I'm getting a kick of putting these things into hours. It really gives me a modular assessment of time. Regardless, I'll get right on topic for those reading.
When we last left off, Snow and Hope had fallen off an edge. Snow wakes up and carries Hope through the area in true do or die fashion while Lightning and Fang both make their way through the city. Fang is still apologetic to Lightning but isn't worried much for Snow. Meanwhile, Snow finally collapses after hauling Hope up a ladder. Hope wakes up and realizes what Snow has been doing and again tries half heartedly to be angry at him. The conversation turns as Hope continually attack him for his running away from his guilt and Snow admits it. He says he'll do everything he can to make it right before ever apologizing to Hope for this whole matter. Hope realizes that Snow isn't as stupid as he thought and forgives him. A monster descends and attacks Hope and Snow but Snow gets knocked cold due to previous injuries from the fall compounded by getting hit with a giant limb.
Hope battles it out until Lightning and Fang arrive after seeing the commotion. They defeat the hulking beast and arrive at Hope's home. He's still worried about what his dad will say. When his father sees them, they have a scene of reunion before Hope drops the bomb. The fathr is busted up by the matter but ultimately gets stalwart with his son, proud that he's making choices for himself. His resolve is only strengthened by Snow telling him what his wife told Snow to get Hope back home. The whole scene is cut short thanks to the idiot running the military of Palumpolum showing up. Snow steps out and tries to convince the soldiers that l'Cie are people too and that they're not trying to do anything to destory Cocoon. Some of the soldiers buy it but the leader scoffs and tells them to get ready to open fire.
Gas grenades get thrown from behind and in the confusion the leader is shot to death. Snow, still weak can't fight and Lightning and company take stride with Hope taking a jab saying he'll throw a few shots for Snow. The airship the troops came from take aim at the party and the ensuing battle the party tears it apart piece by piece. The cavalry arrives and gets everyone aboard. Lightning orders Hope to tie up his dad and say they forced him to help them to keep him from getting caught up in the matter Hope and his father say good-bye one more time and the party runs.
Meanwhile, in the city of Nautilius, Sazh and Vanille arrive by boat. A major parade is about to start and Sazh takes her to it. Since it's been said prior, Vanille is from Pulse and is mildly shocked by how people are truly scared of the world below them. She sees a bit of her focus again, though again nothing is truly explained in it, just images. Sazh starts to realize something is getting her down but can't put his finger on it. They go to see the Chocobos. Just like Hope and his dad, things are not left to settle as the army shows up and attacks once again. It's hard to believe at first but the game throws a hard curveball and drops me. The military is using Sazh's son to hunt his father and the rest as Dajh is able to find Pulse energy. Sazh wigs out and hugs his son but Dajh turns to Crystal just like Serah. In pure grief, Sazh is ready to kill anyone. The woman who hasn't been named but is more stuck up than a shirt washed in pure starch spills everything. She shows Sazh a video of Vanille and Fang talking about attacking the fal'Cie in Bodhum where Sazh and Dajh were on vacation. Sazh realizes this is all Vanille's fault. Vanille runs off, trying to escape this matter once again. She sees a throne randomly and on it is Sazh but he's a spirit. he points his gun and shoots ethereal bullets at Vanille telling her she should die.
On the floor, Vanille looks up and sees Sazh, the real one looking at her. He pulls out his gun but he can't bring himself to shoot her. Wild with grief and unable to do anything to get rid of his rage, his Eidolon surfaces. He takes everything he has and attacks, with Vanille helping him to spite herself somewhat. After he defeats it, he collapses from the weight of the situation. He takes out a pistol and puts it to the side of his head. The screen goes black and you hear a gun shot. Vanille is taken away along with Sazh in a coffin or something with the woman making a remark.
This remark can be seen here, but this is actually a funnier video of it. :D LINK
The rest of the party sees a video on the news of a live execution of the l'Cie, a.k.a. Sazh and Vanille. Lightning remarks that it's a trap and the two of them are the bit. Fang chimes in saying that she lost Vanille once, and isn't about to lose her again. Snow puts on his smile and says he could care less, he just wants to stick it to the Sanctum but they might need a plan. The newscaster remarks that the figurehed of the Sanctum will also be in attendance which solidifies Lightning's need to throw herself at this suicide mission.
I'll cut off there for now. Yes I know, that seems rather short but trust me, there's a lot to chew on that I'm cutting and summarizing. The real twist was Sazh's dilemma and ultimate crushing defeat. Vanille really has proven how deep she is despite her bubbly personality which I originally thought would grate on me. The game continues to deliver and I'm more than certain that the next ew chapters things are going to drop off but it looks like I'm about five to ten hours away from beating the game outright. They say I've nearly reached half way but I'm willing to bet I'm lot further than that.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Final Fantasy 13 (The second 5 hours)
So, for better or worse, I've went another 5 hours into the game, and lost a good couple hours of sleep thanks to it. Either way, i guess all I can do is stomach it and continue moving forward in my pursuit of finding something truly god forsakeningly wrong with this game. Its not perfect but it's welcoming at least.
This part of the game, things begin to actually get more character development. Lightning and Sazh actually start to realize that they're not only working for themselves but Vanille and Hope (yes that's his real name) as well. Vanille manages to actually squeeze Sazh for information about himself. Sazh is a father of a young Dajh who was quietly mentioned by him earlier in the game. Dajh is a l'Cie himself but he was made one by a Cocoon fal'Cie which makes hm a celebrated warrior. I dunno about this but I can't help but think the army of Cocoon is lacking intelligence in key areas as this kid is only 6 or so years old and still relying on his dad. Vanille is placed in the scene with Dajh which leads me to believe that she was directly involved in this mess and it becomes obvious later on.
Lightning and Hope mean while have split off, with Lightning aiming for revenge and self fufillment due in part to her mind being unable to cope with her Sister. Hope follows her with the intent to get strong enough to get revenge on Snow for his mom. Hope knows that killing Snow won't bring her back but he doesn't care and just wants him to pay for it. Lightning doesn't know what to say as she pushed Hope into this mindset by not talking him down at all. Lightning and Hope make it to Palumpolum (A nod to Palum and Porum from Final Fantasy 4) and start sneaking into the city to gain transport to Eden so Lightning can exact revenge against the Sanctum for screwing her and her sister over so hard. She convinces Hope that the Sanctum is as much at fault for his mother's death as Snow is and that they also need to pay. Hope, blinded by revenge doesn't care and seeks to get over his grief by fighting.
Lightning and Hope make their way through the city fal'Cie (Carbuncle, I love the nods to the old games). Its then that Hope makes an anology about how the fal'Cie treat the humans more like pets than anything else. Lightning realizes that she's been on a leash her entire life and that this whole idea of attacking the sanctum is not only a bad idea but something that the pulse fal'Cie wanted her to do probably in the first place. Now thinking clearly, she abandons the idea of a raid. Hope, broken by the loss of will from Lightning starts shouting about how she can't lose her nerve and that this was all her idea. Lightning admits she's wrong and tells Hope that he can't lose his name sake because fighting without hope is just as bad as waiting to die.
The two are quickly spotted and surrounded by PSICOM soldiers and the finally enlisted Guardian Corp. They're both saved thanks to Snow showing up and with Shiva throwing off a multitude of of the soldiers and protecting the two of them. Lightning shoves Hope with Snow and runs off to cover their escape. The awkwardness from being thrust into Snow's protection beings grating on Hope immediately and the tension starts mounting wuickly as Hope gets more and more begrudged at Snow's straight forward and inadvertent hurting of his feelings. Meanwhile, the calvary that helped Snow after he was captured along with the Australian Chick going by the name Fang meet up with Lightning. It's with Fang that Lightning learns more about what really happened to her Sister and why this whole thing started. The realization that Dajh and Sazh are casualties of their interloping, that Fang and Vanille are both from Pulse and that Lightning's sister becoming a l'Cie are all Fang and Vanille fault pushes Lightning to the edge. She slaps Fang after the realization. Fang tells Lightning that Serah can come back from her crystal form, and that Fang and vanille will help, but Lightning and the rest need to help them too.
Fang calls up Snow an shouts at him after he doesn't check in. Lightning jumps on the com and talks with Snow a bit before remembering to warn Snow about Hope and his problem. before she can, Hope takes the com and says he's going ahead with his plan before it cuts out. Lightning panics slightly, realizing that Hope very well might kill Snow and ruin this whole thing before they get a chance to do anything. Snow and Hope make their way to the rendevous point which is Hope's house. On the way, Hope gets closer and closer to killing Snow with a knife that Lightning gave him on their trip to the city. After beating up on a boss, Snow finally pushes Hope to his limit. After the fight, Hope moves in on Snow to exact his revenge but an explosion send him in the same fashion of his mother lfying off the side of the railing. Snow in a break neck attempt lets go of the building edge and grabs Hope and they both fall with Snow hitting multiple objects and landing with the pair of them out cold.
That is where I stopped as it was 2 in the morning by that point and I'd started at 9 something that evening. It sucks because I know with some spare time, I could easily blow through this game very quickly but school is a gint obstacle and Spring break is just next week. Regardless, the characters are really coming together and the motives and stuff concerning them is starting to not only take shape but it's compelling. Each character has something that relates them to me in some way. Lightning and Snow grew on me instantly. Vanille was annoying but I ultimately see her vaive front is a shell to protect herself. Sazh was always a good comic relief but knowing what drives him now makes him a more wholesome character than I originally thought.
The game tries to make these characters as real as possible. Their fashion sense might be lacking but ultimately you can not argue that these characters are trying to be as real as possible. the put up fronts, they lie about their emotions, they act out agressively and have real breaking points. They sometimes more human than we are.
More to come, plus review of Final Fantasy 13 as well. I'll make sure to keep running this game down, even after I review. I more than sure I won't beat it when I review it but if I don't review it now, I lose the edge. Either way.
:D
Hope you all dig!
This part of the game, things begin to actually get more character development. Lightning and Sazh actually start to realize that they're not only working for themselves but Vanille and Hope (yes that's his real name) as well. Vanille manages to actually squeeze Sazh for information about himself. Sazh is a father of a young Dajh who was quietly mentioned by him earlier in the game. Dajh is a l'Cie himself but he was made one by a Cocoon fal'Cie which makes hm a celebrated warrior. I dunno about this but I can't help but think the army of Cocoon is lacking intelligence in key areas as this kid is only 6 or so years old and still relying on his dad. Vanille is placed in the scene with Dajh which leads me to believe that she was directly involved in this mess and it becomes obvious later on.
Lightning and Hope mean while have split off, with Lightning aiming for revenge and self fufillment due in part to her mind being unable to cope with her Sister. Hope follows her with the intent to get strong enough to get revenge on Snow for his mom. Hope knows that killing Snow won't bring her back but he doesn't care and just wants him to pay for it. Lightning doesn't know what to say as she pushed Hope into this mindset by not talking him down at all. Lightning and Hope make it to Palumpolum (A nod to Palum and Porum from Final Fantasy 4) and start sneaking into the city to gain transport to Eden so Lightning can exact revenge against the Sanctum for screwing her and her sister over so hard. She convinces Hope that the Sanctum is as much at fault for his mother's death as Snow is and that they also need to pay. Hope, blinded by revenge doesn't care and seeks to get over his grief by fighting.
Lightning and Hope make their way through the city fal'Cie (Carbuncle, I love the nods to the old games). Its then that Hope makes an anology about how the fal'Cie treat the humans more like pets than anything else. Lightning realizes that she's been on a leash her entire life and that this whole idea of attacking the sanctum is not only a bad idea but something that the pulse fal'Cie wanted her to do probably in the first place. Now thinking clearly, she abandons the idea of a raid. Hope, broken by the loss of will from Lightning starts shouting about how she can't lose her nerve and that this was all her idea. Lightning admits she's wrong and tells Hope that he can't lose his name sake because fighting without hope is just as bad as waiting to die.
The two are quickly spotted and surrounded by PSICOM soldiers and the finally enlisted Guardian Corp. They're both saved thanks to Snow showing up and with Shiva throwing off a multitude of of the soldiers and protecting the two of them. Lightning shoves Hope with Snow and runs off to cover their escape. The awkwardness from being thrust into Snow's protection beings grating on Hope immediately and the tension starts mounting wuickly as Hope gets more and more begrudged at Snow's straight forward and inadvertent hurting of his feelings. Meanwhile, the calvary that helped Snow after he was captured along with the Australian Chick going by the name Fang meet up with Lightning. It's with Fang that Lightning learns more about what really happened to her Sister and why this whole thing started. The realization that Dajh and Sazh are casualties of their interloping, that Fang and Vanille are both from Pulse and that Lightning's sister becoming a l'Cie are all Fang and Vanille fault pushes Lightning to the edge. She slaps Fang after the realization. Fang tells Lightning that Serah can come back from her crystal form, and that Fang and vanille will help, but Lightning and the rest need to help them too.
Fang calls up Snow an shouts at him after he doesn't check in. Lightning jumps on the com and talks with Snow a bit before remembering to warn Snow about Hope and his problem. before she can, Hope takes the com and says he's going ahead with his plan before it cuts out. Lightning panics slightly, realizing that Hope very well might kill Snow and ruin this whole thing before they get a chance to do anything. Snow and Hope make their way to the rendevous point which is Hope's house. On the way, Hope gets closer and closer to killing Snow with a knife that Lightning gave him on their trip to the city. After beating up on a boss, Snow finally pushes Hope to his limit. After the fight, Hope moves in on Snow to exact his revenge but an explosion send him in the same fashion of his mother lfying off the side of the railing. Snow in a break neck attempt lets go of the building edge and grabs Hope and they both fall with Snow hitting multiple objects and landing with the pair of them out cold.
That is where I stopped as it was 2 in the morning by that point and I'd started at 9 something that evening. It sucks because I know with some spare time, I could easily blow through this game very quickly but school is a gint obstacle and Spring break is just next week. Regardless, the characters are really coming together and the motives and stuff concerning them is starting to not only take shape but it's compelling. Each character has something that relates them to me in some way. Lightning and Snow grew on me instantly. Vanille was annoying but I ultimately see her vaive front is a shell to protect herself. Sazh was always a good comic relief but knowing what drives him now makes him a more wholesome character than I originally thought.
The game tries to make these characters as real as possible. Their fashion sense might be lacking but ultimately you can not argue that these characters are trying to be as real as possible. the put up fronts, they lie about their emotions, they act out agressively and have real breaking points. They sometimes more human than we are.
More to come, plus review of Final Fantasy 13 as well. I'll make sure to keep running this game down, even after I review. I more than sure I won't beat it when I review it but if I don't review it now, I lose the edge. Either way.
:D
Hope you all dig!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Final Fantasy 13 (the first 5 hours)
Yeah, I say 5 hours because unlike some idiots, I got school and mid-terms to deal with and I can't take time off from school when I got spring break and the like in between that noise. So with that, I've only logged 7 hours so far, but I'll only talk anout the first 5 and make comparrisons like I usually do.
This game is cut and dry at the beginning. Lightning, the chick who would be Cloud but refuses to Emo at the moment, is in search for saving her Sister, Serah. Searh is being held in this giant thing called a fal'Cie (Fall See). With the help of the Token Black Guy named Sazh, who is the only voice of reason to any outsider playing this game, Lightning tears through a train of soldiers, and blows up more things than are required by most games to explode. This isn't a bad thing, Final Fantasy is known for bombastic starts but 13 takes the cake, even if it took a few nods from Final Fantasy 7.
We cut to Snow, the Bandana wearing self proclaimed Hero, who is running towards the fal'Cie and started a rebellion just to distract the government long enough for him to rescue his blushing bride to be. The manual already states that Serah, Lightning's Sister is also Snow's fiancee`, but if no one bothered to read then this point that out fairly quickly.
The reason Serah is in such trouble is because she's a l'Cie (La See) and is cursed to fufill her mission or turn into a butt ugly monster with no soul. Her mission, she doesn't really know but from my best guess, I think it was to unite Snow and Lightning in the same room so they could be turned into l'Cie themselves and carrying out the big mission of saving everyone's asses. During this escapade, a kid by the name of Hope and a girl named Vanille are dragged into the conflict because Hope's mom took up with the resistance and help Snow. She's killed saving Snow and falls off a bridge after a bomb goes off and let's go of Snow's hand after she goes limp. This leads to Snow emoing out for about 15 seconds before ultimately getting over this problem and returning to the primary objective to save his girlfriend. Hope wants to beat Snow down for killing his Mom, not knowing it wasn't Snow's fault, and Vanille pushing him to chase after Snow.
It's funny, I think the same voice actor for Hope is the voice actor for Vaan from Final Fantasy 12, which ultimately means that he's a cardboard cut out in place of a good character and will fall to the way side because of this. No matter, you rarely play as him through the first part as the story mainly focuses on Lightning, Snow and Sazh who are the primary interests for these beginning hours.
Upon arrival on the fal'Cie, the group meets up on the large scale behemoth and find Serah who tells them to save Cocoon (Their big floating hometown/city/giant sphere thing). She turns to crystal and Lightning get extremely mad. She beats up Snow (One punch leaid him out flat.). Snow remarks that they need to protect Cocoon and Lightning, too bitter and enraged to listen storms off to kill the fal'Cie at the core of the place. Snow, realizing that killing the fal'Cie might make himself feel better as well joins Lightning as they take on this guy. The is quick but killing a demi-god proves a poor decision as now the entire group are branded l'Cie and given unholy amounts of magical and physical prowess. The government, realizing this floating object that's well over a tall building is a dangerous thing, destroys the fal'Cie and it plumets into the large lake at the bottom of the area where all the fighting began. In its death throughs, it turns the entire lake to crystal and the lake itself is arguably 100 times larger than a cruise ship, you can say that's a lot of crystal.
The group rejoins and they all realize they're bound and screwed by fate because of the l'Cie mark they all have. They run into the crystal form of Serah again. Lightning says good bye quietly and walks off before Snow gives her another reason for her to deck him and she seizes the opportunity. She lays him out twice before he stays down. He still argues they need to save Cocoon and Lightning could care less, choosing to make her own path rather than die a slave to a now dead demi-god.
Leaving Snow chipping away at the crystal to dig out Serah, Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Vanille move out to find a way of escape this place. The find a ruined base and an airship that will allow them to escape. The cutscene ensues and you see arguably some of the best action displayed in a game as this aerial dogfight goes through canyons, clouds and a giant floating fal'Cie named Pheonix that is apparently one of the good ones. With that, they crash land in a junkyard miles from everything.
Meanwhile, Snow is captured after a long fight with not only the army but the Eidolon (Eye Dole On) Shiva who transforms into the bike we see him riding in some of the trailers. A woman with a light australian accent sub dues him and takes him and Serah away. Snow notices the woman was also branded with the l'Cie mark but it is twisted and off from the more obvious one that Snow is brandishing.
My thoughts stem to this game giving a shout out to its previous ones and my hope is that this series gets a few different games as the world is rich and diverse and you can feel it when the characters speak. Gameplay is a mix of 10's and 12's gameplay with a simplified gambit system that works much like a manual shift for a car and attack animations that are wild and enjoyable to watch. The characters don't level up but get stronger by moving around a grid much like FF10 with the sphere grid. It uses a shifting narrative like Final Fantasy 9 and cuts to the characters exactly when you might raise a thought to how the other characters might be doing at that moment.
Lightning is more or less an amalgam of Terra from 6 and Squall from 8, showing that she's extremely strong willed and tireless in her pursuits but still vulnerable in spite of this. Snow is the first final fantasy male lead who hasn't got a serious emotional problem on them since Zidane. There's no major worrying or fear of making an ass of himself, he just does things and works through the consequences regardless.
You have the weak willed Hope who under Lightning gains a pair and you have Vanille who helps Sazh find a reason to actually throw the dice of fate and try and make a difference instead of giving up. Vanille is the strangest of the characters as she chooses blind optimism and go get'em attitude and a stark contrast to Lightning's grumpy demeanor.
For the first 5 hours, I'm impressed. People said that it'd take 20 hours to get going hard and heavy on this game and I didn't really need even that much. It offered up a plot and characters I can actually understand. It has heroes I can relate to but there's no over arching villain aside from a barely mentioned old guy who runs the government that might be the final boss but problably isn't. I'll give the first 5 hours of a game a lot of leneancy but I'm just glad it didn't fall flat on its face.
I was scared of it being linear but I looked back through final fantasy 10 and remembered it was retardedly linear. I was worried about the party being fully healed after each fight but the amount of fights you get into and the lack of potions makes that just less maintence in the long run. The game has been sped up to suit a more growing need to get up and go attitude that the gaming market is going with. People don't like slow and methodical as much as they like hectic and fast paced. The next 5 hours I'm sure the plot will thicken up to a large scale and possible threat that might give me the overall fightening factor I will be looking forward to overcoming in the finale.
Hope you all dig,
Drew "Duo" Misemer
This game is cut and dry at the beginning. Lightning, the chick who would be Cloud but refuses to Emo at the moment, is in search for saving her Sister, Serah. Searh is being held in this giant thing called a fal'Cie (Fall See). With the help of the Token Black Guy named Sazh, who is the only voice of reason to any outsider playing this game, Lightning tears through a train of soldiers, and blows up more things than are required by most games to explode. This isn't a bad thing, Final Fantasy is known for bombastic starts but 13 takes the cake, even if it took a few nods from Final Fantasy 7.
We cut to Snow, the Bandana wearing self proclaimed Hero, who is running towards the fal'Cie and started a rebellion just to distract the government long enough for him to rescue his blushing bride to be. The manual already states that Serah, Lightning's Sister is also Snow's fiancee`, but if no one bothered to read then this point that out fairly quickly.
The reason Serah is in such trouble is because she's a l'Cie (La See) and is cursed to fufill her mission or turn into a butt ugly monster with no soul. Her mission, she doesn't really know but from my best guess, I think it was to unite Snow and Lightning in the same room so they could be turned into l'Cie themselves and carrying out the big mission of saving everyone's asses. During this escapade, a kid by the name of Hope and a girl named Vanille are dragged into the conflict because Hope's mom took up with the resistance and help Snow. She's killed saving Snow and falls off a bridge after a bomb goes off and let's go of Snow's hand after she goes limp. This leads to Snow emoing out for about 15 seconds before ultimately getting over this problem and returning to the primary objective to save his girlfriend. Hope wants to beat Snow down for killing his Mom, not knowing it wasn't Snow's fault, and Vanille pushing him to chase after Snow.
It's funny, I think the same voice actor for Hope is the voice actor for Vaan from Final Fantasy 12, which ultimately means that he's a cardboard cut out in place of a good character and will fall to the way side because of this. No matter, you rarely play as him through the first part as the story mainly focuses on Lightning, Snow and Sazh who are the primary interests for these beginning hours.
Upon arrival on the fal'Cie, the group meets up on the large scale behemoth and find Serah who tells them to save Cocoon (Their big floating hometown/city/giant sphere thing). She turns to crystal and Lightning get extremely mad. She beats up Snow (One punch leaid him out flat.). Snow remarks that they need to protect Cocoon and Lightning, too bitter and enraged to listen storms off to kill the fal'Cie at the core of the place. Snow, realizing that killing the fal'Cie might make himself feel better as well joins Lightning as they take on this guy. The is quick but killing a demi-god proves a poor decision as now the entire group are branded l'Cie and given unholy amounts of magical and physical prowess. The government, realizing this floating object that's well over a tall building is a dangerous thing, destroys the fal'Cie and it plumets into the large lake at the bottom of the area where all the fighting began. In its death throughs, it turns the entire lake to crystal and the lake itself is arguably 100 times larger than a cruise ship, you can say that's a lot of crystal.
The group rejoins and they all realize they're bound and screwed by fate because of the l'Cie mark they all have. They run into the crystal form of Serah again. Lightning says good bye quietly and walks off before Snow gives her another reason for her to deck him and she seizes the opportunity. She lays him out twice before he stays down. He still argues they need to save Cocoon and Lightning could care less, choosing to make her own path rather than die a slave to a now dead demi-god.
Leaving Snow chipping away at the crystal to dig out Serah, Lightning, Sazh, Hope and Vanille move out to find a way of escape this place. The find a ruined base and an airship that will allow them to escape. The cutscene ensues and you see arguably some of the best action displayed in a game as this aerial dogfight goes through canyons, clouds and a giant floating fal'Cie named Pheonix that is apparently one of the good ones. With that, they crash land in a junkyard miles from everything.
Meanwhile, Snow is captured after a long fight with not only the army but the Eidolon (Eye Dole On) Shiva who transforms into the bike we see him riding in some of the trailers. A woman with a light australian accent sub dues him and takes him and Serah away. Snow notices the woman was also branded with the l'Cie mark but it is twisted and off from the more obvious one that Snow is brandishing.
My thoughts stem to this game giving a shout out to its previous ones and my hope is that this series gets a few different games as the world is rich and diverse and you can feel it when the characters speak. Gameplay is a mix of 10's and 12's gameplay with a simplified gambit system that works much like a manual shift for a car and attack animations that are wild and enjoyable to watch. The characters don't level up but get stronger by moving around a grid much like FF10 with the sphere grid. It uses a shifting narrative like Final Fantasy 9 and cuts to the characters exactly when you might raise a thought to how the other characters might be doing at that moment.
Lightning is more or less an amalgam of Terra from 6 and Squall from 8, showing that she's extremely strong willed and tireless in her pursuits but still vulnerable in spite of this. Snow is the first final fantasy male lead who hasn't got a serious emotional problem on them since Zidane. There's no major worrying or fear of making an ass of himself, he just does things and works through the consequences regardless.
You have the weak willed Hope who under Lightning gains a pair and you have Vanille who helps Sazh find a reason to actually throw the dice of fate and try and make a difference instead of giving up. Vanille is the strangest of the characters as she chooses blind optimism and go get'em attitude and a stark contrast to Lightning's grumpy demeanor.
For the first 5 hours, I'm impressed. People said that it'd take 20 hours to get going hard and heavy on this game and I didn't really need even that much. It offered up a plot and characters I can actually understand. It has heroes I can relate to but there's no over arching villain aside from a barely mentioned old guy who runs the government that might be the final boss but problably isn't. I'll give the first 5 hours of a game a lot of leneancy but I'm just glad it didn't fall flat on its face.
I was scared of it being linear but I looked back through final fantasy 10 and remembered it was retardedly linear. I was worried about the party being fully healed after each fight but the amount of fights you get into and the lack of potions makes that just less maintence in the long run. The game has been sped up to suit a more growing need to get up and go attitude that the gaming market is going with. People don't like slow and methodical as much as they like hectic and fast paced. The next 5 hours I'm sure the plot will thicken up to a large scale and possible threat that might give me the overall fightening factor I will be looking forward to overcoming in the finale.
Hope you all dig,
Drew "Duo" Misemer
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