Unskippable: Final Fantasy 13

[Gingernerd]

"Just to look cool"

I cant help but be reminded of a fight against a King Behemoth down on Pulse. It's supposed to be a completely natural creature. Then suddenly evolution happens before my very eyes and the behemoth is now on its hind legs and has managed to evolve itself a chainsaw.

 

[Sable Rhapsody]

You do realize that the term RPG has become pretty much lost. Is Bioshock not an RPG then - I'm Role-playing as my protagonist?

What about Mirrors Edge? Am I not Role-playing Faith?

What about games in which I can make choices, since that seems to be what you're implying - what about Mercenaries 2; in which I can decide which factions I want to support?

The term RPG has become lost because pretty much all games are RPG's to some degree or another nowadays. JRPG's just take on a different gameplay style to WRPG's - it's just a name given to the genre - don't take it so literally...

Hmm. I guess that is a good, if somewhat sad point. Maybe it's because I play tabletop games or something, but to me, a role-playing game involves SOME input on the part of the player into the characterization of the protagonists. Beyond me saying, "Well, I think Master Chief likes jelly donuts and therefore I'm role-playing him!"

 

[UkibyTheMaid]

OK, so, I was expecting something funnier... But, it was just, hm... meh. Although, this is the first tima this ever happened while watching this series, so, I'm not worried XD

The 'fake' FFXIII review, on the other hand, had me laughing from beginning to end =D

 

[Akalistos]

Wow. you got a lot faster through FF6 than i did. Kudos to you.

I have no idea what you're trying to imply with that...

Because you don't seem or rather don't want to acknowledge anything i said. When i give you a example, you delete it and call me name as a reply. So... all i can say is that your either too stupid to understand that even the stuff we love may have flaw and your the shittiest human being ever conceive and your parent should be ashamed of themselves. Now that leave us at 3 insults for you and one for me.

I don't want to ever see another of your post ever again, and i know just how to do that.

 

[D_987]

Because you don't seem or rather don't want to acknowledge anything i said.

Because it's complete garbage with no reasoning or objectivity to back it up. Is this because I put you in a clear corner by asking you to actually name specific examples when the game didn't explain something to you? The points you made either weren't relevant to the discussion, were so poorly written they were impossible to understand, or deliberately mis-read what I had said to ignore a previous point.

When i give you a example, you delete it and call me name as a reply.

Because your examples are either pure crap (as in you literally have no idea how the games story actually works; how can you discuss it logically?) or subjective, which as I pointed out, pretty much comprises your entire argument; but when arguing that something is fundamentally bad-storytelling you need more than opinion. The very fact you continued to try and change the subject displayed your core argument had to basis in truth.

Besides, if you can't take a bit of "name-calling" whilst dishing it out yourself then you shouldn't be on the internet...though what you'd take as an insult from what I'd posted I don't know...

So... all i can say is that your either too stupid to understand that even the stuff we love may have flaw and your the shittiest human being ever conceive and your parent should be ashamed of themselves.

Interesting argument; especially after pretty much all your points were pointed out for the bullshit they were, or the subjective points they were. Is this your attempt to save grace after being unable to argue back? With pretty terribly conceived insults?

Now that leave us at 3 insults for you and one for me.

How childish.

I don't want to ever see another of your post ever again, and i know just how to do that.

If you can't stand actually being forced to prove something when you make a ridiculous statement, and resort to calling me a "troll" (I saw that other thread - you continue to show your childish ways) because I actually proved you wrong - in fact, you admitted you were wrong thorough your own comments...then go ahead; I'd rather discuss such matters with others.

 

[Endocrom]

What's the deal with the japanese and afros with birds in them?

Is this seriously a recurring theme?

The guy in twilight princess that sells oil, seems like there was one in an episode of Samurai Champloo, and others that I can't quite remember.

 

[ZeroKadaver]

I love how nobody realized that the scenes are in fact skippable. YES THAT MEANS CONTRARY TO THE TITLE IDEA.

 

[ZeroKadaver]

On the subject of story direction (this is directed at GrahamS) FFXIII is a lot like the movie momento because if you ever see the movie in full linearity it's a bland pos movie but the movie delivers the scenes in a reverse linear time structure that makes your eye's bleed curiosity. FFXIII drops you in with little information to incite the same curiosity because they understood that playing the first X days before the train would have been much more painful.

In truth this is no more different than any film or media considering that at no moment in the Star Wars movies is the force explained (episodes IV-VI showing only psychic like abilities, I-III only using the word mitoclorions as a standard of measurement). There are novels that go into the finer details about ridiculous stuff that isn't completely utterly necessary for progression like who exactly commissioned the clone army (there is a name dropped but from what I remember he was supposed to be dead before it was commissioned... so mystery) or the 'Clerks' independent contractor debate.

On a personal note if they would have linearized the time event and explanation of every single goddamn detail I would have taken it as an offense against my intelligence though considering that the general population of the world is full of idiots I may have let it go eventually.

 

[Something Amyss]

Is this seriously a recurring theme?

The guy in twilight princess that sells oil, seems like there was one in an episode of Samurai Champloo, and others that I can't quite remember.[/quote]

Oh dear. That is a pattern.

I love how nobody realized that the scenes are in fact skippable. YES THAT MEANS CONTRARY TO THE TITLE IDEA.

While it might be contrary to the title, it's been done before, and it doesn't seem contrary to the spirit.

 

[kogane]

Mind you, Final Fantasy 13 does not automatically turn into an RPG by there being some sort of levelling system in the same fashion that I do not automatically become a car by standing in a garage.

Beautiful analogy.

 

[Tharticus]

Hooray, Final Fantasy XIII for real. Loved the comedy bits there Graham and Paul.

At the end question, I'm sure people has figured it out but when there's a datalog updated, it's a indication to look it up and help you to catch up what's the details. But that is poor storytelling to be exact.

 

[kogane]

First, lemme say that I've seen the BioWare rehash list on TVTropes, and I think it's hysterical, because it's true. Secondly, I completely agree that there are very consistent stock characters, tropes, and plots that BioWare uses, though to be entirely fair, they tend to be true of just about every kind of RPG, not just BioWare's. I mean, if I rattled off the number of RPGs, Western and Japanese, that involve a young protagonist teaming up with a bunch of NPCs to defeat an evil after the protagonist's idyllic sheltered life was shattered, I'd be old before I finished. If I tried to list off the number of fantasy/sci-fi stories in general that did that, I'd be dead before I got halfway.

I think the difference with BioWare is not fundamentally one of creativity. The difference is one of execution. BioWare is excellent at making their worlds immersive, characters interesting, and plots intelligible within about the first thirty minutes. They're terrific at making games that grab your attention, then compel it through sixty hours of game. Fundamentally, BioWare might not have fantastically original ideas or designs--combat tends to be just competent rather than excellent or fresh--but they have excellent writers and solid level design. They're very, very good at putting the player on a more-or-less set and coherent plot with some branching, then hiding the rails and giving us the illusion of player choice. That takes skill, and it gives us RPGs with sensical plots and lots of roleplaying room without the stifling linearity of FFXIII or the "WHA???" of sandbox games where you literally have no idea what the main plot is.

This is a good comment and you should feel good.

 

[CmdrGoob]

That was... Interesting I suppose. Though they failed to understand the point with action scenes it would seem.

Just beacuse you can throw in epic scenes of battle doesn't mean you should. Who were the people? Why were they there? What is the point of them doing this?

In order for things like these to work we need a story that tells us who the characters are and why they have certain goals. By making us understand and care about the characters enables the action scenes to give -tension-. To me the opening cinematic did the opposite effect, making me care more about the soldiers then the main characters, all I saw them do was killing guards and security forces without hesitation.

Or are supposed to automatically assume that beacuse they're authority figures they're "evil", with the main characters being "good" beacuse they are all under the age of twenty?

Yes, exactly, that's a very good summation. The other problem is tone - it sort of seems like they want to set up the feeling of an exciting, dangerous conflict but then they literally switch between people fighting and dying to Snow and his bros joking around and Vanille giggling and saying chiao. The tone is just all over the place, making it very hard to establish a tonal feeling of serious, dangerous conflict, and therefore creating tension. This is further undermined by the fact that if you want to keep up with what all this stuff means you have to pause and read datalog and that further undermines the pacing of a supposedly action packed sequence. It just falls so flat. Poorly written and directed, in my opinion.

Edit: Yet another problem is that by jumping right into showing Lightning beating up the soldiers like its nothing is that it looks so easy it's like there's no danger at all.

It's like absolutely everything in that section ends up not just failing to build tension but actively undermining it, and then end result - boring.

 

[CmdrGoob]

After watching this video I'm beginning to see the minimalist's approach as a long forgotten utopia. It's like writing a text composed entirely of all the nice, shiny adjectives you can find.

These games are more random than stray bullets.

Yeah, that's a very good comment, I agree, I've seen so many stories told through not much more than text boxes that are vastly more engaging than this overproduced pile. Everything from the visual design to the writing is overwrought.

 

[historybuff]

You know, FF characters have it so easy these days. Would have been that at one time, the player would have gotten to control them while fighting on a train. But, no. Not anymore. Now the fancy dancy cut scene has done all the work for them.

How boring. FF games really remind me of that "spectacle fighter" genre.

Which is a shame because I enjoy FFVII and IX was okay.

 

[Yelchor]

Yes, exactly, that's a very good summation. The other problem is tone - it sort of seems like they want to set up the feeling of an exciting, dangerous conflict but then they literally switch between people fighting and dying to Snow and his bros joking around and Vanille giggling and saying chiao. The tone is just all over the place, making it very hard to establish a tonal feeling of serious, dangerous conflict, and therefore creating tension. This is further undermined by the fact that if you want to keep up with what all this stuff means you have to pause and read datalog and that further undermines the pacing of a supposedly action packed sequence. It just falls so flat. Poorly written and directed, in my opinion.

Edit: Yet another problem is that by jumping right into showing Lightning beating up the soldiers like its nothing is that it looks so easy it's like there's no danger at all.

It's like absolutely everything in that section ends up not just failing to build tension but actively undermining it, and then end result - boring.

It would seem that we're in agreement on all points.

Also, I'm pretty sure Final Fantasy XIII is supposed to be a game, which implies interactivity. Yet here we get to see the playable characters doing all sorts of things without us being able to do it ourselves. Yathzee made a good point about this in his review I say.

Making the cinematic a playable scene would provide tension without having to make greater amounts of effort, since it gives the steering wheels into the hands of a player who I'm pretty sure doesn't have an invincible health bar.

The tone of the game appears to be stretched out on too many different areas. It just becomes a mess that can reach pretty bizarre if not out-right disturbing levels at times. The "hero" characters appear more like phsycotic terrorists then anything else for crying out loud!

 

[Thick]

I was honestly expecting, and kind of hoping, that this was another fake out.

But still, there was some plenty funny moments in it. Someone above mentioned a blood sugar monitor joke that I don't remember, have to go back and look for that... sounds like a good joke at least.

 

[Fortesque]

Calling his Chocobo, Chocobo makes about as much sense as Mordeci calling his Bloodwing, Bloodwing.

 

[Epigone]

I'm kinda surprised you stayed away from the whole Chocobo-nesting-in-Fro thing, but glad that you did focus on its size. I was so hooked on "Why is there a chick in the mans HAIR" to notice anything else.

Usually a guy is in the chicks hair. Haha bad pun...