Topic: FINAL FANTASY THIRTEEN Review Thread "It's on!" - Blayne
Blayne Bradley
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Okay so this is going to be something new/different as reviews go as I haven't actually played the game yet but I am at the menu hoping desperately and I mean orphan clinging onto dear life level of desperate looking for a way to switch the language options to Japanese with English subtitles for greater immersion but I guess I am out of luck.
-1 point, 99 points remaining.
Oh, I just today spend my second hard earned paycheck from finally starting a crummy dish washing job and bought an Xbox 360 Arcade, no warranties or anything fancy yet, what I will do next week with my next paycheck is return it to the story and exchange it for something better (either the Elite that's bundled with Halo ODST or the new Kinnect compatible one) and THEN get the 5 year extended warranty, since these things are designed to break exactly 1 day 23 seconds after the 1 year warranty expires.
So back to FFXIII then, what I will be doing is posting little updates as I play the game in 1 hour installments over the next few days (as I can't play it all at once because of things like eating, sleeping, workings, breathing etc) giving my moment by moment most objective view of the gaming experience and then conclude with my final thoughts once I'm done.
But yeah, this is essentially me finally getting to play FFXIII and finally owning a nextgen console that I will actually get a chance to use that won't get stolen this time around by ignorant ghetto thief people.
posted
It's good, but definitely not great and **** story.
Lightning and Fang are hawt.
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Blayne Bradley
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+1 point for keeping some retro older final fantasy ui stuff, 99 points remaining, in first combat tutorial now.
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Blayne Bradley
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Okay the story is definately picking up for me, a bit nonlinear like in Mother 3 which I was playing before this so its not to much of a shakeup, the dialogue is pretty good thus far.
Only complaint though, while I could guess that Hope is probably harbouring feelings of revenge against Snow this is entirely because of tvtropes making me somewhat genre savvy in being able to guess/want it to happen... But there's actually very little in game/dialgue to actually support this.
-1 point to be safe, 98 points remaining.
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Blayne Bradley
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+2 points for me playing until 3 am, the game definately has grabbed me to the point I want to keep going thats for sure, but sleep time now.
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Blayne, I'm sure you're way excited with your game. But could you edit your topic title please, I'd rather not do it for you.
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quote:I haven't actually played the game yet but I am at the menu hoping desperately and I mean orphan clinging onto dear life level of desperate looking for a way to switch the language options to Japanese with English subtitles for greater immersion...
It seems to me that you would be more immersed were you not required to mentally translate everything into your native language.
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:I haven't actually played the game yet but I am at the menu hoping desperately and I mean orphan clinging onto dear life level of desperate looking for a way to switch the language options to Japanese with English subtitles for greater immersion...
It seems to me that you would be more immersed were you not required to mentally translate everything into your native language.
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I may be undercutting the "Moment By Moment Most Objective View of the Gaming Experience" but I didn't even make it more than six hours into the gaming experience, and neither did most of the rest of the gaming studio. Even the heavy JRPG fans really view squeenix as a studio that's drifted into mediocrity (art teams aside) and the gameplay design of this game was pretty good evidence of that. It's the distilled epitome of the linear, railroaded grind that JRPG's get mocked for and that the industry is leaving behind.
It makes us dismayed for the prospects of Deus Ex III, because squeenix is worse with action games.
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quote:I haven't actually played the game yet but I am at the menu hoping desperately and I mean orphan clinging onto dear life level of desperate looking for a way to switch the language options to Japanese with English subtitles for greater immersion...
It seems to me that you would be more immersed were you not required to mentally translate everything into your native language.
This doesnt make any sense.
It makes perfect sense. He's saying that by adding a step to the interactive process, you're actually making it harder to immerse yourself into the game. I believe that there are a lot of great reasons to watch something in a native language with subtitles. I'm not sure video games fall into that category, because Japanese being the native tongue of fictional video game players doesn't seem to matter much unless, say, the game is a WWII epic and the characters are actually Japanese. Final Fantasy doesn't seem to meet that requirement. In other words, I don't understand what you think you're trying to immerse yourself in by wanting Japanese.
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Blayne Bradley
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Now, this is weird, I just can't pinpoint vanille's accent.
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Its hot, thats all I know...(She's 18 right?)
I can't wait until you hit Chapter 11. You will then give the game +100 points. That is when the game opens up and becomes a free roaming game. If Final Fantasy XIV online plays like this, I'll be playing it this fall.
Posts: 1937 | Registered: Nov 2006
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I only played a few hours (I'm on the Ice lake I think) into the game before getting distracted by other things (though I hope to get the motivation to go back eventually). In the mean time I have a couple questions for those who've played more:
1) Do you ever stop wanting to smack Hope upside the head for being an idiot?
2) Does the game ever stop re-iterating very basic plot points ad nauseum in all the little session write-ups and such? I feel like I read the exact same plot summary a dozen times with two words changed every time...
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: I may be undercutting the "Moment By Moment Most Objective View of the Gaming Experience" but I didn't even make it more than six hours into the gaming experience, and neither did most of the rest of the gaming studio. Even the heavy JRPG fans really view squeenix as a studio that's drifted into mediocrity (art teams aside) and the gameplay design of this game was pretty good evidence of that. It's the distilled epitome of the linear, railroaded grind that JRPG's get mocked for and that the industry is leaving behind.
It makes us dismayed for the prospects of Deus Ex III, because squeenix is worse with action games.
So far I'm having a blast and so did alot of people so it seems if its own metacritic score and review scores seem to be of any indication with its uhm, how shall I put it? Best selling game in the franchises' history?
Its not just however the australian accents though I already determined it was something vahuely commonwealth but also the unounciation of her words is a little off/uncanny, kind of like listening to the G-Man from Half Life speak, I'm not marking it down, I'm not saying it 'bugged' me or anything as I think its a pretty unique accent and if I'm geussing right and shes actually from Pulse and people from Pulse speak that way its actually kinda cool.
Oh and Sazh (I prouncing it Tsazz because its cooler) is hilariously black. It like they took every semi complimentary black guy trope and put it into one character, he reminds me of Granddad from the Boondocks without the swearing.
As for vanille, I'm pretty sure shes more 16/17 at most though however thats still legal in Canada so I'm good.
However I just can't help the feeling that vanille is how those girly girl moe anime characters would look like if I saw one in real life.
quote:It makes perfect sense. He's saying that by adding a step to the interactive process, you're actually making it harder to immerse yourself into the game. I believe that there are a lot of great reasons to watch something in a native language with subtitles. I'm not sure video games fall into that category, because Japanese being the native tongue of fictional video game players doesn't seem to matter much unless, say, the game is a WWII epic and the characters are actually Japanese. Final Fantasy doesn't seem to meet that requirement. In other words, I don't understand what you think you're trying to immerse yourself in by wanting Japanese.
Its just a personal preference of mine to watch things subtitled in a foreign language, watching anything in english is like watching something in the uncanny valley to me, yes even films actually filmed actually in North America with english as the default, I watch it with subtitles.
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quote:watching anything in english is like watching something in the uncanny valley to me
That ... that actually explains quite a lot.
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: I only played a few hours (I'm on the Ice lake I think) into the game before getting distracted by other things (though I hope to get the motivation to go back eventually). In the mean time I have a couple questions for those who've played more:
1) Do you ever stop wanting to smack Hope upside the head for being an idiot?
2) Does the game ever stop re-iterating very basic plot points ad nauseum in all the little session write-ups and such? I feel like I read the exact same plot summary a dozen times with two words changed every time...
I just mentally voice over the write ups with the narrator's voice from Mass Effect and it becomes cool/tolerable, like as if Pulse/Cocoon are a planet in the Mass Effect Universe.
Also the FF Codex's are like in ME2, optional and I just skim past the repetative points.
As for hope, I actually kinda like the whole misplaced anger which turns to hate which turns to the darkside narrative device so I'm rolling with it, I like how I managed to as soon as his mother died guessed PERFECTLY (TVtropes will Ruin your Live ) that this was going to happen so I ain't complaining.
It's like I managed to cause the waveform to collapse and dynamically changed the plot on a whim.
Like I mean Hope's position while misplaced is understandable, hes a young man who just had his MOTHER cruelly taken away from him forever and THIS is the man to egged her on and got her to join him on his apparantly suicidal (from his POV) quest to be a "hero" from his POV.
Its irrational but so are emotions, he has no one to blame and Snow makes a convincing scapegoat, a cognitive dissonance, I'm liking this train-plot driven collision in action so I'm sticking with it.
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quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: 1) Do you ever stop wanting to smack Hope upside the head for being an idiot?
Yes. He stops being a whiny little turd and actually becomes pretty darn awesome.
quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: 2) Does the game ever stop re-iterating very basic plot points ad nauseum in all the little session write-ups and such? I feel like I read the exact same plot summary a dozen times with two words changed every time...
I... didn't actually bother to read the plot points, and I pretty much skipped all the cut scenes until Chapter 8, I think, or whenever Sazh's backstory really starts coming out. The other cut scenes/plot points get much more interesting at that point, as well.
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Blayne Bradley
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Skipping all the cutscenes....? Dude... Thats like..... 90% of the game until then you've skipped over...
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FF games are just as much a cinematic experiances as visual novels are to books, skipping a cutscene in a FF game is like going to the bathroom in the middle of an action scene in a movie, your missing out on the experience.
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And besides, the early ones were boring and repetitive - and I hadn't started caring about the characters at all. I'm pretty sure skipping those early ones maintained my sanity and my desire to play the game.
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Blayne Bradley
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To me there were important to get a feel for their characterizations.
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I watch the cutscenes, but some people want to cut the fat and get straight to the actual game part. It's understandable.
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Theres a scene where Sazh almost accidentally looks up Vanille's skirt and his chocobo blocks his sight.
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The gameplay mechanic was interesting, I'll say that. Was it all that good? Well, the focus turned out not to be on the normal "press button to attack" thing, but on a slightly contrived overarching attack pattern thing.
It was a different thing to have to focus on, at least. And at least I didn't have to hit "attack" over and over. Honestly, though, the system in XII had a lot more depth to it and also got rid of the boring manual control, though they didn't let you USE its full depth for the longest time.
I'd say the battle system of XII was better. But the battle system here at least had an idea in its head. Having to switch between different paradigms at rapid pace to keep up with a powerful enemy could get pretty fun, by the endgame. I had a few really long, and really fun optional battles, like the very last of the Titan Trials. That battle was fun. And took an hour.
Making grinding very hard to do through most of the game by limiting the amount you could advance was also a pretty good step, though also done somewhat arbitrarily.
Making the game end when the main lead dies sucks, but at least you can just retry the battle at any time.
Still, the game was easy, and in its streamlining process became in design as much an unintentional parody of classic JRPGs as anything else.
"Remember all those things you needed to do? Guess what! Those really were just busywork. We'll just automate it, so relax!"
In doing so, they did lose something. Though they tried some new things at the same time, and their attempt to experiment is always appreciated, even if it didn't get it perfectly.
Give me back Final Fantasy XII's system... with some tweaks, that could have been perfect, if time consuming.
Graphics were amazing, of course. Their art teams are where it's at. Story? I didn't mind it too much, and the characters' story arcs intentionally made them less annoying by the end. That was good. Chapter 11 was good, too. If they had made more of the game like that, then the game might have been better. I really enjoyed my time there, and when things got linear again it was hard to like it.
Oh yeah. The corridors. It was the laziest thing I've ever seen in a Final Fantasy. I was definitely not impressed by "Crash Bandicoot: The RPG" in that regard.
In the end, I did have fun with the game. I rolled with the flow and enjoyed a somewhat different experience than what I'm used to. But would I play it again? Eh... once is enough for me. I promptly went back to Persona after beating FFXIII, and got my butt kicked by a real rpg series. Hello instant death attacks that actually work...
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XII actually did keep me interested for quite a clip. Even got me to bother with grind. So, in its own unique little way, it's given me some important lessons for being an MMO developer.
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"Making the game end when the main lead dies sucks, but at least you can just retry the battle at any time"
You know, I read this line thinking it was a plot spoiler and came close to getting pissed until I realized it wasnt.
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quote:Originally posted by umberhulk: You know, I read this line thinking it was a plot spoiler and came close to getting pissed until I realized it wasnt.
lol Exactly the same here.
I'm up to Chapter 6 now. For much of the game so far, I've been a little disappointed that there doesn't seem to be much to *do*. It's too easy, and I hardly have to do anything to win. It's moving out of that a bit now though, I've had a few difficult battles now. It certainly looks very pretty, and the music is great.
I should probably say this is the first FF game I've ever played, and I know nothing at all about the others.
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Blayne, the fact that your scoring method gives the game 100 points to start with (simply because it's Final Fantasy and you're an incredible fanboy, I guess?) makes this whole thing suspect.
More suspect, I mean.
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Blayne Bradley
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Dude, spoilers godddamnit, jesus christ I said as much that I was just starting! Please edit it out so I can forget.
Uuhm, Dan, whats more suspect is you leaping to conclusions, firstly its partly a satire of scoring methods because as Yahtzee said, its not possible to present a complex opinion numerically and secondly the idea was to start perfect and then subtract/add points as needed to get the proper score, which is the same way I review Anime but on a 5/5 scale where if you noticed quite a few animes I reviewed ended up with the score they did because "didn't like this, or felt this weakened it" and then subtracted as many stars I felt was fair.
Though its getting to the point I am getting immersed enough into the game that I am unable to maintain my scoring method (having to switch between two screens and all that) which I think says quite a bit in its favour.
Also, shut your mouth about "fanboys", shut it, its insulting the way you say it, it shouldn't be a stigma to be a fan of something if you can't say it in either a positive or neutral light you shouldnt say it at all, "Otaku" is just barely becomming a badge of bride in some places YOUR NOT HELPING.
I am sick and tired you using that word that way.
And no, I am not an "encredible fanboy" I haven't beaten a FF game in years, Earthbound was probably the last JRPG I finished in recent memory.
quote:XII actually did keep me interested for quite a clip. Even got me to bother with grind. So, in its own unique little way, it's given me some important lessons for being an MMO developer.
XIII though, we can ... um, safely disregard. It is a story you tend to have to busywork through. Great if you like the story. Less great if you're oh hey this swearing bloke summed it up better GAME OVAR
Samprany we all know Yahtzee's well publisized opinions on JRPGs and that we can safely disregard them as "the ignorant hate speech that it is", hes admitted as much in his TWEWY review that everything he doesn't like about a JRPG are the very things JRPG fans find attractive and that his review of it is a subjective personal opinion and that if we really enjoy a game his review of it shouldn't change anything or have any bearing on it as per his Mail Bag Showdown thread and that his review of FFXIII is just like his SSBB review, something he did because the fans bleeted for it like a thousand sheep and thus takes malicious pleasure in esvicerating it.
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Blayne: The label fanboy should only be bestowed on those who without apology laud absolutely everything from a broad source.
You have no problems taking jabs at religion, America, and anti-socialists. When it comes to everything East Asia though it's all sixes and sevens. Mind, if we talk about Jiang Jie Shi, or Zhang Rong, you have plenty of criticism. You even managed to agree with 99.9% of humanity on the stupidity of The Great Leap and The Cultural Revolution. So you aren't quite a Communist fan boy anymore so much as a slightly moderate yet strong supporter. That's good!
I think what people are looking for is for you to acknowledge that many of the Final Fantasy games if not utter crap, have stagnated at the very least. If you are having a great time with the game that's good, I'm glad you found a way to alter your perspective so that even that steaming pile of crap is enjoyable. I sure wasn't able to. But there are plenty things I enjoy that most people don't, and I can acknowledge that my opposition isn't wrong.
FFXIII is extremely linear, it was intended that way, but intent doesn't translate into good idea, anymore than a ten year old falling over and saying, "Meant to do that!" does. The characters aren't just not new, they are nearly identical to characters we've seen in other games. Lightning is Cloud, yes I know that when they went into character design the game director explicitly asked the designers to conceive of a female version of Cloud. But Cloud was already completely replicated in Squall, and Cloud was foreshadowed by Cecil in FFIV. Snow might as well be Tidus, Vanille might as well be Yuffi, Ouerba is LuLu, Sazh is the other type of Black guy Asians know about. There's Mr. T and Chris Tucker, and different ratios of those two personalities, that's it. At least they got a decent voice actor for him though. Hope is an angsty teenager, I can't really recall that archetype in any other FF games, but it's about as enjoyable as "hero with a secret past."
The game designers have tried over and over to find a way to gain the epic feel of turn based battles with the unrestricted flow of action found in a real time system. Final Fantasy XII was pretty good at doing this, Final Fantasy XIII tried to add on top of that and it had some interesting concepts but nothing worth running home and writing down.
There's nothing really difficult to master in the combat system. It's rock paper scissors but you get to see about five seconds in advance what your opponent is going to use and in case that wasn't enough time don't worry, you have to just stop caring to lose.
Now granted, I didn't make it to the big open world section of the game. I made it somewhere into the second disk and decided I hadn't really had much fun up to that point. There are many things where I don't have to endure any boredom and the payoff is bigger than FFXIII so I just stopped playing. I tell myself one day I might be so bored I try it again and become surprised, but I said that about Dragon Quest VIII and at least that game was freaking hard.
I think the very last JRPG I every played completely through to the finish without stopping for weeks and months was Blue Dragon. To be honest that game was alright, it was more than likely the music that kept me going though. I wish Uematsu had turned out more sound tracks like that game in his later years.
Anyway I'm at the end of my points. Enjoy your game, but at least acknowledge there's plenty about the current world of JRPGs that kinda sucks, then you can be an otaku without being a fan boy.
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I dont think Rock paper series is a very fitting anolagy in the precise sense.
It would be a fitting anology to pokemon singleplayer or the ship battles in Skies of Arcadia, or to a smalle degree Fire Emblem, but it's not the same thing here.
It's target prioritizing, and shifting when your buffing and debuffing/taking damage/filling break meter/finishing it off.
Also, the sphere grid is pretty good in terms of thinking about what you need. And you eventually get more equipment slots.
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umberhulk: It's an analogy it's not precise. I still think it's rock paper scissors.
They haven't done anything, attack/cast buffs debuffs. They are attacking, cast heal. They just attacked, back to attack/buffs and debuffs. You can add, sometimes they play scissor resistant paper attack, in which case you cast paper so that you don't die.
Instead of worrying about how much damage you're effectively doing, you worry about some other bar and filling it up. Just as you think the game might actually get complicated you find out about paradigms and how you really can reduce all that complexity into three paradigms I call paper scissors and rock. All the strategy now is setting up your paradigms before battle and then playing paper scissors rock again with those paradigms you watch more than you control.
Then again I still find the most enjoyable battle system I ever played with was Chrono Cross. I liked having to choose between stronger and stronger attacks with increased chances for missing as well as stamina costs. Spells of various colors that damaged, added status effects, and created an effect on the field. You could switch players mid attack, and the animations weren't too long, but still cool.
My only complaint was they had too many characters so they couldn't setup more dual techs or tri techs which would have made my party choices more interesting.
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: Blayne: The label fanboy should only be bestowed on those who without apology laud absolutely everything from a broad source.
Which I am technically not in regards to JRPGs I merely defend them when I see criticism regarding them reaching absurd levels. "drrr grind is bad derp".
quote: You have no problems taking jabs at religion, America, and anti-socialists. When it comes to everything East Asia though it's all sixes and sevens. Mind, if we talk about Jiang Jie Shi, or Zhang Rong, you have plenty of criticism. You even managed to agree with 99.9% of humanity on the stupidity of The Great Leap and The Cultural Revolution. So you aren't quite a Communist fan boy anymore so much as a slightly moderate yet strong supporter. That's good!
If I recal I am usually called out on this when my own remarks cross whatever and wherever the line happens to be that particular day.
Thus it is only fair of me to act pissed regarding certain things that cross a certain line wherever it is on a particular day.
quote: I think what people are looking for is for you to acknowledge that many of the Final Fantasy games if not utter crap, have stagnated at the very least. If you are having a great time with the game that's good, I'm glad you found a way to alter your perspective so that even that steaming pile of crap is enjoyable. I sure wasn't able to. But there are plenty things I enjoy that most people don't, and I can acknowledge that my opposition isn't wrong.
And I just don't see the criticism as valid, its like "criticising a midget for being short" most of the things certain people on this board complain about are the very things that make the games enjoyable and fun the play, if we want nonlinear rpgs we'ld play Morrowind!
Final Fantasy was and always will be a franchise of usually noncontinuative (as in no sequals or linking continuality, but as we know theres been a few exceptions recently) generic RPGs with an emphasis on story following roughly the same core gameplay principles that became solidly defined as of Final Fantasy III and polished with FF8, I wouldn't argue that its stagnated, FF isn't a country with a growing economy, its a franchise with a core feel and expectation of it from its fanbase for what a FF game should be, deviating from this 'significantly' outside of a few justified experiments would make it not be final fantasy anymore and then we wouldnt play it because there;d be some other better rpg.
In the sameway I prefer DDO to WOW because while DDO is inferior it at least FEELS like Dungeons and Dragons.
quote: FFXIII is extremely linear, it was intended that way, but intent doesn't translate into good idea, anymore than a ten year old falling over and saying, "Meant to do that!" does. The characters aren't just not new, they are nearly identical to characters we've seen in other games. Lightning is Cloud, yes I know that when they went into character design the game director explicitly asked the designers to conceive of a female version of Cloud. But Cloud was already completely replicated in Squall, and Cloud was foreshadowed by Cecil in FFIV. Snow might as well be Tidus, Vanille might as well be Yuffi, Ouerba is LuLu, Sazh is the other type of Black guy Asians know about. There's Mr. T and Chris Tucker, and different ratios of those two personalities, that's it. At least they got a decent voice actor for him though. Hope is an angsty teenager, I can't really recall that archetype in any other FF games, but it's about as enjoyable as "hero with a secret past."
I'll just point you to the tvtropes article for The Simpsons Already Did It and the general idea that... So? Asking for originality is unreasonable as neatly anything has been done, and what I am satisfied with is CREATIVITY, in fact aside from MAYBE Lightning I didn't see anyone as being from previous games but rather as their Anime character archetype equivilent.
Vanille: Manic Pixie Dream Girl Bordering on Staff Chick and Magical Girlfriend. Snow: Cool Older Brother archetype. Etc Etc. I see alot more anime tropes then I see FF ones. TBH.
quote: The game designers have tried over and over to find a way to gain the epic feel of turn based battles with the unrestricted flow of action found in a real time system. Final Fantasy XII was pretty good at doing this, Final Fantasy XIII tried to add on top of that and it had some interesting concepts but nothing worth running home and writing down.
Neva' played FFXII so with my only frame of reference being Oblivion Imma gonna have to go with FFXIII here as having a neat battle system.
quote: There's nothing really difficult to master in the combat system. It's rock paper scissors but you get to see about five seconds in advance what your opponent is going to use and in case that wasn't enough time don't worry, you have to just stop caring to lose.
So? Starcraft in competitive professional play (cough Korea) comnes down to essentially this as well, Zerg beats Terran, Protoss Beats Zerg, Terran beats Protoss.
Doesn't stop them from pimping it out into the most epic rock paper scissors ever.
quote: Now granted, I didn't make it to the big open world section of the game. I made it somewhere into the second disk and decided I hadn't really had much fun up to that point. There are many things where I don't have to endure any boredom and the payoff is bigger than FFXIII so I just stopped playing. I tell myself one day I might be so bored I try it again and become surprised, but I said that about Dragon Quest VIII and at least that game was freaking hard.
*Shrug*
quote: I think the very last JRPG I every played completely through to the finish without stopping for weeks and months was Blue Dragon. To be honest that game was alright, it was more than likely the music that kept me going though. I wish Uematsu had turned out more sound tracks like that game in his later years.
Anyway I'm at the end of my points. Enjoy your game, but at least acknowledge there's plenty about the current world of JRPGs that kinda sucks, then you can be an otaku without being a fan boy.
None of these points seem to be anywhere near relevent to my rebuttal of Samprany's Appeal To Authority to the Escapists own professional troll (as awesome as Yahtzee generally is hes long since stopped pretending to be objective in his reviews).
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Blayne Bradley
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Oh and yeah, if there IS something I AM a fanboy of its Warhammer 40,000 and the Imperial Guards, ALL HAIL COMMISSAR CIAPHAS CAIN HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!.
Essentially FFXIII just earned +100 points, 198 points remaining.
This game just suddenly became so cool and awesome with this one boss that it would have to release flesh eating beattles in my room before I sstarted to seriously mark it down.
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quote:Which I am technically not in regards to JRPGs I merely defend them when I see criticism regarding them reaching absurd levels. "drrr grind is bad derp".
Well the very word "grind" implies an unpleasant experience. If you are going to make your players work, you should make sure the reward is at least 1:1. In many JRPGs this just translates to higher numbers when you hit things, more hit points, perhaps some new techniques. This is often enough for most people, but in some games you grind and your characters just go off in some direction and get abilities you don't have any inkling are coming. FFXIII gives you *some* options but again it's paper scissors rock. Your characters can be two of any of those three options. OK there's actually 5 options, but one of them is almost completely useless 90% of the time except in two or three important boss battles where you have to have certain debuffs. That's just poor balancing.
quote:If I recal I am usually called out on this when my own remarks cross whatever and wherever the line happens to be that particular day.
Thus it is only fair of me to act pissed regarding certain things that cross a certain line wherever it is on a particular day.
You don't have to be either pissed or overjoyed. You could calmly ask why your opposition seems to have drawn the line there. Reputations take a while to change Blayne, I've still got reputations I'm slowly eroding away myself.
quote:I'll just point you to the tvtropes article for The Simpsons Already Did It and the general idea that... So? Asking for originality is unreasonable as neatly anything has been done, and what I am satisfied with is CREATIVITY, in fact aside from MAYBE Lightning I didn't see anyone as being from previous games but rather as their Anime character archetype equivilent.
I don't buy it. I'm sure we can't create anything completely unique, or even mostly unique, but we can surprise people with new cultures, new ways of thinking, new appearances, new environments. People are capable of so much variety, but Final Fantasy doesn't even try to explore it. Character's motivations are supremely shallow, boring, and unsurprising. Perhaps the philosophy they frequently weave into the conversations is really penetrating, but when translated to English it just sounds like intentional obfuscation, and simplistic meandering. Final Fantasy 4 had an interesting story. You start off as a general for a bad king and eventually you won't do his bidding anymore so you get cast out. Your best friend doesn't have the moral compunctions you have, but he deceives you into letting him help you only to stab you in the back over and over again. At one of the towns you are responsible for destroying you meet an orphan girl, and you feel obligated to take care of her. Eventually you atone for your sins and become a champion of good. Then, the game ends. It's a satisfying story arc! Final Fantasy 6 tried to add science fiction to the mix and it yielded interesting results! FF7 took place completely in the future, again, good results! FF8, they had to make it, but they didn't have ideas. FF9 threw back to the old FF games where we didn't get to see the castles and towns pre-rendered. It was fun to revisit it. I didn't play X, I've seen it played and it seemed OK. Everything since then has just been boring and repetitive. I don't like how the defining characteristic of every character is their hair color.
quote:So? Starcraft in competitive professional play (cough Korea) comnes down to essentially this as well, Zerg beats Terran, Protoss Beats Zerg, Terran beats Protoss.
Doesn't stop them from pimping it out into the most epic rock paper scissors ever.
So? In less competitive play it's far different. And alot of that was ironed out in SC2. Starcraft is a different mechanic. Every battle you start off essentially at level 1 and you have to decide what your strategy is going to be as the battle progresses and you see your opponents moves. It moves along very fast and you are rewarded very quickly.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by umberhulk: Final Fantasy 8 sucks.
Sure did. I remember exploring around towards the beginning and finding a simulator room where you could fight a T-Rex. I beat the snot out of that thing for maybe 45 minutes, and it just kept coming. I couldn't run away either IIRC so I just turned off the game and erased the progress I'd made up til then since I'd last saved. I've never done that in a video game before or since.
That wasn't even the worst part of the game for me.
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13 was pretty good but its too linear and enclosed. It's fights are a little repetative, but all of the FF series were when it comes to the battle mechanics. It is a game worth playing but in all honesty i don't know if i can bring myself to play through it multiple times like I have with 4-9.
Posts: 467 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Samprany we all know Yahtzee's well publisized opinions on JRPGs and that we can safely disregard them as "the ignorant hate speech that it is", hes admitted as much in his TWEWY review that everything he doesn't like about a JRPG are the very things JRPG fans find attractive and that his review of it is a subjective personal opinion and that if we really enjoy a game his review of it shouldn't change anything or have any bearing on it as per his Mail Bag Showdown thread and that his review of FFXIII is just like his SSBB review, something he did because the fans bleeted for it like a thousand sheep and thus takes malicious pleasure in esvicerating it.
If I'm supposed to disregard yahtzee's take entirely for being 'ignorant hate speech,' I also disregard your take for being even more profoundly one-sided.
quote:Samprany's Appeal To Authority to the Escapists own professional troll
You don't understand what an appeal to authority is. Also, my name is "Samprimary," not "Samprany."
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
i mean seriously just saying 'i think this guy said it better than me' does not make an appeal to authority. can the internet as a whole stop throwing out the formal names of fallacies without knowing how to really use them?
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) that this was going to happen so I ain't complaining.
