Linearity Part Two: Final Fantasy XIII
Posted on Apr 24, 2011 in Gameplay and attached to Linearity in Games
Well, I managed to finish Final Fantasy XIII - and what better way to celebrate than to post a blog about it! This is partly designed as a follow-up post on the 'Linearity in Games' post - but also a way for me to express my opinions of the game itself.
"Worst Game Ever!"
...Well, that's what I hear from a lot of die-hard Final Fantasy fans when talking about Final Fantasy XIII (FF13 from now on). They may be exaggerating a little. I haven't played any other game in the series, but I think that I wouldn't like any of them quite as much as I liked XIII. Strangely, the reason I enjoyed it so much is the same reason the fans of the series did not: Linearity.
If you look back at the 'Linearity in Games' post, I define a number of 'linearity types' for the flow of a game's plot. FF13 is a hybrid of two of these types: Linear Game World With Linear Gameplay, and Open World With Linear Gameplay.
However, the former dominates over the latter. The first 25 to 30 hours of the game are purely linear, in every sense of the word. There is a single way to go, usually on a rather narrow path. The sequence of events cannot be changed for this 'purely linear' section of the game, and you cannot change your battle team or the lead character of your party. The character upgrade path is also extremely linear - although you get three different upgrade trees for each character, you almost always fully upgrade all three just before the next tier is unlocked.
I understand that this is different to previous games in the series - some have offered a similarly restricted upgrade tree, but none have constrained the world to such a linear path. It's understandable that fans of the series are disappointed in that they expected one thing, and got something completely different.
I, on the other hand, enjoyed it quite a bit. For me, FF13 produced some very polished gameplay, graphics, and cutscenes. And the music? Oh, the music. This is my favourite track in the game. It's fantastic.
The game is truly a one trick pony: the battle system. This system has been refined and polished iteratively over the numerous games that Square Enix have made over the years, and it shows. Although I was doing the same thing for the majority of the game, the battling never got old, even after my 40+ hour playthrough of the game. That is something I find extremely impressive.
The game shows a far more mature battle system to other RPGs I have played. It is less about choosing the correct moves (the game automatically chooses the best moves for you), and more about choosing the correct "Paradigm" (character class setup) for the right moment. It is less about twitchy fingers and memorising move combinations, and more about thinking ahead and good strategy. This is what elevates battles in FF13 over many other JRPGs I have played.
Back to linearity: After the first 25-30 hours of complete linearity, the game dumps you into an open world, filled with missions. The mission progression is fairly linear, too - but there's no requirement to complete them in any specific order aside from a general 'complete x number of missions to unlock this mission' requirement. The open world may be open, but there isn't much to do beside follow the pre-determined order of missions, and then proceed back into the final chapters, which are, again, very linear.
It's obvious that somebody craving a non-linear adventure is not going to get their fill with this game. But for me, this is great. I don't like some non-linear games in that you have to explore to find your goal. I'm fine with exploring, but I want to know where my goal is. Put a big yellow exclamation mark on the map to point me towards my next target, so I know where to go when I get bored exploring.
Let me get to my point. If FF13 was completely non-linear, I probably wouldn't have played it. Most games like that do not really appeal to me. And you know what? I would have missed out on a great game. An excellent game. I now plan on buying the direct sequel (FF13-2), and I'll even have a good look into whatever the next big singleplayer Final Fantasy game will be (probably 15). Square Enix may have disappointed a bunch of fans with Final Fantasy XIII, but it certainly made a new one out of me. And I'm sure I'm not alone.
