Lightning Returns XIII-3

[Julian]

That looked awesome, but it just reinforced what a stupid cluster fuck the story of this series is.

[Alkar]

Well... XIII-2 seems like a mess in that trailer because they've left out many things.

[Elcura]

I don't think leaving them in would make much more sense.

[Lucavi]

^ The story is retarded, and no amount of adding, deleting, or "ultamecia" guide-ing can salvage this wreck.

Square loves to bloat up their plots, and while sometimes it works in a cool way (XENOGEARS CAN BLOAT ALL DAY, BABY), when you start Nomura-ing shit up and getting fanciful instead of staying technically grounded and sound, you end up with stuff like this.

I still haven't finished XIII yet, and have no interest in doing so. After 17-ish hours of grinding through linearity (I tend to over-level my characters for a given point in games), I didn't have the stomach to keep going once I hit gran pulse.

[Tyrath]

^ Too bad because Gran Pulse is the only break you get from linearity in that game. And FFXIII-2 gameplay is much better. Same seems to be the case for Lightning Returns, but the story is a different matter. At this point the battle system is what is selling the game for me.

[Insanecyclone]

I stopped at pulse too in 13 but finished 13-2. 13-2 was pretty damn fun...actually.

[Fievel]

Yeah 13-2 is actually a great game as far as gameplay itself. Story is definitely a bit of a mess but even that's not nearly as bad as most people think it is.

It's sad because despite it being a good game it will never be recognized for it thanks to FF13. That and gamers being gamers and over dramatizing the issues with the story.

[Exoduso]

The story in 13-2 is really not that complicated...

[Jakson]

XII Curse: Terrible, linear game because there weren't Riddler Tropies or, idk, yoga or triathlon mini-games.

[Vaspinne]

If you think about it, if you want to progress the storyline, aren't all Final Fantasy games linear?

I mean, I get it, non-linear means you can go where ever, whenever. But looking back at all the Final Fantasy games made, if you want the story to move forward, you pretty much have to go on a specific route to do it. Sure, you can leave Midgar in FF7 and run around pretty much everywhere (within that mountainous area so long as you don't have a boco/submarine/airship). But if you want to continue the story, you're gonna have to go to that dinky little town eventually. And then eventually through that swamp with the basilisks.

10 was linear as fuck too. You literally walked down a path from town to town, temple to temple, lol. 12, you had hunts and quests and shit, but again, progressing the story, you had to go a certain route to do so. Same exact thing with 8 and 9. Lots of quests and mini-games and things on the side, but to progress the story, gotta follow a pretty strict path despite the game having a world map.

And then you take FF1-6, the open maps are almost a hindrance sometimes. You can go wherever, but sometimes the story doesn't even tell you which town to look for next, or where it even is on the map. And if you don't play the game for a long while, it's hard as fuck remembering what the last thing you did was unless you kept a journal or bookmarked a website guide or something, lol.

So when I see people complain about games being too linear, I guess that's just a complaint about no world map, as well as not enough quests/mini-games along the way to provide breaks in the story? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the more I think about it, the more this complaint about games being linear just seems... well... a little over dramatic.

[Gokulo]

So when I see people complain about games being too linear, I guess that's just a complaint about no world map, as well as not enough quests/mini-games along the way to provide breaks in the story?

That's pretty much it. People ignore that all FF games are linear in the real sense of the world and that they're actually complaining about the lack of open world and enough side-tracks.

[Jakson]

In any game, there is a certain number of things you have to do to get to the credits, and some people like a bunch of other stuff to do other than those things at every point in the game, or, at least, earlier than XIII did. Those people generally didn't like XII because of that, and that's where we get most of the complaints. I enjoy both ways of going about things, provided they have at least some impact on the the people or objects in the main sequence of objectives; I get why a lot of games have to have so much completely unrelated things to do (which essentially reminds me of smartphone type games - by themselves, they're the scourge of modern gaming industry; included in a GTA or Batman, they make the game GOTYAY) to please gamers nowadays, but, like the previous couple of posts point out, it is kind of stupid to expect a main sequence FF non-linear in the same sense that the more popular games are.

[Thiefami]

All FFs within the past 15 years have been linear but have plenty of sidequests and activities in previously visited areas and usually this begins from the start. You could also level or not level grind at your leisure. Issue with 13 was everything Lucavi mentioned. Once I hit Gran Pulse, I tried.. I really did. I couldn't stomach another battle nor could I stomach to continue playing the game. I should probably try 13-2, I'm sure it could be a great game. I have very little interest in Lightning:R, but that has little to do with my negative view of 13 and everything to do with Lightning not being a very interesting character.

[Elcura]

All FFs within the past 15 years have been linear but have plenty of sidequests and activities in previously visited areas and usually this begins from the start. You could also level or not level grind at your leisure. Issue with 13 was everything Lucavi mentioned. Once I hit Gran Pulse, I tried.. I really did. I couldn't stomach another battle nor could I stomach to continue playing the game. I should probably try 13-2, I'm sure it could be a great game. I have very little interest in Lightning:R, but that has little to do with my negative view of 13 and everything to do with Lightning not being a very interesting character.

Yeah, but the flak FF13 gets for being linear is extreme when you consider that side quests and other activities are rarely fun, interesting or relevant. I can't think of many (or a single) side quest I cared about more than the actual plot. Unless you want things like Blitzball and Triple Triad that you can just play randomly (playing a game in a game, whatever) while doing shit then yeah, FFXIII messed up there.

But seriously who gives a shit? People complain about the pettiest shit when FFXIII has problems beyond how linear it is. Like stupid story, characters, plot progression and uninteresting battle system with no control over aspects that require it.

[Ratatapa]

Lightning returns dualshock 3

http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-Du...htning+returns


pretty meh tbh

[Charismatic]

I can't think of many (or a single) side quest I cared about more than the actual plot.

What's the context of this statement? just FF games? just JRPGs?

[Elcura]

What's the context of this statement? just FF games? just JRPGs?

FF games. Since if you want good RPGs FF isn't exactly the definitive series lol

[Serra]

Wait, so people complaining about XIII being too linear stopped playing in Gran Pulse? Aka, the area that's a massive sidequest?

[Adajer]

I havent complained about this not being on ps4 in a while.

[Charismatic]

Wait, so people complaining about XIII being too linear stopped playing in Gran Pulse? Aka, the area that's a massive sidequest?

Ever heard the phrase "too little, too late"