FFXIII. Spoilers? Probably not major ones.

[quatrina]

So Shannon got FFXIII a while ago and I've been watching her play it. Honestly I am not sure I'm on board here. It's very pretty, of course, as all of these games are, but it's kind of ridiculously linear. So far there's really not any exploration to be done, it's just dungeon after dungeon. Which I guess makes sense a little for a bunch of

Comments

[onewaystair]

God I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks 13 is bullshit. The battle system was eventually kinda fun once the goddamn game actually allowed you to upgrade your weapons in a way that mattered. But the fucking story and characters just make it all nigh unbearable, which is weird given that it's usually the characters that serve as the draw for these big RPGs.

Just thinking about 13 makes me want to play 12 again. It is superior in every way except for the next gen shiny. And it's extremely non-linear, if you know the right ways to abuse the system.

[quatrina]

I probably shouldn't be talking before seeing it all the way through, honestly. I'm thinking maybe it will get better, but the fact that it's taking so long to get to that point is kind of discouraging. If I was playing it on my own I don't know if I could keep my interest up. How does this seem like more of a chore than sidequests and hunts? I guess because you have to do it and you don't have the choice of going off somewhere else for a while, I dunno. But I guess I do have a bad habit of going off to screw around as long as I can before moving on with a game.

Haha this is making me want to go back to 12, but I can't find the memory card with my save on it, which is distressing. I should probably get back to Valkyrie Profile anyway, but I am having problems getting into that one as well. :D;

[onewaystair]

I guess it's different for everyone, but for me 13 never stopped being disappointing. Eventually there are sidequests, but they're all crammed into the very last stretch of the game, and some of them are silly to even attempt before the endgame (since that opens up the last levels of your crystarium). The pacing's atrocious.

There are tiny touches in the characters that were done nicely. I like Hope and Sazh completely, for instance. Fang is fun, too, if not extremely deep. But the dialogue and scenario are just so abysmally bad, and so much of the game is watching cutscenes that are by extension abysmally bad. It's a slog, one which may or may not be worth it to you based on a few crowning moments of awesome here and there.

Re: VP I seem to be alone in my lack of compunctions about using guides but I play games to have fun, not to waste 40 hours on something only to get a bad ending just because I'm worried someone might look down on me for metagaming. I say crack that shit open if you're having trouble.

[quatrina]

Haha I don't know, I just never liked using guides when playing a game for the first time but I don't mind going to them once I've done it once on my own? I might have to break that with this one, though. I crave more direction than the game itself is giving me. XD

[distorted_r]

Hmm, I found FFXIII's characters refreshing, actually, because most of them are dealing with everyday problems we deal with on top of being hunted down. Lightning is really just a town guard with the best armor upgrades who has family issues because of her parents' early deaths and having to assume a mother-role so early in life. Hope is having authority arguements with his father, like a lot of teenagers his age do and he just watched his mother die on top of it. Snow is just stupid and in love. Go figure. Sazh is faced with a the uncertainty of his child's life. Vanille and Fang are the only two who really have extraordinary issues and extraordinary power

[quatrina]

I guess that makes me a shallow bitch because I don't see that kind of stuff in the characters at all on my own. I can at least see that the female characters are better than a lot of others, but I still can't really bring myself to care much about any of them. And the fact that it takes so damn long to get to the point where it lets you DO ANYTHING is really kind of ridiculous, honestly. It just drags so much and you know you can't take a break from it at all, you just have to go on to the next checkpoint and trip over several emotional cutscenes on the way. So I don't know, maybe it will get better. All I can do is wait and see I guess.

[unimpressive]

What I've read about Final Fantasy XIII from critics is that it's a really amazing game after some twenty or twenty-five hours of bullshit. What I've heard from non-critics is mostly grousing and disappointment, probably because, not being critics, they're not obligated by their jobs to wade through that first twenty hours in order to write about the good part. But there is also this popular idea among gamers that bitching about anything and everything being the WORST GAME EVER is cool and trendy and witty, so I try to take those appraisals with a grain of salt.

From what I've read about the game I have to admit I'm pretty intrigued. There's a sort of slash-and-burn approach to RPG design that's got my attention, but mostly it's just so polarizing I have to see it for myself. Maybe I'll be doing a lot of multitasking for the first twenty hours, though.

[blumelon]

I can understand the linear complaint. It hasn't let me veer off yet, but apparently (as my older sis tells me since she's WAY further ahead) later you have a little more freedom.

And yes like woah to the cutscenes lol. I'm trying to determine if it's going to beat out Xenosaga. XD; Then again, Xenosaga was spread out into three separate games??

[quatrina]

I never played Xenosaga, but I heard that was bad about that too. :D; I can't imagine it being worse than this because omg. They are ridiculously plentiful! I am glad I'm not the one playing it so I can just not pay that much attention in the short bursts between them. XD