Forum Overview :: Final Fantasy XIII
 
Depends on what you mean by better. by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 2:35pm PDT
In FF12 you had a lot of mobility in terms of character development and setting that you just. do. not. get. in FF13.

I realized this early on and wound up spending a lot of time panning around the scenery, taking it all in with the idea that I wouldn't be able to see this part of the game again without replaying it. Characters, too: you are always limited by the crystarium openings and by the available weapons and items for sale. All of this puts a ton of pressure on you to play the game at a particular rate (relatively fast for grindan jerks like me) and at a particular tension (until VERY late in the game, there will never be a point at which you have a substantial advantage over the enemies.)

So it's very much like playing through, say, an anime series. It's like you're the hero and you face the hero's challenges with the hero's limitations in a 52-episode series. In a way this is kind of cool if you can sink into it and live the dream. But after FF8 (which blew levelling apart front to back, so that you could structure your character development within the world however you wanted) and FFX (which allowed for breathtaking dominance to be built into as many or as few characters as you had patience for -> high replayability) and FF12 (which, as I don't need to tell you, had a boss hog levelling system that was fun and interesting to fuck around with on its own merits)...

FF13 just doesn't offer that.

It's a beautiful game, it's a joy to play in a lot of ways, but it's almost more like an exquisitely beautiful front end on a simplified and rail-y text adventure game where you can't really make wrong decisions. I keep coming back to these less-and-less interactive forms of entertainment as touchpoints: it's more like an anime, more like a book that you play, like an unchallenging text adventure. If you're not going to get high on the aesthetics and enjoy the characters as though you were watching a favorite show, I don't think I can recommend FF13 to you. You're better off replaying FF8, 9, X, or 12, or Chrono Cross.

FWIW the playable characters are all stereotype-evading in one way or another. The hardass bitch shows vulnerability and growing maturity, the cute little girl is an admitted liar, the whiny young boy grows up sooner rather than later, the bespoke hero-type gets his comeuppances hard and fast, etc. What they really dropped the ball on: the villains. Cid Raines The Antagonist, for example, is a bishounen of convenience; the Big Bads are all sort of incomprehensibly distant, like the Q.

I found it really difficult not to fall in love with the main heroine, Lightning - she's sort of half Princess Ashe, half Ridley from Aliens.

The Black Guy has a bad case of Magic Negro Disease, but he's also growing on me. While he gets played for some uncomfortable slapstick, it seems to mostly be tied to his age rather than Googly White Eyes Rolling Around On Black Face. I do kind of resent that he's the most middling character in every possible way, but it's worth pointing out that he's more magic/support-oriented than Powerful Tanking Meat. Also his frocobo is fucking adorable.
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NDD plays FF13: the first hour and a half. by Noi Dau Don 03/10/2010, 9:32am PST NEW
    Black people telling them it's ok to call out fictitious black people as cliches NT by Stuff White People Like 03/10/2010, 10:49am PST NEW
        Yeah, no matter what I'm wrong. by Noi Dau Don 03/10/2010, 11:11am PST NEW
    Save all your component loot. Also - Positive! by Fortinbras 03/10/2010, 11:27pm PST NEW
        LOL Milli Vanilli NT by Morons everywhere 03/11/2010, 4:00am PST NEW
    Hour 9 by Noi Dau Don 03/12/2010, 11:58am PST NEW
        A bishounen appears. by Noi Dau Don 03/13/2010, 11:10am PST NEW
            Sorry, I can't shut up about this. The bishounen SPOILERS by Noi Dau Don 03/13/2010, 3:34pm PST NEW
                I knew it. by Fortinbras 03/13/2010, 3:38pm PST NEW
                    Oh, did you want to have a discussion about bishounen technicalities? by Noi Dau Don 03/13/2010, 4:14pm PST NEW
                        I...I guess? NT by Fortinbras, terribly confused 03/13/2010, 5:01pm PST NEW
            Re: A bishounen appears. by motherfuckerfoodeater 03/13/2010, 4:53pm PST NEW
    Hour 28: we finally get to play the fucking game by Noi Dau Don 03/30/2010, 12:10pm PDT NEW
        Did it ever get better? by Lizard_King 04/07/2010, 9:40am PDT NEW
            Depends on what you mean by better. by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 2:35pm PDT NEW
                RIPLEY NT by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 2:36pm PDT NEW
                Ah, thanks. by Lizard_King 04/07/2010, 2:48pm PDT NEW
        fanart that ISN'T gay? what is going on here? NT by Sword of Justice 04/07/2010, 5:50pm PDT NEW
            A Brief Explanation Of A Seconary Foundation Of Yaoi by Noi Dau Don 04/07/2010, 6:15pm PDT NEW
                Fat, unattractive, single woman who lost only man fantasizes about dreamy boys NT by The summary 04/08/2010, 10:49pm PDT NEW
                    I want you to know: this brings me no joy. But you asked for it. by Noi Dau Don 04/09/2010, 12:16am PDT NEW
                        Isn't this the plot to Naruto? NT by Entropy Stew 04/09/2010, 10:01am PDT NEW
                    That's not fair. That's not fair at all. NT by Souffle of Pain 04/11/2010, 1:00am PDT NEW
                        we recently caused some people on this site to lose their shit NT by Sword of Justice 04/12/2010, 1:41am PDT NEW
                            Re: we recently caused some people on this site to lose their shit by Noi Dau Don 04/12/2010, 3:31am PDT NEW
                                Spinster still struck with incurable craving for cock, won't kill herself NT by the summary 04/16/2010, 1:57pm PDT NEW
    Winning, verdict: not unless you already like this kinda shit by Noi Dau Don 04/16/2010, 1:09pm PDT NEW
        Alternatives by Lizard_King 04/17/2010, 5:01am PDT NEW
            I DON'T HAVE A DS OR A PS3 THERE I SAID IT by Noi Dau Don 04/21/2010, 11:47am PDT NEW
                I will mail you a DS lite by Lizard_King 04/21/2010, 4:40pm PDT NEW
                    let's play some tin pin NT by Sword of Justice 04/21/2010, 5:56pm PDT NEW
                    JUST SEND ME YOUR ADDRESS NT by Charity Man 04/21/2010, 6:14pm PDT NEW
                        I forgot about this shit NT by Lizard_King 04/21/2010, 6:21pm PDT NEW
                    O-oh my god LK thanks but by Noi Dau Don 04/21/2010, 7:56pm PDT NEW
 
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