Zero Punctuation: Final Fantasy XIII
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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I first watched this review when it 1st came out.. and I put off commenting on it until I had actually played it myself...
I'm currently about 16 hours in and so far I actually quite like the game.. It is a bit annoying sometimes with the whole "corridor" thing, which is made worse if you turn the map on and you actually SEE just how much of a corridor it is! But they story itself is quite well done.. I admit they could have done with describing what the hell was going on at the beginning a lot better (by actually doing it) rather than waiting until you'd finished that section to tell you what you'd just been doing.
I'd say it's a good game... better than FF12 anyway. But coulda done with some more open areas.
I'm currently about 16 hours in and so far I actually quite like the game.. It is a bit annoying sometimes with the whole "corridor" thing, which is made worse if you turn the map on and you actually SEE just how much of a corridor it is! But they story itself is quite well done.. I admit they could have done with describing what the hell was going on at the beginning a lot better (by actually doing it) rather than waiting until you'd finished that section to tell you what you'd just been doing.
I'd say it's a good game... better than FF12 anyway. But coulda done with some more open areas.
I haven't finished the game yet (still in Pulse), but I've got to say, FFXIII is the single most mentally exhausting video game I've ever played. I know the characters are on the run through almost the entirety of the game and the structure adds to this feeling, but it's NOT pleasant in the least. Yeah, the graphics are beautiful, the music is beautiful, the monsters are interesting... but the player doesn't have any time to admire any of these things before they're whisked away on the run again! Because the game never slows down, we never get a feel for the characters outside of a highly emotional state because of the desperate situation they're in. And then, everything screeches to a halt to be replaced by - a grindfest, presumably before the final battle.
It also doesn't help that the new trend in Japanese story-telling is in non-chronological snippets and purposefully witholding crucial plot information from the viewer. True, the datalogue did help with regards to the 13 days flashbacks, but should we even have to go through a series of randomly-timed, random-ordered flashbacks in the first place? The rest of the datalogue aside from the instruction manual was a total waste of space. I mean what's the use of a beastiary if we're never going to encounter any of the monsters we've passed up ever again?
I heard when they were developing the battle system that it was supposed to be cinematic? Maybe it was,but I couldn't tell because if I took my eyes off of my health bar for more than five seconds then I would be dead before I even realized it (which isn't even an exaggeration, because the other two members of the party continue to move around even though they're completely useless).
And as for story elements not matching up with gameplay, I did a facepalm when Lightning and Hope looked like they were supposed to be sneaking around the Coccoon guards to get to the pipes, when actually you have to fight every one of them you come across just to get the minimum CP that keeps the characters trucking through the linear portion of the story.
Also, jumping over obstacles without requiring the player to actually tell their character to jump. -_-'
How many years has it been since FFX? And I'm still waiting for characters that I actually give a damn about (excepting that brief moment of respite in Balthier and Evil Cid
).
I will finished this game though, oh, I will... And then I'll look for a copy of FFVI.
It also doesn't help that the new trend in Japanese story-telling is in non-chronological snippets and purposefully witholding crucial plot information from the viewer. True, the datalogue did help with regards to the 13 days flashbacks, but should we even have to go through a series of randomly-timed, random-ordered flashbacks in the first place? The rest of the datalogue aside from the instruction manual was a total waste of space. I mean what's the use of a beastiary if we're never going to encounter any of the monsters we've passed up ever again?
I heard when they were developing the battle system that it was supposed to be cinematic? Maybe it was,but I couldn't tell because if I took my eyes off of my health bar for more than five seconds then I would be dead before I even realized it (which isn't even an exaggeration, because the other two members of the party continue to move around even though they're completely useless).
And as for story elements not matching up with gameplay, I did a facepalm when Lightning and Hope looked like they were supposed to be sneaking around the Coccoon guards to get to the pipes, when actually you have to fight every one of them you come across just to get the minimum CP that keeps the characters trucking through the linear portion of the story.
Also, jumping over obstacles without requiring the player to actually tell their character to jump. -_-'
How many years has it been since FFX? And I'm still waiting for characters that I actually give a damn about (excepting that brief moment of respite in Balthier and Evil Cid
).I will finished this game though, oh, I will... And then I'll look for a copy of FFVI.
Wholeheartedly agreed. What good is a game that turns awesome at the 20 hour mark when the first 20 hours are so dull no one's likely to play through them?
(And Honestly Yahtzee, I have to commend you. I posted my own review of FFXII on my examiner.com account, and it took no longer than an hour for someone to find it and post how I was 'by far the worst' reviewer they'd ever seen, because 'if I'd read every REAL journalists' review, I'd know it got exponentially better at the 20 hour mark'.
And this is me, a nobody with a whole 4 articles under my belt. You must get thousands of those. For having the ability to put up with such, I salute you.)
(And Honestly Yahtzee, I have to commend you. I posted my own review of FFXII on my examiner.com account, and it took no longer than an hour for someone to find it and post how I was 'by far the worst' reviewer they'd ever seen, because 'if I'd read every REAL journalists' review, I'd know it got exponentially better at the 20 hour mark'.
And this is me, a nobody with a whole 4 articles under my belt. You must get thousands of those. For having the ability to put up with such, I salute you.)
I've played 7, 10, 12 and 13. 7 I made it to the golden saucer before getting bored, 10 I got to just after blitz ball and am still not bored, 12 I think I got to the sewer under a castle or something... it was like 30 minutes in anyway, and with 13 I got to where you first take control of snow. I think if a game doesn't draw you in it hasn't done it's job, when people say "You haven't given it a chance." It seems odd to me because, as the customer, surely they should be working for our approval... why should we pay for something and then desperately try to like it when we have no reason to? 13 is pretty in most places but that field where you fight adamantoise and stuff is ridiculously flat, it's just like a plane with a texture shoved on it, seems lazy, and the character's hands are all blocky like they stole them from kryten. I like the cut scenes because they look good but awesome cut scenes in amongst like 60 hours of wandering isn't really enough to hold a game together. As always with Y's reviews, even if it's you're favorite game you can't disagree with anything he says lol, man makes some damn good points.
Also, turn based combat is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever experienced. Why am I just standing here waiting to attack this thing? If it's going to attack me why can't I move out of the way? It takes all of the fun and skill out of fights, it seems like something someone would HAVE to do for a living rather than entertainment. It's retarded, if someone summons an enormous fire demon thing then they should just be able to whack the hell out of the monster with it rather than using it for like 1 turn, and why is it that everyone in your team just waits till the other guy's had a go to hit the enemies? They shouldn't be worrying about etiquette in that situation, all pile on at once nd beat the thing to hell.
Although I actually enjoy the game, I quite agree with most of your criticism. btw, when you made the comment about Vanille (the quirky one) acting like she's from outer space, it was quite ironic, because you later find out that she IS from outer space. I totally agree with you that she doesn't typically make any sense... even her narration of the story doesn't seem to match what's happening. I'm hoping that some of it was lost in translation, because my only alternative theory is that the writers at Squaresoft recently discovered meth.
I have been an (almost exclusively) RPG player, mainly playing JRPGs because according to the world I have no taste in games, and this review pretty much sums up the game. Seriously. I LIKE (well, usually like) games like this and I hated it. Character suck, story makes less sense than, well, the fact that I have created a profile on this site, I don't want to read a book that is set in the menu to get the story, because that's fucking crap.
I played Final Fantasy 8 before any of the other FF games, and it was that game that got me into gaming. I played 7 afterward and hated it. Liked 9, hated 10 and X-2 (who thought that was a good idea?) and really enjoyed 12, mainly because the gameplay was a bit different. I didn't play anything before 7 because honestly I couldn't be bothered. I don't care if they're better quality story telling. I'm shallow and enjoy 3D.
Anyway, thank you Mr. Yahtzee, for summing up everything that was bad about the game. I also only played five hours, but I watched one of my friends play his 20+ hour game for a couple of hours, and none of the characters seemed any more fleshed out and he was still running down linear hallways. I couldn't give two fucks and a slap on the ass about Douchebag with a Hero Complex or his crystallized Seraaaaaah, or Ms. I hate my real name and Lightning seems like a good choice because there's no reason to.
Also, the battle system sucks and is boring.
I played Final Fantasy 8 before any of the other FF games, and it was that game that got me into gaming. I played 7 afterward and hated it. Liked 9, hated 10 and X-2 (who thought that was a good idea?) and really enjoyed 12, mainly because the gameplay was a bit different. I didn't play anything before 7 because honestly I couldn't be bothered. I don't care if they're better quality story telling. I'm shallow and enjoy 3D.
Anyway, thank you Mr. Yahtzee, for summing up everything that was bad about the game. I also only played five hours, but I watched one of my friends play his 20+ hour game for a couple of hours, and none of the characters seemed any more fleshed out and he was still running down linear hallways. I couldn't give two fucks and a slap on the ass about Douchebag with a Hero Complex or his crystallized Seraaaaaah, or Ms. I hate my real name and Lightning seems like a good choice because there's no reason to.
Also, the battle system sucks and is boring.
Hmm. I actually somewhat enjoy the game, though the difficulty curve when you get to Gran Pulse is like taking a flaming corkscrew and shoving it up your bung-hole.
Eidolon (And am I the only one who's bothered by their pronunciation of this?) battles are ridiculously difficult and pure-luck based, and the fact that character development literally takes 5 hours to begin is a major turn-off.
However I do love the Paradigm system because it for a split-second overshadows the crappy battle music.
I personally like the tactics you have to employ later on to not get screwed over in battle, the environments from time to time, some of the character development once that train gets chugging along, and the Crystalarium, but the game is seriously lack-luster.
EDIT: I think it's because of my admirable patience that I didn't gouge out my eyes at the complete crap that was the beginning, and the lack of explanation for anything that's going on.
Eidolon (And am I the only one who's bothered by their pronunciation of this?) battles are ridiculously difficult and pure-luck based, and the fact that character development literally takes 5 hours to begin is a major turn-off.
However I do love the Paradigm system because it for a split-second overshadows the crappy battle music.
I personally like the tactics you have to employ later on to not get screwed over in battle, the environments from time to time, some of the character development once that train gets chugging along, and the Crystalarium, but the game is seriously lack-luster.
EDIT: I think it's because of my admirable patience that I didn't gouge out my eyes at the complete crap that was the beginning, and the lack of explanation for anything that's going on.
Would you consider Destructoid's review unprofessional? They hated the game for one very big reason, among others: Good art not compensating for a poorly executed story and game.nicodeemus327 said:
Read it and see for yourself: http://www.destructoid.com/review-final-fantasy-xiii-167136.phtml
From Destructiod: "The game has plenty of promising ideas. The central theme of inescapable destiny, interspersed with hints of racial prejudice and propaganda, could have been something excellent. However, not enough time is devoted to the exploration of these themes. Instead, most of the game is given over to having the characters whine about how hopeless their situation is every thirty minutes. That's when the game isn't introducing epic FMV cutscenes that contain no narrative value whatsoever, just because Square Enix's art department felt like publicly masturbating."
Agreed. I saw nothing but that sort of thing in the months leading up to the game's release, and once the game came out and someone convinced my to rent it from work, which is Gamestop by the way, I knew Square Enix had done something wrong. Afterward, I kept wondering why this game was given such high reviews, and I think it's because people know it's bad, but just can't bring themselves to admit that this game deserves a lower score than almost everyone has given it.
But, I guess word has gotten around. My store alone now has almost twenty used copies sitting in our drawers, and nearly the same number of reserves that have not been picked up yet. Plus, every time someone brings FF XIII back, they often say they didn't like what Square had done, which is give them a linear game and a poor story with nothing but nice graphics to pad it out.
And, I agree.
Much as I love XIII, Yahtzee makes some fair points. In many ways, the series has declined since VI, and while I like the later ones, VI remains one of my favourites by far. On the other hand, his "four discs" comment becomes irrelevant as soon as you dump the 360 and go PS3...
So, he doesn't like the ATB system? I personally think XIII's variation on ATB is the best so far, btw. Still, if Yahtzee wants a Final Fantasy game to give him some push-button-to-kill-enemy action, he needs to review Dissidia. I'd seriously love to hear what he thinks of that.
So, he doesn't like the ATB system? I personally think XIII's variation on ATB is the best so far, btw. Still, if Yahtzee wants a Final Fantasy game to give him some push-button-to-kill-enemy action, he needs to review Dissidia. I'd seriously love to hear what he thinks of that.
If Yahtzee is interested in a JRPG that doesn't have turn-based combat or characters that are agnsty teenagers with ridiculous haircuts and clothing, you should give Tales of Vesperia a try. It's currently only out on the 360 everywhere that isn't Japan (who also get it for the PS3 with enough extras to choke a donkey) and honestly the most fun I've ever had with a JRPG.
You want to press one button to walk up to the enemy to smash him on his head? That's what Tales of Vesperia and every other Tales game does. And Yuri Lowell, is one of the most badass main characters I've ever seen in a JRPG.
You want to press one button to walk up to the enemy to smash him on his head? That's what Tales of Vesperia and every other Tales game does. And Yuri Lowell, is one of the most badass main characters I've ever seen in a JRPG.
I bought the action figures that were released prior to the games release and find that if I had to choose between watching a game that had little to do with me actually playing it I'd rather stick to playing with the action figures and making my own story up. It was nearly just as expensive, but at least I get to control what happens, haha!
Couldn't have said it better myself, I got to about 8 hours before i had to quit or risk brain damage. Some people say i didn't give it a chance if after 8 hours you have failed to make me care than something is wrong.
