Is the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy worth playing?

[Salandrin]

Overall, from players I've spoken to that have played the series in its entirety, the games progressively get extremely better in terms of RPG gameplay but extremely bad in terms of story.

But more feedback would be nice.

[Instructor Soki]

FF13 is decent. The problem is that it's not a very good 'Final Fantasy' game.
It's far too linear.

The story isn't all that good either--and the characters are paper-thin, aside from Sazh--and one character doesn't make a game's narrative worth it.
The setting is the best thing about the FF13 trilogy. I really like the world and its aesthetic.

Overall though, no. I wouldn't say the 13 series is worth playing through, time-wise. If you're really interested, try Lightning Returns. Its core gameplay is the most refined of the 3 - but you play as the most-boringest-character-ever.

[couchboi]

I enjoyed them all. You're pretty accurate with the RPG and story parts. Though when a story goes full Japanese, that stuff tingles me in all the right places. I'm sure that's a big turn off for others though. I say give them a go and decide for yourself. Don't let others decide if a game is fun for you, I'm sure you can find used copies pretty cheap, except for Lightning Returns.

[-aiko-]

HELL NO.

Is my opinion anyway.

[zealo]

If you like linear games its an ok game, either hit or miss with that one really, a lot of people hate ff13 but there are also people that do not mind it.

[Bullettime]

Considering the first is like 15 bucks, I'd say it's not bad at all for the price. But for the whole trilogy? Would say no, not worth the money.

[Deleted]

It's pretty poor in regards to both Final Fantasy and RPGs- J or no, in general. There's nothing particularly new, exciting or innovative in them that you'd be missing out by not playing them. I'd recommend a re-playthrough of one of the better FF games if you're hungry for that sort of thing over getting 13 or its sequels. Perhaps a 4/10?

There are definitely better ways to spend your time and money.

[Graeham]

It's...decent if you don't get your hopes up and expect it to be like the previous Final Fantasy games. They're all very linear and flashy without much of what made the earlier main title games so intriguing.

[Aruhen]

I played the first two and loved them. Def not the best but worth it if you enjoy jRPGs. Haven't played 13-3 yet as I tried the demo and I wasn't too keen on it so I"m waiting for a massive price drop. You can pick up 13 and 13-2 for 10-15$ nowadays easily and they're def worth it at that price. I personally enjoyed the story and areas of 13 more but 13-2 has a battle system with more polish to it.

[Ickthid]

Overall, from players I've spoken to that have played the series in its entirety, the games progressively get extremely better in terms of RPG gameplay but extremely bad in terms of story.

But more feedback would be nice.

They're the absolute worst FF games in the series.

However, if you can pretend you're not playing a Final Fantasy game, you might like them. Otherwise, I'd recommend just waiting for the FF7 remake.

[Rickarus]

I would suggest "renting" the first one on PSNow (assuming you have a ps3/ps4), and trying it out, its not very long, so you wouldn't need one of the longer rental options, the second one is also on there. The third should still have it's demo out there as well, to see the complete difference in the combat system. It's just a far cheaper way to play them.

Myself, I enjoyed all three. I understand most of the complaints, but after the travesty that was FFXII, I thought they were overall pretty fun. While some of the characters annoyed me to no end (Hope for 80% of the game, Lightning through most), they at least all had generally flushed out characters, and the story overall is actually pretty tame by JRPG standards. The combat has some DEFINITE issues, but isn't that bad compared to some other rpg combat systems, when it comes down to it. The linearity of the first one (as the others are far less linear from very early on) never really bothered me, and really wasn't actually much more linear than FFX.

But really, it's up to you. I'd say just try them out, and decide if you enjoy them, too many people have discounted them without even trying them simply because of what other people say, who may or may not have even actually played the whole game, if at all.

[Faroth]

Meh.

I felt XIII was annoying and had a lot of things in there i didn't care for. As a story, it was okay, but as a game it was really annoying and had a lot of questionable choices, particularly for an RPG.

XIII ended fine, though. There was absolutely no need for two more games.

[endersblade]

FF13 is decent. The problem is that it's not a very good 'Final Fantasy' game.
It's far too linear.

The story isn't all that good either--and the characters are paper-thin, aside from Sazh--and one character doesn't make a game's narrative worth it.
The setting is the best thing about the FF13 trilogy. I really like the world and its aesthetic.

Overall though, no. I wouldn't say the 13 series is worth playing through, time-wise. If you're really interested, try Lightning Returns. Its core gameplay is the most refined of the 3 - but you play as the most-boringest-character-ever.

I agree with most of this. FF13 being on rails was a critical failure in my book. Also, the fact that gil was needed more in this game than any other FF in history, but was almost impossible to farm in decent quantities (because monsters don't actually drop gil) really made it grindy.

Some of the characters were forgettable, some of them really stood out. I think the story was pretty good, the combat system, while not the best, was challenging and fun once you got the hang of it.

I only barely started into the second one, and it sort of has a...disney feel to it. Kinda driving me crazy. I haven't played the third one yet, I haven't even bothered reading anything about it either. I'm sure it'll be enjoyable.

The entire trilogy is worth playing, as they're good games in general. They won't be in any Top 10 lists any time soon, and they certainly aren't the best FF games, but I am still liking them overall.

[urasim]

They're the absolute worst FF games in the series.

However, if you can pretend you're not playing a Final Fantasy game, you might like them. Otherwise, I'd recommend just waiting for the FF7 remake.

Yeah, don't play a game that is out right now and relatively cheap, but you should wait years for a different game that may not be coming out.

/sarcasm

My opinion is that it's definitely worth a rent to try it out. I enjoyed the the first two immensely.

Edit:

I only barely started into the second one, and it sort of has a...disney feel to it. Kinda driving me crazy. I haven't played the third one yet, I haven't even bothered reading anything about it either. I'm sure it'll be enjoyable.

The second game is pretty damn depressing. I wouldn't ever call it a "Disney" feel.

[Faroth]

They're the absolute worst FF games in the series.

However, if you can pretend you're not playing a Final Fantasy game, you might like them. Otherwise, I'd recommend just waiting for the FF7 remake.

Pretty shaky evidence there. Still nothing confirming a FF7 remake.

I'm not expecting much from XV as it's mostly the XIII Versus game that was in the works. With Bravely Default and Square's recent remarks of going back to their core gamers and traditional RPGs still having a strong market after Bravely Default's wild success, I'm going to wait and hope FFXVI is a return to actual fantasy with some serious RPG elements. I'd even be happy seeing some turn based combat.

[Graeham]

As much as I'd love a remake of FF7 I'm reluctant to get my hopes up simply because every couple of months there's a new claim about it happening and then it turns out to be a hoax.

[unholytestament]

Another month, another FF13 thread.

It's like clockwork now.

[Yalingo]

Short answer - No

Long answer - Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[OrcsRLame]

I think FF13 is very worth it. I enjoyed the first 2 a lot, haven't gotten around to playing the 3rd yet. Be warned, you may have to engage your brain to understand the story.

13 Has the most intricate combat system of any FF game, by far. I also happen to think the story is better than most other Final Fantasy games. It tends to be more character driven as opposed to event driven, and I guess a lot of people don't like that.

[Graeham]

Intricate? It's practically automatic for the most part with very little room for customisation. Many of the earlier games offered much more depth to their combat systems.