So I just completed FFXIIIFollow

This game is amazing.

The last boss wasn't too difficult, but I didn't mind that because I was just happy playing through the story. And the story was brilliant.

The ending was unexpected, too. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't played it.

It makes me wonder why people, myself included, were so unhappy with it when it came out. A year later and I've played it again, and I think it does actually rank in my top 3 FF games behind 7 and 9.

I'm genuinely excited about the sequel... it's already pre-ordered :)

Anyone else looking forward to it? I don't really know much about the content, but if it's in the same vein I will be very, very happy.

I'll just copy and paste what I posted last time about this, since it's still applicable:



Still haven't beaten it, and I doubt I ever will.

The story's really good, if you take the time to read and absorb all the background in the data log.

It's rather in-depth in places, but I think the reasoning there is that they knew they'd be making (at least) 3 games in the Pulse/Cocoon setting, so it needed fleshing out more than "Midgar is a big city with evil people. We will kill the evil people. Then the other evil man who lives in a cave somewhere, we'll kill him too. Oh, and there's a few other random towns as well."

The first time round, I hated the plot. I hated the characters. It made no sense, and they annoyed me. But the second time round, I don't know. Maybe I was burnt out from Dragon Age/Mass Effect's (admittedly fun) more interactive gameplay, and I just wanted a STORY. So I followed it to the absolute last letter.

And it's fantastic. It really is.

And I've read up a little bit on what to expect in XIII-2... it sounds very interesting, and not at all like X-2... word on the streets is that it's much, much darker (XIII was dark in places, with its suicide attempts and so on).

Roll on September 9!

Best part of FFXIII-
Spoiler


Edited, Jul 31st 2011 7:56pm by xypin

What drugs have you been taking, and where can I get some?

Sazh was the best part of 13.

The game was okay. Maybe just below the average median for story as far as quality is concerned, but certainly wasn't the worst story I've sat through.

Is this a response to me?

Right, SE isn't very good at characterization. There are a lot of examples. That doesn't absolve the awful characterizations in FFXIII, does it?

I should add that I do think this brings up a good point. I did find FFXIII's characters to be more grating than those other examples, and I think that has something to do with context. I think that as graphics improve, and the characters become fully voiced, they become more "real". Then, when their characterization is done so unrealistically, the contrast harms the effect.

Take Steiner, for example. His dialogue is all expressed via text. He's also, aesthetically, a cartoon character. It seems more natural for him to behave like one. It also fits the game's more cutesy, childlike style. FFXIII tried to deal with some very serious, dark themes. But it did so with the completely wrong approach.

This all ties in to the way that the standards are changing. We're expecting more from video games, and more specifically, characterizations, than we did back when FF7 came out. Your Heavy Rains, Uncharteds, and Mass Effects are doing it better; they're the cutting edge on those fronts. Final Fantasy? It's looking a bit like a relic.

Edited, Aug 1st 2011 2:25pm by Eske

I think Amazon screwed up, then. Or, I'll be getting a very early Xmas present...

In response to Eske, thinking about it, you're right. With more realistic graphics and voices, stereotypes don't work so well. Especially when the characters are meant to be more in-depth. Suspension of disbelief is difficult when the equivalent of the Village People are on screen trying to save the world, I guess.

I find it odd that people don't like the character's accents or voices in XIII, though. I actually thought the voice acting was quite good, and there's nothing wrong with the accents. Yes, Vanille was a little over the top at first, but it takes all of 10 minutes to realise she's putting on an act.

And yes, a lot of it's cutscenes. But I liked it. Nothing wrong with an interactive movie, which kept me more than entertained for a month :)

I haven't played Heavy Rain, but I've heard good things about it. But I don't want a PS3 just for 1-2 games. Is it really THAT good?

I don't think I had an issue with any of the voices save Vanille's, IIRC. I don't remember what her "putting on an act" had to do with it...wasn't that just the way that her voice was?

Ditto for the cutscenes. For the most part, they didn't bother me unless they got too complicated and showy (that racetrack *********** comes to mind).

Truth be told, I haven't played Heavy Rain either, though I suspect I'd enjoy it (if I wasn't put off by The Longest Journey, then I doubt Heavy Rain's gameplay would bother me). I've heard nothing but good things, and the videos of it that I've watched looked solid. Nothing that I'd buy a system specifically for, but worth nabbing at half price, perhaps.

Anonymous Final Fantasy fans have the itchiest rate-down fingers on the whole forum.


Why not post something, if you disagree with what I have to say about the game? I'm happy to debate, and I'd like to think I'm fairly polite about my opinion. I'm serious: I'm eager to hear opposing viewpoints.

I love Star Ocean: The Last Hope. My most recent file has nearly 200 hours, but you know what drives me insane about that game?

Edited, Aug 2nd 2011 9:24am by xypin

I felt like the XIII characters were actually some of the most realistic in the series. Their acting was largely great, which helps. The game was really about them, when it comes down to it, more than the larger story of the world.

The characters might not have been incredibly interesting, with crazy back-stories and unique personalities, but they were easily the most complex I've seen in any game.

[EDIT]

I was enjoying SO3 until I got to the plot twist. It went from being an okay game to an awful one.

Edited, Aug 2nd 2011 9:47pm by idiggory

Your inability to read isn't my problem. :P

And yes, the voice acting in that game was largely excellent. And the characters were extremely complex. In EVERY other FF game, characters are largely centered around their individual goals (which rarely actually change), and their reactions to the game always feel more like plot devices than actual emotional responses.

They were reacting to a huge number of emotional stimuli, and their reactions are appropriately dynamic. It's fine if you don't like the characters (I still can't stand Hope), but they were all easily the most realistic characters I've seen in a game.

Hope, since I hate him, is a perfect example. Is he an interesting character with an interesting backstory? Hell no. He's a rich, spoiled brat with daddy issues who clearly didn't play enough with other kids growing up.

But his reactions to the situations he was put in? They were definitely appropriate and way more than I would have expected from a video game character. The Purge, the loss of his mother, the alienation from the group and the rest of Coccoon, his attachment to Lightning, villifying Snow, etc. all combined to create many, many emotions. In every other game I've ever played, his character would have been reduced to him getting really pissed off at Coccoon (and MAYBE Snow) and vowing revenge. Instead, Hope slowly deals with all of these issues. And his responses to them are always perfectly understandable in the context he is living in.

It's EXTREMELY good character development. And they manage to do this for every main character, with them all having sufficiently different back stories so that their responses to the world are always unique to them, even if they arrive at a place of agreement with each other.

At the end of the day, they chose normal people to be the characters for a reason. In every previous game, the backstories were always very interesting, but set up an unrealistic characters with a personalities that could only be developed in one direction. XIII's characters weren't nearly as linearly written.