What's your opinion?

[Mihoushii]

I have noticed a lot of scrutiny on the newer installments of Final Fantasy. Starting with X-2. A lot of the complaints that I have read, I can honestly see the reasoning behind it. I have read many negative reviews for a lot of the newer Final Fantasies and just wanted to see what the opinions of the fans are.

For example, X-2 was scrutinized for being too J-Pop and upbeat and having Yuna and company dressed in "skimpy" outfits. I don't personally consider the outfits soooo skimpy except Rikku's maybe but it doesn't bother me enough to not play the game. I also think that considering the changes in Spira, the more upbeat J-Pop vibe is appropriate. I hate the point system though lol It drives me nuts trying to get that perfect 100% but that's not such a drawback. It's different and gives the game a little bit more of a challenge.

Another common one that I hear is that Final Fantasy XIII is too linear and it's boring with way too many cutscenes. Personally, after I got through the first hour or so and got to where I could roam a little bit more freely, I have really started to enjoy it. The graphics are amazing and for such a short time span I feel like that the storyline and character development are adequately paced. Oh, and Fang and Lightning are badass and Vanille is a lot of fun. Sahz is funny, too. I enjoy a lot of the personalities they gave the various characters.

Anyhoo, just wanted to see what everyone elses opinions are smile

[Absolute Claws]

XIII-2's story is pathetic, defies everything set up by XIII and retcons it for no good reason, has an awful ending, all as a result of a single plot device added as an excuse for the stupid downer ending that doesn't even make sense, The characters repeat the same thing over and over and over, the maps are still as linear as ever, the graphics are actually worse, none of the characters are likeable or interesting, the interesting and important parts of the plot go neglected, completion of the game adds nothing to the game at all, the ally AI is stupider then the ones in XIII, I could go on and on about why XIII-2 is a horrendous disappointment, especially as a sequel.

XII was simply a matter of the pacing, particularly going from the holy mountain of Ba'hamas or whatever its called to Archadia, and was too subtle with the character developments for people to take not of.

What I saw of XIV during release on livestreams was a very laggy game with poorly designed menus, a long boring grind, a boring battle system and an atrocious crafting system. 90% of the problems the game had during release from the looks of things have been dealt with, and most complaints nowadays are from people who never even had a look at XIV and heard about its release and decided they would automatically take a s**t whenever the game was mentioned. Hell, that's pretty much what happens with all the new games anyway. People probably don't even know what linear means (Hell, IV and X are practically as linear as XIII anyway).

But the BIGGEST problem people have with the newer instalments, whether they'll admit it or not, is that they're not the older games, or rather, they're not everyone's beloved, overrated VI.

[Bunni Geisha]

Because of lack of proper game systems and how the fighting was turn based I couldn't play Final Fantasy games until XIII— I never finished it but I got XIII-2 and LOVE it. I haven't finished it for lack of time and I'm more casual with my games rather than a hardcore play-all-the-time gamer.

All i know is, from my friends, that X-2 doesn't exist. No one has complained about any other title that I've seen myself.

[Zered Heizien]

my issue with X-2 was that the writing/story and voice acting were s**t compared to X.

beyond that, it probably has the best battle system in the series, and that trumps any story complaint i have with it.

[Internet Goblin]

Eh, the only issue I had with X-2 was that it retconned the bittersweet ending of X, but it IS possible to just have Yuna move on with her life and Tidus stay dead.

[Kuja9113]

Hooooookay here we go:

X-2
X-2 has extraordinary gameplay, but that's about it. Having an upbeat storyline makes a lot of sense, so that's not the problem. The problem is the fact that the basis of the storyline starts with Yuna finding a sphere that shows that TIdus may not be lost forever. And almost the entire game then has nothing to do with that. There's only three party members to play as, but that isn't so bad considering the [I believe] 14 jobs that you can apply to them. The sex value is cranked up to the max with the skimpy outfits and all-female cast running around acting like bimbos, participating in girl-on-girl massage mini games and a hot spring bikini splash party. Yuna's personality did a complete 180 and she's acts [and dresses] next to nothing like she did in the previous game. Also, by bringing back Tidus, it essentially takes a massive dump on X's beautifully sad ending.

XI
There's only one seriously major flaw with XI and that's the fact that it can only be played online. This creates two problems. First, despite being Square's most financially successful game in the franchise, it alienated a lot of the fanbase. Most people who call themselves fans of the series have never played it and probably never will. Second, the game itself suffers as a result of its online only gameplay. The story cannot be told as well as normal and the gameplay results in lengthy grind sessions and levelling that takes too long. Add into the fact that you have to rely on the community to succeed and it just isn't as user-friendly of an experience as usual.

XII
Personally, I love XII, and I can't quite figure out why it gets so much scrutiny. My gripes with it are small, but I think that the major complaint is the story. It's not a bad story, it's just not as exciting as most of the stories are. And there are plot points that drop off the face of the earth as a result of a switch in directors midway through the design process. The main protagonist has next to nothing to do with the story and was only thrown in there as a PR move so they could keep the trend of having a youthful protagonist, and a few of the characters come off as one dimensional and flat. A lot of people complain about the gambits playing the game for you, but that's hardly the case to me. The gambits are customizable, and allow for constant experimenting. The license board can be annoying as you essentially have to not only purchase spells and equipment, but also unlock the ability to use them on the license board. But I think it fits in well with the theme of oppressive law and order.

FFXIII
FFXIII is extremely linear, but not just in the literal sense that most people point out. FFX is also very linear, almost just as linear as FFXIII. But the difference between the two is that FFX has plenty of sidequests, and allows you an airship that takes you back to various locations. FFXIII has no sidequests outside of the Cie'th stone missions and doesn't allow you to revisit any areas except for Pulse. The story is a good narrative hidden beneath terrible writing. The weapon upgrades system is extremely difficult to understand and extremely complicated to use. The ending is very contradicting and goes against everything that the rest of the story set up. Which leads it to not make any sense. Crystarium is just a much simpler, prettier Sphere Grid system. The battle system holds your hand and literally plays the game for you with the Auto-Battle command. I do like the aspect of the Paradigm Shift system, but I wish they had added more paradigms. For being the fifth game in the series to offer a job class system, only having six classes is awfully underwhelming. There is a serious lack of summons by only assigning one per character, and replacing limit breaks with regular 'strong' attacks is also pretty underwhelming.

FFXIII-2
I haven't had the displeasure to play FFXIII-2 yet. But just from what I've seen in promotional stuff and the demo, there are only two playable party members. Two. Just two. That's even LESS that X-2. The third party member is replaced by a beastmaster type gameplay where you can recruit monsters to fight for you. I have to admit, the idea was actually pretty fun in practice, but I prefer having actual characters with background and conflicting opinions to join my team. I don't know what the story is about, but from what I understand, time travel is heavily involved. Which is always a stupid element to throw into something that in no way hinted towards it in the previous title. On that note, XIII's mythos allows for the most expansion in terms of story, but from what I've seen, aside from Etro, XIII-2 hardly does this. And I dunno if there's an explanation for this or not, but Serah was in no way a warrior in XIII, so how is she able to just pick up a sword AND a bow and rock everyone's world? And Mog has such an obnoxious voice. And while I actually like the majority of the DLC that SE has offered, they are extremely overpriced. All of the DLC combined costs more than FFXIII at launch: $64.

FFXIV
I also have not played FFXIV yet so please correct me if I'm mistaken on any accounts, but from what I understood at launch, the menu interface was not very good at all. The maps were confusing and uninspired. And it was lacking in many basic features like a marketplace, summons, a complete story, and Cid. Freaking Cid. It's also another online game, which means online fees and slower leveliing. But at least this one only encourages community and doesn't demand it like XI did. It is my understanding that you can play XIV to it's fullest without having to rely on other people. From what I've heard as of late, a good majority of these problems have been fixed in preparation for the upcoming XIV 2.0. But the story is still incomplete, which is a huge issue for me personally. I don't want to purchase an unfinished game and have to wait for episode patches. I want to be able to play it, and finish it.

Granted, none of these games are without their positive points. But all that I have mentioned above are what I believe makes the majority of people dislike X-2 onward.

[Mihoushii]

Kuja9113

Hooooookay here we go:

X-2
Also, by bringing back Tidus, it essentially takes a massive dump on X's beautifully sad ending.

You know, I hadn't thought of that. The X ending made me cry and does make that game seem more sincere and why I loved it.

[Ephemeral_Dream]

I really liked X-2. It was upbeat and there was a good reason for it. I don't mind Yuna's personality change. If you ask me, it helped me understand who she was. In X, she was meek and reserved because her role called for it. In X-2, she didn't have to worry about etiquette anymore. With Tidus and Rikku's influence, she became more confident and bold. The game-play was highly enjoyable! I feel like playing it again!

I really love XII. I admit, I really dislike how Basch wasn't the main character. Seriously, if they didn't change the role, I think the storyline would have been more clearer for people. I like the gambit system, it got rid of a lot repetitive actions I didn't want to do. Even if I wanted to do some manual actions, it's not like the game forbids me from doing so. Just shut off your gambits! The storyline made me actually sympathize with the villain. I did think the story was slow on some parts, but I liked it overall. The gameplay was pretty fun. I liked the whole hunting and loot-selling.

XIII was meh for me. It was very beautiful, but so linear! I don't know where your pov came from for exploration, but I think it was next to none...except Pulse, which I also think was pretty underwhelming. Also, I didn't get the story. I think it was rather contradicting and rather hopeless, despite all the motivation speeches. Some of the characters were enjoyable, but weren't all that engaging. I really only liked Fang and Vanille. I personally think it would have made more sense if they were the main stars of the show, which they sort of were, but I think Lightning took up a lot of attention. I don't mind that, she's a very cool character, but I feel like....hmmm...like she belonged some where else than in this universe. Also, I really hated how some NPC's really pushed aside, like Jihl and Cid.

I don't think I'll be playing XIII-2. I find it unnecessary and the time travel thing doesn't make sense to me because I feel like it's coming out of nowhere, unlike in X-2, there was something to investigate and that was the sphere video that had a Tidus-lookalike featured in it. I think I would've been more interested in the game if it was actually about rebuilding Cocoon on Pulse with the downside to Pulse fal'cie retaliating or something. Huh...that would have been interesting.

[MooMooJuice]

I adore X-2 and XII. Both are my top favourites. Of course I could be a little bias. X-2 was my first, and I always played it with my good friend, so it has a lot of fond memories attached to it. I was pretty young the first time I played it, maybe if I were older at the time I wouldn't feel the same about it.
Regardless, similar to what most others have said, it has an extremely addicting gameplay. Which is really all I need to like something. Personally, I enjoyed the story as well. I guess because I didn't play X first, I had no expectations that could be crushed like most people.

And I just love everything about XII. I love the characters (seriously, every single one, except Penelo sorta-kinda. But the antagonists especially, that doesn't usually happen), the story, the setting, the battle system (which does NOT involve random encounters and waiting for a different screen to load).
I will say, though. Usually you have to play this game twice to really understand what's going on. That's really not a good thing when it comes to storytelling, because you want to hook the audience right away. The pacing is also a bit odd. Right before the end the player is felt like something is missing. When things really start to get good, you realize, wait, I'm at the end? I love Vaan, but he's not main character material, and I really hate that Square Enix couldn't break the status quo with this one.

The first time I played XIII, I didn't have a PS3 yet. I played a little of the beginning with my friend. I didn't like it. It was too linear. I hated being restricted with what characters I could play with and use. Then I did a bit of research, and found out the reason for the restrictiveness of the game was their attempt to tell a story beyond what's normally done. This made me appreciate the system more, and I learned to enjoy it. After getting a ps3 and the game myself, I was able to explore a bit more, and realized it's really not as linear as I originally thought and everyone was making it out to be. I actually felt X was more linear by comparison. Except in X you can revisit everything. Other than that I think XIII has some of the best character development of any Final Fantasy I've played. If you can take a character I hated in the beginning and turn them into someone I admire by the end, that's pretty awesome in my book.

XIII-2. I will say the best thing that came out of the game were the cutscenes. Not the real-time ones, those were often horrible and mood-killers, but the normal ones. I've never seen more dynamic action sequences in a Final Fantasy game. Cutscenes before were generally flat. Just your standard shots, nothing special. But they really began playing with effects and and perspective in XIII-2, and some pretty incredible stuff came out of it. I love watching The second to last cutscene with Caius. The music and everything is just... amazing.
Other than that. Noel was a great character, but I liked Serah more in XIII. In that game she felt a more timid and quiet, which I liked. In XIII-2 I felt her character had become more typical. Her personality wasn't anything new, and she ended up being rather 'meh'. But it could just be because everything she was dealing with at the time in XIII. Maybe she was never the type of character I'd like to begin with.

[Sandokiri]

Mihoushii

I have noticed a lot of scrutiny on the newer installments of Final Fantasy. Starting with X-2. A lot of the complaints that I have read, I can honestly see the reasoning behind it. I have read many negative reviews for a lot of the newer Final Fantasies and just wanted to see what the opinions of the fans are.

For example, X-2 was scrutinized for being too J-Pop and upbeat and having Yuna and company dressed in "skimpy" outfits.

Skimpy player character outfits started with Adult Rydia if not sooner. My problem with X-2 was that once you accept its plot, the entire second half of X loses a lot of its emotional power. Even though most people are aware of this, tossing the explanation under spoiler tag:

It starts from the point where the party decides that Yuna won't go through with being sacrificed... and builds up to the realisation that Tidus and Auron will be doomed should the party succeed. In a twist that this half of nobody and the other half of way too many people could not have foreseen, Tidus was actually ended along with the dreamstate. The result is actually rather powerful, and Yuna's apparent final character development made sense - "This is our story now."

X2's dominant premise is that Yuna and Rikku are chasing the possibility that what followed Yu Yevon's destruction didn't really happen; and its ultimate reward is that this negation is fully realised. The past wasn't just remembered, it was never let go of, which was pretty much the opposite of Yuna's ultimate speech.

Sure, the Charlie's Angels / Sailor Moon / Jem mix is easily teased; but.

[Zered Heizien]

i dont know what everyones problem with Tidus in X-2 is.
at the end of X we see Tidus waking up in the ocean and swimming to the surface.
in X-2 we see this exact same scene, only extended.
not sure what the issue is.

[Kuja9113]

Zered Heizien

i dont know what everyones problem with Tidus in X-2 is.
at the end of X we see Tidus waking up in the ocean and swimming to the surface.
in X-2 we see this exact same scene, only extended.
not sure what the issue is.

I think Sandokiri summed it up perfectly. But aside from that, the initial ending of FFX leaves Tidus' whereabouts up to interpretation. SE may not have planned on making a sequel originally, and may have only decided to do so after fan response.

Personally, my interpretation of it was that TIdus had simply returned to wherever he came from. Be it the dream world or wherever. Even if it wasn't on a physical plane, he could have continued to exist in that world as a memory. Either that or maybe he no longer existed, but rather it was just a reminder of who he was, showing that his memory is still alive. X-2 merely built on that thought and made it so that he he returned to Besaid instead. Which reminds me, actually. I've always thought it dumb that FFX had this extremely tragic ending, but yet, in X-2, all Yuna had to do was ask the Fayth to bring him back. And bam! He's back. Sounds like a pretty simple solution. Why the hell didn't they offer earlier?

[Zered Heizien]

Quote:

SE may not have planned on making a sequel originally, and may have only decided to do so after fan response.

it wasnt planned, though there was talk of revisiting Spira at some point.

Quote:

Which reminds me, actually. I've always thought it dumb that FFX had this extremely tragic ending, but yet, in X-2, all Yuna had to do was ask the Fayth to bring him back. And bam! He's back. Sounds like a pretty simple solution. Why the hell didn't they offer earlier?

X didnt have a tragic ending.
Sin was defeated forever and the cycle of sacrificing summoners and guardians was broken.
everyone can live peacefully knowing that Sin will never return.
nothing really tragic about that outside of Tidus disappearing due to Yu Yevon being destroyed.
even then the only sad part was when Tidus was fading away and Yuna wanted to hug him but couldnt.
that lasted all of 1-2 minutes until Tidus jumped off of the airship, smiling, and giving Jecht a high-five.

as for the other part, X-2 isnt exactly regarded for its writing or storytelling.
only answer i can give is they(they being Yuna, the Fayth, whoever) didnt think of it at the time.

[Raemyi]

I have overall positive opinions of all of them. The major reason why the newer ones get more criticism, I think, is exactly *because* they're new. How silly and pointless would it be for someone to post something about how horribly linear IV was, or how V had a simplistic storyline, or how IX had a different form of the ATB system than VII or VIII, or how VII was full of exploits and glitches, or how they liked less than half of VI's far-too-many characters?

They're new, they're in the spotlight, and they're going to get all the criticism that the combined forces of the internet can muster. As far as I'm guessing, in 10-15 years, X-2 is going to be some sort of cult classic, and people will be spamming topics about how XV, XVI, and XVII are the worst entries in the series. sweatdrop

[bigbaldwolf86]

Zered Heizien

my issue with X-2 was that the writing/story and voice acting were s**t compared to X.

beyond that, it probably has the best battle system in the series, and that trumps any story complaint i have with it.

I'm with you. The battle system was fantastic even if the story wasn't inspiring. I still like X-2 though despite it's flaws