To the Defense of Final Fantasy XIII

Look at any review of Final Fantasy XIII, and you'll keep reading the same thing.

"It's too linear. The linearity sucks. The game is held back because of it's linearity."

Boo hoo.

Final Fantasy X was also quite linear, but it was well received by fans and critics alike. In fact, it's probably in the top five most popular games in the Final Fantasy franchise. Now, let me tell you guys something, there's nothing that bad about Final Fantasy XIII. You want to say it's linear? Fine, it's pretty linear, but for a reason. You and your party are a congregation of refugees exiled from humanity. So, it's not practical to just travel the Overworld, go into all these towns, and say hello to all the people in them, because, well, those people want you dead. It just doesn't make sense to run around everywhere, when there's really no need to. Also, about 10-15 hours into the game, depending on your skill level, the game does open up a little, and let you do some sidequests, as well as explore the landscape.

Besides, if you think about it, all games are linear. You wouldn't be able to progress in Grand Theft Auto without having to travel to Thug Joe's house, do his mission, and then do his next misson, etc. All games are linear at their core, it's just how games work. Some may have some toys and sandboxes for you to play with while you're on your way to the next assassination, but it's linear all the same. I think Final Fantasy XIII got a lot of unreasonable hate. The game is gorgeous, the story is very complex, and the soundtrack is spectacular. The new battle system is great, as well. And for those of you who say, "Oh, all you do is hit Auto-Battle the whole time," I say this. It seems like you hit Auto-Battle the whole time, because YOU choose to do so. Move the thumbstick down one notch, and you've got the abilities menu, then you can do whatever you please. I also enjoy the paradigm system, although, obviously it isn't for everyone.

My point is this. Final Fantasy XIII isn't a bad game. It's story puts most games these days to shame, the graphics are extremely detailed and stunning, the soundtrack is emotional and fresh, and the battles can become pretty intense. Although, I do have some complaints; no game is perfect. I dislike the fact that if your "leader" character dies, the battle ends. There are a few other minor complaints, like the occasional cheesy one-liner, and some of Vanille's fighting noises sounds like she's getting off, but hey, it's a video game, not a blockbuster movie. I must say, though, the voice acting is pretty good, but being a story-driven game, it's only to be expected. Bottom line: Final Fantasy XIII deserves more than a C average, it's not in the same league as "Monday Night Combat," or "Puzzle Quest 2."

(3)

Chas Guidry

September 18, 2010

The problem isn't that FFXIII is linear, but that the game's linearity drags the game down in very obvious ways. The worst, in my opinion, is the way it detracts from the game's world building. By that I mean you never get any sense that there's a world worth saving, much less people out there as the entire time you're playing, you're exploring abandoned bridges, tunnels, hallways, corridors, etc. You never get to explore until just before the end, but that's ultimately a flavorless gimmick full of mundane side-quests.

And while you CAN manually select your actions in battle, there's almost never any incentive to do so as the game is designed around macro-management and punishes you with a plethora of on-screen information that is constantly updated due to the game's fast-paced nature.

Antonio Rios

I don't understand where all this "auto battle the whole time" bit is coming from. For those have actually finished the game, they know that against the game's tougher foes, eidolons and bosses, spamming auto-battle without forming any kind of strategy is a sure fire way of getting yourself killed.

For me, the best parts of the game are finding ways to defeat the games high marks quickly to earn a five star rating. It requires a lot of pre-planning and strategy than most people might think.

Joshua Ivey

September 19, 2010

@Chas: I never said the opening up/sidequests portion of the game was perfect, and to be honest, it shouldn't be. It's not the main focus of the game. Yeah, they could've added more people to talk to and whatnot, but again, everyone is afraid of you, and wants you dead for being l'Cie. I guess a good solution for that would've been to create a rebel society of normal people who realize that the government is deceiving them that you could interact with. But, that takes away from the "isolation" feel the game wants to convey.

As for the manual selection, while there may be no "incentive" for choosing to do battle that way, it's still there, so people need to stop complaining about "button mashing for the first 10 chapters," because it isn't required.

@Antonio: Ask anyone who HASN'T played through the whole game, and just tried it out for an hour or two, and they'd complain about how all you do is press the auto-battle button most of the time. I'm just saying that they need to give the game a chance and play it for a while, or like I said, just go to the abilities menu and use that as their primary way of choosing attacks. I agree with you, though, the paradigm system requires a lot more strategy as you progress through the game. And strategic battling = fun for me.