(no subject)
Final Fantasy XIII. After playing it all this week, I've now reached the fabled chapter 11 when everything's supposed to get better, or something like that.
I'm not really sure what to think of the game. The battle system is really awesome yes, once the game deigns to let you use it anyway. The graphics couldn't really be better. Music? Well...it's no Uematsu, but it's bearable, some pieces I'd rate as good even. When it comes to the music, I have the same problem I had with FF12 - it's all so ethereal, it feels like there's no power behind it. It's really annoying. :/ Still, it's not as bad as in 12, and like I said, I really do like some of them. As for the linearity...
Well, the linearity. The lack of exploration. It's...really bad. The game's a railroad track with movies tossed in. At least has been so far, I've only barely reached ch 11 so can't say anything about that change yet. The lack of towns is even more annoying than the "run down this single path to see the next CS" thing, there's no chance to just chill and take in the scenery, or a chance to feel like you belong in that world. I understand the reason - wanted fugitives and all - and I can't even see a point where you could put in a normal town thing, but...yeah. There's still something seriously lacking when they won't give you that chance.
There's also the futility of grinding to begin with. Nothing to use it on after all. I guess there would be the choice of grinding anyway and just using it later, but...no point even there, seeing how few CP you get early on compared to chapter 11, and the CP required to get to the next node right now seems to be insane. This is another point that really takes away from the game. It's like they decided they need to restrict the player in any way they can, it's... I don't know. I don't like it. It takes even that bit of possible freedom away from you. :/
Nevertheless, I... I don't know what's about the game, but it makes me obsessive. Perhaps it's the stellar battle system. I keep going back, and even though I hate so many aspects of it I really like it too. This is definitely a first for me when it comes to FFs.
The story? I'm not sure what to say about that just yet. It seems about on the same level as most other FFs, no gripe there certainly. Although I've gotta say...Cid a l'Cie, what? That was a real surprise! In retrospect, his appearance did seem random. But not more random than any other non-playable character appearances, they all just..appear, and then go away, never to return again. This is another thing that takes away from the world and the immersion, you never properly get to know people. They're just brief flashes in the background, nothing more. This kind of treatment of non-playable charas is more familiar from action games, and I don't approve of this direction. FF is supposed to be RPG. Sure, go ahead and play around with the battle system, I don't care. Just leave the depth of the world intact. Action game paper-thin worlds and cardboard characters belong in action games.
Now, back to playing. Gonna see if I can make a dent into chapter 11 today yet.
I'm not really sure what to think of the game. The battle system is really awesome yes, once the game deigns to let you use it anyway. The graphics couldn't really be better. Music? Well...it's no Uematsu, but it's bearable, some pieces I'd rate as good even. When it comes to the music, I have the same problem I had with FF12 - it's all so ethereal, it feels like there's no power behind it. It's really annoying. :/ Still, it's not as bad as in 12, and like I said, I really do like some of them. As for the linearity...
Well, the linearity. The lack of exploration. It's...really bad. The game's a railroad track with movies tossed in. At least has been so far, I've only barely reached ch 11 so can't say anything about that change yet. The lack of towns is even more annoying than the "run down this single path to see the next CS" thing, there's no chance to just chill and take in the scenery, or a chance to feel like you belong in that world. I understand the reason - wanted fugitives and all - and I can't even see a point where you could put in a normal town thing, but...yeah. There's still something seriously lacking when they won't give you that chance.
There's also the futility of grinding to begin with. Nothing to use it on after all. I guess there would be the choice of grinding anyway and just using it later, but...no point even there, seeing how few CP you get early on compared to chapter 11, and the CP required to get to the next node right now seems to be insane. This is another point that really takes away from the game. It's like they decided they need to restrict the player in any way they can, it's... I don't know. I don't like it. It takes even that bit of possible freedom away from you. :/
Nevertheless, I... I don't know what's about the game, but it makes me obsessive. Perhaps it's the stellar battle system. I keep going back, and even though I hate so many aspects of it I really like it too. This is definitely a first for me when it comes to FFs.
The story? I'm not sure what to say about that just yet. It seems about on the same level as most other FFs, no gripe there certainly. Although I've gotta say...Cid a l'Cie, what? That was a real surprise! In retrospect, his appearance did seem random. But not more random than any other non-playable character appearances, they all just..appear, and then go away, never to return again. This is another thing that takes away from the world and the immersion, you never properly get to know people. They're just brief flashes in the background, nothing more. This kind of treatment of non-playable charas is more familiar from action games, and I don't approve of this direction. FF is supposed to be RPG. Sure, go ahead and play around with the battle system, I don't care. Just leave the depth of the world intact. Action game paper-thin worlds and cardboard characters belong in action games.
Now, back to playing. Gonna see if I can make a dent into chapter 11 today yet.