Anybody playing FF13?

You want to play more to see what happens next in the story. This is the biggest difference in not only western v. eastern RPGs, but all game types. (Think Metal Gear)

MGS's storyline has been pretty convulsive and generally in disarray. The games are generally known for actually being fun, with plot cutscenes inbetween juicy bits. Plotholes and general lack of sense for what-the-fuck-is-going-on-NANOMACHINES left MGS pretty beat up, especially that postmodern mess that was MGS2.

Those games had the exact opposite effect on me. I played most of them on very easy just to see the story.

Huh. I guess I did the same to Snake Eater at a certain point, mostly because I wanted to see more of The Boss. Other than that i've always just been SNEAKAN GAMES with them.

Most of the plot holes in MGS can be explained away if you try hard enough. Some parts you just have to disregard - parts which Kojima admitted he had no idea what he was talking about when he wrote them. However, no matter how batshit insane the plot of each game and the series as a whole is, it's a whole lot of fun. I've come out of MGS2 twice now and each time I've not really had any idea of what happaned. The games are pretty much self-aware of how over the top and insane they are though, so it's very easy to just say "Holy shit!" when Ocelot reveals he's a triple+ agent.

As for Final Fantasy 13, my complaints of linearity stem from the fact that it is literally linear. The paths are hallways that follow a pattern of walk, cutscene, miniboss, cutscene, walk, cutscene, cutscene, cutscene, boss, cutscene, repeat. The pattern sticks out like a sore thumb eventually and I grew very bored of it. I am not pretending previous Final Fantasies were anywhere near as open as a Western RPG, but at least the games had variation in their dungeons, mini-games and sidequests to give you something else to do when you've grown sick of walking and battling and watching cutscenes for 20+ hours. I don't think the plot (fal'Cie! l'Cie! hope! fate! Focus! Pulse! Cocoon!) is really enough to hold your interest. At least, it wasn't enough to hold mine.

I'm not calling the linearity the biggest problem of the game though. It's nowhere near the biggest problem! For me, that would be the messy plot during the first 10 hours paired with the wonky characters that give me absolutely no reason to care for whatever happens. Vanille's voice actor also ruined every scene she appeared in for me as well. The battle system also extends battles for far too long despite S-E's attempts to develop a fast paced turn-based battle system, without there ever being any real challenge.

I had a lot of problems with the game. No towns was not one of them. Linearity was a very small problem. It being a bad game is probably what made me dislike it, in the end.  

Are you honestly not exaggerating that the whole game is just one long hallway?

Are you honestly not exaggerating that the whole game is just one long hallway?

Have you seen the strategy guide for this game? 'Walk down this straight line until you get to the end.'

Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it feels forced. The narrow bridges you walk on for most of the introduction feel forced, seeing as you're in what appears to be a huge city. Walking on thick, woody growths through a huge forest was also pretty ick. Most of the Lightning/Hope parts felt well done though, and at least their straight, narrow path mixed it up a bit by doing some zig zags. They even made multiple paths through the area, but all unnecessary paths were conveniently blocked off by a barrier.

Yes, for most of the first 20 hours of the game, you'll be walking from A to B in what is mostly a straight line.

Spoiler for:

Honestly, im in love with this game, except the chapter 11 boss(40 hours) which  seems to be near impossible from the forum posts i've been reading.
Arlen made a good point, you're always rushing to get somewhere if the game is open like you guys want it to be. Honestly, Without Fast Travel in Oblivion i'd probably break my xbox.

Yeah, uh, by linear I didn't mean "Wow this story is so linear, you just progress from one part to the next" I mean the maps - the game itself - is literally linear.

At least in previous Final Fantasy games you got the illusion that you were exploring huge dungeons: you could take one of a few paths and ultimately, of course, only one was the right way but you would often be rewarded with finding treasure by taking alternate routes and doubling back.

There's nothing like that here. There's also absolutely nothing to do for at least a large portion of the first disc except continue down the long hallway that apparently is the world you're in.

And how would the game being open make you rush to get places? I'd go still go at my normal pace. There's no timer or anything.

Wow. I went the the FFXIII wikipedia page when I first opened this topic, maybe an hour ago...I just noticed this and haven't refreshed the page to see if it's still there.

I always love a good public backlash-ing.

FFX was linear but to a point, but the levels were not straight fucking lines, also the battle system was not horrible.

Very good to find somebody hated the lyrics just as much as I did. Not good at all.

ZP reviewed it. Wasn't expecting that.

Very good to find somebody hated the lyrics just as much as I did. Not good at all.

The chocobo theme was the worst thing I've ever heard in a Final Fantasy game. Almost.

I hate Yahtzee's reviews. He's not any good.

Spoiler for:

I just tried out a bit of this game, and I turned it off before the first part was over.

Late to the party, but I finally spent a little more time with this, and I figured out what's wrong with it:

It isn't Final Fantasy.

It has nothing in common with any of the other games, aside from small things. None of the original creators, aside from Amano, had anything to do with it. Once I realized that it wasn't a Final Fantasy game, I actually started liking it more. Sazs or whatever. I like him.

I didn't like the game because of it's marketing lol. I blame the shitty pop/hiphop girl singer for that. I would have liked either some sort of modern fantasy or something that suits the game - but hiphop or pop or whatever the hell was playing should never ever be apart of a FF game. lol, so that's why I didn't look at it.

edit:

here -

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ABsJgxZH-Q" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ABsJgxZH-Q</a>

I got it 'cus it was on sale, it's alright though i don't like the battle system at all :/

Though i can't take snow seriously after learning that he voiced Excalibur from Soul eater for the English dub

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFUBz8l5jQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFUBz8l5jQ</a>

All i hear is this song

hahaha nice

They overcomplicated FF13. I still haven't gotten used to Optima Change

But it's not that much of a mess -.-

I'd like to restart ff12 really soon actually. lol. If I could find it - i finally moved out of my apartment and don't remember if i took it with me :|

Auto-Battle -> Paradigm Shift -> Auto-Battle -> Paradigm Shift -> Auto-Battle -> Item > Phoenix Down -> Auto-Battle -> STAGGER -> Auto-Battle -> Auto-Battle -> Auto-Battle -> Victory! *****