oh, I believe in yesterday.
I picked up Final Fantasy XIII once again, for the first time in a few weeks. I'm near the end of chapter eleven. Instead of ending that, I'm grinding and completing missions so I don't completely get my ass kicked in the next chapter.
Some notes/opinions are under the cut. Um, obviously there's going to be OMG SPOILERS.
(a) The villains in this game? Complete throwaway characters. I'm sorry, but they are! Perhaps I've been spoiled with villains in this series, because I'm used to characters with some substance to them. Kefka from FFVI. Sephiroth from FFVII. Kuja from FFIX. Hell, even the bag of douche Seymour himself had something to him! These guys are boring. I haven't played FFXII past the first hour I've gotten into the game, but the (supposed) villain seemed okay.
Final Fantasy XIII hasn't really impressed me with the villains so far. There was this female villain -- who was wearing the most ridiculous outfit ever just to show off her breasts, but I'm not even going to begin talking about the outfits in this game -- but she was supposedly killed off before we learned anything else about her other than her responsibility over Sazh's son. Then there's another guy, who stole Sephiroth's bangs, who we hadn't seen in awhile. The only major villains so far are Cid Raines and Barthandelus, and even then, something feels incomplete. Barthandelus is pretty mischievous, so I can't really dislike him since he stands as a good villain on his own, but I don't know what to make of Raines.
Overall, the villains definitely needed more development and screen time that didn't focus on the heroes and their experiences. Square-Enix, you fail with villains lately! Explain yourselves.
I'm going to cringe if they repeat this same mistake with Final Fantasy XIII Versus. Which I'm already not looking forward to, by the way, for so many reasons.
(b) My wife Sev (sleepscribbles) and I came to the drastic conclusion that Hope is a little lame as a main character. He's okay now, but boy, did I hate him. So, we decided that the game would've been very interesting if Hope's mother Nora lost Hope instead of it being the other way around. Think about it. Normal, every day housewife with a tough streak wants to avenge her son's death by directly going after what started the Purge in the first place, but she gets branded herself and therefore gets dragged into the plot.
(c) Dude, Serah's appearance in chapter eleven disappointed me. Not because of the fact that she was there, but for the fact that it wasn't her. I wanted it to be her! I wanted Serah to randomly turn evil on them! She gets painted as this dull, sweet damsel in distress character from beginning to the present time in the game, that I kept wanting to see something done with her. I wouldn't exactly want her evil, but I would've loved to see her become the puppet of Barthadelus' plot instead of Raines, who is SUCH A BORING VILLAIN. Plus, sibling conflict! Which I'm always up for in any narratives.
(d) Aww, Lightning's name is Claire? I like that name.
(e) Um, FANG/VANILLE MUCH? What's their story? Are they friends, siblings, lovers...what's their relationship? It bugs me because I want to know why they're so close to each other! And I want to know more of their story before they turned to crystal!
Some notes/opinions are under the cut. Um, obviously there's going to be OMG SPOILERS.
(a) The villains in this game? Complete throwaway characters. I'm sorry, but they are! Perhaps I've been spoiled with villains in this series, because I'm used to characters with some substance to them. Kefka from FFVI. Sephiroth from FFVII. Kuja from FFIX. Hell, even the bag of douche Seymour himself had something to him! These guys are boring. I haven't played FFXII past the first hour I've gotten into the game, but the (supposed) villain seemed okay.
Final Fantasy XIII hasn't really impressed me with the villains so far. There was this female villain -- who was wearing the most ridiculous outfit ever just to show off her breasts, but I'm not even going to begin talking about the outfits in this game -- but she was supposedly killed off before we learned anything else about her other than her responsibility over Sazh's son. Then there's another guy, who stole Sephiroth's bangs, who we hadn't seen in awhile. The only major villains so far are Cid Raines and Barthandelus, and even then, something feels incomplete. Barthandelus is pretty mischievous, so I can't really dislike him since he stands as a good villain on his own, but I don't know what to make of Raines.
Overall, the villains definitely needed more development and screen time that didn't focus on the heroes and their experiences. Square-Enix, you fail with villains lately! Explain yourselves.
I'm going to cringe if they repeat this same mistake with Final Fantasy XIII Versus. Which I'm already not looking forward to, by the way, for so many reasons.
(b) My wife Sev (sleepscribbles) and I came to the drastic conclusion that Hope is a little lame as a main character. He's okay now, but boy, did I hate him. So, we decided that the game would've been very interesting if Hope's mother Nora lost Hope instead of it being the other way around. Think about it. Normal, every day housewife with a tough streak wants to avenge her son's death by directly going after what started the Purge in the first place, but she gets branded herself and therefore gets dragged into the plot.
(c) Dude, Serah's appearance in chapter eleven disappointed me. Not because of the fact that she was there, but for the fact that it wasn't her. I wanted it to be her! I wanted Serah to randomly turn evil on them! She gets painted as this dull, sweet damsel in distress character from beginning to the present time in the game, that I kept wanting to see something done with her. I wouldn't exactly want her evil, but I would've loved to see her become the puppet of Barthadelus' plot instead of Raines, who is SUCH A BORING VILLAIN. Plus, sibling conflict! Which I'm always up for in any narratives.
(d) Aww, Lightning's name is Claire? I like that name.
(e) Um, FANG/VANILLE MUCH? What's their story? Are they friends, siblings, lovers...what's their relationship? It bugs me because I want to know why they're so close to each other! And I want to know more of their story before they turned to crystal!