7/10

I really hope that VSXIII will be a 10/10

Well here is my problem where FF XIII was nowhere as bad as certain reviewer's made out I can't help but feel that S.E definately watered down the series just to try and appela to more people, and to be honest I think it's losing a couple of their original JRPG enthusiast just for that act, so here is what FF XIII did wrong

1. The story was too simple and predictable - you remember FF7 and FF8 and how complicated they was yes, well I found that FF13 was simplay too easy to understand really, you had a focus where you had  sarah said your mission was to save cocoon, then we found out about becoming ragnarock far too early, they should have done so much more than this!!

2. Character development was very poor - apart from finding about vanille and fang and hope the swhole story really did not progress our characters much in any way other than abities they could perform in battle.

3. Exploration was very limted right up to chapter 10, when you hit pulse it was good because it opened up, but once you complete the game the side missions feel so tacked on and you feel like you are mindlesly grinding for no reason at all.

4. The amount of towns was horribly reduced, even FFX had more towns depite it's linerarity, and interactinon with NPC's was not very good either, it really did not feel like they actually fit into the game and they was splaced there just for scenery.

Of course there are things which was done right such as gameply, the cgi and the beautiful graphics, but when I play on FF6-FFX I have to cry just to see how much they basically have taken away from us...

I would give FF13 a 8/10 but only because the end of the game saved it and sidequests extend the game, even if they are very repetitive. Right now I hope Nomura gets to develop FFVs13 the way he wants to we need something to put life back into the franchise, as I feel liek at this rate FF will wither, and people will move on to something new like the last story (headed by original creator of FF, which looks looks far more innovative right now)

PS_Move; this is somethind I don't understand with developers today; everyone seems to want to make their games more causal but RPG's are silly to water down. You end up with a game that loses its depth and thus appeal to RPG gamers and a game that is still a tad to deep for the more casual gamers.

Yeah I agree with you there used to be a time when I looked at a game with the brand of Squaresoft on it, you did not need a review to tell you it was a good game, you knew it would be because of the pedigree and previous experience of their games such masterpieces, now as for S.E it is totally different all I see is a company who has basically sold their soul, when a company loses respect it is not a good thing for the longterm as eventually even the most devout supporters will not follow them anymore, and I gurantee you the casual users will not be there for them always, so S.E will lose out in the end

Decent, but one thing is for sure I will never replay that game again, it's not worth it.

FF4,FF6-FFX I still replay from time to time.

One question I must ask. Have you played TWEWY. I'm a staunch supporter of that game, and proponent to making it the most popular game this gen (unless something else comes out)... (And 13 supporter, though I will say the aspect I was highly dissapointed in it was the story part. and the main reason I play FF TBH is the story and the chacters so failed half there, I loved everything else, whether it's balanced etc, it was fun as hell to me.)

To be honest, it did not look my kind of games, so no I did not play on it, but everyone keeps on telling me to play it so....

What about Pokemon?  That game successfully covers both 'hardcore' and 'casual' players.

Even though it's battle system is ultra simplistic, it has arguably more depth and replay value than any other game I have every played.

Paper Mario is also good at being accessable for 'casual gamers' but is still loved by most 'hardcore gamers'

O

I can't recommend it blindly. And there is not really any title I can compare it too, and it's not a traditional JRPG.  I'm sure you've looked at it a tad. maybe :P

However, if it's not your style it's just not your style. :D
I'm bad at convincing.

However, it had that special charm of older Squaresoft games IMO. Though I did think story wise, all the direct FF sequels did too (except Advent Cheldren). Just in 2/3 the gameplay was aweful-subpar. IMO you probably have different ;P

FF XII: largest video game train wreck of all time

FF XIII: 2nd largest video game train wreck of all time