Alright, now that the DD games are out of the way, let's talk about 3 PS3 disc-based games (all of which I've fully completed & Platinum-ed):
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Platinum #50) - I really liked Final Fantasy XIII (it's up there in my top 3 Final Fantasy games, along with X and VI), but I can understand why many didn't. It's a very divisive game that boldly tried to focus on its story, characters, battle system, and momentum rather than typical RPG filler and fluff. As such, I was rather nervous when Square-Enix publicly announced that they were essentially following a checklist of FF 13 complaints to "fix" the system for 13-2. The system wasn't broken. It just needed to give the player more to do and introduce its systems quicker.
So as someone who really enjoyed 13, did its checklist and committee-driven sequel live up to my standards from the first game? No, not really, but it is still an enjoyable JRPG with probably a broader appeal for those who thought the first game was a little lacking. If you absolutely hated everything about 13, move along. This game won't change your mind.
My big problem with the game is that in an attempt to "fix FF 13", the developers broke many of the aspects that made the first game interesting and unique. For example, people complained that they didn't have enough control over their party in 13. Rather than just give full party control from the outset, the developers limited the party to 2 fixed characters and a 3rd slot permanently devoted to captured monsters in the game's utterly pointless (but functional) Pokemon-esque monster taming system. Instead of
more freedom over your party, you
actually have less. You can change your party leader whenever you want (including when one falls in battle, rather than an instant Game Over), but as you can only have 3 single-role monsters in your "Paradigm Pack" (rather than a real 3rd party member with 6 roles) you are far more limited in your combat flexibility.
Throw in the fact that the game is so nonlinear (and nonsensical) in its progression and that tamed monsters grow in power very quickly, and you find very quickly that it is
extremely easy to break the game. For all the complaints about how FF 13 left the player with fixed parties in odd configurations, that game
made you appreciate roles such as the Stat Buff-oriented Synergist and Status Effect-dealing Saboteur. You
needed to use those roles effectively to survive that game. In FF 13-2, monsters are killed too easily (even in the post-game content) and there's very little variety in the Paradigms that are actually practical, meaning that there's really no reason whatsoever to use the Synergist or Saboteur roles. You can simply power through confrontations with little to no strategy involved. It's a major disappointment with me.
The story is also a disjointed mess, supposedly "inspired" by Chrono Trigger and yet learning
nothing from it. Cause and Effect are very rarely linked, and story progression often makes very little sense. The main villain has a great motivation, but his plot is nonsensical and his relationship with Noel is very poorly explained until the last few hours of the game. Serah is almost a complete non-character, and Lightning (and the other FF 13 party members, outside Hope) is barely in the game. The entire plot hinges on the existence of a never-before-mentioned deity, who you would think
might have come up in the previous game considering the master plan of that game's main villain. The game ends on a massive cliffhanger, which is already notorious on the internet but really didn't bother me because I thought the story built a good momentum towards the end and wrapped-up in a bizarrely logical fashion.
Then there's the DLC. Wow, this has to be one of the most blatant examples of content-cutting that I've ever seen in a modern game. The game's battle coliseum is displayed prominently in the story, but there's nothing for the player to
do there without paying for DLC battles. The in-game casino has Chocobo Racing and a single useable slot machine, but characters will flat-out tell the player that the rest of the casino will be playable later via DLC. There are several inaccessible Historia Crux locations that can't be accessed at all at the moment because they are dedicated to sidestory content about FF 13 characters that will come...all together now!...later via DLC.
Despite these issues, I did appreciate the greater degree of player freedom in what you can do and where you can go. The monster catching system, while tacked-on and pointless, does function very well and can be fun at times. Environments are bigger, the soundtrack is still excellent (despite all the internet bitching that was done over
two songs from it), and sidequests are fairly plentiful for a Final Fantasy game. I'm just disappointed in how weak and loose the story is until very late in the game. It is a
good game that I really enjoyed, but it falls short of being a
great one.
Well, that's a lot of text for one game, so I'll put the other two PS3 games in a separate post.
Topic: Rate The Last Game You Played (Read 189021 times)
