aw man im playing FF10 roght now so if this is true then>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Fixed ;)

You may not like FFXIII, and you may love FFXII, that is fine.

But your opinion is going against the grain, a lot of people would disagree with you completely. If you know your opinion isn't a popular one then don't go around telling people your opinion as if it was fact, childishy insulting anybody who disagrees doesn't help either.

I don't know what planet you live on, but MGS4 and the MGS franchise are some of the highest rated games ever made, and for good reason. Cutscenes and a good story are some of the most important aspects of a game, it makes the game more interesting and relatable, instead of dull and emotionless.

I found your "if more people were like you these forums would be a better place" comment hypocritical too. You comments at the start of the thread weren't respectful, and as I said before, you were forcing your unpopular opinion in other people's face as if it was fact while mocking other people's opinions. It's too late to start playing the good guy now.

By being able to make your AI do anything different, by definition, would be a sort of customization. You can't a very detailed level, but you can certainly make them do what you want.

Oh, interesting how this thread has progressed!  Nothing of value said though. Final Fantasy games are pretty complicated to properly compare and contrast, but comparing XIII and XII is like comparing Brutal Legend to Age of Empires, respectively. I could elaborate if anyone wants, but it boils down to quality of game and aesthetics.  While I could totally understand someone liking Brutal Legend for it's art direction, music, and characters, the fact is that the game is a super simplified RTS with some action/adventure elements, whereas Age of Empires (or any of the spinoffs from that developer) are greatly detailed, richly engrossing games with much more depth and customization and infinitely better gameplay.  some may find it to be a little confusing, thus preferring the simplicity of Brutal Legend, but for those willing to put the time forward for the more complicated game, the rewards are much greater.  

I noticed a similar issue with Final Fantasy VIII, lots of people hated it for the emo story and the tedius junction system, but for those who took the time to 'get' the game's subtle nuances, they found it a truly engrossing game with much depth.  

Final Fantasy XII is the same.  the Gambit and License system actually make a lot more sense than people think and the depth is astronomical.  Betweem the myriad of hunts, sidequests, subplots, and hidden areas, the game will likely keep you busy for months if you let it.  sure, the main plot is a step below that of previous FF games, and the characters are not all that memorable, but the gameplay is arguably the best in the series. 

Final Fantasy XIII gives you next to no customization, no depth, and no freedom.  I have no problem with Linearity, I love FFX and dozens of other very linear games, but FFXIII is Linearity done wrong.  hell, even the battle system requires stringent rules to win most fights.  certain enemies HAVE to have a certain ravager/commando combo to work, others you HAVE to stagger, others you HAVE to have a sentinel in your party, and one deviation will result in death, and short of having uncanny foresight, you WILL die a LOT.  same with the accessory and weapon upgrades, short of clairvoyance, you're gonna be wasting a lot fuddling around with that.  It HAS the hunts, but as others have said, there's little incentive to do them since it's just for a trophy and there are no real rewards.  

Final Fantasy XIII was a horrible excuse for a Final Fantasy game, it took everything that made the series great and said "forget that", and did something new.  New directions are good, but taking everything that makes something special and taking it out is not a good new direction.  FF XIII is a joke, a stain on the FF name, and it deserves all the hate it's recieved and more.  Final Fantasy XII was an underappreciated gem, needlessly hated for its complicated battle/gambit/license systems.  

Naturally, I'm up for discussion on that point, but I don't see the point.  

I was going to mention something similar you said about the battle system in FF13. it was like the battles were scripted encounters. so you would have to use certain paradigms and switch to them at certain points or the battles would be long and too boring. - so your encouraged to fight in certain ways!

the problem was you would fight one enemy and then you would fight that same enemy 10-15 times while walking in a straight line. you would also fight this enemy exactly the same way as you fought the last 10 enemies because you only have 2 characters for half the game; and even when theres a 3rd character it dosent get more diverse - just the duration of those enounters decrease because your 3rd character is also doing damage.

however i think FF13s battle system was good, but the whole game was walking in a straight line, fight the same enemy 15 times, watch cutscene, repeat for 60 hours. FF12 was a bit better because it offered more varitey. but action wise, because FF13 was on a seperate field and not seamless the action was visually better.

for some stupidly dumb reason FF13 has enemies presented on the field map, then changes view to a seperate field for fights. Why they do this is beyond me, because your only walking in straight lines, theres no reason to avoid enemies because when you avoid 1 theres another 1 ten feet in front of you. so why make enemies avoidable when you obviously need to beat them for EXP and theres nothing else to do in the game except for fighting enemies. it makes no sense to me!

oh and FF8s story and characters were awful imho. theres a guy on youtube who completley slates every aspect of the game. i at least thought FF8 had a few good qualities, but i also thought the game was also disappointing tbh.

oh, I totally understand that people hated VIII, it was a huge departure from the series' established roots, it had characters that were, by most accounts, incredibly annoying, the junction system was confusing and tedius (drawing suuuucked), and the romance was cheesy and silly.  Yet in spite of all this, I loved it!  I thought the characters were really well develpoped, the junction system allowed for a lot of customization, and the world and story were refreshingly unique. 

I look for the good in everything,  I don't like not liking something, which makes it even weirder and more extreme since I don't much care for XIII, in fact it's probably my single most loathed game of all time, and I have many, many valid reasons for that.  it's a shame, too, because I was really looking forward to it. 

I know what you mean, but the reason i wont accept FF8 and FF13 as good games is because their made by the same developers - who i dont think know how to make compelling gameplay experiences. i mean sure they made FF6 and 7, but Sakaguchi still penned the scripts for both those games, and produced them, he produced FF10 as well.

when Sakaguhci hasnt been involved, i think their games have had really slow, boring stories with non sensical characters. FF8, FF10-2, FF13, FF 7 compliation (Dirge of Cerberus being the key offender) and now The 3rd Birthday all have very bad stories, with unrealistic characters who get too annoying imo.

so personally i think FF8 had some merits on the gameplay side, but i think the team behind that game dosent know how to write believable characters and tell an engrossing story. i felt the first half of FF8 was tedious and never really got interested. i remember playing FF6, 7 and 9, and i didnt want to put the game down, but in FF8 the characters arnt compelling, and i really didnt find the story that engrossing either tbh. however the gameplay was the best for the PS1 series of games i think and that card game was good!

well I think that's where we part ways, becuase I felt the characters in VIII were all really well done and interesting.  Squall went from a whiny emo bitch to someone who was fighting with the emotions he didnt want to have for most of the game before relenting and admitting his feelings near the end.  I just personally d isagree that they were poorly made characters.