For the past 3 weeks I've been playing Final Fantasy 13. Tonight, I finished it. I am a long-time veteran of the series so I was excited going in to this experience. With Square-Enix's long track record of quality and innovation, I was quite surprised to find an uneven and stagnant game that took hours upon hours to get good.First off I must say, this is the most gorgeous game I have ever seen. It pushes the PS3 to its technological limits. You often can't tell the difference between the pre-rendered and live-action cut scenes. The character animations are flawless and the big set pieces were just jaw-dropping.
But this is a video game, some of that is to be expected. Beauty and technological artistry are simply not enough to make a good game. An RPG, like Final Fantasy, requires a compelling story, likable characters and fun and innovative game play. Sadly, these were lacking.
Let's start with the story. Wait, who is that guy? I think I remember him from 10 hours ago. He looks like a tranny. The story was convoluted to put it lightly. You are thrown into a world with many strange names and customs, I mean really strange. Don't get me wrong, I love a complicated and intricate plot, I just had a difficult time finding concepts to ground to, ways to bring myself into the story. You have long conversations with little comprehension of the topic, and are expected to remember, for example, the difference between a "Fal'Cie" and a "L'Cie", 30 hours after discussing it. The story did make sense by the end, but boy was it a strange journey getting there.
To me, the clearest suffering in the plot was the exclusion of one key device: an antagonist. Ok, that's not fair, there were a couple throughout, but all were completely forgettable. The Big Bad Boss reveals himself eventually, but I had no attachment to him nor did I understand my motivation to defeat him. In fact, it seemed that the best course of action to "save the world" was to do nothing. I guess that's a new one. The story jumps around a lot, and when it did come together in the end, I was indifferent.
Ok, I didn't like the story. What about the game play?
Some aspects of this I liked. I liked the paradigm system and the roles. The leveling mechanic was fine. These, however, were overshadowed by irritating developer choices. The weapon and item leveling system was a mess. The layout of the first half of the game is, as one reviewer described it, "a conveyor belt of enemies." You basically run in a straight line, defeat one group of enemies, watch an often pointless cut scene, and repeat. This is for the first 25 hours(!) of the game! I almost quit many times, but it's Final Fantasy! I HAVE to see this through! Right?Ugh...
The light at the end of the... conveyor belt. Around hour 25, everything opened up. You could move freely, choose your own party, customize your characters attributes, take on missions and set your own pace. Once I found a good mob to grind (I actually looked FORWARD to grinding at this point), I was a happy camper.
I believe all of this comes down to one larger issue: Japanese game-developers have lost touch with the western gamer. This game felt old. Excluding the battle system, it didn't do anything new. Bioware and Bethesda have innovated the RPG space so thoroughly, it has become a whole new genre. We want choices! We want a clear and, at least, mildly grounded plot structure.I fear that one of my favorite franchises may have lost a devoted fan for good.
Maybe its me. Maybe games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fallout, Heavy Rain, and Fable have changed how I view RPGs. Am I alone in this view? I hope Japan can learn from these new game styles and bring Final Fantasy back to the forefront of RPG experience and innovation.
Also, what was with all of the sex noises?
