I'm about 20 hours into this game now and thought I'd give another update to my "First Five" review. In short, I'd say my score has likely settled into a 7.5 or 8.0 at best in the realm of quality.
The combat is as fun and addictive as ever. The battles are also getting easier to watch without dying. The game is a visual feast and I love the design of the world and its creatures.
What I didn't anticipate is the number of cut-scenes this game has. It's ridiculous. I can't go more than 10 minutes without one, and much of the time not more than 3-5 minutes. Insane.
The acting and script are not getting any better, either. So each cut-scene takes me away from the momentum I'm building and puts me in the middle of a story that makes little sense and characters who are extremely odd or at best unrealistic. I've played JRPGs with translations that work MUCH better than this one. (The first two "Shadow Hearts" games come to mind.)
And the game is as linear as ever. Only last night did I get to choose my own battle party for the very first time. When compared to Bioware games, where choice is given to you at almost every turn and has a very significant impact on the game, Final Fantasy 13 feels like a leap in the wrong direction. I can't imagine why the creators thought we would want less choice in nearly every aspect of gameplay. And the repeated pattern of Walk, Battle, "Storytime" just isn't working for me here. I don't want to WATCH a story anymore. (Especially not one as hard to follow as this one.) I want to participate in it.
I'm certainly having enough fun that I'll finish the game. But I won't be keeping or playing this one again. One other thing I'll definitely give it, though. It's gotten me a little more used to seeing a "Game Over" screen. So I may actually be willing to try out "Resonance Of Fate" after this one!
3 comments:
I'm kinda new to the Final Fantasy Series (I just recently started playing FF7) and I was thinking about trying this one next. But afte reading your blog I decided save my money and just watch the walkthrough on Youtube.
Thanks for the comment, Ricky!
If your gaming tastes are like mine, I think you made the right decision.
And if you find you're enjoying FF7 and want to try other games in the series, I'd recommend 8 or 9 next(For PS1). 12 is also great to play(PS2), even if the story is a bit convoluted.
My two favorite PS2 RPGs are "Shadow Hearts" and "Shadow Hearts: Covenant". Dragon Quest 8(PS2) is fantastic if you're looking for a traditional yet solid JRPG experience.
Happy gaming!
-Paeter
Yeah I'm enjoying FF7. Really the only the Video game series that I've been following is the Kingdom Hearts series (I don't know if the series intrest you at all) but if I beat 7 and still have time before KH: birth by sleep comes out I might get 8 from the PSN
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