Lightning Returns: FFXIII

Link

I was reading up about the latest Final Fantasy XIII game to be coming out later this year and I can't believe Square is hurting themselves more and more by keeping on going back to this story or even the universe when there's no such thing as "Lightining is a profound character beloved by the fans." SINCE WHEN? And now, I'm reading up these changes about the latest one and it's no longer the Final Fantasy series that I remember it to be.

Any thoughts on this one?

I remember hen Square used to be cool.

I remember hen Square used to be cool.Ilovegames1992

Day 1 purchase for me. I actually hated XIII at first because of its near total lack of gameplay, but after spending a whole lot of time with it, I ended up loving it. And I loved XIII-2 as well. Lightning isn't the greatest character in the world (but then again, who is?) but we really saw her personality evolve in XIII-2 and kudos to SE for their efforts on that. And I thought XIII-2 had one of the best stories of this whole generation. And it sounds like Lightning Returns is going to have a very hands-on battle system, which will fix my biggest complaint with the previous games.

I dunno, everybody said XIII didn't feel like a Final Fantasy game because it was linear, now they're saying this doesn't feel like Final Fantasy - whatever. There are certainly dozens of franchises out there pumping out one near-identical sequel after another; I have absolutely no problem with SE being willing to change things up. I'm just happy they're not being like every other publisher and taking time and resources away from the development of the game so they can tack on some effing multiplayer.

Link

I was reading up about the latest Final Fantasy XIII game to be coming out later this year and I can't believe Square is hurting themselves more and more by keeping on going back to this story or even the universe when there's no such thing as "Lightining is a profound character beloved by the fans." SINCE WHEN? And now, I'm reading up these changes about the latest one and it's no longer the Final Fantasy series that I remember it to be.

Any thoughts on this one?

Metamania

I enjoyed FF13 despite the intensely linearity of about half the game because the combat system was really strong, but I skipped FF13-2 because of the held back DLC. Now that you've reminded me of its existence, I'll probably pick it up today (I'm sure it can be had cheaply). Once I play through 2 (some of whose modifications to the battle system didn't impress in the demo) I'll take a good look at 3 and decide if I care.

Moving on to a larger perspective, I think its kind of insane to make two direct sequels to a game which garnered such intense controversy. I don't think any of the characters are as despised as FFX's Tidus (the game is loved, he is not) but I also don't get the sense any of them really captured people's imagination in the same way that many of the cast members of FF7 and X did.

I was completely uninterested in the entire FFXIII saga after the first game came out and turned out to be a disaster. But THIS game is actually catching my interest, specifically because of its similarities to Majora's Mask, from the little information I've gathered on it.

Lightning was one of the few redeemable qualities to FFXIII, although I would never put her on the same pedestal as previous FF characters (i.e. the entire casts of FFVII, FFIX, and several FFX and FFXII characters >>> Lightning).

Outside of the linearity and the complete angstfest, FFXIII was actually a fairly decent game. But it should have never crossed the mind of SE to franchise the game into a trilogy. You gotta recoup development costs somehow, I suppose.

I have played every Final Fantasy game, and I loved all of them EXCEPT for two: Final Fantasy 11 (stupid MMO and I don't count it as a real FF game) and Final Fantasy 13. Square just needs to move on from 13, I'm going with Ni No Kuni instead.

I just want Versus XIII

Level-5 has succeeded Square Enix, in both business policies and games.

Level-5 has succeeded Square Enix, in both business policies and games.

Minishdriveby

When it comes to bussiness policies and putting out games in a reasonable frame of time, its pretty easy for many companies to surpass Square.

When it came to JRPGs, I used to be all about Square Enix and Final Fantasy. But nowadays it seems like other companies like Level 5, Mistwalker, Atlus, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai, and Monlith Soft are just doing it so much better.

However, I am interested in seeing how this game comes out. I don't know if I'll buy it though.

I liked FFXIII despite the game being very flawed. I didn't buy FFXIII-2 due to being disappointed by FFXIII. because I never bought FFXIII-2 I really have no desie to buy Lightning Returns, which is a shame because the combat in the game seems quite promising, and atleast this game has you control Lightning and not freakin' Serah.

Eh, maybe I'll just google info on what happened in FFXIII-2 and buy FFXIII-3.

I liked FFXIII despite the game being very flawed. I didn't buy FFXIII-2 due to being disappointed by FFXIII. because I never bought FFXIII-2 I really have no desie to buy Lightning Returns, which is a shame because the combat in the game seems quite promising, and atleast this game has you control Lightning and not freakin' Serah.

Eh, maybe I'll just google info on what happened in FFXIII-2 and buy FFXIII-3.

DJ-Lafleur

13-2 is like 10 bucks now, its awesome. Its basically a "Check list" of things that people didnt like about the first one, instead of linear levels they are open, instead of only being battle/cutscene its battle/cutscene/explore/sidequest/puzzle/mini game, etc etc. Check it out when you have a few extra bucks to spend and get bored.

I'm at the point where if an RPG doesn't feature the system Kingdom Hearts I and II feature or like it, it lacks what is necessary. Those are PS2 games and they are more innovative than FFXIII's. This is why I play more western RPGs and Demon Souls. The first/third person behind the back controls with a focus on stats works well. Kingdom Hearts is situated at the apex of RPG and action adventure. Why more games don't possess this gameplay is weird to me.