Quote Originally Posted by Rocket Edge View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover View Post
And I've already said my piece in the past about why FFXIII is a much better written game than, say, FFVIII.
We can agree to disagree, but I'd really like to know your reasoning's about why you think XIII is better written than VIII.
Everyone in XIII's cast has development and a reason to be there, for starters. In VIII, the only characters with development are Squall and Rinoa and maybe Quistis if you bring her along at key moments. Otherwise Zell, Selphie and especially Irvine all just take up space and contribute nothing to the plot. I single out Irvine because he was brought into the party for one purpose...and he promptly fails at that purpose and then immediately tries to abandon your party in prison. What a lovable goofball! This isn't even getting into the fact the "team sharpshooter' suffers perpetually from jitters and anxiety attacks.

Which is a more central problem of VIII's writing, it insists on craftingthese big military-esque scenarios that fall apart any time anyone with a brain thinks about them. The Deling abduction mission? Stupid. The Sorceress Assassination mission? Even stupider. I'll never get over how a lynchpin of this plan was to seal the woman WHO THEY ALL KNOW CAN WALK THROUGH SOLID OBJECTS in a gate.

Mostly FFVIII feels like a lot of things just happen and they're strung together with little rhyme or reason. Monsters falling from the goddam moon? Sure, why not. I mean, it's not like people aren't talking about Christmas two months in advance. Meanwhile, no one around ever mentions MONSTERS ARE GONNA FALL FROM THE MOON TOMORROW.

Also a time-traveling sorceress from the future? Sure why not. We needed time travel in this game, right?

The worldbuilding is just bizarre, too. Centra was apparently a super advanced civilization that existed for thousands of years but no one remembers them at all. I mean, they were destroyed 80 years ago. Who remembers that far back, am I right?

And of course Ellone's power is never explained. It's justsomething she can do because the Plot demands she can do it. Oh and Odine can mechanize this completely unexplained power so that our time traveling sorceress can get to it. So...shoot Odine in the head? Destroy the plans for Junction Machine Ellone? I guess that's not how time travel works in this game.

I can keep going, if you want.

Listen, there's plenty of things I hate about XIII. The nature of the fal'Cie is poorly explained, for one. But I still like the concept. They're presented as the gods who can manipulate humanity to their whim. But in reality, the fal'Cie are the real slaves and they're just trying to escape their eternal fates as, I dunno, waste management or whatever. I'm sure there's a fal'Cie in charge of Cocoon's sewage. That poor thing can do nothing else from now until the end of time. No wonder it wants to die.

Our heroes also have no real plan at any point. Well, they kinda did, with "we can get rid of our brands on Pulse!" Why do they think this? Who knows. It fails spectacularly at any rate. Mostly though they just bumble about and say "things will work out." Which is stupid as I said but I still prefer it to them coming up with some elaborate, convoluted, moronic scheme like "how about we LET the villain achieve her goal and destroy time?"

They do bombard you with a lot of Terms at the start, too. My firstrun I was very confused about Pulse and Cocoon and PSICOM and Guardian Corps and etc.. But all of this is fairly well spelled out in cutscenes. If you want extra detail or clarification, the Datalog exists for a reason. Speaking of which, the Datalog is infinitely more helpful than FFVIII's Encyclopedia.