Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Review

AznaktaX

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KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
You want my own opinion on that?

It's called the "Vision of the Creator".

The creator being Hironobu Sakaguchi who left after Final Fantasy 9.

Every other Final Fantasy after that will be different.

It doesn't mean it will be bad.

Just different.

And that's because it's difficult if not impossible to grasp the vision of the creator.

People focus too much on the company, and not on who's working behind these games.



On topic: I have to question the rating.

5 hours into the game, and it looks awfully boring.

The battle system looks easily the best part about this game, and yet there aren't all that many battles to begin with.

The time limit forces you to focus too much on the side quests.

The guys who made this game don't seem to know balance.

You need variety in an rpg so that the player doesn't get bored too easily.

The variety seems to be missing from the game so far.
 

00slash00

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Not reading any reviews because I don't want to risk anything being spoiled. This was a day one purchase for me because I have loved the Final Fantasy 13 series so far and I want to see it through to the end. As someone who grew up on Final Fantasy, having played the first one when I was around 5 or 6, I feel that the 13 series gets way more hate than it deserves (much of which is from people who haven't even played the games but enjoy jumping on hate bandwagons). Quite frankly the hate this is getting is encouraging to me, since everyone hated the first two games and I loved them.
 

JayRPG

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james.sponge said:
Arkhangelsk said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
There is no "standard", but most fans of FF hate anything after X with a fury passion because the style in gameplay changed. I'm one of those haters. Anyone playing an old and then a new FF game will immediately notice the massive differences (apart from graphics quality).
I wouldn't say it was the gameplay, more like atmosphere shifted, I would argue FFX was a step in right direction, as far as battle/summon systems are concerned, they dropped the ball with sphere grid, characters, heavy emphasis on fighting rather than exploration (something FF9 did quite well) and shallow uninspired world.

KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
It's actually quite simple FF1-6 + FFT and FF9 qualify and the rest of them are below the standard ;)
What no 7? See though this proves my point. No real standard for what does and doesn't qualify. Ergo people need to give a rest already. Hell XIII-2 got so much hate and bile spewed at it and it didn't even deserve it.
I was joking actually. Even though I dislike new entries, I can understand some people may find them appealing. And yes FF7 is bad ;)
Just to tack on for no particular reason.

I'm a pretty big Final Fantasy fan, my first FF was 7 but that got me to try out earlier entries in the series.

I thought 7 was good until I played 9 and 6, I still like 7 but mainly just for the characters, I actually enjoyed Advent Children and Crisis core more than the original PS1 game.

9 is easily my favourite, I hate 8 with a passion - the characters, story, art style, gameplay.. everything.. well except the soundtrack.

I also rather disliked 10 due to story (which I just.. hated), gameplay was good, probably one of the best in the series.

1, 2 and 3 were fine but not very memorable experiences for me.

I've never had the opportunity to sit down and play 12 for any real amount of time so I cannot comment but personally.. I love 13, I liked 13-2 as well... I enjoy the story, the setting, the characters - yes gameplay isn't anywhere near the fun of earlier games but that didn't stop me from liking it.

XIII is much maligned in the west but it's popular in the east, lightning is incredibly popular in the east, and perhaps I just relate more to their sentiments than I do my peers but I don't know why XIII get's all the hate it does, for me, Final Fantasy was always about the story and most of the hate on XIII over here is gameplay, which I find I can overlook quite easily.

Anyway, Just my 2 cents.

P.S When I said pretty big FF fan I may have understated... I have 1 of 77,777 Advent children: Advent pieces, A XIII lighting ultimate box, 2x wonderswan final fantasy console bundles (1 and 2), Every PSone title (original black label picture discs), every strategy guide, every collector's edition from PS2 and PS3 (and in some cases, multiple CEs for certain games like XIII-2 crystal edition and the regular collector's edition), full size replicas of sephiroths masumane, the buster sword, vincent's cerberus, siefer's gunblade and Kadaj's double katana and a 16 cube display case filled with Final Fantasy collector's items, memorabilia, figures etc (I think that's almost all of it lol)
 

MrHide-Patten

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As soon as I heard this game had a time limit it went straight to the 'Nope' list. I'll just wait for FFX-2 (yes I know it's sacrilege to like it, but fuck the majority with a rusty metal fork) for my Vita thanks.

They make nifty worlds and out there sci-fi fantasy designs (which I really like, I'm not a fan of the medieval stuff), but the story and characters have been FF-XIII biggest stumbling block.
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
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Arkhangelsk said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
There is no "standard", but most fans of FF hate anything after X with a fury passion because the style in gameplay changed. I'm one of those haters. Anyone playing an old and then a new FF game will immediately notice the massive differences (apart from graphics quality).
I've played the old games, and I've played the new games, and I love all the ones I've played (Tactics, T Advance, VI, VII, X/X-2, XII, XIII/XIII-2) because THEY ALL STAND WELL ON THEIR OWN MERITS. Seriously, if XIII and XIII-2 had been released as standalones without attaching 'Final Fantasy' to the name they would have been receied much better by fans, because they were both good games. The only thing people seem to agree on in terms of the 'bad stuff' for XIII is the fact it's so linear, whereas it's actually about as linear as X, which most people laud as one of the best in the series (and is the first one I actually played). I thought XIII-2 (which I'm still in the middle of) improved a lot on it's predecessor, but even then the original was still good. Yes, the gameplay style changed, but I can guarantee that if it hadn't then people would complain that the series is getting repetitive and stale (and this isn't idle conjecture, that is exactly what has happened with every major franchise of the past decade that hasn't made significant changes in gameplay and style at some point, the most obvious of course being CoD/Battlefield).

What people need to realise is that just because something has changed, doesn't mean it's bad. I'll withhold judgement on Lightning Returns until I've bought it (which I fully intend to do as soon as I finish XIII-2) and played it for myself, but the other games so far have been pretty solid in my eyes.

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike most people apparently, I actually liked Hope and Vanille. Yes, Hope was whiny, but his mother had died in front of him, and he's a 14 year old kid. Of course he'll be whiny (and I know much worse people IRL). And Vanille was a really interesting character, and gave us some of the best emotional scenes in the first game (especially in Nautilus... you know the one I'm talking about xD). Vaan can go hang himself though...
 

Sack of Cheese

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Aww I was hoping for Jim to review it, I wanna hear more of his jokes about Lightning's lack of personality.
This is a good review too I guess.
 

Arkhangelsk

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Trivun said:
loads of text
Just because it's different doesn't mean we still need to like it. People like certain things. I liked the old style, and I'm not particularly fond of the new style. I'm perfectly justified in having that opinion, just like you are in having yours, and just like all the other old-school or new fans.
 

Seracen

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The completionist in me demands I buy this game, but only after it's hit the bargain bin, preferably used.

Square Enix lost my business a while ago, which is sad. I am still enamored of quality JRPG's, but it seems that my only port of call for that genre is 3DS, and I loathe to play handhelds.
 

Veldt Falsetto

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I have played Bravely Default and in my eyes it is one of the worst, most grind based, pointless, artistically bereft and just plain dull games I've ever played, seriously.

I played the Lightning Returns demo and it left me feeling pretty cold but the combat was far more fun than Bravely Default. Also far more customisation is in LR, its insane how much you can change your classes around.


Trishbot said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
First off...


And, since you asked...
Let me address this

1. Turn based combat was only present in 1-3 and 10. Active time battle present in 4-9 10-2, 12, 13, 13-2 and Lightning Returns
2. Random battles are NOT good, there's a reason almost all JRPGs have phased it out
3. Ok fair enough, Lightning is on her own in this game but that's not a criticism on any game before 13-2, excluding the online games of course.
4. Specific Job Classes 1, 4 and 9...No job classes 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12...Can choose your job class 3, 5, 10-2, 13, 13-2, LR.
5. Summons I have heard literally nothing about but again, doesn't really make it a good game.
6. Airship? Really? A Final Fantasy NEEDS an airship? -eeesh
7. Epic Adventure to save the world? Is there a game in which the world ending is more prevalent than in Lightning Returns? Also have you played Bravely Default? That thing is fetch quests galore with added Sim City.
8. none had a medieval art style, it was all mostly anime-esque with fusions of medieval, steampunk and cyberpunk, all the way through the franchise. The closest are 1, 2, 9 and 12.
9. Well 4 had a modern day engineer, 5 had chemistry, 6 had loads of guns, chainsaws, and MAGITEK ARMOR
10. eeehhhh 1 I'm not sure what you're getting at here and 2 the older you get is more of a sign of the times as opposed to a design decision.
11. I dunno what that means? Before 7 they were all sprite art and if you look at the proper art its all very similar to what's going on now.
12. Limit breaks do not equal a good Final Fantasy....plus there's limit break-esque stuff in 13, Lightning's Army of One and the other character specific super abilities.
13. Again, this shows your lack of interest in new things as opposed to it being a sign of a good FF game.
14. No time limit - all BUT LR. It's cool if you don't like the time limit, it really is but seriously?
15. I've actually heard LR is the most humorous game in the series because everyone but Lightning is completely goofy and weird but there we go. Also I never laughed at 4, 7 or 8 so dunno what humour was in there.
16 and 17 are entirely opinion, I actually really like the 13 stories and in regards to BD but the story is FAR AWAY from excellent, in fact it's pretty pathetic, especially towards the end. And not all FF games from 1 - 10 have been well received, it's actually a very small amount of them...also if you Metacritic it, 12 is the highest rated FF game of all time.

CAPTA: live. love. type
 

Veldt Falsetto

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AznaktaX said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
You want my own opinion on that?

It's called the "Vision of the Creator".

The creator being Hironobu Sakaguchi who left after Final Fantasy 9.

Every other Final Fantasy after that will be different.

It doesn't mean it will be bad.

Just different.

And that's because it's difficult if not impossible to grasp the vision of the creator.

People focus too much on the company, and not on who's working behind these games.



On topic: I have to question the rating.

5 hours into the game, and it looks awfully boring.

The battle system looks easily the best part about this game, and yet there aren't all that many battles to begin with.

The time limit forces you to focus too much on the side quests.

The guys who made this game don't seem to know balance.

You need variety in an rpg so that the player doesn't get bored too easily.

The variety seems to be missing from the game so far.
Just adding but Sakaguchi left after 10 and had quite a large role in 10. He also had very little to do with most of the fan favourites including a lone supervisor role on 6 and 7 while the big guns of those titles being Nomura and Kitase (the guy in charge of the 13 series) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshinori_Kitase

EDIT: Turns out Sakaguchi actually was producer for every FF game from 1 - XI (including X-2)
 

spoonybard.hahs

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An Ceannaire said:
Tradjus said:
No big surprises here. I'm honestly starting too wonder if Square would even still exist as a company right now if not for the newfound success of FF14. They just seem so utterly averse too making good choices.
I thought FF14 did badly?
It did when it first launched in 2010. Right now, it's a goddamned gold mine for SE, since it's performing beyond expectations after relaunch six months ago. In fact, it's the sole reason SE is in the black right now.
 

sageoftruth

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Well, this certainly feels like a break from the formula. Almost like Final Fantasy meets Act Raiser. I'll be looking into it.
 

MattAn24

Pulse l'Cie
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Trishbot said:
KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
SNIPPITY SNIP
O.. Oh dear.. Your nostalgia goggles are *really* affecting you. Badly.
Firstly, SD character designs as A PRO? Yeah, you really are fuelled by nostalgia and it's hilarious. Lightning Returns *has* plenty of classes. Dragoon, Red Mage, Black Mage, Thief. They're practically all there. Even rather close to their original designs!
It should also be noted that this is not a mainstream-numbered Final Fantasy title. It is a spin-off/sequel. The Final Fantasy series has plenty of sequels, or are we forgetting FFIV's After Years, XII's Revenant Wings, VII's prequels Before Crisis and Crisis Core, sequel Dirge of Cerberus.. The Final Fantasy series does not have to conform to any specific archaic formula. That's.. Kind of the point of each Roman numeral game in the series. They *all* change. They *all* modify, adapt and experiment with new things. Nobody is forcing anyone to like literally every single FF title. They're not all made to your specifications.
And now, to the whole "medieval" debate. The definition of "fantasy" implies lack of realism. Last I checked, using magic is not realism, fighting monsters is not realism. Fun Fact: Science Fiction is a sub-genre of Fantasy. Books are often in sections entitled "Science Fiction/Fantasy" for damn good reason.

Another point on the medieval thing. I loved Final Fantasy IX. Loved. Lovedlovedlovedloved. *Adored* it. So much. But here's the thing. Medieval fantasy gets old. Fast. Sure, Bravely Default (if you want medieval fantasy from Square, that's going to be it, it's rather likely it'll become its own series) is incredible and all that, but there are plenty of people who haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate medieval fantasy. Final Fantasy had to move on. It had to adapt and change, do more than just medieval. It was, in fact, a major complaint several years ago. People got sick and tired of medieval Final Fantasy games, so things changed. Don't like it? Simple solution, don't bloody play them! They're not made for you! Others will, and as been evidenced in this thread on page 1 early on, many started from IX and continued to enjoy the future titles. That is not a bad thing. They are merely different games. There is zero "standard to achieve". Fun Fact: FFVIII and FFIX were developed *at the exact same time*. Two entirely different teams within Squaresoft, with mostly the same lead staff overseeing both. They're entirely different games. Not made for the same people. Stop acting like your sole opinion is the one true way.

I also thoroughly enjoy FFXIII and love the universe and established lore (sadly, FFXIII-2 royally screwed that up by retcon'ing a ton of it), Bhunivelze wasn't exactly *real*, the fal'Cie simply worshipped him as a god (not the humans), who took care of humans and whatever, but the fal'Cie were literally just preparing to sacrifice all the humans just to bring back The Maker (Bhunivelze). Because of the whole "fal'Cie made Cocoon, made of Pulsian earth" and the lies and backstabbing they were doing (y'know, with that whole Purge thing, telling Cocoon citizens that The Purge would banish "tained humans" to the lowerworld of Pulse, but instead they just.. Murdered them.) Additionally, Yeul was never some immortal time being, she was merely a sermon-speaker back in the early Pulsian civilization. XIII-2's "paradoxes" corrupted all that (and yes, I do think it was a stupid sudden change). Also, Etro was a goddess with zero powers, she was banished to The Unseen Realm (Valhalla) (stated in Analects in FFXIII) and stripped of her powers. Yet suddenly, in XIII-2, she has powers has blesses Lightning as some protector. Let's not forget, the key main characters in XIII were *always* Fang & Vanille. It was their story. And it's incredibly deep, yet sadly not explored much more until late in the game.. Lightning is the Tidus and Vaan of XIII. X's lead was all about Yuna, XII was *all* about Ashe/Basch and, to a lesser extent, Balthier.

Full disclosure; I don't love every FF game. I never got into XII, really. I despise FFII (not IV, II. The one with the absolutely ridiculous stat progression "system" where hitting your party members was the only way to increase HP/stamina, etc), thank *Christ* recent FF titles have done away with levels and grinding (another "feature" that plenty of people thoroughly despised and complained about.. Which is it? Complain that JRPGs are all about grinding or complain about the JRPGs that *specifically don't feature grinding*.. Make up yo' damn minds..)

KazeAizen said:
james.sponge said:
KazeAizen said:
Trishbot said:
Sounds like Bravely Default is going to be the best Final Fantasy game this year.
Is there some arbitrary standard for Final Fantasy games that I am not aware of?
Yes, and the standard died with FFX-2.
Please show me this arbitrary and convoluted standard for Final Fantasy games. I'd really like to see a solid graph or chart that has a list of them with a base line for what qualifies and what doesn't. You show me that.
I approve and wish to subscribe to your newsletter. Nailed it.

EDIT: Oh, another thing I should probably add. This misguided notion that Sakaguchi was the sole being that masterminded ten FF titles. No. He almost literally just named the thing. The real developers behind the series have been Hiroyuki Ito (the man who designed the freakin' ATB system in the first place!), Yoshinori Kitase (who has been a rather prominent scenario writer since VI-VII.) and Tetsuya Nomura (more behind the scenes until VI, when he more of a design role, the lead character designer and scenario contributor in VII, staying on as lead character designer for every character since (including the XIII games), he also has lead director role for Final Fantasy XV, which is a role he hasn't done much in since VII (Kitase was lead for VII, but Nomura was definitely a big contributor, which lead to him leading Kingdom Hearts). It really helps to actually have your facts straight, rather than blindly swinging your arms around without facts to back it up, just your biased opinion about what you assume is "the best Final Fantasy". You aren't the judge of that, neither am I. Don't pretend to be.
Alternatively, look up the Ultimania Omega guides. Yes, they're Japanese-only, but there are fan-translations, and there are a ton of developer interviews and further background about in-game lore.
 

Quellist

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Oct 7, 2010
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I'll probably catch a share of hate for saying this but if you liked oldschool FF, the place to go is the Tales series...they really seem to do everything right when it comes to JRPGs
 

Thanatos2k

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Hopefully this will be the title where the Final Fantasy series hits rock bottom, and we can start over and forget about this whole FF13 disgrace.

Wait, FF15's also an action RPG? Nevermind.
 

Trishbot

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I've gotten death threats from some crazy Lightning and FF13 fans over criticizing and poking fun at the series (despite the fact I've played them all). Geez. I've dealt with creepy Sonic fans, outraged Bioware fans, entitled Valve fans, jaded Mega Man and Capcom fans, bitter EA and Activision shooter types, alienated Metroid fans, dudebro gamers that insult my mother, etc.

But I've never received actual, ranting, furious, violent threats until Final Fantasy 13. What the hell happened to this fanbase? I grew up on this series. I've never seen such... hate... in my entire life from one overzealous group to another for the audacity to dislike a series (and its bland-as-white-toast characters).

I seriously hope that's not the type of gamers Square Enix is after and values most; the ones that exclusively share Motomu Toriyama's creepy obsession with an emotionally stunted Mary Sue. I know there are plenty of well-adjusted people who enjoy the series, even some who acknowledge it's got some serious flaws all over the place, so I won't paint everyone who enjoys the game with the same brush...

... But seriously. It's a game. And some people have taken this silly little series beyond the realm of sensibility.

Bad people like that make Vivi cry.
 

chaser5000

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I have to say I'm glad the Lightning saga is finally over, well for now anyway no way this is the last time we she her. I'd bet money she will be in KH3. I might pick it up in a year or show when I can get it really cheap, the departure from more of the traditional parts of FF games doesn't bother me much but I don't really like the path that that XIII went down, hopefully XV will do its own thing and try to be like XIII.


Also just feel like putting this out there but I liked FFVIII, it's one of my favorite FFs.
 

Bug MuIdoon

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Trishbot said:
Just thought I'd point out that FFVIII didn't have specific job classes, neither did VII really, and FFX didn't have an airship (unless you count a list of destinations to choose from as an airship). An epic story of saving the world also features in every FF game.

OT: How linear is the game? I'd really like to know that.
I haven't truly loved a FF game since IX, but there's definitely some decent things floating round inside the recent additions. Whether those things deserve to be labelled with the FF moniker is debatable though. The one thing that puts me off of picking up this one (apart from full release price for an average , at best, game) is the timer mechanic. Never been a fan of timers, especially not in a series which usually focus on exploration. I'll probably grab it in a year or so when it's 10 quid.
 

RA92

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I just want to say that the only good Final Fantasy games were the Tactics games and Chrono Trigger.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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so basically the misguided, stumbling mess that was the XIII trilogy has finally come to an end. About damn time. I don't know what the hell is up with Toriyama, but he has to be the most inept designer/writer at SE ever. Bar NONE. The guy just doesn't know how to write and has zero talent as a director (though admittedly he has on occasion made decent battle systems). Hopefully SE will stop cramming Lightning and this series down our throats as neither of them have proven to be very interesting (also doesn't help that Lightning wasn't supposed to be the protagonist of XIII).

Actually, what kinda weirds me out is how XIII-3 is essentially a shittier version of Valkyrie Profile (it wouldn't be the first time Toriyama has plagiarized older, better works as FFXIII's plot stole elements from Xenogears). They both involve god-like heroines (or in VP's case, a LITERAL god) shepherding the souls of the dead in order to prepare for the end of the world. But, as where VP had an interesting, logical battle system, fascinating characters, and a very evocative plot, FFXIII-3 is a mess. Better to just play the older entries like 4-7, 10, FFT, etc instead of wasting your time with this.