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FINAL FANTASY Community Thread: XV Mainline Entries and Counting
- Thread starter Kagari
- Start date
Please,
Melia doesn't hook up with Shulk at the end because those events on the Fallen Arm made her realize that the manliest of all is DUNBAN.
I think the AI is kinda bad with Sharla, too.
Sharla trophy in U Smash is gonna be so disappointing without the enhancements provided by the 2ndary physics engine.
Took a break from Tactics but I've got all my set jobs and I've just picked up Agrias and Ovelia as guests. The game's been a breeze since I'm overleveled.
Heh. I wonder who will make it in from Xenoblade? probs Shulk but I'm kind of hoping for Reyn.
Anyway gonna start back up my save and finally finish the game. Right now I've got a little bit of a ship going with Reyn and Sharla. I hope something actually happens between them. =D I can't remember where I last left off.
Heh. I wonder who will make it in from Xenoblade? probs Shulk but I'm kind of hoping for Reyn.
Anyway gonna start back up my save and finally finish the game. Right now I've got a little bit of a ship going with Reyn and Sharla. I hope something actually happens between them. =D I can't remember where I last left off.
I just wanna chime in here and say; speaking as a 7 year FFXI veteran, Altana is also completely selfish and a major drama queen. See her attachment and refusal to allow Promathia to die as well as the entire Wings of the Goddess expansion storyline, which is an entire rant onto itself. The excuse of "A Goddess did it" is just used so a story can get the ball rolling or a creation myth, see Legend of Zelda OoT or Skyward Sword where they developed the myth further. When you actually start diving into the personal drama of Gods I often find that its boring and reduces the impact of having Gods in the story altogether or greatly reduces them as powerful heroes.
Also Thanks to CorvoSol and CrimsonCrescendo for making such interesting posts as opposed to the usual back and 'forth bickering that this fandom has devolved into.
You say the worst stuff, Noi. The worst. Next you're gonna tell me that I don't get Mewtwo back.
I think sometimes having a God as a character in a storyline can work just fine. I know that some will say that
Xenoblade
Zanza and Meyneth
What I despise is this business that Square does where they make these pretty blonde, white Goddesses who are the epitome of goodness and kindness and the victim of the big, scary God, when in fact it is really the other way around.
The following comes as an apology to Magius, since he's read this rant from me a LOT.
You know who the real villain of Dissidia is? It isn't Chaos. Chaos is the victim. The real villain is Cosmos. Cosmos is one of the most evil beings in the entire franchise, and here's why.
1) Cosmos is negligent. Cosmos gathers these warriors, right, tells them the fate of the universe hangs on their victories, and tasks them with retrieving the crystals. Great, right? WRONG. She didn't ever bother to mention a very crucial detail: how in the Hell the Warriors are meant to obtain the crystals in the first place. She just ditches them after that and is all "#YOLT". It's so bad that if it wasn't for the guidance of their mortal foes, the Warriors of Cosmos would NEVER have gotten their crystals. Especially Golbez. If Golbez hadn't been masterminding the entire operation to rescue the Cosmos Warriors, since at least the twelfth cycle, no one would have gone home. 012 proves this most simply by pointing out that, until Golbez' master plan comes into play in the 013th cycle, the Warriors are dying like dogs. For crying out loud when Ultimecia can use a paper thin disguise to impersonate you and guide your warrior to his crystal successfully, you know you have fucked up as a paragon of virtue.
2) Everything is Cosmos' fault. Shinryu is an asshole for profiting from all of this and masterminding the whole cycle, sure, but then again, since Shinryu is a being more powerful than the Gods and is also locked in an eternal struggle with the mechanical personification of the End of the Universe, I think maybe his motives are a little more complex. Sure, Cid Lufaine screwed up big time by striking a deal with the guy, and he owns up to his failings. You know who doesn't? COSMOS. Because everything that happens hinges upon her. Cid's entire master plan is to take Chaos and make him into the ultimate force of destruction through the cycles. The plan breaks down, though, when Cid cannot persuade Chaos to do it. I mean, who really could? Cosmos resembles Chaos' mother, was possibly his lover, and the woman that his future-human self would also fall in love with. He could not fight her. Along comes Garland through a fluke of time, and though Garland IS Chaos and knows his mind better than anyone else, he can't get him to fight. Probably because just as Cosmos resembles Chaos' mother, she also bears a striking resemblance to Sarah, who Garland probably loved. No one, not even Shinryu could make Chaos fight Cosmos.
Then, with no reason at all, Cosmos summons warriors and attacks Chaos. Maybe she betrayed him for Cid Lufaine. Maybe she thought she was helping. Who knows? The point is that Cosmos does the worst possible thing. She doesn't attack Chaos, she TEARS PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR OWN REALITIES and forces them into eternal slavery for motives she never explains, not even 13 cycles down the road. It's entirely Cosmos' fault, then, that people are forced to fight in the war.
3) Cosmos is abusive. Consider the men in Cosmos life, shall we? The first is Cid Lufaine, who is in part her father, but who likely could not avoid the fact that she was a clone of his wife. Cid originally was taken with madness and a lust for revenge, but in the end, we see that he throws all of that away, and for what, or rather, what makes him change his mind? It is not his sons, not Chaos, whom he once loved, nor the Warrior, who was made in his image, no, nor is it simple revulsion at the Divine Dragon's deceit. It's Cosmos, and her sudden change of heart (caused by Golbez) regarding the war. And so Cid, when everything is over, has thrown away his body, his sons, his partnership with Shinryu, all to make her happy, and what does she do? She tells him to fuck off. That alone may not be enough, but let's look at the next, shall we? Chaos was somewhere between her brother and her lover, and he could not do anything to hurt her. She summons warriors and attacks him, and the hurt from that is enough that it drives him insane, and causes him so much pain that until the Warrior of Light ends the 2000 year Cycle, he isn't free. So much pain that in a world without the Warrior, where Golbez' plan fails, Chaos goes on a rampage so horrifying that he devours Shinryu. All caused, again, by a woman who was somewhere between his sister, mother, and lover. To Garland she does very little, because Garland is a karma Houdini who never really faces punishment for anything he does. The Warrior, though, the Warrior gets it perhaps worst. Cosmos is one of the few people who knows him, and, as the clone of the husband of the woman from whom she is cloned, the two are almost naturally close. The Warrior proves this closeness by defending her frequently from every harm. She never tells him anything. She doesn't tell him the things she doesn't tell the other warriors. She doesn't tell him how many times he's died for her, she doesn't even tell him his NAME. The Warrior doesn't know his own name, and Cosmos withholds this from him. She uses his love of her for entirely selfish reasons, playing the constant, defenseless victim sitting on her throne while the Warrior dies again and again and again. At the end of the 12th cycle she lets the Manikin Hordes beat him into a bloody pulp and does nothing until they pose an immediate threat to HER. Have I now also proven to you that Cosmos is lazy as hell?
3)Cosmos is a liar. She'll tell you she's powerless, and that her life is tied to the world's, and necessary for the crystal, but the truth is that none of these things are true. As I just said, Cosmos blows an entire Manikin horde to bits. She's certainly powerful enough to participate in battle in Theatrhythm, too. When Cosmos dies, the world remains, though the Warriors she summons fade for a moment. She isn't even necessary for the Crystals, since the Emperor made Dark Crystals of his own on the side. So not only does Cosmos not tell the Warriors anything important, what she does tell them is lies. Especially about the cycle. Defeating Chaos doesn't free them. It traps them in another cycle, and Shinryu eats their EXP. They were never to be freed, and had it not been for Golbez' plans and Cid's betrayal of Shinryu, they never would have left.
Mind you, Cosmos is never punished for this shit, and the only person who ever calls her out on anything is Lightning, who according to Toriyama, would only have needed Cosmos to fuck her once to be her bitch forever after.
This is the nature of Goddesses in Final Fantasy. Cosmos is negligent and abusive. The Triad in VI are locked in perpetual war. Minerva is a capricious bitch who, rather than revive people who actually died to save her planet's life (Zack, Aerith) goes and revives one who put the world in danger because he paid her frequent lipservice (Genesis) [Thank goodness Crisis Core at least let's you beat the stuffing out of Minerva.] Altena is apparently a jerk, Ultima is Ultima, and I think we can all agree that Etro frankly deserves to have Pulse and Lindzei kick her gate in and murder her to bits and pieces.
I'm not saying all Gods in FF are great by contrast. Yu Yevon, Creator, Gerun, Venat and Mateus all suggest that's not the case, but guys like Chaos come off as sympathetic, especially compared to the likes of Cosmos.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Gods are dicks. And this is true in so far every iteration of the FNC mythos. No joke.
Also Cosmos is a shitty goddess.
Also Cosmos is a shitty goddess.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
Fun fact about Dissidia: Daisuke Watanabe was the Main Scenario Writer and Motomu Toriyama was the Scenario Supervisor. Probably why Cosmos is equally, if not even more terrible, than Etro.
And is it true that the creators really said "it's only canon if you want it to be"?
And is it true that the creators really said "it's only canon if you want it to be"?
Meccanical
Member
Oh what fresh hell is this? BUT FINAL FANTASY VII DOESN'T HAVE GODDESSES!!!! Its purposefully set in a modern setting with science and stuff specifically to avoid Goddesses and Castles and such. garbodmyahkltlhlytujinzsverbpqpyesor
My life was better having not known about that detail from Crisis Core, also the quote at the beginning of the Minerva FF wiki page is vomit inducingly awful and lay off Venat that guy had the right idea.
Meccanical
Member
Personally I only accept parts of Crisis Core as canon.
Like...only 5% of it.
Like...only 5% of it.
Probably not thread worthy, but important nonetheless:
The FF Type-0 fan translation patch has come to a temporarily halt as translators are missing.
If anyone of you speaks japanese, or knows someone who does AND is fluent in english and wants to help to get this project done, please consider doing so. Biggest chunk has already been done and only most of the main plot is left. For more info:
http://skybladecloud.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/alright-so-now-we-need-help-translating-type-0/
It's one big file that needs to be translated. One doesn't need to do all, just parts would be enough.
The FF Type-0 fan translation patch has come to a temporarily halt as translators are missing.
If anyone of you speaks japanese, or knows someone who does AND is fluent in english and wants to help to get this project done, please consider doing so. Biggest chunk has already been done and only most of the main plot is left. For more info:
http://skybladecloud.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/alright-so-now-we-need-help-translating-type-0/
It's one big file that needs to be translated. One doesn't need to do all, just parts would be enough.
Pulse doesn't seem half bad. Least aways, his servants have been pretty nice,
what with them cutting Class Zero a break and ending the war for their sakes.
Venat wanted to rule in Gerun's stead and set up a Dynast King of his own. There was no indication whatsoever, save his word, the word of your foe, that he would return history to man's hands. What he was doing was indistinguishable from what Gerun had done.
The actual God of Ivalice, Faram, seems pretty nice, though, since he does just let humanity live their lives, and has only stepped up to
revive Marach and make Reis sexy again.
Oh and yeah, Minerva is a thing and nobody is happy with Nomura about her or Genesis.
That 5% being Zack and Aerith's relationship, Sephiroth's sense of humor, Cissnei, and that amazing ending.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. I wish I spoke Japanese so I could help with these things.
Red Mage
Member
At this point, accept that XIII is the Twilight Saga of the FF series, and stop trying to make sense of it. You'll lose brain cells if you keep trying.
Meccanical
Member
I feel that, for all XIII-2's faults, Caius was still a better villain than Twilight's Valerie or whatever the red headed vampire was named.
I dunno, man, that final battle, with
the DMW breaking down and the horde of grunts standing their, fists raised and jeering, and Zack having to basically throw the fight cuz my Materia set up was so hilariously broken,
especially the true ending.
hipsterpants
Member
Hey guys, I just got approved a few days ago and was debating where I should make it my first post. Since I've become a pretty huge FF fan over the past few years, I decided to do it here. This summer I actually beat all the FFs I had started but stopped at right before the end (FFVI, FFVIII, FFXIII, and FFXIII-2).
FFVIII was definitely my favorite of the bunch, which is pretty funny because I'm pretty sure I despised it back when I played it (though that was right after playing VII and IX for the first time). The game just seems really ambitious and held back by the PS1 hardware. Makes me wonder what people would think of the story had the characters actually been able to express emotion on their faces.
FFVIII was definitely my favorite of the bunch, which is pretty funny because I'm pretty sure I despised it back when I played it (though that was right after playing VII and IX for the first time). The game just seems really ambitious and held back by the PS1 hardware. Makes me wonder what people would think of the story had the characters actually been able to express emotion on their faces.
Finally beat FE and I'm now debating between beating Xenoblade or tactics 2.
I already like you.
Welcome!
I already like you.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
Welcome.
8 is good, especially when we have chump change like XIII nowadays. Anyway, welcome to the Jungle.
Welcome! And VIII is my favorite too, haters be damned.
holdthephone
Neo Member
New here as well!
VIII was a very cool game. I actually wrote a small essay on it just recently for an indie publication. Not sure if linking to other sites would look good as a new user though, heh.
XIII gets most of the flak these days. Although, I'm curious -- are there any other XIII fans here? Most boards I browse it's hard to get a positive word in without permanently damaging your reputation.
VIII was a very cool game. I actually wrote a small essay on it just recently for an indie publication. Not sure if linking to other sites would look good as a new user though, heh.
XIII gets most of the flak these days. Although, I'm curious -- are there any other XIII fans here? Most boards I browse it's hard to get a positive word in without permanently damaging your reputation.
1) VIII is fine, although it is still kinda weird for stuff like not having treasure chests, but most people nowadays have moved on to pointing righteous fury at XIII. Read the last two pages to see why.
2)No. The rule of thumb for Square and shows since like, 2007 has been to never ever get excited about anything. This was reaffirmed in 2011 when it became apparent they weren't gonna give us Type-0.
Never Please Be Excited Ever.
Oh, that's very cool! How do you write about video games exactly? Besides your average review and news article, that is.
As for XIII, the situation has escalated since the introduction of its unexpected sequels. In retrospect, I quite like the direction that XIII had taken--can't say I'm a fan, though, sorry!--but the existence of XIII-2 and LR boggles my mind to this day. They're very different from the first game.
Yes, I've had the great honour of reading some of the discussions in this community thread (and around GAF), thank you.
Since the XIII saga has been in the spotlight for all of these years, I can understand why people continue to give the game a lot of stick.
And thanks for your answer, I shall temper my anticipation with a dose of realism. I still feel awfully excited about next year, though!
Ganon Dragmire
Member
I'm a fan of XIII. There are fans as well as those whom hate the game here and everywhere. I've noticed that the fans don't come to this Community thread in particular. Sadly the lovers can be as bad as the haters. Either way love the game you love and good luck here.
Yup, didn't mind the original XIII too much either. It's not a perfect game, but it's not like any FF is perfect.
It's mostly everything that came after the fact that's effectively ruined that mythos/series for me, with the last 3/4 of XIII-2/LR being a thing that's the rotten cherry on top.
It's mostly everything that came after the fact that's effectively ruined that mythos/series for me, with the last 3/4 of XIII-2/LR being a thing that's the rotten cherry on top.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
I liked XIII well enough. Wasn't the best thing I've played, wasn't the worst thing I've played. It was rather flawed and had falty execution, in my opinion, but it had a certain charm to it that kept me putting the disc back into the tray. I liked Lightning, thought the visuals were gorgeous, loved the art direction, found the voice acting to be above par, appreciated the polish, and enjoyed the OST. The story was also serviceable up to around Chapter 9 (after that it fell the hell apart).
XIII-2? *sigh* without waxing hyperbole, I'll just say I didn't like it. Plot points were completely dropped, the main cast from XIII was almost completely dropped, some characters had personality changes, characterization was messed up, any grounding that XIII had was thrown out the window, crap was pulled in from left field, and it's tone oscillated wildly between overly goofy and uncomfortably serious (as opposed to XIII's constant serious tone). The story was complete crap in my book. The voice acting also took a nose dive. Beyond that, the level design, while more open, was so overly cut and pasted (one area used as many as 4 times with little to no changes at all) and disjointed that it arguably wasn't an improvement; the difficulty was hilariously nerfed; the battle system was less strategic and arguably worse with the removal of moves, Eidolons, and the nerfing of all the classes sans Commando and Ravager; and the list goes on.
As per LR, honestly, I've just stopped caring at this point. It seems so far removed at this point that it may as well not be connected to XIII.
XIII-2? *sigh* without waxing hyperbole, I'll just say I didn't like it. Plot points were completely dropped, the main cast from XIII was almost completely dropped, some characters had personality changes, characterization was messed up, any grounding that XIII had was thrown out the window, crap was pulled in from left field, and it's tone oscillated wildly between overly goofy and uncomfortably serious (as opposed to XIII's constant serious tone). The story was complete crap in my book. The voice acting also took a nose dive. Beyond that, the level design, while more open, was so overly cut and pasted (one area used as many as 4 times with little to no changes at all) and disjointed that it arguably wasn't an improvement; the difficulty was hilariously nerfed; the battle system was less strategic and arguably worse with the removal of moves, Eidolons, and the nerfing of all the classes sans Commando and Ravager; and the list goes on.
As per LR, honestly, I've just stopped caring at this point. It seems so far removed at this point that it may as well not be connected to XIII.
Meccanical
Member
I hate the fuck out of XIII.
Ganon Dragmire
Member
Haha you can almost hear the record screech. But it's cool.I hate the fuck out of XIII.
holdthephone
Neo Member
Nice to see some well stated opinions on the game, whether you liked it or not. Personally, it's pretty up there on my list of RPGs. Outside of the sloppier early segments (Sunleth Waterscape, Junkyard, etc...) and the Vanille monologues (Toriyama used the device much more convincingly with Tidus in FFX), I thought the game was pretty novel and absurdly well produced. Some of the best boss encounters I've ever experiences as well.
XIII-2 was a noticeable step down, but like with X-2, I tried not to take it seriously. On its own merits, it's a fun little game, and LR looks like an entertaining fling as well.
In this case, just an analysis of the game's underlying theme. Namely how it embraces the genre's bizarre form of escapism, and then uses it to bring the player to some kind of clarity. Maybe it's little far fetched, but that's honestly how FFVIII hit me.
XIII-2 was a noticeable step down, but like with X-2, I tried not to take it seriously. On its own merits, it's a fun little game, and LR looks like an entertaining fling as well.
In this case, just an analysis of the game's underlying theme. Namely how it embraces the genre's bizarre form of escapism, and then uses it to bring the player to some kind of clarity. Maybe it's little far fetched, but that's honestly how FFVIII hit me.
I hate the fuck out of XIII.
Nothing good comes out of entries ending with III.
Any of them.
(Is XIII the most hated game of all time? i think it is)
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
Sonic 06 and Shadow the Hedgehog take that crown. Because fuck those games.
XIII doesn't even chart on the hate scales compared to games like DmC as well.
holdthephone
Neo Member
The XII hate was nearly universal when it was released. But those wounds seemed to have healed over the years. That game was the shit.
I should actually also state I do not think XIII was a well made game, like, at all. It seems readily apparent to me that what we got was a very bare version of what the final product could have been. I read once that they didn't even know how the game would look and play until they released the demo. I think something pretty messed up was going on during its development, and it shows. Character development is very linear, as are maps, the tutorials are poorly implemented and overabundant, far too much is placed into the datalogs, and the story basically falls apart once you hit Gran Pulse (note that the game play clicks on Gran Pulse, though.)
By this last point I mean it seemed rather rushed and this point tends to be where people can find the most obvious flaws in the writing: Hope's sudden character reset for the sake of getting his Eidolon, his suddenly knowing they need to go to Oerba, there being nothing in Oerba (making the entire trip a waste), the sudden reintroduction and offscreen exit of Cid Raines, and the Cavalry, and Yaag Rosch, and then of course, the entire question of the necessity to take out Barthandelus and of course the great series of Deus Ex at the game's ending.
So I don't think XIII was very polsihed, well made, or special in any big way, as it were. It's not shitty in the way, say, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 is shitty (NOTE: Sonic 2K6's story is better than XIII-2's, but then, the story of how I had to plunge the toilet this morning is better than XIII-2's ending.), but it certainly doesn't measure up to the terms well made or polished in my book.
That said, I do have a certain fondness for XIII. I enjoy the entire Gran Pulse segment, if not in writing then in atmosphere. I enjoy the battle system, although lack of control over the whole party, incapacity to even switch between party leaders in fight, and autobattle are all gripes I had with it. I love the music in the game, I really do. I appreciate that amongst the PCs, none of the women are dressed in a revealing manner. Really, that none of them show copious amounts of cleavage, and showing leg is the worst it gets made me appreciate their designs quite a bit. Especially Lightning and Fang. Lightning, Fang, and Sazh were also the only members of the PCs that I really enjoyed, although I confess I actually liked Vanille's interactions with Sazh a lot.
The first XIII game isn't bad, but the fact of it is, part of me likes parts of it. I hate Snow, Hope, and Team NORA, but when I get passed that, there's still fun for me to have, and good memories amongst the bad, probably because XIII was a game I really wanted to play and I went into it blind, having been on a total blackout for 2 years.
So in exchange, I really don't like XIII-2 and LR nearly as much because they've done nothing but shit on the happy memories I had of XIII. Hell, XIII-2 could've been saved if not for that ending, which is the single worst ending in the entire series (not the worst in all of Square, though, since I did play The Third Birthday.)
By this last point I mean it seemed rather rushed and this point tends to be where people can find the most obvious flaws in the writing: Hope's sudden character reset for the sake of getting his Eidolon, his suddenly knowing they need to go to Oerba, there being nothing in Oerba (making the entire trip a waste), the sudden reintroduction and offscreen exit of Cid Raines, and the Cavalry, and Yaag Rosch, and then of course, the entire question of the necessity to take out Barthandelus and of course the great series of Deus Ex at the game's ending.
So I don't think XIII was very polsihed, well made, or special in any big way, as it were. It's not shitty in the way, say, Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 is shitty (NOTE: Sonic 2K6's story is better than XIII-2's, but then, the story of how I had to plunge the toilet this morning is better than XIII-2's ending.), but it certainly doesn't measure up to the terms well made or polished in my book.
That said, I do have a certain fondness for XIII. I enjoy the entire Gran Pulse segment, if not in writing then in atmosphere. I enjoy the battle system, although lack of control over the whole party, incapacity to even switch between party leaders in fight, and autobattle are all gripes I had with it. I love the music in the game, I really do. I appreciate that amongst the PCs, none of the women are dressed in a revealing manner. Really, that none of them show copious amounts of cleavage, and showing leg is the worst it gets made me appreciate their designs quite a bit. Especially Lightning and Fang. Lightning, Fang, and Sazh were also the only members of the PCs that I really enjoyed, although I confess I actually liked Vanille's interactions with Sazh a lot.
The first XIII game isn't bad, but the fact of it is, part of me likes parts of it. I hate Snow, Hope, and Team NORA, but when I get passed that, there's still fun for me to have, and good memories amongst the bad, probably because XIII was a game I really wanted to play and I went into it blind, having been on a total blackout for 2 years.
So in exchange, I really don't like XIII-2 and LR nearly as much because they've done nothing but shit on the happy memories I had of XIII. Hell, XIII-2 could've been saved if not for that ending, which is the single worst ending in the entire series (not the worst in all of Square, though, since I did play The Third Birthday.)
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
XIII is like the Chinese ripoff of Atlus's Digital Devil Saga.
Now let's discuss something that isn't XIII. The more we not talk about it the more I can believe it is nonexistent.
Now let's discuss something that isn't XIII. The more we not talk about it the more I can believe it is nonexistent.
holdthephone
Neo Member
There's nothing inherently wrong with linear game design, though unfortunately, that does seem to be the trending opinion. XIII had its pacing issues but it benefited from its own philosophy far more than it suffered. The game is quite literally about treading a path that was already decided for you, so it never really made sense for it to be designed in a different manner. Branching paths would indeed be against the idea of its own theme, even within the Crystarium. Hell, I thought the Crystarium wasn't even necessary, but they just added it as a comfort feature for RPG players.
As a matter of preference everyone will feel differently about linearity (especially having been accustomed to the series offering more freedom), of course, but at no point in this particular game did I feel like it implied an openness it didn't deliver. It was all quite deliberate.
Never read the datalogs, personally. The nature of XIII's world was pretty well established in the actual environments you passed through. In fact, I was mildly annoyed that they explained everything a tad too much through dialogue. Once you hit the Ark, the encounter with Cid lays out the entire situation fairly clearly. There's always some ambiguity when the god card is played in a narrative, but ultimately, FFXIII is a pretty straightforward tale about the strength of the human spirit and all that cheese.
And yeah, tutorials. I've expressed distaste in the early segments. Two person parties just didn't dish out damage fast enough to remain engaging, so the decision to give you so many beefy creatures to cut through was rather grating. Sunleth and Junkyard being the worst offenders.
That was awkward to me as well, since I thought his confrontation with Snow would have been perfect for an Eidolon awakening.
holdthephone
Neo Member
There is a problem with linearity, I would argue, in a game of XIII's type. The game shows to you massive and beautiful locations you cannot explore. Compared to its immediate predecessor, Final Fantasy XII, this was very bad. Every Final Fantasy requires you go on a quest and race against time, but even as Meteor was about to destroy the planet, Cloud could go where he wanted and breed and race Chocobos to his heart's content.
What's worse is you could not back track until the very end of the game. No revisiting Sunleth, no revisiting Bhodum, nothing of that sort. There's good reason to rag on an RPG in the Final Fantasy series for being linear.
But with reference to character development that stuff was just not good. Note that popular opinion is that FF4DS is the best version of the game because you can customize your characters as you desire. You may choose separate paradigms in XIII, but the game actively discourages you from doing so by making them cost an absurd amount more. The game is closed and linear enough, it doesn't need to discourage the player from customizing their party.
All over XIII's design the game is lacking any serious depth, and while some (especially the questionably sane Toriyama) have argued that this was by design, I really cannot accept that that is the case, given the sheer depth of XII, and that they tried to back pedal this lack in XIII-2.
I like XIII, but well made and polished it is not. It's a skeleton is what it is. The spine and ribcage of a roleplaying game with skin laid over it, no muscle, organ, or tissue in between. The game, ironic as this is, needed more time and better management. It reminds me a lot of The Sith Lords: rushed and unfinished, but with glint of worth beneath.
As for the datalogues, the problem with them is that the ending kind of hinges on things you won't know unless you fill out the datalogue, and even then you can't do that until you beat the game. And then there's all that information that in any other game in this series, would've been divvied up and parceled out by NPCs. And NPCs were lacking for reasons not simply stylistic, since on Pulse there were Cie'th stones which could've served that exact purpose.
It's a mess. A mess I'm still fond of, but a mess all the same.