Why do people miss towns?

[Depression Moon]

oh you could do it in oracle of seasons too. I don't think I remembered or noticed because shops are kind of useless in Zelda. I was thinking more of the store being compared to the size of a cvs pharmacy or grocery store and maybe sending the local knights and police to deal with you.

Actually it'll be funnier if you could hide them in your clothes and on your way out someone would say, "hey I could've sworn you were skinnier when you came in."

[Lexy]

The point of towns and the issue of their watered down nature in XIII is that they make the world feel alive and immerse the player better. One of my main complaints about XIII was how I never gave a crap about Cocoon. To me, saving it was something the characters wanted but the game took no steps to make the player want to save the world or to make the player understand why the characters wanted to save it either.

You get the idea that it is home to them but since the game never gives you details on their attachments to the place, Cocoon is simply just a series of uninspiring dungeons. Even worse is the fact that the few times the game actually lets you talk to NPC's their dialogue is as inspiring as an old school 8-bit RPG and even then I feel FFII and III's NPC's were more fun and interesting.

The really annoying thing is how several other RPGs got this right and the quality of towns and NPCs have gone up in some other RPGs. At the end of XIII, I never felt a sense of accomplishment, simply just the relief of knowing I finally finished a game but I had no attachment to its world and thus never cared how the game was going to end. I ended up approaching XIII more as a game than a story cause I gained my parties resolutions halfway through and the rest of the plot had no meaning to me as a player, I was simply just an outsider watching someone else's problem.

This is why you need towns, so the player can actually have a seamless way of getting to know the world beyond boring monologues and reading source book info.

Very well put, Wolf Kanno! I agree especially that some of the first FF's had way better npc-dialogue. Some of the npc dialogue in III is so good it gives me chills, but the npcs in XIII say the most generic things.

[Mirage]

I freely admit that my personal experience with this game is limited to the first few hours and watching friends on the rest. However, one of the main complaints I hear is "They got rid of the towns!! :mad2:" I'm just curious what made people like towns so much inn previous games.

Personally I saw towns as one thing: shops. I could not care less about talking with NPC's, checking every pot for a hidden item, and so on. In almost every JRPG my journey through a new town consists of Inn, Weapon Shop, Armor Shop, Item Shop, and on with the story. The only games I can think of where this isn't the fact are the Dragon Quest games, and I can't really say why I feel this way.

So, do people really find talking to one-line NPC's and running around a sterile area to be... fun? Something to really be missed? Apparently, so if that's you feel free to explain why, if possible.

All right. To me, towns are important in terms of fleshing out the world you're playing in, and pacing the story.

Entering a normal town gives you a break from the fighting, a breather, the ability to still play the game without having to worry about monsters lurking around and crap. There's almost no breaks like that in FF13, just a relentless push forwards at all times, and it really stresses me out. The only way to get a breather is to turn off the game.

Towns, and their NPCs, also lets you explore the world you're in, beyond just the main storyline. It helps giving you the impression that you're in a world that exists beyond just supplying locations where the main story can take place. It lets you find out back stories of characters, events, locations, customs, the world's history and lore. Things that in FF13 were just fed to you though a very uninspiring data log in the main menu.

[champagne supernova]

I miss being young and games being so new. The towns in the Playstation era were so cute and fancy. But now, when I go into them, I just think, how small and trivial. Happened to me in IX (although IX didn't help it's cause by blowing half of them up!!!!!!!!!). When I finish IX, I'm going to go back to VIII (my utter favourite in terms of random stuff), but I think I'll find it too has lost its special feeling.

So, I think nostalgia really has a part to play here, although I wish that XIII did have some times to allow you to explore towns (the cutscenes in Bodhum were really cool in giving a sense of home). But I think that XIII was character-driven. You were supposed to like the characters and therefore want what they want.

I think Versus will be including towns, especially as Nomura has strongly hinted/confirmed a World Map. So, I think Versus will possibly be better than XIII. However, I think the positive elements of XIII will be carried forwards to future games, making them much better. XIII could be considered the beginning of the modern Final Fantasy.