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! 

They're probably around 50% of what the 360 version sold. 

lol, so arrogant, didn't mature at all during the last year, eh? I guess that's just what this place does to you. As long as you don't try to twist my words this time then go right ahead.

This reminds me, I actually linked a friend to that other discussion, he asked me why I posted a video oh a hentai game in the middle of it. It took me quite a while to convince him that it was just FFX-2 and that you were just giving a woman an orgasm by massaging her.

An 18-year-old talking to me about maturity and arrogance and then trying to stuff the same irrelevant argument as he did in his last five posts on the subject, all while failing to respond to 2/3 points in the last argument? AW AW IT'S MASSAGEZ IT'S HORRIBLE! Do you have anything else besides that and calling me various things?

How funny. I don't get you at all - what do you mean by "matured in the alst year"?

Well alright then.

-How are the characters douchey? Tidus is whiny in the start, but then he reconciles with his situation and quickly matures and gets a grip. Auron is perfectly serious, fatherly, and, at times, inspiring. Lulu is cold out front, but very concerned and deep on the inside. Rikku and Wakka are there for comic relief and emphasizing racial tension in spira, they do both perfectly. Yuna is quiet and almost without presense at first, but clearly has plans of her own and is strong to embrace a rebellious spirit when needed, up to to becoming a key protagonist for the game. The only one thats kinda useless is Kimahri, but the whole company clicks really well.

-How is the story told badly? You are led by force of hand through all of it, and while the main story unfolds in front of you, you also get lots of backstory from the main chars and Maechen should you speak to him. The games' rich universe is unveiled even better in FFX-2. GIve me an example of badly - because from start to finish, it all clicks, makes sense, and depending on your taste, is enthralling. I don't remember story holes, either - a classic example of bad storytelling.

I originally thought 2 mil.

Mirson i really dont think FF13 is going to sell another 2 mil copies. its been in the bargain bin for a year now. and that hasnt really helped the sales.

FF10-2 sold about half of what FF10 sold. and FF10 was a popular entry to the series. i dont think FF13-2 will sell half of FF13, since it is a lot less popular than FF10.

Maturity isn't all about age, sir. And I was not using that as my point, I was just saying it was something that amused me that he thought it was a hentai game. Though it does show how shameless the series is.

Only that I was gone a bit more than a year and you don't seem to have changed at all, that's basically it.

How are the characters douchey? Well how about how all of them completely ignore the threat that is Sin just to play underwater polo. Killika gets destroyed by Sin, most of the village dies and just a day later they're go "AW YEAH, LET'S IGNORE SIN AND PLAY BLITZBALL!" That's not douchey? Even after Tidus matures he's still an asshole and a total brat "this is my story", when it's definitely Yuna's story and not his. He bangs her and then walks all over her. Wakka has the "Just like happy fireworks, eh?" scene right after Rikku's home gets destroyed, despite how stupid Wakka is you cannot think that something like that is a good idea. Total douche. Rikku has no purpose in the story except for the "racial tension". Yuna is not even worth mentioning really, even though the whole story revolves around her she's a complete doormat and a very boring character. She used more as a tool to progress the story, like the five or so times she gets kidnapped.

Auron is an amazing character, I can't deny that, he carried that game alone. Quite possibly my favourite Final Fantasy character of all time. That might just be because he doesn't say much and we really don't know all that much about him, not even the spheres you find with him tell you all that much about him. Lulu is alright, she's a pretty good character. Those two are the only ones I like though.

On the story: Now I'm not sure if you're wanting examples of why it's bad from FFX or FFX-2, I could probably argue against both.

I'll just go with FFX for now though. It's not so much that it's told badly as it is a bad story that makes no sense with awful writing. For the start of the first ten hours of the game it revolves COMPLETELY around Blitzball, which is never explained. Blitzball is so impossible it's laughable, but what I have a bigger concern with is the fact that some people can just breath indefinitely under water while playing underwater polo. This is never explained and yet it really is very important to the plot, even outside of Blitzball. If Tidus, Wakka and Rikku couldn't breath under water then the game would have been over pretty early on. Why is it that they can do this? I thought these guys were meant to be humans (for the most part anyway), I'm pretty sure men can't hold their breath for that long, especially not if they're carrying around a jagged volley ball. Explain game, explain! Then there's the romance *shudder* which is all based on "The wind is nice *insert laughter*" and it is really quite important to the plot. Plotholes? How did Jecht even get to Spira? I know that Tidus got there through Sin, but that was only because Jecht didn't want him dead, I doubt that Sin would just teleport some random guy to Spira for the lulz. Hm? Since he was a dream the Fayth sent him there? One problem there, if they were able to make their "dreams" do whatever they wanted, then why didn't they just turn them into some sort of god and made the instantly kill Yu Yevon? The whole dream aspect was pretty pointless too, it really didn't serve any purpose, it was moslty there as a "See? Tidus is important to the plot!".

There is more, but I don't feel like typing out why the plot is terrible for ages, I can move on to FFX-2 if you'd wish.

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. 

Is the voice acting really an 8/10? What I heard in the trailers was pretty bad (the English VA). 

Uh-oh, here he goes again, taking things too seriously and provoking others into an argument. Just like to point out that half of those ratings have no justification whatsoever. 2/10 for difficulty? 3/10 for world? 5/10 for art direction? I could go on and on... What's next, are you going to argue that the sky is green?

I think it would be better for me to completely ignore you, one mention of Final Fantasy XIII and you start spitting hatred, you have an unhealthy obsession with the game, that alone clouds your judgement. I can accept that some people don't like the game, but some of these people come up with a fair and rational argument as to why they don't like the game, based on their OPINION. Your "writer" status doesn't mean you are always right, you are starting to build up a very bad reputation on this website, especially after that "prove God exists" thread. I agreed with what you said but you don't argue these points out of respect for other people, something you are seriously lacking.

Here's another pointer, next time you see a thread title containing "Final Fantasy XIII"...Don't click it.

FF10-2 was really weird spin-off XII-2 looks to be much more of proper sequel. I'm getting it day one anyway ;)