FFXII - 9 I'm actually quite surprised to see so many high scores thus far for this one, as it's usually hated/loved similarly to VIII. I fall on the love side.

FFXIII - Can't say yet. I don't want the experience to split time with the other 5 games(or more if I really think about it) I'm currently into.

@linkzmax

yes i think this site is more affliated towards ff12. i hve averaged ff8 ratings and its way below ff12 right now.

FFXII - 7/10
it's not fundamentally a bad game, it's actually fairly good but the battle system was too much of change for a FF and a stray from what made them the best RPG ever, ATB gauge or at least a TB battle system. Vaan and Penelo were also completely pointless characters and Balthier or Ashe should have been the main character. On a better note, graphics are pretty impressive for a PS2 game, gameplay as a game was good and enjoyable, as a FF it was possibly too different from the norm. Story was alright, nothing spectacular.

FFXIII - 9.5/10
This was an excellent iteration and a good return to the old but also the fast pace battling was a brilliant addition as well. Story wasn't the best but better than FFXII, IMO. Graphics actually just got better and better as the game progressed. Gameplay itself wasn't as re-playable as previous games, however the missions where very good. Major problem, although it was only 3 minutes of the ending was the Leona Lewis song, the original score would have been much better.

XII is a 10. I can never decide if I like it or IX more. One of the best, most fully-realized worlds in a console RPG, and the best script/voicework of any video game. The story falls apart towards the end and combat isn't that interesting, but those are small qualms in comparison to the game's achievements. Also, Balthier is the best character in a Final Fantasy.

XIII is a 5. Spectacular battle system only partially makes up for the atrocious story, script, voicework, pacing, and Vanille. And the linearity, lack of towns, lack of meaningful NPC interactions, lack of a real villain. Also, Leona Lewis. Shoddy soundtrack altogether.

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This is bullshit. By hour 10 you've robbed a palace, seen a Judge, escaped from a dungeon, and visited a floating city in the sky. The intro is slow going, but it's no more than 5 hours of playtime.



Vaan barely talks once you leave Rabanastre.



They're treasure hunters. Most of the first part of the game is visiting various ancient, treasure-filled tombs. Balthier and Fran are also fucking awesome.



The story is great until the very end. It's just not about characters whining about their feelings like most modern FFs. More similar to VI and Tactics in that respect.

FF12 -- 9/10

ITs my least favorite game in the series for a variety of different reasons but the most important thing is that its STILL an excellent addition to the long running franchise.

The characters, story, music & world were massive disappointments. None of the things I just stated were very memorable except for Balthier & the esper battle music. The world of Ivalice part of the Ivalice Alliance just didn't do it for me, FF12 had towns but none of its locales really stood out & became engraved in my mind, not even Rabanastre. The guy who made the music for the game is actually a very good musician I dunno what went wrong, its not bad at all but just not what we expect from FF. Now the story starts of fantastic, really interesting, really epic but then towards the middle it gets SO BORING! Things start to pick up story wise 20 hours in.

The battle system at first I just didn't understand, but after using guides I finally got the hang of it & enjoyed it. Using & figuring out the best gambits soon became "fun" instead of a chore. The game design is superb, big fields, lots of "percieved" freedom. Hours can be spent in the game!

The game has a great ending too, a very satisfying one that does tie all loose ends together unlike FF13's ending {sigh}.

FF12- 7/10

Great Combat system, it started out poorly but once I got used to it I think Its probably the best combat system to date, but I was totally let down by the story. They try to make it an epic story, but I never felt that the world was in parrel as I did by past games.

The game did take much to long to develop so I could see people being turned off by it. I had literally nothing else to do but work and play FF12 for 6 weeks so I was able to get to the fun part.

FF13 3/10
I'm 10 hours in and no desire to play any more. I don't have a good sense of story or a direction of who the main villain is, the combat currently isn't any fun. And running in a straight line for another 10 hours before I start getting to some open area's isn't my idea of fun.

Square needs to tone back the story to make it simpler, not have 10,000 different things to read so you can get an idea of what is happening in the world, as well as quicken the pace of learning how combat works, people now days don't need to spend 10-20 hours to get beyond the basics of fighting. These past 2 games are probably of the worst FF games. Games should be fun to play from the start!

---------- FF13 ----------

Replaced FFX as my 2nd best Final Fantasy.

Now the wait had been massive for this iteration! Could SE deliver with it, yes they certainly did.

Now lets get right to the point, the first 4 hours are as disappointing as the Phantom Menace (just a phrase...I personally enjoyed The Phantom Menace..my first SW Movie). But I am to blame as well, the first 2 hours are basically the April 2009 FF7:ACC FF13 Demo....and I viewed that online, all of it like hundreds of times, so of course it was boring. But Chapter 2 wasn't that great either.

With Chapter 3 the 13th Fantasy EPic finally began to give back to me the days of hype I had given to it. With Chapter 7 the focus was fulfilled, this FF was a classic!

Melodramatic words aside:

Loved --

1. Character....VERY WELL developed on most fronts, especially Hope....I could Understand everyones motivation and the way the acted, I could relate to them all EXCEPT Vanille. I loved the bit where it showed lightning detesting all of them, loved how lightning & hope grew closer, how they paired up Vanille with Sazh (what a "weird" pair). It was great seeing characters in such situations. The best cast in FF for sure beating FF6's strong cast.

2. Gameplay.....This was the big surprise..I always thought I'd remember FF13 as one of the best FF's for its story, but its story ends up being not even in the top 3 of my favorite FF stories...instead what seemed like gimmicky gameplay from pre release videos turned out to be the best battle system in a FF ever. It was quick, challenging, exciting, full of strategy, nice to look at & some of the best battle themes to grace the series only helped even more, not to mention super monster designs. The battle with Odin made me say for the first time "Hey these stupuid paradigms aren't gimmicks & I'll HAVE to strategise if I wanna do well in this game".

3. World/Lore/Myth......The world the masters at Square-enix created is FANTASTIC. The whole idea of cocoon, pulse, why it was built. The culture, society....the way you find out what happened on Pulse after the war. So many unanswered questions but questions I WANT to know. Its a compelling world and very uniqe. Definetely the most compelling/interesting world in a FF game.

4. Chapter 12 Opening Cut Scene -- nuff said

Liked --

1. Story......now after you have the best cast, best world/lore/myth from a FF game you expect the best if not one of the best stories. But its so sad that this just didn't happen with this game. The story starts of lots of potential but it just doesn't seem like much happens after Chapter 9. Pulse isn't used that well in the story (Oerba is though). I expected much more from the story of this game. Its like the characters are the chocolate of the best quality, the world/lore/myth is the icing of the best quality....but the quality of the pastry itself is just "good"...this makes the pastry seem even worse than it is.

2. Music.....This was a pleasant surprise..fantastic music. Nowhere near the best in the series. The boss themes & the battle themes are some of the best in all of Final Fantasy. But apart from them there are few really standout tracks. There are some superb tracks but not that many.

3. Voice Acting.....it was fine..seriously I didn't have a complaint apart from Vanille and sometimes the speech sync seemed a bit off

4. The Leona Lewis Song......it surprising fit the ending pretty well. Except for "put on my make up" bit...if Lightning heard that she'd probably punch Leona Lewis but oh well.

Disliked:

Vanille, not many distractions, CHEAP BOSSES (some of which should be unacceptable).

At times it felt so "empty" & lifeless

VILLAINS......WTF happened here Square. A big reason why FF7 is loved IS Sephiroth....with fF6 its Kefka....a big reason why DArk Knight is loved is the Joker! Go figure.

The ending.....its not bad per se but explained in a bad way
___________________

Overall its a fantastic game but is nowhere near as good as the best in the series (FF6) which nails each aspect fanatstically, while FF13 had better characters, world & battle system than FF6...they aren't enough to put it over FF6 which has far more memorable cut scenes, music pieces, you know actual villains and of course a far better story.

After the ending I wasn't ready to let go of cocoon, pulse, our main cast, frocobo or the world in general. FFXIII-2 please.

9.7/10

Qays said: I've heard that around 20 hours in the characters and story begin to get interesting but that's bullshit. I shouldn't have to sit through 20 hours of bad to get to the good. This is bullshit. By hour 10 you've robbed a palace, seen a Judge, escaped from a dungeon, and visited a floating city in the sky. The intro is slow going, but it's no more than 5 hours of playtime.

That doesn't make the story good.  By two hours in Super Mario Bros 64 I explored a sunken ship, stormed a castle, visited a castle in sky, and many other things.  Does that make Super Mario Bros 64 story good?

Just because those things happen doesn't make the story interesting, it just means I've seen some cool locations.  The story is still bland and not interesting.

That must be after the 20 hour mark.  The furthest I usually get is after I'm in some sort of prison and then wandering a desert and I found Ashe, I don't remember the order of those things.  Whatever the case, the characters all still worthless or I don't like them.

• Vaahn - no reason to be there
• Balthier - more reason to be there than Vaahn, but still just kind of there for no real reason.  ooo, he's a treasure hunter.  If his character were actually believable in any way, he would have cut his losses and moved onto another treasure that was much less risk for a bigger price.
• Fran - only reason she's even in the game is eye candy.  Nothing else.
• Ashe - she actually has a motive!  Too bad she's a giant bitch and they tried their hardest to make you hate her when you finally get her in your party.
• Basch - he's not a bad character but by the time I get him I really don't care anymore
• Penelo - Tagging along after Vaahn, still no reason to be there
• Bratty Prince Kid - not interesting

 

FFXII for me was a 9.3, great game, I enjoyed it a lot but not as much as 7.
FFXIII for me is a 9.0 or 8.8 since I liked it but some linearity in some parts bothered me and the story doesnt seem as great, but everything else I love.