The Final Fantasy XIII Saga is the Most Unappreciated Set of Games in the Series

Final Fantasy XIII was rather divisive. While its gameplay and combat system were superb, the story was a bit over pretentious and it was extremely linear, with the player simply going from place to place on a pre-set path. The characters were wonderful though, the combat was intricate and completely customizable, and there was a level of difficulty — especially during the boss battles. You had to think quick on your toes with the paradigm system and be able to quickly switch your player’s roles in order to survive. It is the best Final Fantasy battle system yet, but fans are so hung up on the game’s linearity and complex story that the game gets so much unwanted hate from fans of the series, who actually prefer story over gameplay.

[DarkOcelet]

I enjoyed playing the trilogy alot but what i didnt enjoy is the characters and the story.

They should have fleshed out the characters more and the story should have been less complicated with the FalCie and all that crap.

[-Foxtrot]

If they characters can't get fleshed out over three games then there's something wrong

The game was just bad. Even if it wasn't FF and got the benefit of the doubt it would still be bad...peoples opinions wouldn't really change.

[Bansai]

Probably my worst memories with the Final Fantasy franchise are tied to all XIII games. So no, it's not underapreciated in my opinion, far from it.

I'm just glad I bought XIII-2 and LR very cheap after I got burned by XIII.

[johndoe11211]

@Bansai

You're a brave soul. I never bought XIII-2 or LR after playing the abomination that was XIII. The writer of this article couldn't be more than 14 to make such a statement. After playing FF 1-12 no true fan of the franchise would enjoy the XIII series.

[MRMagoo123]

I think there are too many ppl that like it imo. It's gotten way more praise than it deserved, it was basically a corridor shooter not an rpg and it should have been aborted. WORST final fantasy games ever made.

[zeuanimals]

Forreal. I think it's appreciated just fine. Actually, it's probably a bit too much.

@MRMagoo

Being linear is fine. FFX was pretty great and the bulk of the game is extremely linear. XIII had the displeasure of being linear and having nothing else to do as you go along. I'll echo the stuff about the story and characters too.

[zidane1341]

Ff xiii was a corridor shooter? Hmm somebody doesn't know what they are talking about.

[k2d]

Rightfully so.

[zeuanimals]

@Zidane:

Pretty sure he's not being literal by calling it a shooter... Pretty sure most people know what the games are like and calling it a corridor shooter is simply to illustrate that it's so far from being like other FF games, and not in a good way. And much like a corridor shooter, your only meaningful interaction with other living things is to kill them. There's no cities, settlements, etc. where you can spend your downtime exploring anything not related to combat.

[Adrian_v01]

@zeuanimals

FFX was linear. Though I agree the story of X had a better presentation. Had they presented the whole fal'cie l'cie connection through the story instead of logs it would have been good. I found the battle system of XIII great.

Now for towns, I didn't mind the lack of them. It made sense with the story, they were wanted criminals, freely exploring towns wouldn't have made sense. Though there could have been found ways to implement towns. It wasn't a bad game, it was average. XIII was the best in the trilogy, XIII-2 messed too much with time travel, and LR was just meh.

[DragonKnight]

XIII is in no way underappreciated. There are people who actually like it, and apparently Japan likes it the most, or disiikes it the least. It was directed by Motomu Toriyana, the same genius that gave us Brother's Angels (FFX-2) instead of the FFX prequel the game was supposed to be. Motomu knows he lacks talent, that's why every FF game he directs has to be spun the wrong way so that it won't be directly compared to better FF games. Too bad they always are. FFX-2 was originally slated to be Braska, Auron, and Jecht's story and no one ever implied it had to be just like FFX, but Toriyama said it was too similar and so he created FF Dressup instead.

Fast forward to FFXIII, he flat out said the game was inspired by Western Shooters. Specifically removing a great deal of player control so as to not interfere with the story (story based level progression), and the linearity of the areas was, again, to force story focus. He was trying to turn FFXIII into a shooter-like RPG so that he could be different. But he screwed up the story, the characters, and the gameplay big time because he has no talent.

FFXIII and its sequels are by far the worst thing to happen to Final Fantasy, and in a franchise that includes Mystic Quest and FFII (the real one, not FFIV), and FFX-2, and that one terrible mobile game filled with MTs, and even Dirge of Cerberus (which did Toriyama's ideas much better), that's saying a lot.

[himdeel]

SE wanted people to like this franchise and forced it on people, when NO ONE wanted anything after the first 13.

[DevilOgreFish]

It's not too bad of a series in my opinion, the other games before though were much better imo.

[Man_Marmalade]

It was too linear. Don't forget how much they had to cut the game apart in order to put it on the 360. A lot of the gameplay from the early videos didn't even show up in the final product.

[nitus10]

I have enjoyed all the FF games since 4 but personally I liked FFXII best because of it's non-linearity and it's battles taking place in the location where you encounter the enemy (unique for FF games).

@Man_Marmalade

Granted FFXIII was linear but then again so were most of the FF games. Take a look at FFX and tell me if that is not basically on rails. Granted that towards the end you can take the airship most anywhere but you could do that with FFXIII when you got to Grand Pulse's surface.

Most RPG's are fairly linear if you only follow the main quest however what makes for a non-linear RPG is the side quests which sometimes can lead into numerous sub quests.

[Michiel1989]

@man_Marmalade Provide evidence that they had to cut stuff to put it on x360. You are just speculating and you have totally no clue how development works if you think they have to cut content because of dvds instead of bluerays. Nice try buddy but ur full of nonsense.

Newsflash, a lot of content from trailers, especially early trailers don't make it into the final game. Try making an opinion based on facts not based on: didn't like the game, its on xbox now as wel so its xbox's fault.

[rainslacker]

@Michel

Here you go

http://www.engadget.com/201...

While not specifically stating the 360's DVD medium as the reason for the cuts, there is no logical reason why that content wouldn't have been included on the much more expansive BR disc since it was completed content.

Now to be fair, in the same interview, with the actual quotes, which I can't seem to find, they said it was cut during production, which is typical.

But what was also said was a lot of content was cut right at the end. So...what happened right at the end of FFXIII's production? As I recall, it was the announcement that it was coming to 360.

Dev claims that it wasn't fit for the game. Seems odd to go through the entire process only to be cut at the end though doesn't it? While it's not unheard of, it's never that much, and if that's the case, it show's some faults in their production process...but that's another topic.

Face it, 24GB vs 50GB on a franchise known to use every last bit of space available for the prior 6 games. What is the logical conclusion...that the completed content wasn't fit...or that MS parity clause reared it's ugly head and SE didn't want to release a 6-7 disc game?

While I understand the desire and sometimes need to have an actual source for making claims, there are also times when you have to read between the lines, and go beyond what is stated and use some common sense to come to the most likely scenario. SE will never say that they cut content because they brought it to the 360. It's not kosher, and it would only make them look bad. But saying it wasn't a proper fit, and typical in any production, relieves them of any wrong-doing, while most people never even consider it.

Pulse was completely devoid of any life outside monsters. Nothing. It was barren. Despite there being a story reason for this, Pulse was nowhere near the standards of FF games in terms of the open areas of it's games. I can't imagine SE just said that was fit for the game, when all that other stuff which adds life and random cool stuff to do is cut. I know it's trendy to hate on FFXIII and SE, but it defies logic that they just went completely mental about leaving out certain aspects of FF because it wasn't fit, but it makes sense they'd do it to capitalize on the ever growing and popular in the west 360 market.

Just like they did with ROTTR, they left their fans in the lurch for what they thought would be greener pastures, and in the process, they've pissed off their fans, only this time they pissed many of them off, and not just ones on a certain console.

[zeuanimals]

@Michiel: Well, we don't have any testimony for it being a problem with FFXIII, but we do for GTAIV.

http://n4g.com/news/38093/g...

It's not hard to extrapolate this to other games that may have storage issues. I mean, DVDs only hold up to 7GB for crying out loud! Most games are way above that nowadays. And MS preferred devs not releasing multidisc games as multidisc games last gen required hard drives, and not all 360s came with hard drives.

Edit: Ahh, Rainslacker beat me to it while also being much more comprehensive.

[Godmars290]

@nitus10:
That FF13 was so obviously linear, with nothing which distracted from that linearity like mini-games, is what makes it so bad. Hell, even FF10 had blitzball.

@Michiel1989:
How about not being butt hurt over how the game preformed on the 360, and only on the 360?

[Godmars290]

@rainslacker:
People refuse to notice much less admit that the 7th console generation was broken. That among PC standards being adopted/forced onto consoles and console hardware not being made to necessary spec besides, was the mess - and war - between digital and physical which caused crap just like this.

Nevermind that FF15 is very much apology and proof of Square's mistakes with FF13. Not that I don't think that they've made new ones.

[rainslacker]

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say broken. It was a pretty good gen game wise overall, and saw three successful consoles, as well as the rise of the PC market into the mainstream.

I think it was a very turbulent generation. Lots of things going on, and lots of changes which put gamers off from the new things being done. Much of it was warranted, some of it wasn't, and in the end, it just seems that the generation was lackluster. The increase in hate in the console wars only caused this to be worse IMO.

I think the 7th gen won't go down in history as a great generation, but will be seen as a successful one. I'm disappointed that with all the changes in the console market, which in theory should have been great for the gamers, the industry itself decided to make it into a consumer unfriendly market which wanted to take advantage of gamer's wallets instead of providing compelling content that could stand on it's own. So many changes were made for increasing revenues, and so many "trends" played up as becoming the mainstream or majority, that it's put everyone's perspectives out of whack, and it's become hard to discuss things because everyone now just assumes instead of verifies or uses simple common sense.

[Godmars290]

Wasn't going to agree with you, but yes, too many choices were made based more on profit than consumer access or consideration. Then defended by overly loyal consumers because "their" console came under fire.

Still, for all the good games which managed to come out, there were way too many potential good ones canceled. Then there are the ones re-released on the X1 and PS3. Not to mention FF13, its sequels which tried to fix the mistakes of the first, or FF15, which is still trying to say that nothing was wrong with FF13 while being technically different from it in - almost - every way.

[SegaSaturn669]

How could you ever enjoy the combat or hall walking?

Combat: Mash X button until the battle ends.

[MRMagoo123]

Yup worst combat system ever in a final fantasy. I auto attacked the entire game and still beat it and I only did it to see if you could. The games combat was made for idiots that can't understand strategy.

[goldwyncq]

The paradigm system says hello. You're never forced to use auto battle at any point.

[xPaYDaYx]

I disagree, the characters are the only reason I continued to play the trilogy. FFXIII's gameplay was pretty good, XIII-2 was pretty good too and I couldn't stand the gameplay in LR. I still stuck through to the end though so I could see the happy ending because I actually loved the characters.

[colonel179]

From my experience:
I really enjoyed XIII, from the story to the gameplay. I even read the story that came out that told what happened after the ending of the game, and I was really excited for the sequel.

With that said, when I played X-III, I hated it!! The story was a mess, they got into time travel and stuff that didn't make sense. The new protagonist (the guy with blue pants) sucked. I really disliked him. I did try to finish the game, but at 3/4, I just abandoned it.

Because of that, I didn't even touched Lighting Returns.

[kaizokuspy]

FF13 taught me to never preorder any games unless I've enjoyed the beta. That game let me down so bad. The characters, story, and gameplay were horrendous. If the whole game world was as open as gran pulse it could've been a great game on that merit alone, but alas, all the good stuff didn't happen until the end of the game. I really hated hope. Worst character in FF history that I had to listen to whine consistently. I know his mom died and all, but he never really came into his own for me. He just never stopped whining. As for Lightning, she seemed pretty bland as a character and only tacked on as a protagonist to please female gamers. Best game she was ever in was ff14 in a themed fate. I'm bitter....after all these years I'm still so salty about this game I could put all the salt mines in the world out of business with what this game still has me producing.

[Apollosupreme]

If you didn't like the story or the characters then how did you come to like this role playing game trilogy?

These games are adequately appreciated. Square brass has an idea of where the series should go and they don't care if that aligns with the fans. So be it, and we don't have to praise their games or buy them.

[DarkOcelet]

I liked the gameplay. And Sazh and Fang were pretty good too.

FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns gameplay were pretty good too.

[AznGaara]

I actually liked the battle system and Lightning & Fang as characters but aside from those things... Yeah you're pretty much spot on. LR was probably the ultimate realization of that battle system, it was just too late at that point.

[Muzikguy]

I think these games were the worst in the series BY FAR (ffxiiii because I didn't play the other two). Square Enix won't admit they screwed up. I can't believe they think these games were actually good. I've been a fan of these games since 3 and 13 was my least enjoyed. I had to painstakingly finish the game just to see if it ever got better. It didn't, and I felt like I was ripped off

I agree with the statement above that characters have more than enough time to get "fleshed out" over the course of a trilogy. Means the games were filled with meaningless crap

[Name Last Name]

FF13's was actually good but to appreciate it you had to read an in-game enciclopedia which is ridiculous.

[Kalebninja]

Its annoying since almost everyone who says the 13 series sucked only played the first game. If anything at least play the second, its stands out from the other two and is actually really good while lightning returns is just good. The funny thing is the best one in the series is the one where you don't play as lightning.

[nogoodusernamesleft]

i played the second one and only got like 3 hours into the game before i stopped playing anymore. ff13 2 is only slightly better. that's about it. i wasted enough time on the first one

[Kalebninja]

you played 3 hours of a 25+ hour game and say its only slightly better... you cant judge an entire game base on a fraction of it. 3 hours is hardly passed the beginning

[nogoodusernamesleft]

again i felt burnt out by the first ff 13 game. square enix had its chance. what little i played of ff 13 2 it wasn't better enough. too late now i've moved on. maybe ff 15, just MAYBE

[Omegasyde]

Kaleb

if a game cant get your attention in the first 3 hours WHY on earth would you waste more time on it????

Its like watching a movie then state everything BUT the ending sucked - why would you waste your time?

[Kalebninja]

@omega this is completely different from a movie he played less than an 8th of the game that 3 hour thing you think is right doesnt make sense for every game. 3 hours of the order 1886 and you're halfway through it, well enough to judge it. 3 hours of 13-2 and you've barely scratched it. I gave fallout 4 20 hours before i put it down, he put it down because he wasted enough time with the first one. you wouldnt watch a 3 hour movie for 20 minutes then say it sucks right?

[rainslacker]

I had a hard time with XIII-2 at first. It was confusing and seemed to be trying to hard with it's story, and the battle system was weak at first.

But going more into the game, it really did become a great game. Combat was awesome, although not if you're looking for more traditional ATB, and the story was really good. It wasn't perfect by any means, but was fun with characters you actually came to care about. Even the antagonist you couldn't help but care about.

LR was good for it's game play, the story was stupid though. Not a bad story, but it played fast and loose with the lore of the series, and the lore itself was never really delved into in the prior games, so it made it even more confusing. It shouldn't have been confusing, because it's a rather simple story, but SE found a way.

@Omega

I can think of numerous JRPG's where I was bored or frustrated the first 3 hours. But when you get past that 5-10 hour mark and it just blows you away. Xenosaga, Suikoden, heck...FF7 was boring the first 3-4 hours IMO, and many more. Three hours into XIII-2 and you haven't even gotten a glimpse of the real story yet, and the game play hasn't opened up to become interesting.

[Omegasyde]

^^^

Sorry your rebuttal is weak.

If I cant stand a movie for 20 minutes theres no way I am wasting my time finishing it. On to the next movie. Preference is preference but to play a game for hours on end not enjoying it, you are then letting the game "play you".

Same goes for games. If there is a point in any game where its pretty much "dull" to play it - I stop playing it. My most recent example was farcry 4 - once you uncover the top of the map , the story just hits a screaching halt. Should I finish it since i invested 10+ hours despite the next 10 being a snooze fest? What if the situation was reverse (the first 10 are dull)?

Thank gawd for the ability to still buy used and trade in games I no longer want.

[rainslacker]

@Omega

To each their own then. While I do kind of agree, it would take a lot for me to give up on a JRPG due to a slow build up. Being completely bored isn't the same as it being dull, and having played a lot of JRPG's, I know that a slow build up is very common for the ones that end up wowing you more than other games come the end. This isn't typical for movies, so i can understand you there, but it's pretty common for books and some JRPG's.

[SamPao]

I actually enjoyed 13 more than 13-2
finished 13 played 50 hours.
played 13-2 for about 12h and did not finish it. though maybe I will go back. But the story wasnt nearly as good as 13s story

[Elda]

Totally agree.

[Eiyuuou]

If anything XIII-2 did have a FF-worthy antagonist. Caius was awesome!

[sinspirit]

You don't realize that there is no business in a 30 hour game being 30 hours if the first 5 hours are boring, lacking, and there for no good reason. Just make it a 25 hour game or fix it.

Anyways, it was a cliche set of games. Unnoriginal and ruined aspects that the FF franchise is prided in.

[phoenixwing]

I liked 13-2 as well. It's the only game I really like out of the 3.

[trenso1]

i actually enjoyed the first one more compared to the second one. The time travel bull shit just wore me down but it did make up for the last ones mistakes i still have to play the third one but, im hoping for a ps4 remaster

[rainslacker]

I think the first had a much grander and epic story, but felt the 2nd had better game play and a more cohesive story presentation once you got past the initial confusion of the time travel stuff....which honestly should have just been left out as it served no purpose to the lore. If the first game had the same quality of story cohesion and development(story and character), then it would have been a much better game.

[Kalebninja]

EDIT. wrong reply********

[Segata]

13-2 is like saying the shit I took today is better than the shit I took yesterday. It's still shit either way.

[Kalebninja]

its absolutely not like that, what its like saying is the sequel is better than the original. it's that simple of a concept.

[KimikoGaming]

13 was very mediocre, so many people played it and refused to play 13-2 and Lightning Returns. But 13-2 was a really good game, and Lightning Returns was still good.

[FallenAngel1984]

FFXIII doesn't have the best battle system. The biggest critique is how you're forced to stick with one leader per battle, and if your leader dies then you get a game over.

FFXIII-2 greatly improved upon that battle system while also adding in more action commands. It's my favorite installment in the trilogy.

FFXIII:LR wasn't as interesting since you only had a dull Lightning in your party.

I enjoyed playing the through the trilogy just to get my own opinion of it.

[Cyb3r]

The thing I hated most about the FF13 saga was that I found it to be a bit childish, the story was kind of like a Disney family movie. IMO FF13 looked like it was aimed at a younger audience. Especially when you compare it to FF7 which had more serious themes to the story like Aerith getting murdered by Sephiroth and bit of strong language here and there. Most of the characters in FF13 had a happy go lucky personality compare them to FF7's Cloud,Barret and Sephiroth. I hope Square-Enix use serious themes in FF15 and not make another family friendly Final Fantasy

[PhoenixUp]

Sounds like you played an entirely different game. FFXIII's main cast were always down on themselves and going through constant states of depression.

Idk where you're getting this family friendly image from

[Elda]

I co-sign.It was about purging,extermination & segregation.

[nommers]

I think he's referring to more of how the characters were, which I agree completely. They were very cliche and childish..spouting a few comments here and there but rarely engaging with a conversation or anything remotely interesting outside of the main narrative. It made the world feel empty as a result and we didn't really get to engage or feel for the world of Pulse or Cocoon.

[Kalebninja]

What series did you play? There was alot of death in the 13 saga to a point where death was the theme of the games. The ending of 13-2 was very much not Disney considering you die and everything is consumed by darkness. Even in the first one your friends sacrifice themselves to stop cocoon from being destroyed. By the end of it all lightning literally became the goddess of death and killed god after reaping everyone's souls lol.

[goldwyncq]

Childish? That's nonsense. It's easily one of the darker games in the series. The party throughout the game are treated as fugitives and are forced upon to complete a task that will ultimately lead to the destruction of their world, or else suffer a fate worse than death. Even the characters who seemed happy go lucky like Sazh and Vanille had deep troubling issues that got very apparent later on.

[trenso1]

yea you're just another bandwagon hater. You clearly didn't play the game if you think the story was childish and "disney like"

[no_more_heroes]

I enjoyed playing all three, but a decent amount of the criticism (especially for the first one) was fairly accurate. For a story that's supposed to be about defying fate, they sure seem to do exactly what the bad guys want throughout the entire thing.

...and Vanille's voice. That was pretty bad.

Character wise...meh, I feel like I've seen worse, even Hope (who is a kid). Nobody's perfect. At least it was decently acted (mostly).

Out of the three, XIII-2 was the most enjoyable to play hands down. If it wasn't for a certain detail of the ending of LR, I'd like it more than I do.

[Relientk77]

"The Final Fantasy XIII Saga is the Worst Set of Games in the Series"

I fixed it

Hopefully Final Fantasy XV is good

[AsheXII]

They are a lot better than the NES games.

[PhoenixUp]

FFXIII-2 is the best installment. I wish FFXIII:LR built upon that foundation instead of throwing it out the window and making a new installment

[-Foxtrot]

You know what I really hate about the FF13 series...the fans who constantly try to tell the world how FF13 is actually amazing and how the "haters" are in the minority when really they are.

Like the game...fine but don't shove it in my face how "good it was".

If you want a Final Fantasy game which has been shit on and is underrated as hell because of real reasons then look at Final Fantasy VIII. The nitpicks of that games is unreal...things handed down for years where any person, even those who haven't played it will scoop them exaggerated lies up as facts and state how bad it is when it's not. It actually did things better then FF7 yet hardly anyone will give them a nod for it.

Final Fantasy 13 was a underwhelming game but a shit Final Fantasy game

Lightning was bland, boring and pretty depressing with no real developed backstory to why she is like that. At least grumpy sods like Cloud and Squall had character development to show you why they were like that and at the end of the game changed for the better because of the development shown throughout the games story

The other characters were either annoying or unlikable

The story was an absolute mess. Hell every FF has it's share of story problems where you can spot plot holes, cheesy scenes or "what the hell" moments but FF13 was so bad that the rest of it had to be put down into logs to read.

The battle system was very uncreative. Basically it came down to luck and mashing the X button half the time.

One character could only be used in battle, they die you all die.

Summons were basically Transformers Summons in disguise

The theme music even...Leona Lewis, X Factor, manufactured crap...come on. Not to mention it wasn't even the same song translated like the others or done by the same Japanese singer.

Linear, plot A to B, structure

No NPCs

No Towns

No Airship

No backtracking

Hardly any side quests

Not much to find, most things were in the item shop

I could go on...

It's Final Fantasy, it had something to live up to and it failed at being a Final Fantasy game. So I don't understand how you could like it. I'm more ticked off reviewers gave out perfect scores and the like yet months later did the "FF13 wasn't that good" articles like they were on our side. MGSV is going to get the same this year, just you watch.

[trywizardo]

every FF is different from the other , i think that's part of FF charm
that's why numbered FF have different characters and different world , so fans don't compare it to the others (and the ones with the same num "13 trilogy" have the same mechanics with the same characters)
are you gonna hate XV because its more action and less RPG ?!

[chadwarden]

You know what I really hate about FF fans? They want the same game over and over and over and over again. Never want anything new or refreshing. No wonder they hate everything. Must have miserable lives as most cynics do.

[Teflon02]

This is Why I thought XIII's series is great. I's completely refreshing and unique

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

So offering less is refreshing now? Are you one of those people who thinks turn-based should die but say they love variety too?

[chadwarden]

Obviously was talking about the gameplay but let's connect A to B to Z anyways.

[Omegasyde]

So Call of duty story with swords and magic is refreshing??

F**k that.

[Eiyuuou]

I have nothing against change. But with change comes the risk that's it's a change for the worse, like in this case.

FFXV is also a change, but hopefully for the better.

[ShinMaster]

@-Foxtrot

You lost me at "Final Fantasy VIII"

It's like XIII, with a divided fanbase. Except XIII is worse in more ways.

IX on the other hand, is a better game than both VIII and XIII and is much less popular and often ignored.

Also, stop hating on MGSV. Its gameplay is superior to previous games in the series and stomps all over FFXIII's.

[-Foxtrot]

It only "divided" people because new FF fans were expecting a direct FF7 sequel

So they nitpicked the game to death

I'm not hating on MGSV I'm simply telling the truth. Only a blind fanboy would argue the gameplay outweighs every negative point.

[guywazeldatatt]

Well the article doesn't say it's a masterpiece. Just that it's good and it's fun and an enjoyable experience. It's an opinion piece after all..

[ShinMaster]

Odd that people didn't complain about FF 9 or 10's gameplay tho...

And no, you're just overblowing the negatives and also nitpicking it to death as well.

It's a disapponting MGS game storywise, but it's the game that's kept me the busiest all year. The gameplay is entertaining AF.

[-Foxtrot]

It's not nitpicking those things are obviously a huge big thing wrong with the game. You can't ignore them

[rainslacker]

What I really hate is those that say I'm wrong to have liked it. How they can't have actual discussion, and how I'm somehow less of a FF fan because I did enjoy it.

It's fine if you didn't, but when I try to be positive about the game, or at least discuss what it did right, and others come in and act like I'm stupid or completely disregard any opinion I have of it because somehow they're "bigger" FF fans than me or others, then it does get kind of annoying.

It was probably the worst main title FF game in the series. It was still a good game that had some significant flaws. I could go on, but people that have hated on it this long are not going to listen, and since the opinion of anyone who liked the game is meaningless to you for discussion what's the point?

[gangsta_red]

I agree Rain, there seems to be a common issue from gamers (particularly on this site) of calling others out if they like something they don't or people accusing others of not actually playing a game or owning a system because they didn't like a particular game.

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

FFVIII was just too complicated and hard from some.

Saying the Junction system is too complicated.

[trywizardo]

i think because Xiii was long and had a lot of twists people got confused with the story ...
same thing happened to me , so i watched the scenes in youtube (they was like a movie or something) and the story was epic , and i guess because the story was so big they had to make it a trilogy
dislike me if you want , but its one of my fav RPG games ....

[rainslacker]

A large part of the story was spelled out in the in-game database. Read that, and then watch those movies, and you come to appreciate just how deep the story is. The story itself was enough to spawn both it, 2 sequels, and the lore set up the original Versus XIII. There are tomes of information about the world, the characters, and the lore, which shows a great deal of work went into creating the universe.

Unfortunately, they didn't present it well in the game itself, and most people aren't going to go through the extra effort to read all of that stuff...not unlike how most people aren't going to listen to the bulk of MGSV story through the cassette tapes. I don't blame people for this, and it's my biggest criticism of the game TBH.

It does get hard to discuss the story though, because people that say it sucked, say so because of how it played out, instead of what the actual story is. SE is at fault for that mostly, but some people like to chime in when they only have their limited understanding of it because of SE lack of presentation.

Think the biggest problem is they just threw out terms early on as if people understood what it was supposed to mean. The first couple hours of the game I was like "WTF are they talking about". Then going forward, we only knew the most important things we had to know to make it somewhat understandable, but it was often hard to connect because a lot of the dialogue was based on things which were never explained.

[trywizardo]

so i found the story is awesome without reading the database , and maybe with the database is even better ...
so that makes the people who complains about the story is double wrong .
yes , the early missions was weird and mind melting , but after that you know exactly what they're talking about .

[LegendZelda]

I would say Crystal chronicles is the most unappreciated in the series

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

Because it sucks

[Ruggadagod]

FFVII alone kills the whole FFXIII saga. I'm going through this masterpiece right now and it shows how far FF has fallen. FFXIII a disgrace upon this great franchise. I pray that FFXV is a masterpiece so that we can all forget FFXIII ever existed.

[Rask]

I only played XIII so far, and I really enjoyed it, it's not as bad as most people say. If the entire game was open like chapter 11 it would be a masterpiece. The combat system is one of the best ever for a JRPG.

[Elda]

I enjoyed the game so much,I've played it about 4 different times.It does have some flaws but that's because of the story & it's just a totally different FF game.It happens to be one of the most hardest FF games I have ever played & I've played most.The battle system was fast & furious,the graphics & production were top notch & I loved the soundtrack but I will say a lot of the story was far fetched & made no sense though I got what the subject matter was.I really didn't think there was a need for the other 2 games which imo weren't that interesting.

[-Foxtrot]

Hardest FF game lol

[MRMagoo123]

I'm guessing someone hasn't fought ozma in ff9 and omega weapon in ff8 and emerald weapon in ff7 lol ff13 hardest ff game lmao not even close. Ff13 was made for idiots that can't think for them selves hence the auto attack feature.

[rainslacker]

@MrMagoo

Yeah, the trash in FF7 and FF9 wasn't that compelling either. Go fight the harder enemies in XIII by mashing X the whole time and see how long it lasts. Those enemies show just how good the battle system is when you use it the way it was intended.

But to be fair, for most of the game proper, you didn't really need to use the battle system the way it was intended, and could just mash X with the occasional paradigm shift. I'd also say the battle systems of the prior games was also more interesting overall.

The auto attack feature was there because they went too far with the ATB system, and made it completely real time. If you tried to play the game like a standard menu selected RPG, you'd end up dying more often than not. It wasn't made like that to dumb it down for everyone, just make it so you could actually be effective in battle. The biggest thing about the system was the paradigm system, which was built on from FF12, and I think it actually worked better than 12 because it was more fluid, but seemed to have less customization...although I will say the AI associated with the system in XIII was much better.

I won't agree with elda and say it was the hardest in the series though. I've never found any of them particularly hard.

[kotaku77]

I love the graphics and the music

[audiocafe]

I liked the soundtrack and a couple of the characters. That's about it :/

[Ferrethat22]

I agree Great games.

What's worse is when hipsters hating on XIII series end up talking about obscure mediocre JRPGs in forums saying this and that about hidden gems. Then they turn around and say FFXIII is the worst game ever even though it's probably better than most of the obscure games they champion.

Hipsters are disgusting. FFXIII. And FFXV will be great too.

[Ruggadagod]

Now exactly what FF games have you played besides FFXIII? Because if you played FFVII and compare to this you wouldn't be saying that.

It's straight trash bruh no need to defend it.

[Elda]

That is not a fact that's your opinion.

[rainslacker]

Let's say he's never played another game in the series. This would be his first experience. That means he see's it as it's own thing, and not a FF game.

If he liked it and it's his first experience, then maybe it actually was a good game because he's not comparing it to other games in the series.

I've said it many times, yet I still get people who won't address it. FFXIII is a good game. A solid JRPG. It's just not a very good FF game. Some of it's themes are good, it's story is good. The game play is good, most of the characters have weak development. Those things don't live up to the FF name, but they made for a good game when taken as it's own thing.

I personally didn't like the game and stopped playing my first time through. I went back to it without thinking of it as a FF game, and came to appreciate it, and it ended up being my first platinum trophy.

Through my comments on here, I think I've shown I can judge a game fairly, but for some reason, people like to think I have no clue about this stuff when it comes to this game. Isn't it possible it wasn't just straight up trash, and people are tired of the same hate over and over again when they want to discuss positive things about the game without being called stupid or their experience in gaming be called into question?

[Segata]

Oath of Felghana is a better RPG than that whole saga. That's a fact jack.

[Lionalliance]

People are really trying to defend the FFXIII saga. It's a hard game to defend to be honest, it was mediocre at best.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

I enjoyed the series honestly

[shadow_satey]

FFXIII is only getting attention because Square keeps shoving it in everyone's faces. Unneccessary and unwanted sequels. Releases on multiple platforms, and now Steam, released periodically, to create re-interest, as if re-releasing it makes it somehow any better a playthrough than before. Seriously, read the Steam reviews. They're basically saying they like it because it runs on their PCs. Absolutely nothing about the story, game play, characters, or fun factor.

Secondly, FFXIII has been beaten to death on how bad it is, but you only need to subject yourself to this wonderful review by Spoony Noah Antwiler's 6-part in-depth YouTube review of how terrible the writing and game play is. Just watch it. You'll learn about good game design and writing from it. It's a free college course.

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Thirdly, the marketing behind FFXIII was that it was a closed game because it was "story-centric" and "it was hard to tell a story if you could deviate from the path", which they later discarded after fan backlash and subsequent sequels that offered open world gameplay, but the same uninteresting, convoluted, terrible characters and writing. And, they even opened up their sequel, FFXV to be completely open world. How are they gonna tell their story if it's not linear anymore? I guess this story must not be important.

It's as bad as the Prequel Trilogy. Stop trying to defend it.

[Elda]

The YouTube review is hilarious,the poor dude is going bonkers literally going off..lol!

[dkp23]

2nd forgettable ff behind 12

[phoenixwing]

I'm just going to go on record and say that final fantasy 13 wasn't my cup of tea, no towns and corridor exploration. Final fantasy 13-2 on the other hand was fun from the beginning, had towns and was fun catching all the monsters. So basically FF13-2 fixed everything for me imo. I didn't play 13-3 because i don't like having time limits. So basically 1 out of the 3 games i liked. however i can understand someone else liking the series who can overlook the problems i have.

[Forum_Pirate]

Nobody appreciates it because it sucks.

[Youngindy21]

I agree. I played the first 2 games and loved them. I never got around to playing Lightning Returns but perhaps I will play it if Square Enix allows it to be backwards compatible on Xbox One. I think the series got a lot of undue hate. A lot of people judge games on the past entries in the series instead of on the game's own merits. Final Fantasy XIII reminds me of MGS V:The Phantom Pain. Both are great games that got great scores, but for some reason because they aren't like the old entries people don't like them.

[TimelessDbz]

Love the 13 series. Ff7 , 9 and 10 are really overrated after I went back and played them.

[Eiyuuou]

The only thing the XIII series does better is graphics.

[Ruggadagod]

You're joking right?

[MasterofMagnetism]

They may have a lot of flaws but I thought they were ok games.

[Suzyp]

Okay.

Jokes aside, FFXIII-2 was the best out of the three imo. It had a much improved battle system than the first and many more locations to explore. You didn't feel like you were running down a corridor. Sarah was also a more interesting character than Lightning, though ending was somewhat disappointing :(

[Auron]

couldn't stand XIII for more than 15mins so I steered clear from the other 2. cant believe they used the name Final Fantasy for that turd.

[EverydayGuy]

They should of done what konami did with phantom pain

[Hotabang]

LOL an article like this actually exists. How this shit trilogy got high reviews is beyond me. No wait, theres this article, I guess there are people out there who enjoy dumbed down games

[chadwarden]

Well excuse them Mr. Elitist

[Hotabang]

excused along with u

[chadwarden]

Being excused from this high horse is a blessing. Thanks!

[Aghashie]

Honestly, I played a few hours on the first game... that's it.

The combat system pushed me out of the game for good. Can't play an RPG if I can't enjoy the gameplay.

Can't say the game is bad -because I didn't played a decent amount of time to make a solid judgement-. But I can say I didn't liked it, and only took me a few hours to get to that conclusion.

Never played the sequels, so can't talk about them. A few hours of the first was enough.

[ajax17]

I will never understand the appeal of these games

[Segata]

I played a bit of 13-2/LR and the demo of FFXV and I am giving up on a good FF again. Series is just absolute shit now with a AAA paint but so poorly designed in every aspect it's like the designers themselves have no fucking clue how RPGs work or game design works. I just hope on the Enix side that DQ11 turns out well. With FF12 I thought the series was heading in a promising direction. Boy was I wrong.

There is no character in the characters. Side quests add nothing and are pointless. The hallway shit was annoying. If they did not have FF on the box they would be forgotten crap RPGs like Infinite Undiscovery.

[Donnywho]

I've never seen a set that I didn't at least appreciate.

[Unlimax]

Whatever you find good about this cold series or either you try to push a propaganda , I have nothing to comment about how unappealing and bad this series is , FF13 /=/ FF games
keep in mind guys that this article coming from the same person who said The Last of us isn't a great game , i'm kinda surprised not a lot of people noticed that .

[Hanso]

Im a very big FF Fan played all games except the Online FF's
But im glad the XIII Series is finally over..
Still bought the second and third game for cheap but really not the best ff games imo
I was so hyped for 13 but i didnt really like the battle system or the characters. Only Sasz was cool and Snow was alright.

[F0XHOUND]

Final Fantasy XII especially, was very underappreciated imo. That game was actually rally good, sure it had some annoying characters, and for 70% of the game the battle system was on auto mode. But if you take game as a stand alone game, without comparing it to "your favorite" final fantasy game, its awesome. It had an amazing soundtrack, which more often than not, fit the scene perfectly. The story was good, the journey was great, leaving cocoon and exploring gran pulse was awesome and it felt like an adventure for most of the game. I really enjoyed it, and it deserves more praise imo!

[gamer7804]

Some might disagree with me, but the 2 of the 3 were my favorites of all the FF series, however Lightning Returns i didn't enjoy quite as much, only because of the constant feel that you were under the gun time-wise.

[Wolfgang187]

FF 13 was walking in a straight line for the the 1st 20 hours. I dont reward sequels of games if the 1st one sucked.

[Ninja_G_Aidan]

Such a boring story I didn't even follow it when I went through the game and completed it. Everything about thirteen sucks!

[-Gespenst-]

They were exceptional in the gameplay, visual design, art direction and music departments - ESPECIALLY the music, which is some of the best I've heard in a videogame.

It's the story and characters that were weak. Story and script was just constant exposition, and the characters felt like melodramatic, basic anime archetypes, rather than nuanced. The voice work was good though and there were a few good characters, such as Noel and Caius. Ultimately though I felt games were incapable of showing not telling. On paper I think the mythos is cool, but I don't think they fleshed it out in an effective way.

[cash_longfellow]

It's really not as bad as some will lead you to believe...and the one's who complain about the story, clearly didn't get the proper ending at the conclusion of Lightning Returns...I believe the XIII trilogy is a perfect example of a games(s) catching flack for not being what everybody wanted, although it's not the best, that doesn't mean it's bad. If you are one of those that claims the story sucks, don't blame Square if you don't have the attention span to understand it (probably the same people complaining about the KH storyline too), it's all there.

[thegreatklemba]

as Final Fantasy games they are horrible but i have played worse trash i also hate that turned based combat seemes to have no place for some unknown reason it needs to be back in ff without teen mellow drama. the last best ff game was 9.

[goldwyncq]

Serious Question: Why do people get butthurt when someone likes what they don't?

"Are the Final Fantasy XIII games perfect? Definitely not. Are they masterpieces? No. Are they the best Final Fantasy games? Of course they aren’t."

The writer recognizes the FFXIII trilogy as good but ultimately flawed games, which in my opinion is a much more reasonable assessment than simply dismissing them as trash for not being the exact same brand of Final Fantasy that they love. If it didn't have the Final Fantasy label then it wouldn't even get this much hate in the first place.

[MRJefferson]

Strange, I'm played every FF games what out there and FFXII and XIII was the best for me I loved XIII and XIII-2 but LR was such a failure. F7 was an overhyped bullshit, its not better than rest of ff game. FFXIII characters was better imo and the story than FFX,FFIX,FF8 was.

[Gaming_Since_The_80s]

FF14 had some moments of brilliance. There are somethings I like about it but overall it's not the best game of the series for me personally.

[shadowraiserx]

superb gameplay?FFXIII? Transformers beastwars cross the power rangers with limited summons no npc, no villages, mediocre music and completly lineal plus boring characters.

[mochachino]

I really enjoyed FF13 until I got to a boss I couldn't pass. If I recall, it was some three headed robot thing. I guess I sucked, but it ended up ruining the series for me. First Final Fantasy game I couldn't pass, but If I couldn't pass the first there was no way I was buying the second.

[gangsta_red]

The FF-13 saga was pretty bad IMO.

The first one was a convoluted mess of a plot that made absolutely no sense. The game didn't truly get interesting until the final part where you land on that open world planet and able to fight those all those different fantastic creatures. That part of the game was amazing.

I did enjoy FF-13 2 more, it had large maps, the maps changed at different points in time and the story was sort of easier to follow. But then they go and only give you two characters to control with the third being some sort of monster to have on your team. I like FF because of the different team members you can have and combo.

FF-13-3 was downright terrible. The story was some kind of religious, convoluted, terrible mess. I tried to get through the game since I finished the two before it but it was just so awful in every design execution that it started to become a chore to play it. Thank god for Gamefly.

[jznrpg]

In comparison to other FF games they weren't on par, they were ok games but could have been a lot better.

[Claudinho69]

thats not saying much, they all get a whole lot of appreciation.

[Warshade]

The amazing fact that for some people the XIII saga was their first final fantasy game. /sadpanda

[Pug]

Under appreciated? No, just no. A terrible terrible game and no aspect of it in my view was good. The things you highlight as good were some of the worse things about it in my opinion.

[Galanai]

If you play this game with a hack, and eliminate the combat as a way to break up the story, it is the least sensible of nearly all the final fantasy games, and the story is outright boring.

[alti]

Well their story sucked and their voice actors were terrible. What did they want? They seriously need quality control outside of visuals. The story of 13 was a joke.

[Simco876]

FFXIII changed my whole outlook on the series. Went from my baby to a spoiled teenager. Maybe it'll grow up and become a good college student.

[WildArmed]

LR was a good game, and FF13 had really good gameplay (which only fleshed out in the post-game, most fun I had in FF13 was in the post-game content. I dragged my feet through the rest of it).

FF13-2 was just horribly in almost every respect.

[TuxedoMoon]

Did I play the same game as this person in the article? Cause from what I remember, it was one of the worse FF games ever made. FF13 had a cast of really over dramatic, boring characters, the story was a huge mess, and the battle system was extremely crappy. Yeah it was linear, but so was FFX. The biggest difference was that FFX simply had a way better story that grabbed people from the very start.

FF13-2 was something I enjoyed because they fixed the battle system and got rid of all the annoying characters. Noel and Serah were much more tolerable. The story was EXTREMELY bad and forced, but it was one of those stories that was so bad it makes the game good type of deals. If I had to describe this game with 1 thing, it would be the Red chocobo theme. It was goofy and fun at the end of the day.

FF13-3 went back to being a strange game. They should've just made it into a full on action game because they screwed up the battle system once again! I don't see the appeal of Lightning at all, especially when they force her to change clothes. That type of magic just didn't suit the character all too much. This game felt like a desperate attempt to force people to like the character.

The sequels felt extremely forced, as if they knew they messed up with the first game and had to turn things around.

[Chinkyinc18]

I laugh at everyone who thinks any FF games has a great plot. All 7 is about is a bunch of hippies pulling an Occupy Wall St. on Shinra and using an emo kid who doesn't even remember why he is emo to stop another emo kid who knows why he is emo from destroying the world with a fucking meteor. Sound s like a plot from an anime, and I have to hear all the time how it's a masterpiece. The music alone poops on the plot in terms of being 'a masterpiece' and this is coming from a guy the has some love for all the FF games. XIII wasn't great, but to act like other games in the series were mindblowing amazing is BS at best.

[DivineAssault]

At the time FF7 released, all people were used to were sprite based games.. The times had a lot to do with the impact it had.. No voice work or anything so it was like a good book left to ones imagination.. I loved all of the FF games except 11 & 13.. Never played 14 because it went mmo but every time a new game came out, it was great to see the evolution..

[Chinkyinc18]

Final Fantasy 7 only really added 3D models to the equation. Story, gameplay, missions, all these things were very familiar if you played FF6. They just made some minor tweaks and added more of it. I really like FF7, but I'm not gonna act like it changed the JRPG genre because it wasn't really unique when it came to being a JRPG. Xenogear deserves way more credit in that department, but that's just my opinion. To me, it just feels like certain FF games get judged by different standards.

[davemyrose92]

The trilogy was the weakest final fantasy saga period. Even x and XII were miles and miles better in evryyyy aspect.

[Ogygian]

Awful combat.

It was like watching a movie with grinding.

[DivineAssault]

I hated 13.. I played 20+ hours of it and it just wasnt fun.. The characters werent interesting either with retarded summons.. Never bothered to play 13-2 or 13-3 because i never wanted to see lightning or her crew again.. The sequels were probably better like the reviews showed but i said F it.. Especially that pink haired squeaky voiced chick.. Annoying as hell.. All the other FF games were great to me but square dropped the ball on this one then forced 2 more games out of it

[crafter16]

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