So… I haven’t written about FFXIII in a while. I don’t want to pronounce any kind of “final judgement” on the game just yet, but… judging from everything I’ve seen so far and the fact that I think the game will probably be ending within the next 5-10 hours (being generous), I’ll say it. This game has disappointed me.
I dunno. The game seems to have lost its “zing” for me. At the beginning it was so refreshing, new, unpredictable. It was fun. The characters had character development. There were so many pleasant surprises along the way. Playing the game was like slowly unwrapping a Christmas present and finding goodies tucked away under the folds of the wrapping.
But now things have gotten repetitive, dull, and predictable. The game was good until about the start of disc three. Okay, maybe slightly more than that. Well, I’ll say the first 15 hours of this game deserve a 95% rating from me; the next 10 hours an 80%, and now… probably even less than that.
Can the Story PLEASE Figure Itself Out?
The story is mixed up. Seriously. It keeps jumping around from plot point to plot point and I still feel like I’m trying to just figure it all out. The characters’ actions and motivations are almost impossible to figure out. Okay, so if you guys don’t figure out how to stop your brands, you’ll become monsters eventually. I get that part. That makes sense to me. But what does that have to do with “saving the world,” killing Fal’cie (basically the demigods of the world), or going to Oerba (the “Zanarkand” of this game… sort of)? How on earth do the characters know that going there will help them in any way?
I still feel the game made far more sense when the team was perpetually split up. I mean, the characters have practically zero chemistry when put together. Even characters that once had great chemistry seem to be completely lifeless and flat now. I just don’t get it. All the characters who seemed to be bonding earlier have suddenly just stopped. Interrupted by the plot, I guess? It’s like their bonds never even existed. Even worse, bonds that were never formed in the first place are now accepted as real. Wth?
I just don’t get it. As far as most of the characters are concerned, Fang (for example) is a total stranger who they know nothing about and have very little in common with. How do the other characters (aside from Vanille) even trust her?
What the heck happened to this game? It was going so well before. I feel like I just dreamt up all the character interactions from before… but I really didn’t. They did exist! (the creators have just temporarily forgotten about them)
I really started losing my patience with this game during that hellishly annoying “Tower” dungeon. Ugh, there’s three hours of my life I don’t want to every repeat again. Boring, time-consuming, repetitive, not exciting at all. Well, at least the boss at the end was kind of interesting. Sort of.
[Warning: spoilies!]
But seriously, what happened to the spice the game originally had? I thought we were going to find out the characters’ pasts, understand their deep motivations…. I don’t understand anything right now. For example, how come Sazh doesn’t seem to care about his crystallized boy anymore? Why has Lightning mellowed out all of a sudden? Why exactly did Vanille have to lie about what happened and keep running away, etc?
FFXIII: FFX, FFX-2, FFXII & FFVII Wrapped into One
And why is this game ridiculously similar to FFX?? Okay, it’s actually like a mix of FFX (story, characters, general atmosphere), FFX-2 (“girl power!” – lack of world map and other traditional RPG elements, the fast-paced, hectic battle system, “jumping” around in the field), FFXII (missions and other minor things), and FFVII (atmosphere of the world, main character, beginning of the game (train, soldiers, Midgar-like city), “City of Dreams” was like a shitty version of Golden Saucer).
It’s most similar to FFX, though. The only real difference is that they swapped naive, whiner Tidus with badass Lightning (good move). Essentially, Tidus became Hope (okay, not really, but they do share similarities and they have a similar look/hairstyle/clothes/walk), Rikku became Vanille (and Yuna… wrapped into one), Wakka is Sazh, Lightning is kind of like Cloud, Fang is… a female Cid Highwind? (okay, I dunno about that one) Snow is really the only “new” character of the bunch. (and even he’s just a weird mix of Zell and Seifer!) I mean, I really love Lightning and Hope, but they’re mostly just cliches done well.
How is this game like FFX? Let’s see… starts out in a “Zanarkand”-like floating walkway/highway/etc. Lots of high-tech entertainment like at Bodhum (reminiscent of Blitzball). Starts out with the goal first being survival, then “completing the ‘Focus’/Summoner’s journey,” then learning that that’s evil and inhumane so they decide to go it their own way (ie, smash the god(s) who created this wicked system in the first place). Having to sacrifice someone in order to “save the world.” Lots of flying airships, etc. Repeating a cycle of destruction and rebirth…
Vince
September 21, 2010 at 3:01 pm
I agree with the similarities between this game and FFX, FFX-2, and FFXII but I don’t see anything in common with FFVII except for starting the game out on a train and…maybe the color green in the city you start in. lol Cloud had a much much bigger character arc than Lightning and so much more of his past and character were revealed. The gamer really got to know who Cloud was. Even though he was a no-nonsense styled character, he didn’t stay like that for long and often, he had completely different feelings on the inside. I know this is somewhat true with Lightning as well, but it’s on a much lighter scale. Cloud is just far more developed as a lead character.
Yeah, it’s a total mystery that they would just let Fang be one with the ‘gang’. o_O; Also, Cid wasn’t really a ‘bad guy’. If anything, he was the GOOD guy in that battle against your party because he wanted to save Cocoon.
I also wholeheartedly concur with what you wrote about the characters having no bonding on the final disc. It’s weird to me too. At first, I was glad when they finally formed a traditional RPG party but then I realized they…stopped talking to each other. lol Thought it would normally be the opposite. Y’know, bonding between the characters who finally meet one another (eg. Sazh and Hope or Fang and Lightning).
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