Finally, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Is Out in North America

Startin' positive before everyone else shits on it. I'm pretty damn excited to play this.

@efesell:

Yeah, hopefully it'll be good. I've loved me some Square Enix games in the past, but the FFXIII stuff really turned me off. I really hope it's just because I'm not the target audience for it though, and that it's not because it's actually bad. But even that thumbnail for the trailer fills me with loathing.

Excited for this game for some reason. Here's hoping it doesn't get to my house after 8pm.

Please retain your receipt and go directly to the customer service counter for all Lightning Returns. Thank you. No Returns accepted after 30 days.

@sushisteve: Hah!

I like what they're doing with the class system and all the different outfits and weapons. Seems pretty cool. Apparently the game is pretty bad though, which is unfortunate.

I've got faith...faith of the heart.

From what I've seen of reviews so far it's that the game plays pretty well but the story is divisive.

Which sounds like all of Final Fantasy.

So have any of the staff played through the first two? I know Brad played the first and some of the second but I dunno if he finished it. I'd like a quick look of this but I doubt that anyone who isn't very familiar with the current state of the story would have any idea of what was going on. Then again listening to the crew poke fun at Normua's art and Nojima's non-sensical stories is always fun.

Finally the marketing team for this game will stop producing trailers for it that is put into my general line of sight and instead go back to quietly dancing on the grave of the Final Fantasy franchise.

I'VE GOT FAITH....... OF THE HEART!

@raven10: Even though there's continuity between the games, the story is just so garbage and is so ephermeal from one to the next other that their only purpose is to say "You remember these characters? Well they're in this one too!"

I mean, if you want a quick summary, all you need to know is

And the story is EVEN BETTER in this one.

Getting from there (Japan) to here! (NA)

At this point, it's like a national pastime to rail on this series or something. I'm with you, though. Interested in where the story will end, even if I'm unlikely to get a copy of this game in the foreseeable future. (Too busy with Bravely Default!)

Gonna put it into my ps3 later and it's gonna be something special.

Very seriously considering walking a couple blocks down to Gamestop after class... But I can't tell if i'm excited for this or if I don't care about it.

On the one hand I played the previous 2 games and after slugging through their boring gameplay this one looks like it changes enough to make me interested.

but on the other hand... I saw this morning that this game was released and sorta just went "eh, okay."

@yretery: That's fair enough. I guess in all honesty they probably know about as much as the average person when it comes to this game so it would probably be interesting seeing what they make of it. Part of the problem I found with 13 (never played 13-2) was just the sheer amount of terminology being thrown around and the fact that it was stupidly obvious that Vanille was behind the whole thing yet they tried to pretend it was some major reveal 30+ hours in. I never finished the game but I didn't find the premise as insane as I found the characters and their motivations. And it didn't help that the dialogue was essentially a stream of endless monologues about the meaning of various aspects of life. I guess on one hand I would be interested in a quick look featuring someone who actually had a grasp on the story but on the other I think it would be more true to reality to have people who had no idea what was going on do it.

I'm not going to play this, that much is certain, but I'm interested in how it turned out.

That's what all the Final Fantasy games are like except for maybe 1 and 2. People hating on this game now are just kids of the previous generation who have grown up and become cynical. Look at any of the FF games and you'll see tons of terminology being thrown around and characters questioning the meaning of life and what not. This game was no different. We've just entered the age of the internet cynics.

this game is a pile of s.......

Seriously, I've to played :P

I'M GOIN WHERE MY HEART WILL TAKE ME!

I'VE GOT FAITH...TO BELIEVE!

Im not sure why i went out and bought this...eh as close to a Erza game ill get

@alex are you going to review this game, Alex ? Apparently, it's not very long. You should ! The game is weird and interesting; I'd like to read your review of it.

No way. He's just preparing for the quicklook or something. FF 13-2 was pretty good and he straight up asked on the bombcast: (paraphrasing) ''the game came out a while ago and I'm no that far in, can I stop playing it now?''. The giantbomb guys just aren't into that kind of story, characters, combat and lenght in a game.

The more I see of this game the less inclined I am to play it. I guess FF5/6 are on the app store... ugh.

I'm a sucker for class-based RPG combat and have loved the combat systems in the previous two, and it has enough stuff going on that sounds interesting, so I'll probably pick this up when it gets cheaper. Bravely Default is otherwise filling that niche for now.

Though the way they took the established characters and self-contained story of 13 and just appended two unrelated and unplanned plotlines to them in 13-2 and 13-3 is just weird and gives me no impetus to see the end of the story. The story already ended in 13, they just stapled on two new games somehow without even trying to make them fit together.

But damn does it have some good battle music.

Faith..... FAITH OF THE HEEEEEEART!

I think I'll just watch how this story pans out on youtube. Its been getting bad reviews from a few places. I can't even be bothered to get into XIII-2 after a few hours game play.

@liquidprince: Oh I know that. I honestly have never finished a Final Fantasy game no matter how hard I try. This one just suffered from an exceptionally boring cast of characters and an incredibly slow plot that made the whole thing even harder to swallow than normal.

So when are they releasing that hot 16-bit remaster that the other trailer promised?

They could even release it on phones/handhelds.

I am considering this pretty hard, but I'll wait for a few reviews. After XIII-2, I think I need to actually read up on this one instead of buying it day 1. Still, very hopeful and excited to play this if it turns out to even be only half a mess.

Gettin' from FF1 to here?

@liquidprince:

Except back then the games had interesting and fun gameplay to back it up, nowadays it all seems old hat.

All I want is another Crystal Chronicles that's actually like the original (none of this kiddy crap), though I wouldn't mind another Tactics game either.

I like the the FXIII combat systems quite a bit.

Well, we do like to play dress up. I hear you can put cat ears on Lightning and some of her dialog will change to end in -nyan.

Play the demo if you get the chance, it'll help you form an opinion about the combat. Demos are fewer these days, but I think they are more important than ever, given the range of opinions and scores these days. Kudos to Square-Enix for putting one out there.

I really enjoyed the first two games and was blown away by the end of 13-2, so I'm excited to see the conclusion.

The most interesting thing about this game is how game sites are literally burying their reviews off the front pages to soften venom from FF fans. The first AAA game of the year and it sucks, hilarious.

You say that now, Alex, but you've jinxed it. I bet there will still be a few more trailers, perhaps for DLC costumes! The FFXIII trailer train will not stop!

Get Rorie to sing over this trailer, it will make it 100% better then it is.

I already seen the ending, I am not interested in this. Especially since Bravely Default is out, and is a everything that was ever good about final fantasy--I think this game can't compete. Just my opinion though, also flag @jacquel03488181's comment please.