Erm.....lots of games from the 2000s still look great. Resident Evil 4. GTA 4. Metal Gear Solid 4..DMC 4.. God of War. Batman Arkham. Heck. Final Fantasy 6 from 1994 still looks great. FF13 having pretty graphics ain't special. It's ps3 slop. Which is still relatively modern. Come at me when you find a good looking 80s game that isn't mario.
Perfect time for a remastered triology. Come on Square you know you want to. Also my guess is it would sell a lot and prove to Square that the games were overhated, and they went too far with the course correction.
@@clydu91 Well depends if its a PS4 or PS5 version. You are aware the only reason Rebirth and 16 sold so badly because they skipped the PS4. Also the 13 series sold like 12 million units, for all games combined, so i wouldn't be surprised if a 13 collection would outsell 7Remake. Lotsa people talked shit about the series sure, but it still sold.
@@tehSunBro Less that they skipped PS4 and more didn't put it on xbox as well, like they're doing with their other properties like Kingdom Hearts. PS4 would have helped but I don't think those games would have run on it, certainly not the base or slim models. Square has of course learned from this mistake and have finally realized less people have PS5s than amount of sales they want to make and are going to put shit on PC at least. So I'd imagine a 13 trilogy for modern systems and PC would sell well enough to justify that cost. I'd love one honestly even if I don't like 13-2. Of course if I'm able to will one HD Trilogy Collection into being I'd rather save that for Xenosaga but, I know that's a lost cause. I think Harada hates Xenosaga fans.
@@ElectricBarrier Xbox has never made a difference in Square sales. 15 was 80% PS4, 11%PC 9%Xbox. I'm sorry, but if we take the same figures, 300k extra sold would not make a difference and Rebirth would've still be considered a underperforming. Same goes for PC. It is purely because it wasn't on PS4, because Sony failed to get people to move up, and still asking for 500 on an almost 4 year old platform will also not change that. If you want another figure. 13 sold about 5.5 mil on PS3, 2mil on XBox and about 700k on PC. And that was during the time where 360 was still the dominant platform.
I have to applaud making a banger review of Final Fantasy 13--one of the most controversial/divisive FF games of all time--as a means to soften the blow of telling the audience you like it more than both 15 and 16 at the end
15 is unfinished and bad. The open world has nothing to offer and the combat is braindead. 16 is just a DMC game stretched out to 60 hours, making it a drag to get through. I think 13 leaves a bad first impression, but has such good combat mid to late game, it completely outweighs the mid story and bad characters (except Snow and Sazh).
Long time viewer here. B-Mask style of video essay was made for stuff like Sam and Max and The Sly trilogy. You're at some of your best with obscure, interesting horror games. However, this is the best video you ever made to date. Their so much baggage with FF13. You were the perfect person to cut through the chaff and take the story and gameplay on its own merit. Best of all you did it with class. Not hyperbolic, with simple but concise editing. Perfect tone of voice throughout the video. Ending on the same sentimental high as the game. Sadly RU-vid tends to reward bad behavior. So in a meta way. I hope this video gets the same respect in time you gave the game. Really enjoyed the video, hope you make more like them. However, My advice, if you want those RU-vid clicks in this day and age. I believe you're the perfect guy to take something like fear and hunger. To cut the "masterpiece" rhetoric down to size and give a genuine assessment. Anyway. All the best man. Keep up the good work!
23:54 Even despite how much FF13 was very much "not my thing" I loved how the Summon Fights were done, especially Lightning's Odin fight. The fact it happens because she's trying to go it alone, and the way to do it properly is to have her heal her teammate every now and then is a great way to show character development through gameplay.
The Eidolon fights convey so much character through gameplay; they're a highlight of the game for me, as easy as they are once you know the right way to do them.
This genuinely might be one of the most positive Final Fantasy XIII reviews in the last decade. While I think the game has A LOT of issues and it constantly undercuts its potential with baffling decisions, it has many ideas that are great, and the story is surprisingly poignant once you push through the confusing terminology. Overall, I think it's a flawed yet valuable gem that deserves a second chance with the community.
I’ve seen a few more positive reviews of the game recently. I think it’s undergoing a sort of soft redemption as its fans finally come out of the woodwork a bit.
@@SaintMarianne Makes sense. With Final Fantasy forever stuck in MMO 14 hell for better and for worse, the reliance on retrending FF7 yet again with it's remakes, another round of poor FF7 spin-offs that came and went, even more remakes with the Pixel Remasters, no one caring about Strangers of Paradise and 16 drifting so far away from the franchise's identity it's easy to see why some may look back on it more fondly.
13 was originally a late PlayStation 2 title whose development team was randomly tasked with creating the Final Fantasy VII PlayStation 3 tech demo. The positive reaction to a trailer showcasing a next gen VII remake convinced the team that XIII should be next-gen media franchise and form the basis of the entire company with Crystal Tools. What an accomplishment this game was...
@pedroportela6476 In fairness, this is just stuff that they did to test out the hardware. They had a PS2 tech demo where they recreated FF8 dance scene. They probably didn't expect the FF7 tech demo would lead to so much demand for an FF7 remake.
Somehow TGB managed to make this game look like peak JRPG Kino. Played this game on release and dropped it at the very end, right before the final boss, when I realized this was really it this was all the game had to offer. I went in figuring it may have been just a slow burn type of game where it would eventually release the reigns and let you out on your own but that never truly happened. There was no point where it stopped being linear and kaboomed into a grand adventure like the JRPGs I had been accustomed to. Still for all the effort put into this video I can't not give this game a second chance, perhaps an older wiser me can appreciate the more subtleties of this game.
Thanks for covering the combat of the game in-depth, it s funny how hard it is to actually hear about details of combat in reviews. Quick question, apparently there is a hard mode mod for the game. Do you think making the combat harder would help with the issues of the combat in the early game? It seems like the actual mechanics of the combat are pretty interesting, but maybe the intensity isnt there to get the most out of them?
It's pretty intense if you are playing it blind. Even if you don't die in a fight, you're incentivized to get that sweet 5 star ranking and getting anything less feels kinda bad, like you failed to 'understand' it. Because star rank is purely time-based, you'll want to learn how to optimize paradigm shifts to minimize downtime. in short, there's a hidden mechanic in the game that will allow optimal dps by timing your shifts in order to get an immediate atb refresh. it's an intentional mechanic, but is never explained in game. I haven't heard of the 'hard' mod, I'll have to check it out.
Oh hey, fancy seeing you here. Huge fan of your videos. I haven't played the hard mode mod myself (currently I don't have a PC that can properly run XIII, so I play on Xbox lol). However, as @plotinusreadinggroup said, the game can still be pretty intense if you're playing it blind. Going for those 5 stars is a rush. Even in a lot of Charlie's footage of the "easy" fights, you can still see him getting less than 5 stars because he was making a lot of sub-optimal moves. The game is ultimately about figuring out how to kill each enemy formation and boss as quickly and efficiently as possible, and because of the way the battle system is designed, being efficient also equals looking sick as fuck. I think I remember you saying in some of your videos that you're not big on self-imposed challenge runs. But - if I can be allowed the indulgence of a "but" - FFXIII's NCU challenge run is great if you want a "hard mode" without mods. The only rule is that you can't use the Crystarium (the system for leveling up your characters) whatsoever. You can still upgrade your equipment (and you'll need to), but outside equipment buffs, your characters stay at their base stats. It makes even the early game battles surprisingly intense. Things like interrupting enemies with partial attack strings, dodging using the "jump back" animation that comes after certain moves, optimizing your shifts with ATB refresh, properly prioritizing targets, using healing items at the right times in addition to healing Paradigms, suddenly become really important. I'm currently on Chapter 11 in my current NCU playthrough and I've been having a blast figuring out how to still efficiently kill enemies (and still get those 5 stars) with a weaker party. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants to experience XIII in a challenging and incredibly satisfying way... though maybe not for your first playthrough, haha.
I actually think this game is harder than most FF games. I died here more than other FF games that I played. Of course trash mobs are a mindless fight like all FF games, but there are bosses here that you won't beat without the right paradigm. There are bosses that took me 20 tries to beat, because of trying to time defending and healing, and then go on the attack because you won't beat that boss if you don't stagger him. These are tactics that don't exist in many FF games. In other games you can just over-level and stomp on the enemy. People who say you can beat the game using auto-battle probably played on Easy and didn't use any tactics, because that statement is absolutely 100% false. Switching to SEN-SEN-SEN on precise timing and healing with MED-MED-MED is a requirement in some battles.
This review actually makes me wanna play FFXIII. Is like a whole different aproach after all these years of reading and hearing harsh reviews of this title. Now that I've watch your comprehensive analysis and perspective of this game, It left me feeling like I was missing out of a pretty nice time.
I'm really glad that after all this time, we're finally getting some actual in-depth reviews of ff13 that talk about all the interesting things it does instead of just going "linear game bad". This game really holds a special place in my heart, especially on the art department. Be it the music, environments, bestiary, animations, everything really, this game has such a polished and unique style, it has to be my favorite of all time.
@@vjbd2757 which says more about how FFXIII is not as compelling to people than about a bias against linearity. Like, yes there have been a lot of people hating on the corridors (not that they're wrong imho). But FFXIII released the same year as Modern Warfare 2 or Uncharted 2, a year after Gears Of War 2...corridors were the design flavor of the most sold and played games of that generation. If it was decried in FFXIII it's not specifically because it's linear. It's because it doesn't do much with it and doesn't do much with it for more than 40hrs...
Never understood that aspect of FF XIII hate. Linear isn´t bad as such. Many JRPGs are extreme linear. All FFs in the PSone era are. I guess FF XIII was a little bit to earnest about it. If they would hid it a little better maybe nobody have bat an eye to it.
@@keikurono6571 When it was new I probably would have hated how linear it can be, but now after playing so many open world games and how so many open world games are filled with filler and needlessly large, I'm more than down for a shorter linear game.
Thanks, you actually explained the plot of FF13. I think the difference between FF13 and the surrounding games can be largely explained by when it came out - in the middle of the Xbox360/PS3 generation. This generation was all about graphics and cinematics and bringing game worlds to life in HD, but it was also very arcadey. FF13's basic gameplay and linear path reminds me of the games on Xbox Live Arcade in many ways . Square Enix were pulling their weight by combining what they'd learnt with previous stories into a likable cast of characters in a cutscene heavy game that took four Xbox 360 discs. What was largely offputting about this game for me, really, is that it had two sequels. And I've not heard anything good about what they do to the story. But I wasn't aware that the story was self contained in the first game. I thought it relied on those sequels. Meanwhile Final Fantasy 15 and 16 move to the clinical open worlds of the PS4 generation. No more wacky arcade hijinks. No more goofy characters. Everyone wears black now and has to look super cool. Everything you do must be in a massive, barren open world with lots of sidequests that can be done in any order. You can't have character relationships change because then you'd have to establish an order of how you do things!!! Unacceptable!!! Environments might be the thing that have suffered most in games this past couple generations, as well as music, because developers no longer want unique music with chiptunes like in early Final Fantasy games and in the FF13 battle theme. They want epic orchestra. You're only allowed to explore one map, not a cluster of beautifully designed small worlds. There's no room for flavour.
@@SaberRexZealot I find X extremely overrated. It's a really average RPG with a badly written plot and characters, and some absolutely horrendously bad game design towards the end as well as a rushed and unfinished finale. It's fun to play and it has good music, but when people say it's better than the other FF games it baffles me, it comes off as total nostalgia.
@@Jordan3DSThe writing in videogames is bad in general, not even FF is spared from that and it is understandable because the development of a videogame is too complex and tedious, the purpose of this development always has as a conclusion to deliver entertainment to the consumer, not a good super complex writing worthy of being on a shelf, the videogame community has a very big inferiority complex with cinema or literature. Although it is good that it is so, for some reason the nerds addicted to videogames believe that these should be closer to cinema or literature, forgetting what is important in a videogame, which is basically that they are fun, have good OST and good graphics. That is why videogames are misinterpreted by pseudo-intellectuals who never read a book or saw a movie outside of Hollywood, that is a problem in videogames that nobody talks about, how their community is nothing more than a bunch of pathetic people desperately trying to prove themselves superior to the tastes of others.
In Oerba, In Vanille and fangs old Home She has a pet Robot.. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH fix the ROBOT .. If you were struggling against Barthandalus litterally he is a push over after you cash in the little buddy’s rewards.. It’s such a nice power boost it’s not funny
I feel like I’m defending square a bit too much when I say this, but I swear the main reason 15 and 16 took themselves more seriously is because of critic and fan outrage against 13’s eccentricity at the time. In that regard square changing direction has to be partly blamed on the fans and critics…
I feel like a similar thing happened between 8 and 9. A very off-putting to casual fans entry, followed by a more simplistic, "return-to-form" nostalgia trip.
I gotta say, though, XVI is more like XII in tone and I hear like Tactics as well. Also, from what I know from my friend XIV is also wacky as heck and like. Maybe it doesn't count because it's a Remake, but but both VII Remake and Rebirth are in the vein of XIII - and are even made by the same team. Hell, maybe that's what happened? Cause I see the VII R games as really good follow ups to what worked in the XIII Trilogy.
@@PolarPhantom Basically Tactics resembles Game of Thrones because like GRRM, Yasumi Matsuno based it off The War of The Roses and history. Matsuno wrote Tactics Ogre, FF Tactics, and FF12. Matsuno writes characters and plot like GRRM does, so they FEEL like the same person wrote them. But 16 was written as a love letter to Game of Thrones where the team literally watched it as reference. Which is why it resembles Game of Thrones but is about one singular super man, and FF Tactics is about an army regiment (and why certain characters end up where they end up by the end).
Nah. Different dev teams. 7 Remake is made by the 13 team and it's just as bizarre. 15 was originally by the Kingdom Hearts guy so it was always supposed to be a little emo. 16 was made in the style of the old Ivalice games.
my dude, you do not have to always re input the same things while selecting, just hold right before pressing on abilities and it instantly queue your last cast spells .-. i literally play the game with the normal speed while selecting everything its far more fun and exilerating because you do NOT have time to fuck around.
Yeah, I'm surprised Charlie missed that *and* ATB refresh, when he was able to figure out things like interrupting enemies with partial strings and using back jumps at the ends of combos to dodge attacks. XIII's combat is surprisingly deep when you start delving into all the unique tech. Still love replaying it and trying to improve my skills at it to this day.
I love all of FF13. If you ever go to 13-2, you will quickly notice that it is refined in so many details when it comes to mechanics, that it will be hard to go back to 13. Also 13-3/ LR is one of the most unique game I have played yet. Super interesting mechanics all throughout and even arcade like in its structure, which you will understand in NG plus. It is co developed by tri ace, who made super interesting games such as valkyrie profile and resonance of fate, quite literally the most bonkers rpg I know, so it is no wonder LR turned out to be the way it is.
Man I miss these kind of RPG where the “Heroes” are humans first instead of cardboard cut out of humans in heroes skin giving the villains and you a lecture on how a “good human” is suppose to be like in so many modern day RPGs Non of the characters WANTING to be heroes until the near end of the game is just good story telling
One problem I found with 13 is that too many things that needed clarification you have to go back into the in-game encyclopedia just to understand wide swaths of anything.
I actually replayed this earlier this year and frankly loved it. Many of the infamous criticisms about the game like the corridors, convoluted story etc, I'd found had actually become the game's strengths. The open-world segment near the end is somehow the worst part of the game, because it totally ruins the pacing of what was otherwise a well-paced, gripping thrill ride of a story. Perhaps I'm old, and I was just too young for the game at the time, but...FF13 is lowkey really good. The characters are so subtle, and mature, and...real. Looking forward to a remake in 23 years
nah it was a pretty awful game still. But if you just skipped all the open world stuff and went to only story missions the pacing fits perfectly. What I really hate was the pointless postgame. "you can do a bunch of harder fights and get the ultimate weapons!" yeah and what am I getting the ultimate weapons for exactly? I saved the world already, game's over. I despise pointless post games. You gotta add a whole new villain and new levels and such if you're going to do that. There has to be more plot to use the better gear and higher levels.
I had the opposite reaction. Simplistic and boring dungeons that go on for way too long, bad combat, and a luaghably bad story and characters. The only praise I can give it is that some of the soundtrack is good and visually it looks amazing for its time.
The linearity would be fine, if there was still things to explore. FFX was linear, but still offered enough side content and exploration to keep you engaged. Battles were fun and required strategy. Yes, you can use some barebones strategy with the paradigm shift in FFXIII's first half, but pressing a shoulder button to quickly shift while you continue to spam auto battle isn't fun or engaging to me.
I like that the video doesn't directly address the infamous criticisms that are just wrong. Like people that don't understand the difference between the L'cie and F'alcie and think they can speak about the quality of the story.
I think the reason 16 is comparatively more serious is because a lot of the overtly goofy/over the top stuff is in 14, which is by the same director. The director obviously wouldn't want to just repeat himself, so he tried going in a different direction for 16.
I can understand why, it came after FFX and FF12 which were both incredibly received. This game didn’t quite meet the expectations that those two had built up as well as their other extremely strong predecessors. FF13 wasn’t bad but compared to previous titles and the god tier games that had come out that year. It got hate
I gave it three sincere attempts over the span of 8 years and I still can't get into it. It's the equivalent of a road trip but with a crowd you just can't seem to like or have fun with- pretty, but boring.
@@genderender The issues is that it has no content or substance. It has barely any dungeons that are stretched to be as long as possible, so there's no variety to the game. The same length that's fine in a good game is painful in a bad game.
52:49 Actually in the sequels you learn It was Etro that intervened and reverted them back into humans, giving a New Focus to help them save Coccon. You learn about that Godess if you been reading the Datalog. Also I just realized that you didnt mention the Datalog during the video.
I was surprised that Charlie didn't mention the datalog at all, especially with how he goes out of his way to read all the readable stuff in Resident Evil and Metroid Prime games. With the FNC lore in the datalogs, the cutscenes that clearly explain the Sanctum fal'Cie's intentions, and the constant appearances of Etro's Gate during Chapter 12 and throughout the final battle in Chapter 13 - especially the shot of Etro's Gate glowing right before the big emotional flashback sequence - I think it's possible that someone could've pieced together what was happening even without playing XIII-2. The problem is that the important FNC lore details in the datalogs are locked behind doing all the Cie'th Stone missions... and judging by how quickly Charlie glossed over them in this vid and didn't even mention stuff like Titan's Trials, I think it's safe to say he probably didn't unlock those datalogs, lol.
Yeah, something about the quasi-realtime combat of FF13 and Xenoblade always does something for me, that tactical micromanagement of actions and resources in a way that avoids tedium if it was turn based or button-smashing combat. Also I urge anyone to try FF13 with original VA's - won't fix the story, but will make you hate the characters significantly less.
I should've waited for this review before putting this game down back in 2010 when I got stuck on the final boss and said to myself, 'Fuck it, I've had enough of this game and its paradigm system.'
For me it was those damn Eidolon fights. The ones that seemed to have been designed for the "Elden Ring player beats every boss blindfolded without taking damage" god-tier gamers. Even though the rest of the game is meant for... You know, regular human beings.
I quit in the final dungeon. I just felt exhausted and wasn't invested enough in the story to want to see it through. The combat and music are great, though. It took me 20 hrs to get the battle system down, but once I did I liked it.
@@Phantosification They're not even *hard* in the traditional sense, it's just nigh on impossible to discern the gimmick they want you to follow to beat the boss.
13 is one of my favorite Final Fantasies for the setting, aesthetic and music. I did enjoy the job system even though sometimes it felt clunky, but overall this game was really fun, especially chapter 11
The main issue I had with 13 was nomenclature. I can only imagine kids/teens/young adults asking them selves “what are L’Cie again?!” for the 50th time, feeling lost and eventually giving up on an otherwise great story/characters. It’s a shame really, cause if instead of L’Cie the were called Branded or chosen and if instead of Fal’Cie they were called Espers or Eidolons or Aons, I think people would have given this game a much fairer chance. The naming conventions were unnecessarily complicated, imo.
You know what's annoying about the term "l'Cie?" It's not even using the l' correctly. L' is for when the following noun begins with a vowel sound. It should be le Cie or la Cie. There's also the way the first hour of the game throws all these terms around in ways the other characters understand, but the audience doesn't, which is just lousy storytelling. If there were at least one character present who didn't understand this it would make more sense, but to have characters say exceptionally weighty things like "I'm not a l'Cie" or "I'm after the Pulse fal'Cie" and _then_ have the significance of that explained to the audience after the fact... I'm sorry, are we supposed now to recall that moment and feel the shock retroactively? It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in the history of narrative convention. It's like a bad comedian who has to explain his joke and then gets mad when the audience still doesn't laugh. I've never played a game or experienced any other story where the story itself made me feel like I was being intentionally kept out of the loop by it, and it makes me not _want_ to engage with it.
Completely agree with the conclusion here. It feels like modern Square is trying so desperately to chase trends that will make it more receptive to the modern masses to boost sales. With XV, it was the open world design, and XVI, a more solo character action oriented focus. I think the VII remake project is a great showing of how a future mainline project should function in terms of the tone and larger party structure. XIII was indeed the last game that actually felt like an FF game. Great video and great review. Very much appreciate the praise and appreciation for this title that I always thought was extremely overhated.
⚠️Warning: Long-ass comment⚠️ FFXIII is very solid, albeit flawed. The OST slaps as well, including my favorite track Blinded By Light(especially it's best part where the Shimomura-esque violin kicks in). The Japanese and English voice acting too(Hope is voiced by Vincent Martella, aka Phineas, and other VAs like Ali Hillis as Lightning, Troy Baker as Snow, Laura Bailey as Serah, Reno Wilson as Sazh, and others especially the addition of Australian VAs as the lesbian duo Vanille and Fang were delights to hear; same goes with Maaya Sakamoto's badass performance as Lightning in the Japanese dub). The cutscenes themselves are breathless, like previous installments and the action is pure eye-candy, including the character design from Tetsuya Nomura himself. Everyone hated Final Fantasy XIII years ago because of it's linear stages(such as the first level in Cocoon), which is now seen as a weak excuse(even one of my favorite youtubers, Jontron made a review of FFXIII and later FFXIII-2 with the iconic title 'Final Hallway XIII', and despite being hilarious, aged poorly). To be fair, FFXIII-2 and Lightning Returns are seen as good sequels themselves, though like the first installment in the Lightning Saga, they still have dents that many pointed out to be half-baked and pretentious. For this trilogy being a part of the proposed but failed universe Fabula Nova Crystallis, there could've been so much more out of the titles outside of Lightning's saga. Final Fantasy Type-0 would be a separate spinoff series, and not just the starting installment, and the Japan-exclusive Agito, but an example of what could have been, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the illusive FF game, planned to be Nomura's magnum opus. Though we all know it never came to be, Versus XIII became Final Fantasy XV, Tabata's vision was fucked up too by the SE executives, Dawn of the Future was forced to become a novel, eventual expansions including the potential to make fan favorite Aranea playable were canceled, yadda yadda yadda. FFXV turned out to be divisive thanks to these baffling decisions, and clashing with the creative ideas from both Nomura and Tabata. At least Versus XIII's legacy lived on with Yozora, Verum Rex, and Quadratum in Kingdom Hearts as a revenge tactic from Tetsuya Nomura, and FurYu created the game's spiritual successor Reynatis(crossing over with TWEWY even), but there's still hope for the lost chapter of this fractured subseries with Versus XIII influencing other works from it's initial team. I could compare it to Silent Hills, and how the canceled title, and it's demo P.T. impacted survival horror after the horrendous treatment Hideo Kojima got from Konami(furthermore interfering with Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain's post-production, let alone the infamous Nikkei Report that exposed Konami for engaging in Japan's ever-so-problematic workaholic culture), but the differences are quite obvious. Whereas FF Versus XIII became FFXV, so it wasn't technically shelved for good, rather altered to be a part of the mainline titles.
I’m still sad we couldn’t get to play Versus Xiii instead of getting XV. Seeing the old trailers with the Kingdom Hearts 2-esque menus during gameplay makes me think about what could have been Nomura’s possibly coolest project
@@Jordan3DS the gameplay is genuinely great. i happily put 60 hours into pulse a few months ago and got most of the achievements. 5-starring missions is very satisfying
@@a_brodo3158 I heard that for years before I played it, and then when I finally did all that happens is you unlock the ability to actually pick your party like 20 hours in. My issue with it is that battles take WAY too long and you're not really doing very much. I love RPGs like Octopath Traveler where your decision making matters, and there's a lot of strategy.
A review of FF13, much less a positive one, was the last thing I expected it see from Brit. I know 13 has many problems but I've always had a soft spot for it.
While there are undeniable gameplay and design improvements in the sequels, if you like 13's story and ending as much as this video implies you will find very little to recommend the narratives of 13-2 and Lightning Returns.
One of the most fun mechanics in this game, which the game forgot to explain, is restoring atb on paradigm shifting at the right time. Basically after the atb gauge has completely filled up and is use twice, you can swap into another paradigm, and you will have your entire ATB bar full. This new bar also counts for the next switch, so after using it and filling it up again, you can swap again, creating a very fun and fast paced playstyle, of swapping paradigms at thw right time, and atill beeing able to use all your buffs, debuffs and healing you will still need to do
There are so many minute details about combat in XIII that I absolutely adore. Another great example is that attacks actually have hurtboxes - both for the player characters and the enemies. If you time your attacks correctly, OR cancel an existing string, certain characters like Lightning can jump away from an attacking enemy at just the right time, or interrupt an attacking foe by forcing them to flinch as they rush at their target. In battles against certain enemies, like Behemoths, smart use of this detail can make a huge difference.
It's simply based upon elapsed time. Your first paradigm shift after the battle's start refreshes your ATB. Once you activate the refresh, it takes 12 seconds for the effect to recharge.
There's also the stagger mechanic where once it's filled it's not just about damage, it's also about how you and the party can time your attacks to keep an enemy immobile. The commando launches them in the air and lays on the damage. After that a Ravager can attack and keep the enemy airborne. You mess up the timing if you just mindlessly start your next action so sometimes you can afford to wait a bit until the others stop attacking. I love setting these strings up.
@@AndreasFleissner It's definitely not a cooldown tho, you can shift early for half an atb bar. if you need an emergency heal for example, or swap into sentinels to quickly defend
I don't care for Razorfist, but Spoony brought up some good points about 13. But honestly, it wasn't the game's fault. Square was too busy chasing trends rather than sticking to its guns.
If I had a nickel for every time I passingly played a game for a month and then forgot about it, and then TGBS makes a review on that same game, I'd have three nickels. Which is strange but it's weird that it's happened three times in a row.
With regards to the talk at the end, I think the difference in approach is that FFXV was a middle-aged man's male friendship fantasy. FFXVI was a middle-aged man's power fantasy. FFXIII was Final Fantasy.
Something that I don't think was covered properly; there is an in-game encyclopaedia that is crucial for understanding what is going on. L'cie, Fal'cie, Cieth, focuses and governments of these worlds don't get properly explained during cutscenes or game play. Even if my English/ Japanese was better, I still get confused by how things are presented until I stop playing the game to read the text dump. 15 had a similar problem, compounded by some information being literally unavailable if you don't buy a movie/ watch a cartoon/ download the mobile phone game
Based on your comments right at the end of the video, it sounds like *someone* hasn't played FF14. If you're looking for some of that series wackiness...
@@thepeanutter9972 "Recycles" what a strange and loaded word you've chosen. Yes, the game makes lots of references to other games in the series. Takes concepts and presents them in a new light in a fun and interesting way that people love. But sure, it's "creatively bankrupt," despite having hundreds of original characters, designs, concepts and the like. Makes a lot of sense man, good argument. If there's one thing everyone always hears about FF14, it's that it's "creatively bankrupt."
Damn, despite my past impression of XIII being inferior to older titles - I must say after experiencing the last decade of the FF I really start seeing XIII in a different light. You should definitely give the other two sequels a try, even though I have mixed feelings about them they're easily recommendable to someone who enjoyed XIII.
You're really not saying that when I - IX exist, lol. Like, it's a good battle theme, but best? Really? You'd like SaGa Frontier 2's soundtrack probably, it's the same composer as XIII
Those who Fight is one of the most iconic pieces of Videogame music ever. Close enough are proof of a hunter and any Devil May Cry 3 battle theme. Blinded by Light is ok, but it's not even XIII's best track.
Am I the only one that restarted the vid? He went straight to the point without the usually intro for said video game he does. Not a complaint, just something I noticed.
FF13 is peak 2000s euro-techno-trance-jpop kino and I'm sick of everyone pretending otherwise....... It just takes a while to show you all of it. Also the story to gameplay integration is the best FF has ever done, battle system is the best evolution on the classic turn based ATB system, the story itself and the dialogue are absolutely hilarious, environments are jaw dropping, music is gorgeous, ethereal and different from the rest of the series. People hate the music and especially the post battle fanfare, but if you ever went to a european underground rave....
@@hcohic9884 It's very similar to MGS4 in a sense that it's an experimental highpoint in a time when gaming was starting to become homogenized with games like Gears of war and Uncharted unifying genres, so i find it fun from that historical standpoint. Though theres also the fact that I'm quite tired of the last 15 years of open world slop that drained so much energy with all these different paths and decisions that it just felt nice to play a game where you don't need to make any game changing decisions or whatever and just chill out and vibe with what is actually a very ps2 kind of experience, where you always know where the main path is and where the side paths are and just go and engage with the battle system and enjoy the wacky beautiful world. It's not perfect for sure, but again, like MGS4 it has that unique quality where, whether you like it or not, there hasn't been anything quite like it before or since. Certified ps3 classic. Even if i played it on pc with upscale mods and music volume boost
@@Dimchek970 i had the same experience with the ps3 era on one hand i was so impressed by the visuals but i wanted more from the ' next gen ' in terms of mechanical complexity for example in heist game to plan my heist scout the location prepare exit talk to npcs smuggle guns hide evidence ect .but what we got from the next gen was the same old games but they just look better because the aesthetics and player agency is what immerses you not fancy graphics and and large maps. so the only way for devs to give play agency was to create interconnected systems with many probabilities and possibilities but that is very expensive and hard to do with high resolution graphics .so graphics and gameplay together cannot be be implemented or mass produced in games. this is why the ps3 era was stale for many us.its mechanical simplicity and use of tried and tested formulas meant it was neve going to match the innovation of the ps2 era let alone surpass it. luckily japan wasnt as effected as the rest of the industry and kept giving classic linear titles and ofc the indie scene in the last 7 years.
@kap1618 "square was trying to appease everyone." they already did with the older Final Fantasy games. Which is why they sold more and have higher reviews than the mediocre 13.
@@adcon00 Other semi popular gaming youtuber who over the course of many years has been doing long comprehensive reviews of every single Final Fantasy game, skipped 13 because he's still mad about it over 15 years later.
I hate when people unilaterally decide that they hate characters because they’re “annoying” or “brooding” or whatever surface level personality trait because they refuse to understand the reasons why they behave that way. Hope is my favorite character in this game. Really I think the whole cast is pretty underrated.
As someone who has played the XIII+ saga, I can safely say I like the original game the most. Both XIII-2 and Lightning Returns are missing the "fun" adventure of the first game. They also change a lot of the story in ways I don't vibe with. As you said, the upbeat tone mixed with the serious moments is what makes a good Final Fantasy game. Story-wise, I would compare the XIII+ saga to Dark Souls and its sequels. They're fun to play in their own way, but they miss the point of the original while rewriting or retconning what it was about in the first place. Don't get me wrong-I think they're worth playing; I'm just not a fan of the fact that they exist.
Great review Charlie! At the time I had hoped that people's opinions would soften towards this game, and while XV and XVI certainly might have helped people look back on this one with a more positive outlook, the sequels also deserve some love. XIII-2 imho actually perfected XIII's combat in many ways and the game's structure is definitely more entertaining. As for the story, it takes a while to get going and to become as interesting and high stakes as XIII, but as a whole I found it a very worthwhile sequel, and even though I very much agree that XIII can and could've definitely stood on its own as a standalone game, thankfully for those that read the datalog in XIII, both sequels help answer many of the lore questions that were left unanswered. Did those questions need answers? Not entirely, but despite spotty execution here and there across all 3 games, it's a very satisfying trilogy. Lightning Returns for me was some of the most fun gameplay and combat the series had before the release of 7 Remake, and despite some of the quality of LR ibeing inferior from the bombastic beginnings of XIII (I'm not sure if the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray war had anything to do with it, since XIII was 3 discs on X360, while XIII-2 and LR were 1 each), less and less of the beautiful Crystal Tools CG cutscenes, shoddy textures here and there (like the dopey dog in a certain LR side-quest, but overall the time management stuff is easy to manage, even when going for a completionist playthrough and the ending is SO good! Also the music, the music for this trilogy is and always was amazing. Hope you find the motivation to play these games some day!
This is a wonderful review. It was clear you love the game, while also not ignoring its flaws. It felt properly critical, while also trying to meet the game where it's at and understand what the developers were attempting. The sections discussing the music and story and characters gave me goosebumps. You've given me a deeper understanding and greater appreciation of a game I already loved, and now more so.
@@TheSpongyMallard Yep it's either ""This game is trash and here's why" or "The haters are wrong this game is a masterpiece". If I like a game but recognize its flaws, the bashing can sound too nitpicky and the over-praise can sound too fanboyish. It's hard to find a place in an extremist social media.
You got yours out before projared lol. Ok jokes aside this game is getting more defends, they claim that it does it's linearity well and if you think about it isn't that much more linear then all the previous FF games, however those games hid their linearity better and in this era of gaming everyone wanted open world games. I do agree that 15 is way worst of a game tbh, that game is the epitome of wide as an ocean deep as a puddle and unlike 13 didn't take any real risk. I love the way this game looks to.
One of the worst games of its time. UNLIKE standout titles that came out around the same time: Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Fallout: New Vegas, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Dragon Age: Origins.
Its interesting how after we got two mainline titles the hate for 13 has sorta died down a bit it's still seen as sorta controversial but people look more fondly on the game its kinda nice honestly cause ive always loved the 13 trilogy i hope one day we get a remaster of the trilogy or even a remake would be interesting
Yknow I had many many years of hearing disparaging remarks about Final Fantasy XIII, but I’m really happy you covered this. I did watch the entire video (besides the part at the very end but I’ll get to it soon!) and I have to say that this game seems really beautiful and good, I find myself agreeing with a lot of opinions you’ve shared in the past and I think I really slept on this one. The story seems really well done too, something that I didn’t get to see when trying the very beginning a long time ago. I still think I’d like to play this sometime soon. Thank you Gaming Brit this was a good video
It really does feel like this game is the last Final Fantasy that feels like one, barring maybe XIV. ATB turn-based combat, full party, feels like the most expensive game of its era the entire time. Even if it lacked things like an overworld or minigames or whatever (which, honestly, some previous games did too, they were just a little better at hiding it), it feels really confident in itself, while its sequels add these missing elements while iterating on the systems of this game. I look at the franchise now and while it's true that FF should be always changing and be what the director wants it to be, it feels like they've been chasing trends for over a decade trying to win over normies or people that don't like any game that isn't VII instead of focusing on what FF is uniquely good at. It feels like they've been trying to get back to this era where FF was THE biggest, most AAA spectacular cinematic experience you could get in video games that everyone wanted to get into, which ended with X, as other developers from other countries and sensibilities started making similarly spectacular games. I think the franchise was only that massive back then because it was the only one providing that spectacular AAA experience and with more abstract graphics, it was easier for normies to filter out the "anime" or weirder aspects they may not like seeing front and center. The point I'm trying to make is that because of those weirder aspects, like FF's unique graphical style or alien worlds that can combine fantasy, science fiction and modern real life elements, I don't think these games are ever gonna be that massive again and they should stop trying to appeal to those people. Dragon Quest can get a fully 3D game in 2017 that feels exactly like the classics, with classic turn based combat and where you enter every house to break people's pots, so why can't Final Fantasy get that as well?
Too many people have jumped on the false narrative that the switch to action games was inevitable or good. People say FF was about change but that's only right in certain context. The customization changed and was the biggest change between the first 9 games.
as flawed as 13 was, it has so much more heart than the modern mainline FFs. my dream scenario is square takes the game, shaves off about 20% of it, tweaks the battle system a bit, and re-releases it otherwise untouched. it wouldnt even need a visual overhaul because its still gorgeous, and putting it next to the 15 and 16 made me realize how drab those games look in comparison. i will forever mourn the final fantasies we could've had if square didnt course correct so hard
I wish they'd remake XIII and add towns and more routes on the map and adjust the combat. I really wish theyd remake the games that need a second chance, over already good games.
A remaster would make sense more than a remake everyone is saying it dont need a remake and i rather for square to remake 8 or 6. Oh another forgot to add it wouldnt make sense with adding a town because everywhere they go the psicom always tear up the place😔 now i also agree with adding more routes
@@jaygameelixir9610 sure a remaster, any sort of redux edition like what capcom is doing to dead rising kind of or what atlus does when they rerelease games. I think 2, 8 and 13 are all games that could use some sort of remake/remaster treatment to polish up the cool ideas they had.
I have a little story to tell, I rented this game back when it got released, I put on my console and I started playing, my friend found me out 8 hours later with the deadest stare I had in years and he literally saw someone like it was someone that lost their life and soul. As a massive final fantasy fan I wont forget the dissapointment when I played this game.... And I kept doing it expecting it to get better. It diddnt, I never touched it again. I do appreciate you wanted to do an extensive review on it. But I rather not remind myself o the PTSD I got from playing this braindead and abosultly unforgettable experience (And not because it was good for me) I still wonder how in the F it got 2 secuels. PD : Music was good NGL
It has its flaws (too long, too repetitive) but the heart and soul of final fantasy is still here. It wasn't a weird, side project, it had all the care to put into it that a mainline entry deserves. Plus, and it's hard to remember now, it pushed the frontiers of storytelling in gaming. There's an enormous amount of voice acting and animation with the purpose of realizing the characters.
The game is certainly flawed but, a lot of its harsh criticism comes from a time where non-linearity was considered a universal good simply because it was novel.
I do think your retrospective of the series direction after XIII is lacking due to the exclusion of XIV. Not that I blame you, it's a behemoth of a game to get into and definitely different in focus and direction being an MMO, but as far as story wise and ideas are concerned, it very much carries the spirit of risk taking, creativity, fun, and more multi-character focused stories. It's still very much a core Final Fantasy game, even if probably less accessible at this point due to its sheer length, so the retrospective and overall series conclusions feel lacking without it.
Your pre emptive strike meter suggestion falls apart when people have to fight 20ish enemy's in some areas. The feature gets people through what would normally be a very monotonous stage.
I remember having the distinct feeling, once I finished playing FFXIII, that I was content with the game. That it was an interesting experiment for the series. The sequels then came along and changed that perspective (I had a good deal of fun with XIII-2 until the ending) but having watched this video it's helped me appreciate a lot of the things I frankly took for granted when I first played this game as a kid. I was so fixated on getting a game that fit with the paradigm (heh) of what I'd come to expect from the series during the previous generations of 3D titles (I never had the chance to play XII) that I was effectively blind to the more interesting details in this game's narrative and characters. And frankly, how on earth I wasn't immediately all-in on a guy who punches biblical robot angels and rides a motorbike made out of women (the SHIVA sisters no less) is beyond me. Thanks for putting in the time and effort to make this video, it's a fantastic watch. Sincerely, A former FFXIII hater.
This is still my favorite FF game. Most replayed, too. Was my 1st introduction to FF and RPGs. The cinematics were the coolest I had ever seen and they still hold up today.
I got to the final level of this game and just quit playing. I had no idea what the fuck was going on anymore nor why I should care about any of the characters whom I still hadn't even gotten attached to.
That was exactly complaint as well. If even just one or two characters were easy to latch on to, I could stomach the pacing, story, and combat. The graphics and music are amazing, but damn did I find I just could not care. After four honest attempts over several years, I just can NOT like this game.
I am playing the game right now and I honestly like the characters more then a number of other JRPG casts like FFXII and Persona 4 Golden. I also find the story easy to follow. Although I did not mind reading the Data Log.
I pretty much always set the settings to default *off* of Auto-battle and make a point to never select it when I play this game, and I keep the battle speed set to fast to boot; it's the only way I can keep my brain switched on. Since you can pre-load move selections and even quickly one-click the set of moves you set up on the previous turn, it's actually not that hard. But honestly, it still ends up feeling very repetitive over the long haul and I rarely get very far in when I attempt to replay it. Your speculations about a pre-emptive strike meter kind of remind me of the battle-avoidance meter that Wild Arms 3 introduced in that series, where you could hit a button before a random battle triggers to prevent the battle from starting, but it drained your meter unless you exceeded the area's level by a certain amount. Refilling the meter involved finding crystals in the environment and winning fights (although if you interact with an object or open a chest it would skip the battle for free). It was a cool system, and the idea of something like it being applied to pre-emptive attacks is an interesting one. Anyway, for as long as my list of issues with Final Fantasy XIII is, it's cool to see someone approach a review in a more measured, analytical way. Always enjoy your content, dude. Honestly, you're way more positive about the story than I am, but I found your interpretation interesting regardless. (I will still contend, though, that the storyTELLING is uneven as all getout.)
