Lightning Returns: With a Whimper

[Loony BoB]

You have to remember that such criticisms are down to individuals. On the whole, though, I know many felt the story in the first game (along with linearity, lack of sidequests, and yes, to some extent the battle system although many said that was the only thing they enjoyed) was very lacking. I'm one of them. Don't get me wrong, I liked the characters, but a story is still required to really get you into the feel of the game. I don't think Barthy's rampage ranks remotely close to the likes of Kefka, Kuja, Sephiroth, Shinra, Sin or even Garland, to be honest. He did nothing for me. I felt the premise of the Cie'th/l'Cie/fal'Cie was awesome and I felt they buggerd up how well they could have played out the story, but that's just me. I know a lot of others felt the ending was very "deus ex machina".

[Sephiroth]

Yes, I know it is down to individuals but I don't understand that if you take some relevant aspects and directly compare them. More is mentioned below.

The focus is on the main characters, you liked that as you said and how they were shown you just could not feel with them or the story.
Actually Barthandelus is exactly like Kefka, Sephiroth and Kuja. He took the main characters and said "okay, now do that for me" (opening the Cave to the Sealed Gate/the Gathering Place, calling his subconsciousness, then make him handing Sephiroth the Black Materia, a Gulug Stone from Oeil Vert, et cetera, Garland, Mateus, X-Death, Ultimecia were also like that; other villains but they are not the main villains so I don't count them). About the Deus ex Machina - I can see how people think that, but the story actually predicted Ragnarok already and that people already transformed into it and to an extent pretty much everything is a Deus ex Machina when the characters don't succeed with their own power. The lifestream destroying Meteor was also one then. Final Fantasy villains are always too powerful. I think the characters getting help from others or other aspects from their world is just fair and since it has been used often it is not even a real Deus ex Machina but something to expect to happen.

Don't get me wrong, I also have aspects that I think of as a pity.

[Mirage]

Although I am slightly interested in the game, and am going to buy it, this doesn't surprise me at all.

[Del Murder]

I thought FFXIII's story was ok. There was a distinct lack of strong NPCs and too much focus (no pun intended) was on the main cast. But otherwise it was fine, had some interesting characters and twists, and not my main gripe of the game.

FFXIII-2's story was awful. Noel was a great character, in fact I liked him better than any of the FFXIII cast, but the rest was a mess. To do a time travel story right, you have to be very careful, and this felt like it was just throwing things in here and there for effect and with no real reason. FFXIII characters were showing up left and right with no purpose or explanation. The world had no fluidity to it, and was just a bunch of disjointed locations. Caius was a boring villain whose true purpose was never quite clear. Serah was a nothingburger. All that could have been ok, if the story was wrapped up in a decent ending or if not decent at least something with finality. But instead we got a 'To Be Continued' screen with some really vague scenes, and really after that I couldn't care less what happens to those characters or world.

I would have been more interested in FFXIII-3 if it was its own self-contained game and not in the the FFXIII franchise. I am so tired of this story and its characters, and I have no desire to see the story concluded, because it is become a huge pile of poop.

[Hollycat]

I hope this is a wake-up call to STOP MAKING LIGHTNING GAMES.

Yep.

Wait, has she really been a staple for ten years? Absolutely time to move on.

What? Didn't the first one come out in like 2010? How is that anywhere near ten years?

[Jinx]

It came out in 2009 and 2010, but development began in 2004.

[Hollycat]

It came out in 2009 and 2010, but development began in 2004.

I didn't know when they started development, thank you.

It's hard to believe it took them as long as the development of skyrim and gta5 to make a hallway with random encounters.

[Mirage]

Yeah it's like they should have had a trophy for it.

[Sephiroth]

Considering how much work went into it I do believe that. There was even an own program for Lightning's legs. And Final Fantasy XV also needs much time.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Square Enix Shipped Far Fewer Copies Of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - Siliconera

[Ayen]

Obviously they'll take this to mean they should get started on spin-offs for all the other characters straight away.

[LadyJuxtaposition]

I'm thinking why that is is the spoilers and the spoiling news that SE kept making. Since people know what to expect or having a hunch, they decided not to buy it. Of course, other reasons would include financial issues like I didn't get enough money or I need to take care of the rent and bills (I'll be most likely in that situation all thanks to the economic crisis still lurking in the US).
On a positive note, earning small sales is better than not selling a single game at all. We had to wait what the profits will make when February comes around. Nevertheless, I'm sure SE will make a satifiable conclusion of FFXIII and the fans will like it.

[Jinx]

To be fair, they released it about a month before Christmas. It's possible in the following weeks that we could see more people buying the game.

[DMKA]

Considering that Lightning Returns outsold Super Mario 3D World (which came out the same day) three times over, I'd say this has more to do with Japanese game sales being in a slump altogether, not the fact that it's an FFXIII game.

[Sephiroth]

Maybe people save their money for a PS4.

I hope more peple buy it, they miss something, it is definitely worth a try. Of all three I like it the most.