Honestly, I didn't expect to enjoy this game as much as I did.
Final Fantasy XIII is often regarded as one of the weakest games in the Final Fantasy franchise, and I understand why, this game suffers from many problems, with the biggest problem being the main story, the writing is bad, the pacing is very monotonous, and the linear corridor levels can be boring, but everything else about it managed to surprise me.
The visuals are amazing, and easily the best part of the game, I love the art-style, the graphics, the details and the cutscenes, this whole game feels like a playable movie.
The soundtrack is great too just as I expected.
As for the gameplay, at first, it was kind of repetitive but it got better as I progressed, and even though there aren't any deep RPG mechanics, it's servicable and fun.
I really like the Paradigm Shift system, swapping through different roles and creating your own combinations is very satisfying, and I enjoyed upgrading my characters in the Crystarium. Also, I loved using the Eidolons, they all have their own movesets and unique attacks, and they look cool.
Another thing I like is how the game can be difficult at times and requires strategy to beat it, the boss fights are challenging, and the game wants you to be prepared every time you face a formidable foe.
Where the game fails specifically, is the way it tells its story.
The game starts and the player has no idea what's happening, the characters talk about random things, and mention names that you don't know yet, and the game doesn't help you understand. This forces you to use the in-game datalog and read in order to understand some things, which is a ridiculous way to tell a story in my opinion.
Also, I have mixed feelings about the characters, while some of them are likeable and interesting, most of them are forgettable or straight up infuriating. I really appreciate how the game tries to make the player either relate or understand the characters by giving them backstories, and reasons to do what they do, and some times it works, but overall it just feels a bit forced.
Having said all that, I still like this game. It's a mess and I totally understand why it gets some hate, but even with all its flaws, it's a decent game at its core, and I had a lot of fun playing it.
Final Rating: "Almost Good" ~ 6.5/10.
Final Fantasy XIII is often regarded as one of the weakest games in the Final Fantasy franchise, and I understand why, this game suffers from many problems, with the biggest problem being the main story, the writing is bad, the pacing is very monotonous, and the linear corridor levels can be boring, but everything else about it managed to surprise me.
The visuals are amazing, and easily the best part of the game, I love the art-style, the graphics, the details and the cutscenes, this whole game feels like a playable movie.
The soundtrack is great too just as I expected.
As for the gameplay, at first, it was kind of repetitive but it got better as I progressed, and even though there aren't any deep RPG mechanics, it's servicable and fun.
I really like the Paradigm Shift system, swapping through different roles and creating your own combinations is very satisfying, and I enjoyed upgrading my characters in the Crystarium. Also, I loved using the Eidolons, they all have their own movesets and unique attacks, and they look cool.
Another thing I like is how the game can be difficult at times and requires strategy to beat it, the boss fights are challenging, and the game wants you to be prepared every time you face a formidable foe.
Where the game fails specifically, is the way it tells its story.
The game starts and the player has no idea what's happening, the characters talk about random things, and mention names that you don't know yet, and the game doesn't help you understand. This forces you to use the in-game datalog and read in order to understand some things, which is a ridiculous way to tell a story in my opinion.
Also, I have mixed feelings about the characters, while some of them are likeable and interesting, most of them are forgettable or straight up infuriating. I really appreciate how the game tries to make the player either relate or understand the characters by giving them backstories, and reasons to do what they do, and some times it works, but overall it just feels a bit forced.
Having said all that, I still like this game. It's a mess and I totally understand why it gets some hate, but even with all its flaws, it's a decent game at its core, and I had a lot of fun playing it.
Final Rating: "Almost Good" ~ 6.5/10.
siento q no me he enterado de nada pero es chulo af... se me ha escapado alguna lagrimilla con el final, me ha gustado mucho :)
no es ninguna obra maestra pero es súper disfrutón
no es ninguna obra maestra pero es súper disfrutón
Sort of interesting with how the combat gradually opens up to more experimentation, but this game's downright baffling story and annoying party members (I'm talking about you, Hope and Vanille) deflate things somewhat. I also wish that there was some sort of interactive element in the setting (towns or shops or something similar); otherwise, the world just feels too empty. Anyways, so far for Final Fantasies 12 and 13, I do find them somewhat entertaining if also somewhat tiring. Hopefully, this trend does not continue in my marathon
This game is a disgrace to the jrpg genre
Bon opus
I would bet it all to smoke weed with Fang and Vanille in their dimly-lit bedroom full of empty takeout bags: I have never seen a burnout codependent lesbian couple depicted this plausibly. XIII is probably the first Final Fantasy to make intra-party dynamics a narrative priority, and the most successful in this. Good dub casting supports this, and it's the series title from which I came away most fond of the characters. Pretty much the gold standard of seventh generation console visuals, and the best version of the ATB system.
classics of game
I don't think it's as bad as others say, but it's true that compared to the rest of the games in the saga it's pretty mediocre.
They could have taken advantage of the technology to make something much better.
Graphically it was one of the top games of its time, but the rest leaves much to be desired.
They could have taken advantage of the technology to make something much better.
Graphically it was one of the top games of its time, but the rest leaves much to be desired.
This game came out my senior year of high school. I'm pretty sure it was the first game I played on PS3, making it first HD game I ever played. What a transition into the world of HD gaming, huh? Because some of these graphics hold-up well even by todays standards. 15 years later, these truly deserve an updated remaster. For some reason I was so addicted to this combat system despite a lot of people finding in monotonous and too automated.
Final Fantasy XIII is beautiful but kinda divisive. The combat is awesome, super flashy and fun once you get the hang of it. However, the story is confusing, the characters aren't the best, and the world is VERY linear for most of the game. It opens up a lot later on, but it's a slow burn. If you want a unique JRPG with incredible visuals and a focus on its combat system, it might be worth checking out, but be prepared for a bumpy ride.
My least favorite final fantasy game. The story sucked. Game play was eh. When the game world finally opened up and I could chase down monsters I enjoyed it a little more.
I'm honestly not sure where to even begin with this game. There are so many things to love and so many problems at the same time. I haven't even really decided what the quality of the game is myself, yet I still ended up really loving it in the end. I guess I'll just go over every thing that did and didn't work for me.
Gameplay:
Final Fantasy XIII has one of the best combat systems I have ever played. It truly feels perfectly thought out and designed in every way. Battles control like your average turn based RPG, however there is no taking turns in this game. Your party as well as the enemies you fight have an action bar that charges over time, and you decide when and how to use that action bar. This is the best way in which I have ever seen an RPG make the player focus on timing that didn't feel a bit clunky; unlike some of the older FF games. On top of the amazing timing system, this game also introduces the stagger system, another one of the best RPG mechanics I have ever seen. Each character can switch between numerous different stances with different types of attacks. Some of these attacks focus on doing damage while others focus on charging the "stagger bar," Which significantly weakens the enemy and is often the only way to practically kill them. What all this means is that in every single battle, no matter what the enemy, having a real strategy is an absolute must. It makes it so that the game never feels slow or grindy as battles will always demand your full attention and be engaging at the same time. Additionally this game makes the excellent choice to replenish your health after every battle, meaning you never have to worry about resource management and can just focus on what's actually fun; the combat. The game also does an excellent job with its experience/level up system. Rather than there being actual levels, there is a crystarium that functions like a skill tree where you can choose what aspects of your character you actually want to upgrade. New sections of the crystarium with better upgrades are unlocked upon completing chapters, which prevents you from ever becoming too overleveled. This is just another factor forcing you to constantly use strategy in battles, and also actively discourages the player from grinding. All of these aspects combine to make probably my favorite RPG battle system ever.
Outside of the combat system, this game has one big, glaring problem that I'm a little bit conflicted on: it's linearity. It is a bit ridiculous just how linear this game is. Aside from one area, nearly every single level of this game is just a straight hallway where you walk directly to your objective and I understand why some people hate it, but here's the thing; I don't. I have to ask myself, does this game really need exploration? While it's true that the level design definitely could be a bit more interesting, it doesn't hurt this game too much. The most interesting part of this game is the fighting, and this linear level design ensures that the player is always guided to the exact area they should be in to fight enemies that are exactly the right strength for them. It also ensures that the story can be paced exactly how the developers intended, despite this game's story being a bit lacklustre in a few ways. The way I see it, the time you spend walking between battles is a bit of an intermission for you to observe the world around you and to connect everything in the game together, and that’s okay.
I think my one big issue with the gameplay and the reason that so many people have a problem with these levels and the lack of interactivity with the world is caused by the lack of mini games. Though the world looks stunning you almost never interact with it in any way aside from walking from enemy to enemy. There is exactly one minigame in chapter 2 of the game, and then you never see one ever again. It almost feels like there was a plan to include them that was just never executed for whatever reason. It’s not the end of the world, just a bit disappointing.
Story
This is by far Final Fantasy XIII’s biggest problem by a long shot. I’ll give it some credit in that the general concept of the world and its backstory is genuinely very cool, but it is executed and presented so bafflingly badly that I don't even know how Square thought it was acceptable to release in its current state. For starters, you are given no context on what many of the made up terms and nonsense story aspects are. Instead, you're expected to read an in-game dictionary to make sense of anything, however you'll often just have to read the game's wikipedia page. This game loves to tell you what happens in its story without actually showing it to you. What really doesn't help is that the dialogue in this game is some of the worst, most unnatural sounding I have ever heard. I have seen student films made by 10th graders developed on budgets of cardboard with better dialogue than this. The characters often barely feel like they're even talking to each other, instead just spouting random nonsense needed to progress the plot. There must have also been some sort of miscommunication between the writers, voice actors, and animators, because holy sometimes the editing for this game's cutscenes is actually so horrible. Characters will constantly cut each other off or have 2 voice lines play at the same time, and interrupt themselves constantly with their weird anime grunting. Each character is a fairly simple anime trope you've probably seen many times before and they are all pretty hard to relate to, which sucks cause the entire first 6 chapters of this game are dedicated to each character's arc, and none of them are good. Still, despite everything I just said, the characters (though bland) were consistent enough that by the end of the game I did find myself liking them and even rooting for them. Also, none of this story stuff would be nearly as big a deal if this game wasn't an RPG, one of the most story heavy genres in gaming. Even if you don't like the story, if you can look past it, the game is still playable.
Graphics
Graphically FF XIII is absolutely stunning. I have no idea how this was even released on PS3 because it looks better than many PS4 games I've played, and at a distance could even be mistaken for something that was released today. One advantage to this game's linear level design is that the developers can control exactly what you see and focus all their effort into making it absolutely beautiful. This game has so many interesting and incredible locations that would often make me take a small break from playing just to sit back and observe them. Interestingly the one area in this game that doesn't match the rest in terms of visual quality happens to be the one “open world” style area.
Music
I do not have too much to say about this aspect aside from the music being a little disappointing. Off the top of my head I can't exactly remember any of this game's music aside from one battle theme. I wouldn't care about this as much as I do if this were any series other than Final Fantasy, but as it is, I expected more.
Conclusion
I’ve definitely got a few more stray complaints and compliments I haven't mentioned in this review, but I feel I've properly conveyed my general feelings on this game. Despite being conflicted on many things I did enjoy Final Fantasy XIII quite a bit, and it might even be my favourite RPG in some aspects. If you're reading this wondering if you would enjoy the game or not, I really couldn't say. Some of the things that annoyed me about this game might be completely hated by someone else, or might be loved. I feel like this game felt really tailor made for me to enjoy in a lot of ways, so it really depends on your taste in games. Personally I definitely enjoyed it and will not be forgetting my time with it anytime soon.
Gameplay:
Final Fantasy XIII has one of the best combat systems I have ever played. It truly feels perfectly thought out and designed in every way. Battles control like your average turn based RPG, however there is no taking turns in this game. Your party as well as the enemies you fight have an action bar that charges over time, and you decide when and how to use that action bar. This is the best way in which I have ever seen an RPG make the player focus on timing that didn't feel a bit clunky; unlike some of the older FF games. On top of the amazing timing system, this game also introduces the stagger system, another one of the best RPG mechanics I have ever seen. Each character can switch between numerous different stances with different types of attacks. Some of these attacks focus on doing damage while others focus on charging the "stagger bar," Which significantly weakens the enemy and is often the only way to practically kill them. What all this means is that in every single battle, no matter what the enemy, having a real strategy is an absolute must. It makes it so that the game never feels slow or grindy as battles will always demand your full attention and be engaging at the same time. Additionally this game makes the excellent choice to replenish your health after every battle, meaning you never have to worry about resource management and can just focus on what's actually fun; the combat. The game also does an excellent job with its experience/level up system. Rather than there being actual levels, there is a crystarium that functions like a skill tree where you can choose what aspects of your character you actually want to upgrade. New sections of the crystarium with better upgrades are unlocked upon completing chapters, which prevents you from ever becoming too overleveled. This is just another factor forcing you to constantly use strategy in battles, and also actively discourages the player from grinding. All of these aspects combine to make probably my favorite RPG battle system ever.
Outside of the combat system, this game has one big, glaring problem that I'm a little bit conflicted on: it's linearity. It is a bit ridiculous just how linear this game is. Aside from one area, nearly every single level of this game is just a straight hallway where you walk directly to your objective and I understand why some people hate it, but here's the thing; I don't. I have to ask myself, does this game really need exploration? While it's true that the level design definitely could be a bit more interesting, it doesn't hurt this game too much. The most interesting part of this game is the fighting, and this linear level design ensures that the player is always guided to the exact area they should be in to fight enemies that are exactly the right strength for them. It also ensures that the story can be paced exactly how the developers intended, despite this game's story being a bit lacklustre in a few ways. The way I see it, the time you spend walking between battles is a bit of an intermission for you to observe the world around you and to connect everything in the game together, and that’s okay.
I think my one big issue with the gameplay and the reason that so many people have a problem with these levels and the lack of interactivity with the world is caused by the lack of mini games. Though the world looks stunning you almost never interact with it in any way aside from walking from enemy to enemy. There is exactly one minigame in chapter 2 of the game, and then you never see one ever again. It almost feels like there was a plan to include them that was just never executed for whatever reason. It’s not the end of the world, just a bit disappointing.
Story
This is by far Final Fantasy XIII’s biggest problem by a long shot. I’ll give it some credit in that the general concept of the world and its backstory is genuinely very cool, but it is executed and presented so bafflingly badly that I don't even know how Square thought it was acceptable to release in its current state. For starters, you are given no context on what many of the made up terms and nonsense story aspects are. Instead, you're expected to read an in-game dictionary to make sense of anything, however you'll often just have to read the game's wikipedia page. This game loves to tell you what happens in its story without actually showing it to you. What really doesn't help is that the dialogue in this game is some of the worst, most unnatural sounding I have ever heard. I have seen student films made by 10th graders developed on budgets of cardboard with better dialogue than this. The characters often barely feel like they're even talking to each other, instead just spouting random nonsense needed to progress the plot. There must have also been some sort of miscommunication between the writers, voice actors, and animators, because holy sometimes the editing for this game's cutscenes is actually so horrible. Characters will constantly cut each other off or have 2 voice lines play at the same time, and interrupt themselves constantly with their weird anime grunting. Each character is a fairly simple anime trope you've probably seen many times before and they are all pretty hard to relate to, which sucks cause the entire first 6 chapters of this game are dedicated to each character's arc, and none of them are good. Still, despite everything I just said, the characters (though bland) were consistent enough that by the end of the game I did find myself liking them and even rooting for them. Also, none of this story stuff would be nearly as big a deal if this game wasn't an RPG, one of the most story heavy genres in gaming. Even if you don't like the story, if you can look past it, the game is still playable.
Graphics
Graphically FF XIII is absolutely stunning. I have no idea how this was even released on PS3 because it looks better than many PS4 games I've played, and at a distance could even be mistaken for something that was released today. One advantage to this game's linear level design is that the developers can control exactly what you see and focus all their effort into making it absolutely beautiful. This game has so many interesting and incredible locations that would often make me take a small break from playing just to sit back and observe them. Interestingly the one area in this game that doesn't match the rest in terms of visual quality happens to be the one “open world” style area.
Music
I do not have too much to say about this aspect aside from the music being a little disappointing. Off the top of my head I can't exactly remember any of this game's music aside from one battle theme. I wouldn't care about this as much as I do if this were any series other than Final Fantasy, but as it is, I expected more.
Conclusion
I’ve definitely got a few more stray complaints and compliments I haven't mentioned in this review, but I feel I've properly conveyed my general feelings on this game. Despite being conflicted on many things I did enjoy Final Fantasy XIII quite a bit, and it might even be my favourite RPG in some aspects. If you're reading this wondering if you would enjoy the game or not, I really couldn't say. Some of the things that annoyed me about this game might be completely hated by someone else, or might be loved. I feel like this game felt really tailor made for me to enjoy in a lot of ways, so it really depends on your taste in games. Personally I definitely enjoyed it and will not be forgetting my time with it anytime soon.
Best Final Fantasy I've Played
jogo excelente, amo a história e o combate, acho que as pessoas dão hate gratuito nele
I've been told, numerous times, that 13 is good. I've been told, numerous times, blatant lies. I can overlook the "corridor" complaints, I find them lacking in substance. What I can't overlook are bland environment, boring summons, and characters that feel like wattpad OCs. Fang and Vanille are highlights, but not enough to rehabilitate the utter misery that is 13. I've noticed 13 fans tend to be Kingdom Hearts fans, and I've noticed Kingdom Hearts fans struggle. Not with anything in particular, just that life seems to be hard on them. I'm drawing a line and saying this is all linked.
No I don't care that 13-2 is better. I don't care. Don't ask me to invest 50 hours into something before it gets good. I wouldn't read a bad book for 50 hours.
The combat is good, and I think the music is criminally underrated. A fact that is highlighted from how much of the 13 staff worked on rebirth, and how all those elements sing in rebirth.
13 is a bit of a misery though, and anyone trying to defend it I'm convinced is just huffing nuclear grade copium to make the time investment feel worthy.
Editors note: this is the revised and toned down version of this review. I'm a day 1 hater.
No I don't care that 13-2 is better. I don't care. Don't ask me to invest 50 hours into something before it gets good. I wouldn't read a bad book for 50 hours.
The combat is good, and I think the music is criminally underrated. A fact that is highlighted from how much of the 13 staff worked on rebirth, and how all those elements sing in rebirth.
13 is a bit of a misery though, and anyone trying to defend it I'm convinced is just huffing nuclear grade copium to make the time investment feel worthy.
Editors note: this is the revised and toned down version of this review. I'm a day 1 hater.
im convinced everyone who dislikes this game is dumb
- The first Final Fantasy game on the PS3/360.
- Has a departure of the open world gameplay flavoring a more linear experience focusing on plot.
- Sadly, even with the focus on the plot, the plot is forgettable at points with character narratives that doesn't connect or ends abruptly or starts abruptly.
- The gameplay is fun with the paradigm shift having to switch between builds/classes quickly in order to navigate fights.
- The OST is good and has several tracks that are memorable.
- Has a departure of the open world gameplay flavoring a more linear experience focusing on plot.
- Sadly, even with the focus on the plot, the plot is forgettable at points with character narratives that doesn't connect or ends abruptly or starts abruptly.
- The gameplay is fun with the paradigm shift having to switch between builds/classes quickly in order to navigate fights.
- The OST is good and has several tracks that are memorable.
Shelving this for now.
I do enjoy the characters, and what I've seen of the story has been serviceable, but man. That battle system just REALLY doesn't jive with me. It's hard to force myself through it if the gameplay just isn't doing it for me. I want to come back to it.
I do enjoy the characters, and what I've seen of the story has been serviceable, but man. That battle system just REALLY doesn't jive with me. It's hard to force myself through it if the gameplay just isn't doing it for me. I want to come back to it.
The beginning of Final Fantasy's decline in popularity. The general difficulties most Japanese developers had when transitioning to HD game dev combined with Square Enix's own issues led to this game coming out as a jumbled mess. A polished mess, sure, but still a mess. The battle system is a lot of fun... but there are way too many battles.
The plot is stretched real thin for most of the game as you spend a lot of it with your party split into groups of 2 going their separate ways. There are a lot of elements in this game trying to hearken back to the feeling Final Fantasy VII gave everyone when it first released, but it just doesn't do anything well enough to earn that.
This game also has one of the weakest party lineups in a Final Fantasy. Lightning's backstory isn't interesting enough to justify her cold attitude, Snow feels pretty two dimensional, Hope is obnoxious and the game really stretches his whole issue with Snow out way too long, and Vanille is... I don't know. I just do not like Vanille much. Fang is whatever and Sazh is a dad. It's a party that does not work for me.
The plot is stretched real thin for most of the game as you spend a lot of it with your party split into groups of 2 going their separate ways. There are a lot of elements in this game trying to hearken back to the feeling Final Fantasy VII gave everyone when it first released, but it just doesn't do anything well enough to earn that.
This game also has one of the weakest party lineups in a Final Fantasy. Lightning's backstory isn't interesting enough to justify her cold attitude, Snow feels pretty two dimensional, Hope is obnoxious and the game really stretches his whole issue with Snow out way too long, and Vanille is... I don't know. I just do not like Vanille much. Fang is whatever and Sazh is a dad. It's a party that does not work for me.
Started this one but never finished it, would like to get back to it some day.
hi queenie
I don't give a fuck what anybody says best final fantasy of all TIME!!! first and favorite final fantasy and it will stay my favorite! Starting off the visuals for the games time are honestly STUNNING I mean just look at some of the clips and you'll see. The music is genuinely one of the best osts ive listened too, saying this at an unbiased standpoint that shit is top 5. All the characters (not snow fuck you) in the game are wonderful are pretty fucking cool (bias as FUCK for my boy sazh) The gameplay mechanics are def one of my favs, the paradigm system is just awesome and a unique (Imo since ive haven't seen anything like it) battle system, though there are some changes to be had with it. If this game had a remake I would defiantly add the option to switch characters like ff7 did but other than that its a great game mechanic. Level design wise I kind of agree with it not having an open world, im fine with ff13 not having an open world but I would like it if the levels were bigger sometimes (and had more loot) Talking about equipment, im also kind of not a fan of. This really goes to how you upgrade it, it seems you have to grind a lot to upgrade your gear and how you level it up is also weird. sometimes I just end up not paying attention to my gear and more towards general leveling. The story is decent, i would be glazing it but i kind of forgot about it. Overall my favorite final fantasy game, haters can go die in a ditch
Super fun to play, gorgeous visuals. Gaming at its finest.
I love the story in this game, if I were to rate this off story only it would be a 5/5. buuuuut, the gameplay style felt incredibly tedious, almost like a chore. I tried to love it but unfortunately I couldn't get into it.
A lot of the game is just a corridor sim with gorgeous cutscenes and that's that. I was also disappointed that side quests got introduced towards the end of the game, when I was no longer interested in even pursuing anything more than just the main story to get it over with. That said, while this is my least favourite FF game, I think all characters are very lovable and I enjoyed seeing a female MC a lot:3
OH also menus like the one in ff13 need to have a come back I'm afraid
A lot of the game is just a corridor sim with gorgeous cutscenes and that's that. I was also disappointed that side quests got introduced towards the end of the game, when I was no longer interested in even pursuing anything more than just the main story to get it over with. That said, while this is my least favourite FF game, I think all characters are very lovable and I enjoyed seeing a female MC a lot:3
OH also menus like the one in ff13 need to have a come back I'm afraid
Not terrible. Okay story. Combat is really where it shines. The paradigm system keeps you on your toes so it feels GREAT when you beat a challenging boss. Some of the boss fight are BS though...