So today, I was listening to the final boss theme of Final Fantasy XIII-2, and it made me think of how much I enjoyed the XIII series. And you know what? I honestly believe that they don’t get enough credit. Here’s why:
The developers have listened, and improved on each game.
Final Fantasy XIII(1) was heavily criticized for its linearity, and rightly so. So, what did Square Enix do? They gave it a second shot, and gave us a game that was more open and more polished. And now, they have listened to our responses on that game, and are developing a game that promises to be even more open and more polished, with adjusted gameplay.
The Storyline, I felt, was quite good.
IN XIII(1): Now believe me when I say, I’m no expert on what makes a good storyline. But in the first XIII, I felt bad for the characters the entire time. I knew that they knew that they were doomed, and I felt bad for them. Not to mention, most of the characters were well-developed, in my humble opinion. Snow was a character who tried hard to bury his guilt and sorrow with a can-do attitude, and keep moving forward. Hope was a kid who was thrust into a situation he didn’t understand, and was so single-mindedly bent on revenge that he had a good reason to be sick of and hateful toward Snow and hiss apparent lack of seriousness. Sazh was a character who I just felt was very real, which was helped by his excellent voice acting. Also, the game’s logo was really clever, because you never found out what it is until the very end, which gave me this “oh, THAT’S what that is.
IN XIII-2: Yes, the premise was ridiculous. Yes, it got kinda confusing. But Caius was an excellent villain, easily a better villain than Sephiroth and Ultimecia. (and this is coming from a guy who loved 7 and 8! sorry fanboys ) In the end of the game, I honestly felt Caius’s pain, and his desperation to save the one person he cares about, even if he dooms all of existence in return. (Kinda reminds me of another character I know in a certain GOTY contender…) Also, the Fate and Freedom paradox ending horrified me more than any other game I’ve played at this point.
The music has the potential to be excellent.
In both games, there were tracks that I just loved. The first game, I loved the main battle theme. I loved the way it grew in intensity. And the second game (excluding all the Jpop crap, which I hated), had some truly amazing tracks. Even after about a month of not playing the game, I still can’t stop listening to the final boss theme on Youtube. It’s such an awesome, dramatic, exciting theme.
The gameplay, however automatic, was improved in XIII-2 and still required strategy.
Yes, the gameplay could get old in the first game. But in the second game, you could see the improvement at every step. The crystarium allowed a great level of control of your play style. The stupid “game over when the main character dies” mechanic was scrapped. There was enough strategy in tough boss fights to make you think. Fights were fun to watch and very flashy, especially (again) the final battle. It was so intimidating and cool, seeing Jet ******* (censored that for spoiler reasons) sitting there with crossed arms and Amber and Garnet at his side.
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Also, think about it. People are saying that Square is just milking the cash cow with the XIII series, but when you take their situation into consideration, what else can they do? Versus XIII was decided to be Final Fantasy XV back in 2011. Therefore, they couldn’t just go on and make some Final Fantasy XVI before XV. That just wouldn’t have made sense! The fact that they’re still trying to make quality games (which get better with each iteration, strictly in the case of Fabula Nova Crystallis) is impressive.
So… yeah. What do you guys think? If you disagree, tell me why! If you agree, I’d still like a good discussion!
So today, I was listening to the final boss theme of Final Fantasy XIII-2, and it made me think of how much I enjoyed the XIII series. And you know what? I honestly believe that they don’t get enough credit. Here’s why:
Final Fantasy XIII(1) was heavily criticized for its linearity, and rightly so. So, what did Square Enix do? They gave it a second shot, and gave us a game that was more open and more polished. And now, they have listened to our responses on that game, and are developing a game that promises to be even more open and more polished, with adjusted gameplay.
IN XIII(1): Now believe me when I say, I’m no expert on what makes a good storyline. But in the first XIII, I felt bad for the characters the entire time. I knew that they knew that they were doomed, and I felt bad for them. Not to mention, most of the characters were well-developed, in my humble opinion. Snow was a character who tried hard to bury his guilt and sorrow with a can-do attitude, and keep moving forward. Hope was a kid who was thrust into a situation he didn’t understand, and was so single-mindedly bent on revenge that he had a good reason to be sick of and hateful toward Snow and hiss apparent lack of seriousness. Sazh was a character who I just felt was very real, which was helped by his excellent voice acting. Also, the game’s logo was really clever, because you never found out what it is until the very end, which gave me this “oh, THAT’S what that is.
IN XIII-2: Yes, the premise was ridiculous. Yes, it got kinda confusing. But Caius was an excellent villain, easily a better villain than Sephiroth and Ultimecia. (and this is coming from a guy who loved 7 and 8! sorry fanboys
) In the end of the game, I honestly felt Caius’s pain, and his desperation to save the one person he cares about, even if he dooms all of existence in return. (Kinda reminds me of another character I know in a certain GOTY contender…) Also, the Fate and Freedom paradox ending horrified me more than any other game I’ve played at this point.
In both games, there were tracks that I just loved. The first game, I loved the main battle theme. I loved the way it grew in intensity. And the second game (excluding all the Jpop crap, which I hated), had some truly amazing tracks. Even after about a month of not playing the game, I still can’t stop listening to the final boss theme on Youtube. It’s such an awesome, dramatic, exciting theme.
Yes, the gameplay could get old in the first game. But in the second game, you could see the improvement at every step. The crystarium allowed a great level of control of your play style. The stupid “game over when the main character dies” mechanic was scrapped. There was enough strategy in tough boss fights to make you think. Fights were fun to watch and very flashy, especially (again) the final battle. It was so intimidating and cool, seeing Jet ******* (censored that for spoiler reasons) sitting there with crossed arms and Amber and Garnet at his side.
-----------
Also, think about it. People are saying that Square is just milking the cash cow with the XIII series, but when you take their situation into consideration, what else can they do? Versus XIII was decided to be Final Fantasy XV back in 2011. Therefore, they couldn’t just go on and make some Final Fantasy XVI before XV. That just wouldn’t have made sense! The fact that they’re still trying to make quality games (which get better with each iteration, strictly in the case of Fabula Nova Crystallis) is impressive.
So… yeah. What do you guys think? If you disagree, tell me why! If you agree, I’d still like a good discussion!