I think it also has to do with the fact that, for all its flaws, FFXIII had a pretty interesting concept for a world and a very cohesive atmosphere, structure, or theme even when it comes to world building. XIII-2 just feels different. It doesn't feel like it's expanding something that was present in XIII - it's kind of just hijacking it to become its own thing. XIII was super sci-fi with the fal'Cie and other stuff being important in shaping that world. Then XIII-2 introduces some weird Valhalla thing and shapeshifting clothes and the most out-of-place Moogles I've seen, and just overall feels like some weird anime fantasty thing rather than that sci-fi thing we had in XIII. And then Lighting Returns looks waaay different yet again. It's like there isn't a single creative vision bidning this trilogy, it just uses the same characters and world, vaguely.
I'm sure the cringy writing has a lot to do with that as well.
Of course. No doubt about that. I'm really hoping it succeeds on a larger scale, though, regardless of what our personal feelings on the details will be. Because I want more FFs that are actually ambitious (and you can't really deny XV's ambitious, because God damn is it trying to be something incredible) instead of the lazy "it prints money" attitude we've seen throughout the XIII trilogy. Because damn, the gameplay refinements were not nearly enough to make XIII-2 palatable to me. I really wanted to play it, beat it, and try Lighting Returns because it actually looked interesting, but I can't. It's terrible and I can't.
I feel the characters, at least the main four, are probably going to be the best aspect of the game. I'm just not sure that will be enough to carry it through the game. We'll have to wait and see of course.
I kind of see your point, and agree to a large degree. but there's just something about all the gameplay that makes me feel really hopeful. All those little touches with regard to characterization, the way the guys play off each other, really makes you think of real people which, as you know, was probably my biggest issue with FFX. We had forced drama and emotions that didn't feel genuine at all. Now I know this is way ahead of time as I still need to play the game, but from what we've seen, they really do look much more human than ever before. So I'm at least hoping not to be disappointed in that regard. In general, i am optimistic. Part of me is cautiously optimistic, taking into account that Tabata looks like a very competent man but also remembering that many people who created X and XIII's story are involved in this story. Then again, another part of me is incredibly excited, seeing so many things reminding me of the games that I really loved. So I really want this to be good, and part of me just really believes it will be.
I'm pretty sure it will be better than XIII, not that doing so will be much of a challenge, but I can already see some of the pitfalls of the games design. If it's combat felt closer to say Kingdom Hearts, it wouldn't really be a problem but it just feels a bit off. Not to mention the weapon changing function is neat on paper, but I feel SE is forgetting the lesson learned with FFXII and that most players will always take the laziest route when dealing with combat and gameplay, so I can see many people being turned off by this game because they'll stick to one weapon and spamming teleport to recharge health to win 90% of the game. Magic was also not that engaging either but I find that very few action-Rpgs have ever found a decent way to to do magic in their game design, and the demo didn't really relieve that concern for me. I'm also a bit reluctant about a story dealing with a group of characters traveling to a specific destination that will be most of the story. Considering how I felt about the last game that did that ploy, I can't really say I'm super excited in the story department either. I don't mean to be a debbie downer, but SE has a pretty bad track record going for them right now and there are enough legitimate issues already arising from this game to give me the impression that we're still a ways away from SE redeeming sixteen years of mediocrity and bad choices. I'm almost to the point where I feel like the best solution would be for the company to lay off everyone and just hire a completely new staff so fans would finally go in with no expectations.
Yeah, I got pickier myself, I've noticed. But in my case, I'd have to get a new console anyway since I missed out on the last generation of consoles. And while I may still count on FFXV making its way to PC eventually, I really don't see it happening with P5. Needless to say, I'm super stoke for both. For XV I think it's safe to assume it will be a much more enjoyable experience than XIII. Even if the story does turn out as bad as that mess, the gameplay looks to be much meatier with that huge world and loads of sidequests, which really does seem to harken back more to FFXII or XC, which is really my thing. So here's hoping it'll be all good, because if it is, it has the potential of being great. At worst, it'll be an okay game. Fun, at the very least, which XIII wasn't.
I'm still on the fence with FFXV. There are certainly a lot of elements going for it right now, but my time with the demo has me concerned that the gameplay is not my deal. I'll probably get around to it eventually, but this will probably be the first non-MMO entry I don't race out to buy when it first comes out. I'm frankly more excited about Persona 5 and February can't really come soon enough. The fact I don't have to buy a new console makes it a sweeter deal for me as well, as I'm just having a hard time justifying buying a new console when I really didn't feel like I got my money's worth last gen. Maybe I'm just getting too picky in my old age.
Yeah. I mean, it's good that the game was well-received enough with people giving it praise for the many things it did right, so it's good that they get money so that they can make more good games. And I'm still hoping I'll get more into it later on, but truth be told, right now FFXV looks to have all the things I loved about OG Xenoblade, so I'm much more excited to play that now than to get back to XCX. That 50-minute gameplay demo made a huge impression on me, and I was super hyped for the game anyway. Too bad it doesn't look like I'll be getting a PS4 anytime soon...
To be fair, I always felt that Xenoblade Chronicles would be kind of a one time deal. XCX looked really interesting initially, and I'm still hyped about having Mecha in the game, but the more I learned about it the more apparent it became that the game was just an odd semi-online/offline MMO much like White Knight Chronicles turned out to be. It's probably better than that game, but I figured early on that the game wasn't going to be as interesting as XC was. I mean it was the world and concept that drew me to that game, the fact the gameplay, characters and story were great as well just kind of sealed the deal but XCX was always going to have a problem trying to follow that up. Hopefully, Monolith Soft's next title will be pretty interesting.
