2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

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VideoGameCritic
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2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 27th, 2015, 10:52 am

I like this review. It makes me want to pick up this game!
What do you think?

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby BlasteroidAli » November 27th, 2015, 3:59 pm

Do not buy it critic. I had it and the thing is you have to be into JRPGs. You start playing and learn the battle system after all this is FF. Then 9 hours of solid game play in it changes the battle system into one that is so complex it ruins the game. I junked it after that.
You do not like RPGs Critic. Also this is the first of a trilogy. I have parts one and two.

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ptdebate
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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby ptdebate » November 27th, 2015, 4:33 pm

BlasteroidAli wrote:Do not buy it critic. I had it and the thing is you have to be into JRPGs. You start playing and learn the battle system after all this is FF. Then 9 hours of solid game play in it changes the battle system into one that is so complex it ruins the game. I junked it after that.
You do not like RPGs Critic. Also this is the first of a trilogy. I have parts one and two.


I feel like that's not a really fair assessment. The Critic has played and enjoyed plenty of RPGs. He liked Chrono Trigger on DS, Skyrim on 360, gave Vandal Hearts on PS1 (a complex strategy RPG) a glowing A+ review, adored Panzer Dragoon Saga...

Of all the Final Fantasy games, this one might be the one he'd like most (except for maybe Tactics). It's very straightforward, streamlined, and polished.

I object to the statement that the battle system is too complex. FF13 gradually teaches new concepts and gives you ample opportunity to adjust to them before adding something new. I love how it totally eliminates micromanaging and backtracking by healing your party after each encounter and giving you the option to "retry" any battle. I probably should have mentioned that in the review, come to think of it...

The thing that makes the battles elegantly simple is that once you've appointed a character to a role, you don't have to tell them every single thing to do--the AI is smart enough to use fire on enemies that are weak to fire. Instead the player is tasked with choosing what the best playbook is for each battle and knowing when to execute "paradigm shifts." It's actually a little like a football game in that way.

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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby VicViper » November 27th, 2015, 6:32 pm

I thought it was kind of a chore to get through.

Linear progression is one thing, but having it for most of the adventure can be a huge turn off. In FF X it wasn't bad for me. However in FF XIII... Christ... it's pretty much a field trip. The problem doesn't lie solely on the progression itself, but also in variety ; in FF X there were some puzzles for example, but in FF XIII ? Well... as far as I know, nothing.

The battle system is imaginative enough, but it much like the linear progression, there's not much input from the player. Plus, any sense of difficulty is canceled by the fact that losing any battle is inconsequential. I guess there is potential with strategies and all, but managing Paradigm Shifts and use Auto-Attacks didn't make the gameplay riveting at all for me.

And no, the game does not necessarily become better when you get to the open ended area. In fact, I gave up when I was in that area. They give you sidequests which are essentially : "Go there, fight the monster, go back, repeat".

Characters are difficult to sympathize with, half of them are so annoying, almost game-breaking. Lightning, Sahz, and Fang are okay, Hope is supposed to be relatable but becomes super-punchable quickly, Vanille is extremely difficult not to yell at due to her demeanor, and Snow makes me wanna puke and kill puppies (I'M GONNA SAVE SERAH AND PROTECT COCOON I'M GONNA SAVE SERAH AND PROTECT COCOON I'M GONNA SAVE SERAH AND PROTECT COCOON I'M GONNA SAVE SERAH AND PROTECT COCOON I'M GONNA SAVE SERAH AND PROTECT COCOON). I don't know if it's the same in the Japanese dub, because the English voices don't sound bad, but good lord are they obnoxious.

Yeah, I skipped ahead. Instead, I played Lightning Returns, which oddly enough, could easily rank on my top 10 JRPGs from the last generation.

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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby DaHeckIzDat » November 27th, 2015, 9:49 pm

I enjoyed FFXIII, but it definitely isn't one of my favorite games. Like PTDebate, I enjoyed the fighting style because I felt like a coach choosing plays for my team. I will say, though, that once you to a certain area in the game,the battles become nearly impossible. Not just the encounter battles, but the boss battles. I gave up on the fight with Barthandelus on Pulse and decided to watch the rest of the story on YouTube. Other than that, my only real problem with the game was how long the stages were. They were beautiful, but the effect kinda wears off after looking at it for over an hour while walking down a linear path. Personally, I liked Snow. He was a doofus, yeah, but at least he had a good attitude. While everybody else was angsting away, he was busy trying to think of ways to make the most of the situation. I also didn't dislike Vanille as much as most people do. I'm curious as to why it got the "Chicks did this" badge, though. Is it because Lightning was a strong female character? Because, personally, I found her to be much more of a coldhearted ***** than anything else.

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Rev
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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby Rev » November 28th, 2015, 1:09 am

Great review ptdebate. It was really well done and the game seems like it might be worth checking out. Most of the RPGs I've played have been PS2 era or earlier (minus Ni Na Kuni or whatever) but a linear RPG might be worth investigating.

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scotland
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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby scotland » November 28th, 2015, 7:23 am

I enjoyed the review. The discussion shows the value of more RPG reviews on the site.

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Retro STrife
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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby Retro STrife » November 28th, 2015, 1:00 pm

First off, great review. Solid reviews like this lend a lot of credibility to the RPG Crew and show that there can be a team to supplement the Critic's reviews without sacrificing quality.

I'm a big Final Fantasy fan and have spent more time on it than any series, having played and beaten most of the games. Yet, after the horrible game that was FF12, and the bad reviews received by FF13, I had basically written off the series. But this review gave me renewed hope in checking out FF13, which I had previously decided to pass on. Nowadays, I just don't have the time I used to for more open-ended RPGs, so a more linear experience might be nice to try. My only concern is this: will I need to play XIII-2 and Lightning Returns to get the full experience? Or are they more like FF X-2, where it was a bonus for fans but not a necessity? (I loved FF X, but never played FF X-2 and never plan to.)

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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby jon » November 28th, 2015, 1:41 pm

I agree with Scotland. While this is obviously not a genre I know much about, I know how popular it is. I do think that it'd be better if it left out who wrote the review and just stated it was the RPG Critic or the RPG Crew. It may not be able to work since I know that there'd probably be discussion about the review and whoever wrote it would be expressing their views. I just don't like that it states who specifically wrote the review.

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Re: 2015/11/27: Playstation 3: Final Fantasy XIII

Postby DaHeckIzDat » November 28th, 2015, 2:01 pm

Retro STrife wrote:First off, great review. Solid reviews like this lend a lot of credibility to the RPG Crew and show that there can be a team to supplement the Critic's reviews without sacrificing quality.

I'm a big Final Fantasy fan and have spent more time on it than any series, having played and beaten most of the games. Yet, after the horrible game that was FF12, and the bad reviews received by FF13, I had basically written off the series. But this review gave me renewed hope in checking out FF13, which I had previously decided to pass on. Nowadays, I just don't have the time I used to for more open-ended RPGs, so a more linear experience might be nice to try. My only concern is this: will I need to play XIII-2 and Lightning Returns to get the full experience? Or are they more like FF X-2, where it was a bonus for fans but not a necessity? (I loved FF X, but never played FF X-2 and never plan to.)


My answer is no. 13-2 and LR have more in common with each other than they do 13. If they didn't feature the same cast of characters, they could almost be their own games. That said, I enjoyed 13-2 a lot more than 13-1. It was more open ended, the difficulty wasn't nearly as high, and Caius is a MUCH cooler villain than Barthendalus. I gave Lightning Returns a chance, but the Majora's Mask time limit just doesn't work with a Final Fantasy game, especially since you can't jump back to the beginning like in MM.


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