Subj : Re: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII To : Codefenix From : Ganiman Date : Thu Sep 12 2024 10:34:11 Co> Long time fan of Final Fantasy here as well. Played ever since the first Co> one on the NES back when I was about 12 or 13. This was a fun series to Co> watch grow and evolve over time, with each installment introducing Co> something new. Some good, some bad. Co> Co> I think FFXIII deserves a lot of its criticism. My main issues with the Co> game are: the stats and character growth don't feel earned; everything Co> just kind of happens on a schedule based on where you are in the story, Co> the story itself is highly convoluted with important story elements Co> tucked away in the game's datalogs; making your audience go searching Co> for key plot points is a bad way to tell a story, and the gameplay isn't Co> very engaging; I don't recall many battles that required input from me Co> beyond pressing A or waiting a little longer to press A. Then there's Co> the equipment crafting/upgrading process... My memory gets a little Co> fuzzy here, but it seemed like my party's original gear was what I stuck Co> with the entire game, and everything else I found was crap. I'm pretty Co> sure I was able to inflict massive amounts of damage just my upgrading Co> my original stuff a little bit, so I never bothered seeking out Co> different weapons or armor. Co> Co> I don't want to totally dump on the game, because there were some Co> legitimate times of fun I had with it. It was the first game I bought Co> for my XBox360, and it was fun to play a new Final Fantasy game again at Co> the time. I just wish the world was a little more realized with things Co> to do and places to explore. Co> Co> I do agree that the two sequels that followed it were weak. I played Co> XIII-2 about a decade ago for a couple months, got stuck, and bored, and Co> never picked it back up. Similar experience with LR. Co> Co> Maybe this winter I'll try to replay FFXIII with a fresh perspective Co> after I set my gaming area back up, and finally give the other two a Co> chance. I finished Lightning Returns and overall I enjoyed it, but I think for the the trilogy, I like them in the order XIII, LR and XIII-2. About a year and a half ago Digital Foundry did an excellent video on FFXIII and a followup video for XIII-2 and LR. It focuses mostly on the technical side of the games related to performance and framerates and comparing them on each platform the games are available. One of the people who made the videos is a friend of mine, and I even got a minor credit for the first video for helping out with a very *very* small piece of production. They re-released them 2 months back as a single video with 4k upscaling. Check it out (and watch to the end to catch my credit ha): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLZ0a1rHUYs Which of the Final Fantasy games to you like best between I-VI and then from VII-XVI? --- Ganiman bbs.madetoraid.com:[2323/2222] --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64) * Origin: Made to Raid BBS (21:3/174) .