What worked in this game

[Slothy]

I'm aiming this at all the FFXIII haters out there, myself included. I've stated numerous times that I consider this to be one of the worst games I've ever played. A bold statement to be sure, but let's dispense with the hate for a moment since that's best left to the census reveal.

For those who didn't like this game like myself, what did work for you. What do you consider it's redeeming qualities? What made you feel like you wanted to like this game in spite of it's issues?

Of course, people who did like it can join in as well. Just tell us the one thing that really sold you on the game.

For me, it was definitely Sazh. I knew there was something special about this guy the moment I saw his Chocofro. That is a bold fashion statement if ever I saw one and I'm the guy who's five pairs of shoes all have toes.

But I really feel like Sazh was a character made for an older gamer like myself. Granted, I don't have a kid I need to protect and take care of, but I do have a wife and I have the responsibilities that come with being an adult. I've got a family I care about and have to provide for on some level, and when bad stuff happens and my life gets turned upside down, I do what any reasonable person would do and get freaked the hell out by it. Sazh's motivations made sense to me. His reactions to the awful situation he and his son were in were believable. And perhaps more than that, I can understand being so overwhelmed that he'd just want to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger. He was a cool character that made me want to like the game a lot more.

And side note, but am I the only one who kind of wished he did go through with his suicide and that the game actually dealt with the fallout of something that's fairly unprecedented (or at least uncommon) in gaming, to say nothing of RPG's?

[ReloadPsi]

I liked Blinded By Light or whatever it was called, I think it was meant to be the standard battle theme. I have actually jogged to it on account of it matching my most comfortable pace, I just like it that much.

That was it. I found everything else about the game (for the three hours I played) incredibly f***ing offensive. I'll be playing a couple more hours in the near future just so my friend and I can record my reactions to that as well, but then I'll finally leave the game behind me forever.

[Del Murder]

The graphics. Also the characters were diverse, I'll give them that.

[milliegoesbeep]

I actually liked the battle system of the game, really. It was a refreshing and much needed change to the old system. When they tried to revamp it in XII, as we all know it sucked wasn't all that well put together. FFXIII managed to pull off the change as well as redesigning the levelling system, most probably taking off from the sphere grid in X. The crystarium and the paradigms really sold it for me and the look of the game in general. It's so pretty @_@

[Jiro]

The crystarium was very linear but at least you didn't run the risk of completely nerfing yourself. I loved the characters though; I enjoyed seeing them go through trials and challenges and how they interacted.

[Laddy]

The characters were simply marvelous. I didn't like all of them all the time, but none of them annoyed me. And they had a role in the smurfing story. If the story was similar but had more "off-time" (towns, them just hanging out) the cast would probably be the best. Sazh is a Top 5 best, imo.

And the battle system was good. I'd prefer more paradigms, or at least different versions of them. The Crystarium was uninspired but harmless. The actual combat itself though was one of the better ones.

The graphics and music were damn good too. While the music wasn't Uematsu-caliber, that's for sure, it served its purpose and grabbed my attention.

To me, XIII is a collection of gold in a sea of dirt. I honestly wish they would remake, or reimagine rather, this game with a similar, but redone plot, a similar, but redone battle system, and more open-endedness in the level design. Also, towns. This game has promise all over, but the execution and some downright stupid design choices make it fairly average.

[Raistlin]

I am extremely critical of some of the things FFXIII tried, but I thought some stuff did work.

1. Character development, for the first 7-8 chapters at least, was very good. You really got to know every character, and the game delved into their backstories. Sazh was the best example of a understandable character who reacted surprisingly realistically for a hero in an RPG. The gameplay, of course, was crap during that time, but each character's story was developed very well.

2. I actually like parts of the battle system. It was new and for much of the game fairly engaging and involved some level of strategy. While not as good as FFXII's system overall, I thought each game did certain things well. It tried to simple things down from FFXIII, but ended up going TOO simple. It definitely needed something more control options, such as more paradigms and an ability to control the AI if one chose to (sort of like an optional gambit system), but overall I thought it was mildly enjoyable, and warrants a little slack for being new and different.

[ReloadPsi]

I don't know why everyone raves about the battle system. Did they not play FFX-2?

[Hollycat]

The graphics.
What happened to the battle system?
We could just copy the ffxii system. NO THE LEVELS ARE LINEAR ENOUGH TO BE CALLED LEVELS!
We could just copy ff X-2's system. NO THAT WOULD BE TOO EASY AND TOO AWESOME!
I know, lets make a battle system where you can only pick from a few jobs, have to preset them, half of them can't attack, make it where you only control one character and the other characters will stop doing things if you leave the controller alone and make it so that only the party leader is smart enough to use items, so if they faint, it's game over!

[Jessweeee♪]

I don't know why everyone raves about the battle system. Did they not play FFX-2?

I did and I thought both of them were great

[ReloadPsi]

I don't know why everyone raves about the battle system. Did they not play FFX-2?

I did and I thought both of them were great

My point is that the battle system plays like FFX-2 yet somehow more streamlined. I think HC's post above counts the ways well enough.

[ShinGundam]

I don't know why everyone raves about the battle system. Did they not play FFX-2?

I did and I thought both of them were great

My point is that the battle system plays like FFX-2 yet somehow more streamlined. I think HC's post above counts the ways well enough.

Streamlined? I don't know about that but what makes it impressive to me is, In all versions of ATB prior to FFX-2 if one character/enemy took an action that action animation would finish playing before another attack happened.

In FFX-2, for example, with fast command input you can have multiple characters acting at the same time, even killing an enemy as it is moving in to do a physical attack for example, if I recall. At the very least I am positive in many cases multiple actions at the same time are possible which mean you don't need auto/preset combination attacks that many RPGs do when you can time and chain your commands at will.

Simply, Older games fallow simple event driven flow while X-2 (and XIII) are more realtime flow.

In XIII it is the same somehow with ability to execute or cancel string of commands but battles built around stagger bar and launching enemies, i think.

[ReloadPsi]

By "streamlined" I meant "cut down" like "we are streamlining our staff."

Yes, I'm totally referring to the way FFX-2 had multiple actions going on at once, but FFX-2 let you control all three characters and individually switch to any job you wanted rather than setting up specific combinations of three. The Paradigm Shift isn't a new idea; it's taking an older idea and choking it. Removing control over the rest of your allies was a dick move too; now the entire game plays like it's an escort mission, and I hate escort missions.

and make it so that only the party leader is smart enough to use items, so if they faint, it's game over!

In fact I worded the above slightly wrong: it plays like a game where YOU are the one being escorted!

Anyway, I'm taking us off the point of this thread: we're meant to be talking about what worked in this game and all I seem to be doing is shooting down people's claims about what did work and explaining why they didn't. Naughty Simon!

[ShinGundam]

By "streamlined" I meant "cut down" like "we are streamlining our staff."

Yes, I'm totally referring to the way FFX-2 had multiple actions going on at once, but FFX-2 let you control all three characters and individually switch to any job you wanted rather than setting up specific combinations of three. The Paradigm Shift isn't a new idea; it's taking an older idea and choking it. Removing control over the rest of your allies was a dick move too; now the entire game plays like it's an escort mission, and I hate escort missions.

Changing a thematic class mid battle is nothing like functional duties of a whole team in XIII. XIII shift focus on macro level management and designed encounters around it where. Also, Paradigms are nothing like Garment Grids.

I don't think ability to control more characters mean a lot here because i don't think characters will be on standby mode or something.

[ReloadPsi]

Well now I just have this idea of next time I play FFX-2 I'll impose a limitation on myself that every time I spherechange, I have to spherechange the whole party and I'm only allowed to change to particular sets of three as determined by some lists on a post-it note on the side of my screen.

Or maybe I'll play FFXII on a gambits-only game (i.e. no inputting individual commands for anyone but my leader; hit Reset whenever s/he dies.) That sounds like a very unfrustrating way to play a game.