Started playing Final Fantasy XIII for the first time recently. It's hard to believe the game is 6 years old, it looks phenomenal, particularly the environment design. Definitely one of the most screenshottable games I've ever played. I'm not a huge fan of the character design, with some of the crazy anime hairstyles, and out of place, exaggerated, heroic poses. I'm not a big fan of anime, but the hairstyles and poses simply don't work(in my opinion) when used on semi-realistic character models.
However, some of the characters are more toned down than others, like Sazh and Lightning. Arguably Snow when he isn't striking a pose. His crazy hair is mostly covered by a hat, so I can live with it. These 3 are carrying the story for me. I guess my annoyance at Hope and Vanille somewhat reflects Lightning and Snows annoyance with them, and the burden of responsibility in looking after them.
When I think about it, my distaste for the character design seems weird though, because I've been a fan of Dynasty Warriors games all my life, and they have a similar style to this. I guess since the characters aren't as developed, serious or primary in Dynasty Warriors, I can accept it. They are basically caricatures of historical figures after all, not supposed to be taken seriously.
I'm finding the backstory really interesting, and am enticed into reading all the codex. Took a little while to wrap my head around everything but have a good grasp on it now.
Vanilles voice grates on me. All the other voice actors are great. I was looking for a comparison of the Japanese and Western voice actors on youtube, and stumbled across an interview with Vanilles voice actor saying, "We used the Japanese version as a guide, especially with my character. They were quite specific whereas the other characters they wanted to Americanise alot. With mine they were like please stay with the Japanese performance." But that still doesn't explain the travesty that is Vanilles voice. It doesn't sound Japanese. It doesn't sound like a human voice at all. But, I guess it was a design decision to make her voice completely out of place. Maybe it'll all become clear later down the line. And I guess the fact that Vanille is surrounded by deliberately Western voice acting, exacerbates the fact she sounds out of place . But still, It's so unnatural, it sounds like she's struggling to speak, having to force certain words out. I guess this is carried over from the voice actor struggling to ennunciate words while using this accent.
Her mannerisms are completely alien. Like, she finds a weapon, and spends 15 seconds doing an awkward dance. And by awkward I don't just mean situationally and lengthwise, but also the animations weren't the best. Other things that grated on me were some downright weird decisions by the developers. Like Vanille and Hope watch his mother die, and while he's mourning she sort of just flutters about him giggling her head off. The aforementioned dancing scene is literally 15 minutes after his mothers death. And they have a weird habit of grunting, often taking turns, for no discernible reason.
It's far from being a good PC port. One day it won't launch unless I set the resolution to 720p and put it in full screen mode. The next day it won't launch unless I set the resolution to 1080p and play in windowed mode. Then the next day it has to be changed back to 720p, full screen. And some days it flat out won't launch. When it does launch, however, it works perfectly.
The combat system seemed boring at first, basically just requiring you to click and let the game do all the work. However, after the first few chapters it steps up its game, introducing several new functions that give you far more tactical options and completely change the flow and goals you pursue in battle. The last time I played, I realised I wouldn't come close to winning a certain battle, without using defensive manouvres, that I had not yet used before. Thrown in at the deep end. It was a learning experience. I'm expecting a lot more such experiences. In a lot of RPGs, a lot of the abilities I unlock I simply never use. So far Final Fantasy XIII looks like it's going to be forcing me to use everything at my disposal. And I have the impression that I haven't even unlocked every feature/function in the combat system yet, so I've got more to look forward to.
For the most of game so far I've had a Commander and a Ravager in my party, so I'd been feeling the benefits of them without realising or understand what they were. So when a Commander was taken away, I couldn't understand why I couldn't stagger anyone. And then when a Ravager was taken away I couldn't understand why I couldn't stagger anyone. Then I realised they have to work together, the Ravager building up stagger, and the Commander stabilising it so it doesn't instantly drain. Adds another layer to the combat in trying to balance the two. I'm not sure if I was just blind, or whether the game allows the player to work things out for themselves, despite their overlong tutorial. It's a fact that the harder your brain works to discover something, that you are more likely to remember and learn it, so although frustrating at first, it certainly has it's benefits. I feel I'm now playing this more skillfully than any other RPG I've played that I can think of.
I like the fact that the characters you control change based on the context of the story. It puts you into interesting fights where you have to adapt to the limitations of each character.
It's certainly unique, I can't think of any other game with a similar combat system.
I'd say it was a mistake to draw the tutorial out over 4 hours, but the final combat system is pretty complicated, and I doubt I'd have been able to wrap my head around it if presented with everything at once. Especially since the combat isn't strictly turn based. Combat is very fast paced, so you need to learn the interface off by heart in order to fight efficiently. So I'm equally grateful and annoyed by the long tutorial. If peoples first impression of the combat is that it's boring, they aren't going to be overly enthusiastic to continue.
I'm finding it to be a bit linear so far, but surprisingly it's not too bothering. I'm playing the game for the combat and story, and it's basically a barrage of combat and cutscenes, so thumbs up I guess.
I'm also finding the menu's to be a bit cumbersome. When upgrading abilities, if there are multiple branches it can be difficult to select the right upgrade. I've bought the wrong upgrade on two occasions now due to the poor control, but I guess it's to be expected of a console port. One other thing I have found annoying is that when changing weapons there is no way to compare them side by side. So you have to memorise the stats of the weapon you currently have equipped and compare them in your mind.
All in all, although I realise this review was overwhelmingly negative, I am loving the experience so far. And from what I've heard it gets a lot more interesting after Chapter 10. I guess the fact I like the game makes me more frustrated by it's faults, and hold it up to a higher standard. I'm massively excited for Final Fantasy XV, which looks great except for the hairstyles of the 4 main characters. Hopefully I can give them all hats. Customisation is always a plus I think.
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