Topic: Final fantasy discussion thread

@LN78 I haven’t, are they discussing XIII games in particular or just Final Fantasy games in general?

edit. Scratch that, I’ve just found them 👍

@colonelkilgore I don't think I've ever played Lightning Returns, and XIII sucks, but I actually have time for XIII-2. It has some cool mechanics and a pretty good villain.

@johncalmc that’s interesting, so are the games (parts 1 & 2 in this case) very different then?

@colonelkilgore I absolutely love FFXIII. It might just be as it’s the first ‘modern’ FF that I had played to completion. I played the classics via emulators & absolutely hated FFXII.

I also prefer a more linear game (it doesn’t open up until like 20 hours in) & the combat system is the based take on turn based gameplay I’ve ever played.
I wish it was available on PS4/5 or they just released the trilogy. I’d pay full price for it.

@Fight_Teza_Fight yeah I was quite surprised that I had to pick them up on PS3 as I found remastered copies of X and XII on PS4. I can’t find IX either… only on PS2 I take it?

@colonelkilgore Final Fantasy sequels are so weird. The jump from XIII to XIII-2 isn't as jarring as X to X-2, but it's still odd. They don't play the same, and tonally they're quite different. From what I remember XIII-2 is about time travel and monster collecting, and XIII is... well, not.

@colonelkilgore FFIX is available digitally on PS4. It’s part of PS Extra here in the UK as well.

@johncalmc @Fight_Teza_Fight good to know guys… on both fronts 👍

@colonelkilgore Just to add a little more opinion for you to mull over — I quite enjoyed FFXIII. But I’m not sure I’m a very objective player regarding these and they hold a place in my heart from childhood. But I’d say that XIII was a little ahead of it’s time. People didn’t like some of the characters and they didn’t like the more linear gameplay. But honestly the open world Jrpg genre was becoming slightly stale. I think time has probably been kind to FFXIII. As for XIII-2, I got only halfway through it and although it was fun and engaging for me, it came at a difficult time and it eventually got forgotten on the old hardware and I’ve never gone back to finish it off. The game design is a reactive pendulum swing in the opposite direction of XIII because of the outcry from the fanbase who was upset that XIII was so linear, so it took the opposite approach and made this strange time and space travel system with a lot of openness to how it could be approached. I think the open nature of how you could go through the content contributed to me wandering away from it. It was a lot to try to keep up with, as I recall, and easy to just ditch because you didn’t know where (or when) you were supposed to go next.

Then you have XIII-Lightning Returns. I never played it because A) I never finished XIII-2, and B) I think it released on PS3 after or around the time of PS4 launch. So it was immediately stranded on old hardware and has never been brought over.

FF13 is straight up baaaaad. Come on, it simply doesn’t deserve to be in the same series as the likes of 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. It’s a turd and that’s the final (fantasy) word on the matter.

HOWEVER, I am merciful and if they release a remaster I will give it another shot and if I decide it’s not as bad as I remember after all I’ll be straight back to let you know.

@kyleforrester87 I’d say the same about Xenoblade Chronicles 3 🤭, but I’m glad you’ll come to your senses one day!

Hopefully this will keep you going until then: https://youtube.com/watch?v=8vxz2vkXuQA&feature=share

The best FF trailer ever made! Shame the original has been long pulled.

The thing with FF13 is that if was a clear turning point in so many ways. The more linear focus, adding real time inputs into a turn based system, no more guest characters, funnelling players to story points, etc. A lot players growing up with the older games would’ve certainly preferred to return to the thing they knew & grew up with.

I really enjoyed FF15, but the combat & long dev time was a clear result of the backlash at the time for FF13. FF7:R is sort of a happy in-between & I hope that’s what we get moving forward.
Mainline Final Fantasy needs to be mainstream & a combination of action & turn based is the way to go imo.
The funny thing is that FF13 & FF7:Remake are actually fairly similar. Lightning is female Cloud. You constantly squeeze through corridors & the game is entirely linear-unlike FF13 (although you have chapter select & larger areas).

@LN78 @Fight_Teza_Fight @johncalmc @Th3solution @kyleforrester87
Thanks for all the info/views guys, lots to chew over. I watched the DF vids that @LN78 mentioned and a few others too… I could end up changing my mind as a lot can happen in a year but right now I’m thinking that I’ll play through the trilogy in 2023. I’m intrigued, don’t know exactly why they’ve grabbed my interest but they have and when that happens I usually end up quite enjoying what my gut has lead me towards.

I’ll be sure to post my thoughts in here if and when I get around to actually starting this thing 👍

@Fight_Teza_Fight lol, I opened the trailer and skipped forward 20 seconds to get into the meat of it - heard "l'cie" and "cocoon" within literally 2 seconds and had to stop. I'll have a mouthful of Valium and try again later

I didn't have issues with the linearity, the combat etc. I just hated nearly every single character, I found them actively annoying in every cutscene. In the trailers I assumed I might really like Lightening and Snow, and although they were perhaps less annoying than Hope and Vanille, they were still a total drag. The only remotely redeeming character was Sazh. The music also appears to have left no impression on me.

My expectations as far as Final Fantasy are concerned are much lower these days, so if I played it again I might be more forgiving. But for a large part of my gaming life during very impressionable years, you picked up a FF in the shop and you knew you were getting a 10/10 experience, you didn't need a review. The warning signs started with 10 if we are honest but I kept the faith until I was about 15 hours into FF13. The day the child in me died? Maybe*.

*eh, not quiet.

But, it's all about context I guess - for me, I love Xenoblade Chronicles 2. People who loved XBC1 often seem to dislike 2. I don't understand it, XBC2 is a lot better in my opinion, but when you have certain expectations you can be left disappointed, even if what you're getting is really not objectively that bad.

@kyleforrester87 I think it all depends on when you jumped into a series. I played through Super Mario 64 for the first time on Switch & thought it was just ok. Much prefer Sunshine & Galaxy- even though we know SM64 is the far more influential game.

It’s a question I’ve asked myself a lot over the years. When playing a game or even reviewing it should you take the time of release into account? This I would even apply to Indie vs AAA or price point. I just judge things in the moment, which is why I actually think that infamous Jim Ryan GT who would play these old games makes sense in a way.

Unless you’re trying to experience an entire series from the very beginning & working your way through it, it’s difficult to recommend older titles.
I wouldn’t recommend FF1-5 to anyone really new to the series (maybe 4). 6 is exceptional though & looks stunning, but even the PSOne era FF games haven’t aged greatly.

As for XB3. I have not played it actually, but XB2 was such a turn off overall. Even though I enjoyed it it just had too much fan service for me. Then supposedly you find out Rex ends up having a child with Nia & then with both Mythra & Pyra (how does that even work?) & I was out. Feel similarly to the new Fire Emblem.

@Fight_Teza_Fight obviously you’re right, Final Fantasy 7 (for example) just doesn’t have the same impact today as it did on release, and if FF13 is your first game in the series you’re not going to go back to FF7 and get the same experience as someone who played it in the 90s.

But having played every FF game prior to 13 at launch, my issue with 13 is that it was just a very average FF game, and I know that because past instalments blew my socks off. It’s probably a decent enough RPG but it didn’t meet expectations and that’s always doubly disappointing. I’d be happy to give it another shot with aligned expectations if there was an easy way to do so, but unless they release it on PS4/5 I can’t.

XBC3 has way, way, way less fan service. The mood and tone are totally different. Leave your expectations based on XBC2 at the door as far as that is concerned.

@kyleforrester87 I reckon I’ll end up giving XBC3 a go at some point, but only after a replay of XBC:DE first!
I’m glad to know it’s less fan servicy. 2 really went overboard, but getting off topic now.

I beat Crisis Core in my Steam Deck while getting all the achievements. I managed to find a cheap PS4 copy and I will start it again. I really love this game!

I never got why FF13 got all this hate back then. I have played all FF before it and got it on launch day with a PS3 and enjoyed it immensely. Now that the FF1 to 6 have PS4 versions only the Lightning trilogy is missing from the PS4, it will have all main FF games if the trilogy is ported.

As for XC2 Rex might be the worst and most annoying character in jrpg history. I can't stand this guy, he is stupid, even for jrpg standards, and talks annoyingly... I would try XC3 but I retired my Switch after getting my Deck.

@belmont Nicely done! Unfortunately I’ll never get the platinum the Squats challenge is just too hard. It doesn’t help either that I’m almost certain there are input delays. My best is 48. Nowhere near the 55+ you need.

@Fight_Teza_Fight This was hard. TBH I hate in jrpg where the combat is not 100% action focused to have trophies based on quick time events. In any case what I did was pushing the buttons slightly earlier that how power pyx suggests and beat the challenge in the 100th try or something.

Jeez, didn’t know about this mini game in FF9 did I? Still surprising me decades later…