Ep. 096 - The Gundamn Robots, John!

[Kenji]

The way I see it, FFXIII's problem isn't that it's behind the times. I don't think there'd be any complaint if it used the old Active Time system, a la FFVII, with exploration, a world map, and a questing plot with limited interruption from the gameplay. That would be a better candidate for "behind the times" and it'd be better. Probably sell better, too.

The problem with FFXIII can be traced back to Square-Enix thinking they're hot cinematic storytellers, when they're not. Simple as that.

Part of it is the fans' fault, since so much of the praise goes to graphics and storylines while ignoring that the gameplay is what allows those art and story assets to be seen, in the first place. There's a direct line that leads from the initial North American success of FFVII to the horribly overexpensive and badly performing movies, finally to FFXIII. They took all that praise for their storytelling abilities and let it get to their head, and have developed a delusional obsession with dispensing their creative manna from on high so we plebs can bask in the glory of their genius.

So, FFXIII's sole reason for existing is to be cinematic, probably because Advent Children didn't make enough back to warrant another movie. So, we get crappy Square-Enix movies in our games. The long cinemas, the score bereft of melody, the tunnel maps, the battle system that distances the player from the action, all of it revolves around making everything look cool, cinematic, and profound.

We, the players, get no agency because we would mess up the cinematic vision of the developers. That's why our input amounts to nothing more than an overcomplicated and boring version of pushing "Pause" and "Play" on the Blu-Ray remote. We make sure the characters don't die and keep going forward so the developers can continue dispensing their genius upon us.

That's basically the problem with FFXIII and XIII-2, and it will be the problem with every Square-Enix game until seismic red ink rocks the entire corporate structure. Though, at this point, even that might not be enough.

[hotlimit]

@Kenji: Are you replying to something that was on Gundamn!, because I don't remember any conversation about FFXIII (just interested, not antagonizing, lol)?

[Seraphic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB8viPSvGuw

See? This is exactly what I'm talking about. Some novice reviewer acting as the West's introduction to a new game, and he doesn't even know what every button does. And he's telling his audience that the game is "slow" when he has no idea what the game is capable of. Christ on a corndog....

[Kenji]

@ hotlimit: I was pretty sure I was. It was on Famitsu's credibility and using FFXIII as an example of that (if I remember right). Don't tell me that was actually Chaos Theater and I just waxed on FFXIII in the wrong thread.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Still working on catching up...

So yeah, there already is a Super Robot Wars fighting game. It was for the N64 and was called Super Robot Spirits. It was the first appearence of Levi and Judecca.