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Final Fantasy XIII and JRPGS
16 years ago
General
We pen our fate to the parchment of time...
Okay, I'm not going to deny it; I'm excited about Final Fantasy XIII. It comes out a day before my birthday, it looks beautiful, I love the character Lightning, but I'm a little upset with how people are looking at this game.
I've read a lot of information on it from various gaming websites and a lot of the complaints people are happening are the very linear progression the game has to offer, often being compared to games like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect (2). I'm surprised so many people consider Bioware games the pinnacle of an RPG experience. Really, all you get in more traditional western RPGs is a A) Be nice B) Be bad, or C) be the middle ground.
People tend to forget that the Final Fantasy series is not supposed to suck YOU in and make YOU the hero, it's a well presented book with some combat interface. When someone reads a book they are not making the choice about what the main character is doing, they're along for the ride. When people realize that games, like JRPGs, are like that I think people will stop throwing so many stones and nit picking.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Dragon Age but comparing it to Final Fantasy is like comparing The Lord of the Rings to Star Wars. Yeah they may have some rough similarities but they're very different beasts.
Anyway, just wanted to say that. =P
Peace!
I've read a lot of information on it from various gaming websites and a lot of the complaints people are happening are the very linear progression the game has to offer, often being compared to games like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect (2). I'm surprised so many people consider Bioware games the pinnacle of an RPG experience. Really, all you get in more traditional western RPGs is a A) Be nice B) Be bad, or C) be the middle ground.
People tend to forget that the Final Fantasy series is not supposed to suck YOU in and make YOU the hero, it's a well presented book with some combat interface. When someone reads a book they are not making the choice about what the main character is doing, they're along for the ride. When people realize that games, like JRPGs, are like that I think people will stop throwing so many stones and nit picking.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Dragon Age but comparing it to Final Fantasy is like comparing The Lord of the Rings to Star Wars. Yeah they may have some rough similarities but they're very different beasts.
Anyway, just wanted to say that. =P
Peace!
Though the linearity does seem a bit unnecessary at times. Most people aren't complaining about the linearity of the story so much as the linearity of the levels. Most of the maps are straight lines from point a to point b. More imaginative maps would've been welcome.
Not a big deal, though. I'm pumped.
I don't know, I can't judge a game I haven't played. I just feel people thought FF XIII was some divine item sent from the heavens and it ended up just being a regular game.
Maybe people just wanted more choices, customization, and activities in the game. Which has been a very important aspect in gaming all around. As far as the reviews go, FF XIII didn't seem to fall too short from that. Even so, FF XIII -seemed- to bring in too many conveniences as far as getting things over with other than the fact that battle has more strategy and skill involved than a casual player would wish for? *shrugs* No idea and have yet to play the game, I don't usually trust reviewers standards unless they know what it means to be skilled. As far as story goes, at least they have that...apparently with a cheezy script though.
I can't understand the argument about it being unimaginative when you have other games heralded as wonderful classics. DA:O has the jerkish warlord humans, elves who love trees and dwarves who live in caves. HMMMM. Sounds a lot like something someone wrote about...oh wait!
I mean you can throw rocks but at the same time you can't say something like DA:O is the best thing to happen to RPGs in terms of story content when they blatantly rip off the staples of the genre they're in.
I see FFXIII for what it's meant to be. An interactive story, but a story non-the-less. I think people have gotten a little too side-tracked with RPGs these days, which showcase off way too many extra things. It'll all really come down to the combat and how challenging they make it, really. FFXIII isn't going to be much different than older RPGs ever were. One room followed by another, followed by another, with a little exploration within that room, but a linear progression regardless.
I don't think you can get two games completely oppisite of each other like those two.
Game are supposed to be fun, right?
Anyway, on another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my good wolf :)
My primary complaint about JRPGs, though, is that the book is often a bad one. When I played Fire Emblem or Odin Sphere, the mechanics underlying the game were fantastic- but instead of playing the game, I was listening to some stupid story punctuated by playing the game (which would every now and then be ruined by plot changes). The linearity isn't the problem- it's the quality of the storytelling, and the unwelcome intrusion of plot into the gameplay. I think FF6 was the last one where I genuinely enjoyed the plot, and don't remember too much in the way of plot intruding on gameplay. FF7, though, had a plot I didn't particularly like, and killed off a character without warning. It possibly drew you into the story, but also wasted anything you had invested into them.
And when you're at a bad chapter in the book? You can't just skip ahead, like with a real book, or skim. You've got to fight the battles, train, whatever, until you're permitted to read the next section of the book. No thanks, I think I'll play a game that realizes it's a game.