What did you like about the game?

[TrollHunter]

The graphics are worth mentioning yes.

How the environment is used and enemies placed around like that and you can see them from afar.

And then I get to horrid. I didn't like it that leader dies it's game over. I appreciate the randomness that you could get killed by the enemies simply bashing up your lead. But for real. Come on. In every other game the lead could be saved if someone else was still alive.

"Snow got knocked out!!!"
Hope: "Oh no Snow is down!!! What are we gonna do Fang?! Q_Q"
Fang: "Use the Phoenix Downs!"
Hope: "I can't we didn't share those, he has them all in his pockets! T_T"
Fang: "Meh... We've lost... Let's let those wolves eat us up..."

Edit: In XII if your lead got knocked out, died, sent in to oblivion, you passed the command to someone else!

Then the battle system was lame... Was like watching a movie pass by. If it would count as a movie it was pretty good and long overall.

If you wanted the easy way you take the aggressive character and let the com buff, debuff. Harder way, you take the healing and buff, debuff role.
When you learnt to use it right you could attack multiple targets effectively, especially after you get those area spells. There were parts where you could feel yourself overpowered against a very tough enemy.
It made me miss XII style where you could turn the automated fight on and off if you wanted to control your teammates yourself. (This however would've cost some of the smoothness) And the gambits, ooh I loved them. Your characters were just as prepared and smart as you wanted them to be. This time. Well the example above just tells it all.

Persona shares the problem of leader dies - game over*
I actually found the combat to be one of the things to keep me entertained, I can definitely see how someone could find it boring but I never did once.
You also seem to love XII, good taste~

I remember now another little thing I found cool about 13, it's very minor but still. How characters actually walk up the steps instead of gliding up them. I find that cool for some reason.

I find the combat of XIII like a slowed down version of X-2, where X-2 is the better in this situation. XIII doesn't have as much variety in the combat and suffers from persona syndrome*. I still love XIII's combat but I just feel that it could've been greatly improved. -hopes XIII-2 makes the combat a lot sexier-

[10-Breaker]

By looking at trailers I can say I'm gonna skip XIII-2.

Yes, how the stairs work, that's one another detail worth mentioning.

[TrollHunter]

Unless I see some promising reviews I won't touch it. I'm not forking over 60 bucks till I know that it's good.

[Mirage]

Well I liked the graphics and music. And fang is hot.

[felfenix]

I liked that it actually had character development, unlike... any other FF.

[TrollHunter]

I liked that it actually had character development, unlike... any other FF.

What about 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, and other one's I forgot about?

[felfenix]

I liked that it actually had character development, unlike... any other FF.

What about 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, and other one's I forgot about?

What would you actually consider character development in those games? I'm not trying to be adversarial or sarcastic, BTW. I'd legitimately like to know.

Yeah, they may have characters... likeable, well written characters sometimes... but that doesn't mean they had character development. It's not like Cecil's personality changed after becoming a Paladin. Nobody even really had that much depth in previous games, except maybe Squall and Tidus, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd count them. Shallow isn't necessarily bad, but the characterization in FFs does tend to be shallow caricatures, and can't recall offhand any half-decent examples of characters changing believably.

The main plot of FF13 was completely nonsense, mostly pointless, and horribly written, but the character writing (whether you liked them or not is a separate issue) was more real and natural than other FFs, and they actually grew, whereas in other FFs at best characters staticly acted like awful anime tropes instead of even slightly believable people. The characters in FF13 at the end of the game are not the same people they were by the end of the game, and its done gradually through their experiences as the story progresses. If you look at FF13 as a plot-driven story, its terrible. If you ignore the plot (as silly as that sounds) and think of it more as an excuse for personal inner journeys, then it becomes at least tolerable.

[TrollHunter]

I liked that it actually had character development, unlike... any other FF.

What about 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, and other one's I forgot about?

What would you actually consider character development in those games? I'm not trying to be adversarial or sarcastic, BTW. I'd legitimately like to know.

Yeah, they may have characters... likeable, well written characters sometimes... but that doesn't mean they had character development. It's not like Cecil's personality changed after becoming a Paladin. Nobody even really had that much depth in previous games, except maybe Squall and Tidus, but I'm not entirely sure if I'd count them. Shallow isn't necessarily bad, but the characterization in FFs does tend to be shallow caricatures, and can't recall offhand any half-decent examples of characters changing believably.

The main plot of FF13 was completely nonsense, mostly pointless, and horribly written, but the character writing (whether you liked them or not is a separate issue) was more real and natural than other FFs, and they actually grew, whereas in other FFs at best characters staticly acted like awful anime tropes instead of even slightly believable people. The characters in FF13 at the end of the game are not the same people they were by the end of the game, and its done gradually through their experiences as the story progresses. If you look at FF13 as a plot-driven story, its terrible. If you ignore the plot (as silly as that sounds) and think of it more as an excuse for personal inner journeys, then it becomes at least tolerable.

I just wanted to see your side on things and I have to say, I agree entirely. Hell not even XII had any character development as far as I noticed. Vaan matured... albeit slightly but that's about it. Penelo and Fran might as well have died in an airship accident considering how much they gave to THAT story. Also I would consider character development in at least 8 9 and 10. Excluding some characters from the equation of course.
And as much as I would like half the cast of 13 to die in a hole there was quite a bit of character development from everyone. That gives 13 some points it really needed.

[Jessweeee♪]

Yeah, FFXIII definitely had the most. I mean, pretty much every aspect of the game was centered on it.

[Bolivar]

I actually liked a lot of things about the game, because after Final Fantasy XII, I learned to put my expectations of the series aside and enjoy a game for what it individually does well.

In this case, of course, is the sound. I moved into a new apartment and decided to dig out my surround sound system from my mom's to start using again. THEN I bought an optical cable to go from my PS3 to my system. Put it on dts and cranked it up and HOO BOY. The sound had a master's attention to detail and the battle theme sounded so good coming through the speakers, it made it one of those games where you cherish getting into battles instead of rolling your eyes every time (Hi, Xenogears!).

The graphics were incredible as well, and I think it's very commendable, in this generation, for a Japanese company to make a game just as beautiful if not more so than all the Western juggernaut studios that have risen this generation. That's quite an accomplishment on its own, and as I've found over the years, great graphics are usually indicative of a similar amount of effort into every other aspect.

I'd say that's mostly true for FFXIII - the combat was great. I strongly disagree that the new action, programmable AI encounters of the big RPGs today is better than ATB random encounters. It's not. But the combat here was fast paced, fluid, you get in and out quick, the music ROCKED, and there was a great deal of strategy to it. Not as much as some have made it out to be - yes, I died a few times but if I were to play it again I would breeze past those troublesome bosses. So strategy, awesome music, looks great, it was a good combat system.

And I honestly feel the story was good as well. It had a great "prisoners of fate" theme, and I felt the voice acting was fantastic. Along with the graphics helping characters' expressions and gestures, I really felt these were some of the most developed and fully realized characters the series has ever seen. The performances in XII blow it away, no doubt, but they still had the syndrome of feeling like characters in a video game instead of human characters you can relate to. I really loved their relationships and the unique ways the game paired them up so as to advance the plot.

So there you have it - from music, to graphics, to gameplay, to story, FFXIII is actually a pretty great game. Going through it, I doubted I would have a reason to replay it, but I definitely can see doing so in a year or two, if not just for the experience itself.

It's just not a great Final Fantasy.

[ReloadPsi]

The battle theme. I didn't like anything else, especially with the way the game tried to go out of its way to tell us what the story was.

Imagine you're in a cinema, watching a film, and every five minutes the film pauses and a giant caption appears saying TURN TO PAGE 6 OF THE ENCLOSED BOOKLET TO FIND OUT WHAT THESE CHARACTERS ARE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT.

That is what FFXIII did. I found it so obnoxious.

[Luciferinne]

Because,
Final Fantasy have a Great Battle System,
I Think this games Look a Like Final Fantasy XII at Battle System, but about Graphic is more Better than Final Fantassy XII,
when I Play Final Fantasy XIII.. Like umm, Stay in Fantasy World.

Beside that,
Final Fantasy XIII so awesome at Character Skill and,
have many Monster at that World. Cool Special Effect!

Actually I Like their Soundtrack to.. so Beautiful Sound :'D