...all of the characters have stats that can be modified by switching accessories or weapons or gaining portions of your crystarium. Oh and all of the weapons have stats and can be upgraded if you so choose so it can gain better abilities or become completely new weapons. So...what are you talking about?
What you describe isn't modifying stats to me, it's just swapping gear. I guess perhaps you are right that by switching from one weapon to the progressively stronger (but similar in design) weapon you can effect some behind the scenes modifier that provides an illusion of 'customization' but to me it's essentially the same thing as swapping out an early stage shotgun for a more powerful shotgun in a shooter. It does more damage, simply by virtue of NOT being 'starter gear'. And for all the "pluses" that might be detailed on an accessory in a game, I hardly if ever notice it to be of any major benefit... a +2 fire resistance ring in FFXIII might as well be a +2 ring of shiny-ness for all the good that is immediately noticeable. A fire based boss monster using a fire based attack will still turn you into an androgynous pile of ash just as quickly without that ring as with it. Of course, this is merely my own experience, but I suppose that I simply prefer that when I switch weapons, stats, armor, etc, that it have an immediately noticeable effect instead of some unseen potential effect behind the scenes where it is just crunched into some random number algorithm that has about as much effect on my enjoyment of the game as knowing the name of the light and shadows programmer at the developer.
Don't sell me 'trading giant ninja star A for gianter ninja star B' as true stat modification and roleplaying. At the end of the day I'm still playing with exactly the same set of rigid toys that were given to me with little deviation.
Maybe for that character fire is considered an upper-tier move. Do we give all RPG characters access to high tier moves from the very beginning of the game? No, you earn them as you go. Also, crystarium certainly wasn't the best system, but there are instances where you decide what role your character is going to fill. Medic? Okay, be a medic. Blk Mage? Okay, be that. it's designed to make your characters fulfill roles, which plays into you creating different skill-sets and getting familiar with the battle system. Does it allow you to set up the same kind of skill sets you had in previous games?
Again, same problem. Want to be a medic? Ok be that. Want to be a Blk mage? Ok be that too, but only when/if we allow you the option. Preferably after you spend all your available points going through the tedium of filling out another role's options. By the way, every one of those skills allows zero modification.. simply hold down button X to fill the tank with points until walla! you gain another skill. Oh, sure, you can 'skip a few' here and there that you don't really want if you WANT to, but those are usually set off to the side at random and are almost ALWAYS something you actually really DO want. Its "carrot on a stick" gameplay and its almost laughable when compared to other RPG customization options. Check out Valkyria Chronicles if you want to see what true customization and skill assignment in an RPG is suppose to look like. Or Persona.
No, but then again, isn't being a bit divergent a good thing? Sure, it wasn't too successful, but at least they tried something new instead of popping out FFVII again.
Sure, it CAN be a good thing. But it can also suck. This is one of those times that they diverged themselves off a cliff and ruined an element of Final Fantasy that has until now been mostly an expected feature. To be honest, it would have probably been better to pop out Final Fantasy VII again with a slightly tweaked menu/combat system and updated visuals, refine the story a bit and boom, a game that kicks the hell out of FFXIII any day of the week.
I think it's been throughly pointed out that 'playing a role' is something you do in every video game. Calling that a defining characteristic of the RPG is allowing all games to be RPG's. Even so, you should look at the battle system itself. You are filling roles of medic, sentinel, synergist, saboteur, ravager, or commando. You also get to choose what role you fill. At the beginning it's only three per character, but it gets expanded to all six per character later on.
And I have never agreed with that line of thought. I do NOT believe that you "play a role" in every video game. There is a vast difference between stepping into a role and "taking control of an established character". It's the difference between playing a character in a movie and DIRECTING a character in a movie. I am not Master Chief in Halo, I simply control him through his adventures. In Fallout, I am whatever you want to call that character. I choose his abilities, I decide his behavior, I do all of his thinking. In God of War, I simply move Kratos from point A to point B in the story as the story and levels were written and provided. In Oblivion, the adventure is where ever I chose to make it. My choice. My decisions. That is what a "role" is. This highly philosophical nonsense about every incarnation in every game, film, or book being YOU somehow placed into that role for we are all players and blah blah blah has always fallen flat with me. If its not me, if its not what I would choose to do given an option, then it ISN'T ME. And if it ISN'T me, the illusion is shattered and it is not a ROLE any longer... unless you count "Active participant Spectating" as a role.
to the bold:Okay, given, I didn't finish the game...but is that some character that I just missed? Is it some secret character in the last chapter or do you just not know the names of the characters you wanted in your party?
I'm sorry, I was thinking of Snow and Lightning and an anime and got myself all discombobulated. I meant Fang, who reminds me of Frost from an anime series.
You can upgrade literally every weapon and change their stats. You can pick what archetype each of your character fills on your team.
No, you can choose between Airwing type A and Airwing type B or Sword-gun 1 and Sword-gun 2.0. But if you want Lightning to use dual pistols like Sazh, sorry, can't do that. Want Snow to stop hitting things like a dumbass with his fists and use a big ass Cid-type spear? Sorry, can't do that either.
Oh but you can upgrade their weapons, you are right about that. Whenever you get tired of Airwing 2.0 you can upgrade it to Windwing 1.0 or Breezewing 2.5 (these names are not real names, I'm just making a point).
Essentially you can upgrade each weapon into 4 types, but since each character has essentially ONE super bad ass iteration of that weapon, all customization goes out the window. It's NOT like switching Materia... you literally just have to google "best weapon for lightning" and get exactly the info needed to upgrade her to the best weapon she has available in the game. You don't even win it, no epic Ultimate boss monster quest to get a chance a drop for it, no camping, no random encounter... just "follow these steps and you'll have it by end game", at which point the end game becomes as difficult as guiding Bert into Ernie's bedroom after a couple of shots of tequila.
