Rumor: Final Fantasy Versus XIII Is Dead

[Scoobes]

DigitalDevilSummoner said:

TruckOSaurus said:

Final Fantasy XIII's story certainly isn't its strong point. Most of it is buried in the datalog and the vilains are very forgettable. Most of the story revolves around the heroes being l'Cie and wanting to break their focus.

Yeah, the story's the (real) controversial thing about the game and that's why i say it was a gamble to invest all their work around it.

For the first time in the series it didn't revolve around a strong personal drama, it was about the friction between the team itself. The villains are not exactly forgettable, there were totally impersonal (  not like Jecht was for Tidus for example ), orphan was an expressionist sculpture !

I think some people reacted to this game very immaturely and behaved like 8 year olds who got clothes for christmas. My suggestion would be play it again with an open mind, like I did years later with IX.

I think it was strong because it was a highly original and interesting addition in the series BUT I also believed to was also a product of the creator's effort to shift the focus on a western audience based on their (false) preconceptions of what they think we want. And that's why Versus is so anticipated. It is more like the "exotic" original japanese approach to gaming we have so missed.

The thing I find so bizzare is they built up a massive world and in-depth lore to the game, yet completely failed to incorporate it into the storyline in any meaningful way (the datalog is a horrible cop-out). So much effort to create the world and yet so little effort in allowing the player to explore its intricacies. 

To be honest, from what I've read on the development, I don't think they took a gamble with the story at all. They simply ran out of time to do anything other than what they produced. A linear, character driven story with a fast paced battle system. If they had a more efficient development cycle I don't doubt they could have produced a far more intriguing story (or side stories) that truly explored some of the other facets of the lore. As it is, the characters personal stories drive the game to varying degrees success.

I think anyone who's played more than 3 Final Fantasy game will have gone into this with an open mind. Everyone knows that each iteration attempts to evolve the series from the last. I was personally very disappointed with this iteration which is why I hope Versus (or whatever form it takes) is a very different game from XIII.