Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII-3

[Wolfy]

Fucking Hell, what a name.

Anyway. Just got this, ignoring all the warning signs with it being a Final Fantasy XIII game... And the shit reviews.

It's quite good. Definitely the better FFXIII. Although that in itself doesn't say much at all, it has a legitimately good battle system this time. No dodgy game-plays-itself auto-battle bollocks.

I read the time mechanic is a hindrance, but really I quite like it. It's a tiny bit like Dead Rising's clock that it makes you think about doing things on the way to other things. You can slow it down though so you're not constantly rushing about or anything.

The non-linear environment and plot is nice. You can do whatever chapter you want in whatever order you choose.

The writing is still arse, but it's not up-its-own-arse arse.

[Quietman]

What are the changes to the Battle System? I read a few bits on Wikipedia but it didn't sound /that/ different.

I'm tempted to play it, only I feel I should finish XIII first.. but... meh. I really liked the characters and the world but the ATB system was just Sooooooo.... well you know.

[Adalaar]

The battle system is FFXIII-2 meets dark souls. It's fucking difficult.Fought a Reaver today was really really hard and got a perfect guard on him shattering his sword.The sword dropped for me and is the best thing I've seen in 12 hours.

Also the rants and shit over the fact that Lightning's tits got bigger are freaking hilarious also the crazy christians going mental.

[Wolfy]

Right, so you control just Lightning. You switch between 3 presets of weapons/shield/garments that you customise. Each preset has a maximum of 4 abilities bound to the face buttons. So, like, circle is attack, square is defend, triangle whatever. Each preset has its own ATB.

You can switch between them instantaneously (like, mid-attack), So you'll find you make a high defence one to switch to just as you're about to get splatted, a magicky one to try and build a stagger and an attacky one to fuck 'em up when they are.

It just works better.

[Quietman]

Ok, that sounds interesting. I may try and power through the rest of 1 at some point...

[Mantis]

Don't do it. This is by far one of the worst games I've ever seen. It defies belief that Squenix can even release something this bad.

And the writing is definitely up it's own arse. So far that it turns itself inside out.

[Quietman]

Oh? Do tell!

[Mantis]

The dialogue is some of the worst I've ever heard in absolutely any form of media, it literally explains everything to you over and over and over again in slightly different wording as if you might not understand. Lightning is just a blank slate with zero personality who for no reason at all has become the incarnation of Jesus; there's no real explanation as to why the world is ending either by the way, none of the characters have an ounce of personality about them actually. The plot is such a nonsensical mess with heavy religious undertones rammed down your throat, I swear if I had to listen to the words 'So God is doing this/going to do this/can't do this, because God, God, God, God, God' any further I would have frisbee'd the disc out of the window, and it wasn't even my game.

And the combat is meh. Sure it might be better than FF13, but that's like saying horse shit is better than dog shit.

Can't imbed the video because it won't let you use a time tags so just follow this link and get a quick sample from where the video starts:
http://youtu.be/swkMijETQJA?t=42m52s

That's about 2 hours or so in, no spoilers so to speak.

It's just the most utter trash thing I've ever played, catering to the absolute lowest denominator. I find it unfeasible that anyone can even begin to defend this complete mess.

[Adalaar]

The dialogue is some of the worst I've ever heard in absolutely any form of media, it literally explains everything to you over and over and over again in slightly different wording as if you might not understand. Lightning is just a blank slate with zero personality who for no reason at all has become the incarnation of Jesus; there's no real explanation as to why the world is ending either by the way, none of the characters have an ounce of personality about them actually. The plot is such a nonsensical mess with heavy religious undertones rammed down your throat, I swear if I had to listen to the words 'So God is doing this/going to do this/can't do this, because God, God, God, God, God' any further I would have frisbee'd the disc out of the window, and it wasn't even my game.

And the combat is meh. Sure it might be better than FF13, but that's like saying horse shit is better than dog shit.

Can't imbed the video because it won't let you use a time tags so just follow this link and get a quick sample from where the video starts:
http://youtu.be/swkMijETQJA?t=42m52s

That's about 2 hours or so in, no spoilers so to speak.

It's just the most utter trash thing I've ever played, catering to the absolute lowest denominator. I find it unfeasible that anyone can even begin to defend this complete mess.

This honestly just reeks of FF hating as to no explanation about the world ending you obviously have not played XIII or XIII-2 or you would know.

[Mantis]

I didn't finish XIII-2 because I didn't particularly enjoy it either, but I did finish XIII out of some misguided loyalty to Squenix. The story for this trilogy is just utter wank, it's completely juvenile, terribly written and still makes no sense as to why anything even happens. It's like they just decided stuff on the spot and then tried to link it with the existing plot. Yes it follows on directly from the events of XIII-2 (which I did wiki), but it's still utterly dire and doesn't really change the fact that it has some of the worst writing I've ever seen.

I love this franchise so much, but it's time to admit that it's on its last legs after being dragged through the dirt for so long. I'd rank everything between 5 and 10 as being some of the best jRPGs ever, but this is just nonsense. The XIII series is seriously one of the worst sequence of games I've ever played. I'm actually amazed that they were created by adults.

[Wolfy]

I get the slightest hint that you're not overly fond, Mantis. Come on man, don't beat around the bush!