Star Ocean 4 vs Final Fantasy XIII

[Spuuky]

Final Fantasy XIII is actually a pretty good game - it just isn't a good Final Fantasy game.

Could you describe exactly what you mean by this?

I think basically what it is, is that as fans of the Final Fantasy series we hold the games to a certain expectation. High expectations, whether you've been disillusioned with the series before or not. FF13 failed to meet expectations of a game within the Final Fantasy series. However, if you were to strip it of the Final Fantasy title, removing those expectations, you would find it to be more bearable as a game.

I believe that is the general message that is trying to be put across. Feel free to correct if I am wrong. :}

I actually meant two different things. That's one of them - that expectations/price/etc can totally change the way a game is perceived. For instance, if it was a $20 indie game with no previous IP you'd be utterly blown away by it.

The other thing is that brands do mean something, and I don't think FFXIII played into the brand in the right way. It takes the traditions of Final Fantasy I care about the least and blows them up, and takes the ones I care about the most and completely diminishes them. To use a somewhat old example now - World of Warcraft is a pretty good game (for the point of this example, don't argue that); but it's a TERRIBLE "Warcraft" game. The part it keeps is the lore, the part it loses is the entire game design, in that case.