makingmusic476 said:
My main issues with current gen RPGs (at least on ps3) is that they suffer from a lack of content, yet they try and pretend that they don't.
Final fantasy XIII is the most obvious example of this, as it tries to hide its lack of content by including numerous, long, and often erroneous cutscenes and by increasing the length of dungeons by adding more tunnels full of enemies. You can't brag about a game being 60 hours long just because it has twice as many grunts you have to power through as a 30 hour game.
White Knight Chronicles is another example, as tries to hide its lack of content behind a rather long story that never seems to end (and even leaves you with a cliff hanger when all is said and done!) and a dungeon design that employs sprawling layouts, plenty of backtracking, and respawning enemies that can have incredibly high HP. Toss in the occasional incredibly easy but incredibly long puzzle and you've got a game that lasts far longer than it should.
My other issue with JRPGs (once again, using the examples above) are the generally cliched story lines that like stating the obvious in an overly dramatic fashion. People like to defend this, claiming it is "anime-like", but I get the feeling such people don't watch very much anime. But that's another argument for another day.
I would recommend giving Final Fantasy XIII a bit more time, however, as I found the game quite enjoyable on the whole. At first the auto-battle button may seem like a joke, but about an hour in you're introduced to Paradigm Shifts, and that's where the battle system starts to show its depth. By the last third of the game you'll be Paradigm Shifting like crazy.
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