Final Fantasy 13 rant

[snowflame]

And while I'm randomly updating LJ and not feeling sleepy... I think darthhowie is the only one of my friends who actually played FF13? Unsure. Well, I wrote this up already for a forum post, and I'd like to log it away for my personal reference anyway, so. This is pretty much written assuming you've played FF13. I'm in the final dungeon right now,

Comments

[tenken]

I'm playing it right now, actually, so I'll have to postpone this for a while because I'm currently in the thick of chapter 9. The game is kind of walking the edge of the knife for me, because there's not actually a lot I dislike so far (in fact, there are some things I think have been well done), but I can see where, if it tips too far one way or the other, or if questions that have not been answered are answered in a very stupid way, it would color my impression of the whole game badly, retroactively.

I'm waiting to get to Gran Pulse so I can run around and really start upgrading items and customizing my party. I guess that's just the RPG player in me.

On the upside, I'm surprised at how little I've been exposed to "spoilers" in this game (the main one is just me reading about how the game opens up when you go to Gran Pulse, thus knowing that at some point, you manage to get off Cocoon - but it would've been hard to miss that spoiler unless I tried not to read anything about the game at all). I also don't get why people said the plot was hard to understand. Tales of Symphonia and Abyss, and the legendary Xenosaga, all featured as much or more "technobabble" than this game does, and anyone who just pages through the datalog every once in a while should be able to easily keep things straight. There are things that detractors have said about the game that I agree with, but the things they said that I disagree with largely seem to be of the "were you just looking for something to harp on because this is a JRPG?" type

[snowflame]

Your assessment of the game is pretty much the same as mine as of Chapter 9. I like Chapter 1-9 well enough, for all that the overarching plot was largely "run the hell away" - it fit with the setting, and "run away" is actually more interesting than "do a bunch of fetch quests" in many ways. That said there are/were definitely some mysteries that need 'splainin, and I'm still waiting on some very notable ones as of the final dungeon.

Without spoiling Chapters 10-12, my biggest complaint isn't plot holes; it's just, for lack of a better term, bad plot. Plot holes are fine (Chrono Trigger has a bunch but who cares), but the narrative arc clashes with the theoretical themes (and potential themes) of the game, and I don't think this is intentional. (Vague, but perhaps you'll see what I mean later.)

Pulse is the place to finally start doing upgrades, it seems. If you haven't already been told, the Secret of Upgrading is to use all "organic" items first to get an x3 bonus, then dump a bunch of "tech" items in for a huge XP boost, then knock it back up to an x3 bonus with organics again, repeat until maxed. If you got the Entite Ring, I'd recommend maxing that ( goes from 10% elemental resist all to 25% elemental resist all, which is noticeable), and shortly into Pulse you'll be able to buy +100 to a stat items, and those can be maxed to +180 to a stat items fairly cheaply.

As for plot incomprehensibility, I have no problem with reading the datalogs to get extra background that it doesn't make sense for the characters to discuss outright. So yeah, I'm with you there. I also agree that many of the complaints about FF13 don't resonate at all. Few sidequests? If they don't make sense, then whatever. Linear hallway simulator? It's too bad they couldn't render more, yes, but ultimately most of the choice in exploring dungeons is illusory anyway. Too auto-battley? Eh, I find paradigm shifting interesting enough as a way of controlling your allies, and the art of entering in "hurt the most" command sets isn't something I overly miss.