Final Fantasy XIII initial impressions

Not much to talk about in XI-land this week, sooooooooo... time for some off-topic stuff!

In other news, I've recently finished BioShock 2 and am now moving on to FFXIII. I have a feeling that leveling COR will take a back seat to other games in the next few weeks since there are so many other interesting things coming out!

Anyway, here are my initial impressions about FFXIII after the first 3 1/2 hours...

Gameplay
This game is awesome! It almost plays itself! I mean, the "Auto-Battle" option picks the best attack to use for the situation, so all I have to do is hit "X" 5-6 times per battle and I win! If only there were some way for the game to automatically push that button for me whenever I encounter an enemy... maybe those "turbo" buttons from old controllers can make a comeback.

Alright... seriously... I know this is the tutorial stage of the game still, but... this really is FF-easy-mode xD The "Auto-Battle" option seems to be a strange compromise between the "Gambit" system of FFXII where you set up rules for your characters on what action to take, and the micro-management that we're familiar with from older FF games. it seems to be dumbing down the system so that you no longer have to set up the rules on what to use to fight, in exchange for a lot more button pressing. I actually liked the gambit system in FFXII and had it perfected to the extent that I didn't have to touch the controller for most fights.

The good news is that you don't have to think about what elemental weakness spell to use on the mob, or whether you should use an AoE attack on a group of mobs -- Auto-Battle does that all for you. The bad news is that your role as a player is relegated to simply choosing when to use potions xD  I guess you can still ignore Auto-Battle and play it as a "traditional" game, so I think Auto-Battle is a general win here.

One little nitpik I have right now is the location of treasure chests. When you're dumped into a new area, you pretty much have to turn right around and look behind you as they like to hide treasure chests behind your start point. Especially annoying since the camera control is a little wild, and, well... they put the goal and where you're supposed to go in front of you, so your first instinct is to go forward

Oh... and yes, the gameplay is completely linear.

Graphics & Sound
It's SE... they are great at cutscenes, and catchy music. Not going to say too much here, except that if FFXIV has similar graphics & music, I'm jumping ship :o

Story
Final Fantasy games have always had good stories that draw me into the world, and XIII is no exception.

[WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW]
FFXIII starts off with Lightning infiltrating some evil corporation/government entity in disguise on a train to save her little sister with her friend with an afro and a chocobo chick. At the same time, Snow is taking his resistance group along with the same mission when they come across some civilians in the crossfire and decide to save them. It feels a lot like FFVII in that sense where you're thrown right into the action, but I'm sure they'll explain things as things go on like... w... what? What are these weird terms you're throwing about? What's a fa-ciel? How come Lightning's sidekick is so clueless?!

So... I'm not sure how SE dropped the ball here, but... the bulk of the background and story is actually expressed inside text that you have to read inside their "Datalog". In there, you find out about the background of Cocoon, Pulse, what the hell fa'ciel and l'ciel are, and the relationship between the main characters. More importantly, you also find out how they got into the situation in the start of the game, and it's VERY different from my first impression ~.~

I think this is where they completely screwed things up. I know other games have lots stuff where you can access encyclopedias worth of information about the background and world. Mass Effect 2 and Xenosaga are just two games that come to mind. However, these games used the database as add-ons to flesh out details in the world, not as the primary source of information.

Initial Impression
Well... so far it is look like a really good semi-interactive movie. And if I think of it as such, I think it will be an interesting ride. The plot, however, seems really predictable at this time, but that generally seems to be the case for most FF games in the first half of the game.

As a game though, it isn't too impressive. Definitely too simple to be called a "game", little thinking required. I've only just been introduced to "Paradigm Shifts", which  seem to be a FFX-2 dresssphere job-change thing.

Doesn't SE also publish manga/anime? I'm under the impression that they own the Full Metal Alchemist IP? Maybe they should stop making games and publish FFXV as an anime? xD Or... at least remove the requirement to use the left stick and the "X" button for battles so you can put the controller down and watch the pretty CG!


Other stuffs
It's business as usual in FFXI... Zurar getting banned again is putting my plan to level COR up to 75 back on hiatus. I'm still hoping to finish COR before the move so that I can get rid of some low level COR stuff and empty out my delivery box. COR71 now, just 4 levels to go x.x

FFXIV beta(alpha?) starts tomorrow... in theory... My new computer hasn't shipped yet, so... I'm not sure if I have a computer capable of playing it yet. From my experience in previous MMO betas, the first couple of days tend to be a mess anyway, so I might simply concentrate on XIII and not touch XIV until things settle down a little.

Hmm... am I allowed to talk about XIV anyway? Or is that a violation of some agreement? I'll probably be banned from XI for this post now :)