Playing XIII

Okay, Erel already spoke to me about how retarded I am for buying it, but I got FFXIII in a bargain bin last week and I can finally give more of an imput on it.

WHAT I THINK SO FAR


Story: Fucking stupid and confusing. The story is everwhere and it's so hard for me to keep track of everything. Transitions from one area to the next makes no sense. First, I'm in a garbage dump, then a magic electric forest that makes monsters, then some random town and so on and so forth. The pacing of the story is slow and makes you keep going in fucking circles over and over again. It's annoying. Not to mention relying so heavily on the codex to help make the player understand the story hurts more than helps. L'Cie, Fal'Cie, Cie'my dick, it's so hard to follow in the beginning and after putting about 20 hours in, it's still hard for me to understand what the fuck is going on.

Characters: So far, enjoyable for the most part. Sahz and Fang are my favorite characters. I can finally form my own party. I'm mixing around with characters. Probably gonna keep Sahz and Fang in because they're so useful, I just need to pick a good healer. Character's emote to the stupid situations and they develop. I still don't like Lightning but she's no longer a stubborn bitch but she doesn't exicute main character qualities for me. Snow is okay, he's got some annoying attibutes but he's not awful. Vannile is annoying but then she's now all sad and shit and she just doesn't appeal to me. Hope... Stopped being a cunt. Like I couldn't stand being near him but he's okay now. He still dresses like a girl.

Gameplay: Redundant. Even for a Final Fantasy. Say what you will about XII, at least it had huge areas with so many branching roads that lead to different areas. There were a ton of different roads to take. XIII has one straight narrow passage that is labeled Point A and Point B. Battles look great but they're boring after a while. It's intesting and if perfected could be a great in the next instalment.

Presentation: The game looks great but the art of the world is so illogical and seems to be there just so Square can show off. The landscapes look magical but don't seem to fit in places. I don't understand that forrest you go through with Hope and Lightning. It's so fucking stupid! The music is awful. It all blends together in one big techno mess and none of it is memorable.


This game is almost exactly like VIII for me. Great, well written characters in a horrible story and world that just doesn't flow well. But I loved VIII's soundtrack and the Crysterium is a lot less tedious than Junctioning. It's hard for me to care about the story but I like the characters enough to keep going. I have no idea how far I'm in story wise. I'm on the Fifth Ark now with the full party and I better have a chance to actually roam freely at some point because I'm getting super sick of long straight lines.

Totally agree with you on the story, it's like Square is trying to think to deep about it, and end up confusing everyone, you can make a story memorable and unique without making up stupid l'cie, fal'cie, cieth shit. Characters are all pretty good besides Vanille and Hope, Sazh is a really good character like you said.

Gameplay is a mixed bag, I enjoyed the combat, especially in tough battles, but the game is waaaay too linear for a final fantasy title. I like the crystarium and I thought visuals were great. You will get to free roam when you get to Gran Pulse.