Final Fantasy XIII is reviewed

[Wolf Kanno]

A lot have some form of exploration or side quests you can take part of, even VIII has a couple though most never realize it until they use a guide. I'm thinking more of FFX's problem where your literally stuck on a single path with no diversions (except crappy blitzball) for a good 30 hours until you reach the Calm Lands and then you get a minor sense of openness until you get the airship a few hours later at the smurfing end of the game. I think FFV is about the only other FF that was horribly linear (though it hid it really well) the other games had side places and entire towns that served no real story purposes for you to discover and play with.

[Necronopticous]

I will be skeptical to the end.

[Psychotic]

I love that Amano artwork. Call me an idle speculator, but could her inclusion in that mean Serah is a playable character? Well, it'd break the 3-female rule, so maybe not. But it'd be cool I guess!

[Formalhaut]

I Did'nt Relise There Was A 3 Female Rule. Although I Did Find It Odd That Most FFs Had Less Females Than Males... Mmm.

[Rodney]

I Didn't Realize There Was A 3-Female Rule.

Sort of unofficial, but yes. At least since 4, there've been three -- one to fill the heroine role, whether damsel-in-distress heroine or (clearly more preferred by players) kick-ass heroine, strong, serious woman, or perky young girl.

FF4: Rosa (heroine), Rydia (younger, perky young girl, and older, strong, serious woman), Porom (perky young girl).
FF5: Lenna/Reina (heroine), Faris (strong, serious woman), Krile (perky young girl).
FF6: Terra (heroine), Celes (strong, serious woman), Relm (perky young girl).
FF7: Aerith (heroine), Tifa (strong, serious woman), Yuffie (perky young girl).
FF8: Rinoa (heroine), Quistis (strong, serious woman), Selphie (perky young girl).
FF9*: Garnet/Dagger (heroine), Freya (strong, serious woman), Eiko (perky young girl).
FF10: Yuna (heroine), Lulu (strong, serious woman), Rikku (perky young girl).
FF12: Ashe (heroine), Fran (strong, serious woman), Penelo (perky young girl).
FF13: Lightning (heroine), Fang (strong, serious woman), Vanille (perky young girl).

*Although depending on which translation of the game you're playing, there could be four females. Quina's definitely determined to be male in the German translation, but the French and Spanish translations determine the character to be female.

[Psychotic]

Don't forget FFX-2. Only 3 characters and they all had to be female!

[Jessweeee♪]

Eh, I wouldn't lable Penelo as perky. She seemed mostly serious to me.

Linear until the halfway point doesn't sound so bad for my tastes. FFX was my favorite in the serious and it was super linear for an RPG. I did mind it a little bit after my thirteenth playthrough.

[Bolivar]

I could care less if a game is linear or open world. If it's good, it's good and that's about it.

[Rodney]

Eh, I wouldn't lable Penelo as perky. She seemed mostly serious to me.

That's all on Cat Taber for not nailing what the role was actually supposed to be like. But yeah, Penelo was indeed the Porom/Krile/Relm/Yuffie/Selphie/Eiko/Rikku of the party.

[Raistlin]

Side quests do matter for me so I am a little sad it might be going the X route as I genuinely don't like linear RPGs unless the story is strong enough to hold my attention.

Agreed, I enjoy having other things to do. The gameplay, including exploration and sidequests, is what really made FFXII for me. I don't necessarily mind linear, but it has to have a really good story and really engaging characters, and FF just doesn't do that for me.

[Rad Bromance]

Final Fantasy 13 < New Super Mario Bros Wii, Bayonetta and Dragon Quest 9, apparently.

That doesn't really say anything, since they gave Nintendogs a 40/40, meaning Nintendogs > Every FF game besides XII.

39/40 is good enough for me!

I will be skeptical to the end.

Can't blame you there. I'm still pretty skeptical, but excited at the same time!

[VeloZer0]

That doesn't really say anything, since they gave Nintendogs a 40/40, meaning Nintendogs > Every FF game besides XII.

39/40 is good enough for me!

You know its true.

I don't like how nowadays it seems reviewers use 'linear' as a negative term. Personally I find strongly linear games much more enjoyable, as they tend to have much stronger narratives. Linear/Non-linear seems so much like a design choice to me, but from the industry dialog I read/hear it seems linear is regarded as second rate option when developing a non-linear world is too difficult.

[Rad Bromance]

That doesn't really say anything, since they gave Nintendogs a 40/40, meaning Nintendogs > Every FF game besides XII.

39/40 is good enough for me!

You know its true.

I don't like how nowadays it seems reviewers use 'linear' as a negative term. Personally I find strongly linear games much more enjoyable, as they tend to have much stronger narratives. Linear/Non-linear seems so much like a design choice to me, but from the industry dialog I read/hear it seems linear is regarded as second rate option when developing a non-linear world is too difficult.

I don't really get that either, but for this entire gen, "linear" has been a negative term in reviews and an excuse to give low marks.

[Bolivar]

I think it's because "open world" became this cliche gimmick for games to arbitrarily differentiate themselves in the ensuing years after GTA III. The problem is we've been there, done that, got a couple t-shirts, it's just a different design decision.

A lot of reviewers/media outlets apparently haven't woken up to this fact yet.

[Wolf Kanno]

Its a problem with RPGs really as it basically defines the difference between a JRPG and any other type of RPG.

A linear game basically means its completely story driven and for the most part removes any choice the player has, it was a major problem I found for lots of early RPGs in the PS2 era. Story driven has the problem of being a really good experience or being a nightmare depending on how you feel about the plot. XIII sounds like it may avoid this so its all good but it makes me sad to realize that exploring for the first half of the game will probably net me a few minor items and be me just looking at the scenery as opposed to finding something new and exciting to divert my attention for a minute. For a genre that started on the foundation of exploration, its really moved far beyond its roots.