Support NeoGAF

[AgentLampshade]

I'd expand the crystarium to accommodate whatever role you want the character to have from the start. It's bullshit that it opens up so late when your characters already have a set role. Hope and Vanile being so strong annoys me so much.

No game over when the party leader dies. The final boss casts death and its a roll of the dice whether that ends you or not. This is not good game design.

Include an optional short movie detailing the Fabula Nova Crysalis lore. From Mwynn to Etro to the seers. Ensure the terms Fal'Cie, L'Cie, Cie'th and Focus are all clearly understood by the player.

Extra story bosses. Human Rosch and Jihl fights, maybe a pre-transformed Dysley fight. Include a boss arena that unlocks in the final corridor. Also superbosses. Where Ultima Weapon at?

You know the casino place from XIII-2? Have that. Just rename it Nautilus.

Remove the happy ending. It gets retconned in the sequel so there's no reason for it to exist. Get rid of that horrible Leona Lewis song too.

 

[SephLuis]

I liked the battle system on the trilogy, but the issues most people had with the game was everywhere else.

So, I would probably double down on the battle system. Making it more fun, more complex, explaining it better a lot sooner and many other adjustments. Polish what is actually good about those games.

The game's structure and story would require a remake. It is a game about fugitives so I am not entirely sure what it can be sone with level design in the first half of the game. Maybe add some content with other characters to smooth the pacing.

And the story it would need to be almost rewritten in order to properly explain everything to the player without the need of an in-game dictionary. Again, adding some new content here to properly explain what was going on might be a good solution.

 

[teh_pwn]

Hire Mistwalker with the freedom to make pretty much any change they want.

I feel like Mistwalker was an essential part of Square and without them Square has been lost and mostly afloat with remakes. Likewise without Square Mistwalker struggles to get funding for anything outside of mobile.

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

All of the story content from Episode 0 needs to be worked into the game. Maybe as as a series of playable flashbacks throughout the Cocoon part of the game.

XIII-2 battle system improvements should be implemented. Switchable party leaders and no instant gameover if Lightning dies.

There needs to be more proper conflict with Yaag and Jhil. The former I didn't even really remember who he was when I fought him in that mech. Then Jhil just gets stupidly killed off. It wouldn't hurt as much if we had fought her already, or if Dysely wasn't the worst villain in the series.

Extra dungeons on Pulse that expand on the lore of the ancient Pulsians. This was sorely unexplored. All we really got was Fang and Vanille and a look at their village. Then a sequel with time travel that managed to evade exploring it all together as well. Then another sequel, that literally erased its existence from spacetime. The trilogy adamantly refused to have lore on Pulse life.

 

[Meowster]

Cancel it.

One of the worst first posts I've seen.

Anyways, I would make it so there is no cap on the Crystarium, make you be able to choose which character you want to play as, and find a way to put in that Ark superdungeon that got cut from the game. Make more bosses. If we are lucky, a couple of cutscenes or two to make more sense of the mythos. The backstory stuff from the novel should definitely be added in.. even if it is just datalog nonsense.

 

[copelandmaster]

Biggest gripe I had with the combat in the first two games was the need for battlefield placement commands. Mid to late game had a lot of enemy AOEs. A simple deck of 'everyone spread out!', 'stick together!', 'you two over there!' would've helped. A sentinel's no good if the party is grouped around them when an enemy Aeroga pops up.

I'm not sure LR's stock battle system would work as a replacement. That's a lot of shit to have to juggle (literally) for more than one character. Each party member would have to become a simplified archetype with a main role/sub role and a smaller command menu (maybe w/ more than 4 options at a time). If you want a carbon copy LR, you'd have turn the others into AI with the option to switch to another character on the fly if needed.

EDIT: I would also spend the time overhauling the asset streaming, LOD handling, and multi-threading code for the engine. There is no good reason why the entire trilogy has these fucked up performance problems on PCs magnitudes more powerful than the PS360.

 

[Rhiwion]

I don't think this is really "impossible" and the "cancel it" post is annoying.

1. New sphere grid system so there is a bit more player choice in character development
2. Unlock all roles from the beginning

This alone would make some very big changes to the game...

@ me next time

 

[aaaaaa]

After the first area, put in a cut-scene explaining the back-story.

Shorten the tutorial by around 10 hours -- get to the real game before Gran Pulse. This won't be easy since a lot of the battles are designed around being stuck with certain configurations, but it's got to be done.

Traditional equipment system with armor and accessories. Equipment in FF is always a mini-game. The weapon upgrade mini-game was just "throw trash away to gain levels". It wasn't enough.

More choices in the leveling system like in FFX.

Rewrite the endgame scenario so that it makes sense.

 

[Astral Dog]

Make Lightning mode she is the only playable character with combat from LR

 

[R_thanatos]

If i have a decent budget :

- I'll add more scenario in the flashbacks , some even playable.
The fact that the whole situation with cocoon , the rules and the falcie is too much , so i'll probably add some side chapters to break the pace AND introduce the world better.
-Good performance during those chapters will give points usable to get some end gear later ( if you don't perform well , then you'll have to grind in gran pulse ).
-These chapter would have : vanille and fang in gran pulse before the ceremony in their village , meaning that coming back into the abandonned village later would be more impact full . A chapter with lightning showing how she got that nickname. A chapter with sahz either to see him interract with his son , but another ( maybe with hope) showing how the populace interract with the chosen. A chapter explaining how snow met with his beloved and not just a cutscene with fireworks.

Those would serve to put them on the other side later and explain why things work that way without reading pages of text
I want to PLAY those parts , not have them in flashbacks.

The battle system in FF13 is great but the characters are a mess because they aren't exposed to the player properly. so those are changes to explain the world and the characters.
As for the battle system , i'll use the one from FF13-2 without monster capture. No gameover if the leader dies, leader switching ..and i'll add a more visible combo bonus when 2 habilities are used to get them.That way the player would slowing understand that you can do better by experimenting and not smash auto attack until the end of days.

I'll also rework the monster balance in grand pulse after chapter 13. Monsters would not stay at low level , in more areas but will get more points for unlocking habilities. Unlocking habilities in FF13 post-game was a shore. I'll probably add some quest lines with better rewards.

------------------------------
If i have unlimited budget :

-Gold saucer like area
-More gran pulse areas to explore with better rewards
-All the changes from above with a new set of rewards
-All the areas lost during dev time like lightning house , and hope house , explorable.
-The 1 hidden boss they couldn't finish yet we have audio and script files for him will be in chapter 9
-Actual hubs for quests in cocoon and gran pulse where your team will wait for you and you'll be able to get to know them aside from the discussion you have when they travel.
-A complete rework of all the dialog past chapter 9 , explaining the motivation of all the vilains better
-Explorable ruins in gran pulse explaining what happenned during that time ( not just 2 cutscenes while travelling ).

 

[Palabragrís]

I'd add a World Map, so that I can know where in Caccoon I am, so that I can feel more attached to the world, the "cities", etc.

 

[Ydelnae]

Make Lightning mode she is the only playable character with combat from LR

FFXIII: Genocide Run. Kill the original cast, become Etro and crush Cocoon into Pulse with everyone still inside.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

The obvious battle system stuff has been covered, so I'll say they should cut chapters 4-6 in half, since they aren't really that important and are just to establish the different groups moving away from each other and it would at least quicken the pace of the pre-Pulse game.

Since you can shop at savepoints, have a Nautilus casino shop that has some sort of minigame(s), then once you get to Nautilus you can see the 'real' versions. Make the prizes equipment and weapon upgrade items.

 

[R_thanatos]

Remove the happy ending. It gets retconned in the sequel so there's no reason for it to exist. Get rid of that horrible Leona Lewis song too.

This is good.
i'd say keep the happy ending , but explain it better.

But for god sake , remove that leona lewis song

 

[MugiwaraCole]

Not release the damn thing.

 

[Quonny]

Start the actual RPG elements way sooner.

 

[Garlador]

Redo the localization and story. The story was never good, but the localization is shockingly horrid. Go for FINAL FANTASY terms again instead of, as they admitted, sci fi terminology. Sabateur, Synergistic, Sentinel, Medic, Commando... please. Give me Warrior, White Mage, Dragoon, Etc.

The game needs framing devices badly. The story jumps all over the place. Actions lack context and events happen without proper explanation. Outside of the main cast is even worse as both villains and support characters appear at random and leave the story unceremoniously.

Overhaul weapon upstages. Permit party leader swapping and game over if the leader falls. Make paradigm shifts saved to memory so if you change your party you don't have to do them all over again.

Redo level design entirely. Open up the maps and have satisfying branch-offs. Inject the world with sidequests, mini games, and fun alternatives to linear combat.

And rewrite the whole ending. It literally makes no sense and is beyond incompetent.

So, yeah... just improve the level design, combat, inventory, character progression, and story and it'd be a decent game!

... that sounds like a remake, doesn't it.

 

[CrimsonCrescendo]

There's a big difference between fixing something like DmC in a Definitive Edition and Final Fantasy XIII.

I mean, for better or worse, all the stuff that people didn't about XIII is pretty much locked in. You'd need a sizable budget to fix any of it. For something like DmC, reworking what's already there is far easier. Giving the game 60 fps already fixes one of the main complaints. Reworking the style meter, giving extra difficulties, taking out glitches, making enemies more aggressive, taking out color-coded enemy requirements, tightening up frame and input timing, etc. are far easier than structural changes.

-People wanted towns and rest stops, and while I agree that the game needed them to switch up the pace and could easily have strengthened the game, that'd take quite a few assets to build it and would have to write entirely new story scenes for it.

-Many didn't like the pacing of the game which is 25 hours of non-stop cutscenes and dungeon crawling with nothing else inbetween: Again, that's a structural issue.

-People don't like the dialogue, melodrama, etc. Well, that's obviously not going to change. Things like the love story between Serah and Snow don't work, among other reasons like really shit dialogue, because you never see them together. In over 8 hours of cutscenes you see them together for a grand total of six cutscenes, four of which are flashbacks. And most of the time they are just shouting romantic overtures at each other before Serah crystallizes. But unless they completely change Serah's role within the story, I don't see a way to fix it beyond adding in more flashbacks, which was also an issue a lot of people had.

-The first 25 hours of the game overloads you with cutscenes to the point where it's "Fight a couple monster -> Cutscene -> fight a couple monster -> cutscenes -> Cutscene -> walking section -> cutscene -> fighting monsters" for hours on end. Then the story falls off the face of the planet upon reach Gran Pulse to the point you can go hours and hours without seeing a single new scene. Unless you want to add a significant amount of scenes to Gran Pulse meaning there actually needs to be significant places there beyond empty fields, that's locked in.

I could go on.

Unless I'm given a sizable budget, which I probably wouldn't, I'd focus on QoL features/changes and smaller content additions:

-Take out "Party Leader death = game over"

-Improve party AI.

-Take out weapon upgrading, add in new weapon system that doesn't require dozens of hours of grinding. If I can't, greatly increase drop rates and include more monsters that hold endgame drops.

-Add in a "Skip to Gran Pulse/Chapter 11" right of the bat for people who have already played the OG release.

-Take out the insane XP requirements for non-primary roles for characters.

-New optional dungeons on Pulse.

-New optional bosses like Titan

 

[Wagram]

Allow backtracking to previous areas.

 

[rackham]

Complete story, dialogue, and character design overhaul

 

[FooTemps]

Best first post.

FTFY

But in all seriousness, FFXIII isn't something you can fix with an international version. You'd have to do a complete remake to make the weapon systems and levels tolerable.

 

[The Emperor]

Trying to keep as much of the original game intact without completely redoing the whole game

I'd add a 10-15 hour opening where you play through the 13 days before where the game actually begins. During it I'd have Lightning go on missions that enabled her to see a large chunk of the world of cocoon, letting the player get a feel for the origin of the world, the mythos behind it, and the brewing conflict between the government and the resistance movement. These new areas would be open like 13-2 and would further introduce new characters along with slowly introducing the player to who the core 6 will be. I'd introduce characters to the 6 classes during the first 2-3 hours so that Lightning and her squad of 2-3 new characters would be able to do the full combat class shifting stuff much quicker. Then after the actual game's opening once everyone became l'cie the players would still have full access to all classes with all characters, but like xii zodiac job system you'd be able to diversify the 6 classes to help make the characters feel even more different.

During the party split "20 hours of linear corridors" I'd break up all those sections with returns to the above mentioned new open areas, where plot lines introduced would either resolve or continue. During these scenes the characters Lightning helped would either help the fleeing convicts or attempt to turn them in, additionally Lightning's old team would hunt down the party as loyalist.

The above would also expand the role of characters like Nabaat and Cid, the former would also not die to Dysley so unceremoniously. Finally when the party escapes to gran pulse, a bunch of the resistance or people you helped along the way would end up their as well. This would give theme to the dozens of hunt quest you can do there and would serve to tie up their story lines.

This...this sounds amazing

 

[CheckMate]

You would need to do a lot of work especially considering it was built on an older engine and financially it's not a good idea.

Money would be better spent elsewhere.

 

[Osukaa]

Cancel it.

Best first post

 

[Peroroncino]

Nah j/k, in all seriousness...

Spoiler

 

[Evil Monkey DTT]

1. I would add cutscenes that replace you reading all the backstory in the text.
2. Combine the trilogy into 1 terrible game.
3. Cancel it.

The problems I have with the game can't be fixed in another version. Adding towns wouldn't make sense and would feel forced and the story is what it is. Honestly, I think a remaster collection would be the smarter move, maybe some extra balancing so the original game isn't as painfully easy late game.

 

[ULTROS!]

- Open up the crystarium earlier on the game allowing to change their roles.
- Include the cancelled The Sevent Ark DLC.
- Make some town stops.
- Allow to teleport to areas visited previously.
- Add sidequests that involve character interaction, not just hunts.
- Add a prologue to how everything started and the War of Transgression explanation.

 

[Ganon Dragmire]

Trying to keep as much of the original game intact without completely redoing the whole game

I'd add a 10-15 hour opening where you play through the 13 days before where the game actually begins. During it I'd have Lightning go on missions that enabled her to see a large chunk of the world of cocoon, letting the player get a feel for the origin of the world, the mythos behind it, and the brewing conflict between the government and the resistance movement.

Both of these are good. A playable or watchable version of the first 13 days would be great. The Japanese cast did voice work for part of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C8K2_RGUa8
If nothing else, I would love to see ^this to be localized.

Spoiler

The English cast is better.

 

[BocoDragon]

Remix the levels in the first half of the game. Keep the spirit of the original layouts, but add a lot more branching paths and make a much more exploration-heavy game.

 

[Rolf NB]

Replace Lightning and Hope with Samus and Baby Metroid, both completely silent throughout the game.

 

[Megawarrior]

They'd have to remake it for me to even consider giving it any more of my time again. They would have to add at least 5-8 hrs of cutscenes, make the crystal whatever system into FFX's Sphere Grid, add towns, remove the hallways and make the areas explorable, open up the game well before the first 15-20 hrs, and rewrite every single character in the game.

 

[DSix]

Cancel it.

Yup.

Besides, that's exactly what Square did, they rather made quickly put-together sequels than try to "fix" XIII. It was the right decision, a better way to re-use the assets.

 

[Apathy]

Find the originals and burn them. Let that whole dark chapter in the FF world just die

 

[Madame M]

Cancel it and make a new Final Fantasy Tactics instead

 

[ULTROS!]

Cancel it and make a new Final Fantasy Tactics instead

That will probably make SE bankrupt.

Let's be honest, even if a lot of people didn't like XIII, it still made bank (maybe except for Lightning Returns). I mean the trilogy has shipped 11m+ copies.

 

[Madame M]

A new Final Fantasy Tactics would literally bankrupt SE? Come on, it's not like it should take the development effort of the ridiculously bloated new Final Fantasies or Kingdom Hearts 3.

 

[Bladenic]

Hire Mistwalker with the freedom to make pretty much any change they want.

I feel like Mistwalker was an essential part of Square and without them Square has been lost and mostly afloat with remakes. Likewise without Square Mistwalker struggles to get funding for anything outside of mobile.

What in the world are you talking about lmao

 

[HKA6A7]

Quit.

 

[Transistor]

I resign

 

[ULTROS!]

A new Final Fantasy Tactics would literally bankrupt SE? Come on, it's not like it should take the development effort of the ridiculously bloated new Final Fantasies or Kingdom Hearts 3.

Just exaggerating but the strategy RPG genre is as niche as it can get, except for Fire Emblem. I'd prefer a full on RPG using the Ivalice world rather than a strategy game, would probably do much better than a strategy game IMO.

What was the last strategy game released by SE on systems? I know the last one was a remake of Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fate.

 

[Madame M]

Just exaggerating but the strategy RPG genre is as niche as it can get, except for Fire Emblem. I'd prefer a full on RPG using the Ivalice world rather than a strategy game, would probably do much better than a strategy game IMO.

What was the last strategy game released by SE on systems? I know the last one was a remake of Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fate.

Yeah it's been too long!

 

[Mediking]

Something like this prolly would've sold really well on Switch in its early months.

Oh well.

I want this!

 

[Brandon F]

Sadly the key issues with ff13 aren't like 10s balance or 12s board, you'd need to redo the combat system or levels to fix people's complaints.

Nah, the script, characterization, motivations, writing, and plot is the real problem.

Combat only really suffers in how long it strings you along on a leash with the bulk of the game giving you no real customization or opportunity to do much beyond follow instructions through the various fights and teamups. Once the shackles come off, its quite good. That is also 30+ hours in....(Well the crystarium was a lame repurpose of the sphere grid, but changing that won't help much).

As for the corridors. May need a new engine. Or people just have to learn to accept them. FFX wasn't really that different afterall.

Ultimately, the real answer is not to bother.

 

[Toth]

Cancel it.

Stupid posts aside,

I love the idea of being able to go back to old zones and having new hunts to do. Make a few new areas with secret treasures hidden away by them too. Explain it story-wise as more L'Cie training / Ceith taken to Pulse suddenly activating after Chapter 10.

Also, make it easy to level weaker accessories to max (like really easy) so the system would feel more organic.

I also like the idea of reintroducing Nautilus for minigames.

 

[phant0m]

Cancel it.

First post nails it. Good junior 👌

 

[ULTROS!]

Nah, the script, characterization, motivations, writing, and plot is the real problem.

Combat only really suffers in how long it strings you along on a leash with the bulk of the game giving you no real customization or opportunity to do much beyond follow instructions through the various fights and teamups. Once the shackles come off, its quite good. That is also 30+ hours in....(Well the crystarium was a lame repurpose of the sphere grid, but changing that won't help much).

As for the corridors. May need a new engine. Or people just have to learn to accept them. FFX wasn't really that different afterall.

Ultimately, the real answer is not to bother.

Actually my issue is mainly the story, being unable to visit the older locations, and additional sidequests not involving hunting. They can be fixed by:

1. Adding a prologue that introduces what the world is, the War of Transgression, the FNC mythos, and more indepth explanation on the fal'Cie and l'Cie.

2. Adding a teleport back to these old places.

3. Adding NPCs that allowed fetch quests in the older places (need to have 2 though).

I think they're fixable though.

 

[Pooya]

-I'd shorten the time it takes to go through the first 10 chapters from 15 hours to about 10 hours by the way of shortening the actual levels and how long you have to walk and reduced encounters to improve the overall pacing of the game. Some of the stuff in 9-10 is just really boring and unnecessary.

-I'd add an additional 64 missions to the game, adding more difficult and strategic battles and instead of placing all 128 missions in chapter 11, I'd distribute them across the game.

-Go over all the cutscenes, cut the redundant stuff and instead make sure the story comes through clearly to anyone playing the game without reading outside material. Expand the roles of the bad guys in the game because they are beyond pathetic.

-I'd let you change your party much earlier.

-Weapons and upgrading needs to have more meaningful impact on battle performance. Upgrading system needs to redone.

- And for last, I really liked Eden and how it looked. I'd expand that level to be more than just pretty corridors. It's shame to let that art go to waste like it is right now. Maybe it could be the town the game needed.

 

[AlexFlame116]

Either way, though there are some great ideas here in this thread, if Square Enix does decide to make a collection for the PS4/Xbox One/maybe Switch, hopefully they do at least a little more than just glue them all together in a package and call it a day.

 

[InsaneTiger]

I wouldn't waste the resources.

 

[Rabid Dwarf 76]

Keep the battle system and rewrite the whole story.