By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
VXIII on 18 September 2011
Edit Thread
Runa216 said:
VXIII said:
Runa216 said:

at least I substantiate my hatred.  

I'd love to see someone argue with me about any of the Gameplay or Story categories.  I have very good reason for each and every one of those. 

I agree that both the plot and the characters were weak but the world had a pretty good back story, not well presented in XIII that's true but if someone bothered to read it they'll find some really high points, however, the world's mythology was fully revealed early this year, in order to understand it completely you need to check out the trailer if you haven't already.

What with the difficulty ? , You think it was too hard or too easy ?, I've seen people complaining on both sides ... somehow , I thought it was well balanced, some bosses were hard and I had to try more than once, the regular fights were too long sometimes, I found the game overall a bit too easy myself but I won't give it 2 for difficulty.

The innovation part, the combat system was so fresh and well received by both critics and most of the fans, I like the idea of choosing one certain role for every character, and I like the strategy concept in it that you must built the stagger bar using some roles then you change them to cause more damage. I have no idea how you could give it a 1 in that area, if you hated it doesn't mean it isn't innovative,maybe because you actually hate the game not only dislike it, hatred can never be 100% fair

The replay is based on the fun factor and that is totally subjective , so .... .

That level design score "expose" an important point, the reviewer was comparing it to WRPG like oblivion and Fallout, or maybe never played a FF game before and that's highly unlikely, linearity isn't new to the series and it's very expected in a story driven game, I didn't like it either btw but it's also kinnda subjective .

I'm not trying to change your mind btw , that's kind of impossible , I'm just expressing mine .Also, you are not going to write the review for XIII-2 ,are you .

Well, the characters were flat, and the story was POORLY told, and I totally agree:  the lore they put into this world is phenomenal...but you shouldn't have to go through the sea of bullshit to get to it.  You actually had to read an in-game novel (practically) to hear any of that, and almost none of it was incorporated into the story.  I did a lot of reading about it online and that's one of the only reasons I'm actually curious to play XIII-2. 

I knew someone would mention difficulty.  I found the game disgustingly hard, but also remarkably simple.  To me it was like EVERY FPS EVAR...in that it didn't require skill, just steadfast determination and a touch of luck.  Anyone could beat the game and beat all the enemies, just keep trying till it works.  To me the difficulty curve was broken and unfair, and entirely unrewarding.  the grade isn't a matter of how difficult it is, but how well done it is.  the difficulty in this game was bullshit.  too much reliance on luck and repeat attempts. 

there was absolutely no 'innovation' in the battle system.  It was basically a simplified, dumbed down version of 12's combat system, but sped up and with like 1/10th of the customization options. You had absolutely no control over your allies and blah blah blah.... The reason I gave this such a bad score is because as far as I was concerned, it was just a dumbed down, simpler version of previous games.  No innovation, nothing new added.  Yeah, it was faster paced and more action packed, but at the cost of customization. 

what replay value is there?  you play through the game, you kill all the marks...there's no reward for playing it a different way, there's no alternate ways to do things, few hidden items you may not have gotten.  Oblivion has good replay value because you can play it COMPLETELY different the second time.  same with games like Red Dead Redemption (fame and alignment meter) and inFamous (Hero/infamous meter), THAT has replay value.  this game was so restrictive and had so little side content/alternate gameplay styles that it objectively has no replay value.  If you wanna play it again, I'm certainly not one to tell you no, but theres no incentive in game to do it. 

narrow hallways are HORRIBLE level designs.  I know it's been said before (and for the record, I prefer linearity...storyline wise), but going in a straight line for 95% of the game is not good design.  in FFX, you could explore side caves and hidden areas, the only remotely decent area in the game was Gran Pulse, which was just a series of different hallways.  

I do not currently have plans to review the sequel, but I'm sure if I wanted to I could, since nobody on the team (As far as I know) has any interest in it.  That, and while we definitely encourage each reviewer to score it according to their own opinions, we all agree that the 9.0 FFXIII got is an absolute travesty, and we'd all change it if we could.  

I gave this game a 2.1, but I think in the interest of objectivity, if I was scoring it for the site, I'd have given it a 4.0-4.7 (no idea why I chose that range).  It's not broken, just very, VERY poorly made in my opinion. 

Also, the only reason it didn't get maxed out technical visual fidelity score was because Squeenix had no care for the SDTV users out there, unless you were on an HDTV you couldn't see shit.  That said, fuck the graphics were gorgeous once I saw them on an HDTV! 

Paradigms are the key, which is another reason why I liked the combat system, you need to get prepared before you enter the battle, if you die then you must try another set of paradigms, or you can just try again until it works but that's not how it works

The battle system differ itself with  Paradigms and the stagger bar, personaly I haven't seen anything like it before, however, the battle system needs to be fun and fit well in the game it doesn't need to be innovative.

The replay value, See!, the problem is right here, you are comparing it to a game that you like and to a concept that you prefer, what you said actually describe 95% of games overall, don't know why it's such a huge problem here but no one mention it when they're talking about Uncharted for example, you gave Resistance3 8 for value ( Higher actually but then adjusted) there's no alternate ways to do things so why the high value ( and when the multiplayer is nothing special )?, because the game was fun ?  .... the fun factor is subjective.

The level design could have been much better I agree, you actually make some good points, but your scores are another story, way too harsh because you are not judgeing the game for what it is, but for what you wanted it to be .