Support NeoGAF

[AuthenticM]

The credits are rolling as I am typing this. I had played the game almost up to the end back in 2014, but then I lost my saves when my hard drive crashed. I recently started a new game just to say I finished it, as I have played the other two.

Man. The story and writing of this game are so... bad. It feels like the epitome of JRPG writing that tries to sound "deep and existential" but doesn't mean jack shit because of the incompetency of the author (I believe there is a term for such writing but I forget).

I thought the writing in the original game was bad, but here it's so much worse. In XIII, despite some badly-handled themes, the story was somewhat grounded. A group of rebels fight to liberate a country ruled by a theocratic fascist government. It certainly sounds good on paper.

But this game doesn't have to do with any of that. Christ, even the second game didn't have anything with the story of the first one. Which is a shame, because I remember from reading the codex of the original game, the mythology that had been created for this universe was very elaborate and fascinating. I even remember telling myself that I could see where the story could go should a sequel ever ended up being made. But it was not to be, because the second game pretty much discarded everything the first game had built. The story of the second game itself starts with some deus ex machina bullshit. And in this third game, everything falls apart with the setting being in this warped dimension unchained from space and time.

The gameplay is okay. It's the reason why I went back to the game; I would have never done so if it had been bad. But even that got tiring after a while. I just wanted the game to end at some point.

Also, that ending... is weird. So the new world that ended up being created is our one? And Lightning ends up in France? Okay. Weird, but somehow cool... I guess. I also don't understand the last line of Lightning. She says "I know we'll finally be together", but considering the context and everything that preceded the scene, it's not 100% clear about whom she is talking. I guess she's talking about her sister; the entire story was about Lightning trying to save her. But I guess the scene wasn't executed as well as it should have been. She was looking straight at the camera when she said that, with the biggest smile she's ever had in the trilogy.

Anyways, I don't really recommend this game to anyone. There are better ways to spend your time.

I hope Motomu Toriyama doesn't ever direct another Final Fantasy.

 

[BadWolf]

Loved it personally, enjoyed the entire trilogy.

Great battle system.

 

[Trigg]

I had no problems with it, I feel its the best of the 3.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

With you a hundred percent. I just bought it off Steam last week. 13 was meh. I really liked 13-2. But Lightning Returns couldnt pull me in. I played a few nights in a row, but Lightning is so damn boring. And then they actually had a monologue with her in Ark at beginning where she is talking about how she should be angry, but feels nothing. Why is Square acknowledging in open monologue what is so shitty about Lightning? It was laughable.

 

[Jeremy]

It feels like the epitome of JRPG writing that tries to sound "deep and existential" but doesn't mean jack shit because of the incompetency of the author (I believe there is a term for such writing but I forget).

pseudointellectual.

 

[Ralemont]

They really took the crafting criticism for XIII in an unexpected direction.

"Crafting isn't useful till the end of the game! This sucks!"
"You're right, let's prevent players from crafting at all until new game+!"

 

[WickedLaharl]

The effort that went into modeling this dog accurately represents the quality of the entire game.

 

[neoemonk]

Kat Bailey likes it so that's good enough for me.

 

[Wagram]

I thought it was okay, but the clock, lack of actual story, over emphasis on side quests and twist regarding chaos (some of the worst storytelling ever at work here) bugged me.

Combat was dope though.

 

[Team Alucard]

Also, that ending... is weird. So the new world that ended up being created is our one? And Lightning ends up in France?.

They cut out the scene where she crossed through the gate of alchemy.

 

[keero16]

I enjoyed the first 2 games despite how most others feel about them, XIII-2 the most. I didn't care for this game because stats were tied to side-quests that were so boring. There were some bosses that made the battle system shine, but overall it was a chore to sit through. Probably won't play it again.

 

[Mythos]

I hope Motomu Toriyama doesn't ever direct another Final Fantasy.

I'm with you, 100%. Toriyama schould never again direct a FF-Game,, but sadly, he has a seat in that SE council, so he will be a director again. It's possible he even directs FF16, which i will gladly skips, if he really does.

 

[jiggle]

I enjoyed the vignettes
The one with mog was rather touching

 

[Hyrule Warrior]

I feel like I need to replay Lightning Returns because I can't really remember the specifics of the whole game, but honestly...XIII-2, and LR are what made me appreciate the trilogy. I still think the first game is super weak and not that good, but as a whole, I think the trilogy is good because of how fucking crazy it goes.

I liked how weird and completely bonkers the ending was, and how different it really is compared to other FF games.

 

[Shift Breaker]

The story was trash, but it was built on the foundations that XIII-2 raised, and that was pretty atrocious. As a concept, it's great, and I wish that this was a standalone game rather than a XIII sequel with all the baggage that had.

Loved the gameplay though.

Also, for the dog which ALWAYS comes up, it originated from FFXIII as a background item from Nautilis, I believe. Stupid of them to bring it front and centre, but it wasn't made for this game.

 

[MilkBeard]

I enjoyed the game for things it did right (the battle system, openness of the game).

However, it's easy to see that this game is fluff created to bide time until SE got its shit together.

I'm not a hater, but I agree with the sentiment that Toriyama shouldn't be allowed to direct another Final Fantasy.

I say this in general, not just because of the XIII series. I've been playing through X and it has a lot of the same issues that XIII does, despite being a bit more enjoyable overall.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

I had fun with it, mostly. The environments and cities were very cool, especially the party city Snow rules over. The music was amazing too, as were enemy designs like the final boss.

The game pretty much wastes the entire cast though. Fang and Vanille had sorta big roles, but Sazh, Noel, and Caius were absolutely wasted, which pissed me off as they were my favorites. Lol at the pointless Cid cameo.

The ending was an attempted mind fuck gone wrong, and it didn't seem like anyone got a happy ending beyond "we get to live" because we didn't see what happened to them on Earth besides Lightning on a train.

 

[HeeHo]

When this game first came out, I was all about it. I actually thought it was pretty fun ( I was using the Cloud DLC) despite the really bad NPC animations. I liked how you could manage time by freezing it and running around trying to do as much stuff as possible. In that sense, I think it was successful, some people hated the time mechanic saying that they wanted to relax but as long as you casted Chronostasis pretty frequently, time was a non-issue.

But, after doing so many NPC missions and mission board requests, the game starts to seem uber crappy. If you want the good ending that means you have to do 50 side-quests and 50 other type of quest I believe. That will be enough to sour you on the overall game. Doing quests at first is fun because you get rewarded with stats but overall the crappy voice acting and animations start to bog you down.

 

[Jawbreaker]

It bored the hell out of me. I actually stopped playing the game and uninstalled it if I'm being honest. I felt like I was wasting my time playing through it when there were other games I could be devoting time to.

 

[jacob armitage]

Its a pretty bad game, but it is at least a very interesting game. Thematically and mechanically.

 

[eXistor]

By far the best in the trilogy imo. The quests were a bit lame, but I liked the world and overall game-structure. The only one worth playing to be honest.

 

[RenTargino]

I love the battle system. The history it's really bad and confusing.

Spoiler

The characters had grown-up but now appear as they were in the first FFXIII.

But what I really hate is that the game is just side-quests. The leveling by completing side-quests is weird. It's a shame, the game is gorgeous, but only the battle system works for me.

I dropped it to play other game, but I plan to come back to it soon.

Of the three FFXIII, XIII-2 was by far my favorite, love that game so much.

 

[mcz117chief]

The side quests are absolutely amazing though, every single side quests is like a personal story of a person in a dying world. I can honestly remember almost all of them, they were well written and you really felt that each quest you did you fulfilled the last wish of a person.

The combat is great, the music is great, the overall story is pretty bad though, but the stories of individual characters are incredibly good (Noel's, Snow's and Caius' specifically)

 

[Strangelove77]

Still waiting for it to go on sale on PSN. I didn't care for the original, but I had a lot of fun with XIII-2.

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

I don't know what the fuck is up with JRPG sequels that feel more like OVAs rather than actual direct sequels. Look at FFX-2 and the fanfiction that is FFX-2.5.

 

[Hyrule Warrior]

I love the battle system. The history it's really bad and confusing.

Spoiler

The characters had grown-up but now appear as they were in the first FFXIII.

But what I really hate is that the game is just side-quests. The leveling by completing side-quests is weird. It's a shame, the game is gorgeous, but only the battle system works for me.

I dropped it to play other game, but I plan to come back to it soon.

Of the three FFXIII, XIII-2 was by far my favorite, love that game so much.

I probably would agree with that. It's the first game I ever platinum-ed on PS3 because I just wanted to keep playing it. The combat was still fun, but it actually felt like an open game with a lot to explore and do. The side quests were fun, the story while confusing and weird, was engaging. I even liked both the main characters. Serah seemed so generic in the first game, but I liked how she is in XIII-2.

 

[mcz117chief]

I don't know what the fuck is up with JRPG sequels that feel more like OVAs rather than actual direct sequels. Look at FFX-2 and the fanfiction that is FFX-2.5.

The one with the head exploding stuff?

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Has the best FF battle system. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯
Always purposefully getting into battles.

 

[_woLf]

I thought aside from the technical issues on PS3 (framerate/graphic quality) it was a fantastic game. I have it on PC and it was even better but haven't played through all of it - still need to finish it!

 

[SuperStiltzkin]

The one with the head exploding stuff?

Yeah, that one.

It's even more jarring in FFXIII because, like the OP said, they spent so much time writing out the lore and mythology in this big ol codex to build up and flesh out this world only to dump it overboard and go "naaaahhh time travel and dimensions and shit!"

 

[Sinatar]

The effort that went into modeling this dog accurately represents the quality of the entire game.

That would be no effort since that dog model is from OG XIII.

 

[AuthenticM]

With you a hundred percent. I just bought it off Steam last week. 13 was meh. I really liked 13-2. But Lightning Returns couldnt pull me in. I played a few nights in a row, but Lightning is so damn boring. And then they actually had a monologue with her in Ark at beginning where she is talking about how she should be angry, but feels nothing. Why is Square acknowledging in open monologue what is so shitty about Lightning? It was laughable.

XIII-2 was also my favorite of the trilogy, but it's still sub-par for what I want out of a Final Fantasy game.

pseudointellectual.

Thanks

The effort that went into modeling this dog accurately represents the quality of the entire game.

Hahaha, christ, this fucking dog. I audibly laughed when I first saw it. It looks like a fucking PS1 model running in HD.

The side quests are absolutely amazing though, every single side quests is like a personal story of a person in a dying world. I can honestly remember almost all of them, they were well written and you really felt that each quest you did you fulfilled the last wish of a person.

The combat is great, the music is great, the overall story is pretty bad though, but the stories of individual characters are incredibly good (Noel's, Snow's and Caius' specifically)

Man, I could not have cared less about the side-quests. Forgettable stories, bad writing, stilted performances by the actors, a complete absence of cinematography. I thought they were all terrible.

 

[Aters]

I enjoyed FFXIII and I think FFXIII-2 is severely underrated. Don't care about LR. The time constrain thing is so frustrating.

 

[brandonh83]

I had no problems with it, I feel its the best of the 3.

Yep. This series was really hit or miss with folks, but I thought it was easily the best of that trilogy. I really enjoyed XIII-2 as well tbh. I just liked the gameplay and aesthetics (design, music, art, environments) of the Lightning shit. Still hoping for a PS4 remaster.

^^the time stuff is so manageable you kinda even forget about it after a while lol

 

[Meier]

I actually genuinely really enjoyed FF13 and FF13-2. Put tons of hours (probably around 100 or so each) into both. 13-3 was really not particularly good though and I think I managed only about an hour or two. The game design changes were far too significant -- not for me.

 

[Bluenoser]

FFXIII was disappointing after all that wait. (3.5 years after XII)

I played it twice, and stuck with it long enough to get the platinum, but I don't think I could ever go back to it again. I played and beat XIII-2 as well, but didn't play it again, once was enough. XIII-LR will never see the inside of my PS3.

 

[Elven_Star]

The time limit thing killed it almost immediately for me so, I didn't have to suffer for long. Loved the first two games, though.

 

[Jeels]

Man. The story and writing of this game are so... bad. It feels like the epitome of JRPG writing that tries to sound "deep and existential" but doesn't mean jack shit because of the incompetency of the author (I believe there is a term for such writing but I forget).

I thought the writing in the original game was bad, but here it's so much worse. In XIII, despite some badly-handled themes, the story was somewhat grounded. A group of rebels fight to liberate a country ruled by a theocratic fascist government. It certainly sounds good on paper.

But this game doesn't have to do with any of that. Christ, even the second game didn't have anything with the story of the first one. Which is a shame, because I remember from reading the codex of the original game, the mythology that had been created for this universe was very elaborate and fascinating. I even remember telling myself that I could see where the story could go should a sequel ever ended up being made. But it was not to be, because the second game pretty much discarded everything the first game had built. The story of the second game itself starts with some deus ex machina bullshit. And in this third game, everything falls apart with the setting being in this warped dimension unchained from space and time.

.

Yup, the story of the XIII series starts out terrible but structured in some way and just ends up being hot garbage by the end of it. The worst JRPG story I have come across, if you can even call something that makes absolutely no sense a story. Man, what a scar on the entire series...

 

[AuthenticM]

Yup, the story of the XIII series starts out terrible but structured in some way and just ends up being hot garbage by the end of it. The worst JRPG story I have come across, if you can even call something that makes absolutely no sense a story. Man, what a scar on the entire series...

Seriously. I remember when the FFXIV 1.0 fiasco happened, one of the Square execs said that the game had "damaged the FF brand". I thought that wasn't true at all, because the game is an MMO and its success or failures don't have repercussions on mainline FF games, and XIII was the game that had damaged the FF brand.

Here's hoping XV can repair it. It can't be worse than the XIII saga.