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Thread: Critical Reviews

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    Newbie Administrator Loony BoB's Avatar
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    And they're starting to flow in.

    Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII for PlayStation 3 Reviews - Metacritic
    Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII for Xbox 360 Reviews - Metacritic

    Seems like the critics are "mixed to positive", but it all depends on the critic and what you feel is good/bad.

    I'm taking the reviews from users with a large pinch of salt at the moment - it's unlikely many if any of them have actually played much of the game given it's only been out for a day. It comes as no surprise to see a bunch of users instantly writing the game off with a load of 0/10's, while at the other end many people have jumped in high because they love the series. Over time, the user reviews will probably become a little more accurate in defining how this game is viewed by the people who actually play the game.
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    Resident Critic Ayen's Avatar
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    Main complaints I've seen have to do with characters, story, failed attempts at comedy and the doomsday clock hindering exploration. Japan were less critical of it all around.

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    im just not a big fan of the doomsday clock... im a person who hates to be rushed

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    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToriJ View Post
    Main complaints I've seen have to do with characters, story, failed attempts at comedy and the doomsday clock hindering exploration. Japan were less critical of it all around.
    Yeah, it seems to be a consensus that the story and characters fall completely flat, which is a disappointment but not a surprise. The biggest surprise I learned was that the quests are mostly your typical fetch quests and the stat boosts you get from them are static. In a game with only one character it would be nice to customize her stats more.

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    You do get to customise her stats - this is done through the Schemata system. Essentially there is equipment that boosts HP, strength, magic, defensive and offensive buffs, stuff like that. You can "level up" magic/attacks, too.
    Bow before the mighty Javoo!

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    Good to know.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ToriJ View Post
    ... the doomsday clock hindering exploration.
    Those who rate it for this don't know how to handle it. The timelimit is close to non-existant with permanent Chronostasis, which is very easy to get because of the enemies and a variety of tactics.

    It is really funny how people react:

    FFXIII Hater: Booh, time limit for XIII-3!
    FFXIII Hater: Majora's Mask is cool, cool time gameplay.

    GT hater: Vegeta and the others act out of character in GT, GT "sucks".
    GT hater: Omg, Vegeta dancing in BoG, so out of character! Hilarious! XD

    EDIT@ Skyblade: That means it is a time limit. Time limit does not mean countdown, it means you have do something before a certain time is over, the countdown is just a normal way to express that. I may also mention that there is plenty of time in Lightning Returns.
    Last edited by Sephiroth; 02-12-2014 at 10:33 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Loony BoB View Post
    You do get to customise her stats - this is done through the Schemata system. Essentially there is equipment that boosts HP, strength, magic, defensive and offensive buffs, stuff like that. You can "level up" magic/attacks, too.
    You also raise her stats permanently by completing quests.

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    Is it mean't to be better than FFXIII? I trust Gamespot's reviews the least but they gave FFXIII a 8.5 and this a 5.0.

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    XIII, XIII-2 and LR:XIII are three completely different games, gameplay-wise. This one is the least like the others. It all depends on what you consider most important when you play the game, but I'm having a lot of fun. This game is sort of like a sandbox/themepark game. I think 5/10 is very harsh, personally, but everyone has the right to decide for themselves. I wouldn't expect XIII-haters to suddenly like the characters or the story, which means they probably won't like the game because it is a major part of it. If you didn't have any real issue with the story/characters in the earlier games, then I think there's every chance you'll find this game quite enjoyable.

    I also agree with what Seph mentioned - by day three I could extend time massively, by day four I could extend time near-endlessly.
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    Only Hard mode has some EP difficulties as that is part of the challenge but even for that there are battle strategies to recover them.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sephiroth View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by ToriJ View Post
    ... the doomsday clock hindering exploration.
    Those who rate it for this don't know how to handle it. The timelimit is close to non-existant with permanent Chronostasis, which is very easy to get because of the enemies and a variety of tactics.

    It is really funny how people react:

    FFXIII Hater: Booh, time limit for XIII-3!
    FFXIII Hater: Majora's Mask is cool, cool time gameplay.

    GT hater: Vegeta and the others act out of character in GT, GT "sucks".
    GT hater: Omg, Vegeta dancing in BoG, so out of character! Hilarious! XD
    Majora's Mask isn't a time limit. You can go back and replay the three days as many times as you want, and when you do things becomes important because different things happen at different times of the cycle.

    That said, if permanent Chronostasis is a thing, I don't really mind. Does that work on higher difficulties though?
    My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.

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    Newbie Administrator Loony BoB's Avatar
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    I only know about Easy Mode and Normal Mode, and I'm playing Normal Mode and I can get it pretty much endless if I can be bothered. There are times you need to let the time tick forward, though, if you want to progress.
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    It sounds like the time mechanic is handled well enough.

    Other than the story and characters (which seems to be a complete mess), the other main negative I gather from these reviews is that the quests are very simplistic and repetitive. Are people finding that true?

    As for praise, it seems that the battle system is universally liked and the environments are stunning, which are certainly great positives. I was never a fan of the XIII battle system but this sounds like more the right style.

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    The quests are, for me, things you do as a side-effect of exploring a bit and gathering materials during your battles. But as with pretty much any sidequest system, they will inevitably fall down to "fetch quests" on one level or another. I experienced quests where I had to find various ingredients to create a medicine to give to someone, explore areas hunting for items, gathering items from enemies (for Chocolina's questboard's quests)... stuff like that. I never felt like I was doing the same old thing any more than I have in pretty much every single RPG I've ever played. One example of a rather unique quest was that I was given an experimental recovery item that I had to use in a specific battle situation and report back on the results.
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