Zero Punctuation and Final Fantasy XIII

[PedroSteckecilo]

Oh he'll HATE it for nothing else than the excess of cutscenes and the agressive linearity of the opening segments. Also psuedo turn based psuedo dial and watch gameplay will not appeal to him.

 

[Xanadu84]

He won't like it, almost guaranteed. Yahtzee enjoys a story which he has control over, and sees a game that try's to tell a single story, controlled by the creator of the game in the same sort of way a movie is, as a fundamental failure in being a game. That's just what he likes. Unless they make a completely different game, and attach the Final Fantasy name to it arbitrarily, Yahtzee will rip on it based on its nature, not its quality. It's like giving the absolutely greatest bannana ever grown in the history of the world to a guy who doesn't like bannanas. The bannana may be wonderful, but its still a bannana.

 

[twaddle]

i'm a ff fanboy,but,(and that is a big but) the game has some serious flaws

Battle system: you can dress up but it is still a time slot loading for you to take turns hitting an enemy. To fix they should try to incorperate the kh/dissidia type battle system. and they can cut down on graphics a little if they stop the random enemy encounter. the ff12 game had a good thing going for it when u saw the enemies living like real animals

Voice acting and dialogue: It's shitty all around except for maybe two characters in the game. When it comes to games, the more realistic the graphics the better and more seriously the dialogue should be taken. No more goofy cartoony anime tendencies. You can be funny with out looking like a twit. Usw witty dialgue and sarcasm like every1 else. also use situational irony.

Cut Scenes: make some of them quick time-like events and at least give the player the ability change the dialogue up durning the events or change the facial expressions to edit ppls reations.

Multiplayer: Give the player the option to have other players come in online to come in ur party or make an arena mode where u can go gladiator on ppl. Crystal chronicles kinda had something going for it. it was bad..but still the idea that u all had ur own usable items that you could choose what to do with them was interesting to say the least.

 

[twaddle]

oh and yatzee probably won't review it...unless someone pays him to.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Nope. He'll hate it on principle...

But for arguments sake, the thing about Final Fantasy is that EVERY GAME IS DIFFERENT.

So, you can't just play one or two and justify hating them all. Even if you are some kind of dedicated anti-Japanese gamer. The series reinvents itself with every entry. New combat system, new leveling system, new characters, new location.

Now, umm...I gotta wait 2 hours to go pick it up.

If every single game is different, then why the hell are they all named Final Fantasy? Not enough imagination for a new name?

Square was about to go belly up, so they named it Final Fantasy. Ironically, the game saved the company.

 

[Doitpow]

My understanding of Yahtzee's veiw of RPG's is that they should be about role-playing, inserting yourself into a role and making decisions. JRPGs never have this aspect. You cannot affect the story. It's not a bad thing but Yahtzee detests it.

 

[Yumi_and_Erea]

I doubt he will review it. But i think if he gave a jrpg a good review the four horseman would come.

They already did, back in 2008 when he reviewed The World Ends With You.

He had some tea with them and he spent a pleasant afternoon ribbing War for his poor choice of product-placement with Darksiders.

 

[TOGSolid]

I haven't played that game, but just wikipedia'd it, and I think the problem was that they set out to TRY and make a game different than an FF game. Why they don't make a FF game, plan on calling it FF24-83, but then just before release, or adding all those Ff titles, replace them with a new name, like say you gave FFXII a new game, call it something like "The Pirate Complex" or something like that (obviously I haven't beaten FFXII and won't for a long time, but that was the first thing that I remember about it so to you FF fans I say bleh). It's the same thing that FF was built upon, and until they added the cover art WAS a FF game, but wasn't

Messing with a formula that works is stupid, but reusing it till you've got as much out of a franchise as George Lucas is also stupid...is there no middle ground? (God of War...ah how you seem to be so strong in every aspect of gaming)

Yeah, I see what you're saying with doing renamings, but I think they could take it a bit further and take said FF title, keep the basic concept intact, but take the opportunity to upgrade the mechanics and bring them into the 21st century. To their credit, they do seem to be trying, but at what cost? FF13 may be a prime candidate for showing that they need to lay the FF name to the rest and get a spiritual successor going.

 

[VoidEternal]

He -WILL- review this game. Ya know... professional obligations and shit. After all, he reviewed MGS4 didn't he?

As to whether he'll like it or not. Well, I'm sure he'll find the combat a bit fun, but ultimately troublesome. He'll pick something out of the story that doesn't make shit for sense. Bash on the character design. Applaud the in game battle sequence graphics. Maybe say that they hinder figuring out what's going on. Show a picture of ABBA somewhere in his review.

>_> But I'm really just taking a wild guess.

 

[InvisibleSeal]

I don't think he'll actually review it... but he might say something about the character design, as many have already mentioned.

Also:

It's linear, story driven, with an engaging battle system even for a JRPG.

I do agree that there is a possibility that he'll enjoy the battle system, since it's real time and all. HOWEVER, about the storyline - I'm not sure if I have this right, but he seems to dislike JRPGS because of the linearity a bit. As in, all of them have particular cutscenes, after which you go through a place with an apparently openish atmosphere, all shielding the fact that it is all completely linear after all (unlike western rpgs, where small decisions can affect how quests go etc), and everyone goes through all the same plotpoints, with nothing you changing how the story goes in any way. I think he said something about how he felt he was just wheeling characters from cutscene to cutscene, only being allowed to take control during the boring samey battle sequences and running about.

Sidenote, since the above could be taken very very wrong: I ADORE jrpgs , and no matter what yahtzee says I'm looking forward to FFXIII!

 

[bjj hero]

He'll hate it with no choices, terrible story, hours of sitting out to watch CGI cut scenes, bad charecter design, unlikeable protagonists and the general JRPG been there, done that samey-ness.

I'm not buying it, even though all of the reviews say it is the second coming. I'm done with JRPGs.

But it is shiney. That will be enough for a lot of people. For all of its flaws it will still sell like titty flavoured hot cakes.

The reviews say it's the second coming? Average on gamerankings.com is about 79%. Which was very surprising to me, as I thought it would get all 95%+ reviews just based on the fact that it's a Final Fantasy game.

I've only read OXM, 9/10. Only niggle they had was that it is linear up to chapter 11. FF always gets good reviews. Even the stinker that was FF IIX got good reviews.

Maybe people are waking up to the fact that we've already been there and done that dozens and dozens of times with most JRPGs.

 

[UltimatheChosen]

I think Yahtzee needs to stop reviewing popular games and stick with lesser known and really bad ones. For the most part, his funniest stuff is less popular (Painkiller, Spider Man: Web of Shadows).

 

[razer17]

I doubt he will ever play it, never mind actually reviewing it. It's what, like 60 hours long? Now, didn't he say it usually takes 2 days to make the game, and then he makes the script and animation. I doubt he would put up with FF 13 for 60 hours.

If he does review it, he'll do it based on a couple of hours of gaming.

 

[EmmerikXXII]

I'll just bow out of this now, since people can't post anything without being offensive.

 

[Mr.Mudkip]

Square was about to go belly up, so they named it Final Fantasy. Ironically, the game saved the company.

That makes sense, keeping that name on every single (apparently, haven't tried) good game they push out, because honestly, besides that, I can't think of any.

Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Secret of Mana, just to name a few.

 

[nohorsetown]

It would be pretty cool if he just ignored it, because of course he's gonna hate it and he knows that already, but y'all are gonna create so much pressure and hooplah that he's gonna be obligated to review it, just going through the motions. The guy can be funny sometimes, but he should be encouraged to go for the harder targets.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

People are missing the point of this thread. I proposed the notion because Square Enix is changing many of Final Fantasy's core elements in this rendition. Sure it retains the jrpg aesthetic, but it brings a lot of gameplay changes to the table that western gamers would likely embrace.

Someone mentioned something about asking ZP to review a game just because one likes it.
I haven't asserted my opinion on the game one way or the other. I am simply stating observations.

Inb4Ifyoudidn'tlikeityouwouldn'tbetalkingaboutit.

Making your game ultra-linear isn't exactly the right way to woo western RPG fans.