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[D.Final]

Nope, it's much worse than bad.
Final Fantasy XIII remains, for me, even today one of the worst Final Fantasy of the saga.
(along with Final Fantasy III)

- no cities to explore
- no minigames
- more linear maps of FFX (and those of FFX were already linear)
- interactions with NPCs reduced to 0 (the shops are only the robots that act as a save point ....)
- Transformers Summons (bad taste, and with the same identical obtaining system)
- combat system too much automatic (and the player only change paradigm shifts, and for me this isn't fun at all...)
- characters too caricatured (like Snow and Hope ...)
- 0 freedom of exploration for 95% of the game (for which, afterwards, only "Omen" hunting missions can be made that are identical to each other, and almost not at all original)
- story without bite, and also quite convulsive
- the sequels XIII-2 and Lighting Returns, are one of the most forced and narratively illogical sequels ever made by a Final Fantasy game

The only pros are just the soundtrack and graphics.
But, despite being important components, if the gameplay and the plot do not convince, I would not call it a good result.

P.S.:
FFXV>>>>>FFXIII Trilogy
FFXI>>>>>>FFXIII
FFVII and VII Remake>>>FFXIII
FFXIV ARR>>>FFXIII
FFXII>>>>>FFXIII

 

[royox]

It wasn’t overcomplicated. It was the exact opposite. It was overly melodramatic with very little substance. Just because the characters cry a lot and yell “l’cie” and “FalCie” at each other all the time doesn’t mean it’s complicated. It was just bad writing.

For me it was overcomplicated. I didn't get in my first run that there were 2 kinds of FalCie, (Grand Plusle ones and Cocoon ones) and that the purpose of Cocoon FalCie still scapes my mind.

Spoiler: FFXIII plot

What I remember is that the Cocoon FalCie turns our party in Lcie with the mission of becoming Ragnarok and Destroying Cocoon...because the FalCie that is Cocoon's core wanted to die...because....i don't remember.

- combat system too automatic

Yeah...this said by the nº1 Fan of FFXV combat, a combat that was just "hold 1 button and turn off your brain".

The "FFXIII is automatic" meme ended in this motherfucker:

Also the 1st thing I did when playing XIII was disabling autocombat. A thing I whish I could have done for XV.

 

[greenpower22]

The game is amazing. Beautiful grafics, one of the best soundtracks ever, gripping story and characters. The only valid criticism is that the first 6 or so chapters hold your hand and act as a long tutorial where the game forces you which character you control, what class he is in, there is a level cap...

 

[Kimahri]

Criminally underrated games. I don't get the confusion over the story, pretty simple for me, but then I did dig into all the datalogs.

Combat system is one of the best in the series, the world is gorgeous, the music is so good Hamauzu can't compose anything anymore without sounding like he's using B-sides from FFXIII, and the sequels were great.

It's funny, but all criticisms against FFXIII are pretty much rectified in the sequels. Especially Lightning Returns is one of the most open and varied Final Fantasies ever made. I had so much fun with that one.

I replayed the entire trilogy one after the other after they got the bc 4k treatment on xbox. I was really bummed when it was over.

That strong Final Fantasy vibe eminates through all three games. A stark contrast to Final Fantasy XV which felt nothing like Final Fantasy to me. Great game, but didn't give me that good Final Fantasy vibe at any point.

 

[Punished Miku]

For me it was overcomplicated. I didn't get in my first run that there were 2 kinds of FalCie, (Grand Plusle ones and Cocoon ones) and that the purpose of Cocoon FalCie still scapes my mind.

Spoiler: FFXIII plot

What I remember is that the Cocoon FalCie turns our party in Lcie with the mission of becoming Ragnarok and Destroying Cocoon...because the FalCie that is Cocoon's core wanted to die...because....i don't remember.

Yeah...this said by the nº1 Fan of FFXV combat, a combat that was just "hold 1 button and turn off your brain".

The "FFXIII is automatic" meme ended in this motherfucker:

Also the 1st thing I did when playing XIII was disabling autocombat. A thing I whish I could have done for XV.

Pulse Fal'cie hidden in an ancient temple in Cocoon turn you into l'cie with the task of destroying Cocoon. Fang and Vanille are actually Pulse citizens and so they come from a different culture, but end up having the same goal.

The top Cocoon Fal'cie orchestrated it because they did want all of humanity to die at the same time, because it would open the door to the hidden dimension beyond death. Humans had souls and transitioned to the 2nd dimension. Fal'cie were first, but they were more like machines without souls, and were jealous of humankind.

Then basically XIII-2 and XIII-3 are entirely about the 2nd dimension and the gods that waged war over control of it (Etros and Bhunivelze).

 

[Codswallop_]

I heard it gets better 30hours in or whatever, but the first few hours were so boring and on rails that I dropped it and never went back. Really killed my interest in new FF games for many years after that.

Now that a decade or so has passed (wtf), I'd give it another try. Still have the 360 version around somewhere, if it's backwards compatible on Series X.

 

[Hestar69]

I enjoyed all 3 games and 1000'd all 3 on xbox. Not the greatest games ever made,but I liked em.

Edit: Also FF13 >FF15

 

[LazyParrot]

The gameplay gets good about 30 hours in. The story and everything else stays shit, though.

 

[Spukc]

Yes

 

[NihoB]

FFXIII was an enjoyable game in the series. It's definitely different compared to other FF games but it's not as bad as people make it out to be and too many people bandwagoning on the hate. The story wasn't the best but not all stories in FF was that great anyways. People saying the combat was terrible probably only used auto battle the whole time and didn't bother using the paradigm shift to maximize staggering the enemies/bosses. The game has lots of linear corridor moments but so did FFX & even FF7:R, people saying otherwise are just lying to themselves.

It's okay to not like FFXIII but some of the reasons people bring up contradict their reasoning when the other games in the series do very much of the same.

 

[mcz117chief]

XIII-2 is one of my favorite games of all time, to me it is quite literally flawless, I can't add anything more to that. XIII is also very good and I enjoyed it immensely from start to finish, it is basically a never ending rollercoaster, a story about people on the run so it totally makes sense that there is a limited number of downtimes. Lightning Returns is decent but my least favorite of the three, it starts off strong and the side quests are some of the best I have seen in a video game but the production value just isn't there anymore, it is obvious they were on a shoe-string budget. The environments and graphics are pretty bad, it doesn't feel very much like a continuation of XIII-2, the story doesn't really fit and it all just feels like a strange fever dream. You don't visit any locations from the previous games and you barely interact with any of the previous characters. That is what I loved about XIII-2 so much, you are constantly moving between familiar and un-familiar places in different times and you can see the world evolving until you reach the end of time and you are like "hold up, we gotta go back and fix this". In LR you just move between two cities, a plain and a desert, with practically no connections to the previous games.

 

[TGO]

It's not the best by a long shot, but I'm baffled why it's the only modern FF we haven't got a Remaster for considering it's a newer title and SE love it so much.

 

[royox]

Pulse Fal'cie hidden in an ancient temple in Cocoon turn you into l'cie with the task of destroying Cocoon. Fang and Vanille are actually Pulse citizens and so they come from a different culture, but end up having the same goal.

The top Cocoon Fal'cie orchestrated it because they did want all of humanity to die at the same time, because it would open the door to the hidden dimension beyond death. Humans had souls and transitioned to the 2nd dimension. Fal'cie were first, but they were more like machines without souls, and were jealous of humankind.

Then basically XIII-2 and XIII-3 are entirely about the 2nd dimension and the gods that waged war over control of it (Etros and Bhunivelze).

So it has one of FFXV's main problems, you need "MORE GAMES/MATERIAL" to understand what the fuck is going on.

 

[MH3M3D]

When a game has an auto-play feature, its no longer a game. What's worse is that the story sucks, so you can't enjoy it as a movie either. There's simply no point to it.

 

[Teslerum]

So it has one of FFXV's main problems, you need "MORE GAMES/MATERIAL" to understand what the fuck is going on.

TBH, 90% and everything that is relevant you can get out of the first game. The 2nd dimension stuff is only relevant to the second game onwards.

Also there's an error there, the fal'cie of cocoon didn't know about the Unseen realm, but just about the ritual itself and what it would bring.

FFXIII is made out waaaaaay more complicated than it is and the relevant information is all there in the game. If you want a really stupid summation of the grand story it's this:

Half-Gods who were tasked with essentially performing maintenance of a world got bored with doing so, formed a cult and decided to self-suicide by destroying the world. That's it.

FFXIII is about people's destinies, suffering and hopelessness in a world where they are barely more than babies, needed to be cared for. And that aspect gets much too *ITS JUST MELODRAMA* away by people. Instead I've played XIII around 5 times so far. And honestly, the human aspect is much too underrated. I actually think a lot of the characters are very believable.

 

[Kev Kev]

i cant give too many details because i never made it more than a few hours into the game. i tried several times but it was not fun, the VA was terrible and everything was like running through a plastic hallway simulator. ffvii remake suffered form the hallways too and it was a MAJOR markdown for me. i never made it far though and i tried several times. sorry but a game has to be enjoyable enough in the beginning to keep me interested and ffxiii was no fun in the beginning.

and i was an ffxiii defender, i wanted to love it! but even with all that, it still let me down HARD. square hasnt been the same since, and it started before ffxiii as well. i hated x-2 and xii, but xii was for the battle system (which, to be fair, i should try that game out again bc i might like it now, but i hated it back then). xiii going back to turn based had me mega excited... and then square basically farted in my face lol

 

[Tiamat2san]

I was asking myself the same question when they released the 4K patch on one X.
i started a new playthrough .....
i stopped 15h into the game and don’t have the courage to go back.

yeah it’s pretty in 4K, yeah the combat system is cool.
but the rest... fucking terrible.

 

[cireza]

The trilogy is actually quite great. All games are worth your time, and they look outstanding on One X.

 

[Aion002]

I like it a lot.

Specially Lightning Returns, the story is trash, but I love the gameplay, music, art and graphics.

Also, collecting clothes/jobs for Lightning is fun.

 

[Myths]

Nope
Final Fantasy XIII remains, for me, even today one of the worst Final Fantasy of the saga.
(along with Final Fantasy III)

- no cities to explore
- no minigames
- more linear maps of FFX (and those of FFX were already linear)
- interactions with NPCs reduced to 0 (the shops are only the robots that act as a save point ....)
- Transformers Summons (bad taste, and with the same identical obtaining system)
- combat system too much automatic (and the player only change paradigm shifts, and for me this isn't fun at all...)
- characters too caricatured (like Snow and Hope ...)
- 0 freedom of exploration for 95% of the game (for which, afterwards, only "Omen" hunting missions can be made that are identical to each other, and almost not at all original)
- story without bite, and also quite convulsive
- the sequels XIII-2 and Lighting Returns, are one of the most forced and narratively illogical sequels ever made by a Final Fantasy game

The only pros are just the soundtrack and graphics.
But, despite being important components, if the gameplay and the plot do not convince, I would not call it a good result.

Was gonna give you a like until you mentioned FF3 (unless you’re excluding the DS remake and only speaking of the NES version).

 

[Spaceman292]

If anything I hate it more now. Although I sort of like 13-2.

 

[Birdo]

I enjoyed it

 

[Chastten]

The game isnt amazing and the story is utter garbage just like any other game in which SquareEnix tries to tell a serious story. I think the combat was pretty good though. You didn't need to learn the combat system to beat the story, but to beat all 62 (64? Don't remember exactly) missions on Gran Pulse you had to actually know what you were doing. Gran Pulse is also where I spent a good 60 hours in as it was a amazing world to walk around in. All in all a decent 7/10 game then, and I still think it is now.

 

[BaneIsPain]

The worst FF for me. I hate the linear approach for FF.

 

[Arachnid]

Not as bad as 15.

 

[Revolutionary]

The game has three major downsides IMO:
1. Hope is an awful character
2. Extremely linear
3. The battle system is kinda shitty

I can stomach 1 and 2 but 3 is an integral part of the game that I just can't stand. I HATE the "Break" mechanic. Hated it in XIII, hated it in Mobius, and I disliked it in VIIR (they lessened the importance of breaking in VIIR so it was better implementation, but I can still do without).
I also remember character placement during battle being a problem, but it's been a few years since the last time I tried (and failed) to finish XIII so I might be misremembering that part.

Having said all that, I still plan to return to it someday for Final Fantasy completionist's sake. I think I left it at "the good part" (Pulse) the last time I played it. Spoiler: it wasn't any better, and that's why I dropped it lol

 

[eyesabitdull]

I think I left it at "the good part" (Pulse) the last time I played it. Spoiler: it wasn't any better, and that's why I dropped it lol

Yeah, this was the damnedest thing about FFXIII.

Everyone and their mother kept saying how "it gets better" once it opens up into the more open part of the game 12 hours in so I dug in and kept playing.

Second I got that area, and realized it was all the same, but now with the addition of super high level monsters - I was out.

It didn't feel worth it, not one bit.

 

[DJTHEGREY]

I've actually been tempted to replay it. Final Fantasy 13-2 I remember enjoying a lot but the first I think I hated. The story was a little confusing but I think it was good! I just remember the world itself not being as interesting as it shouldve been especially for a FF game

 

[Nymphae]

I think it's ok but it can be pretty tedious if you're expecting a more traditional FF. My memory is that it's almost 30 hours of little to no exploration, you're on rails that entire time and you have to watch a lot of cringe (yeah it's FF)

The battle system is well thought out and enjoyable, but it doesn't give you that Final Fantasy feeling very often I felt.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Yes.

 

[CuNi]

I don't know about XIII-2 and XIII-3 but XIII imho was a relaxing game.
Is it as good as it's FF predecessors? No, probably not.
It was still a very good JRPG imho. It also even looked very gorgeous in its time back then.
The story wasn't as bad as people claim it to be either!
I would always recommend it for JRPG fans if it's 15 bucks or lower!

 

[Veysetia]

Yes its fucking terrible

 

[Dargor]

I think its probably worst than what I thought of it at the time.

At the time I felt it was the worst ff and a terrible game in general.

 

[PapyDoc]

For me it was overcomplicated. I didn't get in my first run that there were 2 kinds of FalCie, (Grand Plusle ones and Cocoon ones) and that the purpose of Cocoon FalCie still scapes my mind.

Spoiler: FFXIII plot

What I remember is that the Cocoon FalCie turns our party in Lcie with the mission of becoming Ragnarok and Destroying Cocoon...because the FalCie that is Cocoon's core wanted to die...because....i don't remember.

Yeah...this said by the nº1 Fan of FFXV combat, a combat that was just "hold 1 button and turn off your brain".

The "FFXIII is automatic" meme ended in this motherfucker:

Also the 1st thing I did when playing XIII was disabling autocombat. A thing I whish I could have done for XV.

FFXV was a mess in terms of combat, mostly because the camera never worked once, but it wasn't press one button to fight. It was more a brawler than a A-RPG when you look a little more closely than the first 10 minute of the game.

FXIII give you everything you need with one command, you could not use it, yes. But the combat system was designed around it because too much unwanted shit happen in the screen in a short period of time. The combat was not to choose the right command, the game do it for you. your job was more to know when you have to change the paradigm.
Not using the auto battle make this bad game even worse.

 

[diffusionx]

I like the combat system, and the setting is neat, but the story/characters/etc. is some of the most cringe stuff I've ever played in a vidya. If I was the kid in the "Are you winning, son?" meme comic, I would be more embarrassed with FFXIII cinematics than I would DOAXVB unironically.

 

[Pejo]

Not only was it a terrible game, but it also ruined an entire generation of final fantasy games with direct sequels and spin-offs. Imagine Nintendo releasing a Mario game where all you do is swim through shit-laden sewers. Then they just release Mario: Shitswimmers 2 that only stars a random Yoshi and Luigi, followed up by Mario: The Turd Returns that's a real-time strategy game. And that's all you get in the otherwise fun Mario series for 7 years and an entire console generation.

That's what the XIII series is for Final Fantasy fans. Toriyama, the director, had the weirdest fetish for his main character too.

 

[base]

No, it's pretty good. But XIII-2 is way better.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

I liked them all. I'd go into more detail, but I'm on and off working on my own write up of it, so I'll spare the detail here.

But I don't have a specific idea of "what Final Fantasy should be," so I'm a bit more malleable in terms of experiences I'm willing to try. Other IP's have more of a set expectation from me, but something about the anthology nature of the series makes the stark changes tolerable to me. If I don't absolutely adore a title, I know another one will come out in the next few years and change the minutiae up.

 

[ethomaz]

Compared with all previous FFs? Yes.

Compared with FFXV? No.

 

[Andrew Evenstar]

i think it's better than 15 and aged a bit better. it was a well made game. if the level design and a couple other things were changed it could have been great.

 

[Red Rackham's Revenge]

I enjoyed it at the time, but I never finished it. Not for any reason other than I stopped playing because I was doing something else and never got back into it.

It was a long time ago and I can't really remember how it works, but I really liked the battle system and couldn't understand why so many hated it. I remember not liking the summons and one of the female party members being really annoying, but it was good overall.

It's a shame PS3 games aren't backwards compatible on PS5, I wouldn't mind going back to play the the trilogy. I never even played the others. Xbox even got a 4K patch it seems. Man we need some kind of option to play on PlayStation.

 

[peronmls]

I just finish 13-2 yesterday.
The environment and graphics are beautiful in 13-1 but becomes less polished in 13-2. Gameplay is fun but the endgame content is where it's really at. (You cannot beat the games using auto-battle) Music sounds fitting at times. Sometimes not. 13-2 just reused a lot of the same music while adding new tracks. Overworld minigame stuff was awful in 13-2.
Story is awful. Characters are unlikable but I like the model designs. I mean this for both games.

 

[Shrap]

The most disappointing game of all time. I was a massive FF fan at the time so I bought it day one and played about 10 hours before turning it off and never touching it again. Fuck FFXIII forever.

 

[Fbh]

I didn't hate it, but overall it was very lacking.

- The story had some cool ideas but the cast of characters was awful (Hope and Vanille in particular), the writing was japanese cringe in overdrive (Moms are Tough!!) and the ending completely negates the most interesting part of the plot (The gods are the bad guys but we can't kill them or we'll essentially end the world......whatever let's go for it and just hope for the best!!!!, oh look everything unexpectedly ended up getting fixed with some deus ex machina in the final cutscene!!!
-The combat is fun.... but it takes WAAAAY too long to take off the training wheels. By the time it gets good you've spent like 70% of the game pressing X to win.
-The world and level design is awful. People always mention how X is "just as linear" which to me just goes to show how important stuff like Towns, NPC's, actual item shops, minigames and side activities are. It almost didn't feel like a JRPG, it was more like a linear cinematic game with boring traversal an RPG-style combat.

The graphics were nice though, the music is great and, if nothing else, it felt like a more complete and polished experience than XV

 

[YukiOnna]

XIII-2 is one of the funnest experiences for modern single player FF that I've had. XIII had a ton of issues and it put me to sleep a lot of times while playing, but the battle system, art direction and music were great. Then XIII-2 lead to a better overall package even if it used a lot of assets.

 

[shenmue mugen]

Yes OP, it is

 

[Madflavor]

XIII was the game that damaged the franchise to a lot of fans. It was the first FF game I've played where it felt like a boring chore to get through. I beat it, but didn't like it. The story wasn't good, almost all the characters were hateable, and unless you spent time reading the Codex, you didn't know what the fuck was going on.

A year after it came out I tried giving it another chance, and I quit at Chapter 10. Is it really that bad? I suppose that's a subjective question, but to me it definitely was.

 

[Goro Majima]

The name "Storytube 13" comes to mind.

It finally opens up toward the end but holy shit it takes forever to get there.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

FF X and XIII are the most absolute garbage games in the series. People give X a pass for nostalgia and people will start doing the same for XIII in a few years.

FF XV is better than both of them btw, at least I can move around on the map freely.

 

[DogofWar]

I beat the game once when it was relatively new.
Due to the PS3 still being "next gen" I made it through the entire thing, but there were quite a lot of things I disliked.

1. Every character except Lightning were obnoxious farts, and I don't even remember all of the main cast
2. Like everyone else have said, this game could be run on a ruler because it is so linear.
3. I only died on one boss battle the entire game. That 10 story tall cow killed me once as well. Too easy if you actually fought and leveled up.
4. Did I mention the characters and their voices were absolutely horrible? Except Lightning. I wished for them to die off by the end basically. Especially Vanille and Hope and that guy with a beanie.

That said, I remember the battle system being a lot funner than people give it credit for. Finding the optimal combinations made it quite strategic in the end game when you had unlocked all of it.