Thursday 21 February, 2008

GAMEPLAY
Frankly, I’m bored. I go the witch, who just keeps saying she wants her glass eye; I go to the pirates and they give me a ship after kicking their wussy asses; I go to Elfheim and get told that the witch can brew a potion to wake up their king. I feel like those characters in fairy tales that have to go on a treasure hunt that seems to infinitely regress because someone always wants something else in return. And it’s boring.

Although, I was particularly entertained by the pirates telling me that I had cannon balls of steel.

DESIGN
I’ve seen the original graphics, and the PSP remake looks absolutely lovely in comparison. A nice touch are the cloud shadows that pass over the towns, as though there were read weather patterns; and if you wanted to get overly analytical about it, you could even claim it as a symbol of the growing darkness consuming the light of the land.

I find it strange that the battle system seems to be in ‘rounds’ rather than individual turns. You choose the actions of all four party members at once, let them battle, let the enemies have their turn, and then your set up their next round of actions. It makes it difficult when you’re not sure what to expect from an enemy, and in deciding who needs or doesn’t need to be healed. Also, having to pay for spells rather than earning them in battle…I can’t help but see that as a cynical commentary on current economies. And yes, I’m being entirely serious about that, silly as it sounds.

A pitfall for player frustration here is the constant random battles. IT’S ANNOYING, especially when the majority of the battles are against cannon fodder monsters that give you maybe 4 experience points and a couple gil. Because I have no sense of direction—I still don’t know my right from left—I get lost very easily on the World Map, and it’s a pain in the ass having to backtrack and go through all. Those. Useless. Monsters. ARGH.

The lack of characterization is bothering me. I loved FFVII so much because the emo-ness of Cloud and Vincent made me want to hug them, but I still have no idea who I’m moving around the maps in FFI. The only indication of any humanity was a cutscene saying something along the lines of their feeling “overwhelmed at the great task that destiny has set before them.” Which really doesn’t tell me much.

I know Final Fantasy is considered one of the most influential games in the RPG genre, and maybe it is; and perhaps it’s just my living in a time of video games constantly pushing the edge that I’m entirely unimpressed with this one. I imagine that if I ever do finish playing it, it’ll just be for the novelty of its reputation rather than sincere enjoyment.

Great but you should mention more about the level design and what restrictions made you bored other than the people who you talk to --Chuck (grader)

I'm pretty sure the lack of any characterization comes from the developers not wanting to (or being able to) make a script that would fit any of the possible character combinations. Especially since having more than one class in your party would make things really confusing if they were very different characters. On a more modern note, have you noticed how that because in FFX you can name Tidus whatever you want, they never once say his name? Kind of the same thing only less drastic. Anyway you can probably figure out who this is based on my log name thing. Looked you up after you told me you did War of the Lions to see what else you did.

p.s. In my opinion, Vincent needs that hug way more than Cloud. I mean, his girlfriend left him for a mad scientist and gave birth the evilest guy ever. Cloud got to have massive vengeance for all that badness that happened to him, but all Vincent got was a stupid rifle.

oops, I meant more than one of the SAME class in your party.