I'm playing FF XIII right now, and while I am enjoying it, and enjoying the story there are a couple'a things that I'm concerned with.
- What in the hell is going on? I mean, it's an enjoyable story and all, but seriously, what in the hell is going on? I'm on chapter five, and all that I've gotten out of it is that Serah is in love with Snow, Lightning is Serah's sister, l'Cie are bad, and Cocoon is the world in which they live on.
- It's a little bit too linear for me. Run up, they see you, or they didn't see you. Fight through, win the day, yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure that y'all remember the side mission that Aria gives you when you reveal the assassination plot against her? That kind'a leads me to my next point.
With that said, the SR series (or rather 3 & 4) of games had just the right amount of side content, that was completely optional to play, and the right amount of main quest content. How many crates you save (and I was never able to save more than 14 on my best day) was about equal to what medal you receive upon finishing a SR4 side mission.
But I kind'a like that. Do something for someone, they give you another quest that leads to another bit of lore, another piece of storytelling, hell, even riches. Just make it matter. At least as much as it did in ME2 with the side mission that Aria gives you. But don't water the game down with them either.
Honestly, I started off absolutely hating FFXIII. But after two or three playthroughs, I ended up loving it. The game really wouldn't work if it wasn't so linear - the story necessitates it. You are being hunted, and forced down specific paths by pseudogods throughout the entire story. If it wasn't linear, it wouldn't capture that feeling of inescapable fate. Another reason why people dislike it is because of how god damned BIZARRE it is. Pretty much from the very first minute, you are thrown into a setting more bizarre than any final fantasy that came before it. The setting is strange, the enemies and technology is strange, the words that are used to describe things are foreign. They don't even actually describe the true structure of Cocoon in the game, like at all. It is a given to the characters. I remember the moment I figured out what Cocoon actually was - looking up at the sky in the Sunleth Waterscape and realizing that was LAND up there, and the blue of the sky was ocean. Subsequent playthroughs made me realize more subtle things too - like how the stars in the night sky of the Vile Peaks aren't actually stars at all...but city lights on the other side of the Dyson Sphere-like Cocoon.
XIII's setting and plot, ultimately, is probably one of my favorite in any rpg. But it is hardcore grating when you first play it and I think only becomes sensible and rewarding on subsequent playthroughs. After the first play through, you have a pretty good understanding of what happened. But going through it a second time with a full understanding of the setting, lore, tech, etc. is a lot better.
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