FFXIII and FFXIII Versus official sites go Live

I’ve actually stopped getting excited for Final Fantasy games after the last few turned out to be fairly disappointing. I’m sure there’s someone out there who’s still pumped for them, though.

XII was brilliant.

It really wasn’t.

All FF games are abit crappy IMO…

It really was, Blerk.

Was not!

The characters were mostly dull and unlikeable. The story was awful. The combat was dreadful.

The tech was nice for the most part, and there were some interesting bits and pieces, but… I just couldn’t bring myself to actually like it very much. The combat specifically I found hugely irritating.

Of course, having said that… I played it for bloody ages. Right to the end, in fact. Sigh. I’m obviously part of the problem.

The combat was stunning, and gambits are the best thing to happen to JRPGs since their invention.

In fact, I didn’t even care for the story or the characters, which normally would doom an RPG, but the gameplay was of such immense quality, I stuck with it.

“The combat specifically I found hugely irritating.”

I’ve hated turn based combat since I bought FFVII on PS1 and kept getting sucked into stupid irritating battles that I had no way of avoiding.

I took it back to the shop and swapped it for Circuit breakers and Tenchu, I think…

They were much more fun.

Stunningly rubbish, perhaps!

Edit: It’s not turn-based, G1GA.

Oh right, lol.

What’s so crap about it then?

I never felt like I was actually in control of the fights. You sort of ‘suggested what they might like to do’ and then sort of… watched them do it. It was neither turn-based nor action-based, but something in between and not as satisfying as either.

“The characters were mostly dull and unlikeable. The story was awful.”

Yup; sounds like most 3D FF games!

Blerk is quite mad. The combat was extremely rewarding, gambits added a whole other layer of depth. I really hope they continue with this system, it was so so good.

No, no, no! Kill it! Twice, to be sure.

Sounds like some sort of ‘point and click’ type combat to me.

I watched a video of the combat on Gametrailers, and it did seem a bit ‘stale’ to me…

Having said that, it also seemed a million times better than any of that turn based rubbish they used to do.

All Final Fantasy has ever been is point and click. FFXII was essentially the same thing, but it added a whole other layer of strategy on top.

Hey, don’t knock point and click…..

Talking of which, I am surprised heavy Rain wasn’t at CES.

Eh, one 3D Final Fantasy had a beautiful story and great characters: IX.

Except it was largely ignored, because after everyone bought into the amazingly emo Squall, no one wanted a more fantastic gaming experience then, even JRPGs had to “keep it real, jo!” (and we can thank the Western mainstream for that).

IX was the exception, it had a wonderful story, it had truly memorable characters, it had amusing battle innovations (the interactions between Vivi and Steiner), and… yes, it was cute and not really all that angsty at all.

Plus, it was the only JRPG where one of the characters taught another (who was an automaton) the joy of peeing, and how to do it. It gets bonus points for that, too.

As I said though, it got ignored by the mainstream because the drive towards grey and dull had started, and the stories were made boring for small-minded individuals. So the FF today is basically what a Western action game would be if it was a JRPG.

Think about it, it’s bloody true.

FFIX is well appreciated, and everyone hates VIII tbh. If anything, I wish people would give VIII more credit, because IX gets enough (although IX is the better game, most people act like VIII was total shite, but it wasn’t).

Both VIII and FFIX were total shite, both had crap stories and awful characters. VIII was by far the worst of the two though.