SwAeromotion
Posts: 8317
Joined: 9/10/2005
Status: online
|
I just got up to make another long run. I made a 9 hour run last night, putting in a little overr 7 hours in gameplay.
The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. Only bad thing about them at all are hair jaggies on straight-haired characters. Some of the backgrounds are unbelievable.
Square-Enix is definitely trying to garner in new fans to the series by putting in just a hint here and there of other genres. There are six classes in the game, which in the Japanese game had traditional FF names like Attacker, Defender, Enhancer, Healer, etc. In our release they take on names that people of shooter type of games would probably appeal to them: Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Medic, etc.
The game is definitely a run forward/battle/cutscene/repeat game so far. The first two chapters you get tutorials on the new stuff, and they open it up little by little. This is another point I've noticed where they are trying to cross into other type of gamers. They are opening it up a bit too slowly for my taste, but there reasoning (IMO) is justified. The third chapter (probably 5 hours in or so) opens up quite a bit more in how you can toy around.
This battle system is unlike any of the series. It is FAST! Battles are usually over in 1-2 minutes, but a LOT happens in that time, and the more I get into it, the more strategy I have to take into account. Add in the new features they keep adding in at certain points, and my brain starts to hurt sometimes. I got creamed in one battle (if the one character you are controlling's HP gets to 0 its game over), but they restart you just before that battle so you can try a new strategy.
I knew ahead of time that this game was hyped to be quite linear for a FF compared to some in the series that gave you a fair bit a free reign in exploration (or the illusion so). But after getting into the story and learning whats going on, I understand WHY this is so. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that it makes sense that it is linear at this point early in chapter 4.
If I were to compare this game to another in the series, it would have to be X (10). The visuals seem like a HD'd up version of X in some spots, and one of the background musics playing I remember from X.. just changed up a hair. The battle music is pretty cool, but there is no traditional FF battle win music (X's version of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5eGK026HE ), so thats kinda odd for me.
The protagonists (playable characters)... Two of them I liked immediately and still do. FF always has over-dramatic, cliched dialog in the games, and this one does as well in 2 or 3 of the characters. If you haven't played the series before, that part may stick out to you or it may even draw you in more. There are definitely character 'types' among the group. There's a gung-ho lets mash it up and not think of the consequences character. Theres an over happy, bubbly character. Theres a down on everything, worrying character (justified within the story for the most part). There's the 'leader' which is one of the best lead FF characters, IMO, just 7 hours in I can say that.
I could go on more and more, but time to play for a few (dozen?) hours. 
_____________________________
PS3 Sixaxis name: SukieJones
"Rape, murder, it's just a shot away. It's just a shot away!"
|
Printable Version
RE: Final Fantasy XIII - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread