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GAME: Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns


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Chrno2



Joined: 28 May 2004
Posts: 6171
Location: USA
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 1:02 pm Reply with quote
Well, I'm looking forward to it. I was thinking today about how all 3 games are so different. I guess that's a good thing. After dealing with FFXIII being one piece of story, set in a world with some plot issues, where you literally have to read a webnovel just to tie in the events where things actually make sense you're still left with questions. But at least it was a story. By the time FFXIII-2 came around, it was a whole different story, system and questions. And I definitely felt the difference between the 2. And now here we are at the final installment and this will be no different. Another system, plot and questions. At least the good thing is that it's over.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 2:33 pm Reply with quote
Chrno2 wrote:
Well, I'm looking forward to it. I was thinking today about how all 3 games are so different. I guess that's a good thing. After dealing with FFXIII being one piece of story, set in a world with some plot issues, where you literally have to read a webnovel just to tie in the events where things actually make sense you're still left with questions. But at least it was a story. By the time FFXIII-2 came around, it was a whole different story, system and questions. And I definitely felt the difference between the 2. And now here we are at the final installment and this will be no different. Another system, plot and questions. At least the good thing is that it's over.


Indeed. Once this is over done and with, we can concentrate on FFXV, the actual FF everyone really wants to see.
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Enner



Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 91
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 4:59 pm Reply with quote
I didn't know where this long review was going so I was surprised at the A- overall score. ANN and USgamer's reviewers embraced and appreciated the oddities and dysfunctions of Lightning Returns. By contrast, the reviewers of GameSpot and Polygon were more frustrated and bored. Of these four reviews, everyone agrees the game is a mess.

This has me eagerly curious to play the game as a person who has not played Final Fantasy 13 or Final Fantasy 13-2.

Alas, Bravely Default and a recently-purchased Final Fantasy 14 come first. Still, I will keep an eye out for a sale on Lightning Returns a few months down the road.
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BGMaxie



Joined: 28 Nov 2009
Posts: 63
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 5:24 pm Reply with quote
Enner wrote:
I didn't know where this long review was going so I was surprised at the A- overall score. ANN and USgamer's reviewers embraced and appreciated the oddities and dysfunctions of Lightning Returns. By contrast, the reviewers of GameSpot and Polygon were more frustrated and bored. Of these four reviews, everyone agrees the game is a mess.

This has me eagerly curious to play the game as a person who has not played Final Fantasy 13 or Final Fantasy 13-2.

Alas, Bravely Default and a recently-purchased Final Fantasy 14 come first. Still, I will keep an eye out for a sale on Lightning Returns a few months down the road.
I played the Demo and the gameplay is very immersive, the game tells you that you need to pay attention, and it is darn right on that, if you're playing this game, you gotta concentrate, and that itself gets you deep on the game.

Also the game starts with throwing you in some real nasty conflict. I have to disagree that it is irrelevant to know about the past characters, because having to pursuit a much darker Snow while facing a doppelganger Serah that clearly has no noble intentions, is enough to tell you the setting is very crazy.

I also checked some reviews and as it usual in the 13's trilogy the negative comments tend to be full of hatred but without any core or interesting explanation or details, just "it is awful" for the sake of saying it, which is hardly to take seriously. Positive reviews DO emphasize on its many innovations and customizations, as this review here says, "it is a mess, but a good one" is perhaps the most accurate description.
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CrownKlown



Joined: 05 May 2011
Posts: 1762
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:33 pm Reply with quote
Enner wrote:
I didn't know where this long review was going so I was surprised at the A- overall score. ANN and USgamer's reviewers embraced and appreciated the oddities and dysfunctions of Lightning Returns. By contrast, the reviewers of GameSpot and Polygon were more frustrated and bored. Of these four reviews, everyone agrees the game is a mess.

This has me eagerly curious to play the game as a person who has not played Final Fantasy 13 or Final Fantasy 13-2.

Alas, Bravely Default and a recently-purchased Final Fantasy 14 come first. Still, I will keep an eye out for a sale on Lightning Returns a few months down the road.


The aggregate ratings so far are 67/70 for the ps3 and 360 respectively, so I would take this sites review with a grain of salt. As bad as the first two games were they still had ratings close to or above 80 percent, this one not so much, so it says a lot when even the FF moniker can't bring up your scores.

Famitisu gave it a high score 37/40 but then again I honestly cannot think of a jrpg that did not recieve a high score.

IGN is fairly credible and gave it a 7, and gamespot gave relatively decent scores to the first two, so I have to think the 5 this time was not biased, if anything a surprise given the scores of the first two.

All in all this game will probably only appeal to those that liked the first two, and than even some of those might dislike concepts like the time management.
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BGMaxie



Joined: 28 Nov 2009
Posts: 63
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:09 pm Reply with quote
CrownKlown wrote:
Enner wrote:
I didn't know where this long review was going so I was surprised at the A- overall score. ANN and USgamer's reviewers embraced and appreciated the oddities and dysfunctions of Lightning Returns. By contrast, the reviewers of GameSpot and Polygon were more frustrated and bored. Of these four reviews, everyone agrees the game is a mess.

This has me eagerly curious to play the game as a person who has not played Final Fantasy 13 or Final Fantasy 13-2.

Alas, Bravely Default and a recently-purchased Final Fantasy 14 come first. Still, I will keep an eye out for a sale on Lightning Returns a few months down the road.


The aggregate ratings so far are 67/70 for the ps3 and 360 respectively, so I would take this sites review with a grain of salt. As bad as the first two games were they still had ratings close to or above 80 percent, this one not so much, so it says a lot when even the FF moniker can't bring up your scores.

Famitisu gave it a high score 37/40 but then again I honestly cannot think of a jrpg that did not recieve a high score.

IGN is fairly credible and gave it a 7, and gamespot gave relatively decent scores to the first two, so I have to think the 5 this time was not biased, if anything a surprise given the scores of the first two.

All in all this game will probably only appeal to those that liked the first two, and than even some of those might dislike concepts like the time management.
Other sites reviews are also to be taken with grains of salt. For example the aggregate reviews based on user feedback had moderate to high score like 5 to 8-10 points, but negatives were mostly 0s, which the end result being a moderate score at best.

I personally liked the first two games, although I will admit to some of their mistakes. Based on the aforementioned scores I can say the negative scores are full of bias since they barely say anything at all at that.

Also some of the story and character criticism on the reviews tend to forget a lot of of the previous games and makes it look as if it was random, misplaced or even also incomprehensible and senseless while you need to form the chain of events to better grasp the full idea. Snow did not stop being "reckless and cheerful" just because "yeah" the story in the game and before that gives you the reason of why. Same with Sazh too for example.

I'm not sure if it may be for the best, but people trying to review Lightning Returns on an entirely different scope than the other games almost forgetting that it is part of a trilogy for a reason, tends to sway and bias a lot of the reviews at that. Some positive aspects are also salvaged by taking the game "away" from the other two, but comparisons are then eventually seen too.

All in all, and I may sound like a fanboy, I can seriously doubt a lot of the criteria used for the negative criticism, since a lot of that negativity is unjustified and would change if they took into account "what lead to what".
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Rahxephon91



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 1859
Location: Park Forest IL.
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:18 pm Reply with quote
Very excited to play this one.
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Asterisk-CGY



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 398
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:24 pm Reply with quote
I need to get to my Bravely Default.
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shamisen the great



Joined: 08 Jun 2010
Posts: 658
Location: Oregon, USA
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:15 pm Reply with quote
I'm a little wary of the time limit. That was part of the reason I never finished Majora's Mask. I don't like the added stress of an enforced deadline for tasks. Still, I actually like the story in XIII so I have to see the series to it's conclusion.
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brucepuppy





PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:07 pm Reply with quote
Hmm,not quite sure if i can tackle this one. I'm pretty good at 3-years-or-so time management in Atelier series, but LR only has 13 days and the combat looks way more intense.

At least i'm happy with ANN's review. It does give me some encouragement to buy (i was in doubt since the Japanese release)
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:14 pm Reply with quote
Okay, I've been out of the loop for a while, can someone bring me up to speed?:
I hated-hated-HATED XII, its non-linear plot that forced you to take part-time jobs while waiting for the plot to happen, the endlessly convoluted landscapes, the "gambit" setup that pretty much made the game play itself, and those danged red arcs...

So, I never really found out how the gameplay was on XIII, XIII-2 or XIV, and whether any of them even faintly resembled the comfortable mix of turn-based control and real-time battle from X and X-2.
I'd like to get back in, but can someone break the good and bad points down for someone who thinks they lost something after they went PS3?

(And don't get me wrong, I'm still a SquareEnix fan from Kingdom Hearts, but if KH3 goes over the new-console cliff like XII did...)


Last edited by EricJ2 on Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Panon



Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 242
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:14 pm Reply with quote
CrownKlown wrote:
The aggregate ratings so far are 67/70 for the ps3 and 360 respectively, so I would take this sites review with a grain of salt. As bad as the first two games were they still had ratings close to or above 80 percent, this one not so much, so it says a lot when even the FF moniker can't bring up your scores.

Famitisu gave it a high score 37/40 but then again I honestly cannot think of a jrpg that did not recieve a high score.

IGN is fairly credible and gave it a 7, and gamespot gave relatively decent scores to the first two, so I have to think the 5 this time was not biased, if anything a surprise given the scores of the first two.

All in all this game will probably only appeal to those that liked the first two, and than even some of those might dislike concepts like the time management.


I completely agree that we should ignore Dave's detailed review and the opinions he gives in it because his conclusion doesn't match some arbitrary number.
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Mister Ryan Andrews



Joined: 28 Jan 2014
Posts: 219
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:14 pm Reply with quote
CrownKlown wrote:
Famitisu gave it a high score 37/40 but then again I honestly cannot think of a jrpg that did not recieve a high score.

IGN is fairly credible and gave it a 7, and gamespot gave relatively decent scores to the first two, so I have to think the 5 this time was not biased, if anything a surprise given the scores of the first two.


Wait, Famitsu's score is questionable because they like JRPGs but IGN who isn't very fond of JRPGs giving it a 7 is more credible? That doesn't make much sense if they both have preferences unless it comes down to which preferences lines up with your own. Besides, IGN giving a JRPG a 7 is pretty generous for them at the end of the day. 7/8 range is about the highest you'll see them give a JRPG.
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jsc315



Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:19 pm Reply with quote
why is it that these games insist that you dress up your character and have these dresses as power suits. Seems like a lot of this game is taking notes from X-2 and this was around the time I stopped played Final Fantasy games.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 19 Jan 2012
Posts: 637
PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:32 pm Reply with quote
Remember to ignore all text in reviews. The only thing that matters is that you critique the number at the end.

CrownKlown wrote:

All in all this game will probably only appeal to those that liked the first two, and than even some of those might dislike concepts like the time management.


From the review: "What we have here bears so little in common with its predecessors that it might as well be an entirely different series."

As well as: "You can play this without having played Final Fantasy XIII. It might be better that way, to enter without any preconceived notions built by a game that took thirty-some hours to get good, and, even then, "good" was a relative term."

All in all, take forum posts with a grain of salt because aggregate posts show a lack of reading comprehension (and don't have ratings above 80%)
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