FFXIII: Lightning Returns

No, its not...haters gonna hate, as they say.

I found it very enjoyable, as I'm the kind of player who likes to max out everything, get all items/trophies/etc. If you try it, nab the DLC battles before you're done, a lot of them are very challenging and require intimate understanding of the battle system to conquer ^^

All in all, very fun, imo. Don't knock it before you try it~

It really is! Was hugely disappointed with it. Some interesting concepts but not executed well.
Graphics are gorgeous (as all FF games) but everything else in the game was weak.
& the whole 2 constant PT members was really weak. Storyline wasn't all that.
Some people I know loved it. For me it was terrible.
Give me a good ol ATB Rpg any day of the week.

From what I can say, much of it felt like an apology letter of sorts for the mixed reception XIII got. I feel part of the problem is basing the game's design and atmosphere heavily on the success and failure of its predecessor and also essentially creating a franchise within a franchise to milk it dry for all it's worth.

In my opinion, it simply doesn't have the foundation like VII did to warrant XIII-2, Lightning Returns, or Versus for that matter.
Even with the spinoffs and reboots from VII, it diluted the experience and legacy of what on it's own stands as a timeless piece as far as JRPGs are concerned.

Jared's review more or less reflects my feelings on the game

Well, I like most FF regardless I guess, the only one that wasn't doing it for me was 2, ughhhhhhhhh.

its not bad at all, its very good. they improved on the game engine and gave you freedom from the start. many ppl bitched about 13-1 being linear for the 1st part of the game but when you put it in terms of total hours put in, its nothing compared to the hours put in once you get the freedom.


1st part of 13 is like 5-10 hours depending on how you play, then you easily can dump up to 60-90 hours more into it once the game "starts", i personally enjoyed it all. well over 100 hours if you choose to 100% it.

13-2's total hours wont be anywhere close to that, but you can still dump a good 40-80 enjoyable hours into the game, being able to do what you want from start to finish is a big plus side as is the jumping and other various powers you get. the only downside is spoiler related, and depending on how 13-3 turns out, it may not even be a downside afterall.

my opinion of 13-2 is based on many hours played to fully experience every aspect of it, i 100%'d the game and was one of the few games i felt good about 100%ing. imo most of the ppl who did not like it didnt even finish it, or just finished the story and say "i finished it".

and 5.....ewwwwwwwwwww

XIII and XIII-2 are hit and miss games. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. You either like them or hate them. I imagine know Lightning Returns will be similar.

I enjoy the hell out of XIII and XIII-2. I also enjoy the hell out of every single other Final Fantasy game I've played, including Mystic Quest, II and XII.

Not bashing you or anything, but this coming from a guy with a Cloud avatar just made me spit coke all over my screen xD

from the looks of the trailer, it doesnt even show anything related to the last game, in addition, the title doesnt even include the "13-3". I really hope this isnt going to be a brand new story with little connection to 13-2..

I havn't played all the FFs yet I've enjoyed all that I have... The problem I'm running into is many of the same issues people are vocal about with newer entries can be found in the older ones but seem to be ignored. The fact is we are simply more critical of games these days than we used to be and it's affected our experience with them.

What I find interesting is from the details we have on LR it could turn out to be the most open and non liniar FF thus far. Yet for all people yell about wanting non liniar games these days when a company takes it upon themselves to attempt to deliver it's hate hate hate.

SE already stated that "Lightning Returns" was the third installment (and the final one).

This is the problem I have with FF fans. Major complaint about FF12: Far too open. So SE made FF13, then people complained 13 was "far too linear". SE can't win >_<.

well the reality of 13-1 is it wasnt even that linear unless you simply played just to finish the story line, as i said in my previous post the "linear" part of the game is less than 10% of the total playtime, far less if you go for a 100%... which that game is pretty challenging to do.

It was a friggen straight corridor until you got to Pulse though >_>

I'm definitely not stoked about this.

FFXIII was a very pretty game. Blondes are very pretty people (in perhaps an average study, but not factually proven I suppose). I'm also definitely not trolling, but I disagree with the direction Final Fantasy has gone after IX (excluding XI of course). Prettier, not smarter.

It just seems like great characters, which forged the stories and fantasies which we love straight from the minds of the storywriters, have been cast aside as if they did nothing (and before the flames, no, I don't accept Dissidia, Kingdom Hearts, and Advent Children to be capable follow-ups to the good games), while FFXIII's Lightning gets put on a pedastal because she's pretty and new.

SquareEnix is seemingly often discussed over as running into a rut, having to redo FFXIV, etc. Whether or not they are actually in a rut, I do not know, but how they could not realize that developing sequels to their best games of all time would vastly improve their income is beyond me. X-2 was a start, but they should have aimed earlier. Where's VII-2 and VIII-2? Even VI at this point has been a long time waiting.

I'll venture into speculation before I close this probably much-hated comment. I don't think SquareEnix has the capability of producing great games anymore. Good games, perhaps. Not great games though. They DID make great games at one point. I think SquareEnix knows this, and knows that they can further develop the best games in their series. At this point in the speculation, however, I don't know where to go. Either they can't because of corperate rules, or they won't because they're too set in their ways. No idea.

All I know is that I'm probably going to vomit if they re-release FFVII ONE more time... Instead of furthering it. If it weren't a good game, why re-release it so many times? Why not develop it further with a real game?

FF7 sucked.

Most people don't realize that's how a vast majority of the FF games were though.

imo both 13 and 13-2 are great games. its really just an opinionated thing. that being said, a company can only get by so far making just "good" games, #'s dont lie, the 13 series is selling strong.



on the ffvii topic, you will def see a current gen remake of it before you see a sequel, and if they do make a true remake of it, imo it goes hand in hand with intending to make a sequel as well, pretty much the movie world's "reboot". thats what would make most sense to make the most money out of it, seeing that that game is huge and would prolly cost a lot to do, now that I think of it, I wouldnt be shocked if they re did 7 and split it up into 2 games and made a brand new sequel for after.

It depends on how you define linear though... To me if you can still do everything on your way through the game it might as well just be a corridor. SE has always been good at giving FFs the illusion that the game is open via world map and the odd mini game or treasure that is a few steps off the main path. For me unless there is a reason to not do things and have different outcomes (that arn't just punishment outcomes IE fort condor) or different possible ways things can play out I can't help but still consider it to be linear.

Actually SE said a next gen remake (like PS3) would be tantamount to remaking the entire game from the ground up. They said they wouldn't waste the resources on it.

im aware of them saying this, but se will eventually do it, thats one of the biggest requests of them from their fans. I personally feel they keeping it up their sleeve as a last resort thing or possibly just timing, could simply be just no current man power for them as well.

who knows, 13-3 could go strong, the games they publishing could be big hits as well such as tomb raider. 14 could end up winning (lol @ that i know), 11's expansion could bring in some good money as well. they could easily make a big come back (or die off soon) and end up expanding and being in a position where they can afford to do things they currently are not in position to do now.

So you know what a company is gonna do, despite them saying they AREN'T going to do this? Quick tell me how FF15 turns out. Thanks.

no, but just cuz they say 1 thing doesnt mean that its true or wont change.

Well you're saying they will with certainty and you simply don't know. They did say it would cost a lot. No real reason to do it, if it's gonna cost as much as they projected.

they never said it wasnt going to happen, just that it wasnt a priority and certain things would have to happen 1st before they did that~

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/26/square-enix-reveals-conditions-for-final-fantasy-vii-remake

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/24/how-to-remake-final-fantasy-vii

And you laughing at 14 before it even gets off the ground again is hilarious, because honestly, it's a fairly probable scenario that it's going to be big. They just have to market more. And people have to get over their stigmas of a bad launch the first go around.

meh, it was such a fail its hard to have faith in it. dont get me wrong though, i honestly do wish for it to do good, im rooting for SE to win.

Again...get over the stigmas. Did you actually play 14 any time this year? Like in the last 10 months the game was online? It was leaps and bounds different from launch as it was. But w/e. It's so hard to reach people like you. It had a bad launch so it can never be improved upon, ever.

And you're making a lot of ninja edits after I quote your comments >_<. Also those 2 articles really didn't mean anything. Wada is quoted as saying if they remade FF7 now SE would be done for. Yeah that sounds like a good business idea then lol.

Plenty of their games have surpassed 7...