Final Fantasy XIII is quite.....infamous to say the least. And it's somewhat deserved.
First of all, let's establish, what exactly is the appeal of an RPG. I would say its player choice. The fact that no one will play exactly the same is quite commonly told. Some are more than others and that's fine. I don't think it's the be all end all way to judge an RPG.
To list the positives. The characters are annoying and unlikeable yes, but fairly well written and very well voice acted. It's a gorgeous looking game, and the soundtrack is pretty good. And its world, seems, keyword here, intriguing. The combat is also fairly enjoyable if a little too automated.
FF13 is not bad because its linear (I love FF10). It is bad because the world is completly gated off to you. At no point does it feel like you're interacting with the world in any way shape or form. You are going through unnaturally formed video game levels. "The Hallway" is literal in this sense. Other very linear games, like The Last of Us disguise this hallway by making the environment feel lived in, FF13 does not. You do everything at every conveniently placed robot, shopping for everything, saving etc.
The early game teases you with decent 3 person combat but then gates you off and forces you to have 2 people in your party severly fucking over the substance of battles. And even when you get more than 3, it is not until 20 hours into the game that it gets any sort of party customisation.
And even its absolutely worthless because of how the classes work in this game. Each character gets 3 in the early game, and gets access to the other 3 later. But theyre absolutely worthless because you have to level them up from the beginning with increased xp requirement. This means that you have to keep with the classes initially given to each party member. And then you realise, that actually, with this setup, only one party combination makes sense: Lightning-Hope-Fang. Because A. you're not allowed to switch Lightning out, B. it's the only combination that gives you every available class at once.
OH BUT GRAND PULSE
Grand Pulse is an open field where you can hunt monsters. It is more fun than most of the game, but it's way too little too late, and you can get the exact same thing from FF10, or even FF15 and 16, and its much better.
I'm not gonna pretend like this game is the sole catalyst for the downfall of Final Fantasy or some other retarded take, but It's not a very good game.
First of all, let's establish, what exactly is the appeal of an RPG. I would say its player choice. The fact that no one will play exactly the same is quite commonly told. Some are more than others and that's fine. I don't think it's the be all end all way to judge an RPG.
To list the positives. The characters are annoying and unlikeable yes, but fairly well written and very well voice acted. It's a gorgeous looking game, and the soundtrack is pretty good. And its world, seems, keyword here, intriguing. The combat is also fairly enjoyable if a little too automated.
FF13 is not bad because its linear (I love FF10). It is bad because the world is completly gated off to you. At no point does it feel like you're interacting with the world in any way shape or form. You are going through unnaturally formed video game levels. "The Hallway" is literal in this sense. Other very linear games, like The Last of Us disguise this hallway by making the environment feel lived in, FF13 does not. You do everything at every conveniently placed robot, shopping for everything, saving etc.
The early game teases you with decent 3 person combat but then gates you off and forces you to have 2 people in your party severly fucking over the substance of battles. And even when you get more than 3, it is not until 20 hours into the game that it gets any sort of party customisation.
And even its absolutely worthless because of how the classes work in this game. Each character gets 3 in the early game, and gets access to the other 3 later. But theyre absolutely worthless because you have to level them up from the beginning with increased xp requirement. This means that you have to keep with the classes initially given to each party member. And then you realise, that actually, with this setup, only one party combination makes sense: Lightning-Hope-Fang. Because A. you're not allowed to switch Lightning out, B. it's the only combination that gives you every available class at once.
OH BUT GRAND PULSE
Grand Pulse is an open field where you can hunt monsters. It is more fun than most of the game, but it's way too little too late, and you can get the exact same thing from FF10, or even FF15 and 16, and its much better.
I'm not gonna pretend like this game is the sole catalyst for the downfall of Final Fantasy or some other retarded take, but It's not a very good game.