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arynisI used to know not much about the Fabula Nova Crystallis trilogy, save for it being bad and the development being a disaster. A friend of mine has been recommending me the series and showed me some arguments that ultimately got me interested in playing the games. I've finished the first game out of the three, so here are my thoughts.
In a nutshell, the game surprised me in many ways and it was very much an experience to play it. It's high on my list despite its egregious flaws.
First, I'm going to list the good and the bad parts of the game in no particular order, and then expand on each point.
The positives
The negatives
In a nutshell, the game surprised me in many ways and it was very much an experience to play it. It's high on my list despite its egregious flaws.
First, I'm going to list the good and the bad parts of the game in no particular order, and then expand on each point.
The positives
- Strong main cast
- The main villain
- Story that gets you emotionally invested
- Fascinating setting and lore
- Fun and challenging battle system
- Amazing OST
The negatives
- Atrocious corridor fest
- Lack of exploration
- Lack of minigames and other sidequests
The Positives
The Main Cast
I'm going to kick off with one of the biggest positives. This was the first FF game I played where I cared about every party member. (For reference, at the time of writing this post, I played: 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12) I generally liked the cast in all of them, but they all had some outliers that didn't feel as impactful as other cast members. 13 has a powerful core cast, which the narrative helps really draw out. Generally the party is fairly gung-ho despite the conflicts that happen in the games, but not this time around. Nobody likes anyone at the start and they all feel depressed over being branded a l'Cie. You follow smaller split groups for majority of the story, and the pairings work very well thanks to the characters being foils. By the last third of the game, everyone has developed and got past their despairs, forming a strong team that is willing to defy fate and kick absolute ass. Their conflicts and development felt human.
While she's not the first female protagonist, Lightning is a solid lead. The opening helps establish her very well and it gets better from there. Despite her anger and frustrations, she's got a softer side to her which is most prominently shown with caring for Hope.
Snow is your hotheaded hero character, but he's a total sweetheart and he does ultimately show what it takes to be a hero. Despite Hope trying to kill him, Snow protects him anyways and then pushes on out of sheer willpower to protect him. He pulls off some real ballsy moments and it makes you want to root for him.
One of the many moments Snow made me drop my jaw.
Sazh is one of my top favorites because he's easily the biggest source of comic relief in the game, while also being one of the most heartbreaking. I actually worried for him at several points because he seemed to take things the hardest, especially when his son turned to crystal and he lost all hope. His suicide moment was faked out thanks to the fact that he had literally gotten his Eidolon, but it was upsetting and tear jerking nonetheless. Also, he's got a chocobo chick in his afro. Best guy ever.
Hope is my other top favorite because of the sheer development he goes through during the story. He starts out as a shy, scared boy who is understandably hung up on his mother's death. Then, he's consumed by revenge towards Snow. Then, he realizes that revenge isn't the answer and ultimately he helps carry on the morale for the team as a confident young boy. As a bonus, his Eidolon is friggin' Alexander!
Vanille starts out a a seemingly happy go lucky girl, but her depth unfolds as the story goes on. Lie after lie, she's been running away from responsibility and the truth. Even if her actions are the cause of many events in the game, I felt bad for her and worried for her at many points. At the end of the game, she stops running away and stands for what is right, together with Fang.
I was worried that Fang was an antagonist at first, but her allegiance was clear soon enough. She's quite badass, then again she has Bahamut as her Eidolon, which certifies it right there. In the end, her distrust eases up and sees she's not alone. There's no need to tackle everything on her own.
The Main Villain
On the topic of characters, I need to talk about Barthandelus, who I briefly called Bart or Barf for short until I got hang of how his name is spelled.
What makes Barthandelus shine is his big reveal moment and associated speech where he clarifies who he really is. It's followed by a difficult boss fight to boot, just to drive the point home. Bart-a-dealio is different from the other villains because he's aware of how dangerous the main cast is, and he also manipulates them every step to make them grow powerful. To even the playing field, he resorts to exploiting human weakness - trying to induce despair in the l'Cie and getting a rise out of them. He felt powerful without coming off as an absolute.
While I wouldn't call him the most memorable franchise villain, he was certainly a strong antagonist and actually justified the transformations the bad guys usually go through. He's a fal'Cie, so he's whatever the heck he wants to be.
The Story
The plot felt solid overall and nothing felt like a filler or padding. I felt overcome with emotion quite a lot, and I teared up at several scenes. The game is heavy on cinematics, but almost every scene felt meaningful in some way, save for the few "Hey we should go this way" moments.
Unlike the other games, you are tasked with destroying the world (well, Cocoon) rather than saving it. The characters were bound to an inescapable fate that had no happy ending. I felt the cast's approach to the dilemma very human - they wanted to run away, and then they didn't know if their efforts would pay off. In the end, they manage to defy destiny and carry out a miracle. It's such an amazing moment because it felt like they earned it, they fought for this, and it came true even though they weren't sure what would await them. Even if the game is "screw destiny" in a nutshell, the message feels relevant for the times we live in now. It's better to try than not try at all. Even if your victories are small, that's already progress that made a difference.
Since FF13 is followed up by two more games, I'm really interested to see where things will go next from here. What will the humans do from now on? What are the fal'Cie going to do next? What about Lightning and everyone else? It's going to be wild, I'm sure of it.
Lore and Setting
Related to the above, the game did well with building up a fascinating world and interesting background. The fal'Cie are great because they are immensely powerful, yet so restrained due to being limited to their roles. Humans complementing them as weak beings but full of potential was a great touch. The Datalog contains a lot of good reads about the world and its inhabitants, I had a lot of fun reading the entries. My only nitpick here is that I wish the lore had been a little more organic. It would have been great to see some aspects unfold through the narrative rather than having to look it up in the Datalog to get a better picture.
The Battle System
The battle system didn't feel too complex at first, but I grew to enjoy it soon enough. Timing your paradigm shifts is crucial, as well having the right role combinations. The bosses were actually challenging and some of them were especially painful, even if you hit the Crystarium progression cap for the current part of the story. None of the battles felt stale and you had to be on your toes even for regular fights if you didn't want to die.
The Soundtrack
The songs overall have been really enjoyable and helped set the mood. All the battle songs are catchy and help you fire up for the battles as well. Dust to Dust is easily the most haunting and emotional song out of the entire game.
The Negatives
Level and World Design
While FF13 boasts a lot of strengths, its weaknesses stand out and really hurt the experience. It didn't detract me from the game, but they still warrant the criticism.
The biggest offender is the design of the sets (or levels, if you will). With the exception of Gran Pulse's fields, almost every location is a linear corridor fest. Now, I don't mind linearity as much in itself. FF10 is mostly linear, and to an extent every FF game railroads you until the game opens up and expands for exploration. But when everything feels like walking through a fancy corridor with almost no puzzles, yeah, that's jarring as hell. Even if this is justified with Cocoon being a fal'Cie pen for human thralls and Gran Pulse offering freedom from that, the areas could have been still more organic. I want to feel like the location I'm going through feels like that location, rather than path after path. With the exception of Gran Pulse, pretty much every location is a place you visit only once, and that's it.
Lack of Exploration
Related to the above point, almost every place feels like a corridor rather than exploring the place you are at. Which is a shame because FF13′s world is intriguing. Exploring would have been a nice way to experience lore exposition. The towns didn't feel like towns, either. Palompolum sort of gets away with this since it was swarming with authorities, but Nautilus having lack of activities was the biggest offender. I really wanted to be able to buy one of those plushies or have a scene with it, or something. Oerba did well on having interactive set pieces, I wish other places had them too.
I really wanted to know what that packed food was on that plate...
Lack of Minigames and Other Sidequests
Also related to the above point - aside from the Cie'th Stone missions and looking for treasures with Chocobos, there don't seem to be any other notable sidequests. The closest thing to a minigame was having to find the Chocobo Chick in Nautilus, but that's me being generous. Side activities like Blitzball or Tetra Master made for a fun option besides all the battling, so FF13 feels a little lesser without having something like them around.
Conclusion
I'm glad I was proven wrong on believing this trilogy wasn't good. I've been told that XIII-2 and Lightning Returns improve on the first game, so if the next two games keep up the strengths, they are contenders for hitting the #1 spot for my favorite FF games list.
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6/12/18 12:54 (UTC)(no subject)
6/12/18 21:05 (UTC)