FFXIII: Lightning Returns

XII is an interesting story, and I'm not talking about the game story, but development wise.

The game was being worked on by FFIX developer and FF Tactics developer, and if you have played the game it becomes very obvious of their influences. Unfortunately FFIX developer had to stop working on XII due to his health, and was replaced by some 3rd party developer that took the lead of the project. This happened around the halfway point of the game's development life.

I think the major critical issues that XII has can be seen because of this. XII has left many testaments to some of their greatest developers in their company history, but also has some of the poorest executions of game story and main characters. I don't really think the blame goes on any one person, but when your lead is passed onto a 3rd party, and the WHOLE development team quits and you have to hire new people to replace them, it's hard not to wonder what FFXII could have been under different circumstances.

The story was crap and the cast was really weak. Wealth of content made up for the other minor shortcomings.

Too early for me to judge 15, but the cast looks like another flop.

Cloud was terrible he had no personality and was an anti hero NOT what i like or care about, Tifa and yuffie were the show stealers of VII

even Squall was kinda that way but i prefer Squall to cloud anyday, Titus i like better then both tho.

while IX was my fav game of FF i can say the main char impressed me there with but GArnet and the game itself were amazing.

Edit: XII i didnt care for seemd liek they tried too hard to make a XI offline game.... XV i cant say looks very good at all theyve stripped every part of what made FF , FF. no turn based, no women, really who wants to play a game with all dudes? lol i ove dudes but come on not a game of nothing but them? ill skip that one since its not really a newxt gen game anyway just a poorly made rekindle of 13 Vs, id rather have let ps4 keep its Vs and made XV a real title, and a Real Next gen FF.

Lightning was based on Cloud. She's a weaker character than Cloud because she has 0 development and back-story. From the beginning until Lightning Returns, she's the same character; only the circumstances surrounding her were modified. Different side of the same coin however, Cloud did a major back-pedal in Advent Children.

My favorite cast is FFT, and that doesn't really count as an FF game IMO. It's a tactics game with FF elements.

Cloud was weaker lol by far. lol

Pretty much all characters in XIII are shallow and boring, and(speaking of the first)a fairly short and anticlimatic story doesn't help them - and viceversa. Second only made the story worse.

Can't judge the gameplay since I only watched the cutscenes.

I definetely don't place FF7 on the top of my list as far as FFs are concerned, but as a FF scholar I have to say this statement is pure bs.

I'm hard-pressed to think of a Final Fantasy story that was any good. They're executed miserably with dozens of pointless excursions and plot cul-de-sacs. It never helps that pacing issues are inherent when they've got gameplay to slow things down.

About the only game that had a really coherent plot was FFX, if only because you knew what the stakes were almost from the outset, there was a minimum of pseudo-philosophical dribble, and you were railroaded from start to finish with almost no opportunity to deviate. It made for a hellaciously boring game, not helped by Tidus doing his best to ruin Yuna's story, but the plot was good.

FFXIII's plot railroad could have worked, too, if the plot hadn't been written by someone who clearly abused a lot of hallucinogens and came up with the brilliant idea of never letting the player get immersed in a living world.

You touched on one of my main problems with XII: The license board turned everyone into carbon copies of eachother, the stupid treasure chest system didn't help either and quickenings were boring, uncreative and generally worthless. ZJS addressed many of these issues but I have not had the pleasure of playing the International release.

I felt like XIIs political story which strayed away from the usual ho hum love story was a big plus, avoiding the big cliches and presenting Ivalice in a regal, complex and majestic way but the story itself suffers from being unfocused and certain legs of the journey suffer from poor pacing. Further, character development is wasted propping up the main core (Basch, Ashe, Balthier) at the expense of throwing small pieces of meat at characters like Vaan, Penelo and Fran. On a final, lesser note - having the entire cast be composed of humans (sans Fran) in a world with numerous races was also an opportunity wasted.

I do commend SE for making Vayne, the Occuria and Cid more than just the 'for the evulz' characters and people you could reasonably side with. The cutscene in Giruvegan is probably one of SEs best.

Fran was also an interesting character and we learn about her backstory and then like Chewbacca she's just along for the ride as Balthier's galpal. I'd have loved for SE to have tightened up the storyline, the interaction of the cast and the pacing issues instead of giving us what felt very lopsided.

I recall getting to the Sky Fortress Bahamut and not even getting a proper final dungeon. Really, SE? After Pharos, that's it?

XII needed the Tactics series job system and the ability to fight with a customized clan like the Advance versions. Including Bangaa, Moogles, Seeq, Viera and Nu Mou(Gria weren't invented yet I'm afraid ;;)
Also the story should have been more like Tactics, but I guess they wanted something light.

VII cribbed heavily off VI but Cloud most definitely had a story arc that was coherent, even if I had to play the game twice to start 'getting' it. The supplemental materials of Last Crisis, Crisis Core and Advent Children have only further tried to send that message home.

You're playing a character who is pretty much mindfucked 2/3rds of the game. What did you expect? He was basically reading off a script until the events of the Crater/Mideel.

Cait Sith was a more interesting character than cloud

don't even argue it because it's true

Cait who? Oh right, that character that never deserved a slot.

Cloud/RedXIII/Yuffie or Cid. Yus.

we aren't discussing the relevancy of their combat prowess doe

I have to infiltrate, what could it be a perfect disguise so to not grab any attention? Oh, but of course, a cat doll riding a giant plushie!

Nopenopenope. Also by all means, I find Cloud boring as hell(and an *** to Tifa), but Lightning...really...

Final Fantasy Tactics was the best FF story of all time and even that paled in comparison to Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together of which it's based on.

Only a few games really drive home a moral lesson when it's all said and done, FFT is one of them.

Cait Sith was an AWESOME character. Or should I say Reeves?

+1 bro, we are elite idols of the elite and anyone who says otherwise is a Yuffie

My only argument was that Cloud had a coherent story arc, which he did.

<33333

Your face is a Yuffie

I see a Vivi and raise you a:



Quina really grew on me through FFIX.

Ate too much?

today my jokes go like this, bear with me

How? Except Amarant, whose story was woefully underdeveloped, all the other characters are considerably more interesting than Quina. She's not terrible (she's a she in my mind, the cast is already heavy on males) and she has her moments, especially in her devotion to the party when no one expects it, but she's just so boring and one-note. And really lousy in combat, which is irrelevant but still makes her obnoxious during a playthrough.

She's a comic relief, don't have to think too deeply about it. As for Amarant though there's no excuse.

I always wish that Blank was a permanent party member.

gamestop exclusive FF13 LR controller~ 60 dollars

I tend to hate the comic relief. As Quina demonstrates, they're too often just a non sequitur that distracts. Contrast with, say, Locke from FFVI, who could both provide a bit of light comedy and still remain part of the story in between.

@kali: that might be the only good thing to have come out of this game