I'm the first to admit that I don't understand the fervent adoration that is shown for the Final Fantasy series of video games. I didn't play them growing up and my last encounter with them was back when I was working in a video games store when Final Fantasy X came out.
Just before Christmas, I purchased the surprise gift box that Square Enix put out. There wasn't a list of what was in it - hence it being a surprise, but for $9.00 it seemed like a bargain. Turns out that it was, with only one game that I already had when it came time to open it up.
One of the games included was Final Fantasy XIII, and so, over the break I've been giving it a run, and I still don't understand the fervent adoration these games get, but let me at least explain my view of this.
The graphics are wonderful, of this there is no doubt. The character models look stunning and the environments are simply amazing. Visually, this game is stunning to look at. And I wonder if that is where it gets let down. The visual feast you are presented with doesn't have any real substance to it. Now this may be the same with all JRPG's, but I've found the whole thing to be linear, completely linear, with no scope to go off and explore, no emergent narrative. For the most part, I feel as though I'm watching a movie that I occasionally have to press a button during in order to keep it playing, but it's a movie that I missed the first 10 minutes of and so it doesn't quite make sense.
I think the reason it feels like a movie, is largely due to the number of cut scenes. Almost every bit of exposition is done through a cut scene rather than by stopping and conversing with the other characters. Now, that's not the say that these cut scenes are not well done, if anything it's the opposite. The animations are smooth, the dialogue is decent and the development of the characters and their back story's is not too bad overall. But step out of these bits and into navigating the world and everything isn't so rosy.
While the animations are still pretty smooth, the controls feel "janky". It's the only way I can describe it. Moving the character around the world isn't the kind of experience that the visuals and animations suggest that it should be, instead it's unresponsive, inaccurate and a let down in comparison to what is presented to the player visually. Finally, I want to say a quick word about the combat. Like previous iterations of the Final Fantasy saga, it's turn based, in this case you control one character and others perform pre-set actions based on your choices. The combat actually works pretty well I feel, which is at odds with the player controlled movement. The only real frustration I've had with it so far is that due to the other RPG's I usually play, I want to move around, to flank, dodge, etc. That's not possible, but the more fights I have, the less I miss that.
In the final analysis, Final Fantasy XIII is a beautiful looking movie, spoiled by player interaction. Whether it would work as an actual film if you spliced all the cut scenes together (ah la Injustice), I don't know, I suspect that the amount of work required to make it comprehensible and flowing would create other issues. Regardless, I'll keep plodding along through it between The Witcher 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Rise of the Tomb Raider.
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