why all the FFXIII hate?

So I got this game last week, and am almost 15 hours in. I have to say it's really enjoyable. I wasn't a fan of the other games that much, but something about this one jsut seems right to me. Granted, I think Hope is one of the most annoying characters ever in a game. I know a lot of diehard FF fans seem to really hate it, but really it's the 13th installment, they had to change something eventually. I was just wondering what people don't like about this game?

I liked it a lot (Except Hope and Snow anyway). From what I have seen it seems to be that a lot of people seemed to expect something else. The lack of towns and linear nature of the game really irked people.

the largest complaints about Final Fantasy XIII were about the linearity and story

in my opinion it was an okay game but wasn't as great as all the other titles that came before it

well i do agree the story is rather confusing since they never really spent time in the beginning to explain the different factions and what not, but the linearity seems to work for me, especially after FFXII, which I just stopped playing because I kept getting lost (idk how really, it's the only game that's happened to me).

My biggest gripes were that the story was confusing and not really that enjoyable, the characters were god awful, possibly the worst in any FF game, and that the combat system wasn't really great.

I really liked the game too. I really like the combat system and music in the game. The characters were okay but I really liked Lightning. ModernSnivy

Her and Vanille are my favorite characters since the basically both tell everyone to stop complaining and move on. If I have to hear Hope whine one more time I'll freak out.

1) The game was extremely linear, essentially running in a straight line for 60 hours.

2) The characters were annoying and unlikable (Hope's misty-eyed feel good but ultimately pointless speeches, Vanille's attitude, etc.).

3) No towns, no shops (just that floating ball).

4) No side quests or exploration for the majority of the game.

5) The free roam area was just as bad as the linear sections (go here, kill animal, go there, kill animal, now go here and kill another animal...).

6) No freedom in skill development, the Crystarium was linear and by the time you have more choices about how to level your characters up, it's impractical to switch roles.

7) The story was hard to follow, not interesting.

8 ) The paradigm system was a big step backward from FFXII's gambit system.

9) If you take too long to kill a boss, you will have doom cast on you, which will kill you and end your game no matter what. This happens even if you would have eventually beaten the boss and thus is extremely frustrating.

10) Soundtrack doesn't hold a candle to that of previous FF games.

I feel like if this wasn't under the final fantasy name then it would have gotten better reception (granted, the "official" reviewers liked it). I havn't read much on FFXIII-2, but it does seem from the little I have read that they've tried to fix some of the problems people had with XIII.

Play Persona 4 then come back play FFXIII again, then u will see why the game is lacking. I pesonaly dont hate the game but the battle system and art style is the only good thing about the game. the weapone upgrade is a joke, there is no interesting side quests and most of time you are on norrow pathe. and dont get me started with the charecters, i know Hope is anoying but i specially hate Snow when says " Real heroes dont need plans" when i hear that i want **** kill hime, and lightning is just female virsion of cloud. I think the story had good conept if it was little darker, here is example: in part snow tried to save hope's mother but failes and hope belives he killed hime, But to me it would better if snow accidently killed his mother while trying save one of his friends, NOW Hope has good reasone to hate hime.

Play Persona 4 then come back play FFXIII again, then u will see why the game is lacking. I pesonaly dont hate the game but the battle system and art style is the only good thing about the game. the weapone upgrade is a joke, there is no interesting side quests and most of time you are on norrow pathe. and dont get me started with the charecters, i know Hope is anoying but i specially hate Snow when says " Real heroes dont need plans" when i hear that i want **** kill hime, and lightning is just female virsion of cloud. I think the story had good conept if it was little darker, here is example: in part snow tried to save hope's mother but failes and hope belives he killed hime, But to me it would better if snow accidently killed his mother while trying save one of his friends, NOW Hope has good reasone to hate hime.

danjin44

i was actually going to get into the persona games once i get through my current backlog, so I'll be looking forward to getting into that. I'm surprised there isn't one for the ps3 yet, as it seems a lot of people really like the games.

[QUOTE="danjin44"]

Play Persona 4 then come back play FFXIII again, then u will see why the game is lacking. I pesonaly dont hate the game but the battle system and art style is the only good thing about the game. the weapone upgrade is a joke, there is no interesting side quests and most of time you are on norrow pathe. and dont get me started with the charecters, i know Hope is anoying but i specially hate Snow when says " Real heroes dont need plans" when i hear that i want **** kill hime, and lightning is just female virsion of cloud. I think the story had good conept if it was little darker, here is example: in part snow tried to save hope's mother but failes and hope belives he killed hime, But to me it would better if snow accidently killed his mother while trying save one of his friends, NOW Hope has good reasone to hate hime.

blueboxdoctor

i was actually going to get into the persona games once i get through my current backlog, so I'll be looking forward to getting into that. I'm surprised there isn't one for the ps3 yet, as it seems a lot of people really like the games.

Well Catherine is done by the same developers who made Persona 3/4. if Catherine sells well we may see Persona 5 on PS3.

[QUOTE="blueboxdoctor"]

[QUOTE="danjin44"]

Play Persona 4 then come back play FFXIII again, then u will see why the game is lacking. I pesonaly dont hate the game but the battle system and art style is the only good thing about the game. the weapone upgrade is a joke, there is no interesting side quests and most of time you are on norrow pathe. and dont get me started with the charecters, i know Hope is anoying but i specially hate Snow when says " Real heroes dont need plans" when i hear that i want **** kill hime, and lightning is just female virsion of cloud. I think the story had good conept if it was little darker, here is example: in part snow tried to save hope's mother but failes and hope belives he killed hime, But to me it would better if snow accidently killed his mother while trying save one of his friends, NOW Hope has good reasone to hate hime.

danjin44

i was actually going to get into the persona games once i get through my current backlog, so I'll be looking forward to getting into that. I'm surprised there isn't one for the ps3 yet, as it seems a lot of people really like the games.

Well Catherine is done by the same developers who made Persona 3/4. if Catherine sells well we may see Persona 5 on PS3.

this is true, though Catherine isn't on the top of my must play list this year, as there are games I need to catch up on and ones upcoming, but it definitely looks like an interesting game that I'll probably pick up spring next year when all of the fall/winter games are gotten through this year.

1) The game was extremely linear, essentially running in a straight line for 60 hours.

2) The characters were annoying and unlikable (Hope's misty-eyed feel good but ultimately pointless speeches, Vanille's attitude, etc.).

3) No towns, no shops (just that floating ball).

4) No side quests or exploration for the majority of the game.

5) The free roam area was just as bad as the linear sections (go here, kill animal, go there, kill animal, now go here and kill another animal...).

6) No freedom in skill development, the Crystarium was linear and by the time you have more choices about how to level your characters up, it's impractical to switch roles.

7) The story was hard to follow, not interesting.

8 ) The paradigm system was a big step backward from FFXII's gambit system.

9) If you take too long to kill a boss, you will have doom cast on you, which will kill you and end your game no matter what. This happens even if you would have eventually beaten the boss and thus is extremely frustrating.

10) Soundtrack doesn't hold a candle to that of previous FF games.

Yodas_Boy

Like I said in my GS review, if it had been a standalone JRPG it would have been lauded but unfortunately after so many games by Square, expectation amounts to ridiculous heights for new releases.

I thought it was half decent and finished but I cannot go back and play it as it feels like more of a job than a game. I couldn't connect with the characters...I thought they were really basic (with Sazh being the exception) and the story was a nice idea but executed sloppily. Honestly, it just wasn't fun to play like previous installments.

However, the graphics were beautiful.

I was just wondering what people don't like about this game?blueboxdoctor

It's not Final Fantasy VI or VII.

I loved final fantasy XIII it just wasnt as good as final fantasy x

[QUOTE="blueboxdoctor"]I was just wondering what people don't like about this game?KillerJuan77

It's not Final Fantasy VI or VII.

I bought this game day one excited that it finally came out. I spent 60 plus hours beating the game and most of the crappy side quest. The game was laughably easy compared to others in the series, you could only control one party member, they made all the summons into lame ass transformers, you basicly run down a line with little to no exploration, you need to go to the menu to make sense of the story and the characters were all annoying. The only thing this game didwas the battle system without the hold my hand auto battle.

[QUOTE="danjin44"]

[QUOTE="blueboxdoctor"]

i was actually going to get into the persona games once i get through my current backlog, so I'll be looking forward to getting into that. I'm surprised there isn't one for the ps3 yet, as it seems a lot of people really like the games.

blueboxdoctor

Well Catherine is done by the same developers who made Persona 3/4. if Catherine sells well we may see Persona 5 on PS3.

this is true, though Catherine isn't on the top of my must play list this year, as there are games I need to catch up on and ones upcoming, but it definitely looks like an interesting game that I'll probably pick up spring next year when all of the fall/winter games are gotten through this year.

Today i was going to pick up my copy of Catherine Deluxe Edition but i got the call that it got delayed till Thu because of Shippping problem. First it was Dissidia 012 that got delayed now this. Why is Canada always has some sort of shipping problems?

[QUOTE="Yodas_Boy"]

1) The game was extremely linear, essentially running in a straight line for 60 hours.

2) The characters were annoying and unlikable (Hope's misty-eyed feel good but ultimately pointless speeches, Vanille's attitude, etc.).

3) No towns, no shops (just that floating ball).

4) No side quests or exploration for the majority of the game.

5) The free roam area was just as bad as the linear sections (go here, kill animal, go there, kill animal, now go here and kill another animal...).

6) No freedom in skill development, the Crystarium was linear and by the time you have more choices about how to level your characters up, it's impractical to switch roles.

7) The story was hard to follow, not interesting.

8 ) The paradigm system was a big step backward from FFXII's gambit system.

9) If you take too long to kill a boss, you will have doom cast on you, which will kill you and end your game no matter what. This happens even if you would have eventually beaten the boss and thus is extremely frustrating.

10) Soundtrack doesn't hold a candle to that of previous FF games.

Legolas_Katarn

I didn't hate FFXIII at all. It wasn't as good as some of the previous FFs, but still a very good game on it's own.

Gameplay-wise it was fine for the most part. I had no issue with the linearity or lack of towns or whatever, although it would have been nice to have more content than just the cieth stone missions.The combat system was great, and I loved paradigm shifting and setting them up before battles, Loved how the eidolins were handled. The crysterium was nice, was reminiscent of the sphere grid which I loved, but I didn't like how going outside one's main classes on the crysterium costed extra CP though. The weapon upgrade system was pretty meh. Functional, but underwhelimg and disappointing compared top FFX's weapon upgrade system.

The production values were fantastic in the game. The game looked amazing, not just technically speaking, but also with the art-style as well. The music was also great, and on par with previous FF soundtracks.

The story was where it really fumbled. I didn't think it was horrible but it didn't leave me impressed by the end either. The only real character that stood out was Sazh, I loved his backstory and I really managed to feel for him. Sazh is probably one of my favorite FF characters. I liked Lightning and Fang as well, although they weren't anything special. Snow and Hope I would have been fine with had their personalities been toned down, that being said I didn't find them to be intolerable. Only character I didn't like was vanille, as she was just another typical FF bubbly girl; another Yuffie/Selphie/Rikku. Really wish we would stop seeing them in FF. The plot and lore itself of FFXIII was quite interesting, with the futuristic setting and mecganical god-like beings and all and human beings being their puppets. The execution of said plot left alot to be desired though. FFXIII's story started out interesting, but after the first Barthandelous fight the story really lost focus and just became even more convoluted. Found it hard to care about the plot by the end.

[QUOTE="Legolas_Katarn"][QUOTE="Yodas_Boy"]

1) The game was extremely linear, essentially running in a straight line for 60 hours.

2) The characters were annoying and unlikable (Hope's misty-eyed feel good but ultimately pointless speeches, Vanille's attitude, etc.).

3) No towns, no shops (just that floating ball).

4) No side quests or exploration for the majority of the game.

5) The free roam area was just as bad as the linear sections (go here, kill animal, go there, kill animal, now go here and kill another animal...).

6) No freedom in skill development, the Crystarium was linear and by the time you have more choices about how to level your characters up, it's impractical to switch roles.

7) The story was hard to follow, not interesting.

8 ) The paradigm system was a big step backward from FFXII's gambit system.

9) If you take too long to kill a boss, you will have doom cast on you, which will kill you and end your game no matter what. This happens even if you would have eventually beaten the boss and thus is extremely frustrating.

10) Soundtrack doesn't hold a candle to that of previous FF games.

Yodas_Boy

And in most other FFs it's basicallly just choosing the attack command 95% of the time. What exactly is the difference? :?

You want to know why I hate FFXIII with a passion?

-The battle system, while stragetic, is not a whole lot of fun. I was bored out of my ******* skull just mashing away at the attack button.

-Adding to that is the fact that, in battle, you can only control ONE CHARACTER. If that one character DIES and the other two are still standing, that becomes a game over and you have to start the battle all over again. WTF was Square Enix THINKING?

-No towns, sidequests, none of the distractions that make a Final Fantasy game. Why leave that out?

-As far as I played, the story was god-awful and I grew uninterested in the cast as the plot progressed.

-The only two good things about FFXIII was the soundtrack and visuals. One problem in each though; the soundtrack wasn't as memorable as the other FF soundtracks were and Square Enix only gave a **** for graphics, concentrating MAINLY on that. In other words, they didn't focus on the one thing that did count for me - gameplay.

I could go on and on, but bottom line, Square Enix, in my opinion, are on drugs. They lost sight of what Final Fantasy is about and they need to bring back the old team that made it a success. I don't mind people liking Final Fantasy XIII, because they find it good in their own eyes and I'm OK with that. But as far as I'm concerned, it is the second worst Final Fantasy in the history of Final Fantasy, the first being Final Fantasy VIII. What a complete piece of **** both games turned out to be! What a disgrace!

[QUOTE="KillerJuan77"]

[QUOTE="blueboxdoctor"]I was just wondering what people don't like about this game?Vexx88

It's not Final Fantasy VI or VII.

Yup. I agree with you both. I think that you would only be missing IV and there you would have the best 4 FF games, with VI being the best IMHO.

[QUOTE="Yodas_Boy"][QUOTE="Legolas_Katarn"] In addition I will add that the battle system was god awful, is finally JRPG developers just giving up on making a good battle system and just letting the game play itself.DJ-Lafleur

And in most other FFs it's basicallly just choosing the attack command 95% of the time. What exactly is the difference? :?

Sure, attacking your enemy is constant, but you're doing it differently, whether it's melee or through magic. And you aren't just attacking all the time either; you also have to heal your characters with items or healing spells. Let's not also forget that in the good and I do mean GOOD Final Fantasy games, you also need to protect yourself with Shell or if you want to make your character go faster, using Haste. Want to slow an opponent down? Use Slow. There's multiple ways to do it in earlier Final Fantasy titles. Here, in FFXIII, it's exactly that - attack, attack, attack, etc. It's BORING. You aren't given much of a choice in the action, except to switch different strategies and let other characters automatically heal or what have you. Is that positive to let other people do the work for you? I guess, but I personally don't like that. I want to be in complete control of my characters in every action they perform, whether they are controlled by me or by the AI, like in Tales Of The Abyss or Vesperia. In a game like that, if you need to cast a spell or give a healing item to someone, you just pause it in the game and do that. In FFXIII, that option is, at least for me, is taken away from me. I don't like that one bit...

Wow, seriously, this topic again? You don't like to use the search button, do you? FF13 doesn't get that much "hate", it was rathe rextremly disappointing. We expect a lot from a Final Fantasy title and if they release a corridor running X masher that is medicore at best, it just breaks the heart of a fan. There are much better JRPGs around (like Resonance of Fate)

So I got this game last week, and am almost 15 hours in. I have to say it's really enjoyable. I wasn't a fan of the other games that much, but something about this one jsut seems right to me. Granted, I think Hope is one of the most annoying characters ever in a game. I know a lot of diehard FF fans seem to really hate it, but really it's the 13th installment, they had to change something eventually. I was just wondering what people don't like about this game?

blueboxdoctor

Welcome to the club, buddy. I feel the pretty much same way as you do. Never liked the previous games, but FF13 really struck a chord with me, and it sits as my second favourite RPG to date (first one being the whole Pokemon series).

Well, maybe you don't like it THAT much, but just saying. I really counldn't find anything to complain about from my two playthroughs on both PS3 and 360 (JP import on PS3, and the Ultimate Hits edition for 360). I really loved the character development and maturation across the whole story, the clever set-ups for each of the main characters as the hand of destiny forced them into the situation they are in, as well as some of the most beautiful cutscenes I've seen in a game this generation (practically on par with those in Metal Gear Solid 4, and those are some EPIC BEAUTIFUL cutscenes). And don't get me started on what I feel is one of the most engaging, exhilarating and visually impressive battle systems in RPGs to date.

As for the linearity, I find that it works for me; You don't get bogged down by endless sidequests (that sometimes really seemed ridiculous in past JRPGs - who in their right mind would want to collect ingredients for some old lady's potion of goodness when there's a homicidial villain on the loose?), thus you feel like you've accomplished something tangible in that short 1-2 hours of gameplay. Without having to dedicate endless hours to battling through sidequests, I still get to fully experience the world that the developers have created for me.

And if you think about it... 'towns' and talking to people really wouldn't work here; Aren't you fugitives? Simply talking to someone would naturally elicit something similar to 'L'CIE! GET THEM!' or 'GET AWAY FROM ME AND MY KID, YOU MONSTER!', making sidequests and the traditional 'shops' completely inaccessible, wouldn't it?

And if you think about it... 'towns' and talking to people really wouldn't work here; Aren't you fugitives? Simply talking to someone would naturally elicit something similar to 'L'CIE! GET THEM!' or 'GET AWAY FROM ME AND MY KID, YOU MONSTER!', making sidequests and the traditional 'shops' completely inaccessible, wouldn't it?

disneyanime91

Yeah, because it's really hard to cover a small "tatoo"

1) The game was extremely linear, essentially running in a straight line for 60 hours.

2) The characters were annoying and unlikable (Hope's misty-eyed feel good but ultimately pointless speeches, Vanille's attitude, etc.).

3) No towns, no shops (just that floating ball).

4) No side quests or exploration for the majority of the game.

5) The free roam area was just as bad as the linear sections (go here, kill animal, go there, kill animal, now go here and kill another animal...).

6) No freedom in skill development, the Crystarium was linear and by the time you have more choices about how to level your characters up, it's impractical to switch roles.

7) The story was hard to follow, not interesting.

8 ) The paradigm system was a big step backward from FFXII's gambit system.

9) If you take too long to kill a boss, you will have doom cast on you, which will kill you and end your game no matter what. This happens even if you would have eventually beaten the boss and thus is extremely frustrating.

10) Soundtrack doesn't hold a candle to that of previous FF games.

Yodas_Boy

I agree with a lot on this list. "Final Fantasy XIII" is a good game, but a HUGE departure from its standard formula (I've been a fan of the series since it started) yet I understand they were trying to capture a new audience at the same time AND appease the hardcore fan which is not an easy task.

[QUOTE="blueboxdoctor"]I was just wondering what people don't like about this game?KillerJuan77

It's not Final Fantasy VI or VII.

Funny thing is, that's the exact reason why I love the game. It completely smashed my perception of Final Fantasy as being a boring, slow-moving RPG thattried to force you to undertake too much at once,and thus took forever to complete. I hated7 with a passion, despite having Advent Children in my list of favourite animated movies. I tried 6 on the GBA and 1, 2 and 4 on the iOS when they came out, but I just couldn't get into them as I did 13. I don't think I have more than3 hours of gameplay on allfour of those combined, and I haven't touched them since. I could never figure out where to go or what to do, simply because there's too many things for to do, even after lookingup guides and walkthroughs. I hated it when I could never beat that boss because I chose to sacrifice that bit of exploration so I could get farther in the story, in the process not acquiring that 'super powerful materia summon that would have won me that boss fight', or that 'ultimate weapon for that character'.

Also, the Crystarium system made it a lot easier to develop my characters in terms of skills; I didn't need to constantly swap out characters from that 'ideal' team for which I had spent time working out fool-proof strategies and paradigm decks for, thus cutting out a large majority of incredibly boringand annoying'grinding' sessions. Another thing - I never got the logic of having characters stand at opposite sides of the battle-zone, attack, and then move back into their original places. I found it incredibly static, and simply uninteresting to watch (though I must admit, certain spells and summons did look cool at first). I also find having to stop the action simply to heal yourself or another party member (not in FF, in other RPGs like the Tales of series) kinda disrupts the flow of battle; I'd rather have it as part of a fluid transitionfrom your chain of attacks, if not'system-wise', then at least visually.The battle system and visuals in 13 were way more dynamic, and way more fun to sit through and see it play out.

[QUOTE="disneyanime91"]

And if you think about it... 'towns' and talking to people really wouldn't work here; Aren't you fugitives? Simply talking to someone would naturally elicit something similar to 'L'CIE! GET THEM!' or 'GET AWAY FROM ME AND MY KID, YOU MONSTER!', making sidequests and the traditional 'shops' completely inaccessible, wouldn't it?

ArchoNils2

Yeah, because it's really hard to cover a small "tatoo"

Okay, so say they cover the L'cie mark. So they canwalk into shops and whatnot for the first6-7 chapters of the game (one of which took place in a frantic 'warzone', one in a 'forbidden zone', one ina crystallized river, one in a scrapyard, and one in a forest, leaving only one or two in a proper 'civilized' area).Their faces are still known to the general public. It was broadcasted across the network in broad daylight in Palumpolum, I believe. And everyone saw them. What happens then?

Unrealistic expectations is the best answer.

Don't like turn based games, and i know this one isn't really 100% turn based but it sitll kinda is. And i hate the artwork and style especially the characters.

I was going to play it, but then I kept thinking back to how much I disliked FFXII, and that kept me away. It didn't help that I heard a lot of negative things about it from series purists.

Because it betrays the basic principles of all the old Final Fantasy titles and most RPG that I loved- in fact it does the impossible: it manages to be even worse than Final Fantasy 12, and because it is an immature Japanese sub-culture product by its own.

[QUOTE="danjin44"]

[QUOTE="blueboxdoctor"]

i was actually going to get into the persona games once i get through my current backlog, so I'll be looking forward to getting into that. I'm surprised there isn't one for the ps3 yet, as it seems a lot of people really like the games.

blueboxdoctor

Well Catherine is done by the same developers who made Persona 3/4. if Catherine sells well we may see Persona 5 on PS3.

this is true, though Catherine isn't on the top of my must play list this year, as there are games I need to catch up on and ones upcoming, but it definitely looks like an interesting game that I'll probably pick up spring next year when all of the fall/winter games are gotten through this year.

Also, as rumours have it, Catherine is a "TechDemo" for Persona 5... meaning, Persona 5 will use an updated version of that engine.

It's a good game. However, it will alwaysbe judged in context with its predecessors.