After much frustration...
...finally beat FFXIII.
Okay, this game has some serious flaws. I have all the same problems as everyone else with the battle system, the pacing, the way important plot details are left vague or not really adressed, Vanille's voice, Dysley's fucking awful hat... but I liked it enough to keep going, and more importantly, I identified with and loved all the playable characters. Even freaking Snowe.
I've loved "fighting for a world that fears and hates them" type stories forever, and this game did it really well (before Gran Pulse, anyway - more on that in a second.) And I must admit, despite how frustrating it was not to get a complete party until more that halfway through the game, narratively, splitting up the party like that worked really well. Everyone got to showcase their motivations and deal with their emotions in a way that felt natural, and without four or five other characters standing around doing nothing the whole time. The Vanille-Sazh storyline in particular was amazingly moving.
Then the storyline pretty much lost all momentum on Gran Pulse. Without other characters to interact with or react to, the only things moving character arcs along were the Eidolons, and Hope and Vanille's scenes both felt forced. I wish Squeenix had thrown in a few last desperate remnants of human life on Pulse or something just to spice things up.
Then back to Cocoon! I was surprised to see NORA again. I really thought they had all died.
Final battle - Dysley was always a bad villain. But the REAL villain of the story was the characters' despair (hah that sounds pretentious.) So I appreciated the scene where Fang gives in and becomes Ragnarok, I thought that was important to show. Uh, plus Fangnarok was killer hot.
Aaaaand happy ending. Which - well, I was satisfied with it. Maybe it was a little too miraculous, but I don't care, because I couldn't have handled Serah and Dajh not coming back, or Fang and Vanille not getting some hope of doing so too.
OKAY, ON TO FANG AND VANILLE.
One of the major reasons I bought FFXIII, despite hearing about all the problems people had with it, was the news that there were pretty much canon lesbians in it. AND IT WAS TRUE.
Fang and Vanille are my favourite thing about this game. Even without romance taken into account, they are just great characters, with a really cool backstory. Sure, Vanille would have been way easier to like with a different voice, but I liked her anyway. And obviously Fang is my hella fave.
And as a couple? They're everything I loved about Paine/Rikku, plus instead of being annoyed by Vanille Fang worships the ground she walks on. They have this incredible epic passionate love story spanning more than a hundred years, which I can pretty much make up completely due to lack of in-game information. Hell, I'm taking Fang's statement about a new family as a marriage proposal. So yeah. WHOOOO.
SUMMARY
Favourite Playable Character Ranking: Fang > Sazh and Vanille > Light > Hope > Snowe (but I liked them all)
Non-Playable Characters I Gave a Shit About: Serah, Dajh, NORA, Baby Chocobo
Characters Who I Was Apparently Supposed to Give a Shit About, but Couldn't: Cid, those other guys whose names I can't even remember
Best Couples: FANG/VANILLEx1000000000, Lightning/Hope (but only when he's a little older, and she has to top), Snowe/Serah is pretty good, those two guys from NORA
Pretty Much the Best Part: When Lighting punched Snowe twice
Stupid But Awesome Fight Scenes Factor: OFF THE CHARTS
Score: It was actually pretty good? I dunno
I don't know who I would recommend this game to. People who can put up with a lot of frustration for enjoyable characters, some of whom are lesbians?
Okay, this game has some serious flaws. I have all the same problems as everyone else with the battle system, the pacing, the way important plot details are left vague or not really adressed, Vanille's voice, Dysley's fucking awful hat... but I liked it enough to keep going, and more importantly, I identified with and loved all the playable characters. Even freaking Snowe.
I've loved "fighting for a world that fears and hates them" type stories forever, and this game did it really well (before Gran Pulse, anyway - more on that in a second.) And I must admit, despite how frustrating it was not to get a complete party until more that halfway through the game, narratively, splitting up the party like that worked really well. Everyone got to showcase their motivations and deal with their emotions in a way that felt natural, and without four or five other characters standing around doing nothing the whole time. The Vanille-Sazh storyline in particular was amazingly moving.
Then the storyline pretty much lost all momentum on Gran Pulse. Without other characters to interact with or react to, the only things moving character arcs along were the Eidolons, and Hope and Vanille's scenes both felt forced. I wish Squeenix had thrown in a few last desperate remnants of human life on Pulse or something just to spice things up.
Then back to Cocoon! I was surprised to see NORA again. I really thought they had all died.
Final battle - Dysley was always a bad villain. But the REAL villain of the story was the characters' despair (hah that sounds pretentious.) So I appreciated the scene where Fang gives in and becomes Ragnarok, I thought that was important to show. Uh, plus Fangnarok was killer hot.
Aaaaand happy ending. Which - well, I was satisfied with it. Maybe it was a little too miraculous, but I don't care, because I couldn't have handled Serah and Dajh not coming back, or Fang and Vanille not getting some hope of doing so too.
OKAY, ON TO FANG AND VANILLE.
One of the major reasons I bought FFXIII, despite hearing about all the problems people had with it, was the news that there were pretty much canon lesbians in it. AND IT WAS TRUE.
Fang and Vanille are my favourite thing about this game. Even without romance taken into account, they are just great characters, with a really cool backstory. Sure, Vanille would have been way easier to like with a different voice, but I liked her anyway. And obviously Fang is my hella fave.
And as a couple? They're everything I loved about Paine/Rikku, plus instead of being annoyed by Vanille Fang worships the ground she walks on. They have this incredible epic passionate love story spanning more than a hundred years, which I can pretty much make up completely due to lack of in-game information. Hell, I'm taking Fang's statement about a new family as a marriage proposal. So yeah. WHOOOO.
SUMMARY
Favourite Playable Character Ranking: Fang > Sazh and Vanille > Light > Hope > Snowe (but I liked them all)
Non-Playable Characters I Gave a Shit About: Serah, Dajh, NORA, Baby Chocobo
Characters Who I Was Apparently Supposed to Give a Shit About, but Couldn't: Cid, those other guys whose names I can't even remember
Best Couples: FANG/VANILLEx1000000000, Lightning/Hope (but only when he's a little older, and she has to top), Snowe/Serah is pretty good, those two guys from NORA
Pretty Much the Best Part: When Lighting punched Snowe twice
Stupid But Awesome Fight Scenes Factor: OFF THE CHARTS
Score: It was actually pretty good? I dunno
I don't know who I would recommend this game to. People who can put up with a lot of frustration for enjoyable characters, some of whom are lesbians?