2014-01-29, 10:36 AM
Meh. Much as I enjoy the arguments on the quality of XIII, I'll keep this brief.
It was kinda the reverse for me with the original XIII. I found the story and characters flawed, while the battle system was the thing that kept me playing (though the gameplay outside of battling was lacking, to say the least).
This is my main issue with the story of FF XIII. A story that relies on telling rather than showing is not good storytelling at all. It's an immersion breaker (along with the linearity and lack of exploration) to rely on an ingame database to explain important events and backstory rather than allowing the player to discover it themselves through the events of the story and their own exploration. It just reduces player agency and without that immersion, I found it hard to empathize with the characters or feel connected with the world. I actually agree that it was a fascinating world with alot of potential for backstory and explanation, but that's all it is.
Enough rambling on the original. I tried the demo, and the battle system is as fun as I remember it, a faster paced evolution of the ATB system. The throwbacks to old school FF jobs with the job system er... costumes was a nice touch. I listened to parts of the OST on youtube, and it was alright. Didn't make as much of an impression to me as the OST in the original.
Overall, the demo was alright, but the game ain't worth the price of admission to me, not with Bravely Default coming soon. I just feel indifferent to the whole thing.
Razmos Wrote:And it being the crappiest installment is purely subjective. I enjoyed the first game for it's story and characters, but the gameplay was lacking. Inversely, I found XIII-2 was much better gameplay-wise, but the story was all over the place and timey-wimey.
It was kinda the reverse for me with the original XIII. I found the story and characters flawed, while the battle system was the thing that kept me playing (though the gameplay outside of battling was lacking, to say the least).
Razmos Wrote:I've come to realize that they didn't do a good job at "selling" the mythology and backstory to the FF XIII world, due to it mostly being told through datalogs, and only snippets of it being shown in Dialogue and stuff. I found this really great post that breaks it down and explains it all in a really good way using the info given through the games and in guides and stuff, and it's by far one of the most in-depth final fantasy worlds ever. (not including Final Fantasy XII, that world already had an established backstory)
This is my main issue with the story of FF XIII. A story that relies on telling rather than showing is not good storytelling at all. It's an immersion breaker (along with the linearity and lack of exploration) to rely on an ingame database to explain important events and backstory rather than allowing the player to discover it themselves through the events of the story and their own exploration. It just reduces player agency and without that immersion, I found it hard to empathize with the characters or feel connected with the world. I actually agree that it was a fascinating world with alot of potential for backstory and explanation, but that's all it is.
Enough rambling on the original. I tried the demo, and the battle system is as fun as I remember it, a faster paced evolution of the ATB system. The throwbacks to old school FF jobs with the job system er... costumes was a nice touch. I listened to parts of the OST on youtube, and it was alright. Didn't make as much of an impression to me as the OST in the original.
Overall, the demo was alright, but the game ain't worth the price of admission to me, not with Bravely Default coming soon. I just feel indifferent to the whole thing.