(EDIT) This was originally posted on another blog I used to run. Original post date – 23/01/2014
DISCLAIMER: Comments made are based on one play through of the demo itself and my own personal biases towards certain parts of the Final Fantasy Universe. Any jabs made at the series a purely my opinion or satirical…mostly. Oh, and I didn’t play Final Fantasy XIII to completion, so…yeah.
- The opening cut scene looks very nice, in accordance with modern Final Fantasy tradition, but for some reason it is not only completely without dialogue, even when they show people clearly talking, but also repeated during the actual game play section of the demo.
- The demo is filled with the same flowery language that irritates me with modern Final Fantasy games, this time about it being the end of the world. I understand they need to up the ante in these games somehow, but does it need to be hyped from the first cut scene?
- The combat is, for me at least, is pretty good. Switching between different move sets with different abilities mid fight was a nice touch from its usual ‘press auto to win’ mentality.
- The weakness system is good in this demo too, where you have to organically find what the weakness is and where the weak points are by, oh I don’t know, experimenting with attacks. The combat in this demo might just have swayed me to buying the game when it comes out – because who actually listens to/understands Final Fantasy story lines anyway?
- No random encounters in the demo was good, but being able to run past bigger, slower enemies which could deal more damage overall isn’t so great.
- I still don’t like the character models for the newer games. Seeing as my favourite game in the series is Final Fantasy IX it may mean nothing, but they just seem kind of bland and forgettable. Snow in this game just looked like a regular guy and Lightning looks like a strange mixture between an armor-clad female warrior and a Japanese school girl. It might just be me, but its not my personal preference.
- The boss battle was good – that’s all I have to say.
- Any mention of having a certain amount of days to save the world just makes me think of Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
- Costume customization will be a good idea, as long as it is not merely cosmetic. If the different outfits have different abilities, as they seem to in the demo, then that will be interesting. I hope it’s not just so you can strip your character models down to unhealthy fan service. Speaking of which…
- Pre-Order DLC to dress up Lightning like she was Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. You know, so fan boys can masturbate about Cloud with a feeling that at least this time it’s a girl.
RAMBOLIC RAMBLER 