funny video

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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."

Einhander1972140d 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.

Nyxus140d ago

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

Shane Kim138d ago (Edited 138d ago )

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

Elda138d 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_B138d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125138d ago (Edited 138d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic138d ago (Edited 138d 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.

FinalFantasyFanatic138d ago (Edited 138d 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.

Gamingsince1981138d ago

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

-Foxtrot138d 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.

Elda137d 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.

-Foxtrot137d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy137d ago

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

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gold_drake140d ago (Edited 140d 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

Eonjay138d ago

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

Snookies12140d 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!

Eonjay138d ago

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

shinoff2183140d ago (Edited 140d 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

KillerB138d 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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