[Game Complete] Pushing It to the Thirteenth Hour: My Step by Step Impressions of Final Fantasy XIII.

[Cat Rage Room]

I'm not quite sure yet. 60 bucks is a lot of change.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Also, Sazh's character and his background as a father is one of the more 'real' storylines I've seen FF ever offer. I really, really like Sazh, and I continue to like him even more as the game goes on.

Please guys, as a reminder, no spoilers!

 

[Max Payne]

Sahz rapes Lightning and dies shooting fireworks off Snow's corpse.

 

[Tetsujin]

Spoiler

Sazh wants to save his son. I'm just glad he doesn't keep shouting "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT!!!!" all the time...

Note from Mog: Spoilers, guy. Not a big one, really, but I want to keep this topic filled with as little details as possible for people who haven't played.

 

[Alex]

THEY TOOK MY BOY!

 

[Max Payne]

YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY SON.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Update #9: 16 Hours, 27 Minutes

Snow may have the personality of an irritating 13 year old, but in battle he's an absolute fucking monster.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Update #10

This is an addendum on something I want to point out, now that I've been playing the game for a while.

I know one of the biggest points of contentions towards this game was the lack of towns.

The lack of towns is one of the single biggest flaws of this game.

Some of you may say "TOWNS ARE AN ANTIQUATED RELIC OF GAMING PAST LET IT GO TIME TO MOVE ON". I never agreed with this line of thinking, but I was willing to see how FFXIII played it out, with an open mind. Now I see the purpose that 'towns' have served in RPGs since the very first ones. It allows for not only the in game characters to take a breather, but the player as well. It is fucking exhausting doing little more than CUTSCENE/DUNGEON/CUTSCENE/CUTSCENE/DUNGEON/CUTSCENE/DUNGEON/DUNGEON/ with no real breaks to wander around a safe in game world, to unwind, talk to people, and explore without having to worry about getting killed by something.

It is literally mentally draining to be forced down a linear path, fighting all of the time. Now I know why developers have put in towns, or hell, with some games, just ONE central town, in games. It's a mental release. I've taken for granted the ability to talk to people, explore a city, play some minigames, investigate sidequests, restock, get some exposition, etc, all on my own terms. Streamlining the experience by taking away safe areas and people you can talk to (no, the NPCs in this game don't count. Walking next to someone and hearing a barely audible, no subtitled, extremely generic comment doesn't count as an NPC. Sorry.).

The game isn't bad so far, but, this is a big one. I get it, SE. This was an experiment, or something. Please never, never do it again.

 

[Vendel]

Update #10
The game isn't bad so far, but, this is a big one. I get it, SE. This was an experiment, or something. Please never, never do it again.

Ruined FOREVER!!!

 

[Edley]

Just wait until you get to the berserker dungeon. No gil, shite xp, and chuck your controller mobs. It's FUN.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Update #10

This is an addendum on something I want to point out, now that I've been playing the game for a while.

I know one of the biggest points of contentions towards this game was the lack of towns.

The lack of towns is one of the single biggest flaws of this game.

Some of you may say "TOWNS ARE AN ANTIQUATED RELIC OF GAMING PAST LET IT GO TIME TO MOVE ON". I never agreed with this line of thinking, but I was willing to see how FFXIII played it out, with an open mind. Now I see the purpose that 'towns' have served in RPGs since the very first ones. It allows for not only the in game characters to take a breather, but the player as well. It is fucking exhausting doing little more than CUTSCENE/DUNGEON/CUTSCENE/CUTSCENE/DUNGEON/CUTSCENE/DUNGEON/DUNGEON/ with no real breaks to wander around a safe in game world, to unwind, talk to people, and explore without having to worry about getting killed by something.

It is literally mentally draining to be forced down a linear path, fighting all of the time. Now I know why developers have put in towns, or hell, with some games, just ONE central town, in games. It's a mental release. I've taken for granted the ability to talk to people, explore a city, play some minigames, investigate sidequests, restock, get some exposition, etc, all on my own terms. Streamlining the experience by taking away safe areas and people you can talk to (no, the NPCs in this game don't count. Walking next to someone and hearing a barely audible, no subtitled, extremely generic comment doesn't count as an NPC. Sorry.).

The game isn't bad so far, but, this is a big one. I get it, SE. This was an experiment, or something. Please never, never do it again.

Wow, I had never even thought of that. That's truly an interesting and good point you raised as well.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Just wait until you get to the berserker dungeon. No gil, shite xp, and chuck your controller mobs. It's FUN.

As an aside, please don't elaborate on this, whatever it is! I want the game to be as absolute spoiler free as possible, for myself, and for the topic viewers.

I mean, I don't mind challenging gameplay. But this ONE OR THE OTHER mentality that seems to have found its way into video gaming has really got to stop. "I DON'T WANT GAMEPLAY IT'LL RUIN MY PRECIOUS CUTSCENES" or conversely, "THE STORIES IN FINAL FANTASIES SUCK ASS ANYWAY FUCK STORIES GIVE ME BATTLES" or "FUCK TOWNS FUCK EM THEY GET IN THE WAY OF THINGS" and all that shit is fucking idotic and retarded. The only way good games, and more specifically, good JRPGs that people will grow to love an appreciate like the 'good old days' is if developers, and the fans who play them, embrace the concept of a well rounded game. You know, a game that has fucking all of the basic concepts of an RPG polished instead of ditching one in favor of another.

 

[Max Payne]

As an aside, please don't elaborate on this, whatever it is! I want the game to be as absolute spoiler free as possible, for myself, and for the topic viewers.

I mean, I don't mind challenging gameplay. But this ONE OR THE OTHER mentality that seems to have found its way into video gaming has really got to stop. "I DON'T WANT GAMEPLAY IT'LL RUIN MY PRECIOUS CUTSCENES" or conversely, "THE STORIES IN FINAL FANTASIES SUCK ASS ANYWAY FUCK STORIES GIVE ME BATTLES" or "FUCK TOWNS FUCK EM THEY GET IN THE WAY OF BATTLES" and all that shit is fucking idotic and retarded. The only way good games, and more specifically, good JRPGs that people will grow to love an appreciate like the 'good old days' is if developers, and the fans who play them, embrace the concept of a well rounded game. You know, a game that has fucking all of the basic concepts of an RPG polished instead of ditching one in favor of another.

HIDEO KOJIMA WILL FUCK YOU UP BRO

 

[Tetsujin]

You know, I have noticed the breather aspect of towns, or the lack thereof in XIII as well, even though I'm only in chapter 3.
It really is kind of exhausting. I feel like wanting to pay a couple of gil to take a nap in an Inn.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

The sad part is that it's not like there aren't any towns. A lot of towns, cities, places of habitation exist in the game's setting. There is civilization, quite a lot of it! But you never get to properly, traditionally explore it.

It's really sad because this game would have been so much better with as something as seemingly "expendable" as towns, and everything that comes with them. A lot of storytelling potential comes with towns as well. Think of how many events in RPGs that took place in a town, like a meeting in an Item Shop between a rebel group at night, or something going on in a town square, a celebration in a big city, or a relaxing pow wow between party members at an Inn.

 

[ForceStealer]

Just by the way Mog, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your frank look at the game. I know I've been in the defending camp for most of the time, but I was really just hoping people would play it before passing final judgment. You have seriously taken everything in the game as it comes, complaining about its faults, but not afraid to give credit where credit is due either.

You're "Towns of FF7" topic is very similar in this regard. Don't actually have a whole lot ot say here 'cept you've bumped up a few respect notches for me

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Hey, I appreciate it. I want to be as unbiased as possible, not only for my own sake and enjoyment, but I want to paint the clearest picture of the game as possible for those who were considering whether to try it or not. Of course, I've yet to reserve final judgment until I complete the game. Stay tuned for that of course, I plan on seeing this through to the end.

The next update will come later today, I have classes, and some other stuff to take care of, so I'm on my way out the door.

 

[Strangelove]

(no, the NPCs in this game don't count. Walking next to someone and hearing a barely audible, no subtitled, extremely generic comment doesn't count as an NPC. Sorry.)

When I played it, every NPC was subtitled, but I had the subtitles set on for the cutscenes. Are you playing without the subtitles on at all?

I've already mentioned my view on the lack of towns in other threads. If FFXIII had kept random battles, I think that would have been a bit much for me. But since the enemies are seen on the screen and you can either run away from enemies or use an item to avoid them (and you can kind of cheat and trick the game into giving you one back if you just go into a battle and then quitting), I didn't really mind it that much. I liked the change of pace and keeping the tempo high, the feeling that you can't just sit around chilling out with some old folks in a village in the middle of your big epic quest.

Not that I would have disliked towns (I was disappointed when they said they cut out an explorable area of Bodhum and Nautilus), but the pace was something I liked. (The beginning, at least in regards to the battle system opening up, could have been quicker, even.)

 

[Cat Rage Room]

In theory, one could argue that it keeps the tempo high, but in practice, it's exhausting, tiring, and repetitive. At least for me. The argument that "The story demands that there be no explorable towns and that everyone hates you that's why there aren't any" is lame. I tried to understand it before I played the game, but now that I actually am playing it, it doesn't fly. The story could have easily been written to allow for some method of having a friendly place of habitation that the player and the characters could consistently return to, or some towns.

There are other RPGs that have the "everyone hates you/you're in the run/fugitives/enemies of the state" plot trope, even temporarily, and those RPGs usually have 'towns' in the form of rebel bases, airships, mobile bases, outskirt villages, they hide, etc etc. The narrative could have been altered in the conceptual stages to have everyone fear and hate you and STILL be some sort of 'town' gameplay mechanic. It's just too tiring doing nothing but fighting all of the time!

This doesn't ruin the game by any means, but it's a big blow, I think. Not an unpopular opinion, thankfully, either.

When I played it, every NPC was subtitled, but I had the subtitles set on for the cutscenes. Are you playing without the subtitles on at all?

I have subtitles on, and they appear during cutscenes, FMVs, and the like, but they don't appear for those 'random' NPCs that you have to walk past them for them to speak.

 

[Tetsujin]

I have subtitles on, and they appear during cutscenes, FMVs, and the like, but they don't appear for those 'random' NPCs that you have to walk past them for them to speak.

There's an option for NPC subtitles in the menu.

 

[Strangelove]

Agreeing to disagree on that I don't think think I have anything else to say on the matter without repeating myself.

 

[Bex]

Come on MOG, stop being slow! I really enjoy your updates tbh.
And some of us have completed the English version already.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

I'm glad you're enjoying it, Bex! Same to everyone else: Thanks for your support! I just got home, so I should have another update by tonight.

 

[ForceStealer]

Yeah, there's two options in the settings menu. One for "event" (cutscene) subtitles, and one for subtitles outside cutscenes. I have the cutscenes titles off but the gameplay ones on. So I talked to a lot of NPCs and kinda wondered what all the fuss was about.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Found that option in the menu. Makes things a lot better. Thanks guys! Got caught up with stuff yesterday, and was busy all this morning, but I have played quite a bit of the game so I do have update material. Just give me a minute, just got back in the house.