At this point in time Final Fantasy 13 is one of the more frequent examples brought up whenever people comment on the declining quality of Square Enix's product line, infamous enough to have earned the nickname "Final Hallway 13". Over the last three years, as community we've basically firmed up the entirety of what we felt was universally wrong with the game. While it is true that most Final Fantasy games do have very linear stories, none of them quite deprive the player of their sense of agency nor do their battles feel quite as monotonous as 13's.
But maybe the problem was just that difference, the story versus the mechanics. In other FF games, battles had a greater element of strategy and planning. You felt like you had a much greater impact on what happened and were engaged by the interesting characters and world. In 13, as many critics noted, battles boiled down to grinding for a period of time and then pressing the attack button. Ultimately, FF 13's tedious take on turn based battles and it's confusing story were what turned off both long time fans and newcomers.
It's been 3 years now, and as per the title, I am aware of Lightning Returns, however:
I was thinking while playing the DMC reboot, and came to a realization:
FF13 is what would happen if you tried to make a Turn Based Devil May Cry.
If Dante's (Either one's) attacks and combos were boiled down to pressing the attack button and then waiting your turn, no one would put up with the linear path style level or bizarre story.
Basically, Devil May Cry and many other similar action games (ie, Bayonetta) aren't hallways, they're obstacle courses. One main stretch (maybe with some branching or secret paths) coated with enemies to plow through and platforms to mount. FF 13 is like a version of Ninja Warrior where you stand in front of each obstacle, press a button, wait for it to crunch some arbitrary numbers and then tell you that you've "cleared" the obstacle and can now move on.
With action games, we're often able to forgive often ridiculous stories, because our minds are too engaged by the fun to focus on why we're doing what we're doing.
With 13, the gameplay was so boring and unconnected to the story that the story itself became more glaringly flawed.
Not to say that it wasn't poorly conceived and executed in the first place, but giving the player a five minute cutscene break every minute and not giving them anything else to care about does tend to make plot holes look even bigger. You also start to really notice the (yes, I am using this term) Ludonarrative dissonance.
In the opening cutscene we see Lightning as a fast paced, hard hitting, fighter with amazing electricity powers. In the game, Lightning is the kind of girl that likes to do one attack and then politely bounce in place while being shot. This kind of thing has also existed in past FF games, wherein you could easily imagine someone like Sid for example not letting an imp slap him around before suplexing him. But if you played and enjoyed FF 6, did you really care? Probably, it came up in your head a few times but you were so engaged in the game that it became more of a funny idea than a serious complaint.
Some of that was cultural context. We knew what games were capable of then, and had expectations of what certain games could or couldn't do. We weren't expecting anything else. Of course, with that said, does this mean that turn based RPG's have no place in a world where you can build more intricate action games? No, certainly not. People still care about games with well told and engaging stories, and there's a reason that the 16 bit JRPG generation is so fondly remembered, other than rose tinted nostalgia.
In light of Lightning Returns, I have to look back and think: Maybe FF 13 should have just been an action game after all. It sure would have gone faster. Think about the time that every battle in that game took, and cut that time by a fourth. It would have still had the same beautiful landscapes and scenery, but would have moved at a much more brisk pace. What would have been repetitive and boring battles with same henchmen would have been exciting explosions of thunder and hand grenades. You'd have spent such little time in "the hallway" that you probably wouldn't have even given it any thought. Besides, don't guns make more sense in an action game context anyway?
This said, I do not look forward to Lightning Returns, but only because I'm leery of Square. It's almost like they've made some bad games or something.
To discuss:
Other games that would have worked better in other genres.
Could you imagine FF 13 being better as an action game?
What role do you think the linear, story based, RPG has in modern game culture?
Acceptable ludonarrative dissonance versus bothersome.
Feelings toward Lightning Returns.
But maybe the problem was just that difference, the story versus the mechanics. In other FF games, battles had a greater element of strategy and planning. You felt like you had a much greater impact on what happened and were engaged by the interesting characters and world. In 13, as many critics noted, battles boiled down to grinding for a period of time and then pressing the attack button. Ultimately, FF 13's tedious take on turn based battles and it's confusing story were what turned off both long time fans and newcomers.
It's been 3 years now, and as per the title, I am aware of Lightning Returns, however:
I was thinking while playing the DMC reboot, and came to a realization:
FF13 is what would happen if you tried to make a Turn Based Devil May Cry.
If Dante's (Either one's) attacks and combos were boiled down to pressing the attack button and then waiting your turn, no one would put up with the linear path style level or bizarre story.
Basically, Devil May Cry and many other similar action games (ie, Bayonetta) aren't hallways, they're obstacle courses. One main stretch (maybe with some branching or secret paths) coated with enemies to plow through and platforms to mount. FF 13 is like a version of Ninja Warrior where you stand in front of each obstacle, press a button, wait for it to crunch some arbitrary numbers and then tell you that you've "cleared" the obstacle and can now move on.
With action games, we're often able to forgive often ridiculous stories, because our minds are too engaged by the fun to focus on why we're doing what we're doing.
With 13, the gameplay was so boring and unconnected to the story that the story itself became more glaringly flawed.
Not to say that it wasn't poorly conceived and executed in the first place, but giving the player a five minute cutscene break every minute and not giving them anything else to care about does tend to make plot holes look even bigger. You also start to really notice the (yes, I am using this term) Ludonarrative dissonance.
In the opening cutscene we see Lightning as a fast paced, hard hitting, fighter with amazing electricity powers. In the game, Lightning is the kind of girl that likes to do one attack and then politely bounce in place while being shot. This kind of thing has also existed in past FF games, wherein you could easily imagine someone like Sid for example not letting an imp slap him around before suplexing him. But if you played and enjoyed FF 6, did you really care? Probably, it came up in your head a few times but you were so engaged in the game that it became more of a funny idea than a serious complaint.
Some of that was cultural context. We knew what games were capable of then, and had expectations of what certain games could or couldn't do. We weren't expecting anything else. Of course, with that said, does this mean that turn based RPG's have no place in a world where you can build more intricate action games? No, certainly not. People still care about games with well told and engaging stories, and there's a reason that the 16 bit JRPG generation is so fondly remembered, other than rose tinted nostalgia.
In light of Lightning Returns, I have to look back and think: Maybe FF 13 should have just been an action game after all. It sure would have gone faster. Think about the time that every battle in that game took, and cut that time by a fourth. It would have still had the same beautiful landscapes and scenery, but would have moved at a much more brisk pace. What would have been repetitive and boring battles with same henchmen would have been exciting explosions of thunder and hand grenades. You'd have spent such little time in "the hallway" that you probably wouldn't have even given it any thought. Besides, don't guns make more sense in an action game context anyway?
This said, I do not look forward to Lightning Returns, but only because I'm leery of Square. It's almost like they've made some bad games or something.
To discuss:
Other games that would have worked better in other genres.
Could you imagine FF 13 being better as an action game?
What role do you think the linear, story based, RPG has in modern game culture?
Acceptable ludonarrative dissonance versus bothersome.
Feelings toward Lightning Returns.
