Final Fantasy XIII

[HakktHazard]

Yeah, I enjoyed every aspect of the game at least a little bit. Especially enjoyed the story and the soundtrack... I do wish there was a bit more of an endgame.

[Audreysophie]

I am not too fond of it.


Leveling system is really poor, being limited and having trouble to level up, side-job only showing up in Chapiter 11 and the battle système which do not look anmymore like a rpg, meanwhile being not so hard.
( the last boss having an One hit ko attack on the leader is tiring. )

[KDC]

Played it, still trying to beat it. The Chocobo chick was a bit cute, that and the Fire Magic was pretty cool. I don't like when the leader dies, it's game over though...

[Samven]

I have a very weird relationship with this game.

On the one hand, I think, from a gameplay perspective, it's quite possibly the single worst game I've ever played. It's just too linear for me and I don't feel that I have any control over my characters in combat. I'm also not a fan of Sphere Grid-style upgrade systems. I hate having to manually upgrade each individual stat that my characters have and, while there are considerably less stats than previous instalments, I still find it a bit confusing how we have the option to upgrade all these different Paradigms for everybody when they all have their own innate "class" to start with. We're never going to level Snow up as a Ravager, for example, because he doesn't have a lot of attack magic. We're going to stick Hope in that class because he can learn every spell. It feels very much like complexity for complexity's sake. Call me stuck in 16-bit mud, but I don't see how there was anything wrong with the old class system. Just stick Hope in the Black Mage class and have him learn Fira and Thundaga as he levels up. I just feel that something as simple as that would be better.

On the other hand, XIII is also the first Final Fantasy story in over a decade that I've actually cared about. The likes of X and XII had good moments, but so many of the characters were completely irrelevant. Even Balthier, who is well-writen and extremely likeable, doesn't actually contribute much to the storyline. The plot is almost entirely built around Ashe. Not to mention you could remove everybody who isn't named Squall or Rinoa from the VIII party and it would have almost no effect on the main storyline.

XIII, on the other hand, did a much better job at involving the characters. It's the first time since the old school Final Fantasy games that I felt each character had a legitimate reason to be adventuring and that each one had their own issues, loves, losses and driving force. Snow in particular I really liked. I don't get why so many people complain about him. That kind of optimistic, never-give-up hero is exactly what Final Fantasy needed to drag itself out of the darkness. Also? I liked Vanille and I don't care what her detractors say. Like Snow, she did a good job at brightening the mood and keeping everyone from slitting their wrists when the going got tough. Not to mention, Lightning's pre-final battle speech was just awesome. The game is so much better for having gone down such an optimistic route: it's a huge reconstruction of traditional heroism. When the going gets tough, you get tough enough to feed it its own spinal column. Finally, the villain is almost close to escaping the "destroy the world because it's there and I'm evil" cliche that Final Fantasy antagonists keep suffering from...

So, yeah. I loved the plot but really disliked the gameplay. That's why I'm really looking forward to the other games in the 'verse, because I want to believe Square Enix can fix the problems with XIII's gameplay while still keeping the best world (in my opinion) since IV.

[RosyPosy]

I personaly hate this game like those that hate 8.
namely though I hate its characters and story.the game play ussualy makes up for it but in 13 i didnt feel like it did.

however Im playing 12 agian and still love it despite some of its fails.just beat gilgamesh last night Voiced by the all lovable BENder. in the fight he uses rip offs of other games weapons.(including a buster blade that has (fake) written on it in kanji.
and during the fight it plays a reworked battle on the big bridge.

unlike vann though lightning is just lame.I ussualy find someone in the party to love but 13 didnt give me one.
sigh...I want my Vivi TTyTT

[Yin]

Wow, Rosair. We have completely opposite interest according to your post lol. I HATED 12 because of Vann I felt like he didn't bring a compelling story into the game. Balthier and Basch seemed like they were the main characters. I still didn't end 12 because it just completely sucked to me... One day I will get back to it, but .... No time soon.

I loved Final Fantasy 8.

I liked Final Fantasy 13. It was a bit too linear and the battles were easy, but overall, I thought it was great. The characters had life in them, Sazh especially.

(Been a while since I played, so if I got some names wrong, oh well lol)

[RosyPosy]

Wow, Rosair. We have completely opposite interest according to your post lol. I HATED 12 because of Vann I felt like he didn't bring a compelling story into the game. Balthier and Basch seemed like they were the main characters. I still didn't end 12 because it just completely sucked to me... One day I will get back to it, but .... No time soon.

I loved Final Fantasy 8.

I liked Final Fantasy 13. It was a bit too linear and the battles were easy, but overall, I thought it was great. The characters had life in them, Sazh especially.

(Been a while since I played, so if I got some names wrong, oh well lol)

well the end of 12 is like the end of 8 in that you truly never beat tha villian.(vayne kinda defeats himself really)
useless characters like vann are annoying but I could stand him Because of Baltheir (baltheir constantly reminds people he's "the leading man" Which I agree with. the intire game coulda been made without vann and penelos so called story(infact Id rather have larsa and Reddas stay in party) seeing how Larsa and Reddas are 10x more involved in the actual events. when it comes to lightning however I detest her.she is unconvincing,(in a way only Tidus is famous for)

12 also has plenty of Starwars Parallels which I love the hell out of.(its type casted and scenerios also sometime match up (saving princess ashe/and penelo at one point)(empire-resistance)(theforce/Occuria-myst)(gabranth-darthvader)

It also has several welcomed game play changes.
the game is far from a perfect final fantasy- but its the best since 9 and 7.
it doesnt help that the Ivalice universe is my favorite universe(being that my favorite Finalfantasy is set in ivalice too,I love seenig all the nods to tactics-like the Galtean alliance refrences and it even refrences the boulve family)

[Samven]

Wow, Rosair. We have completely opposite interest according to your post lol. I HATED 12 because of Vann I felt like he didn't bring a compelling story into the game. Balthier and Basch seemed like they were the main characters.

There's actually a reason for that. Both of them were planned to be the main character during different stages of development. Square Enix just copped out at the last minute because, according to the sales of Vagrant Story, any male protagonist who isn't a bishounen doesn't sell. I personally call bollocks on this because Cloud sold half a bazillion copies of VII before AC hit him with the prettystick, but hey.

As stated before, I think Ashe should have led that game. When you get right down to it, she's the most important character in the 'verse, so why shouldn't she be the main character? We don't want to play as Bystander von Background. We want to play as the stalwart hero of the land. Just because she doesn't have a Y chromosome doesn't mean we won't be able to relate to her.

[RosyPosy]

Actualy I woulda rathered stared larsa.
Larsa is ina dangerous place,throughout the game, he opposes a war his murdering brother wants, and is only guarded by gabranth.

infact the entire game would be badass from that perspective. or even better from gabranths.

also itd make the logo make sense at least.seeing how thats gabranth on the cover.

[Samven]

Actualy I woulda rathered stared larsa.
Larsa is ina dangerous place,throughout the game, he opposes a war his murdering brother wants, and is only guarded by gabranth.

infact the entire game would be badass from that perspective. or even better from gabranths.

also itd make the logo make sense at least.seeing how thats gabranth on the cover.

Gabranth would probably make more sense as Larsa is about twelve years old. I don't know about you, but I think a central protagonist that young would not fly for a Final Fantasy game. Granted, they could age him up a bit.