I think it's hard to truly quantify why FFXIII was one of the worst games I've ever played (relative to its production cost/value etcetera). It's like a hodge-podge of dis-likeable elements all thrown together wrapped in a childish, immature gloss. The story feels bloated, uninteresting and derivative.
The characters are portrayed poorly and generally don't talk in a halfway-realistic fashion or have anything of worth to say. Given that I spent 80 hours playing the game (as a bet with friends to finish it; which I won) it was odd that none of the characters seemed to form bonds or share any personal, small-talk or discussion that would lead to camaraderie. There was an absence of relationships between them for me.
The world building was poor. Only later segments could be roamed (albeit quite limited) and most of the game was spent walking through what felt like a cardboard cut-out of a locale. For a simple comparison, Dark Souls has quite possibly the best immersive world of this past generation of consoles. It accomplishes this through many different diegetic means as well as gross attention to detail, something I felt FFXIII sorely lacked. Additionally, very little was interactive and the interaction was often either meaningless or something like a button press to open a door.
The combat gradually found its feet and by the end of the game, hunting and fighting the mythic creatures, it took time, effort and thought to out duel some of the side bosses in particular. Additionally, as a further plus point, the use of flashbacks was handled generally well, even if I wasn't invested in what was happening and thought it was very played out.
Final note; I don't think the developers understand the importance of silence or stillness.
Log in to comment