Does the trilogy have a good story?

[green]

I know they're notorious for linearity among other things but do they have a good story worth playing?

[Over_East]

It's not the linearity that what hinder's down the story. For me like 70 % of XIII, XIII-2, XIII-3 dialogue especially if it is in English dub is just badly written to the point of me face palming everytime lol. It's a shame because Fabula Nova Crytallis world is probably one of the best world of FInal Fantasy beside The World of Eos and Ivalice.

XIII Trilogy has an amazing concept and idea surround it but most of it's execution is kinda bland imho.

[Odinsknight101]

Hmm, I never face palmed once, guess good/bad writing is subjective.
If nothing about voice acting and cutscenes are to your liking, then can check the ever growing, in game datalog. It details everything that just happend and explains all other aspects the world you might be wondering about.

Ultimatly how much you enjoy it is up to you. Hard to say if you will.Meh.

[󠀡󠀡󠀡⁧⁧the.jester]

Personally i think the story for the first game is decent and is an interesting one - it's more character driven than other final fantasies. However (and it it is a big however), a lot of background things are only explained in the datalog from the main menu which I think isn't so good, and you do end up with a feeling like things have cut out from the game unless you actively read it.

The story for the second game is messy and at times, incoherent, with still too much explained in the datalog, however despite that, it just about works though. I found the main antagonist was rather engaging and one of the more interesting villains too which was one of the main things that made me continue with the story. As a sequel though it feels a bit like it has been shoe-horned on to the end of the first game though as the first game ends what was essentially a self contained story.

Lightning Returns, story-wise, I think is a big of a mixed bag, as it is structured into 5 main quests which can be completed in any order you want. Some main quests tie up loose ends from the last game, another attempts to link up the story across all three games. On the whole though, as you play the main quests and sub quests, little snippets are picked which you sort of piece together, with most of the actual story and explanation given on the final day.

Ultimately as the above have said, there is an amazing story in an overall fantastic world, just that the execution isn't particularly great. Whether you will enjoy or not is whether you can cope with its shortcomings.

[Odinsknight101]

Originally posted by the.jester:

Personally i think the story for the first game is decent and is an interesting one - it's more character driven than other final fantasies. However (and it it is a big however), a lot of background things are only explained in the datalog from the main menu which I think isn't so good, and you do end up with a feeling like things have cut out from the game unless you actively read it.

The story for the second game is messy and at times, incoherent, with still too much explained in the datalog, however despite that, it just about works though. I found the main antagonist was rather engaging and one of the more interesting villains too which was one of the main things that made me continue with the story. As a sequel though it feels a bit like it has been shoe-horned on to the end of the first game though as the first game ends what was essentially a self contained story.

Lightning Returns, story-wise, I think is a big of a mixed bag, as it is structured into 5 main quests which can be completed in any order you want. Some main quests tie up loose ends from the last game, another attempts to link up the story across all three games. On the whole though, as you play the main quests and sub quests, little snippets are picked which you sort of piece together, with most of the actual story and explanation given on the final day.

Ultimately as the above have said, there is an amazing story in an overall fantastic world, just that the execution isn't particularly great. Whether you will enjoy or not is whether you can cope with its shortcomings.

Thanks for the read

[󠀡󠀡󠀡⁧⁧the.jester]

Originally posted by Odinsknight101:

Originally posted by the.jester:

...

Thanks for the read

I personally enjoyed the games and the overall story, so I was trying to write this with a unbiased viewpoint

[Odinsknight101]

I know, it's cool man. I just liked what you had to say.

[Mikasa Ackerman]

only the first game is linear , the other 2 are quite open world
anbd yes imo they are worth playing

[Razor<<Clawson>>]

The sequels just mess it up. XIII sets itself as more sci-fi but I guess some prick on the net at that time complained that its too futuristic so the devs made it more fantasy in the sequels. I agree the first game has its flaws but atleast the story was, for me at least, something interesting.

[Serafie1999AD]

Originally posted by green:

I know they're notorious for linearity among other things but do they have a good story worth playing?

It's an ironic combination. The first game had a good story, but weak story-telling methods (rather than having characters explain the mythology and everything necessary about the world, you're supposed to read datalogs as you progress), and it's also extremely linear. It doesn't help how dungeons also have a very linear design (not many branches to take), you can't backtrack, and there's no distractions like towns or side-quests from the typical dungeon crawling. Your only distractions are the cutscenes that advance the story.

The sequels, on the other hand, slowly move towards the other extreme. FFXIII-2 has a weaker storyline, but IMHO, much better gameplay, it fixes almost all of the annoyances of the first game, and the game is quite non-linear. LR has the weakest storyline of the trilogy, but it's also the most open. Generally, it makes the story feel less structured when you can do almost everything in any order. The game even recommends taking breaks from current main quests and visiting other locations for a while (for example, you can't get to the Industrial Area until 6 PM, or Warren until midnight, so either sleep at an inn, or go do something else).

To be fair, this seems to be the trend of many FFs, being either-or. Either you have a story-focused game with linear and usually weaker gameplay (FFs 4, first half of 6, 7 until you get the airship, 9, 10, 13), or an exploration-focused game with non-linear and usually more fun gameplay (FFs 1, 5, second half of 6, 7 after you get the airship, X-2, 12, 13-2, LR). It's up to personal tastes which style you prefer. I've already beat most FFs at least once, so I tend to prefer the 2nd type: replaying FFs is more enjoyable when you have more choices and can do things differently on each run.

[Stormcaller]

For me it's more that the story (the english dub at least) dives head first into techno babble.
If I were to compare bits of dialogue that forshadowed plot points between games it would go like this.
FFX: Auron: "(to Tidus) We called it "Sin.""
FFXII: "The King intended all along to sell Dalmasca to the Empire. His Majesty was a traitor."
FFXIII: (At several points during the first chapter)
Sazh: "I'm not a l'Cie."
Sazh: "Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, Soldier? (Lightning pauses) I mean you are Sanctum, aren't you? What're you doing trying to stop the Purge? (rises to his feet) Why don't you tell me that?"
Lightning: "The Pulse fal'Cie. (turns to face him) My 'angle'. I'm after the fal'Cie."
Basically, the story has multiple plot points and characters, but they're hardly ever addressed in the story, you're kind of left wondering why you should care, but if you do your reading (and trust me, it's more of a bother to research stuff for XIII than it is for XV) then you'll find the story is a bit less messy.

[Unseen]

Love the story.
Opinions are like buttholes everyone has them and they all stink.

[Phreya™]

Originally posted by GamerHell:

Love the story.
Opinions are like buttholes everyone has them and they all stink.

Except your opinion, amirite?

[Mikasa Ackerman]

Originally posted by Phreya™:

Originally posted by GamerHell:

Love the story.
Opinions are like buttholes everyone has them and they all stink.

Except your opinion, amirite?

well . hes not a low life like you so ofc his ( and my) opinion matter

[Serafie1999AD]

Originally posted by truasiangamer:

For me it's more that the story (the english dub at least) dives head first into techno babble.
If I were to compare bits of dialogue that forshadowed plot points between games it would go like this.
FFX: Auron: "(to Tidus) We called it "Sin.""
FFXII: "The King intended all along to sell Dalmasca to the Empire. His Majesty was a traitor."
FFXIII: (At several points during the first chapter)
Sazh: "I'm not a l'Cie."
Sazh: "Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, Soldier? (Lightning pauses) I mean you are Sanctum, aren't you? What're you doing trying to stop the Purge? (rises to his feet) Why don't you tell me that?"
Lightning: "The Pulse fal'Cie. (turns to face him) My 'angle'. I'm after the fal'Cie."
Basically, the story has multiple plot points and characters, but they're hardly ever addressed in the story, you're kind of left wondering why you should care, but if you do your reading (and trust me, it's more of a bother to research stuff for XII than it is for XV) then you'll find the story is a bit less messy.

That is quite a good description. While FFXIII's story is really epic, the narration is terrible. Even though I dislike FFX's story and characters, that's one of the things I think FFX did right: Tidus doesn't know anything about the world (and neither does the gamer), so the other characters explain everything to him. Now that I think about it, that's what could have made FFXIII's story-telling better too: you're playing as Vanille or Fang, and you have amnesia, so the other people fill you up with the game's mythology, explaining what l'Cie, fal'Cie, Cie'th, Focus, crystallization, Cocoon, Gran Pulse, Sanctum, PSICOM, Guardian Corps etc are. In its current form, the game does a really bad job explaining them. The characters just use the terms and assume the gamer is familiar with them, and the gamer is supposed to read the Datalogs to become familiar with the mythology.

[Unseen]

Yea but to me that kinda added to the mystery and backstory that it wasn't expertly explained.
In FF7 we dont know anything about the ancients hardly. I also really like the god/falcie/lcie/cieth angle as it created a mythological heriarchy of insanely powerful monsters that rule over everyone.
Bhunivelze for example to me was a far more fun last boss than safer seperoth.