Wired: Final Fantasy XIII Is More Movie than Game

Though Final Fantasy is considered to be one of the game series that pushed the medium toward cinematic storytelling, the RPG genre is now (ironically) one of the least amenable to a strictly linear storyline told with highly detailed graphics. Every bit of customization in an RPG - tweaking your characters, taking branching paths, completing side missions - restricts the designers' ability to create a thrill-ride, action-packed movie of a game.

So Square dumped it all. Well, not all of it: The developers kept just barely enough that Final Fantasy XIII qualifies as a videogame, not a movie.

[Myst]

I thought this was a pretty interesting article as I was reading it, and to be honest some parts of it had me questioning my pre-order at the moment; But being a huge fan of Final Fantasy as well as JRPGs I'll continue on with it and pay it off over time.

The thing that stuck out the most in the article to me was that Auto-battle command. It seems that it would take away the fun ( at least in my eyes ) of at least having some what of a control of your character.

Well I guess I'll just have to decide for myself when March 9th arrives.

[Redempteur]

Auto battle isn't a bad thing as long it's done correctly .

Old obscure SNES games have it. Suikoden have it.

As long as you can get more to the battle by managing your attacks differently it's all right ... i'd rather try to find the best way to win rather than the "ok" part . And if i'm tired i just hit Auto to burst and enjoy the story

[Myst]

Yeah true, though auto-battle seems like something I would preferably do after going through the game once and use it to go through it a second time.

Though your right if it's done right it can be enjoyable, at least from the wording of the article at least the computer isn't selecting the worst moves available for use :p

[Myze]

The Persona games have auto-battle, as well as many RPGs, and it's only useful on trash fights that you wouldn't do anything but basic attacks on anyway.

[GrandDragon]

What a load of trash, I have plaid the game my self ans this reviewer has a lack of experience.

YOU CAN choose and customise your attacks! In fact you can use the "cancel ATB" strategy for quicker successive attacks depending on what Optima you are on. You can also choose either from manual (which the reviewer clearly was oblivious too) or Auto which does things for you...

Strategy in this Game is tantamount to surviving , you always need a healer and you can switch between Attacker and Blaster (the Optima) to break your opponent which then allows you to deal more damage.

And you CAN change the leader but that's later on in the Game once the linear part is over. Also items and levelling up accessories (that give bonuses on EXP) can be purchased from save points which you can store for later.

[GameGambits]

I'm on Chapter 9 of 13 of the game. Right now is the first place I've actually found to grind mobs to get items so I can make money to level my weapons. That's about 30 hours in.

30 hours in and NO side quests thus far. As far as challenge goes it's not there that much once you get the hang of the game. I mean if you were terrible at keeping up with switching Optimas(classes) then you'd die a lot. The hardest thing in this game battles wise has been the summon fights, and even those I managed to get on my second or third try.

The article is a bit over exaggerating, but at the same time this is a really cut and dry experience. I'm still waiting for it to open up and not be linear, but 30 hours in and I've sorta just given up on the idea it ever really will. :/

[iamtehpwn]

The game is NO more linear than Final Fantasy X. If you loved Final Fantasy X's story, you'll absolutely adore FFXIII.

I've been playing this game and there is a large amount of strategy and number of things you can do in the battle system. Upgrading characters is very open ended as well, and Crystalium is a streamlined sphere grid.

[ps3hasnogamess]

lol nothing new here ps3fans love the movies like mgs4, heavy rain and now ff13..

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

But the difference here is this one:

-from article:

"Final Fantasy XIII is a straight line. Every level is one long Hallway of Death, and you run down its interminable length, never moving left or right, always running forward. There is always only one thing to do next, and it is always either fight a short battle or watch a long movie."

MGS4 has many movie sequences but nothing like this!

[Aleusia]

Wow, how can anybody defend the xbox 360 with a straight face anymore?

[Henry Cain]

It seems that Square has fallen off. I want jrpgs like Chrono Trigger,Dragonquest journey of the curse king, FF10, and FF7. All these games gave you option to do more than just doing the main story. Every article that I have read says FF13 is really straight forward. Thats not good imo. I haven't played a FF game since FF10. They are getting worse as the years go on. I really hope FF13vs changes things. Just looking at the gameplay trailer of Snow Aeons transforming into a bike is killing it for me. Mass Effect2 looks way better than this.

[GrandDragon]

Do you honestly think Mass Effect 2 stands a chance against this Game? That game is dreary and depressing, and the graphics are underwhelming...

And FF12 was incredibly open world yet you hate that too?

[Noctis Aftermath]

I think FF13 will be about on par with FFX, Versus seems alot more interesting to me, but i'm not really sure how you can call ME2 "dreary and depressing" have you seen the recent videos for it? it looks great, i just wish i had a decent PC to play it on.

[devilhunterx]

Since FF13 isnt an exclusive, the Xboys wont b!tch about it being a "movie"

[Bodyboarder_VGamer]

Do you people think that the game's progression was made through chapters because of the late decision of making an X360 port? Because this clearly erase the advantage of the game being on only one disc for the PS3... If the game was more like FFXII kind of open-world having it on multiple discs would have been an annoyance for the developers and players as well.

Anybody could say: "but Oblivion it's huge blah blah blah...!", yeah it's huge but it doesn't has the same insane amount of CGI as a FF game. CGI are the hardest thing to compress you know.

I believe that the X360 DVD limitations ruined the game and this will be confirmed when FFvsXIII comes out.

{not talking realistically, this is just a theory of mine}

[Aleusia]

I think many of us will see what the true current gen Final Fantasy is when Versus comes out, 360 shooter meathead fanboys can call the game emo all the like, it will be better and Noctis will own Lightning.

[GrandDragon]

WTF Japanese melodrama…??

This must be an American playing...or someone not form Japan if he/she thinks this is melodrama

Lightning isn't exactly the goddess of goodness and virtue!

[Henry Cain]

I've been playing jrpgs for a long time. They just don't have the same feeling they use to. I do think that Mass Effect 2 might be better than FF13, but thats my opinion. FF13vs on the other hand will easily be better than FF13 . Like I said Aeons transforming into bikes is wack. You must be a young buck and don't remember how good Square use to be at making games.

[Aleusia]

You need to keep that hope open for Versus XIII and Nier Replicant good sir, those games look awesome.

[Ninji]

This just proves it. Not to mention that it's very linear, no penalties for dying in battle, you're health is restored after each battle, etc. There's a big list of reason why this game flopped. B-b-but teh salez!