Square Enix taught us something with Final Fantasy 13-2

[Gabranth_is_king_99]

Square Enix showed Final Fantasy fans why they didn't use time travelling as a main factor for story telling in previous games. The story tried to hard to be uniqe and good but failed to do both it is just asinine. Right or Wrong?

[Rowan]

In a strange way, I agree. I prefer the olden days when the world was under threat, be it the descruction of Crystals, A giant meteor plumiting to earth, An evil sorceress controlling ti... *ahem*, and there was always a evil person behind it all who you had to become strong enough to defeat at the end. The most notable of all, Sephiroth. I could really connect with the characters, even though they were very old style graphics some even with the use of really blocky polygons. These days, I find it hard to lose myself in the fantasy. The last great final fantasy I played was X, and that was proof that they can create great characters with unique personalites and easy to establish emotional connections with with good graphics.

[Zargabaath]

Square Enix showed Final Fantasy fans why they didn't use time travelling as a main factor for story telling in previous games.

Wrong. Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy VIII.

The story tried to hard to be uniqe and good but failed to do both it is just asinine. Right or Wrong?

I can agree with that so far.

SPOILER!!:

Everything being caused by a time paradox is a bit lazy. No real mystery is guessing what is happening in this time period when every answer is "Time Paradox". Things could have happened w/o the effects of a Time Paradox. Switch things up. The explanation of how the future affects the past is pretty simple. I had thoughts on how that would work & it came true. Though I felt it that the changes should have been far broader reaching than the simplicity that occured.

As of right now I feel that they made Hope a mechanism for a Mary Sue. So easy does he find the solution to build a Fal'Cie (or any problem/mystery that arises), which I have problems with, and that humans could give it the power to make L'Cie, even more with that. Basically destroying the foundation of the first game. And that the oracle drive also is a bit of a Mary Sue or Deus Ex that it "oh so conveniently" shows Serah and Noel fighting the Proto Fal'Cie.

And then there was basically re-using FFXIII's plot for some of FFXIII-2 with the Proto-Fal'Cie controlling Academia. Which was part of the forbidden history which was revealed way to quickly. Had no emotional punch. A lack of build up in some plot points I mentioned just hours ago. Not only lacking emotional attachment but the forbidden history is the exact same sh*t that was in FFXIII.

That's what I got for now. Maybe more or less as a progress through the game.

[Gabranth_is_king_99]

Did Final Fantasy 1 and 8 use time travelling throughout the whole course of the game? Didn't think so just the final segment

[Zargabaath]

But the time travel was key in the over-all plot. We, the players, just don't realize it. FFXIII-2 in this instance is more up front with it than the other games. Without time travel Final Fantasy would not have taken place.

SPOILER!!:

In FFXIII-2 they pay homage to Chaos with the Proto-Fal'Cie. Its existence mirrored that of Chaos'.

And without the ability to time travel in VIII, Ultimecia would never had been able to send her conscious back in time.

[RainingOasis]

It wasn't really a bad game, it had a pretty decent storyline. I think they should have had more open world exploration though. I t also would have been nice if you could have more than 2 party members. Maybe they could have kept more than 2 party members and kept the monster idea also.

[Andromeda]

I have no problems with the story in FFXIII-2. I can acknowledge it has its flaws, but at the end of the day the most important question more than anything else. Was the game enjoyable? If I can answer yes, then the story can be as silly or stupid as it wants. The game was fun and enjoyable and if I didn't have things that pulled me away from it, I'd go back and play it more even though I've already completed the Platinum.

So you can pick apart and analyze everything that you see wrong with the game as much as you want. But in the end if you played it and enjoyed the time with it then you should worry that much about the small stuff. If you didn't enjoy it, there's not going to be much I'm going to be able to say to make you change your mind.

On a personal level, I'm actually bored of the save the world theme. It was why FFXII was enjoyable, it was just about a single country. It did end up getting pretty much to the same point, but at least it was just a country and not the world. And it is why I enjoy the Atelier games on the PS3, they are simple story more focused on a personal dilemma.

Say what you will about Caius, but by the end of the game I actually found him a better villain than any previous FF game. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't a nameless evil or just some villain out to destroy the world because it was a Friday and they felt like it. Sure Caius is going to destroy the world, boring, but his reason was very human and like all humans very flawed. He just wants to save one person and often like what cliche heroes say, he was willing to see the whole world destroyed just for the sake of her. He is a flawed man doing a terrible thing, but he was human. And for actually being a human being and not a nameless power hungry source of a evil, I can enjoy that.

[cetra_aeris]

Say what you will about Caius, but by the end of the game I actually found him a better villain than any previous FF game. Unlike everyone else, he wasn't a nameless evil or just some villain out to destroy the world because it was a Friday and they felt like it.

I have to say that first of all, this is very true. X3 So many of the villains anymore are just there and ready to destroy the world with no real explanation. They're just apparently born evil or some wack. Caius, like you said had more human motives. Granted they were flawed and he went a bit extreme but he was unique in his reasoning so it was hard to completely hate him.

Story line wise, I thought it was kinda silly in some parts but that overall it was a good game. Time travel really isn't that new for Square-Enix, it has been used before and very successfully. I do wish they would have had a little bit more mystery to it, or maybe had other problems besides just the paradoxes but I still enjoyed the game regardless. The save the whole world theme is getting kinda old (However much I may enjoy replaying the older games) and something different every once in a while is kinda nice. Even if it is more laid back and cheesy than normal. ;3

There are definitly some things that I wish had been done differently or expanded on, but overall I enjoyed the game. And like Andromeda stated, if you feel you enjoyed it overall then the smaller points don't matter as much.

[Andres]

Final Fantasy 13-2 was enjoyable to me even if it had flaws. I still wish they can add some of the old Formula like towns being more active and NPC characters that has life and talk to you for a moment telling you some info. I really miss that alot =/

[Dimwitted]

True that final fantasy has had a dry run for the past few years my opinion being 9 was the last good one. I did buy and play the rest of the games just to see if they came up with a new decent ff game so to speak. After ff 13 was a complete let down did not think 13-2 would be much different but i am glad to say i was wrong ha 13-2 was the first final fantasy game i actually managed to sit down and enjoy playing since the ps1 games.

Very good game imo but i do agree time paradox was kinda silly to be the whole cause of what was wrong ...

Edit:

Caius was actually a decent villain as well most bad guys are just loopy in the head although a bit over the top he did have a believable reason to be a main antagonist

[IcyJJ]

It is hard to continue with the old ways of games. Think about it, as a business in the present, you tell a player to walk around a 2d world where the characters stand still and wait for you to punch in a command and you might as well be locking up your doors and stop making games.

Players today want action, graphics, and movement. Companies know that the long time fans will continue to play, but they also want fresh gamers to purchase their product as well. FFXIII and the sequel allow for the fans who are new to the world of RPGs to play a game that introduces them to how these types of games are played. After all, the point of some of the trophies is to beat a particular boss as fast as possible. I know that if that were the case in FFVI and FFT, Square would not have been around to merge with Enix.

Understanding that it is a new world of gaming that old players have to adapt to the new ways. Anyone know a person who refuses to use computers because it is too new to them? It is the same way. Comparing games to the old consoles should not happen. Take each console and see how the games have evolved. SNES and PSX FFs were turn based ATB with the focus on story and battle systems. PS2 FFs focused the new technology to create a world that was visually stunning to the player, but sacrificing in the battle systems to do that. If they didn't have raging fans beating down their doors for new games, they might have been able to change things. PS3/360 (ugh, i hate xbox) is where the new wave of games are now. Give it time, I imagine that there will be at least two more FFs for this generation of consoles. They always come up with a unique battle system for each game (or set of games since FFXIII looks like it still might have another).

Point being, they had to do something that would be different in the sequel that was not in the original. There has not been an FF where the "world map" was a grid. They also set up a world that has yet to be explored if and when FFXIII-3 would come out.

[Katpuss]

I really enjoyed (and am still enjoying) playing XIII-2. The time travel (although done before) is interesting and the characters really grew on me. The graphics are awesome and the gameplay i.e. paradigm system was actually improved.

I understand that people have their own opinions and that for some nothing will ever live up to VII but I still can't understand why XIII and XIII-2 keep getting slated?

XIII - The graphics were wonderful, the characters grew on me, the paradigm systems was a brilliant way of fighting and there was plenty to do after you had completed the main storyline i.e. the cieth stones and titan trials. Yes it wasn't as emotive as VII and was linear for the first 20 hours but was still good.

XIII-2 - All of the above apart from the linear aspect. This game is very good and a fitting sequel. Noel and Serah make a good team and the paradigm system has been improved from XIII.

I love the earlier FF installments but these ones are definitely in my top ten.

[Sakaea]

I started playing FF at VII. There hasn't been one I haven't liked. Yes, some are better than others. But every game has a redeeming quality that more than makes up for the one or two aspects you don't like.
FFVII: liked the whole thing
VIII: liked the whole thing
IX: kinda hard to get cards, but the fun of playing Tetra Master made up for it
X: badass game
X-2: the dress-spheres were kinda weird, but the challenge to find all the spheres and grids made up for it
XII: badass game
XIII: very linear at first, but the characters and leveling system made up for it
XIII-2: haven't beat it yet, but so far I like just about everything. The monster taming rocks.

So yes, FF has changed. But it's only going to keep changing as the gaming systems evolve. I for one can hardly wait to see where they'll take us next! I think it would be fascinating if they tried to take the favorite element from each FF and have a new story and characters, but include some form of that element in the game.

[Zidane77]

I agree with the author.
Good ol' FF storyline wouldve made this game a success, but they failed at that.

Even the short FFXII story was more interesting, and thats sad..