Square only made FF13 to promote female Cloud. Female Cloud is pretty much perfect in the looks department and she was strategically designed to hook lonely neckbeards into buying a $60+tax waifu.

It's actually not possible to find a flaw in her design with the exception of the pink hair.

Spirits Within was good though.

>>128671567
>not possible to find a flaw in her design
>exception of the pink hair.
>ignoring her shitty personality as part of her design

Her hotness doesn't excuse how bad of a character she was. Even Cloud, for all his faggotry, was lightyears more compelling character than this bitch. Lightning makes Cloud deserving of a vidya Oscar, that's how bad she was, imo. I lawled when she punched that Hero character idiot in the beginning...so overdone and nonsensical.

>>128672815
i wish she would punch me

if you know wat im sayin

CHOCOBOLINA!
>implying the sequel is not shit as well

I thought she was cute.

And Cloud was more easygoing, at times. If anything she was a female Squall

The series is dead to me.

Final Fantasy ended with Lost Odyssey and X before it.

>>128671567
She's really not that perfect

As far as attractively designed videogame girls go, she's average, quite plain really

>>128672612
This.
It just flopped because everyone expected it to be FF VII: The Movie.
Besides that it was a quite good sci-fi movie.

i somehow think opinions would be different if this game didn't have the Final Fantasy name in it. it shouldnt have been a FF game.

the graphics and music were fantastic, no doubt. character design was decent. the story was just enough to keep me interested all the way through, although lots of it simply makes no fucking sense at all. but it was more like a CG movie than a game. no exploration, no reason to replay, and no customization at all. i'm honestly shocked that square made a sequel.

>>128673394
>opinions

Square knew exactly what they were doing when they designed Lightnings looks

>>128673415
THANK YOU. The visuals were so insanely ahead of their time. Has there been any CG in the ten years since, of human figures that nearly indistinguishable from the real thing?

>>128673741
Not really, her expressions look dopey and stupid, she's really ugly except in some renders where she has a neutral expression.

She looks bad whenever she tries to show emotion, SE forgot how to do facial animations or something.

>>128674068
Yeah her character sucked, but appearance was spot-on

>>128674241
No, it wasn't. Unless she has a totally neutral expression she looks quite ugly.

Her angry face is ugly
she spends half the time with her mouth agape like an actual retard
her happy face is ugly
etc.

Her body is also nothing special, there are more attractive women in games

>>128671191
>You are officially dead to me, FF.
>implying you sheep won't be buying the inevitable 3DS and PSV rehashes of Final Fantasy IV

>>128673689
>more like a CG movie than a game

Hence the thread title.

>story
>keep me interested

You mean the story that they half-stuffed into the event log and made you read just to have a tiny inkling of what your fucking purpose was? This game had the worst plot exposition ever, not exaggerating. I couldn't have cared for the characters if I even wanted to, if not because of how trite they were, because of what little I knew about them. Lazy exposition and casualfag gameplay combined, this game was the only FF I couldn't finish--not even out of hate, but because of complete lack of motivation.

>Final Fantasy XIII: The Spirits Within
>XIII: The Spirits Within
>The Spirits Within

Now..isn't that a movie?

I played FF4 and FF6. Those games were also PRESS X TO WIN for the first 8 hours.
FF13 is an asshole about this. It takes about 12 hours to get going and 20 hours to REALLY get going. There are a lot of cuts they could've made;
Sazh/Vanille opening was a bit too long
Vanille and Sazh in the forest was useless
Hope/Snow was too long
Hope/Lightning was too long
Snow flashback was a waste of resources
They should've given you a 3 player party much MUCH earlier than they did.
If the party got to Gran Pulse around the 12 hour mark the game would be much better.

Again, I really don't see the difference between FF6 opening up during World Of Ruin and FF13 opening up during Gran Pulse. World Of Ruin takes much longer to reach and a lot of party members have a really rushed storyline.

>>128672815
How can you not like Lightning? Being hilariously grumpy 100% of the time and overblowing everything was the point to her charac-
>Even Cloud, for all his faggotry
>Cloud
>faggotry
Wow, I almost fell for that. I'll give you a 7/10 for trying.

>>128674786
>Gran Pulse
That area was a crop of shit, just a giant instance they threw in to make you feel like you had a chance to explore.

>>128671567
>saying the pink hair is bad
The hair is the best part, perfect looks in my opinion, but fuck that attitude/personality.

>>128674786
>FF4 and FF6
>press X to win
Surely you mean "press A to win".

- The premise of the game is that fal’Cie can curse you as l’Cie, and that if you do not carry out your Focus, you will turn into a Cie’th. However, this is not the premise of the game, because it simply isn’t true. FF13, time and time again, points out that the l’Cie curse simply isn’t real; you don’t need to complete your Focus and there is no danger of becoming a Cie’th if you simply say “no”. The entire game of FF13 is built on this contradictory, non-existent premise. FF13 is the only FF game without a premise.

- Lightning has two unique magical powers: She can open doors by apologizing to them, and she can also stop time, turn the world sepia, and cause all other human beings nearby to turn into golden sparkles. If you don’t believe me, play FF13 again; this happens multiple times. It is never touched upon or explained.

- At the beginning of the game, Vanille finds her weapon in the Vestige, despite the fact that, later in the game, in a flashback prior to the Sanctum’s discovery of the Vestige, she clearly has the weapon when Fang locks her OUT of the Vestige. If Vanille is already carrying her weapon, how does she later find her weapon in the Vestige that Fang locked her out of—the Vestige that has been found by the Sanctum and is surrounded by thousands of soldiers?

final fantasy 13 and 13-2 are the best of the series

- Hope sees Snow resist against Nora’s decision to join the resistance. Hope sees Snow and Nora dangling off of the Hanging Edge. Hope sees Nora LET GO of Snow’s hand and fall with a SMILE. He watches all of this happen live. He sees Snow scream and reach for her, he sees Snow fall as well—and then he develops a plan to murder Snow with a knife. Why is Hope a murder-driven sociopath? —If he’s so “young” and “immature”, like you were about to argue, how does he know how to pilot Pulse vehicles? Why does his murderous rage persist through every single member of the party constantly telling him not to murder Snow? Is Hope’s rage merely melodrama created by the writers in lieu of a real plot?

- In the game, Barthandelus displays his ability to 1) Transform into anything he wants, 2) Teleport, 3) Teleport the party anywhere, 4) Summon impenetrable walls, and 5) Split his body into multiple pieces that have all of the aforementioned abilities. He also controls the Sanctum. Why does it take 45+ hours of game time for such an incredibly powerful being to get the heroes to destroy Orphan? Couldn’t he have simply whisked them away at the very beginning, trapped them in a room, and instructed them to destroy Orphan? Why were the events of FF13 so unbelievably convoluted considering the simplicity of Barthandelus’ goal? If the party was “too weak” to face Orphan at the time, how did they destroy Anima so easily? If the party was “too weak”, why didn’t Barthandelus simply insert them into an Ark to train them?

- Why does Cid turn into crystal after disobeying Barthandelus by attempting to kill the party? —If he didn’t disobey Barthandelus, then why does Cid’s brand progress prior to the battle with Cid? Why did Cid’s crystal turn into crystal flakes? Why did Rygdea kill Cid, his best friend, after he became Primarch when the goal of the Guardian Corps was to conquer the Sanctum and enstate Cid as Primarch?

>>128675183
I didn't say it's bad, it was just very unbelievable. Pink hair isn't a possible natural hair color for a human. Why make try making everything look realistic then give the main character pink hair? Not saying it doesn't look good, it's just a flaw if you view her character as an actual human.

- Why does Dysley kill Nabat, the woman who single-handedly found and gathered all of the l’Cie for him?

- Why does Fang betray and attempt to murder the entire party twice? Why do they never question why she just betrayed and attempted to murder all of them?

- During the descent to Pulse, part of the airship gets destroyed, and Hope and Vanille end up dangling out of the ship, holding on for dear life. They laugh and giggle as shattered glass rains into their eyes. Finally, they are tossed out of the ship and fall toward their doom. Fang saves the day by summoning her eidolon and flying down to catch them. They then fly across the Terra Incognita, into the Vallis Media, on the eidolon. —Why is it that they then travel through the Media, across the Archylte Steppes, into Maharaba, through the Springs, and up Taejin’s Tower in order to reach Oerba? Wouldn’t it have been a little faster for them to fly even a portion of the way there on the eidolon? Their brands are progressing, after all…

- Immediately after landing in the Vallis Media, Hope faints. It is never explained why he faints. When he awakens, he tells the party that they should go to Oerba to find answers about their brands. Hope, however, has no knowledge of Oerba; he and the others from Cocoon were taught nothing about Pulse at all, and yet not only does Hope know the name of this town, but he wants to go there for some unexplained reason. Despite the fact that Vanille herself says there is no answers in Oerba—and she should know, as she and Fang lived there their entire lives—they all agree that they should go to Oerba, as instructed by the muttering, half-unconscious Hope, who then promptly suggests that they should leave him behind in the wilds to die because he… well, he’s not wounded or anything. He just wants to be left behind to die. Then a giant castle explodes out of Hope and the party fights it, and then they go to Oerba on foot knowing that nothing is there.

- Why does Barthandelus allow himself to be hugged and embraced by Snow in Oerba? Was that really necessary for his convoluted plan to work?

- What is Taejin’s Tower even about? Why is it that virtually every location you visit in FF13 has no history whatsoever?

>>128675645
>>128675540
>>128675434
>>128675376

- Why is Fang’s brand white? Why is Fang’s brand fully progressed when she was the one who became Ragnarok and fulfilled her Focus in the war against Cocoon? Why is Vanille’s brand not progressed when she was the one who REFUSED to become Ragnarok in the war against Cocoon? Why did Vanille turn to crystal at the end of the war despite the fact that she disobeyed her Focus?

- Throughout the entire game you are told that Ragnarok is a crazed, out-of-control beast whose sole purpose is to destroy Cocoon. At the end of the game, when Fang turns into Ragnarok by herself, she is clearly crazed and out-of-control. However, when Fang and Vanille turn into Ragnarok together, they inexplicably have the ability to 1) think rationally, 2) dive down into Lake Bresha, 3) melt all of Lake Bresha, 4) dive all the way down thousands of miles down to Pulse, carrying the entire ocean of Lake Bresha, 5) leap back up to Cocoon, sculpting a tower out of Lake Bresha that connects Pulse to Cocoon, 6) encase themselves beautifully inside of Lake Bresha. Why would Anima or Barthandelus give the l’Cie the ability to use Ragnarok if they knew that Ragnarok could be used in a way that could ruin their plans (which was over 300+ years in the making, apparently)? If Fang and Vanille knew that they could do this, why didn’t they once mention it to the other party members? It would have saved them a lot of time and grief. Why don’t Fang and Vanille turn into Cie’th after disobeying Anima and Barthandelus?

- At Nautilus Park, Sazh kills himself. He lifts his gun to the side of his head, you hear the gunshot, and then the screen cuts to black. You hear the gunshot BEFORE the screen cuts to black and he does NOT move the gun away from his head in the cutscene; you see ALL of this, and if you don’t believe me you can go Youtube that cutscene right now, it’s 2011 people. He is then carried out in a coffin by Nabat’s soldiers. If Sazh didn’t die, why did they carry him out in a coffin? If Sazh is dead, why is he alive on the Palamecia?

- The Datalog and the official strategy guide state that Barthandelus is Lindzei. The FF13 Ultimania and the game itself (the Cie’th Stone in Oerba) state that Barthandelus is not Lindzei. So which is it?

- After the events of FF13, the coddled populace of Cocoon no longer have any electricity, food, sunlight, or water. If they descend from Cocoon, they will be attacked by monsters and fal’Cie that have hated Cocoon and its citizens since its inception. There are no longer any l’Cie among the party. According to Lightning, Cocoon’s armies are relatively untrained and ignorant about Pulse. How the fuck are they going to survive? Great job, Lightning, you sure “saved” Cocoon alright.

- Lightning decides that she is going to disobey her Focus by not killing Orphan. She states, in a grand speech, that she will never listen to anyone but herself. Immediately after her speech, she proceeds to kill Orphan, knowing full well that doing so will destroy Cocoon. What? —What??

- Late in the game, Rosch tells your party directly that he was wrong all along. Then, he proceeds to attack and fight you anyway. After the fight, Rosch kills himself to save you from the 2 minor, non-threatening Cie’th (that you killed prior to engaging him) that are approaching. Well, okay, why not.

- Why does Fang lose her memory? The reason is obvious: If she had retained her memory (or if Vanille had not lied about losing hers), she would have been able to aid the party in ways that would have sped things up immensely. It is unfortunate that the writers had to resort to the tired amnesia plot device not only once, but twice.

I really dont know what the general consensus is about FFXIII but heres my two cents. EVERY SINGLE BIT of the game was forgettable UNTIL you get to Pulse where you could ride a chocobo and battle the various challenges.
I absolutely fucking loved this part. Was a very memorable experience.

- Did Kujata really think that Dajh, a 5-year-old child, was going to be able to fend off Fang and Vanille? Dajh IS black, but… there are limits.

- Why does the party, who disobeyed their Focus, turn to crystal, uncrystallize, and then lose their brands?

- Where is Hope’s father at the end of FF13? Why did Hope hate his father so much? Why does Hope hate his father, know how to pilot Pulse war vehicles, want to murder Snow, have giant castles in his body, and have extensive knowledge about Pulsian geography? He even ties his father up. What a sick fuck Hope is.

Mass Effect 1 = A soldier is betrayed by a government official and swears that s/he will kill him. It is later revealed in the game that all of humanity is being coddled and bred by space robots who plan to kill them all for sustenance, and the technologically advanced utopia that most of them live in is actually a giant rat trap. At the end of the game the main character defends the utopia and saves humanity.

Final Fantasy 13 = A soldier is betrayed by a government official and swears that s/he will kill him. It is later revealed in the game that all of humanity is being coddled and bred by space robots who plan to kill them all for sustenance, and the technologically advanced utopia that most of them live in is actually a giant rat trap. At the end of the game the main character destroys the utopia's power source and dooms all of humanity, but all of humanity gets saved by the goddess that later dooms all of humanity.

>>128675645
>- Why does Barthandelus allow himself to be hugged and embraced by Snow in Oerba? Was that really necessary for his convoluted plan to work?

hey motherfucker, don't tell me you that sometimes you don't imagine being embraced by a big strong oaf while you're cosplaying as his girlfriend.

>>128676068
But allow me to state the the story was absolutely bananas and redundant

>>128675076
My biggest grief with gran pulse is that they built it up as a whole other country crowded with people wanting the stand up cititzenry of cocoon do die because they were the 1 %. But then you get there and sure, there's the value of slowly realizing this is a dead world with nothing but monsters left, but that just made it boring

>>128671567
>she was strategically designed to hook lonely neckbeards into buying a $60+tax waifu.

Then they failed miserably. I can name several females that were better waifu material, both physically and personality wise

>>128676094

H-How did you know?

>>128673741
>Square knew exactly what they were doing when they designed Lightnings looks

Is that why they changed her design (including giving her pink hair) after fans started calling her fem Cloud?

This is why I stick to playing Star Ocean. Same company, keeps the same fight styles and doesn't disappoint with it's new shit. The "only" and I seriously mean "only" bad part of Star Ocean: TLH was the voice acting and the auto-target system come back which I oh so hated.

>>128673689
> i somehow think opinions would be different if this game didn't have the Final Fantasy name in it.

It wouldn't have sold anywhere near as well as it did either.

Lightning is Miss Cloud with Squall's pre-disc 3 attitude and (lack of) personality.
I see nothing wrong with that.

>>128676678

And the horrendous anime everything, and the story.

I literally vomited when I realized that they actually put a cat girl in the game. Maybe the game would have been excellent to me if I was 1) a sexually deprived teenager, and 2) straight.