I have to just say that I disagree so far. I haven't finished the game yet but I just can't get past the horrible script and voice acting. Its so bad I turn it down to near mute levels. It wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't have the multitude of cutscenes it has but since SE played filmmaker...

This is my first FF and I haven't finished it yet but the first 20 hours have been utterly horrible so far. I hope it picks up...

What SE need is an actual film director and script writers (notable director mind) to come in and direct all the cut scenes because they're all over the place. The current script writers don't understand the term "artistic restraint" and don't understand that you don't need to have the characters making grunts and noises and making wise cracks all the time. Its distracting to have a character go ahhh or mmm every 2 seconds. And if I hear that "hero" guy say his wifes name one more time I think I'll kill someone. And the emo kid needs to stop looking at the fugging ground. Lets not even get into the Aussie accents...

It sucks because the gameplay is lots of fun and the production values are very impressive. At least LO didn't repulse me so much...

Now I didn't talk about character progression, which is obviously happening I just feel its completely blocked out by the things mentioned above.

Well I'm going to have to disagree with you. I don't think the script is any worse then most jrpg scripts. Sure it has a few chessy lines and stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary for a jrpg. Don't lie to me and say that LO didn't have any chessy lines and scenes as well.

Notice I said it didn't repulse me so much. It still repulsed me, just less ;P Blue Dragon for example was horrible in the same way.

You say it isn't any different from any normal JRPG. Is the standard really that low or is it something that occurs throught the translation between Japanese and English? It really baffles me why a script would be written the way they are, I literally can't watch any of the cutscenes.

Do you know of any JRPG's that don't suffer this problem? Because I really love turn based battle systems.

EDIT it doesn't help that my native accent is being so brutally butchered by the most annoying character either.

story wasnt all that great, but it was the fantastic char development that did it for me.

Thats pretty much it. Some jrpgs though are that way even in their original script. I also think its simply a culture thing. What is chessy to us is fine to them.

Also, what do you mean you can't watch any of the cutscenes? I can pick out plenty of scenes that are far from chessy. I think you are exaggerating things alittle.

Care to explain?

True not all of them of course.

I understand its a cultural thing, I've watched a lot of Anime in my time. However contrast the localisation of this to say Spirited Away. It just doesn't compare. Do they do the Localisation in-house? Because if they do they shouldn't.

Don't get me wrong I'm still enjoying the game its just a shame that I can't enjoy the cinematics aswell.

Even if you disregard cultural barriers, I don't see how you can find every cutscene cheesy, even the ones where there's only action going on and no dialogue. Also, it's not a JRPG only issue, there's tons of cheesy dialogues and cutscenes in WRPG's as well.

OT - The story per se, if you take it out of the context of the characters and the 1000 year dreams, seems pretty bland and disconnected. That's what makes Lost Odyssey so great. Normally JRPG's are mostly dependent on how the story develops, with the characters having borderline influences.

In Lost Odyssey, the entire story is dependent on how the characters develop, as they go through their memories, reshaping they history that they had lost, be it forcefully or simply by their desire. The pain, the struggle and the soul-searching that each one of the immortals go through is what makes the game so great. That, and Jansen XD 

I don't know if they do it in-house or not.

I unfortunely have never watch Spirited Away before though so I can't compare it's translation to FFXIII's.

But really though, FFXIII's script is no more cheesier then what you would find in an action movie (in particular, X-Men). I really don't think its that bad. Maybe FFXIII is just not for you.

Nah not every-cutscenes, that was exaggeration. And I didn't mention WRPGs but I agree with you on that aswell. There were plenty of momenets in Mass Effect 2 I felt the same way, just not to the same level.