Support NeoGAF

[Punished Miku]

After the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantaxy XV, and the unveiling of Final Fantasy XVI, has your opinion evolved over the years? Please include detailed examples of why you feel FFXIII is good or bad: battle system, music, graphics, art style, mythology, sequels, level design, post game, side quests.

 

[Calverz]

It was terrible. Whiny characters, poor summon designs, corridor simulator. It was a huge disappointment. Only thing the game had going was the battle music.

 

[Lady Bird]

You only need to play FFVII:R to understand how barebones XIII is in comparison. Both have similar game design, but the former is vastly superior.

 

[ULTROS!]

I really liked the gameplay and the look of the game. probably the best ATB variation for me.

The story is just convoluted.

 

[Grinchy]

I remember liking the combat system well enough, but the game overall was a huge miss. The characters and story just didn't interest me at all. Even looking back at some of the cutscenes now, the dialog is weirdly paced and unappealing. What's presented to you from a story perspective is extremely barebones and then they expect you to read a bunch of side files to still have a limited idea of what was going on.

You walk down one bland corridor after another for dozens of hours with a bad story just kind of barely playing out in between cuts, the characters are terrible, and then if you are a good boy, you finally get to the big open chapter. And then it's still not all that good.

 

[KiteGr]

More like... An impossible waste.

They threw out those amazing graphics and production values, and at the same time they bafflingly made the game a corridor simulator where the combat is always on auto, the crafting system is deceptively simple and monotonous and the most important story parts are hidden in encyclopedias.

If those bizarre design choices had been done by some other game, or it didn't clearly had money and effort thrown into it, we wouldn't care as much.

 

[TexMex]

Yes

 

[yurqqa]

The battle system was fun for some time when it clicked and you understood that it's not completely broken old one, but a new idea.

But everything else is really bland.

I don't remember the details, but I remember that I almost suffered through linear part of the game, cause I heard that after that the game opens and then the real fun game begun.

But when I reached this open world, I didn't have any will to play this game anymore, so I just dropped it.

P.S. OK. Graphics was good at the time.

 

[eyesabitdull]

After the reveal of FFXVI, I have nothing but appreciation for the art direction for FFXIII.

FFXVI is far too grim and dark in mood and tone for me.

Though the reveal trailer for FXVI was really bare bones and more akin to a tech demo than a proper reveal, so hopefully the inject more Fantasy elements into it.

And more color. Shesus, even Witcher 3 knew how to brighten up their world no matter how dark the world is.

 

[Lethal01]

The combat was tons of fun but I did play while making sure to be very careful with my level.
It was a feast for the eyes and the ears too.

Too linear for many though, overall I think it was a very good installment.

 

[Teslerum]

No, XIII-2 is one of my favourite RPG's and I like the whole series. Battle system was amazing, but utilized too late. Mythology is great, Story was decent, and characters grow on you.

 

[The Hamburglar]

It was and then 15 came along and they somehow made a worse game.

 

[Serianox]

I liked the combat but the game would constantly put on restrictions making most of the game feel like a gigantic tutorial.

 

[Corrik]

Yes

 

[linkroi]

i can understand the people who was disappointed about FF Xlll, but still as my humble opinion, it was mostly a good adventure with some flaws. I mean, the story was interessting even if it was hard sometimes to understand everything. I did like the characters, specially Lightning and Fang. The rest of the group was correct nevertheless. As for the technical direction/graphic, it was ahead of it's time, still beautiful in 2020. The gameplay was simple but so much more dynamic and interessting vs the oldschool turn based *booooorrrriiioinnnngg *. Annoying sometimes to always be in a corridor (the most linear ff) but the rythm was good, so as for myself, it was ok (i would have liked it better with more exploration tho). The music is just amazing, i do very like the vibe of FF Xlll. Overall i do recommand Final fantasy 13 !

 

[SkylineRKR]

Game is boring.

There is hardly anything to see, no interaction, combat that opens up past the halfway point. Dumbest, most lazy upgrade system ever, also pushed towards the end game. Same for the monster marks, they are a huge step back from FFXII which had some nice backstories and unique designs. And they were spread out evenly throughout the entire journey. In FFXIII they start from the late game essentially, and you pretty much have to do most of them straight away.

FFXIII went backwards in many ways. I also don't like FFVII R but its somewhat of a fixed, more interactive version of FFXIII with better characters and writing. And while the world building of R is still shit, its a leap above XIII. If FFXIII was like that it would've been better received.

But these FF's soured me on these teams. I am pretty much only looking forward to FF's by the XIV team. Which is why am not negative about XVI yet.

 

[Ixion]

It’s the low point of the series.

+SFX and music were largely very good
+Art style and graphics were very good

-Terrible dialogue. Characters were constantly overly emotional and trite. They yell at each other a lot but they don’t make the player care.
-Gameplay was incredibly one-dimensional. Walk-battle-walk-battle-walk the entire game. Not an exaggeration.
-Game world had no life, no NPCs
-Battle system starts out alright, but became formulaic after a while

So yeah, it’s nice to look at and listen to, but the actual gameplay and story is nauseating.

 

[Zephir]

Nop, it's cool just like the other two games in the series that added slightly improvements

People say it's "corridors the game" but FFX is just as linear, with the only difference being some npc reminding you to praise yevon scattered around

 

[ULTROS!]

I wish they'd remaster and add stuff to FFXIII. Like also include the 7th Ark scrapped DLC and additional side dungeons during the linear Chapter 1-10.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Nop, it's cool just like the other two games in the series that added slightly improvements

People say it's "corridors the game" but FFX is just as linear, with the only difference being some npc reminding you to praise yevon scattered around

Replay FFX perhaps. it has much more downtime than FFXIII. Spira is at least a world with a hint of life. You can revisit every location during the late game, find and open new stuff. FFX also has a better and more coherent story which is rather important for a more focused experience. Its not about cie'th, Fal cie, l'cie become cie'th. FFXIII is about a load of trash with some silly fodder bad guys everyone forgot about who they even were. I also think the sphere grid, esp. the expert grid is more fun to experiment with than w/e was in XIII.

 

[ULTROS!]

Nop, it's cool just like the other two games in the series that added slightly improvements

People say it's "corridors the game" but FFX is just as linear, with the only difference being some npc reminding you to praise yevon scattered around

1. You can return to all the places in FFX.
2. There are side areas, they open up when you reach towards the end of the game.
3. There are different minigames that aren't just "kill X monster".
4. FFX also contains an arena, super bosses, and movie viewing.

FFXIII is literally a corridor which you can't look back (except in Chapter 10) and the only mini game is "kill X monster".

 

[Punished Miku]

Spoiler

https://twitter.com/ErrenVanDuine?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

K Kagari

-----------------------------------------------

Perfo T Toth

 

[Pantz]

Back when it came out I was pretty salty about it and never finished. Gave it another go in 2018, really enjoyed it and beat it this time. Coming back to it after XV, the more traditional combat and linear level design felt cozy. What really helped was playing on a 4K TV. Walking through those linear areas I can now see just how much detail they put into everything, especially when comparing it to XV where ultra-detail was sacrificed for the open world. After they enhanced it for X1X it really looks gorgeous even, compared to current gen games. Focusing on the story, music, and visuals, rather than what limitations various systems had, made it an enjoyable experience to come back to.

 

[Kumomeme]

an RPG that has no town

think about that for a second.

also, XIII-2 is represent what wrong with XIII. After all, it developed based on XIII problem and fans feedback

 

[ZZZZ]

I barely remember the game, not even all the party members, i beat it once on release, i thought it was really average, never touched it again, didn't bother going back to XIII-2 or LR after that, a forgettable experience.

 

[CrysisFreak]

OST and visuals are on point.
I liked the story too actually. It's not that hard to follow imho.
Linearity is a bitch though.

 

[SkylineRKR]

an RPG that has no town

think about that for a second.

also, XIII-2 is represent what wrong with XIII. After all, it developed based on XIII problem and fans feedback

I think XIII-2 is even worse.

It did some things better, but tried too hard. The game still doesn't feature a meaningful world at all. Just fragments in time you select. The game has 2 characters, and a monster to take the third slot which I thought was lazy. The combat is also nerfed compared to XIII. Its easier and I just liked it less. Visually the game took quite a hit as well. I already didn't give a shit about XIII's story. Then XIII-2 tries to convince me the former ended on a different note. The game is fairly short and aside from the bestiary not the hardest and most tedious game to plat. But I didn't give a shit about anything that happened. Never played LR so my FFXIII experience ended here.

 

[GenericUser]

Yes it was. I stopped after forcing myself through 6hrs of this mess. Worst FF ever and a really terrible game all around.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Ixion]

People say it's "corridors the game" but FFX is just as linear, with the only difference being some npc reminding you to praise yevon scattered around

Not even close. This is what FFX has that FFXIII does not:

-A far better story that relies less on melodramatic dialogue and more on plot and world building
-Towns and camps to wander around instead of just continuously running straight
-Plus there were many NPCs along the “dungeons” as well that provide optional cut-scenes
-Minigames, including the most expansive mini-game of the series
-Temple puzzles
-Fully explorable world with the airship
-Varied side quests (not just hunts)

 

[Zephir]

1. You can return to all the places in FFX.
2. There are side areas, they open up when you reach towards the end of the game.
3. There are different minigames that aren't just "kill X monster".
4. FFX also contains an arena, super bosses, and movie viewing.

FFXIII is literally a corridor which you can't look back (except in Chapter 10) and the only mini game is "kill X monster".

Replay FFX perhaps. it has much more downtime than FFXIII. Spira is at least a world with a hint of life. You can revisit every location during the late game, find and open new stuff. FFX also has a better and more coherent story which is rather important for a more focused experience. Its not about cie'th, Fal cie, l'cie become cie'th. FFXIII is about a load of trash with some silly fodder bad guys everyone forgot about who they even were. I also think the sphere grid, esp. the expert grid is more fun to experiment with than w/e was in XIII.

Sorry, I wasn't saying linear as gameplay, I know you can revisit and that there's endgame quests, I mean as level design

 

[Ixion]

Sorry, I wasn't saying linear as gameplay, I know you can revisit and that there's endgame quests, I mean as level design

It is true that FFX has its share of corridors, but what it does with those corridors is far better than FFXIII. There’s much more variety in FFX basically. Take the Mihen Highroad for example. It’s as straight as an arrow the entire time, but over the course of walking through it you will come across many NPCs that have information and items for you, optional cut-scenes to find, you gain access to the expansive mini-game of Blitzball for the first time, and there’s an optional boss fight.

So that’s one huge distinction. The linear corridors of FFX are far more varied and engaging. And yeah, being able to have the entire diverse game world open to you is much better than just having the one large green field that is Pulse.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Pulse is even worse than Cocoon. Its like it was being added at the last second to show the game has some exploration, but it doesn't. Why did they even venture to Pulse anyway? They found out its completely barren as well (what a shock in this game).

FFXIII is for me the absolute low point of the franchise. Bar vanilla FXIV which I never played anyway. I got more and more pissed off with every XIII sequel they announced. I wished they took their loss, rebranded Versus and released that as intended (not the shitfest that became FFXV). Actually, I hoped for them to continue with what XII set. It was an FF that seemed to cater to both east and western markets and has mature dialogue to boot. I grew up.

Sorry, I wasn't saying linear as gameplay, I know you can revisit and that there's endgame quests, I mean as level design

Fair enough but in FFXIII I still don't have an idea how Cocoon is actually laid out. And why I should want to save it. Every FF wants you to go to from A to B. But the actual downtime, story and interaction decides if the experience is worth it. FFXIII is like FFX without towns, interactions, good story and side objectives. Which is why I think its not even comparable. FFXIII sends you to a gold saucer, but then with absolutely nothing to do in typical FFXIII fashion. I can't find any good in this game while I consider X a classic (but its not even top 3 FF for me either).

 

[Gormless Noodle]

OST is great, nothing wrong with that and the visuals were stunning, but it was an absolutely horrendous game to play. I once had a sadistic moment where I thought I'd play a really awful game for the fun of it and I completed Lester the Unlikely as a result. I had more fun with that than FF13. I've never had to force myself through a game this way before. The gameplay, the characters, the soullessness of it all, it culminates into a particular kind of diarrhea that I've never experienced elsewhere. And all that just because I needed to get my 60 Euro's worth back out of it.

 

[Knightime_X]

I originally hated ff13.
But I legit gave it a chance and played it for what it is and ff13 came out to be one of my top 5 favorite ff games of all time.
People make fun of it for being a "Hallway simulator" but some of the most beloved games ever like Bloodborne is closer to being a hallway simulator than this title.

Combat is different from traditional ff some dislike it because attacks such as magic are no longer flashy and is now just a different kind (but necessary) attack.

It's a love or hate game.

 

[TheDreadLord]

I am currently replaying this game and is, by far, much better than FFX and FFXII. I guess the main downside is that the first 20hs is a big tutorial which basically forces you to try to skip every non-mandatory battle so that you reach pulse as early as possible.

 

[Ixion]

FFXIII is like FFX without towns, interactions, good story and side objectives.

Yeah, and it was due to a troubled development that forced the team to focus on less elements to finish the game. The director did market research and found that the top two things people cared about in Final Fantasy were the story and battles. So they decided to get the game finished at a reasonable date by literally just focusing on those two things. He said focusing on battles over NPCs meant less dialogue to write and translate.

It would have worked if the story wasn’t shit and if they added some gameplay variety here and there. FFXIII was going for more of an action movie feel compared to FFX, but without any action movie gameplay. Just walking and battles.

FFVII Remake definitely goes for that same approach and it does a much better job since it has action movie set pieces such as the bike sequences and has the real-time action combat (plus towns and better writing).

 

[Kumomeme]

-corridor tube linear progression
-no town
-story didnt even revolve around main protagonist (which is such a waste)
-almost non existance, or barely world building (dont mention datalog. it not a good idea.)

I enjoy traverse the area in game. The linear structure that make me want to keep going to next area but it just it. Nothing more meaningfull. Once you pass the area you just put it behind. You just walk straight meet monster then there cutscene, rinse and repeat for whole game. There surely pretty environment along the way with beautiful ost but all of it without deeper context.

Archyle Steppe such as nice stop gap for that where player can explore the area. I like the roaming monster around but at same time it just full of monster, with barely anything else. There didnt even exist oustanding landmark or vista. You doing quest by talking to crystalize I'ice stone. No other npc or town. Its like whole game your party is the only 'human' along the journey. The game feels like walking on rail. I dont feels like our choice or character action has any effect on storyline. Its all predetermined and we/character just follow the path. Sometimes it feels that you can swap the character with something else, no problem.

But i like the combat thought.

XIII-2 fix this by giving non linear progress. Finally town, you progress not in linear manner, you can return back after change to different timeline. There is quest by npc. Each of your/player action can affect the world and utilize the mechanic. The story actually related with the character. There is relation between one of main cast and villain while we know nothing much about Barthalendus. My gripe is there lack of controlled main character. Although i like the monster catching mechanic, but there only 2 playable character.

Why XIII become like that is also probably due to the development constraint mainly because of the problematic Crystal Tools. I doubt the devs intentionally want that. They just need do what they can that time. Remember when Toriyama said VII remake could take 3-4 time longer than XIII development?
Thats why in sequel XIII-2 and LR:XIII devs can add jump in content, town, npc and stuff due to the devs already used to the engine + reused lot of asset.

Anyone played Xenoblade Chronicles? i believe that game is what XIII should or failed to be. Despite linear, whole game area is like Archyle Steppe, not just a portion of it with tons of landmark along the way to guide the player progress, town, npc quest etc.

 

[royox]

It was great. One of the best turn battle systems. Amazing Ost, some good characters (some others are horrible).

The thing is that the story was overcomplicated, with a lot of terminology that confused most of players (FalCie, Cieth, L'cie, etc). Another mistake is that they made "auto-combat" the default option so for many people the combat was just spamming of that button and will never apreciate how amazing was choosing yourself buff, debuffs, elemental weakness and the fun of the job change.

The summons were fenomenal and I'm a super fan of Motorbike shiva, although I don't understand why Ifrit was not the Fire Summon of this game.

It was super lineal? FFX also was and nobody cried.

Most of the hate for FFXIII is for PS3 era sony-ponies because the game was not PS3 exclusive. I still remember how they were saying "FF versus XIII is the good one" lol. Yeah those comments aged well.

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

No it's very good and I've spoken at length about why in other threads, ignore the internet hate machine and give the game a fair chance and you'll enjoy it.

 

[autoduelist]

Plot was incomprehensible.
Lots of corridors.

But... the combat system was extremely interesting.

Basically, rather than, say, click attack/attack/attack/heal, the AI automatically picked the best choice based on currently selected strategy, which you could change on the fly. This changed the dynamic from selecting often obvious choices [duh, heal, obviously] to managing your overall tactics. It worked really well generally, though iirc i took issues with a few ai choices and thought it needed minor tweaking.

Glad i played it despite the hate.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

I don't have anything bad to say about the graphics, music or monster designs.

Everything else...

 

[Ixion]

The thing is that the story was overcomplicated

It wasn’t overcomplicated. It was the exact opposite. It was overly melodramatic with very little substance. Just because the characters cry a lot and yell “l’cie” and “FalCie” at each other all the time doesn’t mean it’s complicated. It was just bad writing.

It was super lineal? FFX also was and nobody cried.

See the handful of posts above that go over this. FFX had tons of variety and a good story along its linear path (plus a fully explorable world with the airship).

 

[Phrixotrichus]

Yes

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

I barely remember the game, not even all the party members

How could you possibly forget:
Cloudette
Whiny Boy
Afro Man
Aussie Lesbian #1
Aussie Lesbian#2
& Beanie Man

 

[Punished Miku]

It wasn’t overcomplicated. It was the exact opposite. It was overly melodramatic with very little substance. Just because the characters cry a lot and yell “l’cie” and “FalCie” at each other all the time doesn’t mean it’s complicated. It was just bad writing.



See the handful of posts above that go over this. FFX had tons of variety and a good story along its linear path (plus a fully explorable world with the airship).

The mythology and lore is pretty much the deepest in the entire series.

Lore and mythology depth front runners:

FFX
FFXI
FFXII
FFXIII
FFXIV

I went in deep into all the religious text and mythology, and legends, and mysteries. It was a blast. The craziest part is that FFXIII-2 and FFXIII-3 are almost exclusively catered to the handful of people who took the lore seriously.

 

[DJT123]

It really is bad and boring with regard to nearly everything- but holy shit some of the character models are still SO GOOD.

 

[Bonsaibäumchen]

After the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantaxy XV, and the unveiling of Final Fantasy XVI, has your opinion evolved over the years? Please include detailed examples of why you feel FFXIII is good or bad: battle system, music, graphics, art style, mythology, sequels, level design, post game, side quests.

Transformer Summons.
Really I couldn't get into FF13. Tried but failed to. Those Summons simply made it impossible for me to play that game.

 

[Ixion]

The mythology and lore is pretty much the deepest in the entire series.

Lore and mythology depth front runners:

FFX
FFXI
FFXII
FFXIII
FFXIV

I went in deep into all the religious text and mythology, and legends, and mysteries. It was a blast. The craziest part is that FFXIII-2 and FFXIII-3 are almost exclusively catered to the handful of people who took the lore seriously.

That’s the thing. The overall story concept of FFXIII is great (which was outlined by Nojima), and the lore in the data logs is definitely cool.

It’s the actual on-screen story that consists of mainly melodrama. Too much whining at each other instead of dealing with plot developments or learning more about the world.

 

[Punished Miku]

That’s the thing. The overall story concept of FFXIII is great (which was outlined by Nojima), and the lore in the data logs is definitely cool.

It’s the actual on-screen story that consists of mainly melodrama. Too much whining at each other instead of dealing with plot developments or learning more about the world.

That is true. But that's basically flipped in the two sequels. Pretty much all lore, and everyone thought it was incomprehensible lol. Serah and Snow barely had a scene together. The focus was so strongly on time travel and the nature of reality and multiple dimensions the entire time. I loved it lol. The most ambitious time travel RPG storyline since Chrono Trigger.