Final Fantasy XIII director comments on linearity, early reviews

Honestly. Have these reviewers NEVER played a Final Fantasy game. Most of them are quite linear, without a lot of side quests, until near the end. Look at some of the great ones: VI, VII, X.

The point of Final Fantasy games is, and has ALWAYS been, the depth of the characters and plot. When they've tried to make more of an open-world game (other than MMO's), they were only sub-par, like X-2. XII was a good game, but there were soooo many side-quests that it detracted from the story and got long and monotonous.

The fact is, we like Final Fantasy because they have a reputation for knowing what needs to go into an RPG and putting the right amount of stuff in, without adding a bunch of random fluff. That's why we play it.

Uhh... depends what you call "linear". Final Fantasy games up until 9, despite having a linear story progression, had overworlds you could wander around on, find caves and forests and whole optional towns and RTS games (FFVII anyone) left and right. Initially always having a clear forward goal, but as you progressed, and found new transportation methods, the world would open up more and more, and you could find hidden islands, valleys, mountain plateaus and stuff, and go back to places you'd visited before (getting back into Midgar was a sidequest in itself).

All this made the world feel like a "real" place (while it would still allow Toriyama to tell his story), instead of just a fake, narrow on-rails lineup of scenes that makes you feel you might as well be passively watching a movie.

Then came the awful godforsaken abomination called FFX which did just the latter. It was the first "next gen" FF, supposed to be the most epic adventure yet. And what did we get? No more game world, just a dumb lineup of jpop fanfodder cutscenes with some battles inbetween, oh and maybe tidus would walk forward along a rail for 5 minutes sometimes. Barely any actual game content to speak of. And when you finally got the airship at the end (it being redundant by the time you get it anyway)? No more flying through the sky. "Select your destination from the menu", oh christ. That's the "JRPG" people see when they discuss 'em these days. And that's all we're getting out of Japan anymore, apparently. Horrible.

FFX was the first Final Fantasy I ever played, and I loved it.

Seriously, nobody complains about linearity in other genres; Uncharted 2 is considered one of the best games of 2009, and there's not even a hint of nonlinearity in that game. Same goes for Modern Warfare 2 (if you cared about the single-player, which I did) and BioShock 2. But as soon as a game has stats and customizable equipment, suddenly it's required to have hundreds of boring sidequests for people to waste their time on?

I'll take an exciting, interesting story over sidequests any day.

Swagman, I like your perspective and I agree with much of what you have to say for I see it myself. I would like to diffrenciate those that would prefer JRPGS to be WRPGS and those who want JRPGS to be JRPGS but develop for the better. I'm one of the latter and I personally believe that those of the former are being selfish.

I love JRPGS for what they are, I like storyline, I like anime characters (not too cutesy, that annoys me) but I love innovation, and you'll hear me call that out a lot of the time, I also love freedom, but I can gladly accept linearity over freedom if a plot and gameplay interests me, thus the reason I play and enjoy the likes of Gears, FF games and other Linear games.

It does annoy me that there are simple things that could make JRPGS better, and there can easily be a difference between different forms of JRPGS, there is still space in the industry for regular Turn Based Strategy because it requires more thought process then hitting one button to kill everything on screen, but there is also space for modern JRPGS, I hoestly thought White Knight had the gameplay style I would like in the bud when I saw the trailers years back, but the actual game is dissopointing, I don't mind linearity if the gameplay style was more like what White Knight looked like it would have been.

Ideally I would like a game that combines elements of Shadow of the Collosus with Monster Hunter, I hoestly think a new genre / games like that would blow away even current W/J RPGS, making battles far more exciting, Id rather take down a huge monster by climbing onto it and chasing it, seeing the wounds I inflict on it and seeing that my sword can in fact detatch limbs rather then using the same attack over and over.

I think games like Shadow of the Collosus and Monster Hunter are on thier way to a new form of gameplay, but they both need to be more refined, those two combined with an epic plot would easily make for one of the best games I could ever play.

If linearity is the only problem then sign me up. Wasn't it possible to progress through the entire game of FFVII without ever discovering Vincent? I almost did (the first time through), but it was my first RPG.

@Swag

I am also one of many waiting for Squeenix to finally make an action-rpg FF... I'm so not a fan of turn-based ANYTHING.

I like Swagman's post, but I gotta wonder how a 40 year old RPG veteran such as himself could like many of these games to begin with. It seems clear to me that the Final Fantasy franchise is primarily aimed at a "below 15 years of age" demographic. Some of the FF games seem to be aimed at people even younger (Crystal Chronicles). That then makes me wonder if the linear nature of the game is specifically designed to let 12 year olds (or around there) easily progress through the game without feeling overwhelmed and confused.

I'm about to become 29 myself, and I feel like I "missed the boat" when it came to FF games, as I never got around to trying one until I was already 25. By then I just couldn't connect with the games. The simple writing and stories seemed very aimed towards a sub-15 crowd, too. I'm not saying it's impossible to enjoy a game made for young teenagers when you're 40 years old, but I do think we should be aware that a game for young people is probably not going to be as complicated as a game for middle aged people, both in terms of story and gameplay. Comparing Final Fantasy to Mass Effect just seems very odd to me, like comparing a teen romance-filled Hannah Montana show to, I dunno, an Oliver Stone movie full of history and conspiracy theories.

Looking at media of FF13 makes me think the game has teenage girls as a primary target audience, too. I'm really curious about the game's technical merits, but it just doesn't seem like I'm in the targeted demographic.

@ Swagman & Spunky Monkey. Those were very good comments, too bad some devs don't pay attention to that and instead choose to "attack" the gamers way of thinking.

But even Mass Effect is fairly linear. It guides you where to go, reminds you of things, etc.

'Bethesda's slop'? Explain yourself.

Of course Mass Effects story guides you, but it also lets you explore an enormous 'universe' at your leisure. FFXIII's lack of a world map and having shops at save points really take away from the exploration and charm of the Final Fantasy we've all come to enjoy.

Wait. There’s still save points in this franchise?

Sorry. That’s the final nail in the coffin for me concerning this franchise. Save points weren’t even an acceptable notion to me back in 1997, when I was saving in every other RPG in the universe whenever I darn well needed to.

I play each type of genre for the exact reason that they are what they are. I wouldn't want a WRPG to be a JRPG nor would I want a JRPG to be an WRPG.

I personally think some westerners go the 'freedom' direction to be lazy storyline wise, they can't afford writers, nor want to, so they just make an open world, slap some great graphics and monsters and say here, go do some quests, saying that, JRPGs can be annoyingly repetitive at times, but when one does stand out, it does a spectacular job of it. I play JRPGs because I want characters I can grow attached to, so I can see them experience emotion, I feel more of a desire to eliminate the enemies they are opposed with if the enemy is a part of the plot, rather then if the enemy is 'just a quest'.

I love freedom, but I also love plot, I love to write, so its great to be able to look at others perspective on things, life and romance. Its all well and good playing WRPGs alone, but even playing WRPGs gets repetitive, besides, there are only so many Diablo-esque games I can play with better graphics before I get bored.

o please monkey.

lack of story in western RPGs?

the way JRPGs play out story wise reminds me of the family guy episode of south park.

A bunch of manatees randomly picking balls out of a pool.

Just depends on what you like Brian, you may hate it, but I happen to love FF7 and FF8 for what they were for example, okay, they held your hand, okay they were straight line games, but yet still they are two of my most memorable games, on the WRPG side, it was Diablo 2 and Fallout 3 that will remain memorable.

JRPGs (good ones that is) are supposed to feel like reading a book, connecting to the characters and going on thier journey.

You can easily say that JRPGS are linear straight line games, but then how do you stick up for games like Gears of war that are Linear and don't even have that much of an interesting storyline. Gameplay? Yeah it is fun, but then thats the same perspective I have of some JRPGs.

It sounds more like he's completely missing the reason behind the complaints. It's not really about the linear story, its about the linear level design.

I personally couldn't care less if the story had branching paths or not, but nearly straight levels gets boring very quickly. Even mass effect suffered from this, all the fights were pretty straight forward with hardly any variation in design. But they made up for that with a good story that you can do at your own leisure.

Wicko, you've just summed up half of the games today that get 10s from western reveiwers. MGS, Uncharted, Halo (oh yeah, because each area is big doesnt mean you aren't going in a straight line) Gears, Super Mario Bros, do I need to go on?

Well, there are some differences. Linear level design can be good when the designers take advantage of height or have some interesting battlefields, in ME 2 it was always the same crate or wall you hid behind, with most of the battlefields being ultimately flat. At least with Uncharted you could climb things and take the battle upwards, and there would be some nice hooks in each level that made them enjoyable.

With FFXIII not being a shooter, different design ideas need to be considered, exploration is pretty much a requirement to keep it interesting.

I don't really understand the "too linear" complaints about FFXIII. Even the old FF games where like this, look at VII for example. It had a world map, and once you left Midgar you could *technically* go anywhere, but you were pretty much forced to go to Kalm, and then through the mountains, etc. I don't really understand how XIII is worse just because it doesn't let you go to places you can't do anything at earlier on.

That being said, I also don't understand how you could critisize Western RPG's for relying on freedom over stories. While this is certainly true of games like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3, Mass Effect 2 just came out with a better story, written and character development than a Final Fantasy game could ever hope for.

Wicko, the purpose of the tactical battles in FF games is just that, there are silly side quests you can do in each game if you really have the time, but the same way we get excitement from battlefields (no really fields, just hallways) and climbing walls is the same way you can get joy from battles in FF games, how do you think people can dedicate so much time to training anf leveling up if it wasn't fun? For every person uninterested, there is someone interested.

Saying that, Shadow of the Collosus had climbing and defeating giant walking / flying monsters, a concept that sound more exciting to me personally then continuously shooting at stuff or running around and pressing the same button to slash hordes of monsters but yet it was slammed for not having a compelling storyline :/ You can't please everyone.

Snowblind, that's a horrible way to look at things. You might as well be saying all gameplay should be removed from games with a linear story because they lead you to the same single ending anyway. Allowing you to go to places where the story action isn't necessarily taking place yet makes the world feel infinitely more real and immersive, instead of just making you feel like you're on some disneyland ride, being forced forward along this narrow one-dimensional track whether you want it or not. Claustrophobic is the word I would use to describe that kind of game.

JRPG's are not the same as they used to be, games like Mass Effect are actually much more like a traditional JRPG than these new FF's. Japan doesnt even like where FF is going either, there are a ton of complaints there about FF13's unbearable linearity, the game has already completely dropped off the sales charts being beat by games much older.

FF13 is not FF7 or FF8. FF7 was a linear story with relatively open gameplay. FF13 is nothing like that. Its time for FF apologists to stop living in the past, the games are radically different, using them as examples for why JRPGs are good doesnt apply anymore.

Why did the guy get downvoted for ripping on save points? Save points are one of the biggest steaming piles of annoyance that still plagues RPGs to date. There's no need for them any more.

And in an era where we're meant to play our games while attached to a persistent online network where we can receive invites to a multiplayer game at any given time, having to wait 20 minutes for the next save point is just an abomination.

Traditional save-anywhere is for wimps with their fingers glued to the F-# keys, who like to save around every corner, save after every shot fired or blow dealt, and constantly reload their save after taking even a point of damage. Well-designed save point placement offers an element of risk that is completely absent with save-anywhere systems.

What I will agree on that -every- game needs is a game "freeze" option that lets you quit and resume a game at any time. And I'm talking even during cutscenes, or long loading screens. In fact, I feel this should be a standard, mandatory function of future game consoles. The DS already has something like this where any game will enter sleep mode no matter what, if you close the lid. Which I really like. But you can't turn off the power, or play another game.

When talking about the development of JRPGs, Vcize I have to agree with you on that, save points piss me off, okay, I don't expect to be allowed to save in the midst of a battle unless it's an open battle with freedom to run away, I respect that, but I should be allowed to save where I want.

Yeah but not this linear:

http://ps3.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11619

Linear is linear. There aren't varying degrees of linearity.

What if it was Quantum?

Certainly there are. Zelda and Sonic could both be called linear, but the latter a helluva lot more so than the former.

"Linear is linear. There aren't varying degrees of linearity."

Wow. We have a certain group of commenters who are pushing the argument that, "Both FF13 and Mass Effect 2 have some plot elements you will encounter on every playthrough, therefore these games are equally linear."

The people making these comments are either extremely disingenuous, or they haven't played the games in question and simply don't understand.

Games are an interactive medium, and they benefit from increased interactivity. If you have ten hours of full motion video in your game, if the plot and outcome of a story-based game are exactly the same every time as long as you don't die in combat, then you are designing something that probably works better as a movie, not a game.

If you allow the player to make decisions that affect important elements of the story, and you allow the player to handle quests in the order he chooses (or not handle some quests at all), you are now providing interaction better suited to a video game. There will always be important story elements and plot structure that are the same on every playthrough, but integrating that with significant interactive pieces is important in using the game to tell a story.

Older FF's had the perfect balance of linear and freedom to tell a story. FF13 is just straight linear and theres no excuse for it, you dont need complete linearity to tell an interesting story.

Ummm, i thought fallout 3 was extremely involved when it came to story.

Fallout 3 was completely open world, with all the side missions engaging you into the world, if anything, given all that freedom is what made the game what it is. It showed you all the devastation, it showed how people were coping etc.

I'd take a fallout 3 over a linear game any day of the year.

"Games are an interactive medium, and they benefit from increased interactivity."

No they don't. If I want to play a game where I just fight people, I'm not going to be benefitted by increased interactivity. I'm not going to have much fun if I'm being asked to talk to the people before I beat them up.
You can design and create a game based around increased interactivity, but that doesn't necessarily mean it benefits from it. Believing that you have to design anything one way and include certain elements is always a poor way of thinking, especially in any sort of creative field.

Games don't benefit from increased interactivity any more than they benefit from decreased interactivity. It all depends on the game and how it was designed.

@Copa

That's your sensitivity talking because I never even thought of Mass Effect in my comment. I'm saying if something is linear us has you go in a distict and pre set path. A game like Uncharted 2 is linear, the new PoP was not because you could pick which parts you played and when, Demons Souls is also not linear.

I get that you are overly sensitive about perceived criticism about Mass Effect, see Wiizers branching dialogue comment, but in this instance your reading to much into my comment. I don't have a bias vs linear or non linear, I just judge each experience. Borderlands is free roaming and persistent yet I thought it was terrible ... Just depends on the game. Put the sword and shield down because I wasn't hating on your fav game or trying to marginalized it.

You're trying too hard, Tigre. I did not perceive any criticism of any particular game. I thought the statement that "all RPG's are equally linear" was pretty dumb, and I was pointing that out.

I didn't say that though and you specifically mentioned Mass Effect inrealtion to my comment about linearty. I never bridged them together, you did.

Hell, even FF had variations in its linear story before. Are you going to wait for Shadow? Get the very best fishes for Sid? Beat the game as soon as you get Setzer's brandspanking-new airship?

The endpoint may be same the regardless, but a good game provides you with the (illusion of) freedom to take on multiple paths on your journey. All saving shadow gets you is one additional character in a game that's already got tens of them, but if anyone tells me they didn't feel truly relieved to see him return with 30secs left on the clock for a meltdown they'd be lying.

If you want to tell a story like a book or a movie would, write a book or direct a movie.

Once you remove the player's ability to choose, it ceases to be a game.

Wow you seem to have a downer on this game, 10 comments in and 3 of em are you complaining about the linearity :P

Lots more games are becoming linear judging by the current crop,with Final Fantasy they tried the open ended approach in 12 and everyone complained about that, yet no-one seemed to complain about he linear FF10. Crystal Bearers is again different (and a lot more exploration involved) but its being mostly ignored.

Also no-one seems to be complaining about mass effect 2, despite the games massive shift towards linearity (vary rarely was there more than 1 way through a level, and even more rare a level i could go back to, i can see why i can;t go back to some levels but thers no reasno to stop you from landing on some of the planets again)

Har har har . . . I'll take a crafted and more cinematic experience that's more linear than an open world game that's only purpose is finding items (feathers , shards) and doing sidequests. Notice if you follow the narrative it's equally linear, there are a handful of exceptions but for the most part it's true.

I think he has a point, gameplay of a JRPG isn't as conducive to open world as the more actiony WRPGs. The game should be judged on it's own merit not compared to different sub genres. If in that context the linearty hurts the experience then points should be deducted. If it's a great experience ala UC2 the fact it's linear should be irrelevant.

@ luke

You do realize this post is about FFXIII's linearity right?

I'm not trying to compare FF to Mass Effect, Dragon Age or any other western RPG. I'm disappointed that FF13 doesn't feel like a FF game to ME. The numerous gameplay elements that were taken out (world map, shops in towns, exploration, etc) in favor of a more streamlined, 'linear' approach to the FF franchise, doesn't make me that excited about FF13. Those were the elements that made FF different, made me want to play it.

Really late to the party here, but...

...ZING!

"yet no-one seemed to complain about he linear FF10."


Oh no? Here's one for you: I absolutely -loathe- that game for its claustrophobic, tiny, one-dimensional world, and everyone who likes it should be mauled by wild bears.

"I guess that "entire games worth of content" that was cut was the non-linear part of FFXIII."


You would know, right? Because you've watched the reviews, and think you know enough to make an opinion on the game?

Just like the 200 other comments on here that have zero basis in the actual game, but already have opinions on it?

But you'll find out about it soon enough. FFXIII going multi-platform was a smart move. It'll easily outsell anything else its release month.

@bm: as a bear and a lover of FFX, I challenge you to a fight.