Quick Jump Daily Digest
Thank you for your interest in the Quick Jump Daily Digest. Get notified of all new content on QJ in our free Daily Digest. To subscribe, enter your email address below and click the subscribe button.
Toriyama: Players will benefit from FFXIII's linearity |
Listed in: PS3, Xbox 360 Tags: final fantasy xiii, Motomu Toriyama, Square Enix
Apparently there have been some complaints about the linearity of Final Fantasy XIII. He may not pay a lot of attention to critics, but the game's director, Motomu Toriyama, recently took to the UK FFXIII website to post his defense of this particular design choice.
Toriyama's post echoes statements he and producer Yoshinori Kitase have said before -- the linearity will help acclimate players to the game's new systems and reduce distractions from the overarching plot:
In order to allow the player to become absorbed in the drama of the storytelling and the new and exciting world of Cocoon and be drawn to the characters without getting distracted or lost we have deliberately used a linear game design for the introduction sections so they can be enjoyed in the same manner as watching a film. We are aiming for a vibe while playing that is similar to the experience of an FPS style game, where the player rapidly progresses through a series of dramatic events and experiences one after the other on an imposing and atmospheric battlefield. This kind of design is also very beneficial for the player in allowing them to gradually and systematically learn the brand new battle system that this instalment brings to the series. It is set up such that the player will experience and try out each character’s possible roles in battle and naturally internalise the intensely tactical nature of the paradigm shift system.
Toriyama also noted that the game is linear only in the first half as players explore the futuristic Cocoon. The second half, which takes place in the wilds of Gran Pulse, is "an open world design with a more free style of gameplay."
[FFXIII UK site via VG247]
| 75% of voters think this story ROCKS! |
|
|
Comments
Reply
Reply
Reply
anyway, im sure ff13 will still be a great game but with all the time it has been in production im expecting EPIC... not just great.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Mass effect 2 had awesome gameplay but not that good of a storyline. Get all the crew members, acquire IFF, go through omega relay, done!
The final battle was sooo anti-climactic.
It didn't progress much on story, it's like they tried to put in a lot of idea on gameplay but forgot the storyline. Yes the characters have really interesting storyline, but if you skip over their storyline. The overall story is just...ahh...Mass effect 1 had me going just because of the story.
Mass effect 2 is still good, but i'm not going to play it again because story didn't progress all that much.
I haven't played Gears of War so I can't say anything about the story.
But I did try out Halo for PC. I got bored of it, i've got some friends that still don't get why people love Halo. I've also got friends that just love Halo! They even went out to buy ODST and say it was epic they said.
I've never used the word EPIC, but for me, God of War defines the word Epic!
Reply
True but that's only because ME2 had a straight forward story. ME1 was better in my standard because it actually had RPG elements while ME2 was mainly a shooter.
Quoting narutosaiyan:
Lol. Now that I think about it, 360 games really have crappy story and so does most PS3 games. Let's face it, most games this gen are downgrades, in terms of story, to the previous gens.
Reply
In my opinion it does make for a more engrossing story line that can be lost in an open world game. I loved Fallout 3 but I still felt like in some of the areas I was getting bits and pieces of the story in random order until the very end. Also the ability to skip entire story segments was a bit weird too.
The FF series has always strived to make a movie like gaming experience ever since Final Fantasy IV on the SNES, and personally its one of the things I love about the game.
Reply
Last I saw, ff games weren't really all that "Linear". The early parts of the game (ranging from around 1-3 min (ff1) to 15 min (12) to a few hours (ff7)) they always start with the story and why x group does this, or why x-main character does that and then they thrust you into the story for a little while before dropping you off into the huge World Map. Yeah, you normally have to follow where they want you too, but you can go there when you want too, Freely open to explore at least Part of the world.
Reply
My point still stands that the games are mostly linear until you reach the end where you are free to explore the whole world and complete sidequests. Some of the games did this sooner depending on how soon you get an airship.
The games are linear because you are limited to where you go early in the game, while open world games like Fallout and Elder Scrolls are far from linear. FF games are nowhere near as linear as other games like Uncharted and Killzone, but that is why I say "mostly linear". They kind of hand hold you for a while before letting you go, which is exactly what the creators are telling you what they've been doing with their games.
Reply
Linearity, Its a Feature!
Nice try square, Final Fantasy 7 had an instruction stage as well, but it was only 5 hours and the character development in that game was perfect. You are suppose to develop your characters over the course of the game.
This is a really bad excuse for lazy development.
Reply
The whole reason I love RPGs is that I have some freedom to go where I want and go there any time I wanted too. Its always been a necessary evil to follow a strict path to finish the game, but they shouldn't force us to the path and not let us have any deviation. Now It's less like playing a game and more like playing some despot's self-adulation.
Reply
example
base level 1 tier 1 sword (2,000 new) + 3,500 to get a x3 exp bonus + 50,000 to get a star + 35,000 for a update mat + 3,5000 for a x3 bonus + 150,000 or more to star it + 2,000,000 (or very rare drop) to upgrade it to tier 3 + 3,500 for exp boost + 2,000,000 or so star it... and thats how much it generally costs to make a top tier stared perfect weapon in this game... sell back price is like 180,000 too =\
go in the store and a lionheart new is like 230,000 =\ it hurt, and the only thing that really droped good things were either in a bad location or adamantoise which drop a item that sells for 150,000 every 4th or so one =\ which gets very tedious just buying stuff or obtaining every item *youll spend more time getting items than everything eelse*
Reply
Reply
Reply
Now, as far as story is concerned, I could bite that. If you want to make the game linear (even to the point of Xenosaga) because that's what your story demands, that's fine I guess, but for the love of god don't compare it to an FPS.
Reply
Reply
If you want an open ended game, buy an ARPG (American RPG), this is the style of RPG done in america (Like Oblivion).
@skidz: You said:
"There are a lot of games going the way of the movie, and it sucks. Its not a game anymore."
FALSE! Games ALWAYS WERE that way (same %), the only difference is that now when the game gives you a cutscene, it looks realistic. But even in 1990 (87 in Japan) Final Fantasy 1 had cutscenes like FF13 have... It just looked bad, that's the only difference (without voice... etc lol). If you can't figure that, it's because you are young and you started playing games with FPS on xbox 1. Then you saw, after getting used to videogames, that there are other styles that are made for the story, yes, like a movie (in a way). Still, if you think that FF13 is like a movie, you are an imbecile. 3 hours of movie on a minimum of 60 hours of gameplay is NOT a movie, in case you didn't noticed already... Haa, sometimes pre-teens get annoying on the boards... sadly... (Man, I'm already annoyed by teens and I'm only 24, what will I do in 10 years? -sigh-)
Reply
Reply
Matter of fact, I've found RPGs way easier than most of the shooting games. Specially Final Fantasy.
I tried out Crisis core and It's good yet it's Action "rpg". Games like final fantasy have had simple rules, level up, kill the boss, find better equipment, level up and repeat. Yes they do have good story lines. Or do they? FF12 had really boring storyline, same with FF8.
I haven't played FF13 yet so I can't really complain/praise about the story, gameplay and linearity.
I'll keep my mouth shut until I know how FF13 really is.
Reply
ARPGs are 10% story and 90% sidequest. If it's not TPS it's FPS related. Until the release of Dragon Age that is.
Quoting HeX:
FF8 had a good story line and you have to think to actually figure out the bits and pieces of the past. Laguna flashbacks are what kind of killed the fluidity of the game. FF12 people hate because fans were so used to their lovey dovey romance stories that they didn't give it a chance. That and the easy gameplay that wasn't exactly "RPG"ish. I'm glad that hey made Vaan the main character because we actually got to see the twists in the life of the real main character, Balthier.
Reply
Reply
which made it feel a bit tame to me.
For FFXII it felt a bit lacking of the drama on the characters side.
As for FFXIII, it seems like it's everyone's new punching bag, with people who haven't even played it yelling that it's too linear.
Me and my fiancee are both loving the story, and have attached quite well to the characters.
For the first half of the linear part of the game I just thought lol at the complaints.
Reply
Reply
Take games like Mass effect and Dragon age, you have so much freedom and yet you get to know your character and your crew. You care for them. It's not same type of RPG as FF but still it's a RPG.
Simply put:
With either Freedom or linearity, not getting to know your characters is just bad storytelling.
I love JRPGs. I've grown up with JRPGs. I'm not trying to flame or diss in any way.
PS: Is it just me or are JRPGs mostly (not all) about some random teenagers saving the whole world? I think I got that one from Zero Punctuation.
Reply
FPS and RPGs shouldb't be miced together. Ever.
You see the results in FF 13s criticism.
Reply
Also, what they meant to say was.
"We want to tell you a story, story filled with action and surprises at every turn"
Reply
No. It's not. You made the game too linear, people didn't like it. Now own up to it. But no, it's better for you! or blame that non-linearity doesn't tell a good story...
I'm sure ffxiii is going to be a great game. I am sure as hell gonna get it and play it to death. But, the fact still stands that they made it too linear and now they're doing damage control, even if it means blatantly lying.
Reply
If you wanna play at freedom that's fine, but apparently making an open ended game with good story and characters is not that easy, proof is that Only Mass Effect is even remotely close to having achieved that goal.
In my opinion, if you want to make an RPG (any style) first deal with the story, make it good, then see if you can put in freedom and branching, not the other way around.
Never make the story a side feature.
Reply
Reply