Posted by Bytes in Editorials | 1 Comment
Lightning Returns – Thoughts So Far
So I’ve played almost two “in game days” into Lightning Returns so far, and thought I’d share what my thoughts are. To sum it up in one word… “Why???”
So far, the game is nothing but running all over a map. Plus, I feel like the timed element is just forcing me to rush through something that I feel like I could enjoy, if I felt like I had time to enjoy it.
The storyline is basically nonexistent so far. Hope is suddenly young again. Lightning is still herself. And Lumina looks like Serah. That’s the biggest plot point so far in the whole game.
When I preordered Final Fantasy XIII-2, I felt like I’d wasted my money, and should have waited for it to go on sale. I feel the same way (only much worse) about Lightning Returns so far.
I’m on Day 11 of Lightning Returns and can finally ‘relax’ and complete some side quests after 30 hours of extreme anxiety from the ‘time is running out’ element. The low point was definitely the Dead Dunes quest running around like a fool not knowing there was a switch to press so the Golden Chamber would open up (not nearly as annoying as the zombie city in FF13-2 but still..!). The pressure thing is what I really hate about the game, it forces you to cheat and look up walkthroughs.. plus I play the game to relax after work but now I’m twice as stressed out.
I also don’t like that the entire game is basically a collection of minipuzzles, I do always like the whole ‘travel to where you want to’ aspect but this is taking it too far & is disappointing after how awesome the time travel was in the last game. So compared to 13-2 it definitely is not as good.
Pros are:
– We get to play Lightning again – after all the best FF main chars are the scowling loner types.
– I really like the battle system – no more ‘auto’ BS and some actually require quick responses and you need to strategize as your items might run out. I always liked the schemata idea so the garb stuff is actually pretty cool, but I;m not sure about the level up method.
– Overall story (I mean that of the characters) is a slight improvement on games 1 & 2, it’s darker, more about the mission and gods etc, not too much sappy stuff thanks to Lightning being pretty disinterested in everything & us learning something about her character. I felt that FF13 & 13-2 were way over the top with the “friends forever” etc monologues.. the only character who had some sort of depth was Noel. The rest of the story (Hope is young, Noel is angry and then he’s not, is Lumina friend or foe, everyone’s been sleeping in crystal etc) is pretty crap.
Overall though I’m just happy to be able to play a FF game again after finishing Diablo III left me in deep depression.