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Five Hours into Final Fantasy XIII

Nick Dinicola writes: "I was hesitant to start Final Fantasy XIII. It seemed like everything about the game was divisive, even more so than the MMO–style battle system of FFXII. And ever since that game came out, western developers have advanced the genre in significant ways, leaving Japan to play catch-up. Based on all the negativity I was sure I’d hate Final Fantasy XIII, or at least be bored by it. I popped it into my PS3 more out of fan obligation than anything else"

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gamehounds.net
ClownBelt5778d ago

A positive article about FF 13? That's a news alright.

D4RkNIKON5778d ago

I was snoring around the 10 hour mark.

karl5778d ago

i actually find the game more fun the more i played it...

the first hours almost made me quit the game ... then the game started to unfold;. and i really start to enjoy it.. the battle system became really challenging ... its one of the hardest games this year. u really need to think your moves..

well i liked the game.. thats all

rockleex5778d ago

The more I hated it.

The only reason I kept on playing was because I told myself something game-changing would happen halfway through the game and make up for all the shortcomings that FFXIII had.

But I beat the game, and turns out everything is exactly the same as it was the first 5 hours of the game!

Sure, they open up your "sphere grid" up more... but really? 50+ hours into the game just to open up your flexibility with the grid?

But you know what sucks even more? The fact that the story only took you through two to three events in the game.

All the towns and places that were talked about through the entire game? Yup, you'll NEVER get to wander around them.

Just wait till you reach Pulse and find out how disappointed you are.

raWfodog5777d ago

Still getting this after it hits the $20 range.

nycredude5778d ago (Edited 5778d ago )

I need a real opinion guys. I have it on shelf but have not gotten to it. Should I even bother?

@bashesh

Mag was my problem (I didn't play anything else but Mag for two months) and I have so many games in my backlog on Ps3 and Computer.

bashesh5778d ago

If you already have it, why not play it? I don't understand your problem.

Shuklar5778d ago (Edited 5778d ago )

I would say to try it out. I put the game down after a few hours, and now months later, I'm just picking it up again (slow gaming summer hehe).

It has a lot of great things that I'm beginning to like, like the paradigm shifts and upgrade system (character and equipment). And most people say it only gets better later on, so even more stuff to look forward to.

Edit: @Bashesh - this has probably been one of the busiest 6 months the gaming industry has ever had in terms of AAA titles. A lot of gamers have been backlogged. I know people that buy entire systems, only for it to sit in the box because something else peeked their interest.

nycredude5778d ago

Thanks Shuklar

I also started it and after a couple of slow hours put it down. Mag took my next two months and now I am getting to some backlogged games before the fall and winter onslaught.

I think I will get back to it if people say it gets better.

siyrobbo5778d ago

why would you value someone else's opinion over your own? you have the game just try it for yourself

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VersusEM5778d ago

Final Fantasy XIII was awesome, Only thing I have to say

cobraagent5778d ago (Edited 5778d ago )

Even though we are the minority on this site i agree.

BeaArthur5778d ago

Wasn't my favorite but I enjoyed it.

nickjkl5778d ago (Edited 5778d ago )

final fantasy 13 is up there with 7 for me i couldnt get into 1-6 or 8-12

iamtehpwn5778d ago (Edited 5778d ago )

Awesome Game and yet a Terrible Final Fantasy.
In fact, the game would've been brilliant as a new IP. If it had nothing to do with Final Fantasy, it would be a great new IP for Square.

wissam5778d ago

Platinumed FF13. its a very good game. but its nothing compared to its predecessors.

Reibooi5778d ago

While I will 100% the game is not perfect it has never deserved the harsh treatment it got. The game has great characters and story but they just needed to make the first few hours either happen over less time or add more into the game so it doesn't feel as slow. Once you are past the first few hours the game is incredible.

FFXIII probably has my Favorite battle system outside of Valkyria Chronicles as well so that's another reason to try it out.

frjoethesecond5778d ago

I cant stand the harsh press this game got.
Sqeenix tried a different approach for this game and look where it got them. When people don't innovate they get criticised. When they try to innovate they get criticised.
What do you people want them to do when the fanbase doesn't know what they want themselves. On the one hand people want a ff7 remake and on the other people want square to move on and innovate. They don't have the resources to do both so which is it.

I loved FF13 because it was a step in a new direction. Companies that try deserve another chance. FF13, love it or hate it at least they made an effort with it.

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Optical_Matrix5778d ago

FFXIII is a great game but could have been so much better. Finished the game months ago but I find the battle system so fun and Pulse so amazing that I decided I'd go for the Platinum trophy. Gives me an excuse to play the great battle system.

cobraagent5778d ago

I got the plat in 140h due to my zero knowledge of japanese(i had picked up the jap version-couldn't wait for 3 months) but i think 120h should be the average time
It gives you a great feeling of satisfaction, the same satisfction i got from ff12 when i obtained the Tournesol the Sunflower(if you have played the game than you know how time consuming that is)

Chris3995778d ago

The game really dragged till chapter 10, but the finale and post-game grinding/ content was a blast.

They really should have made the whole game like Gran Pulse. Such linearity in the first leg of the game really dragged the experience down. The plat only took about 100 hours (just under), but I hoard everything, which really helped at the end.

All in all (after hemming and hawing several times with the game before finally settling in to play it), it was definitely a great Final Fantasy. And this is coming from someone who was going into the experience with VERY low expectations.

Rythrine5778d ago

I'm in 130th hour and still sitting on 53% trophy. Those damn platinum ingots and traps were very hard to obtain.

Chris3995778d ago

make sure that you haven't done Mark 63 (or whatever one turns all the turtles into Long Gui and baby blue turtles). I saved at the spot by the valley where they spawned and just ran back and forth with my collector's catalog on. In about 6 hours I had 4.5 million. Still no traps, the drop rate sucked for me, so:

For the trap, you'll either get one from grinding the turtles, or you can do the Kain's Lance/ Nirvana trick (max it out then dismantle for 3 traps). I broke apart Vanille's Nirvana as it was no longer needed for the "death" trick. Maxed out my main three characters weapons - Lightning, Fang, Hope - and then got the other two traps from Long Gui (much better drop rate with connoisseur catalog on than the adamantortise).

frjoethesecond5778d ago

Bah, I missed the treasure hunter trophy by selling accessories without realising I needed to upgrade them first. I don't mid playing again though. Great game.

Rythrine5777d ago (Edited 5777d ago )

@ Chris
I thought it was just me having a bad luck with the traps. I'll be more patient next time lol.
Thanks a lot.

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DA_SHREDDER5778d ago

FF sucks now. Plain and simple as that. I know the old ones are hard to beat and all, but cmon, anyone who plays FF knows that this didn't even feel like final fantasy. It felt soulless.

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120°

Final Fantasy and SaGa series veteran Kazuyuki Shindo leaves Square Enix after 27 years

Kazuyuki Shindo, who worked on games including Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy XIII, and SaGa: Emerald Beyond, has left Square Enix.

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automaton-media.com
70°

The 7 Best Final Fantasy Characters: Unveiling the Legends

While FFVII ranks highly, there's more to the series than one game. Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best Final Fantasy characters.

220°

The older it gets, the more I respect Final Fantasy XIII

Alex Donaldson: "Hindsight is a hell of a thing, however, and in the years since Final Fantasy XIII, my respect for the decisions its developers made has skyrocketed. In the two Final Fantasy titles since we see both the brilliance and the folly in alternative approaches - and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, we get a more nuanced understanding of what FF13 was trying to accomplish from many of the same development leads."

Einhander1972891d ago

FFXIII is actually one of the best Final Fantasy games.

I also sort of was disappointed at the time, never as much as the bandwagon. But really all the fantastic 3D rendered cutscenes and I actually liked the characters and the story though convoluted was actually fantastic and the ending was extremely emotional. So much budget and time were put into that game Square had such big plans, I actually have always felt kind of bad for how things played out.

I have been thinking for years how great it would be to get all three games on one disk for PS4 or 5.

Nyxus891d ago

I always liked this game, and I agree, a rerelease for current gen would be nice.

Shane Kim889d ago (Edited 889d ago )

Gotta take off the nostalgia glasses. It's the worst FF. Shiva as a bike, I mean come on.

Elda889d ago

Shiva as a bike is strange but saying FFXIII is the worst FF is not at all a fact, that's simply your opinion.

Terry_B889d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125889d ago (Edited 889d ago )

When I got my series X a year ago, I bought FF13 for nostalgia reasons but ended up being disappointed. When I first played it around the time it launched, I didn't have a lot of experience with final fantasy games, so I enjoyed it. Fast forward to when I played it again, I found that the game had many unnecessary filler moments instead of just giving us meaningful content.

The game is also very linear and a quote on the article said it best. "It is like a sewage pipe that leads to the ocean until it opens up on Grand Pulse."

The story didn't make much sense either and I believe it is my mistake as I played the FF7 remake on PS5 prior which is a night and day difference in terms of pacing, storytelling and likeable characters even though cloud is aloof.

FinalFantasyFanatic889d ago (Edited 889d ago )

Probably was a mistake to play any of the golden era FFs first (e.g. FF6 through FF10), it makes it harder to enjoy some of the FFs that aren't as good. I think FF12 was where major issues with the series started becoming apparent, and it just got worse from there.

FinalFantasyFanatic889d ago (Edited 889d ago )

I didn't really care for it that much, the only saving grace was that it had a better story than 15 (overall it was better than 15) and possibly 12, and even then, you had to read some of it through primers, like reading a book. Plus the battle system was reasonably fun for what it was, even if it was more the spectacle that was exciting for me (e.g. summoning). And to be fair, the 13 trilogy got better with every games, I still don't like Snow though.

Gamingsince1981889d ago

Ff13 is only good if you haven't played a ff before, or any other games that are decent for that matter.

-Foxtrot889d ago

It is in fact no way the best Final Fantasy game, it's one of the worst

Linear corridors, Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene...rinse and repeat

Dialogue and characters are pretty bad, especially Lightning as the main FF hero, they literally said they tried to make a "Female Cloud" and they failed.

Story was pretty awful

I could go on

I think the only alright thing that came from the game was the music.

Elda888d ago

That's not a fact that's your personal opinion. The game sold 11 million copies between its 2009 release up until 2014 including critically reviewed as an 8 out of 10 or an 80 out of 100. The game does have some issues but it's not at all a fact as one of the worst FF games.

-Foxtrot888d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy888d ago

N4G commenters such as yourself aren't the majority. The game was well received.

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gold_drake891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

i liked the game alot but i didnt like how they handled the terminology.

i dont mind reading data logs but it had soo many.

but i always loved the music and how it looked. the battle system wasnt too bad either.

but i like 13-2 more :)

i still dont understand why we never got a remaster of the trilogy

Eonjay889d ago

Xbox kinda did. Besides the video files of course which are still best on PS3 due to bluray.

Snookies12891d ago

XIII is a pretty solid game, but XIII-2 is WAY better. XIII-2 was one of the few games I decided to go for a Platinum trophy in, early on. Had so much fun the entire way through getting it too!

Eonjay889d ago

Totally agree. FF 13 was okay but 13-2 is my favorite FF game ever.

shinoff2183891d ago (Edited 891d ago )

I hated this to when it released. I haven't much liked a ff game since ff10 as much , aside from ff7remake. I decided to give it another shot on my series x since it's not on a current ps and was liking it quite a bit(just takes me some time to get over things ) until star ocean 2 remake came out I was all over that.

Square should definitely remaster it or something for ps4 ps5

KillerB889d ago

my favorite jrpg trilogy ever

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