I'mma just do the ol' copy-past from that OLD AND BUSTED website we used to have back when we were living like medieval cavemen;
And later that same day:
AND NOW, the exciting Conclusion!
Really appreciate the character and monster designs in this; for the most part, the game seems to leaning on FF8, aesthetically, but there's a number of nice touches; like how instead of the regular menagerie of FF monsters, the enemies are robotic drones based on FF monsters; gives everything a kind of Bayformer-except-Anime vibe that's unexpectedly pretty appealing. I'm assuming that eventually gives way to Actual Capital M-Monsters later, since they're shown in the intro cutscene. Also, an early game dungeon is a lake that was flash-frozen after a fal'Cie crashed into it, and while it was mid-tidal wave, so you see buildings and boats suspended in crystallized walls and the path is made entirely of cresting waves. S'nice effect.
Game continues to twist up standards JRPG tropes; being Chosen by the Gods for a Heroic Destiny is an unambiguously BAD thing, since win-or-lose, you die, it's just that one of the deaths is MUCH worse, and also you have no flippin' clue what it is you're supposed to do; just that a Big Nightmare Machine shot lasers into your heart and gave you a sick-ass tattoo.
Combat has also gotten MUCH more engaging once the Paradigm Shifts come into play; I appreciate that you on;y get to control one character since there's a lot to juggle in battle with just that much; not to often a menu driven JRPG is twitchy experience, but here we are.
Man, I wish I gave this thing the time of day before now!
Hi! I'm Octo! You might remember me from School!
So I ain't never given Final Fantasy 13, and its sequels, the time of day. There's lots of reasons for this that I've since gotten over; the main one of which being that I had some mild food poisoning when I first tried to play it and the games mechanics were was hard enough to try to grasp when I wasn't coping with cripplingly abdominal pain, headaches and running to the bathroom. And so, suffering from food poisoning was my only point of recollection with the game and I took that out on the the game itself.
BUT NO LONGER!
I got the whole trilogy of the games for the 360 for dirt cheap on Amazon (condition: "Acceptable"), I haven't had any Mild Food Poisoning for... about 6 months and BY GOD, I am going to give them an earnest try now!
The facts I know about this game going in;
1. Lightning is a Cool Boss Lady with a Cool Boss Lady Aesthetic, and *preemptively* my favorite
2. Sazh is one of the few Playable Dads in a Final Fantasy game and has a bird in his hair
3. Sex Bicycle
And later that same day:
Played up through to the start of Chapter 3, which is when A Video Game commences (up to that point, it's largely an interactive movie).
And hey, y'know what?
When you aren't suffering from mild food poisoning, nor disappointment that this isn't a traditional JRPG, this is a pretty darn good game! Moreso after the first chapter, where the camera is bouncin' around like it's got a hundred Micheal Bays on Trampolines directing it.
The games reliance on the Data Files for telling its story is honestly kind of welcome; unlike a lot of games that do that kind of thing, each entry is pretty brief (the only lengthy ones are the ones recapping the story so far) and the games lore is deep enough that if they stopped every few minutes to explain everything that's going on narratively, it'd be completely impossible to follow. Still wish they hadn't went with three very similar Weird Fantasy Names for the most important terms.
Main party kind of feels like the JRPG equivalent of the First Law Trilogy, they're all embodying pretty standard character archetypes for the genre, but with the twist that they're all actually really bad at them; Snow looks like the charismatic leader of a rebel army opposing the straight up murderous nazis that rule Cocoon, but, well, he screws up constantly, recites outright dangerous platitudes and winds up getting everyone under his command killed and straight up gives a machine gun to a 4-year old. Hope is an orphan hero who is traumatized into complete stasis because he was just barely saved from a mass execution and watched his mother die because of the lunatic who's pretty sure that the power of love can save his girlfriend, who is the scapegoat for the aforesaid attempted genocide, (Preeeeeetty sure the internet hates him for being a wimp, but he's the character I'm most invested in). Vanille is the Magical Pixie Dream Girl with a smile for every occasion, and she's really off-putting and also, I kind of hate her.
Combat system kinda feels like an iteration on FFX-2s Dressphere system, except more complicated and less flexible (so far at least); I appreciate not having to bother with resource management, though; just focusing on ripping enemies apart as quickly as possible.
Anyway; Strong Positive Impressions so far; Will Continue Playing
AND NOW, the exciting Conclusion!
Really appreciate the character and monster designs in this; for the most part, the game seems to leaning on FF8, aesthetically, but there's a number of nice touches; like how instead of the regular menagerie of FF monsters, the enemies are robotic drones based on FF monsters; gives everything a kind of Bayformer-except-Anime vibe that's unexpectedly pretty appealing. I'm assuming that eventually gives way to Actual Capital M-Monsters later, since they're shown in the intro cutscene. Also, an early game dungeon is a lake that was flash-frozen after a fal'Cie crashed into it, and while it was mid-tidal wave, so you see buildings and boats suspended in crystallized walls and the path is made entirely of cresting waves. S'nice effect.
Game continues to twist up standards JRPG tropes; being Chosen by the Gods for a Heroic Destiny is an unambiguously BAD thing, since win-or-lose, you die, it's just that one of the deaths is MUCH worse, and also you have no flippin' clue what it is you're supposed to do; just that a Big Nightmare Machine shot lasers into your heart and gave you a sick-ass tattoo.
Combat has also gotten MUCH more engaging once the Paradigm Shifts come into play; I appreciate that you on;y get to control one character since there's a lot to juggle in battle with just that much; not to often a menu driven JRPG is twitchy experience, but here we are.
Man, I wish I gave this thing the time of day before now!