Fixed Perspective

So what are the main problems I've heard people have about Final Fantasy XIII, or 13 if you can't count like a Roman. Well there's five main problems I can think of off hand, some of which kind of bleed together and they are as follows:

1) The story is just too linear.
2) The voice acting can be corny (more so in some characters than others).
3) The characters themselves aren't the freshest of personalities
4) The story lacks originality.
5) All I do is auto attack in the battle system

Alright, well I'm going to try to make this as spoiler free as possible so here it goes.


1) Firstly with the story. I understand we all want some freedom but I haven't seen people complain about having so little of it since Braveheart. Yes the maps tend to be long corridors with minor offshoots; you catch on quick that anything that strays from the main path is likely to hold a treasure sphere (why some asshole is hiding stuff in a big inviting globe that has no combination lock is beyond me but nonetheless that's how it works and I thank him for his ignorance or charity, whichever it may be). As you move down each corridor you inevitably come to an event marker which progresses the story in some way and then you move onto the next corridor, rinse, lather and repeat. I understand this sounds a tad limiting/repetitive and people with a strong fear of hallways probably hate this but I find free world games tend to be a little overwhelming. When I have an gigantic world map I want to explore it, I put story progression on the back burners and make sure I've explored every nook and cranny of the available map, do all side quests available and get some power leveling in for good measure so I feel like {more of} a god. What this leaves me with is 5 minutes of story progression and an hour of exploration/grinding, then another 5 minutes of story and more exploration/grinding; by the end I'm quite detached from the story and I usually end up moving another another game before I reach the end.

So really is it a big deal that we're stuck on a path here? You get a dose of fighting followed by a little story, there's save points everywhere so you don't have to worry about time management while you play. There's no more searching vast cities for some loser hiding in a back alley behind a crate that's holding the valuable piece of information you need to progress the story. The game still offers you a large free range area for side quests later in the game so really unless you're looking for an MMORPG where you're going to put 100s of hours into it exploring a vast world, just try to enjoy the ride.

2) The voice acting. I don't think the voice acting is that bad at all, at least not compared to the average. Some reactions/comments of characters are over the top or a bit hard to believe but then again the main party is meant to be a varying range of personalities. I mean there's plenty of people in real life I wish had better voice actors so to speak because the things they say just piss me off or their voices annoy me. I guess the point I'm trying to make is maybe it's realistic to have some angsty tween and an overly optimistic young woman in the party even if you find them annoying or don't totally understand why they said what they did. If everyone keeps complaining characters aren't sounding accurate or cool enough you're going to get any character under 20 being voiced by Haley Joel Osment and/or Dakota Fanning and anyone over 20 being voiced by Christian Bale (that includes female characters). I can't end this without admitting that yes sometimes voice acting in video games (including this one) can sometimes pull me right out of the story with an annoying quote or comment but then I remind myself I'm playing a JRPG, I should know by now what I'm getting into.

3) The characters lack fresh personalities. No shit, there aren't any new ones unless you want the protagonist to be an 80 year old woman with diabetes that battles a dark army of sugary foods with new and more powerful diabetes magi...medication. Yes the personalities are all stock now, as are the character models, character arcs, the conflicts, and the plot twists. This isn't just with video games it's with movies and television too. There are certain defined genres and each has a few formulaic plots where you just change or rearrange minor details. Back in reference to gaming we're always going to get some dark character with a cryptic and slowly revealed past that somehow ties to the current story, we're always going to have some over the top happy bastard/bitch, some character that would be really cool if not for some fatal annoying aesthetic flaw, a girl that shows off her breasts but has no hint of sexuality in her personality. If you keep asking for something new you're going to get a manic depressive accountant with one testicle and a past of tax fraud and I don't think anyone wants that.

4) The story lacks originality. D'uh. I think I covered this with complaint #3. I don't think Final Fantasy XIII is that unoriginal but it's not remarkably groundbreaking either. I haven't seen a fresh story premise since PS1 or maybe PS2 era consoles. People keep buying movie tickets to the same stories in Hollywood; you're going to keep getting the same in video games too. Really though I think what a lot of people mean when they say Final Fantasy XIII isn't very original with the story is that it's not Final Fantasy VII's story. I'm sorry but I think if the game designers focus on creating RPGs with Semi-Industrial/Magic based storylines we're just going to ruin the memory of Final Fantasy VII or at least cheapen it.

5) All you do in FFXIII battles is auto attack. Yep that's pretty well true. I'm a big fan of traditional turn based battles but really they haven't changed that much in this game. Instead of the focus being on entering commands (which you can still do manually if you want) the focus is on entering battle strategies constantly. Now characters are versatile in their roles and you constantly need them to switch to another one to get through the battle safely...are you really upset that the AI selects Firaga for you rather than you casting it yourself. Either way people are going to complain about battle systems...it's either the same thing and it lacks creativity or they change something and the game designers have ruined it by going away from what works best. WHAT DO YOU WANT!?

What I've come to understand is that people are always going to complain about things and I don't even think they know why half the time; sometimes it seems like people complain just so they can find someone else that agrees so they can feel like they belong; my advice would be to be careful with your complaining. I tend to listen to people that calmly list pros and cons but when people get whiny/preachy/outraged I lose interest/respect even if I would have otherwise agreed with their opinion.