I'm playing FF13 for the first time
I'm up to chapter 9, on the Palamecia
I knew before playing that this game would be a hallway simulator, but holy fuck I did not realize it would be this bad
there are some fights where the only meaningful choice I make is which enemy to target first. some fights don't even have that, I just kill them with my default paradigm
it's almost a shame I like the story, otherwise I would have dropped the game by now
upgrade system seems interesting but it looks like a huge time sink, and the game is pretty easy anyways
vanille a cute, fang sexo

thanks for coming to my TEDx talk

>>3774397 (OP)
post screenshot with date

>>3774409
okay but why

>>3774425
>playing FFXIII in 2025
lol faggot

>>3774397 (OP)
Funny I should see an FF13 thread here, I also decided to give it another try a few days ago. I'm enjoying it though, maybe the newer FFs have just annihilated my standards but I'm finding it pretty challenging. Lots of encounters can just nuke you if you aren't lightning-fast (pun not intended) with your paradigm shifts, and if you can't speedkill encounters then you screw up your rating and lose out on TP. It's a careful balance where you need to learn the safe windows to play aggressively on each enemy.

Also a funny coincidence, I'm also at chapter 9 right now. Barthandelus is filtering me, I have no idea how I beat this dude when I was 11 years old

>>3774397 (OP)
I played it last year for the first time. All the hate was justified. Felt like the dev's made the game out of spite towards fans because I honestly can't imaging someone on the staff looking at 2/3 of the game and going "hmmm yep, this will sell our game".

>>3774735
> Felt like the dev's made the game out of spite towards fans
Nah if anything the game is too conservative and trying to give the players what they thlught they wanted: 12 underperformed their management's expectations so they pivotted hard back to FFX's structure, style and religious plot in an attempt to make lightning strike twice.
I like XIII, both it and the direct sequek are flawed but ultimately somewhat enjoyable. Lightning Returns, however, is a honest to goodness great game hampered by being the third game in a trilogy that only existed to recoup losses.

beautiful game, peak gen 7 imo. graphics really did not improve too much past this imo. i want to play LR, but i can't stomach the party characters in xiii-2

I'm in chapter 10 now. is it worth it to put points into the characters' secondary roles? it looks pretty expensive just so they can do basic shit that another character could do 10 hours ago

>>3774735
>I honestly can't imaging someone on the staff looking at 2/3 of the game and going "hmmm yep, this will sell our game".
I thought the same thing about FFXV. guess we're both wrong because both games were successful

>>3774448
try to ONLY paradigm shift during leader's attack anims. if you do it right, it skips the weapon flick animation, and you regain control with full ATB. not clear if it's a bug but 5-starring some the pre-Archylte encounters virtually requires this trick.

13 is a great game imo, the only one where they really figured out a mechanism for challenge in turn-based time-bar gameplay, and sadly the sales figures guaranteed we'll never see anything like it or any development of the idea of encounter rating ever again.

>>3774397 (OP)
just clearing the game is pretty easy, the best way to feel "engaged" is by killing every enemy as fast as possible and going for 5 star ratings as much as you can. of course they'll die if you just have like... rav/com/healer but it'll take fucking forever.

>>3774885
>is it worth it to put points into the characters' secondary roles?
every point of stats you can get is worth it.

>>3774894
>every point of stats you can get is worth it.
well sure, but is it worth leveling those secondary roles over the main roles?

also is there postgame content? superbosses and the like?

>>3774397 (OP)
When I was 13 yo I masturbated probably hundreds of times to the FF13 cover art. Specifically lightning's exposed thigh. Idk what it activated in me but that little thigh made me feral back in the day. Seeing it now as a grown man I still feel a tingle. Even though I know objectively its not a very attractive or arousing image. Don't wanna derail your thread but i just felt I had to share this

>>3774896
not "over" your main role, no, but eventually you'll get enough exp that you hit your main role's gate and you might as well funnel the leftover xp into the secondary ones.
postgame basically amounts to finishing up all the hunts, doing all of titan's trials (i think that's what they were called), and then grinding adamantoises to max out your gil for the trophy. i don't think there's "a specific single superboss" per se like how other ff games have the Weapons, ix had Ozma, etc. but adamantoises are pretty damn hard to kill even with a fully maxed party. i also found grinding them pretty fun.

>>3774397 (OP)
There's a right way to fight battles. and there's the slow way to fight battles.

>>3774914
thanks. don't care about achievements but I'll go for the optional content

>>3774917
I've come to the realization that COM/RAV/MED is really safe and a good balance between offense and defense, but starting something like SAB/SAB/SYN or SAB/SYN/SYN for the immediate power boost then switching to COM/RAV/RAV is also effective

>>3774945
you don't need to run com while building stagger if you've already inflicted status with sab. sab is one of the "maintain" classes just like com, you only need to hit the enemy once or twice to lock in slow stagger depletion for more than long enough for three rav's to stagger 95% of the enemies in the game, and the other 5% have gimmicks.

>>3775000
hmm, okay. what about juggling the enemy? what about snow, who has way more strength than magic? isn't he better on COM?

>>3775004
well you switch to com/com/com to juggle and such once they are staggered
the role specializations are important right up until you have enough exp to level them in other roles, then they're only important for other reasons in later game. not sure how many tiers of sphere grid you have

>>3775004
>who has way more strength than magic?
doesn't matter, they'll get "firestrike" abilities on rav if they are a strength oriented character, like com has ruin. but even snow will use magic against a physical damage resistant enemy

Great combat system wasted on a terrible game.

I'm in chapter 11 now, taejin's tower or whatever

I think I need to grind and upgrade my equipment, game got real hard all of a sudden

>>3775993
i backtracked to archylte and did a few hunts when i got to the tower.

>>3775997
I thought about doing that but the fights in the tunnels made me reconsider. I did kill that goblin chieftain though and got 0 stars

>>3775993
bit late to say this but i wouldn't go ahead to the tower until you clear all the D rank cieth stones
best to go ahead and do it now you've got the waystone there, the sooner you do it the better, yes it will be a fair bit of backtracking but it will be far worse if you leave it for later

>>3776031
why?

>>3774397 (OP)
What a weird game. I went into it thinking I'd hate lightning since everyone and their mother told me she sucked.
She's just pink-haired fem cloud though, and I ended up hating everyone and everything else.
What a piece of shit game. Terrible, easy combat system with no challenge, boring hallways, nothing to do, and the story is absolute dogshit.

>>3776036
because i just spent over 3 hours backtracking from oerba to archylte to do the cieth stones there and it was a miserable experience and don't want anyone else to go through that

>>3776047
>Lightning is anything like cloud
>Terrible easy combat with no challenge
>Nothing to do
You didn't play the game.
Lightning barely moves the plot forward so comparing her to cloud is stupid, she's just a vaguely argumentative bitch and/or yes-woman for Hope and/or Snow depending on how far into the story you are. The people that move the plot forward are Hope, Snow, and Vanille's bipolar disorder(specifically, not her as a person, JUST her BPD)
Also snow is based and anyone who thinks him and his based retard attitude aren't the highlight of the game is lying to themselves

>>3776050
alright fair enough

>>3774425
based
ignore the mindbroken cuck
ff13 is a great game in spite of its faults

I kinda like 13 combat. It feels a lot like SMT. Debuff debuff debuff buff buff buff commando ravenger ravenger commando commando commando heal heal rinse and repeat

>>3774885
>I thought the same thing about FFXV. guess we're both wrong because both games were successful

I really won't call "needing to read a novel to get the true ending because the DLC got canned" as successful

if I'm fighting a single enemy and it's already staggered, is COM/COM/COM better than RAV/RAV/RAV? ravs build up the chain bonus higher so it seems better

>>3776911
I go with COM/COM/RAV so you have good damage and still ramp up the chain

>>3776911
You kinda have to play it by ear depending on the enemy, but generally you'll be using RAVs for the first part of the stagger and COMs for the second part. The question is where the point you change over is, usually around 1/3 into the stagger is a good point but with tankier enemies you may want to try and get the multiplier a bit higher before you go all in.
However when you get full atb skills, you can do some janky switching with the RAV-based ones where you start the animation then switch to COM and you'll get massive stagger bonuses and damage at the same time. So you start the skill, immediately switch over, and then switch back right before the skill ends in order to repeat it again immediately without animation locking yourself.

Whatever you do DON'T GO FOR THE PLATINUM you will want to kill yourself.

>>3777163
yeah, the grind SUCKS and if you miss a chest, you screwed yourself out of it

>>3777163
i think grinding for the plat is what made me admit im probably autistic because literally spending 11 hrs grinding adamantoises over the course of two days was some of the most fun i've had in a jrpg
it's a fun fight!

>>3777163
I have no interest in achievement hunting

Should I get 13 if I'm enjoying 10?

>>3777686
Get 16 instead

>>3777686
Stop at 10 because that’s the end of the series.

>>3777686
Should probably just stick with 10 as the end of the FF franchise. 13 has some interesting things but it isn't as focused as any of the previous FF games 10 and downward. FF12 also had some neat ideas but is generally an MMO turned into a single-player game with the good and bad that that entails.

>>3777686
Also don't play FF16 whatever you do. If you actually like FF games being RPGs and having stats increase and using elements to take advantage of enemy weaknesses I do not recommend FF16 even a little bit,

>>3778438
Say the guy who defends garbage like FF15 and Forspoken

I'm at chapter 12 now after extensive sidequesting in chapter 11

is it ever going to be explained why the pulse fal'cie want to destroy cocoon? same reason as the sanctum fal'cie?

>>3778455
yes and it's stupid

>>3778438
I tried the demo of 16 and it was fucking dogshit. Bargain bin tier game.

>>3778455
yes and no. Across the trilogy (and the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos) the gods: Pulse, Lindzei, and Etro don't really get elaborated on. It only gets more confusing with each installment.

Etro gets more coverage in 13-2 and Lightning Returns. But Pulse and Lindzei are mostly featureless.
Technically we see Pulse when everyone gets branded. But nobody gets it. Because none of the characters acknowledge what happened, where they were, or what they saw. I think it's only clarified in the Ultimania Guide.

In Type-0, which is supposed to have the same "mythos" with Fal'cie and L'cie, Pulse charged Sorceress Arecia with opening Etro's gate because it's shut, and no new souls can enter. So they're living in cycles of war, a kind of time loop. Hoping human souls can become stronger to open the gate.

FF15 isn't technically part of Fabula Nova Crystallis, but the Versus XIII it was recycled from was. So there are remnants here and there. The summons ended up becoming "Gods", but they were really meant to be messengers, and the real gods were sleeping in The Crystals.
If there was another "opening Etro's gate" scenario, I think they dropped it in FF15.

>>3778548
>The summons ended up becoming "Gods"

with 5 of them being chill and Bahamut being the secret evil mastermind behind the scenes of FF15 that gets taken out in the Dawn to the Future novel

>>3778548
Dumbest story in all of final fantasies, and honestly, one of the dumber ones in rpgs in general. Jesus Christ, whoever came with those terms should be shot.

>>3774397 (OP)
The new MTG set got me to replay FFV again, but should I try 13 when I'm finished? I tried it at a friend's house around release but we got bored pretty quick.

>>3779191
The game fucking sucks until you get a few chapters in, and it doesn't really get "good" until about 1/3 of the way through IMO. Most would say it doesn't even get good until right near the end when the semi-open world segment happens, until then it's mostly linear corridors.
If you think you can endure a solid 10 hours of boring, over-tutorialised trash, then it might be worth trying again. But if you're the kind of person that hears "it gets good xx hours in!" and rightfully knows that whoever saying that is full of shit and avoids the game they're shilling, don't bother.
And I'm saying this as someone who loves the game and genuinely rates it in top 5 for the series.

>>3779427
Damn anon, what do you love so much about it?

>>3779916
It has the best combat of any game in the series (other than Jack's game) once it actually opens up. The difficulty hits a very nice sweet spot where you need to be constantly aware of the situation and thinking several steps ahead, but without cheap "gotchas", it pretty much always feels like any deaths are your own fault.
The role/paradigm system is S tier and it not becoming the norm for role separation in multiplayer games (in favour of the absolutely disgusting tank/healer/dps unholy trinity) is an absolute travesty.
The story kinda requires you to be exactly on its wavelength. You need to be intelligent enough and in tune with it enough to be thinking about what it puts forward, theorising and trying to make sense of the little information it gives you, but you also have to be retarded enough to ignore some of the completely ridiculous stuff that if you hang on to will ruin things for you. I just happened to fit that, so I really enjoyed the story.
All of the characters are interesting and entertaining in their own ways, I never really thought "damn I have to play as this character again", or "I can't wait for this arc to end so it can go back to focusing on this other character". They all contribute to the ensemble cast in their own way and nobody really hogs the spotlight.

>>3780259
>You need to be intelligent enough and in tune with it enough to be thinking about what it puts forward
if you can break through the barrier of putting in the slightest bit of effort into enjoying something (all the game really asks is that you learn 3 whole jargon terms! three! anyone can do it!) then i think ff13's story really is not that hard to comprehend. you don't even really need to read the datalog (though it does help a bit).

>>3780259
>It has the best combat
>The role/paradigm system is S tier
>You need to be intelligent enough and in tune with it enough to be thinking about what it puts forward
>All of the characters are interesting and entertaining

>>3780259
>It has the best combat of any game in the series (other than Jack's game) once it actually opens up

13 has one of the lamest combat systems of the series. Not as bad as 15's Hold O to win casual bullshit but 13's "gameplay" of "Com/Rav/Rav until stagger" isn't something to write home about

>>3780267
To be honest that is genuinely a high bar these days, which is insane
But it's less about comprehending the story and more getting involved in it, it leaves a lot of gaps and that filters brainlets. But again, it's also fucking retarded sometimes and you yourself need to be retarded enough to ignore those bits. It's the most 110 IQ game ever made. Just barely above midwit levels.
>>3780272
And here we see the fabled midwit in action, filtered
>>3780319
>dies instantly because you didn't pace your buff/debuff usage properly
People who reduce ff13's combat down to "bro just stagger the enemy and u win lol" played on easy, if at all.

>>3780841
>And here we see the fabled midwit in action, filtered
Typical midwit take:
-Make an unpopular statement
-Use words like intelligence, skill and filtered to make yourself appear smart
-Write a lot of shit that doesn't mean anything

There Is something about 13 and attracting retards who believe that a barely interactive combat system and a set of linear hallways is a good game.

>>3780841
>People who reduce ff13's combat down to "bro just stagger the enemy and u win lol" played on easy, if at all.
I beat 13 on Normal difficulty

>>3780911
not to mention goes directly for the "you didn't play the game" "defense" when someone boils down the combat. Same "defense" is used when people rightfully go "FF15 is Hold O to win"

>>3774434
>>3774735
>>3776047
>>3780272
>>3780319
>>3780911
>>3781043
ITT: Indians

>>3778710
>Dumbest story in all of final fantasies
That'd be Nomura's slop KH fanfic with time travel and ghost jannies pasted into FFVII for no good reason

>>3781073
no, it's the "Ardyn is Jesus and Bahamut is evil" retcon that slapped into FF15, ruining the ending

alright just finished

what the fuck was that ending

>>3781449
The power of yuri saved the day and stuff. XIII-2 will go into more details if you didn't follow so don't worry too much.

>>3781449
13's story was imo pretty good up until the "well everything's ok now because we say it is lol" ending but to be fair, quite a few ff games end on a similar note.
did u have fun at least?

>>3781496
>13's story was imo pretty good up until the "well everything's ok now because we say it is lol" ending
I agree, the story, the world, and the characters were compelling enough to get me through the game's tedious parts

>did u have fun at least?
certainly, although the game has many faults

>>3774397 (OP)
I like this game for how hard it is to not get lost or forget what you are doing after a break. It only takes 2 or 3 battles to remember how the paradigms work and you are good to go. One of the better FFs for busy people.

>>3781449
>what the fuck was that ending

literal Dues Ex Machina

>>3774397 (OP)
What a shit game lol. I bought it and never finished it even though i was a huge FF fan. I remember back in the days fans of the ps3 (as in vs the x360) would still defend it despite all its flaws.

XIII was such a waste. I wanted to explore its cool sci-fantasy setting, but the entire game is just "GO GO GO YOU HAVE TO KEEP GOING" until you get to the boring fucking plain that's the only part you can actually "explore".
Then XIII-2 was an actual solid game but replaced party variety with pokemon mechanics and was all over the place with its setting (Academia was cool though).
And then LR's sidequest focus was actually perfect for exploring the setting, except the setting once again was noticeably different. Also no "party" to speak of.

At this point I wouldn't even mind a XIII prequel to make up for this -- instead of the dumb shit they've been doing with VII. Though it'd probably suck.

>>3774448
Just make sure to use buffs and debuffs, they're strong as shit in FF13 and they work on every enemy.

>>3774912
Based. For me it was vanille upskirt and lightning x hope fan art.

>>3778455
Both Pulse and Lindzei are charged by Bhunivelze to open Etro's gate and the way they go about doing this is orchestrating a mass killing to flood the gate with recently dead souls.
At least iirc, it's been a few years.

>>3780259
Hard agree. It's an underappreciated masterpiece. Art design is S tier too.

>>3781449
It was the hook and mystery that's behind the next 2 games

>>3783350
Yes, I too like bland generic sci-fi and fantasy art.

>>3783354
me when im just a little hater

>>3783354
>most original scifi setting in vidya to this day is bland and generic
Ok retard. Any other nonsense you want to throw out?

>>3783361
Your screenshots are the most generic shit possible.
Generic grasslands, generic silver metal and blue glowing lights, generic "sci-fi" platforms.
What are you, like 18?

>>3783369
>genres are generic
fire. hot. water. wet.

>>3783372
I bet you ran around in Starfield and basedpogged at every crater you saw.

>>3783350
Even within the FF series FF13 is aesthetically and originality wise nothing special.

>>3783391
14 isn't an ff game

>>3783403
Neither is FF13

>>3783391
XIVcucks should all kill themselves.
Their game looks like shit, plays like shit, since 7.0 it runs like shit, the writing is shit, the characters are shit, the combat is shit, the enemies are shit, the dungeons are shit.
The sole redeeming feature is that the music is sometimes decent (even good, rarely). But it lacks the distinctiveness that the OSTs of 7-13 all have, where you could listen to any track and immediately know exactly what game it was from. It's high quality at times, but generally soulless and lacking cohesion.

>>3783403
>>3783405
to be fair, what is a FF game at this point?

Feels like the brand has had an identity crisis starting with 13.
13 - futuristic sci-fi
14 - depends on what region you are in of the game
15 - the deserts of California complete with so many random ass gas stations and Venice
16 - Game of thrones

>>3783534
Good thing the discussion was about art direction, which is better and more varied in FF14 than FF13.

>It's high quality at times, but generally soulless and lacking cohesion.
lol, talk about ignorant. It spans way more areas and situations than any other FF and combines series, expansion, character and area themes and leitmotifs to tie it all togeher. This is true even for crossover music to connect it better into FF. The music is intended to fit in narratively, contextually and thematically. This isn't even remotely subtle.
The game's music has 100x more "soul" than FF13's music.

>>3783584
>to be fair, what is a FF game at this point?
The series has lost its identity since 10.
1-9 you can see a common thread, but after that the series kept diverging in vastly different directions.
Even something that should've been simple like the FF7 remake vastly diverged not only from the original game, but also the other recent FF games.

>>3783592
>ff14tranny thinking he has any right to talk about anything
Back to the general with you, this thread is for actual FF games.

>>3783708
>starts namecalling people when he loses arguments and can't think of anything to counter it with
If only we could all be as mentally mature as you and gracefully accept when we're wrong.

>>3783711
run back to your general tranny

>>3783711
don't bother, it's a known FF14 hater that defends garbage like Forspoken and FF15

>>3783592
>It spans way more areas and situations than any other FF and combines series, expansion, character and area themes and leitmotifs to tie it all togeher
So it's a clusterfuck. I have no idea why you thought it was worth bringing up. "XIII is aesthetically nothing special as an FF" he says and then posts a basic bitch themepark assortment from a WoW clone that had to keep adding new shit since 2010. It's hardly impressive that you can find a few areas that look decent, but they could easily be all from different games.

>>3774397 (OP)
they ruined such a good main character design and thats why ffxi was the last good final fantasy

>>3783759
>So it's a clusterfuck.
No, it's the exact opposite for that very reasons I listed. Do you even know what a leitmotif is? Clearly not.
Go ahead and google it, you still won't get it.

>XIII is aesthetically nothing special as an FF
Yes yes you're butthurt no one wants to join in on your circlejerk of FF13.
Here you are defending bog standard grasslands (makes up 3 of the FF13 screenshots) while trying to play it off as super original and amazing.

>but they could easily be all from different games
There's this thing called an artstyle which you're clearly unaware of.
Also, the point you''re trying to make is if a game has any form of world or large distance traveling then it will no longer "look like it's from the same game". Which is inhumanely stupid and is a pathetic attempt at defending the lack of variation and originality of FF13.
FF7 (or many other games from the series) features areas with very different architecture and environments. Midgar does not look like Costa del Sol, which does not look like Gold Saucer or the surrounding area which does not look like the city of the ancients, etc.

Please, try and write something intelligent with actual arguments next time. Also, try and be less of an overemotional fanboy.

>>3783994
You're acting like an insufferable faggot and making a lot of assumptions, so I hope you're not expecting me to even consider writing a proper response at this point.

>>3783997
I'm expecting you to not even be capable of writing something intelligent and thought out. Because so far all you've done is lash out with no arguments that when proven wrong you continue to resort to logical fallacies.

You resorting to fallacies makes sense though, since you are a FF13 fanboy and have a boner for fal'cie.

>>3783994
>the lack of variation of FF13
?
one of the best parts of ff13 is that it's a nonstop rollercoaster ride of different setpieces exploding. you haven't played the game so why are you posting about it?

>>3784004
Maybe you should learn to read and understand what a conversation is about instead of jumping in randomly with no understanding of context.

>>3784009
you're silly.

>>3784029
Not at all, but I have been known to be an ass to people online for being too blunt with my wording.

>>3777686
Try out ffxii than don't bother with any of the modern mainline games.

poggers ff13 my fave

>>3783592
What, did you miss the part where I said it looked like shit? The art direction isn't "varied", it's a mish mash of asset rips from other games haphazardly cobbled together into a mess of nostalgia-baiting crap.
>it spans way more
Wow, news just in, eating shit is good because there's lots of it! I guess you must be indian or something. You can barely call the senseless repeating of identical themes "leitmotifs", for fuck's sake, a random lv90 dungeon where you go beat up some wildlife on a nature reserve uses the motif of... Hydaelyn's theme? For some fucking reason? The music almost never narratively fits the situation.
>>3783994
>Do you even know what a leitmotif is?
Do you? Where are the actual thematic motifs in XIV's soundtrack? They just throw them around willy-nilly, see above.
>There's this thing called an artstyle
Again, what artstyle? The artstyle of literally asset flipping from 11, 12, and 13? Is that an artstyle now? The crystal tower being full of random FF13 mobs? Ivalice just being there, for... some reason? Basically everything being bad upscales of FF11's models? That's an artstyle to you. That's cohesion. Sure.
>FF7 features areas with very different architecture and environments
This might just be the most absurd and delusional complaint to make about 13. Every part of the game is incredibly distinctive and unique. The sunleth waterscape looks distinct from everywhere else on cocoon, and despite being a natural landscape, is completely different from the wilds of pulse. Palumpolum looks entirely different to Eden, despite both being cityscapes on cocoon. Even the different areas of pulse are immediately identifiable.
>try to be less of an overemotional fanboy
The irony is absolutely insane, given that you threw a tantrum and cried to the jannies to take down a post that proved your delusional hissy fit wrong.

>>3784279
>and cried to the jannies to take down a post that proved your delusional hissy fit wrong.

replying to a bunch of posts rightfully shitting on FF13 and (falsely) accusing them of being Indians isn't proving anything wrong.

>>3784279
Notice how this post has nothing to do with FFXIII and is just someone throwing a shitfit about XIV.

>>3784279
>Where are the actual thematic motifs in XIV's soundtrack?

there are several sites dedicated to it and the music ties more into classic ff music than 13 did.
https://withsongsaligned.carrd.co/
https://eorzeasongbook.com/

>throw them around willy-nilly

they do it when it's appropriate. the meme song a long fall uses several that tie in with the 3 aspects used to transport the crystal tower across time and space along with the main theme of ff more more narrative reasons.

just take the L, this is embarrassing

>>3784296
>uh it fit once? there was one fitting leitmotif so that means the game literally just recycling tracks and remixing them is ALWAYS appropriate ok?
okay buddy

>>3784290
>Notice how this post has nothing to do with FFXIII
let me grab the important bit for you mate
>Every part of [FFXIII] is incredibly [visually] distinctive and unique. The sunleth waterscape looks distinct from everywhere else on cocoon, and despite being a natural landscape, is completely different from the wilds of pulse. Palumpolum looks entirely different to Eden, despite both being cityscapes on cocoon. Even the different areas of pulse are immediately identifiable.
Now cry about someone rightfully calling out your abhorrent non-game.

>>3784282
that literally never happened, jannies had a tantrum over me saying every part of xiv was bad though. crazy that! a non-game (nevermind non rpg) getting such staunch defense on the "rpg" board.
ffxiv players are NOT people and should NOT be treated as people.

>>3784385
>that literally never happened

https://arch.b4k.dev/vrpg/thread/3774397/#q3781057

>>3784385
Hey, MMORPG are no less "RPG" than JRPG are. That is to say not at all, but the latter is allowed here, so.

>>3784386
that anon deleted his own post
>>3784387
It's not an MMORPG.

>>3784387
it's just a chud (who likes FF13) is pissed people are talking about FF14 in a positive light while dunking on 13.

>>3784389
>using chud unironically
lmao
it is just frustrating when people praise games for virtues it doesn't have, or denigrate games for failings that they don't have. things should be judged on their actual, legitimate and real merits and failings, not schizophrenic delusions.
to that end, ffxiv should earn no praise.

>>3784391
>things should be judged on their actual, legitimate and real merits and failings

like with XIV, the Award Winning MMORPG with a Free Trial that goes up to level 70 and also contains the Award Winning Heavensward and Stromblood expansions?

>>3784389
14 is dogshit though, I just don't think calling it a non-RPG in the context of a JRPG series makes much sense.

>>3784395
Any awards that the game won after the release of shadowbringers were bought as part of the game's marketing budget. The game itself is indefensibly bad
>>3784396
It's not "not an rpg" because it's a JRPG. Plenty of JRPGs are great games, and great RPGs. It's not an rpg because it literally is not even a game.

>>3784395
>unironically using game "awards" as a defense
>awards that are 95% made up and 100% bought

>>3784381
>once
you got spoon fed and still chose to be ignorant and not check the links to educate yourself, bravo.
you have no argument, only fallacies and admit your own ignorance and close-mindedness. concession accepted

>>3784383
Notice how you're not defending FF13 at all and mistake shitting on a game with non-arguments (i.e. deflection and goal post moving because you can't defend X so you choose to focus on an entirely different game Y instead).

This was only ever about FF13 and you have been utterly incapable of defending how generic grasslands (which were used 3x times) constitute as generic and original art direction while ALSO creating hypocritical statements that directly attack FF13 as well (like not being visually consistent in terms of aesthetics, like how the high tech path doesnt look like it's from the same game/region as teh grasslands, the crystal cluster, etc).

It's actually incredible how inhumanely retarded you are. But hey, what can you expect from a FF13 fanboy? You'd have to have brain problems to think that game is even decent or a proper FF. Better call your tard wrangler, so they can escort you away from the PC. Because I don't get paid to wrangle retards like you.

>>3784391
>pays lipeservice to being a rational person and judging things fairly
>then goes on to make a highly biased statement that is objectively wrong

If you can't admit FF14 does a bunch of things well, you're not qualified for basic discussion. You also admit to being overemotional to the point where it severely impacts your judgement.

>>3784397
>makes posts about how any praise a game got is bought because that specific irrational anon delusionaly thinks so
>desperately tries to thinks of ways to not call a literal mmorpg an rpg and resort to not even calling it a game as his awesome clincher

I'm sure in your mind you're very intelligent, but you're factually the dumbest fucker here. Especially when it doesn't even matter what you think. FF13 can be discussed on this board just as FF14 can be discussed here and has in the past.
A metric fuckton of people, a ton of them more intelligent than you, understand and know FF14 does a lot of things well. If you think anyone that doesn't share your narrow-minded irrational ideas is either paid or stupid and wrong you're straight up delusional and should get professional help.
Deal with it or keep shitposting like a toddler, I'm betting on the latter because you can't cope with reality.

Obviously both of you will keep shitposting about FF14 instead

>>3784574
this doesn't prove anything these songs actually using the leitmotifs in a fitting manner (naturally, because the vast majority of the time they aren't)
once again - random nature reserve. hydaelyn's theme. how fitting, bro. heckin leitmotifs. i'm basedpogging.

>>3784578
>If you can't admit FF14 does a bunch of things well, you're not qualified for basic discussion.
>If you don't reinforce my delusions then you're not qualified for discussion.
FF14 does nothing well. The gameplay can barely even be called that as no choices are made. It's a set of binary pass-fail checks with singular solutions. It's like a puzzle game, or a rhythm game, except those games are honest in what they are. You have no differing playstyles, no alternate builds, no unique itemisation, nothing that changes the way you engage with the game. A dragoon is a ninja is a paladin is a monk is a white mage is a bard is a machinist is a reaper is a dancer is a gunbreaker is a black mage is a dark knight is a pictomancer. They are all functionally identical. Every encounter is the exact same - A set of checks where you stand in the right place at the right time while pressing 1 2 3 as they light up. This is never used in an interesting or unique manner. The story has been nonexistent since 6.2, the gameplay has been nonexistent since 5.0, the graphics have always been miserable, and the aesthetic cohesion has been terrible since 3.0 since they decided all zones have to be square themeparks.

>>3784578
>Obviously both of you will keep shitposting about FF14 instead

and you called it with >>3784628

>Fun, civil FF13 thread
>Genuine honest discussion about the game and what's good or bad about it, even shitposting is largely non-malicious or in good faith
>Yoshida's cultists enter, offended that anyone could be enjoying a FF game other than theirs, and the thread goes to shit
Shame.

>>3784681
more like a 13 fanboy getting pissed that FF14 is being talked in a positive light

>>3784684
First mention of FF14 in this thread was to insult FF13 by comparison. >>3783391
You started this shitflinging war, don't try to push the blame onto anyone else.

>>3784681
I hate ff14 and it's cultists so much. It's genuinely a bad game even for mmo standards.

>>3784684
THIS IS AN FF13 THREAD WTF DO YOU EXPECT
STAY IN YOUR LANE

I just started 13-2
what the fuck is this alternate timeline shit

>>3784716
honestly, whether the game is good or not is kinda irrelevant. even if it was good, their insistence on barging on on conversations about anything even tangentially related to shill their game wouldn't be any less sad.
hell, their biggest meme is literally a shill campaign "have you heard of this award winning game with a massive free trial that you can play now" or however it goes, and the fact they don't find that humiliating is kind of pathetic.

>>3784768
The story kinda goes off the rails - what little rails it still had by the end of 13, and honestly I'd just turn off your brain. The good parts are the gameplay (S tier), soundtrack (SSS tier, I fucking love naoshi mizuta), and immediate improvements on the flaws of the first game (nonlinearity, combat is immediately open instead of taking 3 chapters to unlock its systems, more open level design, towns actually existing)

>>3784819
They are some of my most hated posters on this entire site.

>>3774735
A lot of it was because Japanese companies just REALLY had a hard time adapting to HD development. If you notice, FFX is a hallway simulator too, the minimap doesn't even hide it, but they went out of their way to make it not feel like a hallway by having things like towns and the narrative being about travelling in kind of a straight line until you defy your fate so it opens up, meaning the linearity has a point.
XIII doesn't do that, it's hallways because it was easier to develop and did nothing to incorporate that in the story.

>>3774914
>i don't think there's "a specific single superboss" per se like how other ff games have the Weapons, ix had Ozma, etc.
There is, it's a stupid bird iirc.
>adamantoises are pretty damn hard to kill even with a fully maxed party
No one fights them fair anyway, they just spam Death as Vanille and hope it works.

>>3776053
>Also snow is based and anyone who thinks him and his based retard attitude aren't the highlight of the game is lying to themselves
Not him and you aren't wrong, but also he only has one gimmick which is "that's just retarded enough to work" and it got tiring after like the 5th time he does it

>>3780259
>It has the best combat of any game in the series (other than Jack's game) once it actually opens up.
Yeah see here's the problem with that, it's like the definition of "30 hours in it gets really good" because that's when you hit chapter...I want to say 11. Most people would say making you wait that long to get to the good gameplay is the game wasting your time.

>>3786302
That's true. I'm not defending how absurdly slow it is in that sense, it's probably the game's single biggest flaw IMO. Although, I would personally say that it "gets good" around chapter 7 or so, once you start regularly getting to use characters with 4 ATB segments - The nonlinearity of chapter 11 is greatly appreciated, but I think the game is fun before that.

still playing 13-2
serah a cute, moogle is fucking annoying
game runs like shit, it's a really bad port apparently

>>3787321
FF13fix helps a bit.

>>3774397 (OP)
I watched a retrospective because I'm that audience and apparently you're meant to switch Paradigms every 6 seconds to get a free bonus gauge.

>>3774397 (OP)
>xiii bad because hallway and linear bad
>ff x good because hallway and linear good when it's done when I'm a kid

>>3787381
>this "argument" again

>>3787404
>this 2+2=4 shit again

>>3787514
there's stuff online that explains how X's linearity works while XIII's failed

>>3787515
>downloading someone else's opinion
LMAO

>>3783391
I haven't played the MMO games because I'm not a tranny but FF13 is far more original than the other FF titles.
>1-6
Standard high fantasy with some ancient advanced tech
>7, 8
Urban fantasy
>9, 10, 12, 15
One of the previous two but with a bigger magitek focus

>>3787535
and yet >>3787381 is also someone else's opinion

I'm going to keep posting this until I die.
The reason FFX is better than FFXIII is because X creates a world and lets you interact with it and XIII doesn't. They put so much effort into world building and they only thing you can do is fight. No mini games, no chatting to NPCs, no uncovering secrets, everything spelled out in the codex, no mystery.

It's genuinely mystifying for how me how bad they blew it because all the elements are there they just failed to use them

Never played FF XIII but this song is so good, especially when the violins come in
https://youtu.be/qvqfPlNozDo

>>3787537
>I haven't played the MMO games because I'm not a tranny
Good thing that XI is the least trooned game in the series

>>3787537
>I haven't played the MMO games because I'm not a tranny but FF13 is far more original than the other FF titles.
>FF13 is far more original
See: >>3787937
How can you claim it's original when the director made the conscious decision to copy elements from previous games.

>>3788018
by your logic any monster from a previous FF game makes the game unoriginal

>>3788360
You make a good point, if you're going to lift half your library of enemies from another game it's hardly original.
But then again I'm not the one be making the claim FFXIII is original.

Just finished chapter 7 and I'm really enjoying the game so far. Other than playing a snow and hope. That felt like shit.

>>3788018
I said the setting was original, not everything about it. No artwork is 100% original.

>>3787703
The whole trilogy has amazing music. Especially Arrow Through Time and Nova Chrysalia

>>3787703
isn't this just one of the battle themes

>>3789237
it's the battle theme for like 90% of the regular fights

Hit chapter 11, finally upgrading my weapons and stuff and it's making a large difference in how much damage I deal. Can't decide on accessories though.

>>3790561
if you're not going to do postgame content, there's no need to upgrade accessories. no need to upgrade weapons to level 2 either, really

I would like to do post-game stuff. Right now I'm just doing cieth quests as they appear.
>>3790564

>>3790587
then you probably want to look up the best weapon for each character, and the optimal way of leveling weapons

Did you beat the game yet?

>>3792287
FF13? I beat the game ages ago, I'm almost at the end of 13-2

>>3784820
you were right anon, the story's dumb but the soundtrack is absolutely banging

>>3792287
I'm the chapter 11 guy and no. I haven't been able to post cause kuroba throwing captcha errors. I made it to Bart but died once and went back to do more quests and upgrade my stuff. I still can't decide on accessories and Noone seems to agree on any "best" ones online. I might go for the value vampire synergy or just magic max on lightning. Playing her all in as a ravager basically. I'm doing lightning fang and hope as my main team. I need to get more jobs up do I can have hope debuff.

buuuuuuump?

>>3774397 (OP)
This was the last final fantasy I bought. It was so bad, it killed any interest I had in the series after that.

I just got to gran pulse, and I'm finally unshackled from the hallways. I'm trying to keep Sazh/Snow/Vanille as my team (because I like their character the most). Is this a usable party? I'm unsure about paradigm setups/who to run as the main character (is it better to control the buffer/debuffer/medic/sentinel?)

alright I just finished 13-2. what the fuck was that ending?

why was hope building a new cocoon? was living on pulse really that bad? didn't caius technically win because etro died? where the fuck is snow? is serah a reincarnation of yeul, or can she just coincidentally see the future too?

>>3777686
I enjoyed both games so you might too, but most don’t

>>3798335
I loved 13 and 13-2. When the credits theme kicked in, I burst out laughing. Like what the actual fuck? I thought some music in another tab had started auto-playing. Felt so out of place. I too had no idea what was going on and was left quite confused. Still had a blast 100%ing the game tho.

Never bothered to play Lightning Returns.... And i do own it... ;-;

>>3798335
Some of those questions won't be answered.

>didn't caius technically win because etro died?
Yes but in the end it won't matter much in LR because it has a whole new story.

>where the fuck is snow?
You'll see in LR and will still beg this very same question.

>is serah a reincarnation of yeul, or can she just coincidentally see the future too?
I think its the later. Honestly with how LR plays out you might as well forget XIII and XIII-2 even existed, its such a genre shift. It doesn't even feel like a sequel.

>>3798775
I don't think I'm gonna be playing LR, I don't actually give a shit about lightning as a character

>>3798779
Do you like Hope? Specifically, do you like young Hope from XIII? Because there's lots of him.

>>3798806
not particularly

>>3798779
>>3798860
Might as well finish the series off. LR is "different" enough to still keep you entertained, good or bad. Personally I can't think of anything else good about the game other than being more open. Despite the praise it gets I preferred XIII-2 over LR.

>>3798868
LR has more interesting combat and exploration than xiii-2. It’s quite fun to collect all the costumes to customise combat. It also has a lot more interesting side quests.

>>3798868
there's a part of me that wants to do the postgame content in 13-2, but it's a small part

>>3799420
The post game was kind of ass in XIII-2, one of the requirements was 100%ing the enemy databse where some of the monsters had stupid requirements like can only be found once and spawns randomly forcing you to save and reset and resetting the whole timeline. It didn't even give you a proper list on how to find some of them and have to check online to see what you missed.

is there a version of prelude in the FF13 or 13-2 soundtracks?

>>3783391
14 is a pretty dumb example
considering it owes most of its aesthetic to 13

>>3799430
>stupid requirements like can only be found once and spawns randomly forcing you to save and reset and resetting the whole timeline
I think only one enemy was like that. But that was stupid enough especially since it was on one of the final platforms of the final dungeon.

>>3798779
weeeeell I don't have anything else to play with a controller so I guess I'll try LR. anything I need to know before starting? some mod fixes like 13-2?

>>3801272
It was actually 2 in that area, I was lucky enough to run into 1 on my first run though. Beautiful map but damn did I hate running thought it multiple times. That game always had you running through the worst maps multiple times.

>>3801414
If you're talking about the PC version, LR actually isn't in bad of shape as the first 2 games. If you care about running the game at 60fps and still low quality sound issue. Then you probably want to check pc gaming wiki.

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Lightning_Returns:_Final_Fantasy_XIII

>>3801433
Yeah it's technically 2 but you're guaranteed to run into one or the other.

>>3801433
mog's anguished screams as I threw him around were the best part of the game

>>3801645
It's kinda funny how the NPCs react to mog being thrown. I don't know who the hell had a bright idea to make them programmed them to follow it and coalesce.

>>3801414
so, uh... what the fuck is going on with the plot? did lightning fuck up by asking for serah's help in 13-2?

>>3801729
Etro's a retard and fucked by releasing the XIII proper's cast from crystal stasis is how I interpreted it.

>>3801729
Etro's a retard and fucked up by releasing the XIII proper's cast from crystal stasis is how I interpreted it.

>>3781449
>>3781496
>>3782811
in regards to the ending
https://youtu.be/tnqMQb0_aTA?si=b7M0_igSNPmK9Fgr&t=3311
might be contradicted by future games but I like this interpretation