Who’s Who In Final Fantasy XIII-2

11 responses to “Who’s Who In Final Fantasy XIII-2”

1. 

   WILLIS

   December 21, 2011 at 8:39 am

   i lol’d so hard at the ‘stealth mullet’ comment because Snow is a boss and a half

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2. 

   Ynefel

   December 21, 2011 at 8:44 am

   I so shouldn’t get riled about this anymore – but THIS is an article? What the hell? Apart from the reek of sarcasm and cynicism that drips from this ‘article’, what is it actually about? I know I can avoid the US articles by filtering, but seriously, this is pitiful. Do the Kotaku US guys read the comments on AU? I certainly hope they do.

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3. 

   Jordaan Mylonas

   December 21, 2011 at 9:03 am

   I’m usually not one for negativity, but I have to know if I’m alone in this:

   I cannot stand Final Fantasy as a series. To me, it represents so much of what is wrong with modern game making. I really liked FF1 through FF4, back in the day when you had to choose between narrative OR gameplay.

   But every game in the series seems to be getting worse. They have stunning visuals and music, people seem to like the storylines (I don’t, but I just take that as a difference in tastes). But the gameplay is consistently pisspoor.

   Even through FF8 (the last one I played first-hand, rather than just watch other people play), they were’ still using the basically unchanged ATB system from FF2. There is no real skill in the game, it’s just grind. If you can’t beat a boss, it’s generally not because you aren’t picking the right moves, it’s because either A. you don’t have enough healing items, or B. You haven’t grinded to a high-enough level.

   FFVII could actually play itself if you had a turbo button. You could walk away from the console, and return to a party of lvl100 characters. They are un-games.

   These criticisms aren’t universal to JRPGs either (though many of them do fall under the same faults). For instance, Chrono Cross is one of my favourite games. Even though it was a JRPG, it did things right. The combat system took a level of skill (getting bonuses from the field colour, aligning that to innate colours, crossover combos, etc), and there was no grinding. You automatically levelled up after each boss battle, and could auto-heal after each battle.by sacrificing some of the battle’s minor rewards.

   Am I alone in this belief, am I completely wrong, or do people here agree with my line of thinking?

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   1. 

      Ynefel

      December 21, 2011 at 9:13 am

      Although I’m unsure how this relates to the articIe, I think you’re entitled to your opinion. I wholeheartedly disagree with you, and I’m sure there’s people who will agree with you. Not sure such a debate would lead to anything constructive though – Final Fantasy debates in my experience seem to degenerate into pissing matches eventually.

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      1. 

         Pariah

         December 21, 2011 at 2:06 pm

         +9001

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   2. 

      Matt

      December 21, 2011 at 10:03 am

      Entitled to your opinion 100%. But i think any game can be about grinding at some point. Many battles in final fantasy can’t be won without finding weak spots about your enemy or knowing how to manage your characters. You cannot say there is absolutely no skill.

      I think final fantasy is an example of video games as an art form, they (often) have brilliant narratives, art and music and your experience is being part of that world and unravelling the story. And I really do think the game is about the story foremost.

      However I think they’ve been losing their touch since ff13 and all these serials and spin offs for the most part because they seem to be too concerned about ‘western markets’ and giving everyone a cool pose, cool one liners, and sexy outfits. Ff13-2 is an example of what I think is wrong with final fantasy today. The games used to be classics and they were polished pieces of art on their own. Now square-Enix seem to have ‘George Lucas’ syndrome and can’t leave well enough alone and only end up ruining their titles with a sequel all for some easy money.

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      1. 

         Ynefel

         December 21, 2011 at 3:29 pm

         It’s interesting that you’re claiming FFXIII-2 is ‘an example of what I think is wrong with final fantasy today’. Have you played it? What are you basing this comment on?

         Also, I’m fairly certain that FFXIII-2 is intended as an effort on Squenix’s part to repair the bad rap that FFXIII got (justified or not – I’m apparently one of the 4 people on the planet that actually enjoyed that game) as opposed to ‘a sequel all for some easy money’.

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   3. 

      markd

      December 21, 2011 at 2:39 pm

      I agree that the state of JRPGs is pretty poor, the storylines are poor to the point of cringe and the characters have become borderline parodies of their own ancestors. Storytelling has not progressed to where it should be in 2011 in line with other advances in the medium – but maybe storytelling in JRPGs has always been terrible and simplistic, but when everything else was equally simplistic there was no mismatch. Storytelling in games in general is incredibly poor across the board, its becoming more obvious now we have beautiful graphics and sound with awful scripts.

      I have to completely disagree with the FFVII ‘playing itself’ comment though, that is rubbish.

      Reply
      1. 

         Matt

         December 22, 2011 at 12:34 am

         ‘cool poses’, non-sensical one liner dialogue and an attempt to make everything sleek and sexy. It’s all there from what I’ve seen. 10’s sequel had it too. I found 13 to be pushing these boundaries already.

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4. 

   derphurpa

   December 21, 2011 at 12:11 pm

   How can it be almost 2012 and people are still crying over Final fantasy character designs? It’s like old people complaining about T.V’s. It’s old news, get with it.

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5. 

   Scott

   December 21, 2011 at 12:29 pm

   Lol’d when you called Hope a girl.

   Reply