Final Fantasy XIII

[dreadedcandiru99]

I just got to the Vile Peaks, and to date, this is my favorite FF since X (which, as I recall, was no less linear--besides, it makes sense that these characters wouldn't do much sightseeing, given that they're fleeing for their lives at the moment). The toughest part is getting used to switching roles rather than picking individual actions most of the time (hooray for "auto-battle," I guess). Oh, also, I feel like someone's taking a belt sander to my eardrums every time Vanille opens her mouth, but I don't blame the voice actress; I blame Japan and its obsession with teenage girls who act like they're five years old.

But yeah, aside from that, so far so good.

 

[wooty]

Im loving it so far, the story is starting to unfold nicely and there does seem a lot more emphasis on character development first off, getting to know what motivates them. Visuals are stunning, the in game graphics seem better than most other games cutscenes.

Everything seems a lot faster, the battles seem so quick in comparison to when I was playing FF8 the week prior to this, but thats quite alright with me, beats the slow charging time bar any day. The music is pretty damn good too, puts you in the mood of the scene, even with the absense of Sensai Uematsu. I've been whistling the battle music all day now.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I've been playing it for a few hours now and it's as linear as a toilet roll.

I don't know if it's bad or not, but I do feel like a dog on a leash.

 

[Matt_LRR]

Liking it so far. The game obviously draws from the games before it. A little bit of Final Fantasy 7 (ATB), a little bit of chrono cross (skill points), a little bit of 10 (crystarium), a little bit of 10-2 (paradigm shifting) a little bit of 12 (lightning, star wars).

I LOVE absolutely LOVE the focus on fast battles. Easily the best decision they could have made. Nothing kills the flow of an RPG like long, drawn-out battle systems (looking at you xenosaga, final fantasy 8) and the fact that you can be in and out of battles in 10/15 seconds is a brilliant move.

The game is pretty, the story is just getting underway for me, and the full mechanic of the crystarium is still mysterious to me (I've run out of places to go on snow's map).

I totally don't get people sayiung the tutorial section was over-long or boring. It was 2 hours gameplay, tops, and it developed quite a bit of story in that time. granted, I don't really see the point of witholding CP during that phase, but it did a great job of introducing one new element of the battle system with each new segment to ease the player into the game, and I'm glad it did.

overall, first impressions are generally positive, and I'm really enjoying it.


(also, Lightning and Sazh are GREAT characters. Snow is cool. I wanted to like vanille, but they employed my absolute least favorite JRPG character archetype in her, I kind of what her to die. Constantly. Hope is terribe.)

-m

 

[Matt_LRR]

vanille runs like a jerk.

oh my god does she ever.

-m