Why are FF13-15 storylines so convoluted?

[Odin1199]

I read alot of reviews on FFXIII series and also know FFXV story isn't the most straight forward to follow either. Why can't the devs just stop trying so hard to make "unique" stories?

[loaf]

13 is easy to follow if you read the 'Data Entry updated' on a regular to understand what just happened and a bit more info that is mostly explained via text (stupid imo). If not, then the game is pretty confusing as you'll question a lot of things.

13-2 is kind of confusing but I believe it's a bit of the same way, read what they give you but still confusing.

14 is an MMO and you can easily follow the story by reading and not skipping a cut scene, really not hard to follow if you pay attention. It's not that confusing either, you can sort of get a grasp of whats going on by rushing through dialog.

Can't say for 15, unfortunately.

[Pete]

The codex style should really only be used to fill in extra info that doesn't affect major story lines. It should give historical details, odd facts, enemy info and updated info on characters as you learn it. Basically, things that enrich the world and lore.

If you need to go to the codex to understand major plot holes, there's a problem. That was one of my problems with FFXII and XIII, aside from what I thought were subpar stories, ability systems and battle systems.

[Rowan]

14 is great. I actually really liked 14, If it wern't for p2p and having to do raids with other people, Id probably still be playing it to this day. The lag means I often am not outside the aoe even when my character is, and still cop the damage.

But yeah, I agree completely with the usage of the word 'conveluted' when describing the storylines of 13 and even 15. To me the word expresses 'unessasarily complicated', which is exactly what 13 and 15 are. I still believe 12 was the last 'good' final fantasy game, with 10 being the last 'great' final fantasy. As for why the storylines are so convoluted, blame the writers. This is why I have hope for the remake of FF7. The story and characters already exist, I have faith.

[Pete]

I also put a lot of blame on the systems that took away from the character identities. Not everyone in FFX or FFXII should be able to have the same ridiculous magic or strength factors. What was more ridiculous was that you could make Penelo a warrior if you felt like it.

They literally took the coolest parts of The Elder Scrolls and applied it in the worst possible manner.

[Odin1199]

Devs probably thought putting cliches inside cliches that were inside more cliches was an original idea. Too much acid, these devs.

[loaf]

I understood everything in FFXII and I didn't read a single codex.

and I hate politics.

I get why it's weird having Penelo as a Warrior class but you've technically been able to do that since FF2. Make that weak character into that buff one. No matter what, it's not as weird as having LuLu's doll do 99,999 lol.

[Odin1199]

Or Selphie's slots move that does 1000 times more damage than the whole team's combined.

[Xanatos]

Biggest issue with XIII and its story is that it doesn't ease you into it, it throws some heavy names and concepts right away, without reading certain entries in the datalog it's easy to get confused. That being said it was an otherwise good story with rather weak characters, if that makes any sense. I have yet to play FF XIV (most probably never will) and XV.

[Alpha]

Since X I've only played XII once, XIII once, and XIII-2 maybe 80%. I haven't followed their storylines at all, but I think the main reason is that there are so many damn sidequests that I tend to take far too long between story events, and just forget wtf is happening. No idea who the villain is in XII, but I still remember going out and getting fucking rabbit skins for some dude.

[Odin1199]

I wish things were back to being clear like in FF6 where the player knew what was happening, instead of being in the dark and guessing all the time. That just starts wearing down on the player and they lose focus altogether. Let's hope Squeenix heeds our prayers.

[Kurt Zisa]

That's funny you say that. I never know where to begin looking when I start the second continent. I feel that's probably the vaguest part of a ff game.

[Odin1199]

Yeah, the second continent is nothing but mini stories scattered in a postapocalyptic world.

[Spooniest]

FF has had plot problems from about the 7th installment onward if you ask me.

Story isn't everything, even in an RPG. There is a certain fun to just grinding monsters into powder (well, gil and exp). But the story really has seemed to get "more complicated for complication's sake," as others have already said.

...I mean, when you have a restrictive setting like European High Fantasy as your base, there is only so far it can be taken before it becomes something that doesn't fit into that kind of setting at all. And there have been a lot of European (-type?) High Fantasy stories that have either come into existence or resurged in popularity since 1987 (when Final Fantasy came out).

I don't know if it's the fact that the competition has gotten stiffer, or that FF itself just seems to be losing steam with time (as most things do), but the stories have sort of become nonstarters for me, at least.