Poll: FFXIII - the Verdict

[Versago]

Well, LRR have mixed opinions, Yhatzee didn't like it (surprise surprise) and reviews generally say 'cinematic' or occasionally 'compelling'.

But what do you think - i find it a beautiful game visually, and now the combat actually looks like a cutscene, something people have been waiting for for YEARS with the whole 'This combat looks cool - wish i was playing it' thing.
On the other hand its linear, my GOD its Linear - the corridors are beautiful but corridors nonetheless, and the combat/ quicktime event limited-input looks like it may just be there to say 'Totally a Final Fantasy still. Please don't hate me'.

If Metal Gear Solid is the best game you'll ever watch, and Heavy Rain is the best film you'll ever play, then Final Fantasy may be the best Novel that the creators got confused on which format to publish it in.

What are peoples opinions - ratings out of 5.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

5/5

What's this bullshit about "starting off slow"?

I thought the early chapters were the best. I liked having to use what they gave me, rather than being giving 6 characters and having to mix and match them.

I'm on Chapter 11, doing some of the CStones sidequests now. And I still can't settle on a team.

Lighting, Snow, Vanille is my team for the last 2-3 hours of gameplay or so.

 

[Akihiko]

Very good.

Only things that really annoyed me was the pacing, and the ending.

 

[Wizco]

3/5

It takes far too long until you get the feeling you are in control.

Hoping for something a bit better with Versus.

 

[Proteus214]

I thought it was fan-fucking-tastic. There were a couple points in the middle that were a little slow, but the story and the combat system entirely absolve that flaw.

 

[BlackndEclipse]

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, since i had most of the backstory from my watching of trailers and stuff before it was released, i managed to get into the game from the start. I thought each of the characters were cool (well minus vanilles voice acting, and hope was annoying, then he grew a pair). The battle system was pretty intriguing....the only thing that i didnt like was the ending, kinda got lost for a bit lol

all in all an awesome game

 

[BlackndEclipse]

5/5

What's this bullshit about "starting off slow"?

I thought the early chapters were the best. I liked having to use what they gave me, rather than being giving 6 characters and having to mix and match them.

I'm on Chapter 11, doing some of the CStones sidequests now. And I still can't settle on a team.

Lighting, Snow, Vanille is my team for the last 2-3 hours of gameplay or so.

"I liked having to use what they gave me" - My thoughts exactly, this gave you a feel of each character and let you experience them first hand

i mean ever since i could choose my battle team i dont think ive ever used Sazh (but i still think he's a pre' cool character)

 

[Lullabye]

I'm unimpressed. I thought it would be more immersive, more customizable, more everything(except cutscenes). I was disappointed with alot of it, the combat itself is dull and quite frankly I want to kill myself every time I hear Vanille talk, which is often since she narrates the damn thing!
/my opinion.
So I'm voting unimpressed.

 

[TheSupremeForce]

It has some of the best character development in the history of gaming. The story is good (made even better by the character development). I love the combat system. It looks great. I actually preferred the linear nature, since random wandering was not at all called for during the game.

I didn't like the "main character dies and you lose" aspect (especially in one battle), and I never could get over Vanille's bizarre accent.

In all, it was a brilliant game.

 

[Dr Mango]

I didn't think it was too bad at all, the combat took a little getting used to and going from A to B was quite straight forward, but it was good looking and had a decent learning curve that a lot of JRPGs don't seem to have.

 

[Amnestic]

8.5-9/10.

Decent addition to the series, good JRPG, no major complaints.

 

[a stranger]

I'm unimpressed. I thought it would be more immersive, more customizable, more everything(except cutscenes). I was disappointed with alot of it, the combat itself is dull and quite frankly I want to kill myself every time I hear Vanille talk, which is often since she narrates the damn thing!
/my opinion.
So I'm voting unimpressed.

You just took the words right out of my keyboard.

 

[kurupt87]

Didn't enjoy it. Never got immersed in the story or with the characters. Found the combat bland, easy and, therefore, it seemed more repetitive than previous FF's.

 

[Plinglebob]

The only reason I didn't vote 5/5 is I prefer a turn-based combat where you control everyone to the more action based one we got and the story is a bit weak. The character growth made up for it though. Other then that, I loved it.

Final Fantasy may be the best Novel that the creators got confused on which format to publish it in.

I've always viewed Final Fantasys (and other JRPGs) like this and thats one of the reasons I love them. The linearity means you gian a tight, well paced and entertaining story that you rarely getin more open games.

 

[Wolfram23]

I had hopes for it as my re-entry into the FF realm, last console one I played was 7 (unless you count Chrystal Chronicles). I thought the graphics were great and the story and character development were good, but the game was tedious to play. There was no real challenge, there was no exploring - the entire game is run A to B, fight mobs that perfectly progress from a few easy, a few tougher, a big guy, a few easy and a big guy etc. I didn't like the save points also being shops, and I though the upgrading was very convoluted - not to mention the Crystarium. The combat was way too simple since all you ever need to do is auto-battle with a bit of paradigm switiching on certain fights - but even that just felt tedious after a while. In all it really just felt like a long "interacive" movie where I couldn't make any choices (unlike the epic Heavy Rain). The occasional boss battle was fun, but in general after putting 30 hrs into it I just couldn't play anymore so I traded it in for BF:BC2. This is the first game I've ever traded in, which I think says a lot.

 

[Erja_Perttu]

3/5 - In other words, it's great, but -

It's pretty as hell, better than twelve and I'm thanking all things JRPG that this one seems to at least have a story but the linearity is killing me. I mean, I don't want much, I just want to ability to choose to go between place A or place B, using route A or route B. Two is fine, but to go from 'one corridor to rule them all' to 'here's a sprawl, have fun dying' is frustrating to an insane degree.

Also, I'm aware it's already a huge game, and some people might be forgiven for thinking 3 disks on Xbox is a bit much, but I wanted more. Not more to see, just more to do, more find, more anything. For example:

Spoiler: Here be a Rant

1) Palomporom - desrcibed in the datalog as the premier shopping destination for those who don't want to use Final Amazon.com Fantasy (with the insanely awesome delivery times, I mean, come on!) Do we get to explore it? NO.

2) So you get to Nautilus, and it's a giant theme park. You hearing this? Call back to FFVII - IT'S A GIANT THEME PARK! and we don't get to see any of it. We get a petting zoo, a crappy minigame about chocobo's hiding in sheep. I was hoping for a Gold Saucer kind of deal, that you could go back and ride a rollercoaster, see the fireworks again or just play a minigame on an arcade machine. Just, something. But no, the shiny lights are just another background and all that potential is wasted.

/rant

Something more than corridor exploration and something more than hunt minigames would have made this game for me. It's hard, but I'm okay with grinding, its voice acting can be annoying but the story is alright, but dammit it all if I don't keep going back to FFIII/VI where the secrets walkthrough is larger than the game walkthrough.