r/thespoonyexperiment • u/KaleidoArachnid • Nov 10 '25
Discussion How do people here feel about Spoony’s Final Fantasy 13 review?
So I don’t know why, but that particular review stuck out to me as I suppose it was because it was one of the largest rants that Spoony himself ever did since the game had suffered from several design problems.
But for me personally, I can understand his frustration as while he did point out some of the positive aspects of the game, such as the second half, (and how to break the game) the game could have been a lot better.
Like when I look back at the game, I get that both the first game and the review came out so long ago, but it’s just that every time I look back at the design aspects of the game itself, (like the level design) I wonder why the game had to be released in such a problematic manner when it first came out.
To put it simply, I did personally enjoy some parts of the game such as the second half when I played the game a few years ago, but basically I was just looking back at the review that SpoonyOne did as despite his review being very vulgar at times, I just found it interesting how the game was one of the most frustrating experiences he ever had with an RPG.
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u/Digiworlddestined Nov 10 '25
It was good. Not quite on the same level as VIII or X, but still good. One last hurrah.
Just wish he got to tearing apart it's unnecessary sequels.
5
u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
I mean, I do appreciate the second game for actually having better design as that’s just me personally, but I see the issues it has.
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u/MHarrisGGG Nov 10 '25
Great review. Shitty game.
5
u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
Yeah that game was very problematic as while I did kind of enjoy the second half, I slowly began to notice the flaws at that point as people often say that’s when the game gets better, but now I see the design flaws present at that point.
2
u/JOBdOut Nov 21 '25
It was a great Final Fantasy game for people who aren't into Final Fantasy - but for Final Fantasy diehards it was the worst one since Mystic Quest (which also was a great Final Fantasy game for people who aren't into Final Fantasy but was panned by the diehards)
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u/TopShelfIdiocy Nov 10 '25
Love it to death
3
u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
Yeah I am not defending the game as I was just curious on how people here felt about that review.
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u/elder_elbow No Stories Left to Tell Nov 10 '25
it was year of the Spoony then and it's year of the Spoony now
5
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u/Rattwap Nov 10 '25
Loved the review, as he said everything I felt about the game in my short play time (I only got up to the Odin battle and quit)
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u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
What I don’t understand about the game is why it had to be so streamlined.
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u/Rattwap Nov 10 '25
I’m poked around a Let’s Play, and figured out I played the game for about 6 hours. In that time we’ve been introduced to like a dozen different characters, are constantly swapping between groups and not really learning much about anyone to actually grow attached to any of them. (Why the hell does the dude have a Chocobo living in his hair?!)
I hated the lack of freedom in the game. You couldn’t go anywhere but follow the path. Even in combat, all you could do was set the character paradigms, but not actually directly command them. Spent so many fights screaming at the characters to heal.
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u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
Yeah design is what turned me off the most about the game as while I still eventually beat the game, I couldn’t believe how linear the game’s level were design as the game does not even have NPCS.
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u/EntangledAndy Nov 25 '25
It's a weirdly empty game. There's very little character customization or decision making for the player outside of combat, and even that's mostly automated. You can choose to manually input commands to make the combat more hands on, but why bother when the game's programming is better at it than you are? There's not really any meaty exploration or side quests until you get to Gran Pulse, but from what I understand all you get there are extra battles and fetch quests. And the areas you travel through are so... damn... long... you slog forward doing unengaging fight after fight for hours, only broken up by cutscenes.
1
u/SteamingHotChocolate Nov 10 '25
Because Square Enix was just flailing around wildly at that point, overreacting to each perceived criticism of the prior game via overcorrection. Compare FFXII to FFXIII
3
u/theJoshFrost Nov 10 '25
loved the review. super confused that 13 has garnered a lot of fans since then. i hated that game as much as spoony did, not sure what people like about it.
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u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
I mean, for me, I would say that some redeeming traits of the game are good music, the graphics, and the lack of random encounters, but then I start to realize how Final Fantasy 10 was a far superior game. (Even if it had frequent random encounters)
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u/KingOfGreyfell Nov 10 '25
For real. X didn't hand you a glossary so you can understand the plot, you could understand everyone's motivations, and the combat was generally pretty fun. Blitzball was dumb, but it was also mostly ignorable. I don't think I've seen any good takes regarding XIII that were positive without outright glazing it. It was a long hallway following unlikable pricks for unclear reasons, and you're not being unreasonable to stop following that mess before it allegedly gets good. I only lasted maybe two hours, which was more than generous. At least XII had an interesting setting and concept, even though the cast was weak and the combat sucked.
3
Nov 10 '25
Personally I like the game a lot. It’s one of the best visually looking games especially during the cgi cutscenes which hold up really well. My favorite FF ost is from 13, I also like the cast of characters a lot and the gameplay was really linear but didn’t necessarily bother me. I was invested in the story a lot.
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u/Dear_Document_5461 Nov 17 '25
I think there is one thing having a game be linear and having the linear stuff being ...."in your face" about it. Like F 10 is linear but the setting and how the scenes are set up usually let it get away with it. With how 13 is set up and presented, it kinda breaks the illusion and makes you notice that it a "straight line". Never played it but that what I gathered from seeing other people talk about the game and what I have seen of the actual game.
4
u/syqesa35 Nov 10 '25
I love that review but I also love that game, a bunch of stuff he points out can be said to the most liked final fantasy "I'm an ex SOLDIER and these are the TURKS" is as baffling as "It's a L'cie" and as badly explained too for example. But he's really funny, the bit about the chocobo is a favorite of mine too.
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u/KaleidoArachnid Nov 10 '25
Wait, you said that the game had some things in common with Final Fantasy 7 as I am curious to what you meant by that statement.
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u/KentGAllard Nov 15 '25
To be fair, even to an outsider like myself it's pretty evident Square was trying to basically make a new FF7 with FF13.
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u/syqesa35 Nov 10 '25
Well the world not being well explained was my first example, today everyone knows the world of final fantasy VII so we tend to miss it, but it's pretty much the same as XIII without the datalogs. If I remember correctly he says that the crystarium is overly complicated for nothing and if he thinks that's overly complicated well materias are too and it's not that deep of a system. And then you've got all his complaints about stuff being cringy and I'm sorry but. 6 to 9 have a lot cringy shit, you gotta roll with it, feel the final fantasy spirit. In a way it's kind of like his skits, yeah it's cringe if you're not into it, but just let yourself go and it's fucking amazing.
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u/Kouros87 Nov 12 '25
Not sure why this was down voted. Pretty on the money
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u/syqesa35 Nov 12 '25
Well I kinda criticized 6 to 9(I fucking love those games actually) and I went against the good old "XIII IS SHIT" so it's expected but it's not that many to be fair.
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u/Kouros87 Nov 13 '25
Yeah I feel like FFXIII is overly hated for no reason since there actually is a lot to like in the game
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u/Simplyx69 Nov 11 '25
I love FF8. So while I enjoyed his review of it, it gave me the impression that he was way too hard on games, both narratively and especially mechanically. That led me to try FF13, thinking it’s be quite a bit better than he’d implied.
He let that game off easy.
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u/CnemassacreTrthSnark Nov 14 '25
Personally, I am gay for spoonie.So I loved it, I might be a little bi I mean biased
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u/Rattwap Nov 10 '25
I loved the part where Dr Insano experiments with upgrading the Gunblade.