TornadoCreator said:
...so there's that and, well, ranting and expressing disappointment is cathartic. It's good to get it out and scream about something that pisses you off. Also, a part of me wants other people enraged because maybe, just maybe, there's an outside chance that Squeenix will realise that they can't make games worth a shit any more and they'll go back to what they used to do. I'm even tentatively optimistic as Bravely Default proved they're not totally hopeless. |
Ok, I get your intentions ^_^
I don't agree with your analysis tough.
Your first point is that the game is bad because story makes no sense. You explain coherence problems, mostly because of misunderstandings (that Wright explains well). But even without that. Does the universe need to be 100% coherent for a story to be enjoyed ? For example in FFX, Al Bhed have been there for a thousand year studying awesome technology but there is still one airship made by one man and no one seems to be able to compete with that in their community. And he only appears when you need it, despite his daughter clearly needing it. This didn't bothered me at all, I loved FFX story.
Now for the second point, level design. Yes it's linear. Now, do J-RPG need big open world map ?
Long ago, RPG in video game was invented. It was inspired by tabletop RPG, in wich you have a lot of freedom to tell your story.
But with time passing, RPG took two different path, western and japanese. Western RPGs are still a lot like tabletops ones, where you create your character, choose your path etc. While J-RPGs try to tell a story. The story chosen by the devs. And at some point, FXIII story needed to be told in "straight fuckin lines", because it's cocoon. And Cocoon is a urbanized jail. And you need to feel claustrophobic to get that amazing sense of freedom in Pulse, because that's what Pulse really means for humanity in XIII.
I agree with you on upgrading weapon, I actually didn't do it before post game.
But I love combat. It's not about auto or manual mode, that's your choice there. But paradigm shift system was awesome IMO, and I liked to try getting 5 stars on each and every battle. And I had fun.
The crystarium was limited, and that was annoying, but choosing between specialty was good enough. Trying to maximize the system is fun too BTW.
I hate random encounters. Play DDS or SMT and you'll probably feel the same. So i'll leave it there.
Finally, I wasn't bored during the playtrough, and had pretty clear objectives most of the times. Except on Pulse, but that's pretty much how the characters feel it too. Of course it was still kinda annoying.
Points you forgot : Amazing OST, good length overall, lack of minigames, great character design (totally subjective), great artstyle and graphics in general.
