20 reasons why Final Fantasy XIII is not a good Final Fantasy game

[andima]

Before anything reread the thread title. Im not saying FFXIII is a bad game. I'm saying its very very sub par for a Final Fantasy title. I beat it at 55 hrs. Ive put 128hrs and 41mins into it. I completed it 100%. There is absolutely nothing left for me to achieve in this game (lame). I must say if you found this game to be overall difficult you are not using your paradigm shifts correctly.

first, my brief ff history and opinions (i only play originals, no sugar coated remakes) if i played it i beat it.

FF (8bit) - eh..fun, very very hard
FFII (8bit) - very annoying grinding at times but overall i liked very very much. not as hard as FF but still very hard
FFIII (8bit) - as an intro to the job class system i thought this game did well. Everything else was terrible. Sharp spikes in difficulty. Very confusing story points. Cloud of Darkness is nothing but a Flarewave Spammer which makes the endgame very disappointing especially for a non existent main villain.
FFIV - "oh look at that, a secondary character sacrificed himself to save the day. oh wait... its okay they came back later." now repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat... FFIV is groundbreaking in what it did for the franchise. I highly respect this game, but i dont care for it. I understand why many like it but personally I couldnt wait for this game to finally end. Cecil and Kain are legendary FF characters.
FFV - I enjoyed this game a lot. Vastly improving on the Job Class System from FFIII, it added secondary job skills which was fundamental. Ex Death is a distant villain and rather pathetic.
FFVI - Not a single complaint at all. In my opinion it is the absolute hands down best of the series. Perfect story and side stories. I cant say enough. To hell with a FFVII, remake FFVI
FFVII - My first, very enjoyable, almost no complaints. Awesome story.
FFVII Crisis Core - fun,... different, but fun. “OOOOOOhhhh. That’s whats FFVII is about. I understand now.” I enjoyed the real time battle system. Double Gravity then a Quake = unstoppable. Materia Fusion and missions makes for an awesome game.
FFVIII - um...hmm...I liked. Best end boss fight I've encountered yet. Other than Ultimecia, Squall, and Rinoa, the charcters are very lame. Good story. Nothing special.
FFIX - easy, simple. easiest end boss,…I don’t really feel like discussing this game.
FFX - the Sphere Grid is infinitely superior to any other leveling system thus far. FFX was what it was. Thats all Im going to say about FFX
FFX2 – not played and probably wont
FFXI - what?
FFXII - At first, i hated this game, but later came to understand its greatness and now rank it in my top 3. The story can be dry and boring at times. The GAMBIT system (once truly understood) is perfect (It was the reason I first hated FFXII but later came to be why I loved it). Summons were pointless. Damn near Infinite playability. Huge free roaming map. Many bosses were a double boss because of Judge Gabranth. Lame end boss but hard. Horrible leveling system. Absolutely breathtaking scenery around every turn. Monumental camera shots. Everything about The Pharaohs and Ridorana Cataract is one of the greatest places I have encountered in a FF game. I loved how the game would force you to rotate and utilize all your characters in many situations. Epic FF charcters (except Vaan, Penelo, and whom ever the end boss was, I dont even know his name. Thats my point.) I love FFXII.
FFXIII – um…fun?… I didnt hate it. Lame characters save Lightning. Boring at times. Good story. Nothing special. horrible leveling. No personalized character development. Level cap.
FFXIV – hahahaha keep trying SE. Amazing soundtrack though.
FFTactics & FFT War of the Lions – Best story line of any FF title. I cant say enough greatness about FFT. Some of the best music as well.
FFDissidia - I love it but its a different class and not related to this conversation.
FFDissidia 012 - Vast improvements from Dissidia. Would've like to see more though. However after 140 some hours, losing in the Labyrinth killed my desire to pick up this game ever again.


now...
25 things I find wrong with FFXIII

1. No control of your 2nd and 3rd characters or at least the order of A.I. like FFXII's Gambit system.

2. If limiting user control to one character only, allow ability to change the characters during battle like, VIII(ish), X, and XII.

3. I NEVER changed my weapons. I upgraded them, but every weapon i found was virtually pointless aside from selling. The fist weapons you get usually end up being the best. Some others are slightly better but by the time you get them your first weapons should be upgraded far beyond them.

4. No minigames or REAL sidequests like 6, 7, 8, 9, X, XII, or tactics. This allows for longer playability.

5. The chocobo digging is a pitiful glimpse of an attempt of what 9's chocobo digging was. And no chocobo activities compare to the difficulty and fun of 7's breeding and racing. Did i say fun? It was a pain in the ass. But it was still something. Even X’s chocobo trials were better. And those SUCKED.

6. 3 of my Eidolons were only used once because 3 of my characters were never in my battle team and if they were, they were not the lead. Hell, Hope has been in my battle team since the beginning and he only lead twice, and one of those times was just to see what Alexander could do. I only ever used Odin and Bahamut because I only ever used Lightning and Fang as my leads.

7. The world map is terrible, even if the plot IS about exile and isolation. FFX was also linear but still allowed for some small free roaming here and there.

8. Seriously if i have to fight one more f***ing adamantoise.....

9. "Holy" has been in EVERY SINGLE FINAL FANTASY GAME except this one. Its a nostalgia issue. And personally I look forward to both Holy and Ultima. I let Ultima go from the list because the Adamantoise has it but Holy had to go on. Alexander doesn’t count.

10. So.... when someone turns to crystal their crystal form is nude. but when the awake they are still wearing clothes. There are many ways to do nudity and creatively not show "anything." I know, this is a trivial complaint but its about believability. It takes you out of the illusion.

11. So… I don’t get to fight Titan?.... That’s a crushing blow to this game. No all powerful super boss like omega weapon, ruby weapon, etc... VII, VIICC, VIII, IX, X, XII, and Tactics all have super bosses. I wanted to snap the disc when i learned there wasn't a near impossible boss in this game. That Sieth at the end of Titan's trials is not a super boss. He was kinda tough but i beat him on my second try, and then got 5 stars on my 3rd try. Other enemies were tough but no super boss.

12. Being strictly linear maps, the fact that you can HEAR the nearby treasure chest eliminates all the need to search every last corner. AND If there is a stray path, 9 times out of 10 there is a treasure at the end. Everything is given to you. You don’t have to look for anything.

13. Seeing as how several major enemies can inflict massive amounts of damage to my entire party in a single hit, why then won’t a medic class continue casting Curas after 90% health? The A.I. switches to casting single cures 1 at a time. WHY?!!!!! JUST HEAL ME 100% AND BE DONE WITH IT!!!!

14. The Crystalarium allows no room for character personalization like such great post FFV titles like……most of them. The Crystalarium is in no way similar to The Sphere Grid from FFX.

15. There were very few puzzles or riddles to figure out. Trajen’s Tower is the closest the game comes to making you actually think but even that was handed to you with detailed instructions. Even free roaming. “Where do I go? Nevermind, the map tells me exactly where to go.”

16. Im going to make the argument about no Towns for 2 reasons. The first being that even when Sazh and Vanille are nearing the parade, the town is still boring and LINEAR. AND At this point in the game you’re not known fugitives yet. The second reason is questioning why they couldn’t just put on disguises. I mean, the people of Cocoon didn’t appear to be very smart. They probably wouldn’t have noticed. Snow on the beach was about the closest it got. FFX was linear with towns, what about like that?

17. No Gravity Magic. Not a very big deal. Its better in some games than others. Most don’t use it but its actually a badass magic and helps speed fights up dramatically.

18. No Flare, Meteor, or any related massive damage magic attack. Partly nostalgia. But mostly because they are massive damage magics!

19. Seriously?.....a save point around every single turn? AND RETRY?! Why not wrap this game in a pretty little bow and do everything for us? It makes you reckless and carefree, eliminating a huge challenge and the pressure of survival.

20. The battle with Orphan consisted of Orphan doing the same move of taking me down to 1% life then allowing me more than enough time to fully heal and attack for 20 seconds or so then repeat. So disappointing.

21. How many times did YOU press X?

22. My roommate stopped playing early in the game because as he put it.,… “I’m not playing and video game with the line ‘Moms are tough’ twice in the first 40 minutes of the game.” I mean… hes got a point.

23. Good music but other games have far more memorable music.

24. This is a design criticism but Odin’s horse has forever had 6 legs. I don’t care if HE has 2 arms and 2 legs and transforms into the horse. Add legs somehow. That to me is half of what made Odin so Spectacular in the past. He rides a 6 legged horse and cuts you in half.

25. Barthandelus never EVER even once posed the slightest threat to me. Every battle with him was near effortless and easy.

BONUS: Final Fantasy XIII is so incredibly easy it’s insulting. And like I said, If you find this to be difficult you are not using your paradigms correctly. Horrible difficulty curve.


A few correct things

1. Lightning = Perfect Final Fantasy lead.

2. Walking through the crystallized sea.

3. More interaction and control of summons.

4. Did I say Lightning already?

these are just MY opinions based on My experiences playing Final Fantasy games

 

[Rasputin]

nice copypasta from the other discussion thread, mate

But reasonable none the less. I hardly call it "easy" though, most players consider it to be one of the toughest FF games ever created. Makes FF X and everything before FF 8 look pitifully easy in comparison.

 

[Claire]

I found FFXIII to be kinda hard actually, and very complex battle wise, and upgrading weapons and shit. In alot of fights you have to be on your toes and shift Pardigms quickly and at the right time or you're toast. You cant just run through the game with relentless assault. I personally wouldn't call it "easy" by any means.
Now what I will agree on, is the fight with Orphan. The dude is easier than Sephiroth, and he was easy as shit. It took 3 minutes, if that to kill Orphan in both forms.

 

[Sultan]

I don't know who you are but...I like you.

You've missed a few points though. Like, oh I don't know: The retarded story, the retarded way they told the story, the bullshit soap opera melodrama in almost every cut-scene, and the down-right abominable character design, their names, their voice overs (yes obviously I'm mostly hinting at Vanille but even the rest of the characters' voice overs are a major downgrade from XII)

I'm glad I found someone who agrees that this game is insultingly easy. by now I thought ranting about this game would get old, I hate it so much it hasn't nearly gotten old yet. Welcome to the forums by the way.

 

[Ghastly]

But reasonable none the less. I hardly call it "easy" though, most players consider it to be one of the toughest FF games ever created. Makes FF X and everything before FF 8 look pitifully easy in comparison.

I think it's the complete lack of balance in difficulty that actually makes this game so frustrating. When you're not battling something that's so painfully easy you don't even have to watch what you're doing (there was a period where I was painting my nails while I fought. Just kept hitting 'x'), you're battling something that can wipe the floor with your ass in just a strike or two.

It's annoying.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

.

You've missed a few points though. Like, oh I don't know: The retarded story, the retarded way they told the story, the bullshit soap opera melodrama in almost ever cut-scene, and the down-right abominable character design, their names, their voice overs (yes obviously I'm mostly hinting at Vanille but even the rest of the characters' voice overs are a major downgrade from XII)

I didn't mind the odd one or two cutscenes but on the whole the plot was predictable and appalling for today's standards of gaming. There was the odd one or two twists but you knew what was going to come next so much you could predict 90% of the game. Vanille is single handedly the worst character of any Final Fantasy game, ever.

 

[Claire]

I didn't mind the odd one or two cutscenes but on the whole the plot was predictable and appalling for today's standards of gaming. There was the odd one or two twists but you knew what was going to come next so much you could predict 90% of the game. Vanille is single handedly the worst character of any Final Fantasy game, ever.

Mmmm thats a tough one. Vanille is up there for me as well, I actually think its a tie with Quina and Eiko for me on the worst ever. Along with Cait Sith up in the top.

 

[Rasputin]

I'm pretty sure Mewt Randell tops the list of infuriatingly annoying FF characters, but that's only if you're counting non-main series games.

 

[Terra Branford]

Oh thank goodness! I agree with you, OP!

I thought I was the only one disappointed by this game that I won't even call "Final Fantasy"

There was nothing to it. I've played linear games before, but nothing this boring. At least others allow some sort of control to your characters, but this...erh.

The Soap Opera was....more soapy than real Soap Operas, and I would know! I watch them!

The character movement, or should I say non-movement, was terribly. The weapon system was shite, I hated the battle system, the summoning system looked "decent" but nothing special, the cut scenes were way toooo long. The drama was too intense. The story wasn't very good.

You technically don't even play the game. You walk through a straight path and then get into a boring battle. And then at the end, you see a movie between 6-9 minutes long.

I only hope Versus is better

 

[Sullivan0930]

1 reason why i loved it.
1. my opinion.

 

[Zwing]

What does annoy me very much is that a enemy uses an attack that hits more targets its like this:
COM/SYN/MED
the COM attacks and walks away by the other 2 so she doesn’t get a hit how ever why the (...) don't walk the SYN and MED away from each other. they get hit both, are they retarded?

 

[Oerba Yun Fang]

1. No control of your 2nd and 3rd characters or at least the order of A.I. like FFXII's Gambit system.

The idea to only control 1 character at a time isn't so bad in itself, but I felt it made the other characters feel pointless. However, I thought the battle system was good once you go used to it.

2. If limiting user control to one character only, allow ability to change the characters during battle like, 8, X, and XII.

Agreed.

3. I NEVER changed my weapons. I upgraded them, but every weapon i found was virtually pointless aside from selling. The fist weapons you get end up being the best.

Again, agreed. The only reason I tinkered with weapons was for the Treasure Hunter trophy.

4. No minigames or REAL sidequests like 6, 7, 8, 9, X, XII, or tactics

This times A BILLION MILLION PLUS INFINITY.

5. The chocobo digging is a pitiful glimpse of an attempt of what 9's chocobo digging was. And no chocobo activities compare to the difficulty and fun of 7's breeding and racing. Even X’s chocobo trials were better.

I felt the chocobos were only there for the sake of having them. Much like potions and phoenix downs. All items really, bar those just for selling an upgrading.

6. 3 of my Eidolons were only used once because 3 of my characters were never in my battle team and if they were, they were not the lead. Hell, Hope has been in my battle team since the beginning and he only lead twice, and one of those times was just to see what Alexander could do.

I did find the Eidolins a bit pointless and useless. Quite the opposite from X, where things could be made sooo much easier with them- and where they could be used extremely strategically.

7

. The world map is terrible, even if the plot IS about exile and isolation.

Agreed.

8. Seriously if i have to fight one more f***ing adamantoise.....

In defence, fighting all those bloody things was for the sake of the trophies, it wasn't really required on the games basis alone. And we've all experienced shittiness whilst trophy hunting.

9. "Holy" has been in EVERY SINGLE FINAL FANTASY GAME except this one

The absence of certain things doesn't make something a bad game. However, I too was disappointed at the lack of certain things. Basically anything even remotely FF-like?

10. So.... when someone turns to crystal their crystal form is nude. but when the awake they are still wearing clothes. There are many ways to do nudity and creatively not show "anything."

I know. A clear attempt to be classy, that fails when at the next turn when all of a sudden the developers are prudish. *rolls eyes*

11. So… I don’t get to fight Titan?.... That’s a crushing blow to this game.

I thought I was going to get to fight him too. During a cutscene, you see the sheer size of the adamancheilds- only to see the size of Titan in comparison. Awesome sauce. Made it look like you'd get to fight him too.

12. Being strictly linear maps, the fact that you can hear the nearby treasure chest eliminates all the need to search every last corner. If there is a stray path, 9 times out of 10 there is a treasure at the end.

This very fact made even having 'discoverable treasure' utterly pointless.

13. Seeing as how several major enemies can inflict massive amounts of damage to my entire party in a single hit, why then won’t a medic class continue casting Curas after 90% health? The A.I. switches to casting single cures 1 at a time. WHY?!!!!! JUST HEAL ME AND BE DONE WITH IT!!!!

FUCKING YESS!!! GGRAVDJKDBVUISG!! ARRGGHH!! This made me soo goddam angry. Cura when two of us are on green, and one on yellow. One cure at a time when we're all in the yellow? You stupid moron! *kills Vanille*

14. The Crystalarium allows no room for character personalization like such great FF titles like……all of them.

This. People keep comparing it to the Sphere Grid, which annoys me. The Grid was absolutely FANTASTIC. Customization (anyone can learn anything) but layed out in such a way where certain characters are more likely to learn certain things, but can do what they want over all. Very realistic. The Cytstalarium is like the rest of the game. Linear with no room for my input.

15. There was not a single puzzle or riddle to figure out. Trajen’s Tower is the closest the game comes to making you actually think but even that was handed to you with detailed instructions.

Again, spot on. Game felt a little spineless.

16. Im going to make the argument about no Towns for 2 reasons. The first being that even when Sazh and Vanille are nearing the parade, the town is still boring and LINEAR. AND At this point in the game you’re not known fugitives yet. The second reason is questioning why they couldn’t just put on disguises. I mean, the people of Cocoon didn’t appear to be very smart. They probably wouldn’t have noticed. Snow on the beach was about the closest it got.

Can't argue with this. Accept, regarding your second point- there are instances in all FF's, heck all games... all art- where something has to happen or not happen, for the sake of plot. This wasn't that big a deal.

17. No Gravity Magic

See reply to #9.

18. No Flare, Meteor, or any related massive damage Magic attack.

See reply to #9 and #17.

19. Seriously?.....a save point around every single turn?

I know And the whole 'retry' thing. You die you just go back in time! ...yay! Not.

20. The battle with Orphan consisted of Orphan doing the same move of taking me down to 1% life then allowing me more than enough time to fully heal and attack for 20 seconds or so then repeat. So disappointing.

Yeah, disappointing final boss. :/


...ahhh. Nothing like putting a good deal of effort and detail into a post. ^^

 

[Crystal]

I hated it that nothing really came back in a battle from the previous games. Where's the MP? I loved the mp. it made me feel doing something useful instead of pressing autobattle now, because I'm too lazy to look at which magic I want to use.
And why is the HP restored after each battle? that's no fun, and why can we only control 1 person? and why is it game over when the leader dies?
That's just lame, the phoenix downs just seem more useless now as well to me because of that.
potions were useless as well. You didn't even have high- and x-potions.
And new status effects, where are the old ones? stone, darkness and silence are a must in FF games.
There weren't enough weapons as well.

Okay I'm done ranting

 

[DeadFantasy]

1. No control of your 2nd and 3rd characters or at least the order of A.I. like FFXII's Gambit system.

I agree. I hated the fact that you could only control one character. It pretty much makes the other to part members useless (well not completely) but still.

2. If limiting user control to one character only, allow ability to change the characters during battle like, 8, X, and XII.

With ya there.

3. I NEVER changed my weapons. I upgraded them, but every weapon i found was virtually pointless aside from selling. The fist weapons you get end up being the best.

I never did either I just went ahead and upgraded to with what I had.

4. No minigames or REAL sidequests like 6, 7, 8, 9, X, XII, or tactics

I agree here as well. The mini-games were like apart of FF xD I was disssapointed.

6. 3 of my Eidolons were only used once because 3 of my characters were never in my battle team and if they were, they were not the lead. Hell, Hope has been in my battle team since the beginning and he only lead twice, and one of those times was just to see what Alexander could do.

I think I had the same thing happen here as well. The eidolons seemed pathetically useless because, I hardly had the chance to even use them

9. "Holy" has been in EVERY SINGLE FINAL FANTASY GAME except this one

Ehhh, that didn't bother me xD

10. So.... when someone turns to crystal their crystal form is nude. but when the awake they are still wearing clothes. There are many ways to do nudity and creatively not show "anything."

I mean, its a fricking game. I mean even though it doesn't make sense, it shouldn't have to. I mean it's kind of stupid but, it doesn't really affect my opinion of it.

12. Being strictly linear maps, the fact that you can hear the nearby treasure chest eliminates all the need to search every last corner. If there is a stray path, 9 times out of 10 there is a treasure at the end.

I mean I agree. I didn't really like the fact I had no wiggle room to go out and about but, it only makes sense. Linear is linear after all.

14. The Crystalarium allows no room for character personalization like such great FF titles like……all of them.

I agree here as well. I think a few post before me had said that everyone compares it to X. In X you could go wherever you pleased ya know? I liked that. In XIII you couldn't.

18. No Flare, Meteor, or any related massive damage Magic attack.

Mhm. I can honestly say, I liked having magic at my finger tips so, I did miss the flare etc attacks.

19. Seriously?.....a save point around every single turn?

I agree that there is a save point a lot but you could so chose to skip it and went ahead ya know? better safe then sorry.

20. The battle with Orphan consisted of Orphan doing the same move of taking me down to 1% life then allowing me more than enough time to fully heal and attack for 20 seconds or so then repeat. So disappointing.

I agree. Orphan was an utter fail.

BONUS: The game is so incredibly easy it’s insulting

Again, agree. I went through the game fairly easy without no sweat on my back.

 

[Zwing]

3 is not right. when you upgrade a weapon to star level. and than upgrade it with a transformation catalyst (or something like that) and most weapons give other bonusses than other ones.

but you were right about the boss he wasnt hard, the only frustrating thing is that he has instant KO.

 

[Ghastly]

I agree. Orphan was an utter fail.

Was Orphan really that easy for everyone? The fucker whooped my ass left-and-right. So much so that I pretty much gave up beating the game and returned it to Blockbuster after the second night spent fighting him. I don't know if it was actually the sheer difficulty or the length[/i that got me about that final boss battle.

On average, it took me nearly 20 minutes to get Orphan's health down by about 70%. Then the fucker would do a move that nearly killed all my characters, then he'd do his transition attack ("Merciless..." something). And then I'd have to start all over. Fast forward an hour and a half, and I forget why I'm trying so hard to beat him.

I can't seriously be the only one who had all this trouble with Orphan.

 

[Claire]

Was Orphan really that easy for everyone? The fucker whooped my ass left-and-right. So much so that I pretty much gave up beating the game and returned it to Blockbuster after the second night spent fighting him. I don't know if it was actually the sheer difficulty or the length[/i that got me about that final boss battle.

On average, it took me nearly 20 minutes to get Orphan's health down by about 70%. Then the fucker would do a move that nearly killed all my characters, then he'd do his transition attack ("Merciless..." something). And then I'd have to start all over. Fast forward an hour and a half, and I forget why I'm trying so hard to beat him.

I can't seriously be the only one who had all this trouble with Orphan.

I will say this, Orphan's first form was a little rough for me. It took me a few tries to beat that form, but his 2nd form was an utter failure. Nothing about his 2nd makes him even remotely difficult, but his 1st was a bitch. As soon as I'd go to heal from that Merciless attack he'd put a rape on me and kill me.

 

[Ghastly]

I will say this, Orphan's first form was a little rough for me. It took me a few tries to beat that form, but his 2nd form was an utter failure. Nothing about his 2nd makes him even remotely difficult, but his 1st was a bitch. As soon as I'd go to heal from that Merciless attack he'd put a rape on me and kill me.

... HE HAS MORE THAN ONE FORM?

AND THE SECOND ONE WAS EASY?

WAT.

WAAAAAT.

 

[Claire]

... HE HAS MORE THAN ONE FORM?

AND THE SECOND ONE WAS EASY?

WAT.

WAAAAAT.

lol yeah there are 2 forms to Orphan, and the 2nd was the easier of the 2 forms, I promise. Thats why I fucking hate him as a final boss, he's pathetic. His 2nd form takes about 2 minutes maximum, hes fucking cake.

 

[GalaxyFlare]

So its official!

FFXIII sucked? Thats 2 in a row and people will not tolerate it much longer IMO.

FF has lost its lustre and esteem, when I was younger and first got into FF it had the feeling of "Best of the Best" and to me a new console was not really complete with a FF title available.

That last part maybe irrelevant, but it just what FF meant.....yknow back in the day.