Final Fantasy 13 Fastest Selling in Franchise History

[Soviet Stinger]

jrpgs ಠ_ಠ

[DarkMaster]

To be honest, SlyMoogle, we all pretty much knew you hated the game even before you played it. I'm not too sure why you even bothered to play it, considering you hate FF10, didn't bother to play FF11, and judged FF12 to be a mediocre game based on some other person's playthrough. So we can assume you've been waiting since FF9 for a good Final Fantasy game? Personally if I hadn't enjoyed a franchise in over 10 years I'd probably stop caring about it.

I want to be frank and say that I agree with most of your criticisms, not quite done the game yet, but there's definitely some things I would've preferred they'd done differently. To say the game is short, however, is pretty ridiculous, especially when you consider this generation's games. Has there been any other title with this game's level of production values that has come even close to being more than 15-20 hours long? I was actually incredibly surprised to see that I've played for 40 hours and am still playing the main part of the game, 90% of other games this generation would've been done and over with loooong before 40 hours.

Not that I complain about short games, I actually love short and sweet games that I can rent and beat in a few days, but I have to appreciate what they've done with this game in terms of insane, ridiculously beautiful graphics and locations, as well as serious game length.

On another note, it's really interesting to see, not just here, but all over the internet how widely discussed this game is. Whether people hate it or not, it stands as a huge testament to how much people care about Final Fantasy. Wasn't sure if it'd still receive such massive discussion now that we've entered the Modern Warfare era of video games. I hope that it shows developers that a ton of people still care about these types of games.

[TheSlyMoogle]

The funny thing is, you seem to think I hate the game, but I don't. I liked it well enough. I enjoyed the time I spent with it.

You're right I hated FFX, I still beat it though, just to make sure I hated it.

I did play FFXI, but like I said don't know why we're considering an MMO as a final fantasy game, except for the fact that it has the name final fantasy. I don't know anyone else who considers it part of the series. I played FFXI for like 2 days honestly. I have 3 or 4 friends who play it, I though the concept was awesome. All my favorite job classes and I could make a cute little bear thing, or a giant bear thing, and play as them, in any class. The game was just trash though. I tried to play it by myself for a few hours and I tried to play it with my friends the next day. Even with a party of 4 (They started new jobs to level with me), it wasn't fun. For a lot of people it was I guess, but I'm just really not going to play an MMO, think the concept is silly of a game you have to pay to play, and when DLC is released you usually have to pay a premium price to get that too.

And yes I was there the entire time watching my friend play FF12. I actually would have enjoyed it, except I watched him play the whole thing. I saw all the big boss fights, all the story scenes, i even played a little for him during the end game stuff (Omega weapon took almost 5 hours to beat, so people needed to eat.) You honestly don't need to play an FF game if you watch the whole thing to say whether or not it's mediocre.

And you're wrong I started out extremely excited for 13. As reviews and impressions poured in I started to lose my excitement, and when I played the game I started to just realize how much this game was a failure at being a final fantasy.

As far as this game being short, for a final fantasy it is.

[Typhoid]

WTF are you smoking? What is your definition of "Everything"?

I didn't come up with those times, PR/developers/whoever for the games did.
"Everything" to them means beating the game and side-quests, not fully-leveling up on top of that.

I ask you this, John - is your crystarium, for every character - and every class - max leveled, and on top of that having all of the weapons in the game max leveled, at the 50 or so hours you're at? I can guarantee you that it's not. Seems asinine to complain about time, when you consider the length of a game 100% completion to max out everything, and you haven't even done that yet.

Get back to me when you've completely leveled up everything, for everyone, and upgraded every weapon as far as it can go - considering that's how you classify a long FF game.

I can guarantee you you'll play well over 100 hours if you try to accomplish all of that.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I didn't come up with those times, PR/developers/whoever for the games did.
"Everything" to them means beating the game and side-quests, not fully-leveling up on top of that.

I ask you this, John - is your crystarium, for every character - and every class - max leveled, and on top of that having all of the weapons in the game max leveled, at the 50 or so hours you're at? I can guarantee you that it's not. Seems asinine to complain about time, when you consider the length of a game 100% completion to max out everything, and you haven't even done that yet.

Get back to me when you've completely leveled up everything, for everyone, and upgraded every weapon as far as it can go - considering that's how you classify a long FF game.

I can guarantee you you'll play well over 100 hours if you try to accomplish all of that.

I'm at 52:39, with the entire Crystarium grinded to max for all characters, all missions completed except for 63 and 64, and all at 5 stars.

I'm in the process of getting enough money and catalysts to finish out the weapon upgrades, but every character has their best weapon max upgraded. I just need to upgrade all weapons to level 2 since they're all different, and upgrade a few accessories to complete the achievement. After that I'll do the last 2 missions until I 5 star them.

Adamantoise always drop platinum ingots (150k gil). I estimate 56 hours to complete everything.

[TheGame]

I haven't gotten into a game enough to where I wanted to beat it like that in a LONG time.

I did play FFXI, but like I said don't know why we're considering an MMO as a final fantasy game, except for the fact that it has the name final fantasy. I don't know anyone else who considers it part of the series. I played FFXI for like 2 days honestly. I have 3 or 4 friends who play it, I though the concept was awesome. All my favorite job classes and I could make a cute little bear thing, or a giant bear thing, and play as them, in any class. The game was just trash though. I tried to play it by myself for a few hours and I tried to play it with my friends the next day. Even with a party of 4 (They started new jobs to level with me), it wasn't fun. For a lot of people it was I guess, but I'm just really not going to play an MMO, think the concept is silly of a game you have to pay to play, and when DLC is released you usually have to pay a premium price to get that too.

With how hard FFXI is, I'd figure it'd be right up your alley. Though being a perfectionist in that game is quite dangerous. I completed the first 3 expansions's stories, it's a pretty cool epic story.. it just takes TOO much time.

I quit about 3 years ago.. But I'm considering playing FFXIV when it comes out. I just don't like how the classes have been re-labeled.. they should have kept the classic job titles.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Originally Posted by TheGame

I haven't gotten into a game enough to where I wanted to beat it like that in a LONG time.



With how hard FFXI is, I'd figure it'd be right up your alley. Though being a perfectionist in that game is quite dangerous. I completed the first 3 expansions's stories, it's a pretty cool epic story.. it just takes TOO much time.

I quit about 3 years ago.. But I'm considering playing FFXIV when it comes out. I just don't like how the classes have been re-labeled.. they should have kept the classic job titles.

Haha oh no doubt the game is hard. I had a friend that sat camped in a spot for 2 weeks waiting for a boss to respawn so it might drop the best bow (Think it was a bow) in the game. :s He even packed his laptop to classes to keep the game on so he could kill the boss if it spawned in class. Obessed haha.

My main problem with MMO games is the pay to play aspect. I just feel like it's throwing away money. I figure the story in FFXI is decent, but I agree it takes too much time.

I like RPGs to be long, but not 8 hours a day for 6 months long. That same friend is still playing FFXI, has maxed all jobs, and has logged something ridiculous like 2 years worth of time into the game when we divided out the hours he spent playing.

I just don't see why wanting the game to have more content is a bad thing. Especially with the way the game ended, there could have been 10 more hours of story that would have worked out well.

[TheGame]

Yeah it's not worth the time... The funny thing is, they just raised the level cap to 99. If there was any hope of me coming back, it's out the window now.

I just hope Final Fantasy XIV finds a balance between XI and Warcraft.. Warcraft is almost TOO quick on the updates, and the gear rewards are all normalized and there's nothing special anymore that exists within that game... while Final Fantasy makes you earn your keep a lot more, it makes the goals almost TOO time consuming to the point where you can't be elite in that game without wasting your life away.

Here's my wishlist:

Keep from FFXI:
-21-24 hour Notorious Monsters (and 4-7 day HQ ones), and the insanely diffucult ones.. just keep the fights under 3 hours. lol
-The awesome story telling and cutscenes
-The Awesome Music
-The somewhat realistic setting
-Special over-powered items that can be progressed towards daily

Keep from WoW:
-The balance of classes, limited damage dealers, more tanks and heals
-Instances/badges
-Freedom of movement.. jumping/swimming
-Strong Solo game and quests.
-Additional content added quarterly.. not the level cap raises, but maybe new stories and quests for lower levels to inspire you to level different classes.

New for both:
-More variety in gear.. keep WoW's vast selection of gear, but add more "stupid" or "specialist" gear like FFXI. Like an epic item in WoW with all attack power.. no stamina or anything, for example...

The only way I'd play a new MMO is if a game at least tries to find the middle ground between the extremly progressive always changing WoW game, and the overly conservative never changing FFXI game (well, until recently.. but I'm sure they won't add enough content to support the level cap raise..just quick money before FFXIV).

[BreakABone]

Originally Posted by DarkMaster

Has there been any other title with this game's level of production values that has come even close to being more than 15-20 hours long?

Off the top of my head would say the Bioware games (Mass Effect 1/2 and Dragon Age: Origins), Fallout, Borderlands, Lost Odyssey, so there has been a few, but its a rarity.

On another note, it's really interesting to see, not just here, but all over the internet how widely discussed this game is. Whether people hate it or not, it stands as a huge testament to how much people care about Final Fantasy. Wasn't sure if it'd still receive such massive discussion now that we've entered the Modern Warfare era of video games. I hope that it shows developers that a ton of people still care about these types of games.

Final Fantasy is the exception not the rule.
The same way that new Super Mario Bros Wii was heavily discussed and sold over 10 million copies, but we won't see a revival of 2D platformers or 2D games in general.

It just goes to show what name brand recognition gets you in this day and age.

[DarkMaster]

Originally Posted by BreakABone

Off the top of my head would say the Bioware games (Mass Effect 1/2 and Dragon Age: Origins), Fallout, Borderlands, Lost Odyssey, so there has been a few, but its a rarity.

Not arguing those games quality, but in terms of production levels, they do not come close to Final Fantasy XIII. Which is saying a lot, I know, because especially in the case of Mass Effect, those games are pretty damn slick.