Cancel it.
Yeah, a lot of XIII's issues would take massive overhauls to the game, but if I had unlimited resources:
- Add scenes at the beginning of the game fully explaining not just L'Cie and Fal'Cie, but also what the fuck the deal is with Pulse v. Cocoon from the onset. It just blows my mind that the series had three fucking games and yet the war with Pulse is still mostly an enigma.
- Probably just rewrite the last third of the game entirely. The party being "Let's just do everything the evil God tells us to do and pray for an Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary at the end for everything to work out" just does not cut it. After Chapter 11, the party is just jumping from place to place literally leveling up.- Actually, just insert the Jihl boss fight from XIII whole sale. There is no reason that she should have went out like she did.If you need additional story, just make Jihl and Rosch enemy L'Cie so the party actually has more of an antagonist than an old pope that tries to ape Emperor Palpatine every few hours.
- Import XIII-2's QOL battle system changes into XIII (red health, better camera angles, no more slow Paradigm Shifts).
- Completely revamp the paradigm system to something at least like the Sphere Grid where character paths are not only unique, but you have some incentive for venturing off into alternate level paths. Or even the License Board in Zodiac Age (but if you're going to do that, make sure you can swap between party members mid-battle). In the latter's case, you have an incentive to use all of the party members.
- Give us actual optional dungeons (likely on Gran Pulse).
- Give us more optional bosses as opposed to palette swap enemies found in the Cieth missions. Actually make Titan a boss.
- Just scrap the weapon leveling system entirely. Too many people were just holding onto default weapons until the "optimal" weapon came up 30 hours into the game and just poured all resources into that. Just go back to the basics for this one.
- For the love of fucking God, don't make Adamantoise farming the the only way to get real endgame equipment.
HahahahahaCancel it.
Cancel it.
Cancel it.
Make every character look generic, souless, immature, ''badass'' so it will sell much better in the US.
Cancel it.
Cancel it.
- Use the XIII-2 battle system
- Insert the Nabat boss battle from XIII-2
- Insert more exposition cutscenes where characters spell things out for players with small attention spans. "So Lightning, what you're saying is that l'Cie are people that have been branded and that a focus is the mission they must completely or else they'll turn into a monster?" Stuff like that
- More cutscenes about the mythos of the game
Wasn't disappointedCancel it.
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.
Isnt that Nope?I think XIII could actually benefit from a Vaan type character that is new to the conflict and how the world actually works. Make that character accompany Lightning during this new open prologue so the player knows what Fal'Cie an all of that terminology means, and foreshadow things that went inexplained in the original game, like the entire last hour, the Lightning wiped out retcon and stuff.
Isnt that Nope?
We're done here.Cancel it.
FFXIII was such a terrible game for showing you cool stuff that in any other FF game would be playable. Like Titan, or the racing bit on Coccoon.A blitzball equivalent mini game to help break up the monotony would be a start.
Yes to everything hereI 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...
And thisFFXIII was such a terrible game for showing you cool stuff that in any other FF game would be playable. Like Titan, or the racing bit on Coccoon.
A racing mini game would have been ace.
This. I'd try to flesh it out some and make the systems a bit more flexible, but in the end I just don't think there's enough to work with.I don't think an international version would be enough to fix my issues with XIII. It'd probably need a full-blown remake to address everything, and at that point I'm not sure if the investment is worth it.
That said, I suppose better character customization and mini-games are a start. Some more explorable areas too, with things to do other than kill monsters. Side-quests with stories, not just marks.