FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 - A review.

Having actually finished FFXII-2 now, I will say that I think it's an improvement on it's predecessor.  Noel is a much more engaging character than Lightning, and his backstory is actually, y'know, interesting.   The way time travel and it's implications are played out between him and Caius is novel too.

Yuel (or at least, Noels Yuel) is well done, if somewhat stretching plausiblity in her setup.  She is actually a tragic character, I think.  Through most of the game she's a tad too passive to be interesting, though. 

The multiple paths and episodic way the story is told work in it's favour too, and the fact that if you can't progress you just jump in the timestream and go someplace else is a welcome addition, and makes things seem much more open.  The abilty to go back and do things you aren't supposed to which leads to 'paradox endings' is a nice touch too.

<spoilers will happen now>

But. Oh, and but.  Serah is...  ridiculously annoying.  She just becomes plucky heroine #4, and never really gains a personality.  She's horrendously dependant.  I'dve kicked Snow's arse to the kerb for the way he behaves! I'm right with Noel on that one.  And I may have missed it, but she didn't really show any future seeing ability right until the end of the game.  If she'd been doing that from the start, it would have added a hell of a lot more gravitas to how events played out, whereas here, it almost comes from nowhere. 

Cauis...  well from the design up, I did not like him.  And not in the way you're supposed to not like him.  he's got the same motivation as every FF villain since Ultimecia*, his design is... not good.  I must confess to be being slighty confused as to how travelling through time affect him, as he's supposed to be going through time linearly (i.e. the same way we do) until the end of time when he gets to Valhalla, but whenever you meet him he seems to know whats going on...  Yeah, I don't get it. 

 Noel only played up to the New Bodhum level.

Snow is still an arsehole.  Running off to find Lightning, all fine and noble.  Being gone for two years, and going into the future without nipping back to tell anyone what's going on, especially as he seems to be aware it's a one-way trip?  Even when doing so may help NORA trust Noel a bit better?  Nope, off he goes, nary a backwards glance.  What a dick.  And he's a L'Cie again?  When did that happen?  Why did he do that?  Is there a price he'll have to pay?  Don't know.  It's never mentioned again. 

There's a lot of things that happen in this game where the justification is 'God did it.'  Once, I can understand.  Every writer is allowed one dues ex machina.  It's the Rules.  But it's fucking everywhere in this game.  Saved from being L'Cie?  God.  Allowed to travel though time? God.  Granted immortality?  God.  Turned into a L'Cie again?  God.  Allowed to see the future? God.  Killed by these visions?  God (with a fucked up sense of humour).  It's ridiculous.

And the guys in NORA?  Left to build a world without any of the ex-L'Cie powerhouses to help them in a new and hostlie world.  No wonder the New Bodhum of the endtimes isn't any bigger than in the present.  They probably spent all their time fighting off extinction... 

There is a lot of things that I don't understand, but the betrayal of Alyssa is the biggest.  It, again, comes from nowhere, and never gets any sort of pay off or resolution.  Having done my wiki reasearch, it still makes no sense.  She's supposed to be a paradox, originally having died during the Purge.  Noel and Serah's actions in messing with time save her, and as a result, if you fix the timeline she stops existing.  Now this is hinted at, in the most oblique way possible, after you beat Atlas, but my main issue with that is...  you never go back in time.   You never go to the Purge and change anything.  And, you know, I wouldn't have minded doing that.  If you'd had the bright idea at the start of the game to go back and save some lives during the events of XIII...  But no.  Alyssa is not a  paradox you create.  She has no grounds for betraying you! But even so, you go off,  do stuff, and when you get back to that timeline, nothing is mentioned of it, or her. 

I touched on this just, but I'm going to bitch about it now.  Alyssa's motives and what Snow gets up to before you stumble on him in the future?  It's all explained in a Japanese only text story, only available in Japan.  Now, I don't know about you, but if I've paid £40 odd for a game, I'd like it all to be in there.  All the story, at least, which is why we're playing an RPG in the first place, right?  And don't even get me started on Micro-Transations and the utter pointlessness of the Arbiter Of Time's level without them.  Costumes, enemies, extra story chapters...  that you have to pay extra for?  I tell you what Square-Enix?  FUCK OFF.

AND WHY ARE SAZH AND DAHJ IN THE FUCKING FUTURE?

Oh yeah.  Micro-transaction...

I've gone on a bit longer than I intended.  Summing up: So, yeah, despite the gaping plot holes, the shameless attempts to grab more money off you, the occasionally dodgy character design, the retention of the battle system and leveling up...  it is, at it's heart, a better game.  Doesn't mean it's good, but it's better than what came immediatly before.  It makes me sad, because I don't see S-E making anything other than style over any real substance FF games anytime soon, but if they continue the trend of making the sequels slightly better than the preceding game, then 'Lightning Returns' might actually make it to being almost enjoyable.



Square have traditionally made three games per main console.  NES - FF, FFII, FFIII.  SNES - IV, V, VI, and so on.  I really wish that the PS3 actually had three different FF games, instead of this behemoth of shameless money grabbing and marketing.  Think of what the PS3 could've done with a a high fantasy setting, or steampunk?  But this is what Square gives you, people.  This is what you want.






*yes, I'm aware of XII's Venat and Vayne being somewhat more altruistic than that, but I'm inclined to view that game as being more Vagrant Story II than FFXII.  Regardless the, game is much smaller in scope than than every other FF, and the aims of the main antagonists are correspondingly smaller.

Context

Well, seeing as I seem to be at a bit of a blockage with my drawing, lets talk about something that I've been thinking about a fair bit recently.

Context.

Well, how the context in which you hear music for the first time affect how much you like it.

Despite my confessions, I'm pretty much primarily a rocker.  Not metalhead, not anymore. These days most 'Heavy Metal' leaves me cold, but I do still like my loud guitars and whatnot.  So 'Rocker' will do for now. 

With that in mind, it's astounding how much music I simply do not get until I have a context for it.  There's no space in my brain for music until I've found a way to latch onto stuff (which is where a pop hook comes in handy), which can take me a while.

For the longest time, I did not get bands like Slipknot and Rammstien.   Slipknot's popularity is still a bit of a mystery to me, I mean, yes they're good, but THAT good?  People think so, so I guess I'm not connecting with them the way a lot of other people do.  Same with Rammstien really, but I think I like them a bit more. So what does this have to do with context? 

I live on my own.  I spent most of my time alone in the dark, so without a big obvious hook or chorus to grab me, I stuggled to fit them in.  They both had the occasional song that did, but not enough to make me say I was a fan.  Then I found out that a couple of my friends were fans of Rammstein. I listened to it with them.  It began to find a space. The context that the music gained was that my friends like this band, and I have had fun with my friends whilst this band was on.  This band = fun.

And it doesn't just apply to the stuff that's normally in my comfort zone, either.  Way back when I was a university student I had some blistering good times that were soundtracked by 5ive, so now I harbour a bit of an unnatural fondness for them...

No such thing as a guilty pleasure in my world...

Equally, however, theres a lot of music out there that has a negative context, because of the negative situations I found myself in at the time.  Music that I feel that under different circumstances I should like, I just cannot.  Because I got hurt when I first heard them, because my contextualisation of them was with an unhappy event, even just unhappy thoughts, then I'm not going to like stuff.  So, yeah... Slayer for example.  I really don't think I'm ever going allow myself to 'get' Slayer.

And things that helped me with difficult times, I now find that I struggle to listen to at all, because they remind me of the darkness that I went through.  New Order, Depeche Mode...Even Nirvana and Joy Division to an extent.  Hell, even 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails is a hard listen, especially in a club, because of the negative emotions I've attached to that situation. 

I'm actually finding it easier to think of and write about those songs that I like that people wouldn't expect of me.  Again, mostly pop music, really.  Because I allow myself to go out to clubs that play this goofy happy music, because I listen to people who can tell me why they think a song is good, because I'm not all that happy most of the time and so the stuff that does cheer me up sticks...  Because I want to remember being happy.

Right, I seem to be making less and less sense, so I'll leave off here. Besides, it's been a rough old week, and I need to get back to my Machine Head.

Peace, y'all.

A statement of intent

First of all; a confession.

My name is Ben, and I like pop music.

Not all pop music, I hasten to add.  One Direction and all that X Factor tripe can go swing, as far as I'm concerned.  No, I like good pop music.

Of course, I'm aware that "good" is entirely subjective.  There are people out there who absolutly adore 1D, and fair play to them.  It's not for me, I think it's lowest common denominator rubbish, but each to thier own.  They're making somebody a shit-ton of money, so who am I to say it's wrong?

Well, hopefully, I am.

This may seem a bit odd.  I mean, I'm listening to Strapping Young Lad as I type this.   Not the most reknowned of pop bands, I admit, but...  there are pop elements to them.

To me, pop music isn't exclusivly the domain of mass-marketed corporate groups/singers who've been plucked from obscurity because some record executive has decided that they'll sell a few CD's.  To me, pop music can be much more than that.  I'd call The Beatles a pop band.  I'd call The Wildhearts a pop band.  I'd call Nirvana a pop band.  And despite the fact that I now realise I like pop music, that last sentence was really rather hard to write.

Pop music isn't a genre.  It's a hook.  It's a chorus you can sing, a melody you can hum.  Something that sticks with you.  

The onset of maturity has a lot to do with this confession.  I'm not going to be too ashamed of the things I like, and I'm not going to hate too much on the stuff I don't.  What's the point?  I disagree with 1D's existence, the reason why they exist as a group.   For much the same reason as I'll despise the X Factor, in that the music being made is not for the sake of making music.  It's to make money, and I consider that to be a shallow and somewhat crass endeavour, at least the way these go about it.  But I'm not going to tell you you're an idiot for liking them, I'm just asking you to think about why these things exist.  If someone on the X Factor says that singing is their life, then why are they working in McDonalds? Why are they sitting on the dole, watching TV and applying to the X Factor in the first place?  If singing was your life, you'd be out, pushing yourself, playing all the gigs you could, every shitty little dingy club, pub and back room.  Doing it because that was all you knew how to do.

I'm not saying making money is a bad thing.  I'm not saying musicians/singers/poplets shouldn't get paid for what they do, shouldn't have recognition.  I just want them to be more honest.  Tell people that they want to be rich and famous.  I'm certainly not going to think any the worse of them.  Hell, it might make me like them a bit more.  

Okay, deep breath.

So, what is the point of this?  

I guess this is a blog where I'm going to talk about stuff. Where I'll babble on about whatever I happen to have seen, read or listened to recently.  And I just want to put it out there that it's not all going to be "cool" or anything.  It's just going to be me, and whatever I think about the stuff that happens to be in my life, for good or bad.

Hopefully, it won't be One Direction.