“Why Final Fantasy XIII is a Bad Game”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Dec 20, 2009 02:40 JST
- Tags: 2ch, Final Fantasy, Production Controversy, PS3, RPG, Square Enix
Criticism of blockbuster RPG Final Fantasy XIII has rapidly mounted, with the initial observation that the game is almost comically linear giving way to a litany of further dissatisfactions, many quite unavoidable even for the game’s many staunch defenders.
A digest of criticism from 2ch:
The whole game is completely linear until halfway through [approximately 20 hours].
There are hardly any towns.
The party is always fixed. The whole game just repeats the movie-battle sequence over and over [In fact the progression is closer to movie-run-battle-run-movie-boss-movie-run-battle…].
There are rather a lot of movies.
Moving around is like a long marathon.
The whole game system is just a clone of FF10.
You can’t flee battles [You can’t avoid most battles either as there is no sneaking past enemies, including weak ones].
Your party is completely healed after each battle.
If the main character in your party dies it is game over [There are only ever 3 characters in battle, often less, and often fixed].
The best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved.
The summons’ transformation scenes are a joke [i.e. Odin turning into a horse].
The story is rubbish… [Spoilers omitted, but complaints centre on Snow’s constant and cringe inducing insistence that he is a hero and will “protect” whatever it is the antagonists are menacing this time]
Shopping is only done at “online” shops on save points, with no proper shops to be found.
However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].
There have been next to no changes from the demo.
The status screen displays no real information.
There are only 8 items usable in combat [For that matter, there are hardly any weapons or accessories, and the “crafting” system mostly consists of spending drops to upgrade their 2 stats].
There are no levels.
With all their advertising money, just how was it they failed even to get Famitsu to give full points?
Some of these criticisms are exaggerated or require further qualification, but on the whole they are fair, and any review which does not dwell long and hard on some of these design choices is certainly suspect.
It already seems clear the game is far from the dramatic step forward it was supposed to be, though whether these issues make the whole game “bad” is certainly open to question. However, it does seem something went very wrong with the game’s development all the same…
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Here: People who are susceptible to 2ch's and 2chan's trolling and people who haven't played the game.
I mean, so what if a handful of faggots in the internet say that this game sucks, would you outright believe it even if you haven't played it yet. This is what I was trying to say in the last FFXIII article:
NOTHING CAN SATISFY YOU GAMING CONSUMERS.
Squeenix cannot just give in to what you want. If they gave in to what fans of older FF series want, the franchise would die off easily. The franchise would be much boring. This is why FFX onwards were attempts to break FF. They wanted to appeal to a wider audience now, not just a handful of fans who rant for shit in the internet and who don't know two cents about the game and only hate it to join the bandwagon.
I say you wait for March and play it.
As for me, I'm enjoying every bit and piece of this game.
18:45 here
Also, don't give me that VERSUS XIII IS THE REAL XIII shit. It just won't work.
you're a fucking bigoted idiot. FFXIII fucking blows. Its plot is shallow and confusing. I could shit a better plot out of my ass. Yea the gameplay was mildly entertaining but thats about it. And what made final fantasy into a great franchise was games like FFVI,VII, and X. Interesting and dynamic characters with understandable plot and conflict.
I bet you just loved X-2. Id call you a faggot but I have more respect for gay people in that. In stead I'll just call you a n00b bitch because thats what you are.
To me nothing can top FF5 =D.
I don't really think a lot of movies is a bad thing. I'm confident I'll like this game. Everybody seemed to hate ff12 but I loved it. I also liked ff10. I think maybe people are expecting too much?
What's worst than a linear exploration RPG?
In the early FF series (1-4), you can wondering around into the wrong territory... ambushed by overpower enemies, which you can't possibly defeat until much later in the game... Try to escape but failed & get your entire team wipe-out - you just lost hours of progressions & levels.
Repeat that a few more times, & your interest to continue the game will diminished to ZERO.
omaigot, no town exploration? i tot towns r the elements of RPG, especially JRPG!? No lvl up? wtf?!?!
Interesting to see.
That people love to hate. And that SquareEnix failed such a easy one-shot win that FF usually is.
I can just laugh at it all and wonder how the journalists will try to cover it up and how they will motivate a good grade.
With this being a single line game, makes one wonder: Is this the result of FFXIII going multi instead of being exclusive to the PS3?
All in all. With this new info I´ve been less and less interested in getting this game.
This is because of failbox aka rrodbox they degrade the game because of gaybox.
Just how the suckstation made the N64 look like crap when the N64 could do better 3D with the ZBuffer.
Ugh, this is just pitiful. It seems as if Square REALLY dumbed this game down in order to appeal to a wider variety of people...not surprising, though.
This game, more than any FF game since VII, seems really desperate to be the next Final Fantasy VII and recapture that huge franchise appeal. You could see it in the art design and the sci-fi world, and now you see it with how they've oversimplified the gameplay. While it's true that VII simplified some things when compared to the SNES titles, those were small changes. This game goes overboard with the simplification. Instead of just streamlining things, it went full retard.
What's really sad is that after the huge leaps forward made by XII (smooth integration between battle and field, a unique fast-paced combat system, a story written above a 6th grade level...) ALL of its innovations have been shitcanned in favor of this crap.
i think the battle system like FFX-2 is the best yet... why, oh why they killed old turn-base system?
No, just no. Crisis core's battle system was the best since you could actually DODGE instead of just standing there like an idiot.
...FFVII wasn't great. In fact, it's overrated. Final Fantasy VI is where it's at.
And Final Fantasy IX
That's beside the point; I never gave an opinion, one way or the other, regarding VII. A lot more people out there are clamoring for a FFVII remake than FFXIII. If you think XIII hate is bad, wait till square mishandles VII. If Square Enix can't produce a great remake, I'll be sure to avoid the internet for a month after its release.
They won't care, they only care about the name. Advent children, Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, and Before Crisis all show this. None of them I would call good, okay, playable/watchable maybe, but not good, and yet the 7 fan boys lapped it up like milk. If it's called FFVII everyone will fool themselves into thinking it was good.
A lot more people is quite an 'overstatement'. But these people are the same one who need to realise that it's 2009/2010. Not 1997. FFVII been released, everyone. Whilst it's nice to go back to the classics, we all need to realise that FF needs to change from time to time.
And also, 'these people who want a FFVII' remake are rabid fanboys/fangirls that really need a permanent ban from the internet.
No, actually. Final fantasy VII was the game that re-immersed rpg's in the U.S and defined quite a few things about them. Not to mention VII STILL has the best story out of any of the final fantasy's. It brought in new things such as the "Limit Break" System which was copied in thousands of other RPG's and turn based games. as well as many other things. Honestly Square needs to just go back to what worked instead of forcing crap like this down our throats.
take at 9 and add 5 then we can agree with each other k
FFVI was the absolute *BEST* FF game period.
7 and 9 were acceptable.
Screw 8, and especially BIG Screw and FU to 10 & 12!
FF13
No open World Map?
No LVLs?
No Shops?
Full heal after each battle? **WTF!!**
This easily qualifies for AUTO-FAIL without
even needing to play this crap. Add on top
of that, the whiny reports of Snow's character,
and this game is just too much to take.
Sankaku Complex, the site to read if you can't be bothered going all the way to the GameFAQs forums.
Yes, somehow copying and pasting forum posts counts as news here.
yes of course Sankaku complex it's not the NYT
So, they finally released a game so bad it can actually kill the franchise? That's about time!!! I mean, F.F. games were out on the NES even before I got pubes, so for god's sake, it is just about time for this to finally stop.
Why not start from scrach and create something new? Yes, I know F.F games are supossed to be different from each other, but... really why not just let the "F.F." tittle go?
Because it's a series most every gamer is familiar with. Meaning it's too popular for square to "Just let die." When FF hits rock bottom is when they'll let the series go.
I read these 'criticism' over on another forum and suffice to say, it was the usual typical fanboy whining.
Oh, but I won't know until I play the game. But until then, I'll use my instinct and I've watched quite a lot of video. I can't comment on the story, but the gameplay is fucking easier.
If it anything when I watched that certain boss battle from a guy who broadcast it live on JustinTV, it's that 'endlessly attacking' gets you nowhere. It even applies to normal battle.
There is strategy, and quite a lot of it, especially with the Optima Change.
The Persona Syndrome. The leader dies, then you all die. I liked that <3
With a difference. It applies differently to each character. Some cost more for one character, another character can do it for a whole lot less.
Hey, it's better than Keyblades transforming into fucking motorbikes.
Optima Change, Improving Framerate, Changing the commands so that 'launch' is automatic, making sure when a enemy dies, your character doesn't hit thin air.
There's a fuck ton of changes in small aspects. What kind of changes did you expect? Serah in a bondage suit as a playable character?
However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].
If there anything that Fallout did right, it's that you can find strong weapons if you can find it. I never really understood why the next town over have a 'stronger list of weapons' than the last one.
Fucking hell, is this guy getting on about FFXIII or is he moaning that about an RPG FUCKING CLICHE not being in it?
How did Final Fantasy XII get full score? I'm not hating FFXII for the hell of it, but FFXII had some nice changes, but it brought out some hideous flaws with it that was resolved in the Zodiac System version. My moral: Never listen to Famitsu. EVER.
Seriously I still don't see the problem with the game.
Whats the problem with linear? I like it, not too much hassle.. not waste time running around headless. I dont have that time anymore. Just want to enjoy, quick, have fun, enjoy a great story, great music, great visuals, great experience, a great game. FFXIII has everything. I'll save the endless grinds and exploring for XIV MMORPG, where you need to know things, FFXIII.. just want to enjoy and be over with. Glad i can save energy for XIV. Thank you SE.
Enjoy your FF, fanboy.
Meanwhile I'll go back to playing Megaten games on the ps2 while I wait for Atelier Rorona to come to the west.
he's no fanboy, sounds ridiculously casual to me.
I'd like to see half the nutcases on here whining about FF and jumping down Square's throat to go and make a better fuckin game. As if they could do any better with their shitty as cliche ideas (more than likely).
Half the faggots posting on her are just incredibly pickyass teenagers who can't get over their weirdass homones. BOO HOO SQUARE ISN'T MAKING 'FFVII'-like games anymore.
GTFO and on with the past.
"LINEAR GAMEPLAY..FAIL"— No stfu and gtfo. Go play one of those lameass FPS if you want freedom. It's a fuckin RPG which SHOULD focus on Story and Character Development. FFS. Whiny hellholes on here.
LOL did somebody just insult your grandmother?
Grow the fuck up.
It's one thing to say YOU don't like it, but another to attack it.
"Traditional". You want traditional? Go play DRAGON QUEST because this is —FINAL FANTASY—. God, people are stuck in the 90s and can't get over the fact that things CHANGE.
this article is classic fanboy whining. I notice almost all the critism is about something not being the way it is in the "real" FF-games. There being no levels doesnt make it a bad game. Just different from what youre used to. Same goes for almost everything you pointed out. Sorry, but you guys need to accept the fact that Square Enix isnt interested in making identical games forever. That they try to do something else (even if you think it goes towards simplifying. which they may be doing. but FF has always been a mainstream genre, so cant really complain about that either) isnt a bad thing in any way whatsoever. Its really subjective, actually. If you arent happy with the decisions Square Enix make, thats too bad. but you cant judge them for it, and you cant call the game bad for it either. but you shouldnt even be upset about it in the first place, so i dont really see the issue. Grow up, fanboys...
This what I summed up when I saw the criticism on another forum and I feel the need to 'write it'. Oh, I hope my opinion is justified when I play it, but until then...
I treat this as a dramatisation from a 2channer who's upset because it broke the RPG clichés and there's no loli in it.
If it anything when I watched that certain boss battle from a guy who broadcast it live on JustinTV, it's that 'endlessly attacking' gets you nowhere. It even applies to normal battle.
There is strategy, and quite a lot of it, especially with the Optima Change.
The Persona Syndrome. The leader dies, then you all die. I liked that <3
With a difference. It applies differently to each character. Some cost more for one character, another character can do it for a whole lot less.
Hey, it's better than Keyblades transforming into fucking motorbikes.
Optima Change, Improving Framerate, Changing the commands so that 'launch' is automatic, making sure when a enemy dies, your character doesn't hit thin air.
There's a fuck ton of changes in small aspects. What kind of changes did you expect? Serah in a bondage suit as a playable character?
If there anything that Fallout did right, it's that you can find strong weapons if you can find it. I never really understood why the next town over have a 'stronger list of weapons' than the last one.
Fucking hell, is this guy getting on about FFXIII or is he moaning that about an RPG FUCKING CLICHE not being in it?
How did Final Fantasy XII get full score? I'm not hating FFXII for the hell of it, but FFXII had some nice changes, but it brought out some hideous flaws with it that was resolved in the Zodiac System version. My moral: Never listen to Famitsu. EVER.
Want real RPG? Try games like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Fallout or The Elder Scrolls.
jRPGs stopped in the time, they are the same since 80s.
You missed Neverwinters Nights and Arcanum. Also Elder Scrolls aren't that RPG really, since you basically have to save the world, and always in the exact same way; I guess you can define your character in side-quests, but since there's no incentive to most people don't and just do all of them... Oh well, the days of RPGs are slowly going, video-game and paper, and this makes me sad.
Lol, weaaboo fags whining over FF.
"I want another FF just like FFVII". Yeah.. no. GTFO over that game. And for all those dickheads clinging to a reviewer's nutsack, uhh, how about you play the actual fuckin game before jumping down Square's throat?
"LINEAR GAMEPLAY...BOO HOO"—Man, I'd like to see half the trollcracks on here come up with THE "Brilliant" plot, world, and character design for a game*.
Don't like it, don't play it. They don't need your shitty cash to make them feel any better. FFI-FFIX had it's time and now they must cater to a ever changing audience in our time.
*Yeah, an unsuccessful execution of cliche elements comes to mind undoubtedly..
Shit stays shit regardless of the audience, fanboyfag. Nobody stops them to make an pretty looking mouthgaping-CG filled RPG WITH the gameplay of FFI-FFIX. I'm sure even today's audience would rather appreciate that rather than an ACTION-ADVENTURE game with a few rpg elements. But you won't listen to reason anyway, so go ahead and throw your money away for MOAR maintream shit, don't blame anyone for pointing out the obvious.
I agree... Ar TOnelico III will be so MUCH better!
This.
Can't wait! Ar tonelico changes it up with every installment, I think the battle system and character designs for III look super interesting. Since they added music crafting as well as bringing over the item crafting (I assume they're bringing it over anyway) there'll be a whole new element to fighting. Not to mention that each Reyvateil now has three other personas with their own names and strengths, it'll be like having your own bishoujo army... so yeah, I'm really really looking forward to it!
Those who are bashing this game already are the same people who consider FF8, FF10, and even FF10-2 to be great games. Irony much?
But that aside, I do not see a problem with linearity in gameplay. most RPH's tend to be that, and somehow everyone is able to omit that and say "this game is teh awesomest EVAR1!!" I'm all for objectivity, but I see none in these criticisms.
Looks like I'll have to see for myself, but I don't think it will be as bad as people already claim it to be.
FFVIII and FFX-2 were good games; saying that I'm not saying this is a bad game, just not great, which hurts because of all the expectations.
FF8 was horrible. After they made FFVII, they decided to mess the next installment by a ridiculous plot that was forced to progress, as it didn't feel like it went along naturally, and the battle system was just bad. Nothing about the game was, or is, redeemable, except for maybe the music.
FF10-2 was just a huge bowl of fan service, nothing more.
FF13, though it may be "linear", looks more promising than you seem to realize, as you believe it's below the value of either games I just mentioned.
FF8 was driven by an episodic force I'l admit, but the characters reaction to that force was believable and often humorous, and the story was silly at times, but not as bad as people make it out to be. As for the battle system I assume you mean junction as the battle system was just pretty standard ATB, though the limit re-load trick I guess was a little game breaking; either way, I liked it, it was overly powerful and made the game ridiculously easy, but it was interesting none the less. Honestly the only complaint I have is the romance being a little forced and the brokenness of the limit system, but it was an interesting game, with a fair story, even if one a little too western influenced for most people taste. Also the side-quests were well spaced and a lot of it really did well in creating the world, especially the Laguna sequences, giving the world a deeper sense of history, even if only the short term was ever actually mentioned in them.
As for FFX-2 the story was rubbish and the fan-service unbearable, but it had a great sense of humour which is something entirely missing for X, and made the ridiculousness of Spira seem almost acceptable. More importantly it had a really fun battle system, which kept you on your toes, wasn't too complicated for the speed it went for and wasn't too simple either. The forcing you into wait mode was really annoying in battle, and the stories lack of any real motivation was really annoying, but it was a fun ride which was more reason for me to keep playing than 'chase Sephiroth because we assume you have a boner for him.'
FFXIII has given me no reason to believe it has a particularly interesting system, has alienated people from character stats, has gotten rid of alot of the feeling of the world, hasn't got the great sense of humour I wish more console RPGs had, and just doesn't feel like an interesting full world to me (admittedly I haven't played it long, but still).
As for better than, I would advise you learn english, I said FFXIII isn't great, and FFVIII and FFX-2 were good. Positives clearly go fair, good, great, superb not being great isn't the same as not being good; I've not played enough to say if it's not good, but I hope so. For the record FFIV DS and FFIX are the only FFs I consider superb, with great taking FFIV, FFV, FFVI and FFIII DS, the rest being good except for II and XI which are both fair... XIII is obviously not included since I haven't placed it yet.
I thought FF5 was the best.
It's because everyone thought Final Fantasy XII was too extensive, and now people miss all that extra stuff to do for Final Fantasy XIII. 3-4 years ago, Square Enix did a questionire about keeping all that extra options like it was on FFXII, and it got alot of feedback from that and I quote "FFXII IS TOO DAMN COMPLICATED" " PLZ MAKE FFXIII EASIER PLZ" but that's to sum it up of what the feedback was.
Of course it could be easier to blame Square Enix, because for one, they shouldn't of listen to the fans on that because of a generation of people that aren't used to role play games.
But yeah, I'm going to have to blame Square Enix for 90% screwing up the game and 10% of the fans as well. Who cares what I think anymore...
Next month is going to be so bad in this world...
it's more half and half, fans screw everything up.
The majority of everything here is what I thought was crap about FF:Crisis Core, yet everyone appeared to love that game and regard it so highly...
In which case, Crisis Core is my blame for everything bad in this game, as the audience there pretty much told square "IT WORKS!"...
There are two problems with this game: the fact that there are no "towns" and the linear GAMEPLAY (not story, assfags). Most of the FFs disguise the fact that you only have so many choices to make with a large world or a bunch of sidequests. Even after you explore and run around doing errands for people you still have to return to "save the crystal!" or "stop time compression" (what?). Also, if your characters are strong enough, why bother using magic or summoning or whatever? If an attack or two kills my enemy, then that's good to me.
Sure, having no levels feels awkward for a FF game, but 10 didn't have levels, and it never affected me in the slightest. The rest of the game, however, wasn't too exciting.
The only thing that really gets under my skin is that you are healed after every battle. What the hell? I'm not sure if this is an indication that the battles will be fiendishly hard or they just wanted to throw in a random change. And no, I have yet to actually play the game, so the points I made are based solely on those raised in this article. Sankaku has a tendency to mercilessly rape the subjects of its articles...
"The only thing that really gets under my skin is that you are healed after every battle. What the hell?"
Word, this trend is a little bit annoying, like all those FPS games these days who prefer to have a health regeneration system as opposed to the traditional health pick-up system. They do it because it makes things easier on the level designers, streamlines the checkpoint save system implementation somewhat, and means the player never has to back-track for a health pick up - something which game designers view as undesirable as it breaks the flow.
But despite this I still don't like this trend, especially when it's applied blindly; The news that Deus Ex 3 will use such a system hit me particularly hard. In a Deus Ex game I'd expect to have to micro-manage this sort of thing. That was part of the game...
SquareEnix is an abomination.
I dunno, I still want to play it for myself before I completely write this game off. Titles in the series since VII have been lacking, but they weren't terrible. A lot of people started bitching with VIII and haven't stopped since.
Nothing is going to compare to VII, and if you want to play the same recycled bullshit all the time, there's always a new Mario Bros. title just around the corner.
This game obviously isn't going to be the killer app that everyone was expecting/hoping for, but just because it's not the greatest game ever, it shouldn't be completely dismissed before we get our hands on it.
Still worth it considering it's a 40 hour movie for 70 dollars....
I would think it better to invest that 70 bucks in a quality game, movie, anime, hentai, etc. instead of buying this abomination. It doesn't do the movie or game aspect very well at all.
Ouch Square Enix, ouch.
Hopefully this is all just bs....Cause I will be seriously pissed if this is another ff 12.....or 10....and please don't tell me they are pulling off another Xenosaga...I don't need a freaken movie game. Truthfully I would like to know when graphics became the corner stone of gaming.....what happen to story and gameplay...who gives a damn how nice it looks.
I ask this every time someone mentions any Metal Gear Solid after the original PS one.
so the only side quests available are some chocobo digging game and mob hunts?
if so, are they even half decent excuses to tack on more hours to the game or they're just plain boring?
So when is Square Enix going to merge with Atlus?
Sounds like they stole an idea from Xenosaga with the shops being in the save points...
Every time that FF tries to make a major change in the game dynamics, it seems to slip backwards than going forward...
maybe PS3 and Xbox 360 versions are planned to be a beta testers for PC
dammed 200 ++ trolls !!!!
this is not same like Endless Eight
If you think this game is boring don't buy it.
They have work for many years for this plz show some respect.
if they want peoples money they should listen to the people who are going to buy it.
after putting so much effort to advertise FFXIII, Sankaku surprisingly reports a defaming judgment on the game. Well done.
Suddenly, the PS3 version becomes the beta test for the 360. Sony shits bricks, Microsofts bribery pays off and all is good with whe world.
I'd fucking laugh SO HARD.
I am going to approach this game on the mindset of an Action RPG, lots of eye candy, and involving storyline over researching forums for the best character multi build with clone knights of the round materia chain.
yes, I will do that, because I will play the game for Lightning.
If I'm buying this game, I'll probably be just playing around with the camera
great idea, anon
Is anyone really surprised? I mean this is Square we're talking about here.
Shutup people, you`re still gonna buy it and play it.
Final Fantasy & everyone = fate.
it figures, with a president that believes that videogame consoles are a thing of the past.
lets just hope that FF versus XIII isnt as shitty and linear as this game, apparently its gonna have a world map like previous FF(pre-FFX).
Come on SE whats the matter with you
I just want good old FF back. they were masterpieces from I do X and since that fusion with enix their games are getting crapier and crapier.... SQARESOFT COME BACK PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO SMTH FOR FANS< NOT FOR MONEY!!!!!!!!!
Except that Enix has a grand total of about nine freaking games and hasn't influenced anything, negative aspects all come from Square.
They can't come back, they can't afford it, also FFX-2 was a great game.
Wait, were people expecting 13 to be good? Square Enix has, as already mentioned, failed miserably for 7 years to make a game worth a damn. Idk why anyone expected squeenix to make a non-linear, good RPG. Sorry but every FF game since Enix took over including FFTA2 and all the new chronicles and everything are awful. Final Fantasy shouldn't have made it past ten games anyway.
I feel too sick to say very much more but....you're clinically psychotic if you thought the golden age of Square wasn't over. Square committed suicide long before Enix bought them. It's a miracle that they managed to actually make one last amazing game (Final Fantasy X) after how complaisant they become with the extremely over rated titles 7, 8, and 9. The Final Fantasy franchise was seriously pushing it even before 7, but they managed to squeeze out a few more good games afterwards. It's pretty simple: You can't make the same game ad infinitum with the exact same naming schemas, exact same enemies, exact same spells, and practically identical stories and environments. If you didn't notice it, Squeenix actually made a WW2 game. If a company that makes RPGs exclusively suddenly makes a WW2 game, you know they threw in the towel. They threw in the towel when they made ff11, horrible game, and ffx2 was even worse.
Japanese gamers suffer terribly when faced with too many options: choice paralysis and the fear of doing something wrong or missing something makes them miserable.
You want to know why you're running down a miles-long hallway with no shops, towns, sideplots or hidden bonus items that you get one shot at before they're gone? It's because Square-Enix asked a bunch of people whose entire cultural upbringing has made them neurotic and risk-averse what they'd like to see in a game.
Congratulations, Japanophiles. Wallow in it.
but is the game fun? thats something they didn't even touch on. so what if its NOT LIKE ALL THE OTHER GAMES. thats fucking problem with jrpgs, they're all the same. it good that they've westernized final fantasy.
It's kind of amazing how much games have changed over since the NES days. Even up to the PS2 days, these kind of games would be acceptable, if not expected. But now, given the innovation that many developers are into, as they slowly change the expectations of what a game is and what it should do, it's just not acceptable anymore to make the same thing over and over. Synthesized midis get replaced with orchestral scores. A few lines of dialogue get replaced with novel-length epics with multiple routes, and gameplay itself becomes more focused on playing however the player wants to, rather than how the designer forces you to. With that level of pressure, I'm sure it hard to make innovation on a series so long running as Final Fantasy...but for it not to be the final one...they're really going to have to start pushing the envelope.
X&V,
K.D.S.
Lots of people said something, then said something else as if they hadn't just said the first... First off, people have their own taste. Correct? Everyone has their own mind and will think differently about things. Some may think the same about things. I'm going to be honest I didn't even read half these comments. Anyways, just because someone doesn't like what you like doesn't mean they have "good" or "bad" taste. People like to make things simple by seeing black and white, but the sad news is, there is no black and white. Only gray and the line you draw. Just because you decide something is good or bad doesn't make it a fact, it's just what you personally think. Most things come down to a matter of personal opinion. And there are no right or wrong opinions. It isn't a good or bad game no matter what. It's just a game.
that makes me sad to my ectgromatic being
Omfg... you never stop complaining about this game. If you hate the game so much stop posting about it. But if your a true die hard final fantasy fan you would love the game for what they made it as. Truthfully a game may have some glitches or has some scenes you have to control the character in halfway. I'm considering this game not that bad because I know my final fantasy and I'm a person who has been one of the demo players. It's not bad for at least 5 minutes of the game. You start out with fantastic stats to get you going throughout the game correctly... stop bitching about it.
No. I've been a diehard fan since I played V (Loved that one) Then continued with VI (That one was okay, kinda wierd.) Then VII (Which I never got to finish cause one of my friends stole it. Still loved it though.) Played the Demo for VIII and though it was a little rough. Skipped IX Went straight to XII after and thought it was okay except for vaan's annoying character and then went back to X and thought it was just well... suckish but still playable. Now i've played this one and it's just not up to snuff compared to the others. Hell dirge of cerberus was more final fantasy than this one and it was a third person shooter! Even being an absolute fanboy of the series doesn't mean you'll love every game that comes out. Hell I absolutely hated Final fantasy Tactics: war of the lions and yet I like most every final fantasy including the first three!
Sounds like Last Remnant got recycled as well as FFX. Healded after every battle, no levels, but skill and item level ups given (seemingly at random)is what made Last Remnant tick: Squarenix must have thought these were good things.
I'm going to wait for the US release of Ff13 but I realy hope it doesn't suck.
Guess I'll be getting Star Ocean International and White Knight Chronicles Instead...
sheeze japan is waking up...
that took a good 10 years...
LOL @ at all the apologists. Oh noes! Somebody just criticized your messia-Final Fantasy! Quick, we gotta come up with some bullshit responses so we can justify spending our money on a mediocre game!
I will now address every single fact:
>The whole game is completely linear until halfway through [approximately 20 hours].
Good. I want it to be consistent. Besides, this implies the game is at least 40 hours long.
>There are hardly any towns.
Great, so I get to do an adventure instead of talking to retarded NPCs.
>The party is always fixed. The whole game just repeats the movie-battle sequence over and over [In fact the progression is closer to movie-run-battle-run-movie-boss-movie-run-battle…].
So it's a JRPG.
>There are rather a lot of movies.
So it's a big JRPG.
>Moving around is like a long marathon.
So it's a really big JRPG.
>The whole game system is just a clone of FF10.
How? In that it's turn based?
>You can’t flee battles [You can’t avoid most battles either as there is no sneaking past enemies, including weak ones].
Good thing I'm not a pussy.
>Your party is completely healed after each battle.
Oh no, otherwise I'd have to use one of my 300 potions, or use some of my unlimited mana to heal my party, right?
>If the main character in your party dies it is game over [There are only ever 3 characters in battle, often less, and often fixed].
Oh, so I can't use Phoenix Downs? Good, maybe this will make people think before they move into the really difficult parts of the game.
>The best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved.
So it's a JRPG.
>The summons’ transformation scenes are a joke [i.e. Odin turning into a horse].
Odin is the Norse God most closely related with horses. This actually makes sense.
>The story is rubbish… [Spoilers omitted, but complaints centre on Snow’s constant and cringe inducing insistence that he is a hero and will “protect” whatever it is the antagonists are menacing this time]
So it's a JRPG
>Shopping is only done at “online” shops on save points, with no proper shops to be found.
Ok, so instead of looking for a shop, and then looking for save points in retarded spots, I can just find a save point and buy my stuff from there? Sounds great.
>However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].
Ah, so the game is based around looting instead of shopping. This has been done before, and makes sense; loot armor and equipment, only buy disposables (potions and what not).
>There have been next to no changes from the demo.
So the demo represented the final product? Good. Remember how Brutal Legend's demo led everyone to believe that it was a brawler and not a poorly done RTS?
>The status screen displays no real information.
This is pretty vague; however, I never used the status screen in JRPGs. Just equip the most powerful weapons, make sure my team has full health, and move on.
>There are only 8 items usable in combat [For that matter, there are hardly any weapons or accessories, and the “crafting” system mostly consists of spending drops to upgrade their 2 stats].
Quantity does not equal quality. Wait, are you saying that there are only 8 different types of items, and not just 8 items? Because, if it's the former, then that's enough.
>There are no levels.
So I can't grind for 6 hours, and instead must actually play the game? The horror!
All of you need to grow up.
What does growing up have to do with it? Not liking linearity is now a necessity to "grow up"? Oooor could it be just a preference by some people and being dissapointed that Square just didn't say they were basically making a movie with some interactive elements?
You need to grow up.
i miss those FF series from PSX
With these kinds of points, I'm surprised the article title doesn't include "and why you're an idiot if you think otherwise".
"Your party is completely healed after each battle"
Wtf what do they think it is, an FPS?
"Your party is completely healed after each battle"
^
How can they even call this game an RPG after this I don't even...
I can say I liked FFXIII, and those reasons (like "auto-heal at battle end"(<-and that's a bad thing?) and "fixed characters"(<-those type of rpg are pretty story-driven, so you can change your party whenever you have more than character))
the only thing you could criticize is "no-multiple-ending", the town shouldn't even exist in a world almost so apocalitic ( and you wanted the some criminal to enter in a shop and exit without getting arrested? )
i really dont like this game. i'm half through and i don't wanna play it again -.- it's so boring
wow these words are so true i dont have to right anything now :D
I hope it will entertain me, even if i would be a bit disappointed
if the whole critic is true :S
wow, sounds like a biiiiiiiggg disappointment, i'm glad mass effect 2 is here. seriously though, jrpg's could learn a few lessons from developers like bioware and bethesda.