To FF XIII or not FF XIII? That is the question.

[davifus]

The real question is, why did you skip XII! It's great. Play that, or wait for XV / XVI.

I though 11 and 12 were online deals. I don't have the time, patience or commitment to extended online gaming sessions like I did when I was in college.

Actually. I didn't have time for them then either.

You're thinking of 11 and 13.  12 was on PS2 and I enjoyed it, but I haven't played much of the FF series.

11 & 14*

derp... thanks. i said 14 in my head but totally wrote 13.

[argyle]

Mark me down as another who couldn't get into XII.  I've made several attempts too, the latest being last year.  The story is very bland as are most of the characters, and I do not like the gambit system at all.  Feels like they couldn't program decent party AI so they want me to do it instead.  I'll just play Tales instead. 

[desocietas]

I actually really enjoyed the gambit system and thought it was an interesting way to have your teammates "level" up their skills (with new gambits available at new towns), but I know lots of folks who agree with you

[redrowz]

Quote from: davifus on September 20, 2014, 07:06:36 pm

    Quote from: redrowz on September 20, 2014, 06:56:50 pm

        The real question is, why did you skip XII! It's great. Play that, or wait for XV / XVI.


    Why do people say XII is good? I feel like its mediocre at best. Extremely underwhelming


I had the same feeling.  I didn't get too far in it.  I really felt like it could've been significantly better had they reworked the story so you were someone else instead of Vaan.  It was a real bad idea making him the lead.

For me it felt quite original observing the story from Vaan's perspective. All to often in games you're the main guy, the centre of everything and the great hero. I felt being just a side character played in to the likelyhood of you not being the centre of everything, as in real life. It gave the story and the happenings a greater sense of scale and also of believability. The political elements gave it a mature sense. The story might not be for some, but I think the systems are great. I've never avoided the end of a game for so long, which was due to enjoying running around hunting marks, discovering new secrets and people, and improving my characters.

[BBowles]

As a bit of background, my favorite FF games would probably be (from best to worst): 7, 10, Tactics, 13, 8, 6, 9, and then the rest kind of all tied. I also have a really high tolerance for bad stories, as I try to find the good in most games. I mean...I 1000/1000 Star Ocean: The Last Hope, despite it taking 650 hours for me personally >_>

I actually really enjoyed 13 (coincidentally, I watched all 8 and half hours of cutscenes on Youtube the other day - mostly due to hearing the Leona Lewis theme song and realizing I haven't played it since launch). The biggest complaints I've heard about the game I actually found refreshing.

"It's too linear" - Yes, the game is linear, and the vast majority of sidequests, grinding, etc. doesn't open up until after you beat the final boss and reload your save. I actually liked this, as I didn't get sidetracked doing sidequests. Also, since there is experience caps each chapter, you can't overlevel. This serves 2 purposes: 1. the boss fights remain challenging each chapter, and 2. You know when to move on and stop grinding exp, because you stop having skills to spend it on.

"There's no towns/npcs interations" - I'm fine with this, as it fits in with the story. You're a fugitive the entire game..you shouldn't be hanging out fetching bear pelts for some shop keeper.

"ugh...auto-battle" - At first I doubted this, but I actually found combat FUN to watch for the first time in several games. Besides, setting up your party and timing the paradigm shifts becomes frantic enough in the late game.

It does seem like a lot of people disliked the characters/setting/plot/battle system of the game, and to each their own. While the characters aren't nearly as memorable to me as those in 6/7/8/10, I still found them satisfactory. There were several scenes in the game that I really found emotional, despite lacking a serious connection to certain characters.

Obviously, I highly recommend FFXIII.

XIII-2....well, the combat is more fun (along with the monster-collecting aspect), but the game ruins the end of XIII for me and ends up requiring Lightning Returns to exist. It's alright, but the multiple endings and plot are rather unenjoyable to me.

Lightning Returns - Well...I haven't finished this one. I realize it only exists due to XIII-2 screwing up XIII's plotline, so I forgive the story in LR. The combat I actually felt was the most complex and customizable of the 3 and really enjoyed it, but I stopped playing the week it came out for some reason and haven't gone back. Probably will at some point, unlike XII. I've tried finishing that games 3 or 4 times...and never can get into it.

[insektmute]

Funny, I happen to be playing XIII right now. I've made two prior attempts to finish it, but each time, got sick of it and moved on to something else.

Part of why it's so polarizing is that it's just so wildly inconsistent. The first 30-40 hours really are kind of a slog, filled with excessively linear levels, recycled enemies, a mostly forgettable story, and some moments of genuinely awful dialog and character development. The combat system's enjoyable enough after awhile, but often results in encounters that take way, way, way too long, and one particular character spends half the time whining and mowing down Phoenix Down like it's candy.

After that point, things level out a bit. The world opens up, your characters have some decent skills at their disposal, the combat system actually stops feeling like you're just hammering one button over and over, and it starts to feel like a real Final Fantasy game for awhile. Unfortunately, that's almost all side-quest stuff, and it's spread across a large landscape that doesn't deviate much from area to area, so the main motivator is just getting things upgraded and checking quest monsters off your list. Once you finally do move on, you're locked back into linear tedium, except now everything you fight has the ability to take out your party in a couple of hits, forcing you to constantly change up your equipment and skills, and the only thing to look at is basically a shifting series of white blocks. This is where I am right now in the game, and it's also where I stopped playing last time.

Mixed feelings for me overall, but I'm determined to actually finish it this time around. My favorites in the series are IV, VI, VII, IX, and XII, if that tells you anything, and I seem to be among the few people who likes Lightning as a character, but dislikes almost everyone else in the cast of XIII.