FFXIII: Love It or Hate It?

I must say that I was very much bummed out after I got to the 2nd disk and the game still did not open up.Im not saying that its an awful game by any means but,It sadens me to play a ff game with no towns to explore,few secret areas to find,and a level system boring.The story is good but I just really miss the openness and freedom of past ff games.
 
Just a side note... I understand the reason for closing threads because there is a similar one already, but sometimes making a new thread for the same topic is a good thing because then people don't have to read 11 pages and dust the cob webs off a thread that's been dead since last year... ahem.

Anyway as for FF13, my opinion on the game is quite simple... it doesn't require the player. As someone who very much enjoys strategy, I found very little in this game. I can live with the linear gameplay, I had no real problem with the story or character development. Sure Final Fantasy is known for fun mini-games and expansive worlds, but I can't condemn them for at least trying new things to keep the series fresh.

What it always comes back to for me, is the game wouldn't have suffered much by losing the player. If they wanted to make another movie with beautiful graphics, they should have done that.
 
i love the game and the reason why is because i used to hate the game because of lightning for many reasons but after a couple of playthroughs i actually liked her
 
I am a year late, but I think I'm leaning to loving Final Fantasy XIII. I actually didn't want to play it due to being afraid of hating the game. I read all about the features and wasn't happy with the changes, so I didn't even bother to try it. Every now and then, I would get the urge to just buy it (I see for about $20), and I remember reading the reviews and the angry people bashing on the game, and I lose the urge to pick it up.

One day (it was actually yesterday), I was playing NCAA Football 12 and right in the middle of the game, something hit me. The last ten games I have purchased all made me feel empty. I mean I enjoyed them, but I didn't feel a sense of satisfaction playing them like I did with all the great JRPGs back in the nineties. I think the reason I stopped playing them was the fact that they took up way too much time and I would never go out and kick it with my friends. But I disgress. After I reached my epiphany, I took NCAA Football 12 and L.A. Noire and traded them in for Final Fantasy XIII and Nier (Nier has a wonderful soundtrack, but I disgress again), and $20 PSN card. After five minutes of playing Final Fantasy XIII, I felt the same joy I felt years ago.

...I felt like I was home again.

So yeah, I think I love Final Fantasy XIII. And the lesson I got out of this:

Never trust a review nowadays for JRPGs.
 
maybe i'm weird but I both like and dislike it. it has some classic final fantasy elements there that make it unmistakeably final fantasy, it draws you in and sucks you into it's world in a way only an ff game could,it has some great characters and the paradigm system is wonderful in its ingenuity. but I wanted more interaction from battles ,its too easy to just hit x constantly and this makes grinding (something I already don't like much) even more boring.if anything I want them to do the opposite with battles ,throw in more variety and options and make it more of a varied interactive engaging and exciting experience. I also really missed the stuff like towns a world map and less linearity.
I adore the graphics in the latest version,the 3d areas are really top notch and the cut scenes were something else,the seamlessness of the transitions is at times simply awesome.
 
My Issue with this game is that, well i am a farmer/powerleveler i like wandering around the world looking for random battles to aquire the perfect characters as early as possible and when i played XIII i felt that most of the game was sitting through exhaustingly long sequences with what felt like very little gameplay in comparison, yes the story was intriguing. but when you can press a through the entire game and only pressing A? i think XIII has over-simplified what Final Fantasy is. i understand the departure from turn based as a movement forward from the classic style but i felt like i had no control over my party. at least with XII's gambit system i had control over my party and the game didn't end if the party leader gets KOed. i dunno maybe i'm just angry at the lack of turn a based type system.....
 
I've noticed that most of the people who didn't like XIII say that it wasn't what they were expecting or was disappointing. And the people that liked it, are either really open to change or wasn't expecting anything.
As it was my first FF, i wasn't expecting ANYthing, really. I feel as though it was a great transition game for me, as it was more action-oriented.

I think the story was great, but the disc change scenes weren't as big as VII or VIII. Nevertheless, the story was gripping enough to keep me playing.

Even after playing 7-12(without 11) I can still say I love XIII.
 
I liked much about FFXIII Good characters, decent game play, and beautiful settings.

However, it is not my favorite games for a few reasons. The goal of the characters got confusing in the end as to what they were trying to accomplish. I didn't like the fact that all summons were gained by the storyline, rather than having some summons be gained by sidequests, which brings me to my biggest criticism. The game was too linear. I like that most of the Final Fantasy's allowed you to stray away from the main storyline, and gain summons and items that you didn't have to get to progress the storyline. This is where I felt the game failed the most in.
 
To be honest i haven't really got that far, I just got past the part where Lightnings sister turns to crystal for fullfilling her "focus" n shit.

So far it seems ok, the battles are far more easier to handle than i anticipated, the Crystarium systems up to shit though, i hate the 3Dness of it i cant get the CP's to go the direction i want them to (the small arrows point both left and right)

So far so good though, love using paradigm shifts, and although Vanille's slow, she's pretty good, i like her! =D
 
I'm playing it again for the 4th time and I gotta admit, it's so freakin hard to farm for cp and gil, it takes too much time but still loved it, Lightning is just too cool:))
 
Absolutely in love. Then I got hurt..qq.

I am just gonna add my two cents here on FF 13. I'm gonna state some obviously probably half beaten to death topics on the game. But hey, I haven't done it yet. so new to me. ;)

I remember when 12 came out. I ordered the special edition version, and strat guide. I was PUMPED. I rushed home popped it in the ps2, played about 8 painful hours and went back to game stop and got good credit, since it was still day 1. Needless to say, I HATE 12. But this is about 13, not 12 but I am using that as a prelude to put into context my feelings about 13.

I hear about XIII, and at first I was gunshy. I really wanted to know 0 about ANYTHING about 13, and it actually worked. A month or so after the release I go to my local game stop (my fav location, I have several around here) and I buy it. The clerk goes 'you DO know what your getting into?' and I go yeah, I've heard nothing but terrible things, gonna try myself. Again I rush home very akin to a geek who plays WoW buying the newest expansion. (hate wow btw) but the same kind of ZOMG I'm stoked deal, get home, get home. I pop it in my ps3, and the opening video, while it looked cool, I couldn't watch it. Start> New Game. And I was hooked. right from the onset. The visuals were breath taking. And I did quickly realize the game was linear. I didn't mind TOO bad. I keep playing...liking it. And yea, while the game has it's faults in places, I enjoyed it. But really, I felt something was wrong, yeah. here I am loving the game, saying I enjoyed it. But the eidolons and Gestalt. I found that very very stupid. In fact, I felt jipped. But hey, at least it was original. The absence of an ability to backtrack was a HUGE no no. So as much as I loved it, yea it did some very bad things. and while I'm awaiting the sequel. (ok, biting the bit) I got hurt realizing, Final fantasy we fell for is over..let's enjoy the installments for what they are. Bittersweet love.

Keep trollin, forum.
 
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Currently loving it, stunning graphics and easy interaction, great gameface, although FF arent all about these things its making it a game for me
 
I've got my 100% platinum for this on PS3 and even I hated XIII.. It's not so much that I hate for what it is, but by comparison to past FF titles. Disappointing for me as I felt it lacked substantially in many departments, mainly exploration & sidequests. I'm hoping for travable airships and possibly an world map to explore in XIII-2? If not I'll most likely still buy it.. It's FF, how can I not?
 
I'm pretty neutral. The game is enjoyable, albeit a little simple. The same goes for the story...

Aesthetically, it's stunning.
 
Lirael said:
I'm pretty neutral. The game is enjoyable, albeit a little simple. The same goes for the story...

Aesthetically, it's stunning.
Click to expand...

And when new graphics shit all over XIII, we will be sitting here saying, well no, mediocre story line, slightly better game play and annoying visuals. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess?
 
I'm loving this game. It's actually in my Top 3 FFs; with IX as #1 and perhaps equal with X at #2. It's easier and way more fun to play, unlike that crappy XII. I quickly placed my controller down after the first hour of that game. Yikes...

I know graphics arne't the most important aspect for games, but I must say, XIII is definately stunning. I love the atmosphere of it all. And Sazh has a chocobo in his fro. Now that's cool.

Anyway, I've only been an FF fan for the past couple of months; but I understand why some older FF fans complain of the linearity and the lack of back travel. For me however, they are not issues. I actually like this style. It helps keep me focused on the story. Personal tastes I guess. Still not as fun as IX though.
 
I started playing this yesterday, and I'm not quite sure yet. To begin with, the first chapter or so, I wasn't very impressed...then it suddenly felt a bit more FF to me! I'm beginning to enjoy it, although I think that the storyline is unbelievably rigid, and the fight system takes a bit of getting used to, but I think it's fairly good so far...
 
I'm somewhat indifferent to FFXIII at this point. I'm on chapter 11 (taking a break to play WKC) and I'm liking it more than I did to begin with. The characters have (admittedly) gotten better over time, and the story still keeps me interested. It's extremely linear, which in some cases I'm not sure if I care too much about. I can always go play another game if I was too bothered by that. Which I'm not. It keeps me going so I can just finish it. No backtracking, however, is annoying. I'd like to be able to go back places in case I miss anything that may or may not be good. Sazh is still the best character. By now, Lightning is no longer a heartless bitch, and Hope isn't whining about how Snow is a dick and needs to die.

The battle system has its ups and downs. It's fun during boss fights, but it can be a pain in the rear during normal encounters. But switching between paradigms to accomplish things has this sense of satisfaction to me, so I like it I guess. Love the Crystarium, because I loved the Sphere Grid. Just wish it wasn't locked down. And I need more CP now because everything is expensive oh Jesus.

Is it a decent game? Sure. I'm not having any problems just playing through it. Is it a good Final Fantasy game? No, not really. Only thing it has going for it are a few of the characters (and even then, that has never been FF's strong point, if I wanted a game with great characters, I'd just go back and play Tales of the Abyss again :jess:) and its story (in my opinion). Other than that, I could see FFXIII as a spin off instead of a main game. XIII-2 should hopefully clear a few things up, but Serah looks like shit and Noel looks girlier than Hope. We shall see.
 
Innovation at it's worst. I respect the battle system and music, but Square-Enix are neglecting what made the series loved to begin with. Squaresoft should make an overdue return.
 
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