[Review] [Video Game] Final Fantasy XIII
So I finished Final Fantasy XIII over the weekend; have been playing it off and on since it came out. I know I'm late to the game with this, but here's my two cents on it. All spoilers will be written after the cut.
Graphics: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Battle System: 7/10
Story: 5/10
World Building: 7/10
Music: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in this game were absolutely breathtaking. From the cut-scenes, to the in-game graphics, to the battle graphics, to the backgrounds: everything was beautiful. The only reason this didn't get a full ten points is that I started off playing the game on a 20" old-school TV. In fact, I had reached nearly the end of Chapter 12 before I got my pretty new HD widescreen.
Now, I know that older televisions aren't going to show off the HD graphics as well. That's not my issue. My issue was that I couldn't see what my HP was. That's right. I played through most of the game, completely unaware how much HP I had. I'd be comparing character HPs with my sister, and would be estimating how much I thought they had. And don't get me started on status affects.
Characters: 8/10
I thought they did a good job creating a diverse cast where all playable characters grew. By the end of the game, I could honestly say that I liked all of them, even if a couple had irritated me at the beginning. I sometimes felt the development was either too rushed or not in-depth enough, but overall I think they did a good job. Some parts of the characterizations were absolutely amazing.
Battle System: 7/10
Overall I enjoyed, but sometimes I thought it a bit silly that characters would start the game knowing how to attack, but suddenly forget once the paradigm system was put into place. My main issue with the system, however, was there was no way NOT to get an ability you know you'd never use unless you stop the characters growth in that class. For all of the fact that the crystarium was set up to look like a three-dimensional representation, it was a straight line. Having a bit more control would have been preferable.
Story: 5/10
I had no problems with the story that was presented; in fact, I loved it. I have major problems with the story that WASN'T presented. More details in the spoiler-filled section below.
World Building: 7/10
They created an interesting new world(s) and society, and I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw of it. I felt they dropped the ball in some ways, though. For example, it would have been nice to see more of Cocoon than we were shown. It would have been nice to see some of the stuff haphazardly described in the Datalog to have been incorporated into the game somehow.
Music: 7/10
I overall quite enjoyed the music. Some tracks reached out and grabbed me, while others were a little "meh".
Overall: 7/10
Good game, just needed a bit of tweaking, and some fleshing out.
Alright, now I'm going to start discussing specifics about the game that needed work. THIS IS WHERE THE SPOILERS START!!!
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So let's start with the cover character: Lightning.
Why is she on the cover?
If you play through to the end of the game, it's quite clear that out of a fairly balanced ensemble, if ANY one character could be considered the main character, it would be Vanille.
I love Lightning. She's tough, kick-ass, makes both good and bad decisions. I love how she interacts with Snow and Hope, how she's unsure exactly what she should be doing.
But here's the tough question: Does she do ANYTHING vital to the plot? Snow also has the connection so Serah, Hope carries his anger and cyncism longer than she does, Fang is just as kick-ass a female warrior, Vanille makes more decisions concerning their Focus.
Her misguided crusade against the Sanctum is over before it's even begun, and her mentoring of Hope dies similarly. Her own character evolves, but she's more of a viewpoint character than a mover or shaker.
I was convinced she was going to be the one who turned into Ragnarok. That the image of her sitting on one of those sofas right before the last boss was her making the decision. That would justify her being the cover image.
Nope. Bzzzt. Wrong. It's just an image. Doesn't really have anything to do with the game.
Vanille.
Our narrator. The secret L'Cie; the girl who hides and lies. Nothing about her is as it seems. When I first started playing the game, I despised her. Mostly because I found her voice irritating with its high-pitched cheeriness. Learning about her as the game continued, that the high-pitched cheeriness was a front for the guilt and despair she bottled up inside; I was blown away. I can now replay those early moments and enjoy what I once found so irritating, because it has meaning.
My issue with her? We're missing the beginning of her story. Why was she chosen? How did she feel about it? Why wasn't she Ragnarok? What did her first journey consist of? Considering that the game is HER story, it would have been nice to have had a background chapter.
Hope.
I'm probably the opposite of most people, but I LIKED him when he was angry at Snow. Not because I felt that Snow deserved it, but because it gave him depth. After you leave Hope's house, his character just falls flat. He was TOO okay with everything. It would have been nice to see him struggling with his anger for a while, once he knew he didn't have a justified target.
Sazh.
Loved his character arc up to and through Nautilus, and he never seemed to fall flat later either. It would have been nice if they could have capitalized on his piloting skills more often, but that's another consquence of a too short story.
Snow.
I didn't have any issues with his character arc. I would have liked to see more on his background with Serah, but that's more to do with Serah. After Vanille, Snow seemed like the next best character candidate to be considered "main".
Fang.
Her characterization was one of the spottiest. I never really felt like I could get into her head. While I thought she had integrated herself into the team nicely after the Ark, her actions during the end of the game didn't seem to make much sense to me. I know she was trying to protect Vanille, and I understand volunteering to become Ragnarok, but why did she look like she was about to attack the others all of a sudden? Was there something lost in the translation? Or did I miss some dialogue somewhere? What gives? It doesn't help that she was introduced as a playable character pretty late into the game (with only some vague cameos previously), and that she suffers from the same background omission Vanille does, on TOP of her amnesia. She had an excellent premise, but poor execution.
Serah.
While not a playable character, she's still pretty central to the plot, being the focus (haha) of three characters: Snow, Lightning, and Vanille. While her relationship with Vanille was adequately explored given its brief but oh so impactful nature (was I the only one smacking my forehead when I realized Serah was the one who started Vanille on the whole "deal with it later" mentality?), it would have been nice to see more with Lightning and Snow.
How long have her parents been dead? Was Lightning around much? How old is she? What's her occupation? How long has she known/been dating Snow? What does she think of NORA/Guardian Corps? Why did she accept Snow's proposal? Love, or need of support? Who is Serah Farron?, essentially.
The Datalog.
I had serious issues with this thing. I should not be SPOILED for the game, BY THE GAME! Particularly the (false) "revelation" that Vanille was Ragnarok. In fact, by the time that the game brings this up in an OPTIONAL scene at the Paddrean ruins, it's dropped casually, as if the characters have already been told this. My characters certainly weren't. That was the biggest item, but I remember it happening again and again, until I stopped reading the Datalog. There was also the fact that the Oerba girls were turned to crystal Focus incomplete. Would've been nice if we'd been told, or the characters at least speculated, who had pitied the people of Cocoon.
Cid Raines.
Was anyone else completely underwhelmed by his betrayal? This was one of the main areas where the plot was insufficient. Add in a few side-quests with the Cavalry, heck, do it when Snow and Fang are on their own and you also get extended characterization and an earlier introduction for Fang, and suddenly the betrayal will MEAN something. It would also make Rygdea actually exist as more than an entry in the Datalog and thirty seconds to kill Raines (again). We can be shown Rygdea's passion for the cause, rather than told it out of context (Datalog).
And Cid's explanation for why he's suddenly attacking you is BS. Better to teamup and work together against the Fal'Cie, rather than committing murder-suicide (for he'd turn into a Cie'th for failing his Focus) on the only people rebelling. This would still have allowed his Sanctum Fal'Cie reveal (along with the Maker info-dump), more time in Cocoon, and made his betrayal at the end when Barthandalus forced him to become Primarch all the more sweet.
Pulse.
Okay, I get that we only see a VERY small section of Pulse, but I kinda get the feeling that ALL the humans are dead.
WTF?
First of all, according to the Datalog (growl), the Pulse Fal'Cie looked into the earth (which is why they didn't bother coddling the humans) for the Maker, while the Sanctum Fal'Cie had the Cocoon genocide plan. While the Sanctum Fal'Cie only seemed to make L'Cie for the furthering of their plan, the Pulse Fal'Cie (according to the Marks), mostly made Fal'Cie to help with their duties of making the world habitable/stable (i.e., getting rid of dangerous monsters/cie'th).
Except suddenly Anima gets on board with the Cocoon plan, and gives Fang and Vanille the Ragnarok Focus. Okay. Anima is promptly absconded into Cocoon in the Vestige. Fine. Except now Pulse Fal'Cie start handing out Focus after Focus, mostly too tough, and we get a world populated with more and more Cie'th, and fewer and fewer humans. What's on the go with that? While they've never coddled humans, the impression given is that this is abnormal behaviour. What purpose does it serve?
I can accept that it's not necessary to have answers to these questions. If everyone's dead, how would the characters find out?
So fine, all the Pulse humans are dead (or living very far away).
Fang and Vanille seem alright with that.
Now, I can see them tentatively accepting that no one they know will still be alive after 500 years. There's a difference between that, and finding out that no one is still alive; especially when they reach Oerba. In fact, they have very little reaction to Oerba's pitiful state. The BGM is more distraught than they are. Oh, they're nostalgic, but they don't seem to care that everyone they loved are probably the Cie'th roaming the streets. This would have been a wonderful time for some character development, and to get the background on their first journey.
Orphan.
I still feel like I blinked and missed something. So, Orphan wasn't born until you beat Barthandalus in the cradle. So Eden has been working off potential energy? I can see that. What exactly did Barthandalus merge with to become/create Orphan? Is the female face Eden? Transforming Orphan from potential energy to realized energy didn't interrupt the power supply any? In that case, why didn't Orphan get realized earlier? Easier to kill something you actually know exists... When the party realized that the Cavalry had been turned to Cie'th and therefore were not a danger to Orphan, why did they keep going? It would have been better to have gone back and orcestrated an evacuation. Rosch had already started the process for you.
I am greatly amused that you spend the entire game trying to Save Cocoon, yet the party seems quite smug about how good a job they did destroying it once they exit crystal stasis.
Well, those were my primary issues. I bridged over most of them while actually playing. In my head, they DID spend more time with Raines, and Fang/Vanille did angst over the loss of their home. It will be interesting to see what Versus and Agito add to the mix, whenever they come out.
TL,DR; good game, needed some tweaking.
Graphics: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Battle System: 7/10
Story: 5/10
World Building: 7/10
Music: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in this game were absolutely breathtaking. From the cut-scenes, to the in-game graphics, to the battle graphics, to the backgrounds: everything was beautiful. The only reason this didn't get a full ten points is that I started off playing the game on a 20" old-school TV. In fact, I had reached nearly the end of Chapter 12 before I got my pretty new HD widescreen.
Now, I know that older televisions aren't going to show off the HD graphics as well. That's not my issue. My issue was that I couldn't see what my HP was. That's right. I played through most of the game, completely unaware how much HP I had. I'd be comparing character HPs with my sister, and would be estimating how much I thought they had. And don't get me started on status affects.
Characters: 8/10
I thought they did a good job creating a diverse cast where all playable characters grew. By the end of the game, I could honestly say that I liked all of them, even if a couple had irritated me at the beginning. I sometimes felt the development was either too rushed or not in-depth enough, but overall I think they did a good job. Some parts of the characterizations were absolutely amazing.
Battle System: 7/10
Overall I enjoyed, but sometimes I thought it a bit silly that characters would start the game knowing how to attack, but suddenly forget once the paradigm system was put into place. My main issue with the system, however, was there was no way NOT to get an ability you know you'd never use unless you stop the characters growth in that class. For all of the fact that the crystarium was set up to look like a three-dimensional representation, it was a straight line. Having a bit more control would have been preferable.
Story: 5/10
I had no problems with the story that was presented; in fact, I loved it. I have major problems with the story that WASN'T presented. More details in the spoiler-filled section below.
World Building: 7/10
They created an interesting new world(s) and society, and I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw of it. I felt they dropped the ball in some ways, though. For example, it would have been nice to see more of Cocoon than we were shown. It would have been nice to see some of the stuff haphazardly described in the Datalog to have been incorporated into the game somehow.
Music: 7/10
I overall quite enjoyed the music. Some tracks reached out and grabbed me, while others were a little "meh".
Overall: 7/10
Good game, just needed a bit of tweaking, and some fleshing out.
Alright, now I'm going to start discussing specifics about the game that needed work. THIS IS WHERE THE SPOILERS START!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
So let's start with the cover character: Lightning.
Why is she on the cover?
If you play through to the end of the game, it's quite clear that out of a fairly balanced ensemble, if ANY one character could be considered the main character, it would be Vanille.
I love Lightning. She's tough, kick-ass, makes both good and bad decisions. I love how she interacts with Snow and Hope, how she's unsure exactly what she should be doing.
But here's the tough question: Does she do ANYTHING vital to the plot? Snow also has the connection so Serah, Hope carries his anger and cyncism longer than she does, Fang is just as kick-ass a female warrior, Vanille makes more decisions concerning their Focus.
Her misguided crusade against the Sanctum is over before it's even begun, and her mentoring of Hope dies similarly. Her own character evolves, but she's more of a viewpoint character than a mover or shaker.
I was convinced she was going to be the one who turned into Ragnarok. That the image of her sitting on one of those sofas right before the last boss was her making the decision. That would justify her being the cover image.
Nope. Bzzzt. Wrong. It's just an image. Doesn't really have anything to do with the game.
Vanille.
Our narrator. The secret L'Cie; the girl who hides and lies. Nothing about her is as it seems. When I first started playing the game, I despised her. Mostly because I found her voice irritating with its high-pitched cheeriness. Learning about her as the game continued, that the high-pitched cheeriness was a front for the guilt and despair she bottled up inside; I was blown away. I can now replay those early moments and enjoy what I once found so irritating, because it has meaning.
My issue with her? We're missing the beginning of her story. Why was she chosen? How did she feel about it? Why wasn't she Ragnarok? What did her first journey consist of? Considering that the game is HER story, it would have been nice to have had a background chapter.
Hope.
I'm probably the opposite of most people, but I LIKED him when he was angry at Snow. Not because I felt that Snow deserved it, but because it gave him depth. After you leave Hope's house, his character just falls flat. He was TOO okay with everything. It would have been nice to see him struggling with his anger for a while, once he knew he didn't have a justified target.
Sazh.
Loved his character arc up to and through Nautilus, and he never seemed to fall flat later either. It would have been nice if they could have capitalized on his piloting skills more often, but that's another consquence of a too short story.
Snow.
I didn't have any issues with his character arc. I would have liked to see more on his background with Serah, but that's more to do with Serah. After Vanille, Snow seemed like the next best character candidate to be considered "main".
Fang.
Her characterization was one of the spottiest. I never really felt like I could get into her head. While I thought she had integrated herself into the team nicely after the Ark, her actions during the end of the game didn't seem to make much sense to me. I know she was trying to protect Vanille, and I understand volunteering to become Ragnarok, but why did she look like she was about to attack the others all of a sudden? Was there something lost in the translation? Or did I miss some dialogue somewhere? What gives? It doesn't help that she was introduced as a playable character pretty late into the game (with only some vague cameos previously), and that she suffers from the same background omission Vanille does, on TOP of her amnesia. She had an excellent premise, but poor execution.
Serah.
While not a playable character, she's still pretty central to the plot, being the focus (haha) of three characters: Snow, Lightning, and Vanille. While her relationship with Vanille was adequately explored given its brief but oh so impactful nature (was I the only one smacking my forehead when I realized Serah was the one who started Vanille on the whole "deal with it later" mentality?), it would have been nice to see more with Lightning and Snow.
How long have her parents been dead? Was Lightning around much? How old is she? What's her occupation? How long has she known/been dating Snow? What does she think of NORA/Guardian Corps? Why did she accept Snow's proposal? Love, or need of support? Who is Serah Farron?, essentially.
The Datalog.
I had serious issues with this thing. I should not be SPOILED for the game, BY THE GAME! Particularly the (false) "revelation" that Vanille was Ragnarok. In fact, by the time that the game brings this up in an OPTIONAL scene at the Paddrean ruins, it's dropped casually, as if the characters have already been told this. My characters certainly weren't. That was the biggest item, but I remember it happening again and again, until I stopped reading the Datalog. There was also the fact that the Oerba girls were turned to crystal Focus incomplete. Would've been nice if we'd been told, or the characters at least speculated, who had pitied the people of Cocoon.
Cid Raines.
Was anyone else completely underwhelmed by his betrayal? This was one of the main areas where the plot was insufficient. Add in a few side-quests with the Cavalry, heck, do it when Snow and Fang are on their own and you also get extended characterization and an earlier introduction for Fang, and suddenly the betrayal will MEAN something. It would also make Rygdea actually exist as more than an entry in the Datalog and thirty seconds to kill Raines (again). We can be shown Rygdea's passion for the cause, rather than told it out of context (Datalog).
And Cid's explanation for why he's suddenly attacking you is BS. Better to teamup and work together against the Fal'Cie, rather than committing murder-suicide (for he'd turn into a Cie'th for failing his Focus) on the only people rebelling. This would still have allowed his Sanctum Fal'Cie reveal (along with the Maker info-dump), more time in Cocoon, and made his betrayal at the end when Barthandalus forced him to become Primarch all the more sweet.
Pulse.
Okay, I get that we only see a VERY small section of Pulse, but I kinda get the feeling that ALL the humans are dead.
WTF?
First of all, according to the Datalog (growl), the Pulse Fal'Cie looked into the earth (which is why they didn't bother coddling the humans) for the Maker, while the Sanctum Fal'Cie had the Cocoon genocide plan. While the Sanctum Fal'Cie only seemed to make L'Cie for the furthering of their plan, the Pulse Fal'Cie (according to the Marks), mostly made Fal'Cie to help with their duties of making the world habitable/stable (i.e., getting rid of dangerous monsters/cie'th).
Except suddenly Anima gets on board with the Cocoon plan, and gives Fang and Vanille the Ragnarok Focus. Okay. Anima is promptly absconded into Cocoon in the Vestige. Fine. Except now Pulse Fal'Cie start handing out Focus after Focus, mostly too tough, and we get a world populated with more and more Cie'th, and fewer and fewer humans. What's on the go with that? While they've never coddled humans, the impression given is that this is abnormal behaviour. What purpose does it serve?
I can accept that it's not necessary to have answers to these questions. If everyone's dead, how would the characters find out?
So fine, all the Pulse humans are dead (or living very far away).
Fang and Vanille seem alright with that.
Now, I can see them tentatively accepting that no one they know will still be alive after 500 years. There's a difference between that, and finding out that no one is still alive; especially when they reach Oerba. In fact, they have very little reaction to Oerba's pitiful state. The BGM is more distraught than they are. Oh, they're nostalgic, but they don't seem to care that everyone they loved are probably the Cie'th roaming the streets. This would have been a wonderful time for some character development, and to get the background on their first journey.
Orphan.
I still feel like I blinked and missed something. So, Orphan wasn't born until you beat Barthandalus in the cradle. So Eden has been working off potential energy? I can see that. What exactly did Barthandalus merge with to become/create Orphan? Is the female face Eden? Transforming Orphan from potential energy to realized energy didn't interrupt the power supply any? In that case, why didn't Orphan get realized earlier? Easier to kill something you actually know exists... When the party realized that the Cavalry had been turned to Cie'th and therefore were not a danger to Orphan, why did they keep going? It would have been better to have gone back and orcestrated an evacuation. Rosch had already started the process for you.
I am greatly amused that you spend the entire game trying to Save Cocoon, yet the party seems quite smug about how good a job they did destroying it once they exit crystal stasis.
Well, those were my primary issues. I bridged over most of them while actually playing. In my head, they DID spend more time with Raines, and Fang/Vanille did angst over the loss of their home. It will be interesting to see what Versus and Agito add to the mix, whenever they come out.
TL,DR; good game, needed some tweaking.