Final Fantasy XIII

[Sephiroth]

Well im 7 hours in I can give abit more into what I think so fair on the game the new battle system is alot better than it was in FXII it sheme like this one is more of a mix of both X and XII but apart from that there nothing I can complain about the story is good the charaters are great but there is one who does get alittle anoying some time with she voice one moment she sound cute the next she sounds like she's haveing an orgazm.

[BadWolfX]

Right, so I'm 30 hours in, on Chapter 11 and I am in love with this game. It's the best I've played in ages.

The battle system is fantastic and the best the franchise has had yet I think. The AI is actually good and I love how they get smarter the more you find out about your opponents.

The characters....this has to be the most lovable cast ever (although I CAN see how they would grate on some people). Snow is the only one who I didn't love instantly and it took until Chapter 7 for me to really like his character.

The character interaction in cutscenes and outside of cutscenes is just fantastic. All these little moments of bonding between them is something we've never really got properly before.

The music....dear god, it's fantastic. I was a little unsure at first because it wasn't Nobuo, but Mashasi has done an amazing job. So many fantastic tracks. It's the most listenable soundtrack there is.

I love the story so far. Some surprisingly touching scenes (a certain climactic scene in Chapter 8 springs to mind). One of the things that stands out is that the FMV scenes have so much action. Such a nice change after the pretty but amazingly boring ones that XII had. It's hard to say why I like the story so much without spoilers so I'll wait and not bother putting any in.

There's probably so much more I could talk about but I'll stop the gushing here.

ETA: One more thing - Chapter 11 is huge. I was actually a little overwhelmed with it all.

[Gradon]

This eats FFXII, throws it up, shits on that sick, eats it again and shits it back out. <3

[Zombie Fred]

20 hours in this game so far (end of chapter 9) and this game's fantastic. Honestly, from the trailers I thought the story and design wouldn't live up to my expectations from previous older final fantasy titles. But I have been pleasantly surprised.
Characters are great; well developed and nice character progression. Music is fucking phenomenal (oh the music <3), and I’ve got no cons to give about the game.
A high 9 for me so far.

[The Dude]

Can't say how long i've played it for, about 7-9 hours I think, about half way through The Sunleth Waterscape I reckon, really enjoyed it so far though but just a shame I can't play it longer due to work commitments and its hard to just pick up and play, so odds are i'll probably restart everything in 5-6 weeks when im next free.

[Guest]

Haha platinumed the game after playing it 3 days. The disappointing part of FF13 is the lack of freedom to go around places unlike its previous predecessors. Fuck, sure miss the world map and flying an airship to go around.

[kiedistidus]

Haha platinumed the game after playing it 3 days. The disappointing part of FF13 is the lack of freedom to go around places unlike its previous predecessors. Fuck, sure miss the world map and flying an airship to go around.

If thats the case square should really discontinue the ff series and start releasing games like these as a whole new franchise,call me old fashioned but when I buy a game from a particular series I buy it for what its known for(free roaming world maps and interesting locations for example) it pisses me off how games are marketed as one thing but contain something totally different nowadays.

[Canas Renvall]

^ When was FFXIII ever marketed as a free-roaming world? Ever? >_>; It was (and is being) marketed as a visually incredible cutting-edge next-gen RPG, not roaming the overworld.

Personally, I don't mind the loss of the world maps, and the locations are beautiful enough where I can just enjoy the ride down the tunnel to the next beautiful location. I can understand why some would be disappointed, but it still feels like a Final Fantasy game to me.

[BadWolfX]

If thats the case square should really discontinue the ff series and start releasing games like these as a whole new franchise,call me old fashioned but when I buy a game from a particular series I buy it for what its known for(free roaming world maps and interesting locations for example) it pisses me off how games are marketed as one thing but contain something totally different nowadays.

Um, if you want your roaming world map, you're going to get it. Don't you worry.

[BadWolfX]

Okay, I finished the game. I beat it in 44 hours 37 minutes and I loved every second. I would have to say that it is my favourite Final Fantasy game - it's displaced IX off the top spot. I'm so emotionally drained now.

And after beating it, I had the most awesome realisation ever.

(Ending Spoilers to follow)

Spoiler:

show spoiler

The game logo? Yeah, that is Ragnarok around Cocoon. I read it in the Collector's Guide, looked at the box and my mind was blown. Utterly fantastic.

I'll post more detailed thoughts when I've had a chance to ponder on everything.

[kiedistidus]

[QUOTE=Canas Renvall;151593]^ When was FFXIII ever marketed as a free-roaming world? Ever? >_>; It was (and is being) marketed as a visually incredible cutting-edge next-gen RPG, not roaming the overworld.QUOTE]

Sorry bad wording on my part what I meant was If your going to remove a series key elements than its only part of the series by name so in a sense its like false advertising IN A SENSE.

[BadWolfX]

^ When was FFXIII ever marketed as a free-roaming world? Ever? >_>; It was (and is being) marketed as a visually incredible cutting-edge next-gen RPG, not roaming the overworld.

Sorry bad wording on my part what I meant was If your going to remove a series key elements than its only part of the series by name so in a sense its like false advertising IN A SENSE.

But seriously, no, that isn't false advertising in the slightest. And there's no need for that kind of World Map anymore. It'd be really weird if the games still had them.

And there's Chapter 11 for that open world stuff anyway.

[Carnivol]

Crystal Tools is currently underwhelming... good job, Square-Enix! (Long live LO+TLR)

Here! Have a wall of quoted text;

Haha platinumed the game after playing it 3 days. The disappointing part of FF13 is the lack of freedom to go around places unlike its previous predecessors. Fuck, sure miss the world map and flying an airship to go around.

If thats the case square should really discontinue the ff series and start releasing games like these as a whole new franchise,call me old fashioned but when I buy a game from a particular series I buy it for what its known for(free roaming world maps and interesting locations for example) it pisses me off how games are marketed as one thing but contain something totally different nowadays.

^ When was FFXIII ever marketed as a free-roaming world? Ever? >_>; It was (and is being) marketed as a visually incredible cutting-edge next-gen RPG, not roaming the overworld.

Sorry bad wording on my part what I meant was If your going to remove a series key elements than its only part of the series by name so in a sense its like false advertising IN A SENSE.

But seriously, no, that isn't false advertising in the slightest. And there's no need for that kind of World Map anymore. It'd be really weird if the games still had them.

Actually, kiedistidus is right, to a certain extent it is (false advertisement). Even if they didn't explicitly say there'd be any proper world exploration, town interactions, backtracking, etc..

With the name Final Fantasy (and all of its installments that only carries a numerical identity) comes a certain set of expectations. Final Fantasy, like Dragon Quest, has its origin from basically being a rip-off/carbon-copy of a certain game (Ultima III: Exodus), and up till now, both Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy have been very true to their original formula and roots in their main entries, with their spin-offs being the experimental playground for everything and anything that doesn't follow the same rules and expectations their respective franchises have had since their birth in the mid-'80s.

Whether you like it or not; Final Fantasy XIII, unlike any of its predecessors, only delivers some of those "traditional" elements. Since it's not an overarching narrative that ties the series together, it's certain key narrative elements and certain gameplay elements that ties things together. The narrative elements have been dropping in and out a bit, but the gameplay elements have almost always been the same (w/just the battle system being the stuff that's been noticeably altered. But even there there's never been any real radical or drastical changes, only presentational. Last really big change was probably ATB, which was introduced in IV and was only really absent in X, but more or less made a return in XI).

I'll end this post by quoting myself (after having a bit of back 'n' forth with some former colleagues who have mixed opinions about the game):

Personally, ignoring the technicalities, the only really major turn-off for me is the character design and art direction. Game mechanics are passable and the story's not all bad.

I just don't like these "aspirational" characters that all look they have personal tailors and stylists. (Also a bit annoyed by flashy world designs where cool triumphs over plausibility.) Anyway, if I'm to invest countless hours into something, I'd rather have it not look like MTV. It's just too much.

(I'll possibly be giving FFXIII a second chance either this summer or Christmas, but that depends entirely on how forgettable it appears to be and how some of the stuff in my backlog fares.)

[kiedistidus]

But seriously, no, that isn't false advertising in the slightest. And there's no need for that kind of World Map anymore. It'd be really weird if the games still had them.

And there's Chapter 11 for that open world stuff anyway.

To be honest though like most things this boils down to how people percieve things differently to others.Carnivol pretty much explains what I mean better than I could(I'm just crap at putting how I feel into text)

To me this is a final fantasy in name only.
I always thought that as any series progresses it would do so by building on the key elements that made it so enjoyable in the first place, not just investing on how realistic a characters fingernails should look or just how pretty the inaccessible scenery is but that seems to be the way the wind is blowing nowadays which to me is a bit sad.

[Carnivol]

Well this certainly explains a lot... (While also raising countless new questions)