Final Fantasy XIII as Linear as a Piece of String
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Dec 18, 2009 14:50 JST
- Tags: Final Fantasy, Mass Media, Production Controversy, PS3, RPG, Square Enix
Players of Final Fantasy XIII are aghast at the dumbed down map design the game offers, with the entire game seemingly reduced to a single interminable path punctuated by cutscenes and unavoidable mob encounters.
The first 6 hours of the game in maps:
As Vanille remarks in game: “This path is easy to understand, isn’t it?”
There is one small branch (a shortcut) in all this towards the very end, though it involves missing choice treasure. After this the Vile Peaks beget another apparently unending RPG-on-rails experience, the polar opposite of Final Fantasy XII’s MMORPG-like open questing; indeed, there is not a town to be seen anywhere, and shopping is handled through the sterile interface of the save points.
Glimpses of later maps in the hint book seem to indicate this linearity persists to the very end – it is a wonder the game even bothers with a map.
Further fueling the suspicion that the game has been dumbed down to remedial level is the fact that several key gameplay elements remain locked even after 8 hours of playtime, and the game only sees fit to fully enable its leveling system after 4 hours.
Pre-release reviews of course failed to mention any of this…
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Honestly, I've always preferred linear RPGs. : /
Not even RPGs from the NES era are as STRAIGHT forward as this.
Linear normally refers to the story. The maps (dungeons) in these games usually involve non-linear progression and hubs, which is why people are noticing...
yeah...i thought everyone was bitching about a linear story, not the actual maps...
here is wild guess, people expected it to give you some "dating-sim" like feature where you get to date the ladies (forgetting the fact that the lead character is a lady?!)
everyone seem to have forgotten the FF is *NOT* a dating sim and there is *ONLY* *ONE* *PATH* in the game. It have always been that way.
and I will still get it, I'll even pay for express shipping to get faster.
^ From what I remember, you were able move in more directions than one on the world map in previous FFs. Don't know what you're talking about.
anon 17:30: taken from the article above:
> "After this the Vile Peaks beget another apparently unending RPG-on-rails experience, the polar opposite of Final Fantasy XII’s MMORPG-like open questing; indeed, there is not a town to be seen anywhere, and shopping is handled through the sterile interface of the save points."
you still get the open world map. So where is your problem?
>here is wild guess
Yeah, because that is the ONLY other option besides Crash Bandicoot the JRPG. God damn living in black and white feels SO AWESOME.
You know, when I commented about linearity in one of the previous articles, I could never imagine THIS coming.
Anin 17:51 'you still get the open world map. So where is your problem?'
No, you don't get it. The open world map was FF XII... 12, not 13.
@Darkrockslizer
that makes two of us, i thought they were just complaining about the story, which would be stupid to complain, but the maps? seriously? no tows? no backtracking?
its true that they never showed in-game tows in the previews but i thought they were just doing it so the game is more interesting to explore
if this is really true it'll be a complete let down
i was waiting for ff13 to buy a ps3 but i might be buying a 360 and pirate the game in the end
i'm so sad right now ;(
Wow. Until the last couple comments in this reply chain I thought that perhaps the world map WASN'T that strait. Eck....this isn't looking too good, but as long as the gameplay is still fun, and I at least find the story/characters likable....I guess I could deal.
I just want to tell everyone that if you played FF10 and still didn't know what they meant by linear, then your complete fucking morons. Please don't have children.
Aside from that your still pretty fucking stupid for not realizing they weren't talking about the story being linear.
Ahhh... how nice...
The rage of trolls have begun...as predicted...
Now everyone hopes for FF IV(?) gameplay to be godly...
>FFXIV Gameplay to be godly
He doesn't know it's an MMO yet. :3
Lol
Jokes aside.
Maybe it's a 6 hour phase that is relevant to the story?
Like, say, falling into a dungeon.
It's quite clear they made FF13 shit so that Versus makes the sportlight.
They probably decided that what with XII being the most mediocre FF title released almost ever, it would be wise to run in the exact opposite direction.
@Anon 01:28
you might say that of FF12's story, but in terms of gameplay FF12 is one of the most interesting and fun to play, if not the best so far..
Same anon here. I would not agree. The combat was dry and repetitive, and the areas were expansive but mundane. The gameplay is basically a port of FFXI, which at the release of XII was already dated. I admit I found it to have some initial charm, but it was a matter of novelty that quickly lost its appeal.
The gameplay had a lot of potential that it came nowhere near fulfilling. It ended up making for a good dungeon crawler, but a relatively crappy FF title.
I really wouldn't comment on the story which was average but I do agree with the previous guy, FFXII was a step forward in terms of gameplay.
To me there were a couple of additions (bear with me if this were introduced on XI because I didn't play it) that should become a recurring part of FF games.
-The Gambit system (albeit with room for optimization)
-Seamless battle transitions
-The ability to use any member of your party anytime and manually select his\her actions.
These things, coupled with the option for active and wait made a really customizable and enjoyable battle system
You could choose the way you wanted to play the game, you weren't forced to leave it all to the AI yet you could do it and enjoy exciting cinematic experience, or you could be one of them and feel the need and use of companions and concentrate on an specific task.
I'm not a big fan of the genre nowadays, I just played some of the memorable JRPGs of the SNES and PS era, I'm sure there must be a better battle system on an RPG, but FFXII's the one I've liked best.
Actually their gambit system was a great idea... that wasn't used to its fullest. They should have had job-class gambit setups you bought early in the game to make it things interesting. And it would have been awesome if you could have saved gambit sets ups for bosses, areas, normal situations or w/e... but no they make you micromanage EVERYTHING.
Even aside from that you should've had more good endgame ways to kill things other than hack-n-slash, and it was retarded to give animations for when you learn new skills because it makes it take FOREVER to learn all a lot of them in one sitting... I literally fell asleep learning them once...
If you think that 12 was a step forward then you're a fucking moron.
Making a game less interactive and more automated is BULLSHIT.
What are you talking about?
FF1 was "leave this castle, go save the world, kthxbi"
This isn't even linear, it's dragging you behind it in a straight path.
they always need to find a reason to bitch about . KOTOR , NWNs and Dragon age are all linear rpgs yet no one ever mentioned it . but now they try to knock down rating for a good game over nothing
I've never played the first two, but Dragon Age, linear? WTF are you smoking (and where can I get some)?
Dragon Age is fairly linear, but nowhere near as linear as this appears to be. Certainly wasn't linear map-wise!
Dragon Age is not linear, sure it has a clear cut goal: "stop the blight".
It does offer the option to modify political landscape, destroy dynasties, end legends, have sex with crazy religious girl (lol Ashley Williams clone), etc.
I'm pretty sure the "MUST DESTROY BLIGHT"'s "linearity" can be forgiven.
What the fuck, KOTOR linear? KOTOR has always been the benchmark for Non-linear game-play you fuckwit.
Did the ability to pick which planets you explored in which order somehow throw you off? Or the ability to pick which part of the questing area to actually explore first on a per planet basis (or which parts to not even fucking explore at all)? Or the ability to fucking choose the destiny of the main character? Or the ability to make a choice for every quest about whether or not he wants to follow the dark side or light side? What the fuck version of KOTOR did you play?
yes, yes, yes.....even if u played an xbox rpg, fucking KOTOR was there, are you fucking smoking crack, thank you anon for using KOTOR, GD...thanks, im glad somebody understands
WTF, out of Lothering/Dantooine, you can go do whatever you want.
If by "whatever you want" you mean The Mages Tower, Orzammar, Redcliffe, or the Bresilian Forest. Of course, the order you do those in has no impact on anything, and after that you're off to Landsmeet and a straight shot to the end of the game.
Intro part
Choose one out of four locations
next one
next one
next one
Ending part
This concept has been in used in Bioware games since Neverwinter Nights. NWN, KotOR, Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Dragon Age...
btw: The order you do things in DA HAS some impact, though not much. Put the templars in charge of the mage tower and you can't have them help out with the posessed boy in Redcliffe. That's it.
In every map you can choose from different paths that ends in different outcomes. You can play evil, you can be idealistic, you can skip parts, you can fail... Thats enough to give it a RPG feel and gameplay. FF is not RPG anymore and probably never was (maybe FFI and FFII - I never played them so I dont know)
How would you do it? charge at archdemon without leveling up at all and get slaughtered in your grey iron splintmail armor?
There is a limit to how much freedom you can have. In this case, the lack of "whatever you want" is sacrificed in favor of building up tension, diving into stories, and pumping you up for the final confrontation.
Would you rather have had a open world map where you talk to 100000000000 npcs individually and try to convince them to join your army? and then give every single one of them armory/weapons one individual at a time? and there's absolutely no goal in sight, not even destroying the blight is required.
Is that the kind of "open ended" gameplay you would want?
Fallout 1 and 2 are one of the best exemple of good non linearity. In the first one for exemple, you can reach one of the endings in ten minutes without a fight with the right choices at the character creation, or you can spend hours doing all the side quest and talking to everyone.
Most Bioware rpg's have branching storylines which probably provide its non-linearity.
Exactly... The story may branch (so its obviously not a linear story) but the maps are linear, and that is what is being discussed here. They may not be AS linear as this game, but I won't bash the quality of FFXIII just because they didn't make some loops and curves in their maps.
so you like interactive movies instead of games?
When it comes down to it I prefer story over gameplay any day.
Then go buy a movie ,not a game ;} .
How do you explain the fact that game stories sometimes have that unique charm no movie has ever reproduced? That... beautifulness.
There are many stories that would never work as movies and are only enjoyable in their game format, for example Ever17 Out Of Infinity.
Definitely now FF case - I enjoyed watching FFX walkthrough more than playing it.
Definitely not FF case - I enjoyed watching FFX walkthrough more than playing it.
There is nothing wrong with preferring story over gameplay, it's your money after all.
But I just can't agree with the idea that Final Fantasy stories are anywhere near as good as certain visual novels, sound novels, or even (Western) Adventure Games.
Movies are too short...
@Anonymous 18:53
Isn't that Metal Gear Solid's department?
inb4 all the "linear is a feature" fanboys.
you know i was really hoping for awesome gameplay.. but it seems they were brain dead once again.. sadly ill get this game regardless.
i've always loved ff6 n ff7 for its awesome gameplay. and i've been disappointed in every ff after 7, been hoping and praying they'll finally make another success, and not eyecandy that fools people into thinking its a hit, when clearly they have no effing clue what made ff games so great in the past.
Hopefully all this outcry will convince Square to make a true FF game again. The post FFX games have been straying like crazy from the loved formula.
Hell, they should look at Dragon quest and it's success. Those games sell like hotcakes.
Uhm, wut? Post FFX? Try Post FF8. FF8 at least had stats, in FF9 they dumbed it down and then in 10 they took away the stat system almost completely (i.e. no weapon/armor stats).
From 9 on they have been dumbing down to crap, FF9 I thought was going to be like FF1, it was nothing like FF1, a monkey boy from another world!?? WTF!
They really need to go back to the dungeons/elves/dragons roots and f_ck all this new agey effeminate men sci-fi crap.
I swear I think the gamedevs or the people designing these new games must be gay!
16:30
I have a distinct feeling that you don't know what you are talking about.
He does have a point about the character designs and general ethos. Imagine the population of Sweden dumped onto a Californian beach and then dressed by the latest Japanese fashionistas and you have just encapsulated Final Fantasy's designs.
Not that the pathetic medieval cosplay of Dragon Age is much better though...
well then whats the middle ground?
lol @ Artefact
@ Anon - The obvious middle ground is to create unique pieces of medieval-inspired armor/clothing and allow us to equip the pieces as in as many ways as possible without looking like a clown.
This way you'd get variety of all kinds of fantasy looking clothing. Example: equip the clothes you like and then manually (drag and drop maybe?) put on pieces of different armor until you achieve the wanted aesthetic effect.
Medieval-realistic is boring and very ugly.
Dragon Age has ridiculously huge armor that you are forced to equip or not. You can't just pick which parts you want to put on.
Final Fantasy is like a stupid fashion show.
Persona?