Poll: What is everyone's problem with XIII?

[MrhalfAwake]

I sense it's partly a case of Dr Who syndrome, in that most people love the first one they experienced, then maybe get on with one or two after that, but then decide the earlier ones were too old and the later ones don't feel right.

for that analogy to fit you would have to change things up. Regardless of what Who you get in on they all at least do the basics of what they're supposed to. they all time travel they all pick up side kicks and spout witty dialogue and hate daleks

13 would be a Dr that doesn't time travel doesn't spout wit and would pretty much make no difference if the show was watched or not. It's not a game, Ive seen more interactivity in movies.

fuck, for all it's bookishness even Planescape Torment had the decency to make it so it was the player who guided things along. It was non linear and the choices you the player made mattered, even if the bulk of the game play was reading and making choices it still made sure that all of those things were dependent on the player to get through. DOnt paya attention boom your lost forever, there's a choice to make well you better choose wisely cuz shit 's about to get real depending on your answer

Even in the worst of the old FFs I could at least force myself to pretend to be the hero it wasn't just a hallway then a god damn cutscene repeated ad-nauseum for 50 hours.

 

[Raiha]

i loved it. i found the battle system more enjoyable than any other in the series. i actually had to think about the random small battles rather then just hold x until everything dies, then heal between battles.

They weren't random battles, they were scripted battles and it all came down to building up the stagger gauge. Something which got old because as the game rolled on, it became necessary for more and more battles. When you spend 70-80% of a battle doing minimal damage it makes the battles drag.

Random battles = battles occurring a random number of steps and having random enemies. Scripted = Enemies always in the same place and the battles always have the same enemies.

ok, i will admit that "random" was a very poor choice of words. what i was talking about was the small battles befor the main boss battles were more enjoyable then in previous FF games. and i really enjoyed the struggle to get the stagger meter filled to do some serious damage.

 

[D_987]

ok, i will admit that "random" was a very poor choice of words. what i was talking about was the small battles befor the main boss battles were more enjoyable then in previous FF games. and i really enjoyed the struggle to get the stagger meter filled to do some serious damage.

Maybe so, but did you really enjoy it after a pro-longed period of time? I found this to be a large issue with the battle system - and the reason fro my complaint earlier that whilst the game is easy, you never feel powerful; because no matter how much damage you're able to cause, the game limits you until you've staggered the enemy, where-in you have to go all out attack for fear of having to go through the tedium all over again. The struggle may have been interesting, but when a game is a struggle throughout it no longer becomes a challenge, it just becomes a chore. Especially with the extremely transparent order of the narrative.

 

[Justanothergamer300]

Some games are just too epic for their own good

 

[A Cute baby kitten]

my problem is that the game was nothing more than an epic hallway. no exploration no towns no anything but fight, run down hallway, fight some more, more hallway, boss battle, rinse and repeat. i was robed i bought it new full price i should get a refund plus some

 

[Rouse]

I played it for a week or so, after that when I reached the part where you have to grind your ass off, I just downloaded all the cut scenes and watched it like a film. Don't regret what I did. D
It's soooo damn pretty, I have to give it up. I'm having nerdgasms watching at it over and over again. Damn square enix.

 

[pretentiousname01]

Something about being lead by the hand down a hallway for 30 hours.

Also all the characters except sazh are shit.

Also i'm pretty sure bioware has ruined jrpgs for me. sooo. yeah

 

[Raiha]

ok, i will admit that "random" was a very poor choice of words. what i was talking about was the small battles befor the main boss battles were more enjoyable then in previous FF games. and i really enjoyed the struggle to get the stagger meter filled to do some serious damage.

Maybe so, but did you really enjoy it after a pro-longed period of time? I found this to be a large issue with the battle system - and the reason fro my complaint earlier that whilst the game is easy, you never feel powerful; because no matter how much damage you're able to cause, the game limits you until you've staggered the enemy, where-in you have to go all out attack for fear of having to go through the tedium all over again. The struggle may have been interesting, but when a game is a struggle throughout it no longer becomes a challenge, it just becomes a chore. Especially with the extremely transparent order of the narrative.

you raise some very interesting points. i will admit that after a while it did seem a bit like false difficulty to be forced to stagger every enemy to do any real damage. however i was still engaged with the game trying to figure out when to switch my paradigms back and forth to try to maximize damage and decrease time in battle. when comparing it to previous FF games it was almost refreshing to actually have to act in the game while grinding (especially after the horrid system in XII, where i would literally read a book while grinding for levels).

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

Seriously i see more and more "omg ff13 is shit" rants everyday. Although i dont rank it as the best ff it was far from the worst and in some cases like the battle system improved on prevoious titles.

So I ask you was XIII a dissapointment for you? And if so why?

I found it a disappointment because it's just a really badly designed game; I cannot be bothered to type out a long rant explaining why so here is the bullet-point version:

- Way to linear - no exploration, no feeling of progression.

- Terrible writing - "Moms are tough", "Seraph!!!" [Every 5 seconds] and all the other corny melo-drama in the game.

- Horrible characterization - Primarily thanks to the above.

- Massive plot holes that make no sense / Deus Ex Machinas - See Anima, see the ending, see Cid Raines.

- Pointless characters - the game only has a few named characters and yet at least 5 of them are completely irrelevant...

- Battle system plays itself - there is no thought or focus to playing that system, just mash auto-attack and you'll win 90% of the time.

- Items are useless because the game is very easy.

- Elevator music doesn't match the areas - gives the plot a childish feel.

- Lack of things to do after main game.

- Melo-drama for the sake of it - the game trying to trick you Sazh killed himself when within the context of the scene it makes no sense. Insults the players intelligence.

- Horrible voice acting - again thanks to terrible writing.

- Lack of progression when leveling - you never feel particularly powerful, even during the end-game and maxed out...

- Game hides the poorly thought out story in the data-log - player has no idea what's really occurring for the first half of the game.

I could go on if I wanted to...

Pretty much this. And I'm the guy who bought every FF game after 6 until 10.

The only thing I liked was how attractive Lightning was. It was much easier to see her as an object than a woman, thanks to the great characterization and writing of the game. [/sarcasm] My God, I hope that sexist remark against the game doesn't get me banned.

 

[D_987]

it was almost refreshing to actually have to act in the game while grinding (especially after the horrid system in XII, where i would literally read a book while grinding for levels).

That's an interesting comment to make, simply because I always hear that the whole purpose of the games narrative is to keep pushing you forward, to make you feel like you're constantly on the run, yet grinding within the game is nearly always needed; not to mention, surly forcing you to fight wave after wave of tedious enemies creates the exact opposite effect of a fast-paced escape? The tedium makes every linear corridor seem that much longer, mainly because alongside having to fight every battle in the same manner, the game cuts to a specific battle arena rather than rendering the battles where you stand; there's no sense of progression in a system like that.

 

[MrhalfAwake]

was this posted I dont give enough of a fuck to double check

[http://img46.imageshack.us/i/500xstraightmap.jpg/]

 

[Raiha]

it was almost refreshing to actually have to act in the game while grinding (especially after the horrid system in XII, where i would literally read a book while grinding for levels).

That's an interesting comment to make, simply because I always hear that the whole purpose of the games narrative is to keep pushing you forward, to make you feel like you're constantly on the run, yet grinding within the game is nearly always needed; not to mention, surly forcing you to fight wave after wave of tedious enemies creates the exact opposite effect of a fast-paced escape? The tedium makes every linear corridor seem that much longer, mainly because alongside having to fight every battle in the same manner, the game cuts to a specific battle arena rather than rendering the battles where you stand; there's no sense of progression in a system like that.

well i suppose that is where we differ. i didn't find the battle system to be tedious. and as far as the linearity goes i had no problem with that either. i really don't like the fact that linearity has somehow become a negative in the gaming world. linear games are not better or worse than the alternative, just different. i can see how if you do not particularly like linear games then this may not appeal to you, but simply being linear should not count as a negative aspect of a game. and i am not sure why you felt there was no progression in the game, could you please clarify that?

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Seriously i see more and more "omg ff13 is shit" rants everyday. Although i dont rank it as the best ff it was far from the worst and in some cases like the battle system improved on prevoious titles.

So I ask you was XIII a dissapointment for you? And if so why?

I hated the characters for the most part. The story bored me. The combat mechanics began as a dull "press button to win" that gained the depth necessary to entertain me at far too slow a pace. I felt as though I had no agency over the characters or the narrative.

Basically, I hated the game precisely because there was nothing there for me to like. Had I liked the characters or the story I might have been able to put up with the unintersting mechanics long enough for those to stand on their own. Alternatively, if the mechanics were interesting enough I could put up with a story and characters that I did not care for.

An example of the former is Mass Effect while the latter is Bayonetta for me. Mass Effect had me pushing forward to see what happened next while the actual act of getting from point to point was generally quite dull. Bayonetta's reliance on spectacle and sex appeal made both the story and characters unappealing but the mechanics inherent in the game made it worth completing once.

 

[Zaik]

No.

It wasn't the best game ever by far, but it was rather nice to see something different than the

attack
magic
summon
item

snorefest that has been around for longer than i have. After the awful abomination 12 was, i'd swore to never buy another one, but they actually managed to not do more of the exact same thing, so i ended up buying it.


I have no idea what actually happened in the story, though nobody in their right mind over the age of 14 should be expecting an actual story in a jrpg. At one point i think i watched a few cutscenes and got a basic grasp of something retarded, but i try to avoid that as much as possible.