Many years ago, I gave up on Final Fantasy 13 at about 2 hours in because you're effectively in a giant tube going forward. It seemed really easy too - combat pretty much played itself, so I wrote it off. So for many years I have been shitting on this game online, saying "you could beat this game with a rock and duct tape" - and then I come across posters who are like "wow, Final Fantasy 13 has an amazing gameplay. It's too bad about the 15 hour tutorial." I might be outing myself as an exceptional individual because after months of going back and forth on the internet with these dudes, I finally decided to sit down and power through this shitty fucking game.
My findings:
a) The tutorial really takes 20 hours to complete. I count the end of the tutorial as "hitting the place with the open area so you can actually turn left or right rather than going straight forward. Oh, and you can change your party members now."
b) In the battle system, I was wrong to say you can play it by holding down the A button. You definitely have to press L1 to switch paradigms a fuck ton, and there's also a bunch of fucking with menus to make sure you have the right equipment and skills leveled. There actually is a town and NPCs to talk to 15 hours in, and you will have to press directions other than up to beat the first boss.
c) The story and voice acting is worse and even more exceptional than I initially believed. The only saving grace to the game is that REALLY BAD things happen to everyone in the party as the game goes on, and I really enjoyed watching their misery.
c) I actually got bored of the game 25 hours in and stopped playing. It's fucking boring. The paradigm system sucks - it's just the least bad part of the game.
Fuck that game.
I gave up on FF13 about two hours in just like you, but never went back to it and declared it to be the very worst game I've ever played. It's a worse game than a lot of genuinely horrible games like Superman or even E.T., because at least with those, there's a certain expectation of shittiness. Final Fantasy, by the Year of our Lord 2010 had built up such an incredible pedigree of amazing games, that it single-handedly brought JRPGs into the mainstream worldwide, and many people consider one of the Final Fantasy games as their absolute favorite game of all time. The budget was there, the hype was there, and this was the first Final Fantasy game to be on an HD system.
And then it had a 20 hour long tutorial, some of the worst fucking writing I've ever seen, a lead character that's literally Cloud but even mopier and a girl, the most cliched side characters imaginable, most of the areas are literal hallways when they didn't have to be, and a combat system that's mostly controlled by the AI, but just not enough to where you can die if you aren't paying attention enough to switch paradigms and use potions as necessary.
And the game still managed to get two sequels. What the fuck?
I really don't understand anyone who enjoyed those games. Every time I've talked to someone who insisted it got good later on, it comes with so many fucking caveats, and my argument usually just boils down to how
most games out there can be enjoyed in their entirety within 20 hours. I'd guess maybe 90% of all games out there aside from RPGs and open world games can be cleared, or at least thoroughly experienced within 20 hours. Hell, even Final Fantasy VII's entire Midgar section from the beginning to Kalm is a rock-solid 6 hours, and you'll be all the way up to I think the Gold Saucer by the 20 hour mark.
I'll give any game a shot, and at the very most, I'll give it three hours to pick up. Very, VERY few games don't pick up in that time. Dragon Quest VII was notorious for being slow to start, with the first battle not even happening until an hour in, but even that goes somewhere in the first three hours. There have to be severe, fundamental flaws in a game, in more ways than one, for it not to pick up after 20 hours, and I'd imagine that anyone who still praises FF13 despite that must have it deeply associated with some happier point in their life, or something. Maybe they played it when they were a child? Maybe they bonded with their first girlfriend over it? Maybe they played it on a fun vacation with their family? Fond memories like that can put some rose-tinted glasses on even a bad game, but FF13 is so fucking godawful and controversial that it's far beyond me being able to just say "maybe it's just not for me". Mass Effect and Persona are series that just aren't for me, but I can see why people enjoy them. Mega Man Battle Network has its fans, but a lot of people don't like that series, and I can see why they wouldn't. But I'm almost certain that Final Fantasy 13 fans had to delude themselves into enjoying it, by means of something outside the game. No game, at all, ever, should have a tutorial that's over an hour, let alone 20.
I'm sorry you burned off all that time in your fleeting youth because internet weirdos insisted that you give the game another shot, but from now on, just go with your gut. If you're not having fun with a game at all after the two hour mark, never,
ever play it again. There are so many other, better games out there that are worth your time and money, many of them free or extremely cheap by means of emulation, Steam key bundles, subscription services like Xbox's Games with Gold, etc. There's always at least one crazy person on the internet that will insist you give any old shitty game another try because they swear it's good, but everyone leads different lives and has different experiences that colors their games in different lights. If it didn't pique your interest the first time, it's even less likely to now that the sheen of newness has worn off. I will never, ever try Final Fantasy XIII again, even if end up getting another copy for free. Doing just about any other activity, or playing any other game is time better spent than with the complete trainwreck that is anything in the Final Fantasy XIII series.
And how the fuck did that game get two different sequels, more than any other game in the entire FF series? How the fuck? Why the fuck? Final Fantasy VI has never been revisited, but FF13 became a trilogy within three years? Clown World. Fucking Clown World.
