FF13 Sucks... here's why.

[Runa216]

Wright said:

Little interaction in the gameplay? This is no FF XIV, but still, you could auto-attack, throw items, manage the paradigms amd the TP, switch party, change equipment, change accessories, explore the ocassional branches in the map, dig items on the ground, avoid combats, do sidequests, I mean, WHAT else do you want? You have to switch paradigms. You still have to cast Libra if you want a chance against certain bosses. From time to time, you have to choose an attack your character refuses to (like Dazzle). You have to take care your HP doesn't go too low; you need to prepare your characters for the adventure beign. If leveling up the wrong Crystaliarium, you're forced to grind to make up for your mistake.

You wanted to press "attack" to "attack"? Is that your difference between a game and a "poorly interactive visual experience"? Seriously?

And the story ain't a failure. It manages to be far more complex than what it really is, but it is a story with a prologue, a middle and a closure. What more could you ask? Post-ending DLC to further expand the universe? Better the XIII ending than the fifteen-second sequence of Dark Souls, despite being an ultra superior game on every other area in my opinion.

 

Again, this is a game. Whether you like it or not, that's a different thing. But you can't come an qualify XIII as an "objectively bad game", because that's nonsense.

Have you ever actually played any of the other Final Fantasy games?  The plot, characters, backstory, and world all come together to create something special.  The gamplay has always allowed freedom and true exploration while still maintaining a linear story.  There has always been balance between linear and nonlinear elements. 

Even Final Fantasy X had many nonlinear elements.  At any save point, you could play blitzball.  There were side areas, hidden locations, game-spanning quests, an arena, unique quests for each character's uber weapon, and eventually a series of super hard aeons (dark Aeons) in the international version.  In Final Fantasy XIII, it was strictly linear from chapters 1-10, then again in the final 12 and 13th chapters.  The only part there was any nonlinear elements was in Chapter 11, and that was just a monster hunt that could only happen then and there.  As expected, chapter 11 (Gran Pulse) was the only part of the game I truly enjoyed, gameplay limitations and frustrations and all.  

And seriously, don't try to pretend cycling through 6 available battle formations and modifying equipment is 'deep gameplay' or whatever.  It's absolutely barebones, probably the simplest RPG I've ever played or even heard about.  The entire game is designed with paradigm shifts in mind and little more.  You CAN control ONE character if need be, but even if you know precisely what it is you're looking for (a phoenix down, for example), the battles often went by too fast to really feel you had any sort of control over the world.  

And you CAN'T control your allies.  you can guide them, but like a dog they do whatever the hell they want in the end.  This led to many a frustrating uncalled for game-over when I wanted my ally to move to avoid an attack, heal me (when I'm not a healer myself, since my survival matters most), or use buffs/debuffs.  Not to mention the entire 'you die, game over' glitch (yes, it's a glitch, I refuse to believe that hundreds of employees over the course of half a decade NEVER thought to shoot that idea down) completely ruins gameplay.  it's just BAD.  you can't even switch who you control mid battle if you're anticipating an attack. 

So yes, the game has some interactive elements, but the entire experience is about as shallow as the simplest of rhythm games on the easiest difficulty.  What's this?  Enemy is about to attack the party?  Two sentinels and a medic it is!  And you only get to chose two, and as far as I remember you can't pause the game to decide what paradigm you want, which also resulted in entirely too many deaths.  

I remember sitting down with my brother (who is as big a Final Fantasy fan as I am) and thinking up over a dozen small fixes that would make the combat less of a chore and more fun, most of which would actually FIX the game.  Basically, the combat is broken, fundamentally flawed, and ill-concieved.  The fact that Lightning is dancing all around throughout the fight while sazh is attempting gunkata while the player mostly just watches and mashes 'auto-fight' and 'paradigm shift' from time to time shows that Square wanted this to be a movie, not a game.  

Which would be fine if the story was any good.  

See, the score and visuals were both immaculate.  I don't personally like the art direction and I feel the voice acting/music were more annoying than anything else (I'd almost prefer FFX's voice acting...almost), but really the issue is with the story.  

To clarify, there's a huge difference between story and plot.  Plot is the sequence of events that unfolds during the course of the game, while the STORY is the combined elements of plot, characters, and the world they live in.  I can say "These characters were on a train and got into a fight with the military", but the elements are what give it depth.  In one game, your characters are environmental terrorists looking to blow up a reactor on the industrialized city of midgar to incite change in the world; in the other, you're a disgruntled religious outcast sent to the outlands and are rebelling in the name of your sister.  Similar plot, very different story.  

So when I say the STORY of Final Fantasy XIII is bad, I mean it.  The PLOT is good; the sequence of events that brings the six protagonists together is decent, and the fall and rise of them and their goal is admirable.  I didn't mind the actual plot to Final Fantasy XIII, but the story was just bad because the characters were flat and two-dimensional (you want three dimensions at least, four dimensions if they actually have a good character arc), and almost all of the world's history is hidden behind the barriers you can't cross for fear of you actually experiencing anything but exactly what the developers wanted you to do.  

In other games (Final Fantasy 12 being a prime example), a lackluster plot is made up for by an incredibly deep world with three (or four) dimensional characters. yeah, you needed to do side quests to understand much of Balthier and Fran's relationship, but YOU experienced that, YOU discovered that.  you actually had to take time, and your digging was rewarded with some armor or money or something.  there was actual incentive to do it, and the characters gained depth in the process. 

With Final Fantasy XIII, there are no side quests.  there are no mini games.  There are no articles to find, you just have to go and read about that character that lasted all of three scenes to find out why their involvement was important.  Yeah, the information is there, but you don't experience it, you read it.  IT's a prime example of how not to do "show don't tell."  In Final Fantasy XIII, your side quests were reading.  Your minigames were homework, not games.  You were expected to study the datalogs if you wanted to understand the world and the characters rather than going out of your way to find things on your own.  

In previous Final Fantasies, you could leave a town and explore.  There were caves and locations and areas on the map you NEVER have to go to in order to finish the plot, but still deepen the story and the world.  

Take Skyrim as an example:  The actual technical performance of that game was terrible, the animations were lackluster, the voice acting was kinda poor...but over 90% of the game's content is side quests, random areas, and adventure.  You learn by talking to people, and the writing was top notch.  90% of Final Fantasy XIII's story and world building was never experienced by the player.  

Show, don't tell. 

Final Fantasy XIII fails at narrative becase it doesn't understand that, to engage a player, you should show rather than tell.  

Final Fantasy XIII fails at gameplay due to limited control over your characters and strict navigation.  IT might as well be on rails in an arcade. 

And that's why Final Fantasy XIII is a bad game.  It may be functional, but it is neither engaging or properly interactive.  Heavy Rain let the player have more control over the story than FFXIII.