first impression (don't blind buy it!)

The creators have said that they have made the game alot more linear in order to tell a more compelling, meaningful story.I think its a little arrogant on their part to assume the story is good enough to make up for the lack of gameplay. The story isnt, In my opinion, nearly strong enough.Im just starting chapter 5 and im enjoying it but not in the same way i have enjoyed the previous FF games.There are alot of cool little touches like crystarium and the paradigm system. The whole battle system is exceptionally well done but that in itself is not enough to carry the game alone.I have no feeling for the characters and do not particularly care about their journey.I have heard it opens up a bit further in but so far its lacking everything that makes a FF game. "How long was I in the army? Five foot eleven"

I feel the same way. I am forcing myself to continue playing even though I'm bored out of my mind. Not to mention the fact that they made the print so hard to read, it drives me crazy. I'm actually more impressed with FFXII's gameplay. :)


Vanessa

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"Yes, women DO play Metal Gear." - Me

then you have no taste.

i was a huge fan of VII and X and VI too, i LOVE them to death.

but FFXIII is easily amongst my favorites now.

its so good, only the first few hours are boring and easy : )

I'm up to Chapter 9 (start of it) so far. The storyline has been inconsistent in quality, imo. Some of the character subplots interest me, and others don't... and then some of the characters get on my nerves while others I'm finding I like. The story concept of the fal'Cie and l'Cie is great, but the execution of the story itself is feeling a bit lacking at times.

Spoilerish
Still wish Hope would had embedded that knife into the back of Snow's neck though during the piggy-back scene...

I think the problem I have it that there wasn't much progress with the main storyline's plot. It was just following the characters running and dealing with there own subplots. It didn't feel to me that the game was really progressing anywhere for a while. It has started to move again, but it is not as engaging to me as past games. I don't hate it. I still like the game. But I don't love it. I hope this changes, which I know it can... as originally I got bored of FFX before giving it a second shot and finding the second half much much better than the first.

I do miss the open world, and I wish I had better control over who I could use in my party. The corridor layout makes options for when I want to level grind up much more repetitive than in other games. I don't think I'm a fan of the weapon/accessory upgrading system though. *shrug* But I can work with it.

On the pro-side, I like the game mechanics of primarily switching your parties classes out and around moment by moment in a battle (and the stagger system). It's a neat variation. The crystarium board is highly reminiscent of FFX's sphere grid, which is cool to see again. The graphics are looking better with every game (although I think FFVII:ACC spoiled me in some regards ).

As far as video games go, "SO FAR" I'm giving the game a solid B. As far as Final Fantasy games go, this unfortunately scales to a C-.

But as I said before, I've seen FF games turn around in the second half before, and I'm hoping for the same.

*crossing fingers*


Update: I'm now in the middle of Chapter Ten... there is hope. I'm getting more interested.

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God bless America and the 'Ignore this User' link.
1-22-13

Just bought it last night. I hated the beginning and thought I'd wasted my money. The first two hours were so BORING, spamming auto battle until everything was dead. I got to the part of the game with the paradigm shifts and crystal progression, and I love it now. I had a hard time putting it down and going to bed. The dialogue couldn't be much more Japanacorny though.

Back off man. I'm a scientist.

I've finished the game now with the exception of half of the sidequests. Hope and Vanille grew on me a lot (later in the game) and became very useful in battle teams.

I loved it although to me it felt less traditionally Final Fantasy. It seems like something separate to the franchise somehow. I guess it has probably been harder to make more adult Final Fantasy games in the same vein as previous games on a next gen console. It's almost like every time there is a new platform they have to adapt to that medium and things have to change. For example I could never see Final Fantasy VI as it is working as a PS3 game! It fits the 16 bit medium wonderfully but a direct translation of the story into high def would come out completely laughable even (or especially?)to diehard fans of the game.

From what I have seen I don't expect Final Fantasy Versus XIII will feel that traditionally Final Fantasy either, but perhaps more so since I heard they have "gotten airships working over the world map", (perhaps suggesting they couldn't work this out for XIII?) which sounds a bit more FF. XIII was originally going to be a PS2 game, and given that this was the first game for the 7th generation consoles. They had to get used to developing for the new console and may have changed some gameplay and story elements because of what they were able to do technically speaking.

I'd actually like to see a Final Fantasy IX type game on a next gen console. I think that sort of style and feel could actually work well.

Anyway, after going off on a tangent... I loved and recommend this game, but only if you are prepared to consider it as a game in it's own right and on it's own merits. It isn't your old favourite Final Fantasy game, don't expect it to be the same!

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