Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

FFX-2 sucked.

I'm totally sure you played it, seeing as you have such a descriptive take on the game.

In terms of actual gameplay, it was a very strong game. The story was a bit girly, but it had its good points, even if it veered in the Saturday morning anime direction here and there. Like playing matchmaker for monkeys.

"Manly" men (read: boys) have a strong aversion to any game with female leads (unless there's implied nudity or large breasts involved). Watch as many of them will have difficulty playing FFXIII, Beyond Good and Evil, or Metroid because the lead character is a strong woman. And its happened with countless other games, too.

[jenova_9]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

I love how the game isn't even released in the US yet and people are forming opinions about it. lol

Y said FFXIII sucks, so it has to suck. Guess I'm not buying it now.

well I pity the ones that waste 60 dollars on FFXIII. oh well your money. I saw FFXIII from beginning to end and it's the worst FF ever made from a gameplay and level design standpoint and story for the most part as well, and I don't mean the linearity, I am talking about there it's basically just run, fight, run, fight, with some treasure and switches and savepoints inbetween. And it doesn't help that battles take 4 times as long, even breaking the enemies, it can still take a long time that you start getting sick of the battles,
especially with so little selection in commands, and 2/3 of the strategy is automated by the CPU controlled characters based on the optima/role you give them, of which there are only six. Even with the many combinations, you will still be mostly attacking and healing, with some buffs and enfeebles inbetween, but the system takes much of the control away, leaving the player with less control, and less fun.

There really is no passion in FFXIII's playthrough and design.

If you compare it to FFVII and FFXIII, FFXIII feels like a one trick pony. Just compare the amount of things you can do in its amusement park compared to VII's Gold Saucer. oh wait. there is only one thing you can do, which is that simple chocobo minigame, which doesn't even compare with chocobo racing in FFVII and Triple Triad in FFVIII.

FFs like FFVII had much better pacing, and more to do within the story itself. the highway minigame, the CPR minigame,
the snowboarding minigame, submarine minigame, slap minigame, 3-D fighter minigame, arm wrestling minigame,
train controls minigame, basketball minigame, mountain climbing sub minigame, fort condor RTS minigame, airship minigame,

and all those minigames and more were brilliantly tied into the FFVII story, providing an adventure that is more than just a string of battles like in FFXIII.

and that's just one example, you can even compare FFXIII to FFII, FFIV, FFVI and FFIX and you'll learn how badly done
FFXIII really is.

It's one thing being a FF fan, but only a fanatic would believe FFXIII is one of the best after experiencing the whole playthrough. The side missions are not even worth doing unless you somehow love the optima switching battle system.

[Kailea]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

well I pity the ones that waste 60 dollars on FFXIII. oh well your money. I saw FFXIII from beginning to end and it's the worst FF ever made from a gameplay and level design standpoint and story for the most part as well, and I don't mean the linearity, I am talking about there it's basically just run, fight, run, fight, with some treasure and switches and savepoints inbetween. And it doesn't help that battles take 4 times as long, even breaking the enemies, it can still take a long time that you start getting sick of the battles,
especially with so little selection in commands, and 2/3 of the strategy is automated by the CPU controlled characters based on the optima/role you give them, of which there are only six. Even with the many combinations, you will still be mostly attacking and healing, with some buffs and enfeebles inbetween, but the system takes much of the control away, leaving the player with less control, and less fun.

There really is no passion in FFXIII's playthrough and design.

If you compare it to FFVII and FFXIII, FFXIII feels like a one trick pony. Just compare the amount of things you can do in its amusement park compared to VII's Gold Saucer. oh wait. there is only one thing you can do, which is that simple chocobo minigame, which doesn't even compare with chocobo racing in FFVII and Triple Triad in FFVIII.

FFs like FFVII had much better pacing, and more to do within the story itself. the highway minigame, the CPR minigame,
the snowboarding minigame, submarine minigame, slap minigame, 3-D fighter minigame, arm wrestling minigame,
train controls minigame, basketball minigame, mountain climbing sub minigame, fort condor RTS minigame, airship minigame,

and all those minigames and more were brilliantly tied into the FFVII story, providing an adventure that is more than just a string of battles like in FFXIII.

and that's just one example, you can even compare FFXIII to FFII, FFIV, FFVI and FFIX and you'll learn how badly done
FFXIII really is.

It's one thing being a FF fan, but only a fanatic would believe FFXIII is one of the best after experiencing the whole playthrough. The side missions are not even worth doing unless you somehow love the optima switching battle system.

you need to understand that most of the time, run-through videos, are speed runs, and I bet the person did not do half the stuff in the game.

[Feba]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

I am talking about there it's basically just run, fight, run, fight, with some treasure and switches and savepoints inbetween.

Congratulations, you have just described nearly every video game ever created, and pretty much every single commercially successful one.

2/3 of the strategy is automated by the CPU controlled characters based on the optima/role you give them, of which there are only six.

This is all in execution. Persona 3, for example, did it very well.

Even with the many combinations, you will still be mostly attacking and healing, with some buffs and enfeebles inbetween, but the system takes much of the control away, leaving the player with less control, and less fun.

Oh bullshit. Since when did "more button presses" equate to "more fun"? Yes, maybe if you have to play Civilization to get an erection, that would be a downside, but for the rest of us RPGs are just a matter of where you draw the line in micromanagement.

FFs like FFVII had much better pacing, and more to do within the story itself. the highway minigame, the CPR minigame,
the snowboarding minigame, submarine minigame, slap minigame, 3-D fighter minigame, arm wrestling minigame,
train controls minigame, basketball minigame, mountain climbing sub minigame, fort condor RTS minigame, airship minigame,

Minigames like this are probably the weakest point of SE games, in my opinion. They tend to go over exceedingly complicated procedures in order to give a bit of interactivity to things that don't even need to be there. FFVIII for example had the train decoupling sequence, which took longer to watch the tutorial for than to actually do. That's not fun, that's annoying.

The only point to things like this is when they're tied into some larger system the game provides, such as in Shenmue where things like that were largely controlled through the QTE system.

On the amusement park thing, please just buy a goddamn Classic Arcade Collection and pop it in when you get bored. There's no need to drag down great games with shitty minigame collections just because you have ADHD. Again, the only game I can think of that did this well was Shenmue, and that's because it put actual arcade games in to play.

---------- Post added at 10:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:06 PM ----------

you need to understand that most of the time, run-through videos, are speed runs, and I bet the person did not do half the stuff in the game.

not at all. especially with new games like this, speedruns aren't attempted; it's pretty pointless to try to speedrun an RPG right after it's released. They're far too long to do anything with; a speedrun takes planning and in almost all cases plenty of restarts. It doesn't really matter how much of the stuff the person did though, considering the entire point of this entire hobby is playing the game. A game which is extremely boring to watch can be fine when you're playing it-- a battle system that makes no sense when you watch someone else do it can be very good when you have a chance to play around with it yourself and realize they were being an idiot.

[Armando]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

"Manly" men (read: boys) have a strong aversion to any game with female leads (unless there's implied nudity or large breasts involved). Watch as many of them will have difficulty playing FFXIII, Beyond Good and Evil, or Metroid because the lead character is a strong woman. And its happened with countless other games, too.

Eh. That's such a contrived explanation compared to "it looks like a bad Charlie's Angels knock-off game, which FFX wasn't."

Not saying it's a bad game but really, that presentation doesn't help it at all. It's not a matter of "oh, I don't want a strong female lead," it's a matter of "what the fuck, why's Yuna wearing miniskirts, dual wielding guns and hanging out with a dyke?"

[hexx]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

well I pity the ones that waste 60 dollars on FFXIII. oh well your money. I saw FFXIII from beginning to end and it's the worst FF ever made from a gameplay and level design standpoint and story for the most part as well, and I don't mean the linearity, I am talking about there it's basically just run, fight, run, fight, with some treasure and switches and savepoints inbetween. And it doesn't help that battles take 4 times as long, even breaking the enemies, it can still take a long time that you start getting sick of the battles,
especially with so little selection in commands, and 2/3 of the strategy is automated by the CPU controlled characters based on the optima/role you give them, of which there are only six. Even with the many combinations, you will still be mostly attacking and healing, with some buffs and enfeebles inbetween, but the system takes much of the control away, leaving the player with less control, and less fun.

There really is no passion in FFXIII's playthrough and design.

If you compare it to FFVII and FFXIII, FFXIII feels like a one trick pony. Just compare the amount of things you can do in its amusement park compared to VII's Gold Saucer. oh wait. there is only one thing you can do, which is that simple chocobo minigame, which doesn't even compare with chocobo racing in FFVII and Triple Triad in FFVIII.

FFs like FFVII had much better pacing, and more to do within the story itself. the highway minigame, the CPR minigame,
the snowboarding minigame, submarine minigame, slap minigame, 3-D fighter minigame, arm wrestling minigame,
train controls minigame, basketball minigame, mountain climbing sub minigame, fort condor RTS minigame, airship minigame,

and all those minigames and more were brilliantly tied into the FFVII story, providing an adventure that is more than just a string of battles like in FFXIII.

and that's just one example, you can even compare FFXIII to FFII, FFIV, FFVI and FFIX and you'll learn how badly done
FFXIII really is.

It's one thing being a FF fan, but only a fanatic would believe FFXIII is one of the best after experiencing the whole playthrough. The side missions are not even worth doing unless you somehow love the optima switching battle system.

I'm super curious as to how you got so much hands on experience with the game. usually I'd be one to defend ya cuz it seems people like to rag on you when they can, but all this stuff you're saying really makes you come off as the queen of negative nancy's

In terms of actual gameplay, it was a very strong game. The story was a bit girly, but it had its good points, even if it veered in the Saturday morning anime direction here and there. Like playing matchmaker for monkeys.

"Manly" men (read: boys) have a strong aversion to any game with female leads (unless there's implied nudity or large breasts involved). Watch as many of them will have difficulty playing FFXIII, Beyond Good and Evil, or Metroid because the lead character is a strong woman. And its happened with countless other games, too.

Hey hey, I LOVED FFX-2 because of that very reason, the female leads were hot. Same goes for Bayonetta, omg that woman can tie me up and beat me senseless any day.

[Lmnop]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

I avoided FFX-2 for so long because I was a) pissed about the slut-ification and b) horrified at the Charlie's Angels-esque appearance.

Maybe I'm just not a manly man.

In a similar vein: I can't play fighting games seriously until they fix their insane female outfits. I'm looking forward to a strong woman character that's decently dressed.

---------- Post added at 04:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 AM ----------

Also: I'm pumped about BG&E sequel.

[Durahansolo]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

Congratulations, you have just described nearly every video game ever created, and pretty much every single commercially successful one.

LOL. QFT'd

[jenova_9]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

Originally Posted by jenova_9 View Post
I am talking about there it's basically just run, fight, run, fight, with some treasure and switches and savepoints inbetween.

Feba
Congratulations, you have just described nearly every video game ever created, and pretty much every single commercially successful one.

No you don't get it. by RPG and Final Fantasy standards, FFXIII is pretty hollow in things to do besides fighting and triggering the next cutscene. even too shallow for a basic rpg formula.
Add the fact that the story isn't as good like previous FFs and it really doesn't even deliver as a interactive movie.

you need to understand that most of the time, run-through videos, are speed runs, and I bet the person did not do half the stuff in the game.

Even just the story playthrough was enough to see how badly designed the game is. It's very shallow in activities compared to previous games.

Just imagine The Bouncer but as long as a Final Fantasy, and with a battle system like FFXIII, and some treasure items, and of course cutscenes, that basically summarizes FFXIII. There is virtually nothing to do besides fighting.

the side missions are basically FFXII's Mark Hunts, except with an annoyingly simplified battle system. in FFXIII you need to switch optima often to win most battles, but to me it really breaks up the pacing and gets annoying. You will be left begging for the fights to finish already.

There are no secret characters like FFVI and FFVII. It's just one long string of battles. and the story and gameplay as a whole doesn't feel rewarding. The only good selling point is the quality of the cutscenes, but that's all.

And the fact that the story and dialogue is below average doesn't help either.

[Feba]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

No you don't get it. by RPG and Final Fantasy standards, FFXIII is pretty hollow in things to do besides fighting and triggering the next cutscene. even too shallow for a basic rpg formula.

Ignoring the fact that this is a complete ass-pull, why the hell does it matter? Depth is not a measurement of how many minigames you can put in a game. If you can't understand something as simple as that, you really shouldn't be playing RPGs at all.

And the fact that the story and dialogue is below average doesn't help either.

Add the fact that the story isn't as good like previous FFs

When did you learn Japanese? You barely speak English. You do realize that a fan-translation of a game dozens of hours long done within a couple of weeks is not the most reliable indicator of the quality of the writing, right?

but to me it really breaks up the pacing and gets annoying. You will be left begging for the fights to finish already.

How the hell can you tell if you're not the one playing?

There are no secret characters like FFVI and FFVII.

...so?

[Clever Ninja]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

Who takes Jenova seriously? Clearly Jenova9 is the best disguised troll we've ever seen, noone is this bad.

[Mog]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

I just can't figure out how he knows so much about this game without actually playing it. And if he played it, how he knows so much about storyline. Watching a JP playing the game and getting every cutscene translated by him/her hardly constitutes as reviewing the game.

iuno, maybe I'm crazy. =p

In any case, say what you want (even though it hasn't even been released in the US). I'm gonna be buying it and watching it on my 42". If the gameplay sucks, I'll still have beautiful cutscenes to watch, dammit!

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

Eh. That's such a contrived explanation compared to "it looks like a bad Charlie's Angels knock-off game, which FFX wasn't."

It's not a matter of "oh, I don't want a strong female lead," it's a matter of "what the fuck, why's Yuna wearing miniskirts, dual wielding guns and hanging out with a dyke?"

So what you're saying is that it is indeed about perceived sexuality. I'll never understand why people are so threatened by it. And I'm straight and living in the Bible Belt here. I've had gays and lesbians as friends, I couldn't begin to even use words like "dyke."

Also:


+ =

Most people have come to believe Paine is a cross between Joan Jett and Squall. It would explain the fashion sense.

They had planned to use Lulu originally until they realized Lulu had a tendency to totally shut people down. They wanted someone that could snap Rikku and Yuna back to reality, but not someone so extreme. So they made Paine and got Lulu all preggers.

Paine's also extremely secretive about her past, similar to Squall, but it does come to light that she had a thing going with Gippal at one point. It was also how she learned Al Bhed.

[jenova_9]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

Ignoring the fact that this is a complete ass-pull, why the hell does it matter? Depth is not a measurement of how many minigames you can put in a game. If you can't understand something as simple as that, you really shouldn't be playing RPGs at all.

You don't even understand what I'm saying to begin with. And I wasn't referring to just minigames,
FFXIII lacks the diverse and rewarding nature of the previous FF games. It trips and stumbles with its plot, and
Lightning is not as great a main character as she could have been.

When did you learn Japanese? You barely speak English.

you barely understand English. 9_9

You do realize that a fan-translation of a game dozens of hours long done within a couple of weeks is not the most reliable indicator of the quality of the writing, right?

even though people didn't literally translated everything, the human mind can easily interpret what's going on, especially AFTER piecing together what actual Japanese/English fluent players have summarized every corner of FFXIII's main plot.
This is after weeks of speaking with live streamers, importers, people who came together to chat about the story they played through. These people didn't state their opinions, they simply shared the facts of what was basically said, and the plot details behind every cutscene. But I heard some actual direct translations of cutscenes, and it's really not that interesting.

And there is so much wasted potential in certain antagonists, especially a certain villain that deserved better.

How the hell can you tell if you're not the one playing?

this is not a fighting game or an mmorpg, FFXIII's controls and gameplay are not as complex as you think.

Well aaaaanyways I was just stating my opinion, some may end up liking it.

but those who are expecting this to surpass the previous best FF titles, I would say the team that made FFXIII lacked the magic to make that happen.

[Armando]

Re: Square Enix cut a game's worth of content from Final Fantasy XIII

So what you're saying is that it is indeed about perceived sexuality. I'll never understand why people are so threatened by it. And I'm straight and living in the Bible Belt here.

It's not.

Imagine for a second that the next SMT game features Raido Kuzunoha dressed like Simon Belmont. You're gonna think they jumped the shark. Or that Metal Gear Solid 4 featured Snake dressed up as a mime.

It's a jarring presentation shift. Some people were very wary of the graphical shift between Majora's Mask and Wind Waker. This is something like that, except Zelda had that whole "I have little to do with other Zelda things" going for it, which lets them get away with changing the look and feel of the series often, like Final Fantasies. Except, unlike other FF games, X-2 is a direct sequel, so you would expect it to not look like a Charlie's Angels ripoff.