But of course you need Lightning. She was the face of the company for a generation and is a very popular character. She's the second most popular woman in Final Fantasy in Japan based on polls SE did.

Those polls can't be held to the point of being an absolute truth, its simple psychology, the last thing you have watched will be the first thing on your mind, an OG FF fan could play all main titles in a row, but because XIII was last on the last it will be remembered the best skewing in favor of it. And as for that comment about how the trilogy series' sequels were high selling and critically acclaimed,... http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/27/lightning-returns-lowest-opening-sales-final-fantasy-xiii-game/At some point people must have stopped listening to the BS, only way to explain this exponential drop in opening sales, hype train can only take a series so far, but at this point in video game journalism you can't trust reviewers anymore, especially for major franchises, the only time they will not pander to the company is when there is a mechanic/ design flaw that is so apparent that if they didn't call it out then they're credibility would be called into question. Assassain's creed unity for example.

Those polls can't be held to the point of being an absolute truth, its simple psychology, the last thing you have watched will be the first thing on your mind, an OG FF fan could play all main titles in a row, but because XIII was last on the last it will be remembered the best skewing in favor of it.And as for that comment about how the trilogy series' sequels were high selling and critically acclaimed,... http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/27/lightning-returns-lowest-opening-sales-final-fantasy-xiii-game/At some point people must have stopped listening to the BS, only way to explain this exponential drop in opening sales, hype train can only take a series so far, but at this point in video game journalism you can't trust reviewers anymore, especially for major franchises, the only time they will not pander to the company is when there is a mechanic/ design flaw that is so apparent that if they didn't call it out then they're credibility would be called into question. Assassain's creed unity for example.

 

That's why the polls were Yuna, Lightning Tifa. Ironically, Nomura's favourites, in that exact order. Lol.

 

All Final Fantasy sequels sell less than the one before. Even FFX-2 sold 2 million less (FFX 8 million, FFX-2 6 million). Even Dirge of Cerberus with the Final Fantasy VII name couldn't even get close to 2 million copies sold. 

 

Even with all this in mind FFXIII sold well over 400,000 copies on PC in less than a year. Enough for 3rd best selling FF game on PC, and only just behind VIII which had almost a year head-start.

Haha, I'd love a collection of them on PS4. Get all of Motomu Toriyama's masterpieces on PS4. Already got X/X-2 HD on it.

that's a great example of what I mean, Square announces FF X/X-2 for ps3, me wait for the game to be release, me buy the game, me having fun, months later square announces the game for ps4, me really pissed

that's a great example of what I mean, Square announces FF X/X-2 for ps3, me wait for the game to be release, me buy the game, me having fun, months later square announces the game for ps4, me really pissed

 

Haha, it's all good considering they're cheap. You can get the PS4 version for like $25 on Amazon.

As I go through this thread, I think the people who are criticizing FFXIII are the ones that are linear and close minded. Only Sora96 seems to be the open one unless I missed some other people who are also. I for one think those games are not that bad. In fact, they look very cool and if I had a PS3, then I would probably get them.

Edited November 24, 20159 yr by KingdomHearts3

As I go through this thread, I think the people who are criticizing FFXIII are the ones that are linear and close minded. Only Sora96 seems to be the open one unless I missed some other people who are also. I for one think those games are not that bad. In fact, they look very cool and if I had a PS3, then I would probably get them.

 

They just aren't for everyone, that's just the bottom line. Still great games.

 

They're also on 360 & PC. We'll hopefully get a collection on PS4 & Xbox One in the next couple years.

They just aren't for everyone, that's just the bottom line. Still great games. They're also on 360 & PC. We'll hopefully get a collection on PS4 & Xbox One in the next couple years.

True. That's like the KH series; not everyone's cup of tea. *coughcoughIGNcoughcough*

True. That's like the KH series; not everyone's cup of tea. *coughcoughIGNcoughcough*

 

I can confirm at least a couple people at IGN who like KH, and they also like the XIII series.

As I go through this thread, I think the people who are criticizing FFXIII are the ones that are linear and close minded. Only Sora96 seems to be the open one unless I missed some other people who are also. I for one think those games are not that bad. In fact, they look very cool and if I had a PS3, then I would probably get them.

So according to you,anyone who dislike this game is linear and close minded?Yeah screw us for having a different opinion right?

 

I mean it's not like most of us hate it for a reason or anything right?Dude I've played this game twice......TWICE and I still didn't like it

 

It's not the fact that the game is linear cuz FFX was,it's the execution.

 

I can be here for days stating everything wrong with the game but I know people will kill me cuz I differ in opinion and I should never dare to criticize the almighty god of RPGs that is Square Enix otherwise I'll be an infidel and a heretic

So according to you,anyone who dislike this game is linear and close minded?Yeah screw us for having a different opinion right?

 

I mean it's not like most of us hate it for a reason or anything right?Dude I've played this game twice......TWICE and I still didn't like it

 

It's not the fact that the game is linear cuz FFX was,it's the execution.

 

I can be here for days stating everything wrong with the game but I know people will kill me cuz I differ in opinion and I should never dare to criticize the almighty god of RPGs that is Square Enix otherwise I'll be an infidel and a heretic

Fine, not your cup of tea. Okay then.

I can confirm at least a couple people at IGN who like KH, and they also like the XIII series.

I find that a shock. Yet, even so, two people can't seem to change the opinion of most of that staff.

Absolutely BAD*SS!!!

I'd really like to play this game.

Wonder if the Savior costume will be available with Crimson Blitz and Night Lotus as her weapons. That's my favorite outfit.

are the FFXIII series good?

 

Depends on who you ask truth be told.  I've only played the first game, and thus I will only describe that one.  The plot can be borderline absurd at times, mostly because of its habit of not explaining quite a bit of crucial knowledge directly, but instead depending upon the player actually exploring the myriad of scripts and stories given to you throughout the game (stuff such as bestiaries, plot reviews, hopefully you understand what I'm saying here).  If you don't explore it, then the plot's going to be nothing more than blithering nonsense for the most part (just understanding the whole relationship between l'cie and fal'cie can be complicated enough without knowing what Ragnarok and Orphan's all about).  But if you take the time to read it all (and time it'll take), it then transforms into entertaining nonsense.  But ultimately, the plot is serviceable, given that you understand what's going on.

 

The characters... are actually not as bad as many people say.  Yes, Snow is stupid at times, Hope is an annoying twerp for at least a little while (he gets better as the game progresses, and Vanille is quite strange.  But Lightning's actually not a terrible character (from what I remember anyways), and Sazh's actually pretty awesome, and balances out the entire team with some well-placed comedic relief, as well as a decent character story between him and his son.  Really though, they're also mostly serviceable, and I found not really as bad as people say they are.

 

The shining stars of this game, really, are the gameplay mechanics and the soundtrack.  The soundtrack, simply put, is excellent.  Listen to Born Anew, Will to Fight, Fightning Fate, The Sunleth Waterscape, and so on, and to me at least, I hear... well, excellent music.  Perhaps not to the calibur of Uematsu's finest, but quite good regardless. 

 

Now gameplay-wise is where a lot of this game's notoriety arises.  A simple demonstration, instead of me explaining this for easily paragraphs upon paragraphs, which would surely bore everyone, is just this classic Jon Tron video:

 

 

Okay, to be fair, I mostly just posted it because it's hilarious .  But yeah, the most common critique is that the game is overly linear, without appreciating the irony that many of these people who say this probably at least like Final Fantasy X, a similarly linear game (if anyone wishes me to expatiate upon this point, I'll do so, but for the sake of whatever concisement is still possibly, I'll skip doing this for now).  To be fair, it is extremely linear, with at most a few branching pathways existing, all of which converging upon the same point.  And although Final Fantasy X may have been linear, most other Final Fantasies haven't been, especially XII, which has the opposite problem of being overly open at times.  I think one of the key reasons why Final Fantasy X may not have been as critiqued upon this situation to the same severity is because of the plethora of minigames and secrets that lurk around those select few pathways.  Although much of this content is locked up until near the end of the game, the games regardless does reward you for exploring those same pathways and backtracking at certain points in the game.  Final Fantasy XIII... doesn't even allow backtracking, much less having cool secrets hidden around the place. 

 

Now, the gameplay itself is quite different from any other Final Fantasy game.  It follows the ATB battle system, in which a character is able to perform actions as the gauge fills up, but how it implements it is quite different.  For starters, one only controls the lead character (the one you control on the field), and if that character dies... that's it, game over.  Thus leading to the dilemmna, how to make that character survive each battle.  That's where the paradigm system comes in.  The paradigm system essentially allows you to switch the party's roles on the fly, allowing adaptation to swiftly changing battle conditions.  There are six roles of which one needs to remember:  The commando class, which is essentially the warrior class, capable of dealing the most damage, the Ravanger class, which is the black magician class, the Medic class, which is the white magician class, the Sentinel class, which is the guardian class, the Sabateur class, which deals with dealing abnormal statuses upon the opponent (slowing them, poisoning them, reducing their defenses, etc.) and lastly the Synergist class, which deals with enhancing yourself and your allies (with protect, haste, shell, etc.). 

 

Now, although the base system seems simple enough, there's more complexities behind it then this.  For example, one can only retain a total of six paradigms, or total combination of roles, that one can have upon entering any battle.  Thus, just having six medic combinations will severely weaken your ability to deal damage, while having only Ravanger and Commando combinations will reduce your ability to sustain damage.  But there's even more to it than this.  There's a secondary system behind the paradigm system that truly makes it work, called the stagger system.  Staggering an enemy truly reduces their defenses to zero, and allows the team to deal massive damage to them, most of the time defeating them with quite the awe and excitement (I'm being biased here, forgive me ).  The trick is that you essentially deal two types of damage in this game, physical and magic.  Dealing magic damage allows the stagger bar to increase and once the stagger bar reaches a certain percentage point, the enemy will become staggered.  However, the stagger percentage will decrease swiftly, thus forcing careless players to start the climb all over again.  This is where physical damage comes in.  Attacking an enemy physically will barely increase its stagger percentage, but will severly slow the stagger percentage's decline, thus allowing you to start attacking from a higher percentage after healing or applying status changes.  Thus, one needs to balance keeping one's party alive, while dealing with both status changes and keeping the stagger bar from both decreasing too drastically and keep it raising upwards to reach the stagger point to retake control of the battle and/or calcify it.  When you unlock everything, this battle system is truly entertaining, regardless of its limitations.  The problem is... the linearity effects how much one can do in the battle system.  At first, one only has a few roles, and a limited number of paradigms and partners from which to choose.  And things don't truly open up until Chapter nine... which is about ~15 hours into the game.  Thus for those 15 hours, you're dealing with a neutered system, where you can't experience the full utility of this system.  And if the story and characters don't connect with you, those 15 hours can feel like a drag upon your enjoyment of the game.  The map doesn't truly open up until Chapter 11 either (I didn't reach this point by the way), thus there isn't even that to enjoy before this point.  Thus, for most people, this game became a game of patience before the openess began... and many people just gave up.  A shame, but honestly, so did I .

 

Now, there are two minor points upon which to touch.  The first is the Crystallvarium.  If you've played Final Fantasy X, then this system is just a redress of that one, except there a separate grids for each role that the separate character has unlocked instead of just one that all the characters share.  If you haven't, the Crystallvarium is essentially the avenue through which you level up.  Each enemy or boss gives you points (not sure what these are officially called ), more depending on how well you do in battle, which you then spend within this grid to earn new moves and gain more stats.  The Crystallvarium is just as linear as the game proper, though, and is story limited.  This means that there are level caps that are unlocked as one enters a new chapter or beats a boss character. 

 

The other point is eidolon fights.  I hate these, and these are the reasons I quit this game the first time around. I don't actually quite recall how these completely work though, thus for the sake of a more unbiased review, as well as preventing myself from raging here, I shall end this review/overly verbose explanation here.

 

Tl;dr:  This game's gameplay is good, the story's tolerable, the soundtrack's under-rated, the linearity's kind of bad, and eidolons are a terrible mechanic that should feel bad about existing and sit in the corner with a dunce cap on as I light them on fire... even if I forgot why I hated them so much

Where's Watch Dogs sequels? XIII's sequels were high selling. critically acclaimed sequels. And that's what matters to Square Enix.

Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns had the lowest Final Fantasy XIII sales opening. And didn't XIII-2 launch sold half what XIII sold on day one

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/27/lightning-returns-lowest-opening-sales-final-fantasy-xiii-game/

 

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/70938/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii/

 

It only took along time before they sold realy good

 

And about Watch Dogs... This is Ubisoft I'm sure they are working on the sequel right now

Edited November 25, 20159 yr by AwesomeKHfan

Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns had the lowest Final Fantasy XIII sales opening. And didn't XIII-2 launch sold half what XIII sold on day one

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/11/27/lightning-returns-lowest-opening-sales-final-fantasy-xiii-game/

 

http://www.vgchartz.com/game/70938/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii/

 

It only took along time before they sold realy good

 

And about Watch Dogs... This is Ubisoft I'm sure they are working on the sequel right now

 

Dirge of Cerberus had the lowest Final Fantasy VII sales opening. I wonder why that might be. Because it's the sequel. No Square prequel or sequel sells more. This is fact. The After Years hasn't sold anything impressive after many releases. Dirge of Cerberus only got a million even with the Final Fantasy VII name. Even Final Fantasy X-2 sold 2 million less than X.

 

Also, VGChartz are rubbish. They just estimate. They do not use official numbers.

 

Whatever you view the sales as, Square Enix will always consider them compelling, acclaimed & widely successful. So keep on hating, won't change their mind.

Edited November 26, 20159 yr by Sora96

Dirge of Cerberus had the lowest Final Fantasy VII sales opening. I wonder why that might be.

Maybe because VII was turn-based and Dirge was more like a third person shooter

Maybe because VII was turn-based and Dirge was more like a third person shooter

 

And it was highly anticipated because it was a sequel to VII. And not everyone's going to care about it being a shooter. Also, third-person shooters have dominated the last decade of gaming.

Edited November 26, 20159 yr by Sora96