Final Fantasy XIII

I realise I've already posted tonight, but I feel like posting again. Note there'll be spoilers for the thirteenth instalment if you continue to read.

I also realise this isn't exactly INTJ related, but you know... Maybe I assess games like an INTJ would or something!

I recently finished FFXIII - a game many people were determined to hate due to the linearity, lack of towns and anything else they could think of.
The major deterrent for me was the fact that Eidolons would stupidly transform into vehicles (i.e. Sasz and Snow). The ones that changed into more fitting forms (such as Odin as a horse) I actually quite liked.
In the end I discovered I barely used Eidolons anyway, so this was a moot point for me.

The other thing I disliked was the lack of towns. All through the game you are teased at Square Enix's superb environments and cities, even the generic citizens are quite detailed. But they are hardly used.
Every time the game led me to a town, I was hoping non-stop that I would get to wander through the place, enter some shops, buy some weapons and just talk. But alas, I was always told that either the PSICOM were in control of the town, or it had been eaten already by monsters of Gran Pulse.

Well Fuck.

In any case, as much of a letdown as it was, I manage to live on.
My final major disappointment was the way information was given. There is an immense amount of detail into the story if you're willing to read all the Primers and datalogs - which I wasn't. Because of this, I was continuously wondering who the fuck is that. The fact that there's about thirty deviations on the word La'cie in this game (Fal'cie, cieth, facie, la'cie....) I was confused as to who that guy was actually working for.
Furthermore, towards the end of the game I had no idea who the final boss was going to be, until they said "k guys, this is going to be our final battle" and low and behold, its that shitty excuse for a character priest guy who doesn't die. wtf.

Putting the bad things behind, I'm lead to the good things.

Personally I loved the battle system. I thought I would dislike only controlling one character, but the flow of battle makes it feel more intense than previous instalments. Although, having a retarded healer at times did get quite annoying.

The characters themselves are quite well done, though I don't quite agree with throwing in a token black guy for comedy and giving Vanille a terrible actor who wouldn't stop squeaking and failing to convince me in her voiceovers was a downfall. The other characters (Lightning, Snow, Fang and Hope) all had nice voices and stories, a strength of the series.

The game looks absolutely fantastic. Characters have excellent hair and costumes, environments are simply stunning, and stumbling upon a cinematic/FMV left me in awe.

The music, though not as memorable as the work of Nobuo Uematsu, had excellent flow throughout the game with themes heard all over the place, but always changing slightly. I was a  little disappointed at the lack of the victory fanfare so iconic to the series, and Leona Lewis tossed in over the ending left me with a certain vile taste in my mouth. In my opinion, the Japanese song should have been left in (as in FFX) or at the very least, a translated version of it instead of some pop star singing about putting on make up and going out.

The ending, I must say, didn't fail to please. Like the other games I sat through the credits just thinking about how nice it was.
Fang and Vanille's fate left me with a bittersweet feeling, even the slightest tear in my eye. And finally seeing Lightning smile was a beautiful touch.


All in all, I am proud to place this game on the shelf with the others, glad I bought it and glad at the outcome. Though it was as powerful at hitting my emotions like 8 and 10 were, it still made an excellent effort.
8/10