Zero Punctuation: Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Motomu Toriyama is responsible for literally everything I hate in the FF series. Starting with FFX-2, taking a massive nose-dive into the excrement pool with FFXII-Revenant Wings, and everything in XIII. He was also senior scriptwriter in Front Mission Evolved, which explains the utterly horrible dialogue in that game.Thanatos2k said:
Here [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motomu_Toriyama#Works] is a nice list of what he's responsible for. Note that the more involved he is with a project, the worse it seems to become.
... "Event Planner" FFVII. Wonder if he came up with the motorcycle and snowbording games...
Correction:AndrewC said:
"The combat underpants system was confusing, the targeting doesn't work, and I am expected to grind up to the proper level when this quest has a time limit, so I quit to eat some pies."
I wonder if the plot makes more sense in the original Japanese and the translation was extremely rushed or something.
You know what, I hate myself enough to voice my unpopular opinion: I like lightning returns. The combat is one of the better JRPG combat systems I have ever experienced, Lighting is the least intolerable FF protagonist ever (granted that isn't a high mark), and a sever of the supposed "plot holes" are explained if you actually play the game. If nothing else its the best FF game since IX and I'm not sure why it is attracting such a unique amount of bile.
The thing that strikes me the most about Lightning Returns is that it's a story-driven game in a story-driven series with zero emotional attachment to any of the characters.
If the game hadn't flat-out told me that Lightning had lost her emotions and instead buried that factoid inside of the nested menus the game loves so much, then I would have never known, ever. She doesn't behave any differently, at all. I find it appalling that something that should be so central to a character, something that should define every interaction they have with a world to be so nonexistent for a character who was supposed to be the focal point of the series. The entire story just falls apart because we're supposed to sympathize with Lightning and her attempt to get back those oh-so-valuable emotions of hers, except it's clear that she never really used them anyway.
It's a shame because LR's combat is actually a very slick system despite what Yahtzee said about it. I was impressed at how GOOD they made the combat feel like. It's actually something I could have played for hours if it weren't for almost everything else surrounding the game. Every job class gives several new abilities and you get dozens of job classes to choose from, it's an ideal system for a game where you only control one character at a time. My guess as to why Yahtzee had problems later on is because he didn't focus on any particular job and instead tried to use them all which resulted in a bunch of mediocre stats on all of his jobs when he should have been focusing on a few.
Really, if this were a game about any other Final Fantasy character, if this was the Snow game or the Cecil game or even the Squall game, It would probably be one of the best JRPGs I've played in a very long time. It's too bad such potential was wasted on the dress-me-up window mannequin that is Lightning.
If the game hadn't flat-out told me that Lightning had lost her emotions and instead buried that factoid inside of the nested menus the game loves so much, then I would have never known, ever. She doesn't behave any differently, at all. I find it appalling that something that should be so central to a character, something that should define every interaction they have with a world to be so nonexistent for a character who was supposed to be the focal point of the series. The entire story just falls apart because we're supposed to sympathize with Lightning and her attempt to get back those oh-so-valuable emotions of hers, except it's clear that she never really used them anyway.
It's a shame because LR's combat is actually a very slick system despite what Yahtzee said about it. I was impressed at how GOOD they made the combat feel like. It's actually something I could have played for hours if it weren't for almost everything else surrounding the game. Every job class gives several new abilities and you get dozens of job classes to choose from, it's an ideal system for a game where you only control one character at a time. My guess as to why Yahtzee had problems later on is because he didn't focus on any particular job and instead tried to use them all which resulted in a bunch of mediocre stats on all of his jobs when he should have been focusing on a few.
Really, if this were a game about any other Final Fantasy character, if this was the Snow game or the Cecil game or even the Squall game, It would probably be one of the best JRPGs I've played in a very long time. It's too bad such potential was wasted on the dress-me-up window mannequin that is Lightning.
It isn't really turn-based, though. If anything it resembles the first Valkyrie Profile. Not just in combat, either. Even the story is similar as another poster mentioned earlier.Sticky said:
Hey man, you leave Cecil out of this, haha. Final Fantasy IV already had a follow-up game. The After Years.Sticky said:
But yeah, I get what you're saying. I would have found XIII-2 more interesting if it was a new Chrono game or something.
It already had a time-travel plot, so it was part-way there.
Actually, they don't do that with number titles. That right there was a crossover special with FF14 ARR and even then they had an explanation that tied back to the Lightning Returns. SHe's not going to be in FF number titles the same way that Cloud and Squall were never in XIII-2 or LR: FF13. What they are going to do is put her in spinoff games like Dissidia, Theaterythem. KH, Crystal Chronicles, Tactics, etc. The company stated that they do not put characters from other games into major console releases like FF15 onwards.Trishbot said:
Because Lightnings creator has a huge stiffy fo her, and I mean that in the most visceral way possible. His affection boarders on creepy fanboy levers.Hixy said:
To be fair his review before this one was Dark Souls, a game renowned for being head-smashing-into-wall difficult. I think the issue, from what I gathered from the critiques is that due to an in game time limit there is very little time to simply grind for levels, making some enemies game breakingly difficult to fight.AndrewC said:
Constructive criticism of articles and content is allowed. However, simply saying it's awful without backing it up with facts or a way to improve it is not.Kalezian said:
Again, if you have any problems with the way Moderation is handled on this site, you're welcome to use any of the methods listed in my previous post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.843434-Zero-Punctuation-Lightning-Returns-Final-Fantasy-XIII?page=4#20763445].
Sadly, we're dead serious. Just watch this and try not to cringe:Hixy said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj66f6Pvyuk
He's made such absurd statements as "she is the FIRST strong female protagonist in a Final Fantasy game", and "she is the face of Final Fantasy and an icon of Japanese game development", and "she is the most powerful being in the Final Fantasy series", and "she is extremely popular, even among other Final Fantasy characters", and "we knew we HAD to make more Lightning games because she deserved more than just one game".
Hell, this guy printed off a giant huge poster of Lightning and hung it over the office with the phrase "she must not be forgotten" and claimed, quote, "it's like she's there supporting us".
Just... yeah. This guy is on the Final Fantasy Quality Assurance Team. Somehow.
Try to track down the Toriyama interviews around the time Lightning Returns was announced(EDIT: Beaten to it, look above). I can't seem to find it right now.Hixy said:
Those interviews were surreal. The man has SHRINES to Lightning surrounding his desk. He has a picture of Lightning over his monitor that he claims to gaze at to calm his thoughts. He genuinely believes Lightning is the strongest FF heroine made to date.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact that FF is still going and that there are people actually liking it. The only 3D game in the series that had at least some semblance of a story and some decent characters was FF9. It was by no means perfect, but at least it had a story that wasn't made out of plotholes and vague philosophical ramblings and didn't have to add zeroes in it's combat numbers to seem more impressive.
I simply don't see a single thing worth of a person's time and money in these games, especially from FFX onwards...
I simply don't see a single thing worth of a person's time and money in these games, especially from FFX onwards...