Final Fantasy XIII fastest selling game in franchise, Square Enix claims

Crapest?

Hater.

Really? Then please explain to me why I've spent so far 35 hours playing this game and I'm having a blast.

Obviously this is not a game for everybody but certainly is a solid and fun game, besides nothing can beat my sexy team: Lightning - Fang - Vanille

I think it has the worst battle system out of any FF game, but it's still about my 5th favorite, so out of 13 of them that's not too shabby.

In my opinion the battle system is amazing. 13 hours in and I have loved every step of the game. I think it's not to some people's liking because it isn't so turn based anymore. I am at work right now just itching to go home and play it.

Worst battle system? What? The battle system is pretty much the only praise it got. Sure, you're entitled to your opinion, but I don't really see where you're coming from...

I liked it around 13 hours in too, even about 25 I'd say. I started hating it around chapter 10 where you started having to fight every encounter like a boss fight and you begin to realize just how much you wish you didn't have to paradigm dance ALL the time to access your pool of skills, unlike every other FF game where you can cast or attack what you wanted when you wanted without having to change classes on the fly constantly. It's just flat out annoying and drags out every encounter for no good reason.

"Crapest" is the crappiest word I heve ever read.

@acefondu

That's what I love about it. It makes the battle system more in depth. I love being able to switch paradigms. Not always have an attacker, protector, and healer in the party. Nice that everyone can go full force, then switch to mixing things up. But hey, if it isn't your cup of tea then by all means that's respected by me.

If you're really interested in my thoughts on the subject you can read the in depth blog I wrote about 13's battle system.

http://startbuttonnews.blogspot.com/

I still liked FF13, just really hated the battle system.

The paradigm system is necessary. If you had access to every skill, with the type of battles, you would be immensly overpowered.

Also, I thought the paradigm system brought a lot more strategy into play than recent itterations.

@ Zoot Suit Jedi

"Crapest" is how it's generally *pronounced* here in Scotland. K?

As my ginger friend would put it, FFXIII has no soul.

Nice excuse.

I find the system unnecessary and believe it offers less strategy. All the other FF games allowed you to cast protect or shell on the character you wanted for instance. In this game the AI decides who gets what first, even if it makes no sense. In a game like this you would think healing the leader would be wisest choice right? Sadly the AI decides that the character with the lowest HP gets healed first, and if that's not your leader then too bad. How can this be more strategic? In other FF games I get to decide who I want to bolster with what buff, or whom I want to ensure is kept safe.

I respect your opinion if you like the battle system, that's fine, but saying it's more strategic is just lies to me, lol.

"It's also the crapest. Final Fantasy VI FTW!"
Go back to gamespot's forum, Moron.

@acefondu

You bring up a very valid argument! All in all our opinions differ. Much respect though being able to back it up with good reasoning.

i honestly don't understand how someone can hate on FF13's battle system for lacking depth and promoting button mashing, but then defend the battle systems of earlier games. don't get me wrong, i enjoyed those battle systems, but to act like they are more strategic or immersive than 13's makes no sense to me.

The classic 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 battle systems are all mostly menu selecting and spell spamming with little to no strategy beyond occasionally preying on an enemy's elemental weakness, or, barring that, leveling up your characters more. the stagger bar and paradigm shifting in 13, though, adds layers of strategy and timing that far exceed the depth of any earlier battle system. you have to use the right combination of roles to both build and maintain the stagger bar of multiple enemies, all the while prioritizing and keeping your party healthy. the addition of the ranking system (which increases drops) was an added incentive to learn how to pull your strategies off quickly, rather than just healing and wearing the enemy down. if anything, one of the take home messages of FF13's combat was that the best defense is a good offense.

FF13 didn't depend on out-leveling your enemies into oblivion, and while i love me some grinding, i did find this to be quite refreshing. in fact, if you're not using the right strategy, chances are over-leveling still isn't going to get you past them. i'll take an emphasis on skill and strategy over grinding any day, and this comes from someone who has grinded enough to max out all characters in all final fantasy games.

You can choose to heal who you want, just make your party leader a medic. I have personally never experienced any problems with the AI. Like Joystiq said, perhaps the AI is TOO smart, it makes a lot of the battles too easy.

IMO if FFXIII wasn't a FF game, it would have received a lot more mediocre reviews. Compared to some of the past FF games it's very shallow wrt story telling and character development. It's not necessarily a bad game, It's just nothing special.

Baba-Jii, I can just as easily say that if it wasn't an FF game it would have recieved more positive reviews because they wouldn't judge it based on what they were expecting (Open world, towns, etc.). So don't even pull that card.

And if video game critics are that shallow they don't deserve their job.

@Baba-Jii

So in other words it's the crapest game ever?

@ Baba-Jii

are you serious? have you played ANY other jrpgs this generation? infinite undiscovery has some of the worst voice acting and story since resident evil 1, star ocean 4 was an awkward pedophilia-furry fest, and the last remnant had such terrible load times and onerous frame issues that you couldn't even get into the middling story. then there's enchanted arms, white knight chronicles, etc, all of them disappointments. lost odyssey and valkyria chronicles have been about the only decent jrpgs this gen before FF13 dropped, and that's not saying much. after all of that, FF13 is a breath of fresh air, as flawed as it is.

to be fair, i played all of those games and enjoyed them to a certain degree, but i recognize a deeply flawed game for what it is, even if i am able to focus on the good. if FF13 went by any other name, it'd be hailed as the best jrpg of this generation, hands down. i guarantee that its middling reviews are mostly owed to the incredible expectations put on the game by virtue of its name alone.

"don't get me wrong, i enjoyed those battle systems, but to act like they are more strategic or immersive than 13's makes no sense to me."


THANK YOU, DAVID!

People are getting caught up in this nostalgia BS:


- FF needs towns where I have to talk to every NPC that does absolutely nothing for me

- FFVI is the best game because I projected these epic characters on pixelated images.

- I need items, because if I don't have my Hero Drink, I won't make it through an impossible boss battle.


I'm just glad it's selling well, and all the reviewers will have to eat some humble pie later. I really hate review scores for games to begin with. It's the bane of gaming journalism.


Can you imagine people reviewing games like Joystiq, and not having to worry about offending publishers, or making deals for a glowing review for exclusive first peeks?

"crappy character development"

WTF??

Overall game wise - 10, 7, 8, 12, 5, 6, 9, 1, 4, 3, 2

combat system - 12, 10, 1, 6-9, 4-5, 2-3

FF1 ranks so high only on the original NES/PS1 versions, because I love the D&D style magic system of getting X casts per day. Every other iteration (GBA onward) gets lumped in at the end with 2-3.

Having NOT been part of the 5 million purchases, where do you think I'll end up ranking this game? I loved Lost Odyssey's focus on strategic fights vs millions of pointless fights. Is this more in that vein?

Mentality of an average Joystiq user: "IF YOU DO NOT THINK THE SAME WAY I FEEL ABOUT SOMETHING, THEN I WILL FCKING DOWNVOTE YOU!".

You forgot to add that "You're wrong".


Sorry, the hive-mind has spoken.

@0_0: Downvoting is meant to share an opinion without commenting and saying "I disagree with you". It's not meant for spam like you seem to think it is, that's what the ! button is for.

And if you don't like the Joystiq community then why the f*ck are you here?

Wiizer,

First, judging off your name you're not really the audience that FF is aimed for. If your support the Wii, you're not really into deep, rich, immersive stories. You put gameplay before story... And let's be honest, RPGs don't sell well because the mechanics are so dynamic and fun. A good story makes or breaks an RPG. Story encompassing plot, characters, narrative style, and setting.

"FF needs towns where I have to talk to every NPC that does absolutely nothing for me"
--It's called immersion. You build connections to the world and locations by learning the back-story and people through talking to them. It adds to the experience for people who aren't impatient twitch-gamers.

"FFVI is the best game because I projected these epic characters on pixelated images."
--Judging by you ripping on the graphics, you're implying that graphics make the story better? Shit, someone better let the publishing world know books hold no joy or future. It's called imagination. FF6 had awesome character growth, and it felt amazing building up your own optional team and adventuring the game / learning who they are through their stories.

@Traceur: I believe that a battle system that needs to gimp the player in order to work isn't a very feasible one. That's why I have to respectfully disagree when people claim that XIII's ATB > VII's. In my opinion, there's just no way.

"judging off your name"


Oh, please go on...

You're so good at this 'insight' thing.

@Wiizer

Wii fan? LBP fan? Pfft you know nothing about video games!

/s

@ Punkrawk Bbob

Why did you rate 1 so high and 3 so low on the battle system? 3 had spell charges just like 1 did. I guess maybe you don't like that it got more complex? I remember that 3 added special commands (steal, jump, etc.). I don't want to seem like some kind of enraged fanboy, but I don't really think they were that different.

Unless maybe they changed it for the DS version? I can't remember if that had MP or charges.

I for one do not care for the battle system at all. It's basically a faster and more broken Final Fantasy X battle system done without having to switch out characters, and with an AI input instead of user input. I think if they added a little FFXII flare to the mix (allowing you to sometimes take control of someone else) it would have been a little better. I really dislike the fact I have to constantly switch paradigms so I can cast heal instead of fire, for example. Ah but whatever, whats done is done. The game is OK in my books IMHO.... Better luck next time Square... back to some bad company 2 now :-)

http://i44.tinypic.com/2ir85d5.jpg

@Solace

That has got to be one of your best posts.

SCIENCE!

Guide to FF13 battle system.

com/rav/rav -> rav/rav/rav to build up meter
com/med/med if you're low on health -> rav/rav/rav

Every other class is mostly useless.

@Acosta02

The DS version (the only one I've played) had MP instead of casts per day. 3 as a whole bummed me out. I dug the class systems, but I think the 3D aspect killed it for me. I know FF4 DS didn't stick with me nearly as well as the GBA port, but I had no prior history to go off of with FF3. Maybe that's why though.

What version did you play? Fan-trans, or do you speak Japanese?

I played it a LONG time ago; a fan translation. I seem to remember there came to be one part that wasn't working properly, so I have to admit I never finished the game.

i love the battle system in FFXIII. it's fast paced, tons of actions are going on at once. unlike the previous turn based systems.

exploration sucks though. empty tunnels all the way.nothing is interactive, other than the occasional switch and stupid floating balls.

graphics is a bit of a mixed bag. great battle graphics but the world map sucks in general.

i'm at Chapter 8 and i'm loving it for the most part. i kind of wish it would let me pick my own party though and wouldn't cap me from getting too strong at certain points. like even if i have tons of CP, i can only level up so far until the end of each chapter. i like to grind personally but you can't really do it in this one. and the fights are just starting to get all drawn out for no reason as the enemies get stronger. like that Velocycle with his Gatling Gun, OMG that thing pissed me off. one hit kill from a regular enemy if you don't get to your Sentinal in time! i was kind of waiting for it to open up but now i don't think it's going to. it's still an awesome game either way but it is certainly a new direction for the series. i almost think it was pretty well suited to be an action rpg instead.

Let me perhaps echo Baba-Jii's sentiments in a little less troll-ish fashion...
I've played VI, VII, VIII, X, and X-2 before this one. I'm about 13 hours in. Never have I felt that I was so unnecessary to what is happening on-screen. Many people may like the fact that the game can basically fight the whole battle for you, but I do prefer the earlier games where you chose your targets, whom to heal, who would defend instead of attack, etc. There's no strategy (thus far) in the battles in FFXIII. All you have to do is rapidly tap A through everything. When you get the paradigm ability a few hours in, all you have to do is...still tap A, but then just switch to a paradigm with a medic once someone gets hit, then switch back when they're healed. This is not strategy, folks.
Of the course the graphics of better, but this game's story, mood, and music doesn't hold a candle to the Super NES FFVI that came out in 1994. But most of you were probably too young to remember or play it.

acefondu. i just actually read your blog and ended up writing a way too long response to you points. I think you underestimate the battle system. yes, you make some valid points but i think you're missing the bigger picture -- paradigms really force you to consider effective battle strategies... the permanent RAV/COM/MED setup of most games simply fails with XIII. does that mean you need to be more defensive that you're used to sometimes? Sure. but that's a good thing

LOL.

Joystiq sure is funny today

Why, exactly? I liked the mythos of FFXIII, but the gameplay could use refinement. An additional game based on the same universe would be nice. The haters can go to hell, I actually enjoyed the game.

No, I was saying no FF XIII-2 because I DO like the game.

Well, considering they're already making 2 games in the same universe, I guess you'll get what you want!

Although it ain't a "-2" style sequel, if that's what you're hoping for.