I would love it if every FF had a great story, but lately that seems to not be the case thanks to Toriyama being kind of insane when it comes to plotting (3rd Birthday comes to mind). I was just hoping to find anything to latch onto to make the story of XIII-2 enjoyable. Maybe a drinking game...
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FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 |OT| Change the Future
- Thread starter Kagari
- Start date
I would love it if every FF had a great story, but lately that seems to not be the case thanks to Toriyama being kind of insane when it comes to plotting (3rd Birthday comes to mind). I was just hoping to find anything to latch onto to make the story of XIII-2 enjoyable. Maybe a drinking game...
RPGCrazied
Member
I wonder if gamestop is doing a midnight release for this. Mine isn't. Though I don't care either way, I don't do midnight releases. I value sleep more. 
I wonder if gamestop is doing a midnight release for this. Mine isn't. Though I don't care either way, I don't do midnight releases. I value sleep more.
Most aren't... only one close to me is.
Rahxephon91
Banned
I wonder if gamestop is doing a midnight release for this. Mine isn't. Though I don't care either way, I don't do midnight releases. I value sleep more.
Mine is.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
I'm really curious to see this plot right now, you made me too much curious lol. I'm expecting something a la Kingdom Hearts 2, but perhaps I should expect worse. Anyway, I always stated this, more than a coherent story I search for an entertaining one, one that should just push on moving forward in the game. I preferred XIII to XII because of that.
So I guess we post demo impressions here now?
Back in the demo thread someone said that the "glitz and glamour" was gone, and I'm inclined to agree. It just feels like another JRPG. When I first booted up FFXIII, despite the game's flaws it felt like you were starting up the next Final Fantasy. It still had that craftsmanship in the production values. The commanding presence isn't quite as strong with XIII-2, and that's ultimately the reason why I'll probably give it a pass.
I have to admit though, literally less than five seconds after I gained control of Noel in the first town I was like "holy shit, this feels like an actual JRPG now!" I just realized that this demo is the first conventional JRPG that I've played on current gen hardware. I haven't gotten to play Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, or The Last Remnant yet, and I've been playing all the WRPGs on PC, so for me the first sections of the XIII-2 demo were like "finally!".
It all seems solid: the game feels really populated, there are quests, and the battle system is back and as good as ever. The one thing I really hate though is the new random encounter system. Even if you can run away, the constant threat of suddenly entering battle turns me off to exploration. The system they had in XIII (nay, XII) was much better if they could just improve the initiative system.
Back in the demo thread someone said that the "glitz and glamour" was gone, and I'm inclined to agree. It just feels like another JRPG. When I first booted up FFXIII, despite the game's flaws it felt like you were starting up the next Final Fantasy. It still had that craftsmanship in the production values. The commanding presence isn't quite as strong with XIII-2, and that's ultimately the reason why I'll probably give it a pass.
I have to admit though, literally less than five seconds after I gained control of Noel in the first town I was like "holy shit, this feels like an actual JRPG now!" I just realized that this demo is the first conventional JRPG that I've played on current gen hardware. I haven't gotten to play Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, or The Last Remnant yet, and I've been playing all the WRPGs on PC, so for me the first sections of the XIII-2 demo were like "finally!".
It all seems solid: the game feels really populated, there are quests, and the battle system is back and as good as ever. The one thing I really hate though is the new random encounter system. Even if you can run away, the constant threat of suddenly entering battle turns me off to exploration. The system they had in XIII (nay, XII) was much better if they could just improve the initiative system.
Kingdom Hearts 2 has a fully explained in depth plot compared to this drivel...
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Is there a place to see again the live commentary of IGN on the game?
edit. Ok, I found it here http://ja.twitch.tv/ignlive/b/306735561
A fanboy will always be loyal to the end! Lol.
I guess we'll see it in few days...
~ waiting for your article about the localization ~
edit. Ok, I found it here http://ja.twitch.tv/ignlive/b/306735561
A fanboy will always be loyal to the end! Lol.
I guess we'll see it in few days...
~ waiting for your article about the localization ~
Unknown Soldier
Member
So what's the majority opinion on what is better?
Omega boss battle and $10 credit (Amazon)
Episode I book (Best Buy)
Serah costume and weapon (Gamestop)
$48 including free shipping and no tax (Newegg)
I have it preordered from Newegg for DAT PRICE but are any of the pre-order DLCs worth paying $60 + tax for? With the Amazon $10 credit the effective price is close to Newegg anyways.
Omega boss battle and $10 credit (Amazon)
Episode I book (Best Buy)
Serah costume and weapon (Gamestop)
$48 including free shipping and no tax (Newegg)
I have it preordered from Newegg for DAT PRICE but are any of the pre-order DLCs worth paying $60 + tax for? With the Amazon $10 credit the effective price is close to Newegg anyways.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Gamestop grants you everything with the bonus-preorder box, right? Why not that?
Rahxephon91
Banned
You get the book from GameStop?
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Rahxephon91
Banned
Oh for you special Europeans I guess.
Sir Abacus
Member
I'm with you Perfo. I played the demo and immediately fell in love with the non-disruptive Optima Change system. Even if the story is god awful I won't mind because those changes are soooooo fluid.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Ops, I didn't know it was an exclusive here. I guess you're stuck then...
I usually play Final Fantasy also for the great presentation I find in there (visuals, art direction, music ect.), and I hope that's still intact. Let's consider that outside of this series, no other AAA jRPG exists. There's no alternative, that's why I'm also so attached to this series. There's literally nothing similar. Sure, you can find better jRPGs. Nope, you can't find better AAA jRPGs.
Lady Bird
Matsuno's Goebbels
And then the new encounters system is more disruptive than ever, constantly breaking the immersion and the exploration. Good thing it's not as bad as traditional random battles, but it feels like they have been downgrading in this department. FFXIII's encounters are an evolution over FFXIII-2's for being more "strategical" and visible (no random anti-climaxes); FFXII's encounters even more so with no screen transition and possibility to attract more enemies into battle and kill all of them in one sweep. But I don't want to sound too negative here, it could be worse.
I do think that they listened to people with the story complaints, in some ways (XIII being too character-driven, I've gotten the impression XIII-2 isn't quite so, and also that they rely less on the data log), but that won't miraculously improve Toriyama's writing skills. So they listened to one side of the criticism while ignoring the other (Toriyama is a shitty writer and should never be allowed to write another story for any game, ever). Maybe (hopefully) they'll finally give the reigns to someone else than Toriyama, at least for a mainline Final Fantasy, now that they see absolutely everyone criticizing & hating the story and especially Toriyama's writing. I mean, even with XIII there wasn't quite as much hate for the story as there seems to be towards XIII-2's, even when people didn't think the story was any good.
I love the demo. From the additions shown in the demo, I can already anticipate many hours being dedicated to FFXIII. Other than the story, it seems that the team has really put much thought about what players said about the issues in FFXIII and fixed many of them. At least that's what I gather from the Game Informer review. They seemed to love everything but the story. I understand why they couldn't mess with the story as much so I can give them a pass on that one. I just wish they got it right the first time around.
Either way, only 3 more days! Can't wait.
Either way, only 3 more days! Can't wait.
Auto_aim1
MeisaMcCaffrey
To those that have finished the game: How's the ending? Does it feel incomplete?
GameInformer said that FFXIII-3 is inevitable in their review. :|
This is what it says:
GameInformer said that FFXIII-3 is inevitable in their review. :|
This is what it says:
"To make matters worse, you aren’t even getting a complete story. The canonical ending (there are multiple other ‘what if’ endings) concludes with the words ‘to be continued’ and it’s not a scenario likely to be resolved with future DLC. After the credits, I sat in disbelief, wondering if I had done something wrong or somehow missed the true ending. I didn’t. Square Enix intentionally left the story incomplete. The announcement of Final Fantasy XIII-3 is inevitable.”
Everyone I know thinks that the ending is absolutely incomplete, people on gamefaqs were mostly raging at the ending and I remember how much people were hoping for some kind of conclusion after getting all fragments, but there was nothing at all.
Overall the ending is like Matrix Reloaded or a season final cliffhanger of a tv series. You'll stand there with your mouth open and ask yourself "This is it?". You'll just have tons of questions ...
The worst part is, how will we get a conclusion? 13-3, a another sequel to a sequel nobody really wanted? Extra dlc? Novels?
What GI said is correct in terms of the ending. Whether or not an FF13-3 is inevitable, time will tell. If they do make it, however, I don't expect anything until next March at least, assuming that Versus makes it out in 2012 (lol).
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
What I do really don't get is what's bad about having to wait for the next game to end up knowing what's really going to happen next. Isn't this exactly what happens with most of the series with planned sequels, like Mass Effect or Shenmue I to name a couple?
This is the key point. Not sure, but for ME I always thought it was planned from the beginning as trilogy. However 13-2 is just another game to make easy extra cash off all the assets they already had from 13. I would be much less of a problem if it was confirmed from the beginning that we're playing a trilogy, but the truth is that we dont know it. There very well might never be a 13-3 ...
I think it's more that this is more like some seemingly impromptu trilogies: we have a complete first part, then a second part that tries to take it further and ends on a cliff hanger that requires a third movie to resolve. You know, like Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matrix, or even Halo and Star Wars. Problem is after FFXIII few gave a damn to see more of that world and it closed stuff up PRETTY well, and that last point is probably why FFXIII-2 sounds completely insane. If they seriously intend an FFXIII-3 I wouldn't be surprised if story-wise it was one of the worst trilogies of this type, the others either had a first complete part that had clear hooks for sequels or at least had open enough worlds you could reasonably fit those in.
UberTag
Member
It's a problem when nobody has any idea whether "the next game" will ever be released. Or if that next game comes along (once again with recycled assets) if even THAT will provide a satisfying resolution. Somehow I don't think Toriyama has a Xenosaga Episode III in him.
Frankly, a large part of the reason I play and enjoy Final Fantasy titles (apart from FFV's ingenious implementation of the job system) is because of the narrative. I even enjoyed FFXIII for what it brought to the table on that front instead of comparing it against past FF installments.
And unlike a scenario like The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky where the story is rewarding in its own right and there's a clear future installment awaiting localization, this game mocks you, goads you and leaves you completely unfulfilled at the end regardless of whether you've earned 40 fragments or 160 fragments.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Yes, sure XIII-2 was not planned from the beginning, but XIII-3 seems pretty reasonable to be, I guess the two titles will connect better than the previous compared to the last one. Anyway, I was just saying I don't see anything bad in using cliff-hangers and dragging the saga longer, like they're still doing with Kingdom Hearts. The only problem here is that maybe no one really wanted the story to continue. But for that, better to wait for ww sales of XIII-2.
Man, statements like that are giving me cold feet! Not that I care too much for narrative in FF games these days, but it's mainly that I'm in for ENTERTAINMENT that can be hard to nail down to any one thing, and that can be part of the recipe that blows it unless the gameplay is completely awesome. Or I'm just kinda repulsed SE would seriously try to take one of the least liked FF games and turn it into a trilogy, or even just finish it with DLC without a satisfying main conclusion like Lords of Shadow or Prince of Persia had.
Though, it also doesn't help the LE still seems to be in stock. I'm having a feeling this is the sort of LE I could wait a month on and get for less.
Though, it also doesn't help the LE still seems to be in stock. I'm having a feeling this is the sort of LE I could wait a month on and get for less.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
I hope too that this is not another Shenmue 2 reprise. But I guess Square Enix could always create a CG short movie to solve the situation or make a cheaper game on 3DS or VITA to close the story. It'll always sell its million eventually.
The Crystal Editions are pretty hard to find in Europe actually.
It's more I want a complete, singular game, for this to be an encore that tried to fix what was wrong rather than attempting to turn it into a trilogy. Plus I'm getting really tired of these games feeling the need to end on major cliffhangers, fewer games are as satisfying to beat as a result.
So turns out my CE preorder was for the 360 version. I went in to see and get it changed if I could and my gamestop is sold out of PS3 collectors editions.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062VM8LU/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Amazon still has them with release day delivery.
Looks like they cut off orders yesterday but it's still available at Amazon and Best Buy.
jimmypython
Member
13-2 itself is a fun game..monster system is absolutely addictive...
RPGCrazied
Member
Lucky. Our CE is kinda lame.
I'm just doing it for the soundtrack. But we don't get a steel case, nor those art cards, nor the episode i book, nor the tshirt. Just the Outer box, art book and the soundtrack.
Auto_aim1
MeisaMcCaffrey
That's really disappointing to hear. Anyway, I'll finish the game first before saying anything more, but yeah, SE is completely oblivious to their fanbase.
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Let's say that is pretty difficult to understand what this fanbase wants, there are so many opinions and the fact that every Final Fantasy is so different from the previous one makes even more difficult for them to identify a path they should take and follow. They tried with this game to answer certain critics moved to XIII, yet still many complains for some other reason. They'll never win, lol.
Well, as I am typing this, I can say that this game has already been given an early release in several places. From what I gather, the game looks pretty decent thus far: faster battles, more 'atmospheric' music and better game mechanics. The storyline still appears to be lame though.
Ahhh I can't wait to get my hands on a copy too D<
Ahhh I can't wait to get my hands on a copy too D<
gundamkyoukai
Member
They could have win if they did not make such a stupid ending \story .
What people want is a FF like the old days towns , mini games , map etc etc with few updates.
SE seem to miss what made FF good this whole Gen .
Perfo
Thirteen flew over the cuckoo's nest
Are you so sure of this? Maybe the old-school fans want it, but the mass market probably don't considering the lack of interest in the entire genre here in the west lately. Square Enix is just trying hard to stop Final Fantasy and the genre to shrink further here, and – they guessed – one way of doing so was by changing the fundamentals of it, thus came Final Fantasy XIII. Now, they tried to listen to critics of the core fan base by going back somehow to the old formula. Yet the game will sell even less than XIII.
Again, is that really so easy for them to figure out what to do?
R_thanatos
Member
i dont think so
All rpgs series need yo keep up with the times and Ff13 is no exception.Each Ff tries to changes things their way.Ff13 & ff13-2 suffers more into their chapter structure than the lack of towns.
Ffs wont be good untill they could afford to waste their time polishing their overall world . Thats my 2 cents anyway
No, that's not at all what all people want. I don't want them to go the boring Dragon Quest route of repeating the same basic formula from now to eternity, that's just for nostalgia buffs who are stuck in the past and can't move on. I like the fact that from X forward there hasn't been a FF like past ones, with XII being my favorite FF alongside FFVI. FFXIII-2 seems like a step into the right direction from XIII in many ways (it ditches much that was bad/lacking in XIII while introducing some cool new stuff). Based on many comments about it, it just needs a bit of fine-tuning (make it more difficult to get everything out of the battlesystem, ditch the ambush-heavy encounter system etc.) and they need to get a writer who has a grasp of how to write at least a somewhat bearable story & characters.
It's a laughable argument that mini-games or a map made Final Fantasy good. The mini-games in FF games are mostly shit (and it's not like pre-PS1 FFs even had those, yet a couple of the most loved FFs are from times before snowboarding) and a miniature world map isn't the only way to handle exploration & travelling well. Towns? Yeah, but I personally don't think it needs to be of the "invade every house and rob them of whatever mystical equipment people just happen to have lying around" kind. FFXII did it well enough with big cities bustling with people reacting to events in the game and some bars/shops & a few more special places you could visit/explore (i.e. Lowtown in Rabanastre).
gundamkyoukai
Member
Don't want to go off topic but it seem people miss my etc etc when i made my list .
A game is a sum of parts and each part has a role to play for a series like FF where many people play it for many reasons .
So picking one thing and saying it don' matter is nonsense, i can live without a world map or mini games or towns , able to explore and other things by there self but XIII skip way to much together .
For XIII-2 they seem to fixed all that stuff but guess what people also people also play FF for it's characters , story which seem to be even worst than XIII.
It seems that SE has to go from one extreme to the next .
I suppose to get XIII-2 Monday still not certain if i should play it first or sell it seal so i can get back most of my money .
I don't really mine the game having open ending but not knowing if i going to get the rest even if it's DLC has me between two minds.
After sales of XIII-2 in Japan i really don't see a XIII-3 on the way .
A game is a sum of parts and each part has a role to play for a series like FF where many people play it for many reasons .
So picking one thing and saying it don' matter is nonsense, i can live without a world map or mini games or towns , able to explore and other things by there self but XIII skip way to much together .
For XIII-2 they seem to fixed all that stuff but guess what people also people also play FF for it's characters , story which seem to be even worst than XIII.
It seems that SE has to go from one extreme to the next .
I suppose to get XIII-2 Monday still not certain if i should play it first or sell it seal so i can get back most of my money .
I don't really mine the game having open ending but not knowing if i going to get the rest even if it's DLC has me between two minds.
After sales of XIII-2 in Japan i really don't see a XIII-3 on the way .
RPGCrazied
Member
Crisis averted! Looks good to me.
And it does have a digipak style case. Gonna keep the preorder.Yeah, but nobody wanted or expected a trilogy out of FF13. I really hope they don't make a 13-3.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
In a sense, I'd almost call the "making of" DVD that came with XII more of a collectible than the XIII-2 soundtrack and a few pages of art, but I get your point. This one does seem to have more hype.
Electivirus
Member
Sexy as hell. :X