I'm only halfway done with XIII, but it's probably the worst one I've done in a while.
Now... if you really were a fan, you'd understand that they like to push the boundaries with what they can do each and everytime they make a new game.
The game is a step back. Sure, it has pretty visuals and colors, sound effects and voice acting but...what Final Fantasy
hasn't had awesome graphics, visuals, and sound (when taking into perspective the time period they came out). And the gameplay offers NOTHING compared to what the others offered. Side-quests that are all the same damn thing. Lack of control of party members. A stupid-ass AI. Run down linear corridor, fight boss, cut scene, run down linear hallway, cut scene, fight boss, run down linear corridor, fight boss, cut scene. They literally give you no freedom in the game. Even the leveling system, despite looking like a "circle" in the menu is a linear path, with only the rare "+20 HP OR +2 Strength?" It's not like VII with challenging bosses and the 100s of materia combinations to choose from, the numerous classes in the earlier ones, etc.
I mean, imagine XIII on the old NES, where those old FF games used to be. Can you imagine what the game would be like? It'd be a 6 bit wide corridor the entire game.
Would you want Final Fantasies to continue to be 4 light warriors going around to save the crystals and therein save the world for utter chaos and complete destruction?
Only true in the first three Final Fantasy's, and despite XIII's problems, I'd still consider it better than them. But please don't compare a game from today to a game from the 80's.
If they constantly went for the same general story, you'd never have your lauded Final Fantasy VII, and the franchise wouldn't have made it very far at all.
They all go for the "same general story," and that isn't the problem with it. Every FF has protagonist vs Empire/power hungry antagonist.
Admittedly, stock characters are constantly being used in JRPGs, but think about it.... aren't stock characters used in EVERY FORM OF MEDIA???
I don't care about stock characters. Most of the characters in XIII just flat-out sucked.
And I ask you... if this game wasn't as hyped as it was, if the expectation wasn't there, how would you recieve this game? Would it be just another JRPG? Or would you think of this game as an epic story, with a great battle system?
I don't play many JRPGs. Compared to the other FF's and every other JRPG I've done, (Valkyria Chronicles 1 & 2, Resonance of Fate) XIII is mediocre to terrible.
So many people are griping about the whole "no cities" thing. Really? C'mon. Please. Let's be honest. How many of you go around talking to every single person in the towns? Not many.
I do, but that's not the main reason. I want to actually feel like I'm in a diverse, open, and vast world. I want the ability to go to where I want to in the world at some point, to explore all of it. What I
don't want is to be forced down a hallway for 9/10 of the game.
Aside for some cute little scenes in later editions, there is no real purpose for the cities to be there anymore. I got sick and tired of running all over the place in Rabanastre, talking to four or five characters, just to get one silly little item so I can fight the Wind Dinosaur. What do you do in the towns??? Get items and weapons. Problem solved at the savepoints.
I don't particularly like those annoying, tedious things either. However, there are far less of them in VII+ (unless you count sidequests), and even then they are fairly rare in I-VI. Most of them don't even take 5 minutes if you know what you're doing though.
And another thing for you "fans" of Final Fantasy. Remember, they do listen to you, and trust me, towns and more of a free flowing landscape will be available to you when the next installment arrives.
Good. Now if they fix those terrible characters and story, we might finally get a good game out of Square.
If you stood back, stopped looking at every little morsel of information about a game and played it first without looking at the reviews like I did, you'd find yourself thoroughly enjoyed.
Okay. Just let me remove my brain first. Maybe then I could ignorantly pretend XIII has no faults and is a decent game.
Are there better editions of this series? Certainly. Will this be everyone's ultimate FF experience? Certainly not. It would be ultimately impossible to make everyone's favorite FF game each and every time a new one came out.
I don't expect every game to be "the ultimate experience," but XIII is probably the worst I've done since III (not played VI or XII).
Ultimately this is what it is. It is their best effort at making a great story. Do you think you could write a better story for a video game?
Actually, even Square admits it had it's problems.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30640/Exclusive_Behind_The_Scenes_o f_Square_Enixs_Final_Fantasy_XIII.php
I challenge you to do so. Get into the video game industry and put SquareEnix out of business becuase everyone wants to play your games becuase they've surpassed Final Fantasy in every way possible.
No I do not. Because I don't even know how to make a video game, and what other people like is none of my concern, although Square has been somewhat struggling lately (compared to the profits and praise they used to rake in).
And if the story isn't engaging enough, go back to a good RPG, like those older FF games and those other, non-linear RPGs where the story is so amazing.
Fixed and will do.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~George Santayana
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winkie_69
13 years ago
Jesus, did I say all that? hahaha. I haven't even played it since I beat it. 6 months later, I wouldn't necessarily have said those things. Some things, like the towns missing still confuses me why everyone hates it. I wouldn't rate it very highly in the relm of FF titles.
I still do think the story is great, one of the best in the series. This games should have been made into a movie. The linear aspect of the story would have worked well in a movie. The visuals are fantastic, as usual.
The gameplay however isn't as good as I once thought. I think that there could have been better sidequests, and in retrospect, some of the best moments in FF are from interactions with the NPCs... but they don't have to be in cities.
A lot of your thoughts are quite correct, and I stand here with my foot in my mouth. Maybe if Square had a contest on their website to be able to play and test their games to get feedback on what they could have made better.
I think a lot of video game companies get caught up in themselves, which is why some games aren't as good as they could have been. Outside feedback from independant sources make things better. It increases distribution time, but at the same time, if the product is better, isn't it better for everyone?
Rest easy@night-there are devils out there(me)who hunt evil in shadows and mist
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The_guard_of_Magog
13 years ago
This game is definately the weakest in the series in my opinion. I've only played from VII onwards. I personally love the towns as they add something to the world, and in VII all the towns (for example Midgar, Junon and Kalm) are all very different to each other and there's a completley different atmophere in each town. Interacting with the NPCs is a great part of the game.
I think the complaints about the lack of cities is linked to the gamplay being too linear. I want to be able to explore a vast world and interact with NPCs rather than just run down a pre set route. Thats just my opinion.
I disagree that the story was great. I just couldn't connect to it as much as I could to VII and VIII. The story is what draws me back to playing those games all over again.
I agree that the visuals are amazing. I think it's like an attractive woman though. Very nice to look at, but if you don't like whats on the inside, you're going to get very bored, very quickly.
Did I ever tell you about my day in Cardiff??
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Asharak2
13 years ago
"I personally love the towns as they add something to the world, and in VII all the towns (for example Midgar, Junon and Kalm) are all very different to each other and there's a completley different atmophere in each town. Interacting with the NPCs is a great part of the game."
Another thing about the cities in FF7 was that they weren’t particularly big. One never got the chance to get bored by them like in FF12 when you had to run 40+ times from one end of the enormous city of Rabanastre to the other. Towns and cities were fun in FF7 because they came in manageable sizes.
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