Console Cleanup

Since I am unemployed and my PC is acting up (therefore, sadly, no SC2) I am considering finishing Final Fantasy XIII. It's without a doubt the weakest Final Fantasy title I have ever played, but it's still beautiful and I quit it at the point that the game (finally) opened up and allowed me to play with my full party and explore the world. It's not the sci-fi heavy styling of the game and the futuristic setting that disappoint me. In fact, I think this is one of the aspects that works best - it's fresh and the visuals are very sharp. It's the pacing, characters, storyline and voice actors that are all terrible. And did I mention it's short? Even though the game feels like it drags on forever, the game is disappointingly simple compared to the massive story, cast and world of FFXII. That game made me feel like an adventurer, pulled me into the story and made me care about the characters. It made me laugh, cringe and wince. I cared and that drove me to move forward and to complete the many sidequests and achievements hidden throughout the game. Final Fantasy XIII offers none of this. It's just a dull, uninteresting story without any room for exploration or adventure.

The game has a lot of potential - It opens with a lot of flash and throws you right into serious action as the enigmatic Lightning. The remainder of the principle characters are introduced quickly thereafter, but for hours and hours of gameplay you are stuck in parallel storylines, playing pairs of characters who are often heavily restricted in their available skills, forcing the player to learn each job role without a full party to support them. It's tedious, boring, and frustrating. It's not until you reach Gran Pulse after many hours of gameplay that you finally gain access to your full party and begin adventuring together. What makes the Final Fantasy stories so great is their combination of characters and camaraderie - the group dynamics. Without this, the game is just a bunch of weak characters without any deep motivation or connection. But it is still very pretty.