| TruckOSaurus said: Great post, I thought I'd comment on the story perspective. Final Fantasy X definitely had a main character (Tidus) and I really liked the whole story about Sin, Summoners, Guardians, the Final Summoning, Seymour, etc... I was brillantly told because since Tidus came from a different era we got to discover Spira with him. It was easy to feel involved in the quest and you hated Seymour, the order of Yevon and really wanted to rid Spira of Sin for good. Final Fantasy XII had a very mature story, I remember enjoying it a lot, sadly I've yet to replay the game in full so I don't remember all that much from it. Final Fantasy XIII's story was a mess, it introduced so many concepts without explaining them properly, what you're fighting against is very abstract and to this day I'm not exactly sure what a Fal'Cie is and what they really do. They just hammer you with "We're L'Cie, we've gotta realize our focus" all game long. So in short, I agree with X and XII making huge progress in the story telling department but XIII was a big step back. |
Well, You could also say that Yuna was the main character... They both share equal importance in my opinion. Yuna is not only the love affair of Tidus. She has an internal struggle... Should she sacrifice her life in order to save so many other people (altruism)? Or should she abandon her pilgrimage and live a life together with Tidus (egoism)? For the people of Spira, Yuna is the heroine and Tidus is "just" a guardian.
Final Fantasy XIII had a real strong story. But it needs a lot of thinking. I try to give you a simple introduction, but I try to keep it short. The whole game made use of many symbols from Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, and since I live in Austria, I had no problems in noticing that. The Whole train scene was a reference to Deportation trains used to transport people to the KZ. The L'Cie also wear a mark that changes the color. This mark shows the world that you have become a Fal'Cie... its a reference to the Judenstern the jews had to wear.
Here is a trailer from a Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZAJz6W0dxM
It helps if you figure Fal'cie as lesser gods... or Angels. They have mighty powers, but like machines they do not have a free will. These Fal'Cie keep the world alive. There are Fal'Cie from Grand Pulse and there are Fal'Cie from Cocoon. Grand Pulse and Cocoon are archenemies. Their Plan is to make the "Creator" (the mighty god) return to the world by killing a large amount of people at the same time. Their goal is to destroy Cocoon. But destroying Cocoon is against their duty and they do not have a free will. So they need to find a way to make the humans destroy Cocoon for them.
Fal'cie have the power to turn Humans into L'cie (think of them as some sort of "angels") who have magic power. Well, for the Human, being turned into an L'Cie is a bad thing. You may get great Power, but that comes at a high Price. When you are turned into a L'Cie, you have some sort of dream. This dream is a riddle. You have to figure what this dream means. The Dream gives you a focus, a quest that you have to fulfill. If you do not fulfill your focus, you will turn into a monster and stop being a human...not a good option. If you fulfill your focus, you will be turned into crystal until the Fal'Cie gives you another focus... also not a good option. So in the end, you are trapped between 2 bad options... becoming a monster or be turned into a crystal. There is no "good option" out of this mess. I think the game made a great attempt at displaying the doubts about the focus and the hopelessness of this situation.
So the main point is, that our protagonits or being turned into Pulse Fal'cie, so therefore they are the biggest enemies possible for the people of Cocoon. So if the Cocoon L'Cie are seen as Angels, see the Pulse L'Cie as Devils. Since being a L'Cie is visible trough their marks they can not walk amongst Humans without creating a panic situation. Thats why they can't walk through town going shopping and talking to people. Imagine you would see a devil in your local Supermarket...
OK, the Fal'cie try to destroy Cocoon, but they can't. They could turn Human into L'cie and give them the Focus to destroy Cocoon. But Humans have a free will and nobody will kill his family. So they try desperately to find a way to make the people destroy Cocoon. Their plan is very cunning. Barthandelus is taking the role of a Human who is some sort of Prime minister. 1000 years ago Fang and Vanille turned into Ragnarok and tried to destroy Cocoon, but Cocoon was able to defend itself, but was damaged. It was repaired with parts from Grand Pulse, but Berthandelus started his plan that should unfold several hundred years later. During the Repairs he hid Monsters from Grand Pulse on Cocoon and put them to sleep in the Arks. Inside were two crystallized Pulse-L'Cie, Fang and Vanille . Than he started Propaganda and the people started to fear Grand Pulse. These fear turned into hate and after several hundred years the people from Cocoon were willing to send everyone to death that only came near an object from Grand Pulse... The Plan of Barthandelus had two options. But I do not want to spoil it to you.
Anyways. The game likes to put you into situations where there is no chance of victory. A L'Cie is doomed... becoming a monster or being crystalized. The same goes with the final battle. There is no solution for the conflict. Barthandelus wants to be destroyed, so that cocoon is destroyed. So if you destroy him, he wins. If you do not destroy him, his will be able to carry out his plan and cocoon will be destroyed, too. The same principle is found in FF XIII-2. No matter how often you change the time, you still lose.
I hope I could bring some order in the story of FF XIII. Once you understand what the whole story is all about you will enjoy the whole game. It is similar to FF VII. I had to beat the game a second time and see the hidden sequence with Zac in Nibelheim to be able to fully understand the whole story. And thats why I really like Japanese RPGS. You have to think about what is going on, or you could get lost.
