I last wrote about a small-time flash game that I believed was a great example of game design. Now I'm going to talk about a big budget game that has been in the works for almost five years. That five years doesn't count the fact that it is the thirteenth in the series, they've had plenty of time to perfect their formula. That's right. It's time to talk about Final Fantasy XIII.
Final Fantasy has been known for a long time for its intricate story and beautiful graphics. How does FFXIII stand in these categories? Quite well. It's obvious that these were the driving force in development. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly in the target audience for these attributes. I hooked my Xbox (not PS3) to an old CRT monitor. I did not have the resources to be any more impressed with Final Fantasy's graphics than any other game. As for the story, I'm not exactly the best guy to ask.
I can enjoy just about any plot, so that isn't much of a make or break issue for me. I can't say too much about the story because I didn't pay attention the whole time and don't want to spoil anything anyway. There was a lot going on, but not all of it was gripping material. That's not to say it was bad, I actually enjoyed what I've seen, but the story will only be interesting if you take the time to pay attention (something I advise anyone playing to do).
One thing that I did notice in the storyline, that I think is a good thing, is my attachment to the characters growing over time. At first, I didn't like any of the characters (save one). After playing for a while, they acknowledge their faults or changed them in a manner that gave them a human dimension apart from the generic, and generally negative, labels I had placed on all of them before. The fact that I didn't like the characters to begin with seems like a bad thing, but if that's what they were going for, they pulled it off very well.
All that we have left to talk about is gameplay. There's a lot to be said about that, so buckle down. If you have yet to play FFXIII and you have a desire to play, stop reading now. I'm about to nitpick at every aspect of gameplay. The average player may not notice all of the things I'm going to complain about, and it would probably be for their benefit if they do not. That isn't to say you shouldn't play FFXIII, it's not a bad game, but its gameplay could use a lot of work, and that's what I'm going to talk about.
