Fans Disgusted by Final Fantasy XIII

The last "Final fantasy" without a doubt xD

Only played for about 5 hours or so, but I have to say I like how the story is going so far.

There was someone commenting about how you needed to know the backdrop to really understand it, but from the menu screen you can access something like a diary and encylopedia that updates itself as you play on. Not really required to know whats happening, but its an interesting read.

It's a bit weird that you don't get exp from killing stuff (and it's not like you can avoid battles all the time), but the battle system itself is fun enough.

The fact that once the leader dies in battle you game over'ed sounded pretty bad, but as I played on, I realise it really adds to the tension in battles especially in boss fights. Besides, there's an option to pause and restart a particular battle anytime if you need to.

Looks like Square Enix is going to be coming out with an FF13-2 now! Or probably some kind of verison where it's like a "director's cut" where they remake the whole thing properly.. I can see that happening if the fans get too pissed off. Which they seem to be.

I miss the good old days of actual turned based battles. I began with final fantasy 7 and loved it! I been playing any final fantasy I could get my hands on. Final fantasy 8 kept the turned based battle but replaced the materia system with spell draws and the junction system. The story was great especially since I like science fiction, The idea of time compression as the villain's ultimate goal was quite innovative. Also playing in the past as Laguna and friends also helps connect everything. Final fantasy 9 a homage to the older games, the story wasn't as great, and as for villains, Kuja was terrible. Again they kept the turned based system and added a fourth character slot which allowed for some harder fights. I forgot to mention limit breaks and trance, those kind of disappeared in a way. Final fantasy 10 was ok, the voice acting was new but turned based battle was dying a bit and the grid board for leveling was kind of stupid. I didn't even bother with ff12, I was able to play the demo at a convention before it was released and didn't like it because it was trying to imitate MMOrpgs. I felt as if had really lost the spirit of its predecessors. I then backtracked with ff 1&2 for the psp and 4&5 for SNES via emulator. I was back to the good ole turn based systems. As another persom mentioned Lost Odyssey was GREAT! It retained the turned based system of older games while introducing the movie style gameplay of games like MGS. I can't also forget to mention that it retained those high quality graphics seen in the CG in the actual gameplay, now that is amazing.
I can't give my review of ff13, seeing as that I don't have the game yet but it seems as if SE was trying to do the same as Lost Odyssey in terms of the graphics however they kind of failed to retain that old school Final Fantasy greatness that was the battle system. Besides the linear maps, I think that is what truly would bother me about this game. It great to try new things but to throw out a good formula and experiment is alienating the older fans in favor of trying to reach a new market. With this strategy they may lose more fans than gain, and that is not a good business model. Just my two cents..

i swore FF went downhill AFTER THEY CREATE THOSE CRAPPY MOVIE AND FIRING THE ORIGINAL CREATOR!!

More reasons to stop the FF series.

What happened to all the people defending it saying it was a success because of how many games it sold?

Dumbasses.

If Final Fantasy XIII was a CG Movie, it will be a lot better than Advent Children

...but Square-Enix is more hard-headed than Damascus Steel. Too bad.

Hey, the game's rank gone up to "D".
http://www.psmk2.net/title.php?title=519
Also, review from 49 or so people isn't enough to make this game suck.

OPINIONS. ALL OF THEM.

Now go play the damn game and see for yourself.

There's a trope for this at tvtropes.. it's called Unpleasable Fanbase.

dayum...

that.. or fans probably called Ruined *sorry for caps* FOREVER!!!

honestly, people have been calling the latter ff titles as games being ruined forever... all started since the transition from SNES to Playstation 1 I swear...

or more like.. since... sequels of the franchise came out...

Well this pretty much settles it. I'm not gonna buy this game when it's released in the States. If japanese gamers are saying it's too linear then it must be REALLY fricking linear. Maybe I've ben spoiled by games like Mass Effect and Fable II but I've gotten used to having more say about what happens in my game. It is supposed to be the player's adventure after all.

This game is a nightmare, and SquareEnix should be ashamed.

Sakaguchi was at least involved in I to X. Then he and uematsu (along with Toriyama) left and created Mistwalker. So believe it or not, the man came up with some very neat ideas and the same goes with the older staff that was ALSO involved with CT for example.

Even if the plot is good, the gameplay wasn't decent enough. Take XII for example. Most if it was on the based "lore" from Tactics

As for MGS, Kojima even stated that the game(s) were meant to be like a movie played through the players PoV, seen through Snakes/Raidens "eyes" of course. That's the whole point of this theatrical feeling found in 2 and 3/4

III-X were perhaps linear (Sorry I never finished I-II or bothered playing them) VI and IX added perhaps even more depth with so many character involved. But even so all these games added mode to explore to do whatever you wanted a la world map. X was perhaps a bit different since you only got that option at the...

*SPOILER* At the end of the game were you choose to defeat Sin's "first" form and you either proceeded further in or you could basically do whatever you wanted and go explore the world and the "missing" pieces of the game. *SPOILER*

So in the end these game provided you with the option to go and so something else other than having to progress with the story. I thought this was the case with X up till Calm lands and up till Zanarkand in X-2. I spent about 20-30min with XII before I thought it was way below the normal expectations of the series so far. The whole "normal" ATB removal let's copy XIs battle system felt like they could have just copied Star Oceans or Tales of* Battle system which still works as of today, oh WTF it does can you believe that!?

I too have imported FF13 and have been playing for like nine hours now.To be very blunt and quick about it my Japanese is pretty poor and forget Kanji reading, but for the most part it's a good game. The battle system is interesting but requires little strategy. The maps and storyline ARE VERY LINEAR, that being said that is not a bad thing. This is an RPG but it's not Fallout or Oblivion. It tells a specific story about "their" characters and their struggles. You go point A to B with side quests inbetween. The only complaint I could have is that there is no room to really customize you character or party, everyone does one thing and thats it. Healer, Guard, Damage dealer, and Support etc. The leveling is also different too, gone are the levels of yesteryear. Your characters don't level up, you use the Crystal-something-or-other to increase HP, Strength, etc. So basically no room for custom a Lightening or Snow, they do what they can and thats it. Straightforward and to the point, enjoy the story no extra micromanaging necessary! So play it or don't, 'nuff said!

Sucks to be a FF fan, lulz.

They should have made it the FINAL fantasy like, at the 7th title.

The same thing that happened to MGS4 is happening to this game. It seems like in Japan when a game gets to blockbuster status then the developers lose their minds and try to make a game that's way, way too epic for them. No one can tell them what to do because they're working on a AAA project, and what you get in the end is an overbudgeted vanity project that fails to deliver. They need more people in game companies that can pull these primadonna developers aside and tell them "Fuck you, this game isn't fun, do these parts again and fucking get it out the door!"

I guarantee PS3 Gran Turismo will suffer the same fate.

Final Fantasy died by FFX.

The game may appeal to some but in my opinion the Best was Final Fantasy 6 US or was it 3 in the Japan?(Locke and crew) I was hoping they made the story as compelling as that version. Probably rent this first.

So, what this article is trying to say is that games like ToV run circles around this crap. As I expected.

japensess games are all about story and scene , its like watching a anime or reading a manga , so if you dont feel it , just stop coming to this site and delete all your animes .

Japan considers Final Fantasy X to be the greatest RPG of all time and both Tidus and Yuna are constantly in top 10 lists for characters, so I have trouble taking their opinions on gaming seriously.

this site filled with trolls, i wouldnt be surprise if any of you bought the game.

Bah who cares about Final Fantasy, give me a remake or follow up to Xenogears, now that game had some story behind hit. And no Xenosaga does not count :P

To me, the series died after FFX, I didnt like FFX, but I could still call it a final fantasy game(excluding x-2)

Because 2chan is such a reliable source of opinion. Gotta love the manufactured narratives this blog cooks up.

it sucks, who cares. versus is where its at any way.

This is all Wada's fault. That fucker needs to get ripped off of his CEO status.

Nomura's just fine, as long as he's not fucking in charge of projects.

Remade Xenogear or bring back Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Looks like my prediction on critical response has held true. I'm certain in a few months people will be praising XII left and right until XV comes along and all of sudden XIII will appear to be god.

Complaining: the second biggest thing on the internet.

Hmmm so fans are trying say this game is not good, and FF12 is better (I hated that game; wished I never spent the amount of time I did playing that piece of shit), they even say that FF10 was linear and crap (even though I loved the shit out of that game played it everyday until my report card said "FF")... okay well insta-buy; no regrets. Glad I ordered it.

Loved all the other FFs, except 7 and 12. Seriously how do you like a game where all you do is control you characters movement's? FF12 gameplay was basically just watch him fight then grind for more gambits yay, FF7 a good game, good extra stuff to do,but sporting an idiotic, overrated storyline arguably the gayest FF as well. And for God's sake, fags that are saying 6 was the best, shut up...we all know that it was the best, but there is no need to keep restating it, let sleeping dogs lie.

Seriously I've waited 3 years for this game, I've seen videos, played the demo, and I don't see what is wrong with it. I think people are pissed off that it doesn't meet all their demands, but damn give it some credit, every iteration of FF tries something new and excels at it; this one is CG and an active battle screen. Don't like it? Well don't buy it, it's as simple as that.

I bet most people who reviewed it don't speak a word of japanese or don't speak enough of it. In other words, 99% of the reviews out there are invalid until the English version comes out.

as long as they still got chocobos, I'll play it (more like watch it)

I believe the correct term is "Just Desserts". As in ice cream. Not sand.

Didn't they start from scratch again and dumbed everything down after Microcrap sent 10 trucks of cash to Wada's mansion? If I recall correctly they stated that FF13 was supposed to be an open world game. Microcrap is ruining the gaming industry. It started with pressing uncompleted games and later releasing it as DLC just cause' the shit won't fit on a dvd or to milk everyone for more money. They started the $59.99 price point crap. Wada is ruining what's left of Squaresoft. Lead free solder leading to RROD or YLOD. Worst generation ever. At least I still got FF6

Best recent Final Fantasy is FF4 After Years!

Look I don't care about anyone elses opinion just hurry up and get the game over here! I'm not gonna trust some over critical uber nerds especially after they have led me wrong not once but 3 fuckin times.

game is fookin amazing, people are just haters

I need to play this game in order to see if what everyone says is true. I have hopes. And anyways since when is most of the final fantasy not linear!!!X was like that to a point. 9 was like that. All of them were like that. and cutscenes,why complain about it!! MGS4 had alot of cutscenes but it was a damn good game. I personally aint so hot about the customization but hey we all have to get use to changes. Thats what i said about ff8 and ffx and etc. and abou this not enough money and online shop, to me it seems alot more realistic to me.

It all started back in 2001 with FFX in the PS2.
If you guys remember, there was no world map, but square was very smart by adding a bunch of sparkling goodies to keep the fans happy (like myself).
It was not so linear, but it made you miss the old world map from FF IX.

The first time speaking characters, the fantastic story line, the beautiful CG, every element of this game made FFX what it is today.
X-2 serving as a test model for future squeals of FF VII, kinda sucked, but people got addicted to it because it was a first time squeal FF (with girls!).
And we end up with Vicente going trigger happy on Dangerous of Cerberus, and a great PSP game named Crises Core, not bad, I really enjoy the damn game and the old world map is not really a feature that I need here.

I hated XII, it laked of so much stuff that dint hooked me up for more than a few hours...
With XIII going down like this, I wonder what in the world are they going to do with the remake of FFVII. If it's going to be another crap like this one, then don't even try it.

This is what happens when people "support" a company that obviously deserves to be put down.

I imported and played about 18 hours of it. My Japanese is limited to kana so I can get by reading cura spells or what not but I don't understand the story. 18 hours and I can't arrange my party yet. The battles are what interested me into importing. It looked very engaging, but now that I've got my hands on it I am disappointed.

So you know a little of where I'm coming from I got into Squaresoft with FF4, Secret of Mana, FF6, Chrono Trigger, and Breath of Fire. Those five came out in a 3/4 year span in the 90's and I loved everyone of them. I've never had a problem with Square doing new things because it usually came out well done. Even as I got older and their stories got crazier, I enjoyed their games (well, cept 8, whatever) because they always made the effort to make something new.

but...13 isn't anything new.

They put a lot of effort to make it look nice, but it's just the same gameplay with fresh paint. Battles run like X-2. Change tactics(13), change dress-spheres(x-2). In fact, since you only control tactics and 1 party member you have even less to do than you did in X-2, which becomes old, fast. Leveling takes the form of sphere grids, cept you don't have to collect those damn spheres. Instead you gain CP to use on the grid and level up orbs, one by one by one, like FF10. Seriously, just save me the hassle and auto-level me up why don't you. Your new and improved save point also buys/sells your items so there's no need to stop at towns anymore. In fact you can level up your items(new addition), at the save points(booo) and those things are everywhere. The game also puts you on noob mode so if you die you can restart from right before the battle. Yep, you don't have to load from your last save which is convenient cause I wanna get this over with as quick as I can.

It really seems as though no effort was made to make it a new game, other than story/graphics wise. I've already gotten bored of battles. Most of the time when I'm running the character from battle to battle, I'm wishing it's an action RPG instead, it could've been better, a lot better.

I know I'm not even half way through but I'm losing motivation fast. Fell asleep 3 times while playing so far. And I can't help thinking Square went back a step with this one.

tl;dr
Been a Square fan since the early 90's but this one's disappointing. Like when your a kid, your teacher gives you a mark for not enough effort, in this case Square needs to put more effort back in gameplay rather than graphics.

i was gonna even buy the limited edition, now after 80% of the critiques have said that it's a big disappointment, i think i will pass FFXIII

though it;s hard to digest since i have played 7,8,9,10 and 12, but i am not ready to be disappointed by the dev which i adore so much, so yeah

Hello FFXIV!

lol, so it took 13 games for fans to realise the same things ive been saying for the past 10 years? nice...

I imported it. It's definitely not a be all end all RPG. It's stupid barebones in certain aspects. Like how the traditional victory fanfare and victory poses got removed. The only part that's fully fleshed out is the graphics. Squeenix made the stupid decision of focusing on graphics. Out of the RPGs coming out early 2010 I think White Knight Chronicles is the one to buy.

I'd actually be MORE excited if American gamers shunned this game. Everyone seems to think that Final Fantasy VII and X are the best things since IV. Not to say that these aren't great games mind you, although I do think that X was a bit short.
Final Fantasy VIII and XII are my current favorites, with the Edea, Cidolfus and Gabranth boss fights. I get groans of disapproval every time I tell FF fans this. It isn't some emo, against the norm, elitist garbage that fuels my love for these games but the fact that I found that they got me pumped the most.

as a fan of this franchise, i never recognized this as a Final Fantasy title and I never will. Ever since i saw the first screens i could i was disgusted >:(

"...with critical voices now far outweighing positive appraisals, especially if typically worshipful mass media reviews are discounted..."

So basically, everyone says it sucks, except for everyone who says it's good. Riiiiight...

question when you say linear what does it mean im sorry im not that good at english

I played about 35 hours + now... most of these complaints are valid lol... but some of them are too exaggerated. Is it a playable game? Yes. Is it enjoyable? Yes. Is it a Final Fantasy? Yes.

Is it a memorable game? No.

Play it once, and be over with it.

Ok let me give you this... final fantasy of course this game doesn't seem all that worth it. But when you put it all together and if your a true die hard final fantasy fan, there's no reason to be bitching about how the game sucks. Yeah I know I played a demo of it. It's all around like any other rpg games. Truthfully I think the game won't be that bad I mean true the game has allot of scenes you can't control the character completely in... but that's what makes the story interesting. I mean like lets say Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers. That game has no big challenges but swinging the Wii remote in the right place but people still find it fun. You don't even lvl but all you do is gain health pieces by finding it in secret places or monster timing challenges. That's just about it in advancing in a final fantasy game. I mean be glad that you can lvl and have fun lvl'n.

IF YOUR A TRUE DIE HARD FINAL FANTASY FAN-
YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT-

I thought it was awesome.

Fuck you guys stop complaining.

After 25 hours I have reached grand pulse the so called "open world." Too bad its chp 11 of a 13 chp series and all i get are some lame missions and a shit load of grinding before i get to the next chp. This game is stupid. The scenery here is also the lamest of them all its just open landscape with tons of monsters but no amazing scenery. Why couldn't I go and explore the waterscape back in chp 3 or so? That place was amazing visually. Sigh I just do not care for this game anymore. Its like an overhyped Crisis Core, but at least that one was funner to play and to be honest it had much more content than this game. For a PS3 game, this is just unexcusable of SE. I think I'm finally done with FF. Well hope somebody actually really loves this game. Maybe you'll buy it from me when i sell it on ebay.

This game is sooooo bad the whole seies has just gone downhill since the masterpiece that was FF7

to be quite honest thats your opinion and mine is i think the story was awesome and that most ff games are linear until the end of the story. and about the cutscenes,there may be more cutscenes than any oter ff game but its builds the story,and corect me if im wrong but i bet most of you who are beliveing this bull**** havent even played ff 13 and wont thanks to this junk. I rest my case (and before you say anything ill have you know im playing it right now so i have actually played it myself)

The game is not totally unenjoyable but is far too linear. There are no alternate endings you cant really deviate from the storyline, there is no new game +1 that is always a good payoff to devoting hours trying to level all the way up and get everything to run through the second time. Where is the payoff for doing all the work?? starting over from scratch with nothing different to do. Poor choice, poor planning and overall a complete disappointment to fans that have waited so long. It is beautiful and interesting but I definitely give it thumbs down.

I liked it.

i think the last decent square game was ffVII / ffVII and kingdom hearts 1, after the merge with square and enix, i think it went downhill from there, i think KH2 was ok, but ffXII i had to force myself through :(

Here's my idea of a kickass rpg.
The entire world is sandbox and there is a ton to explore. The game will let you go to this place if you can make it their alive. That way you have to earn your cutscene. Then overload the game with weapons and equipment. Heck, 3d games like borderlands and world of warcraft have it figured out, why can't Square/Enix figure it out.

I think we're all just tired of FF...

Square Enix should either finish up with some of their old series or start a new IP...

DUDES! GET REAL!

One could tell FFXIII would suck as far back as the release of the Demo bundled with AC. The Demo felt like the reactor mission from FFVII, only more cliche'd.
I almost went like: "so... when are they gonna blow up the reactor ?" at one point.

Then the game pops and it's like they tried to remake FFVII, but left all the GOOD parts out. This is basically the FFVII remake everyone was screaming for, only made by Enix instead of Square.

Shit... FFXII is miles above this title. If it were some minor player, it'd be understandable but it's FREAKING SQUARE-ENIX.

No surprise that it got bad reviews, the series has been going down the shitter lately. Anything past 9 isn't worthy to be called a Final Fantasy game.

No surprise that it got bad reviews, the series has been going down the shitter lately. Anything past 9 isn't worth to be called a Final Fantasy game.

It can't possibly be the worst 12 holds that spot and will probably never lose it.

Anon doesn't need Einstein's QI to get this game suck hard! Anon have other priority games to play in 2010 before losing time to try this one.

Sad thing is most of the people that actually reviewed the game are matching it against SE's other games rather than actually taking the time to look at it from an original point of view... Seriously.. GTFO.

Final Fantasy 13 is the "BEST FF GAME EVER" because you don't play the game, "YOU JUST WATCH IT".

Seriously what kind of game takes 70% of your time watching cinematics. That has got to be bad.

It is like saying the best gun ever is one that you never have to fire, but then that wouldn't be a gun not would it, am rite. It could still be an awesome sword.

Just go and fuk and fuk yourself.Everything is about opinion and shit.Who care if some1 else say bad,if it suits your liking its ur choice muthafakcer.EG,you support a football team,what wrongs with supproting ur fav football team? this is bunch of opinion.Dont force your freaking shit opinion on others.If u dont like it STFU,or drill a hole in ur room and fuk urself if u are too free...

Yet still they buy it.

Anyway, even if it's just a CG movie with RPG elements I'd still love it. I mean, hey, you bought and watched Advent Children, right? If you add playable RPG elements there, will it become bad? No! So just think this: FFXIII is an awesome CG movie with playable elements, and it's a matter of taste wether you like it or not. I sure do.

Maybe that's why they made it on Xbox 360 as well, coz they knew it was not that compelling compared to previous FFs, "wider audience".

you have to play the game to make that judgement. Dont let other peoples views and opinions sway you. if you let other people make your videogame buying decisions for you then you should'nt have any games really because EVERYGAME has had something bad about it or had someone say something bad about it. just try it for yourself :) you can always trade it in for another game lol