Roderick

Final Fantasy XIII'th story sucks

Recommended Posts

I couldn't even finish the goddamn story trailer. Had to put it off, because it was so bad. Why bother making another Final Fantasy when your story is the exact same thing as every other game you've ever made? Oppressive tyrannical city-state, hunted rebel group, lead character that once fought for the bad guys but now joins the outcasts... It's so uninspired.

I continue in my absolute bafflement why the entire world is so enchanted with cookie-cutter drivel like Final Fantasy. Once perhaps inventive, now a dusty caricature of itself.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

But the hair! Look at the hair! You must play just for the hair.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

FF stories are all indulgent bullshit; if you're looking to the story to delineate the franchise's entries, you're doing it wrong. It's the mechanics and the systems that make each game unique and I'm looking forward to seeing what they end up doing with XIII.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Always been more of a Dragon Quest man, myself. They seem to take more risks as they go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

FF games have been making me sad for almost 10 years now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I couldn't even finish the goddamn story trailer. Had to put it off, because it was so bad. Why bother making another Final Fantasy when your story is the exact same thing as every other game you've ever made? Oppressive tyrannical city-state, hunted rebel group, lead character that once fought for the bad guys but now joins the outcasts... It's so uninspired.

Or more specifically, it's FFVII.

As a FF fan, I feel it's my duty to defend a series. Final Fantasy XII was absolutely awesome, for example. In fact, considering this is the thirteenth entry, they've had an amazing amount of success.

Of course, the themes do remain the same, but...... you just noticed? ;) I think everyone is waiting for them to remake VII, though. Maybe that's what this is?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm sort of leaning towards playing whatever next FF game that comes out for whatever console I have. I really liked FFVII (which is the only one I've played), and my new-found ability to stop playing a game when it turns to shit has enabled me to start playing something I know I'll never finish in a million years.

So, let's see... [checks Wikipedia] The next FF game will be number thirteen, and will be released, oh, not until next year. Also, it seems that FFXIII will be the "flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII collection". Ah, those Japanese.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Or more specifically, it's FFVII.

As a FF fan, I feel it's my duty to defend a series. Final Fantasy XII was absolutely awesome, for example. In fact, considering this is the thirteenth entry, they've had an amazing amount of success.

Just 'cos it's the 13th installment of the series and still making money for Square, doesn't make it not shite. I admit I haven't played the latest one and should hold off one judging until I have, but I have been so sorely disappointed by every one since 9 that it is going to take a lot to make me give the series another go. I have no idea who it is that keeps buying FF games and funding Square to go on producing more of the same steaming shit.

It's all just so lame and uninspiring and blah. The characters are all so bland these days, the stories are all the same, the worlds are all so generic. FF makes me sad :(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My problem with Final Fantasy stories is their pacing. Every time I play FF game, I get really into it for the first 20-30 hours or so, and then the game sends me on a massive series of fetch-quests to find the seven crystals of whatever, and meanwhile the story grinds to a complete halt while I'm galavanting all over the world looking for them. By the time I've gotten the last whatsit, I've forgotten why I'm collecting them in the first place and stopped giving a crap regardless.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'll take some blame for funding Squeenix. I recently bought Dragon Quest IV and V and Crono Trigger on DS. Still staying away from Final Fantasy though. I played VI and VII and Tactics and am kinda glad I veered away from the rest of the series. Fun as those were, it just seems sad nowadays. Maybe I'll give XII a try, if it's as good as you say. It's set in the same world as Tactics, right?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It's all just so lame and uninspiring and blah. The characters are all so bland these days, the stories are all the same, the worlds are all so generic. FF makes me sad :(

Again, I feel like I must interject with a firm "you're doing it wrong". I thought it was obvious that it's the leveling/battling mechanics that made these games stand out. Apparently I am alone in this opinion.

I found 12 very interesting. More and more people are complaining about menu-driven turnbased rpgs, and square's solution in 12 is the most innovative solution i've seen to that. Personally I'd much rather have a menu-driven system if it means I get control over my whole party (as opposed to one of the characters in my party).

This is what i'm interested in with 13. It seems like they are trying to make it more action-oriented, while still giving the player control over all party members. After seeing 12, I am under the impression that square is trying harder than any other jrpg devs to find a comfortable balance between action and turnbased rpgs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've only played through VII and most of VIII and back then was pretty disappointed for not being able to play all the Final Fantasy games that came out on PS2. Now that I have PS3 and the new game is coming out, I'm actually not very eager to buy it. I might still get it eventually if just to see whether the story and the characters with their ridiculous hair really feel as ridiculous as they seem, but I'm not expecting too much from it.

That said, I'm one of those guys who is still waiting for Square to remake Final Fantasy VII. :getmecoat

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Again, I feel like I must interject with a firm "you're doing it wrong". I thought it was obvious that it's the leveling/battling mechanics that made these games stand out. Apparently I am alone in this opinion.

Nobody in this thread is complaining about the combat systems, they're complaing about the story. Isn't a person allowed to be fond of the gameplay while simultaneously turned off by its story? I for one loved FFXII's combat system, I thought it was ingenious. But a combat system alone isn't going to be enough to motivate me to play all the way through a 120 hour game, and if the story isn't interesting enough to make me want to see how it ends, then it's pretty much inevitable that the game is going to end up leaving a bad taste in my mouth, no matter how much I enjoyed the game initially.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I agree with that. I never go into rpgs thinking I'll finish them, so its no sweat to me that the stories are all garbage.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Why bother buying a Zelda/Mario game?

I was kind of expecting a comment along this lines, and the answer is quite simple. Zelda/Mario games are not story games. They construct their games around a loose framework (princess in need, hero must rise, nothing more), and the entire game long the emphasis is not on plot development but on the game's mechanics and progess in terms of environments, levels, dungeons. It doesn't matter that their stories are the same because the focus lies with the interesting new dungeon designs, et cetera.

With Final Fantasy, of course, story DOES play a huge role. It's what they present first and foremost: the characters, the events, the plot twists. There are abundant cinematics en dialogues and everything. So a generic, badly paced, uninspired story does in fact massively hurt these games. Or should, at least, but they seem to be covered with a critique-resistant teflon coating.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah I agree with that. I never go into rpgs thinking I'll finish them, so its no sweat to me that the stories are all garbage.

That is the most depressing thing I've read all day.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Zelda/Mario games are not story games.

Tell that to Super Mario fucking Galaxy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I feel I should apologise for the bluntness of my last post, it appears I'd been drinking. I still think the point stands up somewhat with the Zelda games though, the stories may be a little different (time travelling, mask collecting, sea-faring and wolf transforming) but the mechanics behind it are all the same and the stories are never exactly rock solid.

In other news though I picked up FF12 for a fiver last week and I've gotta say, I'm really enjoying it. About 20 hours in and, though the story is pretty Star Wars, it really is the levelling and license boards that are keeping me addictive. Something so satisfying about the whole achievement. I imagine lots of people play it for that, maybe more than the story.

That and nostalgia

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just 'cos it's the 13th installment of the series and still making money for Square, doesn't make it not shite.

??? The games have always had decent reviews. It's not like they're shite??? Who says they're "shite"? Presumably you're not just expecting me to take your opinion as proof of something?

Christ, 9 was so absolutely different from 7 and 8, too.

The first five games had almost identical main storylines (four magical crystals), but the games themselves were very different. Characters, for one, the individual stories, for another. But, as has already been pointed out, the mechanics were drastically different and all added a lot to the gameplay.

I admit I haven't played the latest one and should hold off one judging until I have, but I have been so sorely disappointed by every one since 9

So that's 10, then? You didn't like 10. Twelve is apparently on of the best, if not THE best and 11 was an MMORPG.

It does seem to me that there's a split in the RPG world: Zelda and FF. I despise Zelda *shrugs*

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, no, I understand why people play the games; they can be addicting, if you like the systems en mechanics behind it, if you can sink your teeth into them, whatever. The thing that just irks me is that as Final Fantasy is such a high profile series, and seeing as how they have a huge emphasis on story, it ought to be a lot better. And since it's so bad, there should be a lot more boo-hissing going on because it's so awful.

But apart from that, even though it's not my genre, I totally get the appeal of the series.

Toblix, also, is pretty gay, I heard.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah, no, I understand why people play the games; they can be addicting, if you like the systems en mechanics behind it, if you can sink your teeth into them, whatever. The thing that just irks me is that as Final Fantasy is such a high profile series, and seeing as how they have a huge emphasis on story, it ought to be a lot better. And since it's so bad, there should be a lot more boo-hissing going on because it's so awful.

But apart from that, even though it's not my genre, I totally get the appeal of the series.

Toblix, also, is pretty gay, I heard.

Which FFs have you played?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm currently playing through FFXII and loving it. The localization has done wonders for it, especially the accents linked to location (Icelandic pop-star bunny people, Errol Flynn-esque sky pirate, etc...)

After wanting to blow my brains out over the almost offensively stupid story in Valkyria chronicles, The stupid fucking kid with the axe that killed tales of Vesperia in seconds, The annoying kids and constant boob windows in Lost Odyssey, and the absolutely creepy doll design of Star Ocean, I thought that jrpg's were dead to me.

The one thing I cannot stand is stupid fucking little kids in rpgs. At least in FFXII the stupid fucking little kids are teenagers surprisingly not retch inducing. As soon as vaan tries to be emo, he gets smacked by the adults.

I never got through ffx because I couldn't stand any of the characters, so I skipped xii until now. Some how, square got away with the bared-midriff fashion emergence character design in this one, but that might just be because of the english accents.

The little I saw of FFXIII, made me mildly excited, mainly due to the fact that it actually looks like the characters have emotions and are active.

I don't mind a midgar retread as long as the main character has a little more personality than a dead rat. FFVII was long time ago.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now