I just do not get it. HOW did this game get made? Sure I heard the stories (they had to upgrade and invent game engines... Even though they could have used UNREAL 3 easily) and the excuses for it are near insulting! Just read what Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama said. Look, I get that's hard to tell a compelling story with good characters, plot and in the case of a video game, fun and compelling gameplay. But it's NOT HARD to tell if the story is bad or not! Okay, first thing is first: The writing... WOW this writing makes "The Room" look like "Inception"! The characters rarely talk about their motivations... or themselves really, it's all over the top emotion and constantly repeating themselves and even going as far to pretty much say that the next part of the game is just to grind and level up... And then we have to read in game data logs as to why thing are happening... Tell me that doesn't sound insultingly stupid.
The story and plot, though I'll give a bit of detail, I can sum up in one word: Pathetic! Constantly crashing in on itself, there are practically no rules in this world, the Fal'ie, L'cie focus thing is never consistent, it's just an over all mess. One great example is the "Checkov's Gun" rule. Introduce a gun in the first act, it needs to be used in the second or third act. In this case: Lightning, the lead character uses an item called a "gravcon". It makes her jump through the air at high speeds, survive long falls... and it breaks in the first hour of the game and it's never used again (and it wasn't even mentioned)... WHY would you NOT put that into the story!?
The characters: I HATE THEM SO MUCH!!! Lightning is supposed to be based on the idea of a female version of Cloud Strife (lead character from the masterpiece Final Fantasy VII) and I don't know what happened here but she was just so unlikable! Temperamental to the point of physically abusive, genocidal tendencies and whenever she does do something good, it almost seems like it's out of spite... I just don't get it at all. Sazh is okay I guess but even then, there's nothing really special about him. Hope is annoying, Snow is stupid, Vanille is also annoying and Fang is just BLAND! The side characters are bland, nonsensical and overall forgettable and the villain is one of the worst villains I have ever seen in a game, his plan is so stupid that it's so hard to comprehend how someone wrote it.
The gameplay... Boring. No, there's nothing else to say, it's boring.
I just don't get how people like this game, even reviews from the big critics like Game Informer were more scathing the game more than praising it... yet they STILL gave it a "Gold Rating" while later on, giving a Silver rating on the much better made Final Fantasy XV and it was heavily praised every which way and its flaws were minor... I just don't understand it.
The ONLY thing this game has going for it is the graphics. Good GOD this game is gorgeous! So much work went into every bit of detail and it does shine... Which actually makes me more angry when I think about it.
I suppose I can say the English voice acting is great too. Jack Fletcher is one of the best voice directors in the business and the cast is stellar... But it's wasted on idiotic dialogue and it breaks me heart.
Yet the worst part of it all is this: All it needs is three or four tweaks and it EASILY could have been in the top 5 Final Fantasy games. That's it...
Despite the characters pathetic dialogue, they all have brilliant backstories. Just take out some of the datalogue stuff and put it in the actual dialogue and go from there, it does write itself. The gameplay, just follow Either Kingdom Hearts example or tweak Final Fantasy XII's gameplay. There, done. Keep Lightning's Gravcon thing unbroken and give the others a Gravcon and there, now you know how they can be so strong. The story does need a bit of an overall re-write but even then it's relatively flexible.
But that's just it. Final Fantasy XIII is just AWFUL! I recommend it to nobody unless you're studying graphics.
The story and plot, though I'll give a bit of detail, I can sum up in one word: Pathetic! Constantly crashing in on itself, there are practically no rules in this world, the Fal'ie, L'cie focus thing is never consistent, it's just an over all mess. One great example is the "Checkov's Gun" rule. Introduce a gun in the first act, it needs to be used in the second or third act. In this case: Lightning, the lead character uses an item called a "gravcon". It makes her jump through the air at high speeds, survive long falls... and it breaks in the first hour of the game and it's never used again (and it wasn't even mentioned)... WHY would you NOT put that into the story!?
The characters: I HATE THEM SO MUCH!!! Lightning is supposed to be based on the idea of a female version of Cloud Strife (lead character from the masterpiece Final Fantasy VII) and I don't know what happened here but she was just so unlikable! Temperamental to the point of physically abusive, genocidal tendencies and whenever she does do something good, it almost seems like it's out of spite... I just don't get it at all. Sazh is okay I guess but even then, there's nothing really special about him. Hope is annoying, Snow is stupid, Vanille is also annoying and Fang is just BLAND! The side characters are bland, nonsensical and overall forgettable and the villain is one of the worst villains I have ever seen in a game, his plan is so stupid that it's so hard to comprehend how someone wrote it.
The gameplay... Boring. No, there's nothing else to say, it's boring.
I just don't get how people like this game, even reviews from the big critics like Game Informer were more scathing the game more than praising it... yet they STILL gave it a "Gold Rating" while later on, giving a Silver rating on the much better made Final Fantasy XV and it was heavily praised every which way and its flaws were minor... I just don't understand it.
The ONLY thing this game has going for it is the graphics. Good GOD this game is gorgeous! So much work went into every bit of detail and it does shine... Which actually makes me more angry when I think about it.
I suppose I can say the English voice acting is great too. Jack Fletcher is one of the best voice directors in the business and the cast is stellar... But it's wasted on idiotic dialogue and it breaks me heart.
Yet the worst part of it all is this: All it needs is three or four tweaks and it EASILY could have been in the top 5 Final Fantasy games. That's it...
Despite the characters pathetic dialogue, they all have brilliant backstories. Just take out some of the datalogue stuff and put it in the actual dialogue and go from there, it does write itself. The gameplay, just follow Either Kingdom Hearts example or tweak Final Fantasy XII's gameplay. There, done. Keep Lightning's Gravcon thing unbroken and give the others a Gravcon and there, now you know how they can be so strong. The story does need a bit of an overall re-write but even then it's relatively flexible.
But that's just it. Final Fantasy XIII is just AWFUL! I recommend it to nobody unless you're studying graphics.