The French apparently love Final Fantasy. This Tuesday, there where hundreds of people waiting in line at an electronics store at the famous Champs Elyssee, hoping to be one of the few to walk away with a signed copy of part XIII. A few hours before the game went on sale, I spoke to producer Kitase and director Toriyama about battle systems, western RPGs and the possibility of a Final Fantasy XIII-2.
After some slight confusion (“We thought you worked for Dutch TV?” “Nope, I write about games.”) and a very long wait, it is my turn to talk to Kitase and Toriyama. The two Japanese men seem relaxed and smile, but I’m sure they are at least a bit anxious about the fate of their latest creation. Reviews from Western outlets are trickling in, and I ask Kitase what he thinks about the sometimes unfavorable comparisons to more freeform RPGs like Dragon Age Origins.
Freedom
“Yes, Western RPGs are more about freedom. But Final Fantasy is a different sort of game. It is much more akin to watching a movie, where you appreciate the world and are immersed deeply in the story. You get to experience dramatic moments and big events. In that sense, the concept of FFXIII is much more like a first person shooter such as Call of Duty.”
This mention of one of the West’s most successful franchises isn’t accidental. This latest installment of one of Japan’s most recognized series seems to be built around pleasing the West. “We are very excited to see how gamers respond. We have created a completely original world. This was a huge challenge. Working for a HD system like the PS3 asks a lot of our designers. We had to model every object with so much detail, so you would believe these things where real and existed somewhere.”
HD
High quality graphics are very important to the creators. They see it as a way to please that huge and recently discovered group of ‘casual gamers’. “We hope they will be engaged by the graphics and the story. We realize this means some of our fans, who like the more traditional games, might be disappoined in some ways. But we hope they will take this journey with us. If we keep creating traditional games, we stand still, and we want to make steps forward.”
One of the most apparent changes is the battle system. Conflicts with assorted monsters are no longer resolved by issuing orders to all party members. Just one character is under your control, but the roles of your support staff can be changed on the fly from damage dealing to healing to magic and so on. “We showed a demonstration of our vision of battle at E3, three years ago. We wanted combat to be speedy, but also tactical. We told our battle director we wanted these elements to be combined. This is a difficult challenge because tactical and speedy seem to be a contradiction. They have worked for three years on coming up with what we have now. Our need for speediness resulted in the automatic behavior of the other party members. We shifted a lot of the tactics to the preparations before battle, where you assign roles to your characters. Team building has become much more important.”
Sequel
While building teams is now in the hands of the player, the responsibility of building the unique worlds of Pulse and Cocoon rested firmly on the shoulders of the Final Fantasy creators. Even after playing a mere five hours, it feels to me that there is much more to this universe than this story. It seems obvious to continue adventures on these two worlds in a direct sequel. So, will there be a Final Fantasy XIII-2? The men laugh and begin to answer very diplomatically: “That depends on how well the game sells in the West!” But after pressing a bit, Kitase concedes he would very much like to do a direct sequel. “In the past three years we worked both on the world and on the various systems. Creating these systems isn’t very glamourous and can frankly be a bit boring. If we could do a XIII-2, we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built.”
This is an advantage which will not exist for the team that might create Final fantasy XV (XIV is already announced as an MMO). Every numbered Final Fantasy game stands on its own, and is created starting with a blank slate. Still, elements carry over to become canon, like chocobo, crystals, and archetypcal spells. What elements of FFXIII would Kitase like to carry over into future Final Fantasies?
“We do not know if there will be a XV. This depends a lot on the success of XIII. Also, it is difficult to pinpoint elements that are typical Final Fantasy. They are mostly invisible: part of the DNA of the game, that everyone recognizes as typical Final Fantasy. But if there is a XV, I hope the way we wrote our characters carries over. We strived to create believable people of flesh and blood. They are not robots. And they are not super heroes. I hope this humanity is something we will see again.”
Writing about games sinds 2003, but playing them since the days of Zork. Harry Hol is a journalist and published author who finds it hard to chose between making deadline or running instances.
If FF XIII-2 releases,I’d personally hang myself.
FF XIII did fail,they’re just too cocky and arrogant to admit it.
[profanity deleted by mod]
RPG without no world to explore is [deleted] U can do that after 25 hours into the game ?! [deleted]
Sounds to me like RPG gamer is more of an RPG Non-gamer then gamer at all. Who the flying F*** cares that its linear for a while. Did you hear any of the 39 perfect reviews, or 33 game of the year awards for Uncharted 2 last year bitch about Linearity? Yea, i know FF is an RPG, but RPG does NOT mean Openworld, town infested non-linearity. RPG means Role Playing Game, and in this game, you play the role of multiple L’cie. Lightning, snow, hope, sazh ect… This game is fantastic, easily the best since 6. (yes, final fantasy 6 WAS is fact better then 7) Beautiful graphics, wonderfuly delivered, and casted voice acting. All with a story that, ill be honest, starts relatively slow, quickly picks up and so far hasnt lest go (im currently 20 hours in)
you also clearly havent played this game yet. Do your whiny, child self to the stop, STFU and play the damn game before you bitch about something you cant comprehend.
hasnt let* go…
wow, seems like im full of fail today.
do your whiny, child self a favor*, stop… ect
RPG gamer’s a noob.
get Versus13 done first damnit. i feel like it might as well be canceled at this point cause they dont seem to care about it at all. a sequel to FF13 and a fucking MMO, come on. Versus13 looks way better then anything else they’re doing right now.
Spenok, what you say is very true, FF VI (6) is in fact better than 7. I don’t know what the fixation with 7 is, so many people want a re-run of that game and for what? In fact, I think FF X is better than 7, as does most people in Japan. Now with FF XIII the team is trying to do something different yet again, yet we have 10 year old whiny people like RPG gamer that think Final Fantasy should be Mass effect or Fallout. FF is a JRPG, let’s leave it like it is, if you want to whine and bitch then DON’T BUY FF, go play fallout or FF VII. and yes, play the game before criticizing it unfairly, it is your opinion if you do not like it, however, it should be AFTER PLAYING IT.
@spenok
While that dumbass is going mental and taking things way too far, your argument pretty much fails. Uncharted 2 is a third person shooter, not an RPG. There are things that work for shooters that do not work so well for RPGs. Not to mention, it’s not just that the game doesn’t let you explore right away, its the fact that the levels are almost literally straight lines. That is boring. Uncharted’s levels are not straight lines, in fact in most of the battles, you can climb up to new vantage points and you have a lot of options in how you approach the battle. In FFXIII, this is not the case. It’s level design 101, straight runs are not fun. Not to mention, you have no control over which party members you use in battle even if they are all in the same area and able to fight. The battle system is introduced in a fashion that would benefit the mentally deficient, and the battle system pretty much plays itself for a good amount of time with its Auto-Battle. And lets not even get started on the character stats..
You know what they could work on to make this game more appealing to a western audience? How about lines from the characters that actually sound like a real person would say them? So far the only realistic character is Sazh, the rest just spew things that no normal person would say. It’s hard to take them seriously, and it pulls players out of the story. Maybe it makes sense to the japanese but I think even they would be a little put off by the awkwardness.
This game tried to fix all the things that really didn’t need to be fixed (by means of simplification) and left the things that desperately needed change.
So they are basically forcing us to buy a mediocre game so that we can have a sequel to that? I don’t get it.
And just so that you know SQ, your game is not doing so well. Don’t act like it’s a great game that everyone dies to see its sequel.
@wicko I somewhat agree on the unrealistic characters. Although I’m only 10 hours in, I would agree that Sazh is the most realistic, but I might also blame the other voice actors for being too dramatic as well as the localization team for perhaps making their lines the same way. I can never remember specific dialogue from a Final Fantasy because the writing isn’t as appealing as other companies’ (yet, likely for different RPGs). Willing to bet that Final Fantasy localizations haven’t been treated as truly to the original Japanese content as other series’. Because if that’s not the case, the Final Fantasy teams simply need different writers.
I wasn’t aware that selling 5 million+ copies of a game worldwide was suddenly considered a failure.
I hope Square can get it through their heads that what they need to do is stick to tradition with the FF series. The battle system is something they always tweak, and that’s fine. FFXIII has a great battle system and I’m enjoying it very much. But when you make the maps so damn narrow and linear, how the hell am I supposed to be ‘immersed’ as they say, in the game? How am I supposed to be immersed when there aren’t any towns to interact with, when the only thing you do in the game is battle, and move forward? Square shouldn’t be trying to appeal to casual gamers because Final Fantasy was never a casual game. They shouldn’t have to appeal to fans of Western games because Final Fantasy was always an Eastern style game.
I’m about 20 hours in to FXIII and it’s finally starting to open up a little but, but it’s still nothing compared to past FF’s. It’s just so goddamn linear. The graphics are beautiful, the story is great, and the battle system is one of the best in an FF. But almost everything else is a letdown. A huge letdown.
Anyone who doesn’t like Final Fantasy obviously doesn’t like RPG’s, or even games in general. Perhaps you would rather play the trash that comes out of western developers like Borderlands, Mass Effect or Bioshock? LOL, be my guest, 1 of those games is an FPS with no meaningful story, 1 is an FPS with no meaningful gameplay and the other is a TPS with a “Choose Your Own Adventure” story and horrendously bad graphics.
Western RPG’s are developed by blind, retarded monkeys and that’s why they don’t sell. Why do you think real RPG’s from Japan like Pokemon or Final Fantasy achieve the kinds of sales gay RPG’s like Borderlands or Mass Effect could only dream of? Because real gamers play real RPG’s, not trashy FPS’s with an open – world setting but nothing going on in it.
Don’t listen to the brainless hacks that call themselves western reviewers, Squeenix, the real gamers still buy your games in the millions and that’s why i can’t wait for Versus XIII, XIV, XIII – 2 and XV.
After playing FF13 for 26 hours and speaking to a dozen mates who have it. The consensus is that FF13 is damn sweet. Can’t wait for FF14, FF15, FF MMORPG! The paradigm shift systems is bloody furious and fun, the characters develop and if you love playing heroes in a fantasy world, this games is the bees knees. I haven’t smiled or grinned so much playing a game for a long-time. Thank you square enix… well worth the 4 year wait. But hurry soon with FF13 versus (ps3) and FF14 (ps3/pc)!!!!
FFXIII-2 IS the BEST thing you guys can do! PLEASE make it happen. REDEEM what was done with FFXIII!
…making a medicore Final Fantasy XIII that might appeal to low IQ Anime Fanatics- Now they are talking about a sequel to that, hillarious! Well go ahead SE, continue your downward spiral. Truth is, you guys lost all credibility, Sakaguchi had build up before. Today your are nothing more than a medicore Developer selling Names, instead of Games.
I think the real issue here is that it’s not a traditional Final Fantasy style. Some people love it and some people hate it. That sounds pretty standard to me. Props for Square-Enix trying something pretty different with a Final Fantasy game. So they found out it only works with ~1/2 of the gamer population. If you don’t take the chance, you’ll never know the outcome.
I tend to ignore the bad press and somewhat ignorant viewpoints of people who can’t stand how the game progresses, I personally love FFXIII because it delivers an amazing and story driven experience that many other games in its genre either haven’t delivered, or just don’t focus on that much.
8 chapters into the game and still I find myself moving with the pace of the story, but what keeps me going is knowing what will happen next. What is the fate of every character? Who is going to make the next move? Will people forgive and continue to fight against their oppressors? It’s engaging, exciting, and it just feels raw and real.
Forget about the bad press and stubborn gamers, change is a good things and trying out different concepts doesn’t hurt either.
@David Macphail
Ah, deluded fanboy is deluded. Surprise.
@David Macphail
obv troll is obv
But in the case you aren’t a troll, then lol.
Sure XIII was different.
I am all up for new things.
I found the battle system refreshing and easy. I liked it, it changed my tactics.
As much as others say they like it and hate it. I am one who likes it and would like a sequel.
I feel that the game could have a fully new exploration unseen.
All of these people bitching about linearity obviously didn’t play Final Fantasy X. FFX was linear all over the place, and opened up about 30 hours in as well. And people loved that game.
Seriously, get over it. I’ve played every game in the series, and I really liked XIII.
http://ffproject.net/forumwiki/images/Besaid_Island.jpg
I think anyone who has made a bad post about this game is probably just having trouble making the change from the old concept of final fantasy (which was awesome btw!) to the new 1. FF XIII is a fail you say? As someone said before 5 million+ worldwide sales is not a fail in any sense and you just cant comprehend the awesomeness of final fantasy so infact you fail.
RPG gamer = 13 year old
the final fantasy series was ALWAYS linear…
was FFX linear
FF6 was linear in terms of if you went any further than you’re supposed to, you DIE.
wait it was like that with MOST FFs… so i dont know what the fuck you’re lollygagging about
Hi everyone!
Very Interesting posts so far and alot of mixed opinions which is great. I’m a fan of the final fantasy franchise there is always so much to do. Theres a few comments that seem to be missing the point a bit.
Firstly the 5+Million copies sold being mentioned, I think you’ll find this is mainly the fan base of the previous games or people like myself that was excited to see a new FF game and bought or pre-ordered it before playing and therefore realising it wasn’t as expected. This does not mean the game succeeded or failed, it is quite irrelivant in a series this long established. Personally the only way of telling if this game is a fail or not is if they get good sales on the next final fantasy project. If the sales go down it could well be due to this game not living up to the expectations.
Anyway, I feel this game has amazing production values and graphics, there just isn’t much to do. Its very straight forward, overly simple, way to automatic (even without the auto-combat which in the end just saves another 2 button presses) and therefore the gameplay is quite dull. I find it hard to enjoy or get into a battle that lasts less than 30 seconds (which most of them do) and I can usually win these by pressing x three or four times when a bar fills up. I’m not saying the games bad, i shall play it through until the very end to see how it progresses but i do feel i’m playing it just to try and find some area of enjoyment other than eyecandy.
I am dissapointed with the direction, and i’d have thought if they wanted to try something so new why label it a final fantasy game at all, because apart from the story it doesn’t resemble one at all.
I’ll play this game in hopes I will get into it and appreciate it to its fullest but i’ll definitely think twice before even considering the next final fantasy game.
at least its not FFXII
that game blew…
I agree with blah XII was terrible, but i think XIII-2 would be great. Also I wish they would bring back the airships, I don’t care if it’s like the one in X (where you can get in but not pilot) but definately not like the one in XII.
I think that all of you elitists who sit here and critisize the game are morons. While I was only 1 when the first game came out I still can sit and ejoy nearlly all the games and the merits and the problems of each sucessive Final Fantasy game. If all you do is post here and throw shit at the game them keep your opinions to yourself, a-holes.
I personally enjoyed XII, a I Final Fantasy XII and realize that each game is both bad and good. Lets not forget that it would be tremendously difficult for any game to live up to the reputation for VII, which I dont feel was as good as VI and IX. Square lost Sakaguchi and they had a lot of issues so the times change and so do the games, NOT A BIG DEAL. Despite the beauty of the originals and their 16-bit graphics, the games have to change for the fans. They are trying to appeal to a younger audience and expirement with new systems, it’s idiotic to critisize them for than.
As for XIII-2 I hope not. They failled so much trying to make the sequal for X that I think the’d be better off making a non direct sequal/prequal, as they did for IV and VII.
Hi, seems like your terrific blog is not being displayed correctly on my new Android phone
Would love to read your posts on my way to work.
Hm, just throwing in my two cents here.
I beat it recently, and I was both satisfied and not with the ending. Overall it was great in my opinion, but it ended too suddenly for my tastes. Hopefully the producers will be able to expand on what happened. Looking forward to a XIII-2 if there is one.
I would pre-order it right now if they announced FFXIII-2.
Well, I’m not sure why almost everyone doesn’t seem to like FFXIII(still haven’t bought it yet, they ran out of stock and it’s damn expensive for a 14 year old like me who’s living in South East Asia). But it sold 5 million copies I might as well buy it. Since it focuses more on the story, then it’s my type of game. The thing that I usually want to find in games are story and character development. So I’ll probably enjoy the game(I hope…)
So first off to all you people about 20-30 hours into the game, play some more than talk to me.
If you claim to be these hardcore final fantasy fans, then you should realize the game is all about full completion and not just getting by.
I’m currently on hour 55. Final boss beaten but not even close to fully leveling all my characters or finishing all the mark quests.
FFXIII is a wonderful game with truly amazing graphics. The detail and vastness that Pulse is made to is something that certainly wasn’t seen in any of the past FF’s. At the same time, the story line was not left to falter due TO the linear nature of the game for the first 30 hours or so. I personally found it engaging throughout the full 55 hours.
My only complaints about the game would be the difficulty of travelling around Pulse and how they ramped up the difficulty only late in the game.
As for FFXIII-2, I don’t think direct sequels are Square Enix’s forte (cough cough). I’d much rather see FFXIII Versus and FFXIII Agito being finished well and to the same standard that FFXIII was made to.
I agree with Person324. I recently finished the game as well, and the ending seemed rushed. I thought I’d be in for the long haul once Chapter 12 started up, but 12 was finished rather swiftly, and Chapter 13 was not nearly as difficult as it first appeared it would be. Unfortunately, I feel this is the way things are with most of the Final Fantasy games. Instead of taking a bit longer to explain things, the story tends to rush forward near the end, and the gamers are left to make all sorts of leaps and bounds. Sure, some of the mystery that these games leave us with are what makes them great, but most of the time it is just frustrating!
I would not expect FFXIII-2 to truly add any value to the series, much like X-2 was just for kicks. Regardless, I’d buy the sequel anyway!
I would love to see an XIII-2, or I would like to see Final Fantasy Episode Zero to be turned into a game.
@My Opinion: That’s why they have Paradigms buddy, it seems that you really haven’t explored the battle system, by switching to a Paradigm in the right time, you’re ATB becomes fully charged, no need to wait, especially if you got 4 bars…
FF is a JRPG, like the others said, and you shouldn’t compare it to the western RPGs, they are two different things…Western ones appeal most to Western people, the Eastern one, appeals more to the Eastern Crowd, and props to FF that they appeal to both. But there are these people like RPG Gamer who’s better off playing Cod since he’s a noob in RPGs…just saying.
Sequel? That would be nice, but I want Versus done first or else I’ll strangle Nomura till he finishes it (:
Hey guys, yeah the games not that bad. Sorry if i gave that impression. I just miss the idle wandering around finding special moments and hidden extras whilst leveling up my characters and shaping their abilities and skills to the way I want.
This is definitely a new direction, and don’t get me wrong I love a game with a good story that keeps me interested. I just miss the “make your own adventure” feeling i got from previous titles.
@ A PERSON. yeah I get the paradigms and how they work, just doesn’t do it for me. Call me old fashion but I still feel theres alot going for the old turn based style, i love pondering my tactics and playing strategically rather than just seeing how quickly i can shift paradigms and select my attacks.
But if so many love it and you love it then it must work. I’m probably just living in the past.
@My Opinion: Well I understand, and respect your opinion. The old battle system was fun too, but in my side, I personally think that the Paradigms works my strategies better and quicker. I love the old battle system, and this one too…well, I love the change (:
For all those of you who are haters of FF, don’t compare it to Mass Effect or something…they are two different things!!!
I definitely want to see a sequel, with the same characters. The game could possibly have the content that was cut off from XIII.
Wow you people complain way to much. have you guys ever played FFX? It was linear. It was also one of my favorites. It may have given the appearance of being “open” but it was very linear.
Lets take a look at other rpg’s. Dark cloud? Linear also. Elder scrolls oblivion & morrowind? As open as it gets. But you know what, I enjoyed dark cloud, ffx and ffxiii (all linear games by the way) more than I ever enjoyed morrowind or oblivion (which again are the most non-linear games ever made)
Now since I am going to school to become a game developer and can take one look at the game and if I want, Know why they made parts the way they did, how they constructed the ai, and so forth… (all which can be a tremendous help for taking advantage of the game) let me explain to you what a RPG is and should be.
An RPG is a Role Playing Game. Obvious right? Just needed to clarify that for yall. As an rpg you need to take over, (and here it is), a role. yes you need to take on a role in the story of the game. through out the game you then need to become attached to the characters (characterization) as you play their roles, walk in their shoes, and become emotionally invested in their cause/plight/fight etc… you also need to be able to grow your characters, to help them become more powerful so they can fulfill their quest. (aka leveling up)
FFXIII does this beautifully. the battle system is amazing, (close to some ideas I have down on paper), the story is great, the leveling up is great. (yes it also is linear, but that is because you are playing their roles)
in fact let me hit on that point right there. in final fantasy you play their roles. you don’t play a character you make, you play the roles of the characters in a story. so yes it is going to be somewhat linear, but they did a great job of making the leveling up/battle system so customizable you couldn’t tell. Go look on forums, you’ll see so many different stratagems, teams, and ways of playing that i don’t see any reason to complain.
Also any game with a quest/story/mission is linear. you have to complete the quest the way the game designers intended it to be completed or else it doesn’t get done. Period. oh you can choose when they get done, and in what order, but that is all. (hmm…. there’s an idea i need to write down.)
anyways yes it is linear but that is a good thing. I wish they had incorporated some towns and cpu’s with quests to… but you cant win them all. A few more open areas like chapter 11 would have been nice to. But over all they did a great jop opening up the world of ffxiii for a sequel.
A sequal to 13 would be awesome, but I really want to see Versus 13. Like REALLY want it. I mean, all we’ve got is some story aspects and a few quick trailers that dont even show gameplay but it looks so epic. Square, DO THAT.
Me too! I want an FFXIII-2!! And if they do make one, I hope the main character is still Lightning. And somehow I do hope they revive some dead characters(and fight them again! They’re sooo challenging!!!)…*thinks of Cid Raines, Rosch and some other people….*
While a game can be very linear and still be quite good, FFXIII seems to take away the illusion of choice for the player. Where many of the entries have choices in dialogue (i.e. Would you like one? They’re only a gil…), choices in the use/class of party characters, or at least different paths in a dungeon, FFXIII has none of these. There are no choices in the game except whether to partake in the [sparse] side-quests. The dungeons are “go the way of the blinking red arrow”, with the occasional side thing leading to treasure or whatnot. While the game gives you the temporary option of deciding whether to spend your points on one branch or the other, you must complete each level in its entirety before you may unlock the next level. While RPG’s may not necessarily be about exploration, a large part of the role-playing experience is exploring nooks and crannies, searching for some side quest. I’ve played FFXIII, and aside from graphics, I can’t think of a single thing that I enjoyed about this game that’s not present in any other entry in the series. While there are those who critique FFXII for retaining MMO elements, this game is truly a movie with the occasional button press for auto battle and party change. They steal the concept from Lunar of making distance from enemies a factor in successfulness of an attack (not rows, but rather how far the character must walk), but it doesn’t work well with the fast-paced battles. Though some of the other entries were incredibly linear, at least they gave you choice in dialogue and character customization. Here you get one weapon and an accessory. Gone are the days of old where dual wield – rapid fire – spellblade is one of many incredible combinations; rather, it is auto, auto, auto, whoops better get healing, auto, auto, auto. There’s no endurance (party is completely healed after every battle, potions are given out like they’re going to rot), you don’t even have those oober-powerful weapons to spend weeks obtaining (to a certain extent all FF games, but especially VII, VIII, and X. Remember chocobo racing?)
Another part of the role-playing experience is bonding with your characters: it can be in the form of change, humor, or flashbacks, but I simply don’t care about the story unless I can really feel for a character. I even feel for Bartz and the Onion Knight to an extent. Lightning? Starts out okay, but then she just goes blahh. She’s just an angry chick who eventually opens up and tells people to call her light, who somehow cares for her sister yet her real name is unknown…?
About sequels: I don’t trust Square Enix to make ‘em right. Remember Dirge of Cerberus, X-2 (which was admittedly good, but did NOT match any of the spirit of the original), the entire compilation of FFVII? Yeah, all games that, in the grand scheme of things, made no effect on the story as a whole. In a similar vein, I don’t trust them with remakes either: Unless it’s a direct port, they usually screw horribly with something.
I don’t know about most of you guys but i buy final fantasy because of it’s story line(BECAUSE IT’S AMAZING!!!)and disagree with Spenok but every one likes different games and i like FF7and FFX.
@ wicko
the battle system is good but could have some teaks but as you get on later in the game there is one that will have alot of free roam in it and as you get later a complete cei’th stone you are going to HAVE to go into battle and look at them from differnt aspect
@stevo
the only person i think that there voice is over drimatic is vaneilles but her voice kindy changes and they don’t have to get new writers in.You couldn’t of a quater of what those guyscome up with.
@Jacob
RIGHT ON YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR TAKING ABOUT
I understand some loving, and some disliking the game. Overall I have to say I love it. Beautiful graphics, fun battlesystem (though it would be nice to control everybody, multiple summons much?), and though some say the characters seemed unbelievable, I fell in love with them too. Nothing could have inspired me more then a few people in a catastrophic position finding a way to be like family and fight fate in spite of their earlier differences. I thought it was gorgeous. The game on the other hand does lack exploring time and open space. I disliked this, but in a way I liked it because it put an emphasis on the focus. (does anyone catch what I mean?) xD
I’ll say my overall favorite bit of the game: The story and how it unfolds, how I did become immersed in worlds that seemed so real, and the way the characters’ eidolons came to them in their times of despair. Kept me anticipating to see when it’d happen. x3
But because some people are disappointed, it kind of makes me sad. I hope that they will make a sequel to FF-13, not only because I loved it, but because I think there’s a lot left to be told and unhappy fans’ fantasies to be fullfilled.
I kinda like the game, like the battle systems. I think it is quite good and fast.
But the thing I don’t quite like about 13 is that I can’t really explore that much…
Like in Nautilus, I can see everything but I can’t do anything like take a ride or something 030
They should have make maps and towns like FFXII’s Rabanastre and put the FFXIII battle system and story in it <3
Kinda wish there was an overworld map like in FFVII – FFIX too, enhanced version of course.
I absolutely LOVE FFXIII (though it did start a bit slow, and some of the “how to” bits, like explaining the Paradigm system, felt like I was being talked to like a 9 year old). I was a big fan of some of the other games in the series, too (like VII and X), and I remember FFX being pretty linear. There were parts to explore while on the way, but not what I would consider an open-ended world. It was still a tunnel, just a bit wider.
I understand why some people dislike it (my brother, for instance, was disappointed), but I thought it was pretty great, especially the further along you get. People talk about how they couldn’t connect with the characters, but I didn’t really have a problem on that end (with Fang and Vanille especially, but the others as well).
All in all, I think it was easily a 9.5 out of 10 (it misses a perfect score because, like I mentioned, it starts a little slow for my liking). I would love to see a sequel, for sure. Or a prequel, even. I just hope they bring Fang and Vanille back.
FFXIII was pretty good although I liked it better back in the day