This trilogy really that bad?

[Galserik]

Trilogy is that bad? Well, the correct answer would be "no". But one thing is true, and is that the storytelling is a step below that we were used to in a FF when this games were released. The whole series has a serious trouble, and is that is the plot is very bad told. There is huge blanks to fill between the games, specially between XIII and XIII-2 that needs to be filled with novellas that were not released in the west in their days, or took very long to be oficially translated. Is kinda the same problem that FF XV had: they made the game with their mind more in the merchandising that the games itselves. Also, consider one thing: probably half of the people that "hates" this games, never played them,,, because they only repeat the opinion that they read (this happens a lot with very hated games, like TLOU2, Cyberpunk, etc).

But returning to the games... The combat system is pretty good, dynamic, strategic and requires thinking in a lot of fights, ending the "Select Attack spam" issues that some of the previous ones got in the end game (that doesn't mean that some battles can be done only by Auto command). But also is understandable that a lot of people didn't like it, because in the end, you only control 1 character directly in the battle.

FFXIII is a good game, with an ok story. Had a lot of potential, but it wasn't really developed and the result wasn't brilliant (not bad either). The division by chapters made it very linear, with lack of exploration, side quests or other classic content that the previous ones had. The only thing aside of the story that you have is the Hunting missions, or the TItan trials... and basically both are the same: find, kill, claim reward. As the first step in the trilogy, is understandable why each game were less and less played (only looking the game owners numers here, they goes to 550k for XIII - 230k for XIII2 - Barely 100k for LR).

 

FFXIII-2 probably is the best of the trilogy (for me at least), but without reading the books everyone has serious troubles to connect the points in the story with the previous one. Characters were reduced to 2 instead of 6 and they include the classic "monster capture/managment" that a lot of JRPGs have. This one recovers the areas that can be revisited, towns, shops, and have much more side content that the previous one, including a "true ending" if you reach the 100%. Is much more like the FF that we were used to.

 

Lightning Returns... is very difficult to rate by me, On one hand, I found pretty interesting the "Limited days" system. At least, it add a very heavy meaning to the core of the plot (to save the world in 13 days) which means an added managment of activities that makes things more interesting. But on the other hand, the combat is pretty unbalanced because is Lightning by herself, which cause this game to have some very high peaks of difficulty sometimes, specially in side missions (probably this points is what makes me put LR as the weakest of the 3). The plot has the same problem that the previous, and is the bad connection between the XIII-2 and LR without looking for the lore outside the games, but is a bit more understandable by itself that XIII-XIII2.

If I had to rate the trilogy, I say is a 8/10. Again, bad games? No. But when we are talking about a Final Fantasy, all of us expect minimum a 9,5 or 10 game.

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Galserik

[EriksBlue]

My problem with FF13 was that it took 20 hours to get to the free roam open world part of the game. It felt super empty. And Lightning is a personality vacuum.

 

FF13-2 was better but had a nonsensical plot.

 

lightning returns was unbalanced and the management limited days thing was a pain to deal with. 
 

I’m currently trying to go back to get 100% in this trilogy which is gonna be a slog since I lost my saves when my pervious ps3 died on me.

[Rebourne07]

No. The answer to your question is no. The trilogy is awesome. People just like to complain. 

[Deadly_Ha_Ha]

9 minutes ago, Rebourne07 said:

No. The answer to your question is no. The trilogy is awesome. People just like to complain. 

At this point I'd almost prefer the trilogy stay on PS3 where it can be left in peace. If they get rereleased now it'll be the same bandwagon arguments that happened all those years ago. 

[NinjaKlown17]

I have the plats for all three FFXIII games. XIII is one of my favorite entries in the franchise. The combat is a little weird but the music is top notch, especially in XIII-2, and I personally really enjoyed the story and lore. I wish Square Enix had stuck with their initial plans for Fabula Nova Crystallis. The connections to the subseries in Type-0 and FFXV are still there but not to any degree that really matters, which I thought was pretty disappointing.

[Rebourne07]

34 minutes ago, Deadly_Ha_Ha said:

At this point I'd almost prefer the trilogy stay on PS3 where it can be left in peace. If they get rereleased now it'll be the same bandwagon arguments that happened all those years ago. 

Yeah, two edged sword. On the one hand I'd personally love to revisit them. On the other the complaining online would be awful.

[Hitman_Spinksy1]

I can say the first time I played 13, 10 years ago I didn’t like it so much but wouldn’t have called it bad but revisiting it now I’m still enjoying it post game and feeling hyped. I don’t like the characters too much and how they split them up and I probably wouldn’t rank it high as a Final Fantasy game but I’m still enjoying it as I have done most Final Fantasy games. Just because I prefer 10, 12 or 7 Remake doesn’t make 13 bad. It’s different but it’s rare I get post game and still can’t wait to play nowadays. Usually I just want to get it over with as the grind burns my soul. 

[zachpicc]

10 hours into XIII, the linearity is actually so refreshing ?. The visuals for the PS3 are blowing me away, the music is really incredible, the combat system is suuuper engaging, and I'm enjoying the characters (we'll see how that progresses). I am really a sucker for the tone the game is going for and how it takes itselft quite seriously but that's jsut a preference of mine. I plan to play the trilogy so lets see how that goes!

[ShinigamiSensei-]

Pretty much, yeah. 

 

First part is meh...but has the worst mix of characters in all the franchise, they are obnoxious. And there's that dude...Snow, the definition of an insufferable douche-bag hero...i hate him.

 

But i like to say that i  actually enjoyed the second part and lately i'm thinking of playing it again. New main characters, a new nemesis, more exploration and a lot of dangerous enemies. The second part has a lot to offer tbh.

 

I don't like that time mechanic in Lightning Returns, so the third part is the worst in my opinion.

Edited February 9, 2023 by ShinigamiSensei-

[happyman778]

No. That is all I have to say on this matter!!

 

P.S. I won't lie, something about this trilogy really tickles my pickle. 

[LilIelaps]

I personally love this trilogy. They're some of my favorite titles in the franchise, and I've played every mainline FF besides XI and XIV, the MMOs.

 

I think the FF XIII world has really in-depth and cool mythology and lore, in my opinion it's some of the best worldbuilding in the franchise.

 

The biggest issue in terms of understanding the mythology and thus the actual story, is that a lot of information is hidden away in the datalog text files. If you're a Kingdom Hearts fan, you know what it feels like, having to read a novel of "Reports" in the game to fully grasp the bigger picture. I don't think this is an issue in itself, but it does mean that if you don't delve into all this while playing, some elements of the game's story might seem confusing or even nonsensical.

 

The characters are good, a lot of their personalities have unlikable qualities when you start playing, but the writers know, it's not by accident. Give the game time to flesh them out.

 

The two sequels definitely feel like they were not planned ahead of time to me, but they manage to weave their own stories and characters into the overall mythos fairly believably. XIII-2 has one of my favorite FF antagonists of all time.

 

The battle systems in all three games are fun I think. A bit easy perhaps, especially if you utilize the auto-battle command, but FF has never been particularly brutal.

 

The linearity argument is accurate for the majority of the first game, but the endgame, and the sequels open up considerably.

 

The music is amazing for all three titles too.

Edited February 15, 2023 by LilIelaps

[Ampki]

Praying we get this on ps4/5.

[somekila]

FF13 is actually the only FF game I care about. To be fair I haven't played any of the previous entries. And couldn't really get into any of the following ones. 

 

I still remember renting  copy, right after it released and at first I thought it wasn't for me, mainly because it it takes some time to really get going, gameplay wise.

But before I knew it I really started enjoying it! And I ended up buying it. Sure it has it's flaws. Mainly the liniarity and the Story beeing kinda confusing. I still don't fully understand it even after finishing it three times. 

But I can't say I didn't enjoy it. I actually do like the characters, the world, enemy designs etc. And the main point I like the game so much, is the combat system!

yea for the easier battles you probably and up just spamming x but as soon as it gets a little more challenging, you really have to utilize the roles and pradigms, that is when it really starts to get interesting! Even setting up the pardigms and messing around with different combinations is already fun! And the the combat loop of pushing enemies in to stagger then dishing out as much dmg as possible, switching to three sentinels to negate dmg, if necessary, quickly healing up or getting right back in to pushing that stagger bar up, applying buffs and debuffs when the situation calls for, just is so enjoyable!

Starting every battle fresh and not having to rely on using items between battles to refill health and unnecessary mp, which only keep you from using your abilities also is a huge plus for me.

Idk it's just so much more engaging then trditional turn based combat while not turning it into your typical western rpg... Even the way you level up is fun and strangely satisfying for just pressing and holding x^^ overall there is no better combat system for me, than FF13's I just wish the rest of the game would be like Chapter 11...

 

13-2 is still fun and replaying it right now is actually what brings me here. But it does come with a couple of downsites for me, compared to the first one.

Starting with the story, Idk it's just too much jumping around, makes everything feel unconnected. Even tho the premiss of stopping cocoon from falling isn't actually bad. Enemies spawning in now, instead of wandering around, which makes areas just feel empty... Side quest are boring and collecting maily useless fragment, just for the sake of having some side content, seems kinde pointless for me.

Maps are smaller and still pretty linear, but there's some freedom in which order they can be completed. And there're are couple different outcomes for different story scenarios.

The addition of some repetitive, annoying puzzles also isn't an improvement...

The leveling is unnecessary confusing, giving different attributes depending on what you lvl up when. Having everything yon one grid in the first place just seems stupid to me, instead of having seperate one for each role.

But atleast the combat system is still the same and just as much fun then the first game. Except for the addition of max health dmg, which can be super annoying in some fights...

I can't make up my mind over the monster taming aspect. On one hand I'm motivated to collect them but on the other hand 90% seem to be kinda useless, since there are way more than you'd actually need.... So you end up not using most of them. And for the other 10 % you still don't know what makes sense to lvl up and what materials you schould use... 

 

Well... And for the third game... I obviously was already super dissapointed because they completely changed the combat system and I wanned time limits I wouldn't play video games in the first place... And despite trying a couple of times  I could never get into it. So I can't really say anything abou it.