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Alright, Era. I'm tipsy so now I'm popping the question on y'all. FFXIII or FFXV? Which do you prefer?
- Thread starter Quinton
- Start date
Pretty much.
At least the whole playable cast didn't feel like different colored hair versions of the protagonist...
XIII is bad but weirdly the characters are better than XV which was supposed to be it's focus.
I hated Prompto, Gladius and uh Ingus? Bromanship stuff. Did not do anything for me. XIII had really hammy moments and the characters were very bland/typical but at least they were kinda diverse and looked interesting and had at least a good scene somewhere. XV I just found the entire main cast and side cast totally uninteresting beyond a few meme like shit with I found a new recipe or cup noodles.
Kinda feel like XIII and XV had different drop off points. XV it starts and it's like woah ok this might be cool but the battle system is weak as shit and gradually you realise all these quests are boring busy work and not rewarding at all and you kinda of start losing faith. Then you continue the story and it just gets weaker and weaker, the scene where the king has died is so fucking bad, Jarreds kid is intel on a kings tombs and jarreds death was gobsmacking cringe and that just the start of it all.
XIII is boring right from the get go, you have to push yourself to get through it and it builds to having a fairly fun battle system but doesn't improve much beyond that.
I hated Prompto, Gladius and uh Ingus? Bromanship stuff. Did not do anything for me. XIII had really hammy moments and the characters were very bland/typical but at least they were kinda diverse and looked interesting and had at least a good scene somewhere. XV I just found the entire main cast and side cast totally uninteresting beyond a few meme like shit with I found a new recipe or cup noodles.
Kinda feel like XIII and XV had different drop off points. XV it starts and it's like woah ok this might be cool but the battle system is weak as shit and gradually you realise all these quests are boring busy work and not rewarding at all and you kinda of start losing faith. Then you continue the story and it just gets weaker and weaker, the scene where the king has died is so fucking bad, Jarreds kid is intel on a kings tombs and jarreds death was gobsmacking cringe and that just the start of it all.
XIII is boring right from the get go, you have to push yourself to get through it and it builds to having a fairly fun battle system but doesn't improve much beyond that.
I actually really enjoyed my time with XIII. Its by no means perfect but the world building and gameplay were pretty entertaining.
I really wanted to like XV since I am a big KH fan. The combat ended up not being at all what I was expecting (in a bad way). The concept of a modern world FF is really great, but its clear the game was super incomplete. For me, story is the most important thing and ff15 couldnt hook me so i dropped it about halfway through. 13s plot is more complicated than most but its pretty interesting once you get it.
I actually hated 13-2 because they basically threw out all of the stuff i liked in 13s story lol
I really wanted to like XV since I am a big KH fan. The combat ended up not being at all what I was expecting (in a bad way). The concept of a modern world FF is really great, but its clear the game was super incomplete. For me, story is the most important thing and ff15 couldnt hook me so i dropped it about halfway through. 13s plot is more complicated than most but its pretty interesting once you get it.
I actually hated 13-2 because they basically threw out all of the stuff i liked in 13s story lol
Damn all those Final Fantasy XV trailers highkey bamboozled us
XV is actually a functioning game, all of its numerous flaws aside. XIII is a weird avant garde art project trying to see how little they could get away with in a Final Fantasy game.
It's close but I had to go with XIII on this one. I'm lucky, especially as a longtime fan, and was able to enjoy both entries with warts and all. I felt like XIII was better at being a Final Fantasy game: A group of strangers uniting along the way for a larger purpose. I enjoyed XIII's plot and lore but it certainly had questionable execution. I found the world and journey to be more complete than XV's as well. The battle system became one of the best in the series by the end of the game. The visual and audio polish is fantastic as well - still love listening to Hamauzu's wonderful soundtrack. To counter, it needed vastly superior navigation and pacing. Dungeons overstayed their welcome and the player needed more flexibility much earlier on. I was still happy to go on the journey.
XV is nearly the opposite for me. It went off the reservation for how I perceive an FF game a little too much. I did love the protagonist and antagonist; frankly they are some of my favorites in the series. However, it's too much for me to ignore some sloppy storytelling (you know the story beats I'm speaking of) and awkward peeling of the plot onion. Really no FF game has poor music but XV struggled to execute its soundtrack to make moments carry more weight. Loved the ending and I honestly liked the back half because it felt more FF to me. I don't really dislike either game, but I hope that Square has learned from their shortcomings for VIIr - excited to see what's in store for next gen's FFXVI!
XV is nearly the opposite for me. It went off the reservation for how I perceive an FF game a little too much. I did love the protagonist and antagonist; frankly they are some of my favorites in the series. However, it's too much for me to ignore some sloppy storytelling (you know the story beats I'm speaking of) and awkward peeling of the plot onion. Really no FF game has poor music but XV struggled to execute its soundtrack to make moments carry more weight. Loved the ending and I honestly liked the back half because it felt more FF to me. I don't really dislike either game, but I hope that Square has learned from their shortcomings for VIIr - excited to see what's in store for next gen's FFXVI!
This one not being in makes no sense though; why would they leave it out? It's so powerful. It alone could have half-way redeemed Noctis-Regis father son arc. What the hell Tabata?
Very easy choice for me: FF XIII
Apart from the linearity I am mostly fine with it and had a lot of fun. It was an entertaining ride from start to finish. It looked good, the music was great, the combat system was interesting and worked quite well (a higher difficulty would have been nice) and I liked the characters and development of the story. The game was complete / finished and a polished package.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is FF 15. No aspect of that game is finished or well designed. There is an open world and nothing interesting or rewarding to do. Only filler content. Hours of "fun" for endless grinding and fetch quests while controlling some unlikeable dudes who should have died at the beginning when the whole mess started in the movie. A story and villain so boring even square did not care about it. On top of that is a combat system that is one of the most broken things I have ever experienced in a game. The icing on the cake is the broken shit that's the car to move from A to B. Even after a lot of patches 95% of the problems still exists. They should have scrapped the whole thing instead of releasing it.
Apart from the linearity I am mostly fine with it and had a lot of fun. It was an entertaining ride from start to finish. It looked good, the music was great, the combat system was interesting and worked quite well (a higher difficulty would have been nice) and I liked the characters and development of the story. The game was complete / finished and a polished package.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is FF 15. No aspect of that game is finished or well designed. There is an open world and nothing interesting or rewarding to do. Only filler content. Hours of "fun" for endless grinding and fetch quests while controlling some unlikeable dudes who should have died at the beginning when the whole mess started in the movie. A story and villain so boring even square did not care about it. On top of that is a combat system that is one of the most broken things I have ever experienced in a game. The icing on the cake is the broken shit that's the car to move from A to B. Even after a lot of patches 95% of the problems still exists. They should have scrapped the whole thing instead of releasing it.
FF13 is both a (much) better game than 15 and also closer to what I expect of a Final Fantasy game.
The story itself is pretty interesting even though it sometimes isn't told well. Same goes for the characters and general setting. The battle system is fun and definitely better than most other entries in the series; I see it as a fast paced evolution of the ATB. The game feels a little too linear overall, but in general I like this type of linearity and think it a good fit for FF games.
In FF15 on the other hand nothing really felt right to me. The story seemed all over the place and wasn't engaging at all (or only during very short moments). Characters were dull and didn't have the diversity I expect of a FF game. And then there's the gameplay which I just couldn't get into either, to be honest it was one of the worst experiences I had in action RPGs.
Overall the game was still somewhat playable, but ultimately just not good.
The story itself is pretty interesting even though it sometimes isn't told well. Same goes for the characters and general setting. The battle system is fun and definitely better than most other entries in the series; I see it as a fast paced evolution of the ATB. The game feels a little too linear overall, but in general I like this type of linearity and think it a good fit for FF games.
In FF15 on the other hand nothing really felt right to me. The story seemed all over the place and wasn't engaging at all (or only during very short moments). Characters were dull and didn't have the diversity I expect of a FF game. And then there's the gameplay which I just couldn't get into either, to be honest it was one of the worst experiences I had in action RPGs.
Overall the game was still somewhat playable, but ultimately just not good.
I liked both games but 13 is immeasurably better IMO. The only thing I can say 15 has really going for it was the photo mode.. I really enjoyed that and hope it is used again in the future. I loved 13 and 13-2 and find them to be very underrated games.
I just recently got done with a replay of FFXV and I still enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Combat is fun if a bit mindless sometimes. The story has big issues with uneven writing and a complete failure to develop several important characters but it still has one of the best endings in the FF series. The open world isn't for everyone but I love just driving around from location to location listening to music and watching the scenery. Overall I'd put it about halfway through my personal ranking of Final Fantasy games.
XIII I never hated but I don't feel any desire to go back to it either. I think the battle system was the best part of that game, but I'm ambivalent to just about everything else
XIII I never hated but I don't feel any desire to go back to it either. I think the battle system was the best part of that game, but I'm ambivalent to just about everything else
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I think both games are about as good/bad/disappointing for different reasons. It depends what you're looking for basically.
Great combat in a corridor, with awesome graphics for the time, and a good story despite unmemorable characters? FFXIII
Mediocre combat in an open world (with the problems linked to it like fetch quests), with great graphics, and a meh unfinished story with some nice characters? FFXV
That said, I think Lightning Returns is more interesting than both.
Great combat in a corridor, with awesome graphics for the time, and a good story despite unmemorable characters? FFXIII
Mediocre combat in an open world (with the problems linked to it like fetch quests), with great graphics, and a meh unfinished story with some nice characters? FFXV
That said, I think Lightning Returns is more interesting than both.
OP
OP
Look at this mad lad.
(I enjoyed the writing in the OP too)
Oddly, I think I share this sentiment. The open world was a mistake in that it has too little to do and hamstrung the already meager urgency of the plot they intended to tell. The open world has more negatives than positive but I still made my own fun softy (and loudly) cursing while fishing, stumbling down a dungeon I was too low level to be in, and just marveling at the wildlife riding a chocobo. What was actually scripted in FFXV would've been worth losing those moments for to have a more guided experience though. I didn't have many positive memories of FFXIII at all, even getting to the more open segment so the meager unscripted moments of FFXV are my winners.
I didn't finish either game though. If I had, maybe the incompleteness of FFXV would bother me more.
Yeah, the notion of MMO is too strongly associated with FFXIV for me to consider. Like, maybe you can technically solo the content to a point but it'll be through the mechanics of an MMO and all the things that openly advertise that it's an MMO. The selling point would be to have a friend to play through it with and all my friends are gacha players. Alas.
I hear the story is good but I also hear people say Fate/Grand Order or Granblue have good stories and I ain't playing a gacha game just for story. So in lieu of not wanting to play MMO mechanics, its no different.
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South Park did an episode on this.
turd sandwich vs giant douche.
Whoever wins, we lose.
its hard to choose between to pieces of different types of shit.
I chose 13, it's story was actually half decent once you fight the old man in the capital and he transforms.
15 was just a mess.
turd sandwich vs giant douche.
Whoever wins, we lose.
its hard to choose between to pieces of different types of shit.
I chose 13, it's story was actually half decent once you fight the old man in the capital and he transforms.
15 was just a mess.
I think XV is definitely less bad
With XIII I felt a little embarrassed for playing through to the end
Edit: and I'll say that, while II may save XIII from the bottom of the list, at least II is a shorter game
With XIII I felt a little embarrassed for playing through to the end
Edit: and I'll say that, while II may save XIII from the bottom of the list, at least II is a shorter game
I think I prefer XV but only because the story doesn't continue and end in two other games (but in XV you have to watch an anime series and a cg movie to know how the story start).
Both games are way better than the revisionist history behind them suggests, but for me FF XIII wins by a significant margin and is just a really good game in general, flaws and all. I so wish I had the time to play through XIII and XIII-2 again. Great games both.
I was very excited for xiii when it was coming out but the game was a bit disappointing. The game didn't actually feel like a final fantasy game until 3/4ths of the game also couldn't stand hope. Xv is just better all around
I wouldn't say it is revisionist history at all. Day one people were heavily critical of XIII. It reviewed well, but those reviews had a lot of people raising their eyebrows. The buzz was very negative. I was a huge fan of Final Fantasy and didn't buy it at launch because of how negative the general perception was. When I did eventually get around to playing it, I actually disagreed with one of the most common critiques (that the battle engine was awful), but people were spot on with the rest; that game is a tremendous mess. It deserves its reputation, and it is a reputation that it has had since day one.
XV is largely the same. It has been a divisive game since launch. Though I think a lot of people saw it at the time, and still see it, as being a step in the right direction... because XIII is a very bad game.
Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, then! I respect your opinion for sure and I'm more than happy to admit FF XIII's flaws, but I think what it did right far overshadowed what it did wrong, and I had an amazing time with it (except for most of the Gran Pulse segment). In no way do I think it's even close to a bad game, let alone "very bad."
And by revisionist history, I mean not only the positive critical reception you mentioned (which can't be discounted just because you or "a lot of people" didn't agree with them) but also its very strong sales as well as the objectively and uniquely lasting impact it has had on the wider FF series, with Lightning becoming one of the faces of the franchise and a fan-favorite character in her own right, regardless of how the FF XIII haters feel about her.
Another important point the anti-FF XIII crowd tends to overlook is that it's far from the first FF that has been strictly linear (not that linearity is a bad thing and I in fact think it's a wonderful thing, but that's a whole different conversation). The real problem is that older FF games were much better at presenting the illusion they were linear when they were, in fact, not (mostly). Where can you go after you leave Baron in FF IV? The cave to Mist. Then Mist. Then the desert, etc. Your choices are incredibly limited. FF VII's Midgar segment? Entirely linear, and once you get to the world map, you can go to three places: Kalm, the Chocobo farm, and the Midgar Zolom fight. Only one advances the story, and the other is an instant Game Over for most low-level parties. Again, linear, but the world map helps present the illusion that it isn't. There are exceptions, of course; FF VI's back half is the most obvious example here, being almost completely non-linear, and FF XII is sometimes/sort of nonlinear to a degree (though I highly dislike XII and never finished it, so if it goes completely nonlinear toward the end, I wouldn't know).
Anyway! I'm not trying to convince you you're wrong about FF XIII, because I know I can't and as with most things, that's entirely subjective. If your gaming tastes lead you to feel it's a bad game, then yeah, it's a bad game for you and you would probably review it as such. The exact opposite goes for me, though -- like I said, I recognize its flaws but am easily able to accept and move past them in light of everything else I think the game excels at.
Either way, thanks for the response! I appreciate the conversation. :)