Final Fantasy XIII

[Howling]

Having just played a large chunk of Final Fantasy XIII I can say this is got to be the worst FF game I have played. I have played all the Final Fantasy series in some part and to me FFVI is the best by some way, with FVII second but out of all the main FF games this is just plan bad.

If it was a just another RPG then most Magazine and other reviews would give it a 5 to 6 rating (or equivalent rating) but I have seen a lot high reviews score because it is a FF game. The game its self is a average game at best yes it has good points but the bad point chancel all of these out, and there is a lot of bad points to the game.

Were to start I guess the good points.

The Graphics are some of the best I have seen on the PS3 even Uncharted 2 have nothing on the graphics in FFXIII. The cut again are the best around nothing comes close, some are just breath taken. But this is it for the good points.

Now the bad points.

The story is average I have read reviews say that the story draws you in and you feel for the characters, I am still waiting for this to happen the story at the start jumps around so much that it just feels disjointed plus at points in the game you play for around 5 mins as one character and this is mainly in a cut scene then jump to another character this all leads to not a good way to get the story to the gamer and leads to not caring for the characters. The way the story is told gets better later in the game but but still not great as the story is so parodical, yes there is a number of twists and turns but there is not a great number of these. So far pretty much guess the story so far. I can see bit from other FF game in the story and some times it guess seems Square got lazy and have taken parts of there stories and mashed they in to FFXIII.

The battles again reviews have like this to chess and is the best out of all the FF games. I find to very dull yes you can be very tactical but 80% of the fights there is no need to be. The switch between class was done a lot better on FFX-2 with the cloths system and being able to change in battle a lot more fun and more point to change. If you have a 3 team just leaving two characters on attack (Commando or Ravager) and the third on healing (Medic) you can win and most times you get a 5 star rating a lot of the time. The only times that you need to change to and different class is on boss fights and if there is only two characters in the team, but again this is just change one character to a healing character and back once every one is healed and repeat and repeat and repeat until the battle is over. The Sentinel and the Saboteur class have not got a lot of point and found myself using them less and less until just stopped using them all together. The Synergist as some good point but only in boss fights so not used to much. With regards to the fights there a tactical side but again just used this on boss so all other fights are just click X on auto and repeat. But the main problem is the one character at a time if you have three characters in your party then why can you not issue commands to them all, with the other two being AI controlled and not the best AI in the gaming world it leads to them not always being helpful.

Next the leveling up is again stolen for a older FF game FFX and again done a lot better is FFX, in FFXIII the level is more forced as you have to advance all the class that that character has to stand a chance to win boss fights later on. Plus the game only lets you level high after the story has moved on so far then caps the level until the next part that opens the next leveling stage. The leveling of the weapons was great to start with but then you start getting better weapons and accessories, so I found myself not bothering with the leveling of the weapons and the accessories and just waiting until I get the better weapons. The next problem is with the battles because of the way the game is design to be very linear there is not many place to get more point to spend leveling up, this is down to FF and other RGPs moving away for the random battles to being able to see the enemy which to me is not a good move. I find with it this way if I cannot be bother to fight I just go around the enemy and move on.

The last thing that is just plan bad is the so called summons or Eidolons as they are called. The way you have to fight them to get them is nice but why not just beat them in a fight in stead if the bar you have to build up then press square before the death count runs out. Then we come to the summons them selfs and how what use to be a breath tacked summons (Nights of the Round to name one great summons) to a plan dull and boring fight a long side and being able to one move which is not big and over the top and does little damage. The Eidolons guess look wrong to me and the vehicle that the change to is just seems strange and out of place with the game.

There are other small thing like removing MPs this means that with three characters in the group change one of the AI characters to a medic and you can just leave the game go make a cup of tea/coffee and not worry to much about death. The retry option if you loss a fight is just a joke and has no place in a RPG. The very lost rant is to Square please please please stop say we are change FF to suit the Western gamer the western gamer that you are talking about is already buying the game because the like the FF series and the ones that don't like it are not going to buy it any way. I think this is just a cover up to change the game to a casual game so stop stop stop and go back to FF like the FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII. FFVIII and so on.

[Snaggletooth]

Hiya,

Welcome to the forum Howling, just to let you know we allready have a fairly comprehensive FFXIII thread
http://www.gamestm.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... &start=450

You may want to repost there will be sure to get a bit more attention, I wont comment to much though I'm really liking it.

[Howling]

Thanks for the information. We post this there to and see what people say.

[Snaggletooth]

whooops sorry for sugesting the move, didnt look properly last night was kinda tired when posting.
Just realised this in letters section.
Whoops.

[Bilge Rat]

FFXII was pretty awful, surely this can't be worse?

[INCINER4TE]

FFXII was pretty awful, surely this can't be worse?

Yeah, I didn't like XII but enjoyed the games that came before it, I played VII through to X~2. A friend of mine brought his copy of FFXIII over last night, I saw the intro and the opening moments of the game, it looks really impressive! I'll be getting it when i've finished off some of the other games i'm currently playing.

[OnThinIce]

Square cant go back to making games like FF7 + 8, the genre and the final fantasy series needs to progress. perhaps you may see this as a failed experiement, but its progress from FF12 and im sure they will get it right. It took them 7 attempts to make a classic remember

[Howling]

Square cant go back to making games like FF7 + 8, the genre and the final fantasy series needs to progress. perhaps you may see this as a failed experiement, but its progress from FF12 and im sure they will get it right. It took them 7 attempts to make a classic remember

Yes the FF games needs to move and change but the change made in FFXIII just don't work for me. Plus the FF series has always been 3-4 characters in battle that you control and to move away from this just doesn't work the game feel is not a FF game to me. I might be stuck in my was having played all the FF series from I to XIII (but not XI) but I just think that XIII is more for the casual gamer not a RPG fan. With the stripped down combat and the basic leveling system there is little of the FF game left that most people like.

Sorry the quote "It took them 7 attempts to make a classic remember" is wrong to me as FFVI is the best with FFVII second.

Here are the to five FF games for me:

1. FFVI
2. FFVII
3. FFIX
4. FFIV
5. FFIII

[WonderMel]

III on the DS was great, I loved it. Still remains the only one I've played to completion!

[DifferentClass]

If you like old FF games then play old FF games.

I dunno what you're trying to say with this letter, is it just you disagree with the review? They changed the formula with this one which is good, if there is one series that needs a kick up the arse it's this one. I think that's what they are attempting with this installment and that is going to effect the fans one way or another.

I think you should have gone into the thread that Snaggletooth linked to if you want to discuss the game, saying a review is wrong isn't cool, man.

[Snaggletooth]

I think its a welcome change to be honest being another fan of series having played from FFV onwards at the time 7 and 8 were 2 of my faves and started to get a little disapointed when started taking away feature like a world map in no.10 and so on, up to a year ago I would have defended and said 7 and 8 were the best of the series, but recently having gone back to them on PSN download, they just feel so dated, particually no 7 I must have played that game 10 times through over the years and never got bored with it in the past, but tried it again last year and just felt horrible the mechanics have dated horribly. If a new FF title was released in that style now it would be a dead franchise as far as I am concerned.

Not saying XIII is perfect by any means but the most fun I had with a FF title in a long time.

[Bilge Rat]

I played VII a couple of years ago and it was still awesome. If they simply remade that game with better graphics then that would easily be better than the last few titles. I am generally in favour of 'dumbing down' things like FPS and strategy games with things like recharging shields and simplified controls but RPGs should remain deep and satisfying, not stripped of all the features that make them what they are.

[mickmick198282]

If you take a look at Edge magazine this month, i think they agree with you. It scored a 5.

M

[Howling]

I wrote this from my point of view , not against any review.

I have just read the Edge review and I think that they have it spot on. The game has the best graphic and cutscenes of any game and will take a lot to beat.
But my problem is the game play it gets boring and seem to want to walk you thought the whole game by the hand. To me this version of FF is not a true RPG and is just to stripped down to be a RPG, this to me is not a good.

Plus like the reviewer said I just don't care about any of the characters.

[Pious the chosen]

Square lost it after 9. As fun as evil whales and Judges are as villians... the post - PS1 Gen FF's are not even close to FF8(my least fav 1 -9). I was blind to FF after playing FF12 for 3 days, trading it in for the RPG perfection that is Dragon Quest VIII(Ironically the last great game that had Square's name attached) and what I've seen of 13 i'm glad I left it on the shelf.