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.
No comments:
Post a Comment