Final Fantasy is a gaming franchise most people are aware of. At one
point, it was considered the pinnacle of JRPGs and almost synonymous
with the term. Nowadays, the franchise and its creators, Square-Enix,
are not held in such high esteem. While the exact point that it began
is incredibly debatable, recent Final Fantasy titles have not been as
well received by their audience. In particular, Final Fantasy XIII
was extremely divisive. Some really enjoyed the new combat system
because it added a new strategic element to the game while others
felt that the game was being played for them by the AI. Some enjoyed
the story because the characters were well-developed and interesting
and others hated the characters and how forced the ending appeared to
be. However, there is one element that most people agree on and
dislike: Final Fantasy XIII felt much more linear than its
predecessors. This begs the question: Why does XIII feel so linear
when compared to earlier titles? Most Final Fantasy titles are also
very linear, as is the nature of JRPGs. What made XIII different?
This week, I will try to figure it out.
The first, and most obvious, thing one must take note of is that the
topography of Final Fantasy XIII is much more linear than its
predecessors. Earlier entries in the series, up until Final Fantasy
IX, had huge world maps to explore. While the player was often
restricted from going very far off the beaten path until certain plot
points were reached, the world maps always looked liked plausible
worlds ripe for exploration. Final Fantasy XIII did not have this
luxury for most of the game. For the vast majority of the game, XIII
has players walk forward in an incredibly constricting, linear
corridor. There are many diverse locals throughout the game with
varying environments, but the player is only allowed to explore in
one of them more than twenty hours into the game. The rest of the
game cordons off most of the area, meaning the player only has one
way to go. Even Final Fantasy X, which was almost as linear as Final
Fantasy XIII, had places where the path branched off somewhat and the
player was free to wander around the area to explore and look for
items. In a game like Final Fantasy XIII, which thrives on immersion,
this is horrible because the player takes notice of it and is
immediately reminded that they are playing a very linear game, which
added to the sense of linearity.
But
this is something games do all the time. Many games, from Call of
Duty to Half-Life 2 to the series's own Final Fantasy X were
essentially linear corridors when one goes in and analyzes them. Why
is Final Fantasy XIII so different? One thing I found as I was
pondering this was that Final Fantasy XIII's areas are very sparsely
populated. In most other games, the places the player explores, now
matter how linear, have a population in them. There are people who
are there for their own reasons and that have their own backstories.
Even in shooters, where the people are usually the enemy, they help
make the levels the player goes through feel more like a world
instead of a corridor. Final Fantasy XIII only had a few areas with
people in them at all. Most of the levels were completely devoid of
sentient life (with the possible exception of monsters). It is
difficult to be immersed in a world without people to interact with.
That is something that people just do not encounter in everyday life.
This is another reason why Final Fantasy X felt less linear. As the
player traveled, he/she saw other people in cities and on the roads
traveling as well. Initiating dialog with a few of these people would
even show the player cutscenes that added both to the world and the
characters. Before fans of XIII say that there is a good plot reason
why the party encounters few people (being that they are fugitives on
the run), I will preempt them by saying that while it makes sense
from a plot
standpoint, it does not make sense from a design
standpoint. The design of the world and how the player interacts with
it is just as important as the plot in any game because that is what
is most obvious to the player.
There
is one last reason why Final Fantasy XIII feels more linear than
other Final Fantasy games. Simply put, there is not much for the
player to do
in the game. In most RPGs, there is more to do than just the main
quest-line of the game. Designers of these games often have
side-quests that player has the option of doing throughout the game.
These quests allow the player to take a brief respite from the story
and even allow his/her character(s) to grow stronger in preparation
for battles ahead in the main story. They also allow to player to
learn more about the world and begin to sympathize with the local
populace by getting to know them and help them out. Final Fantasy
XIII does not do that well at all. There is only one area that has
any optional objectives whatsoever (which is the same area that
allows for exploration). Furthermore, there is exactly one type of
optional objective. Where other games have diverse side-quests where
the player can find an item, kill a specific enemy, etc., Final
Fantasy XIII also has one type of objective where the player finds
the fossilized remains of someone who was cursed to have to kill a
specific enemy and take up the quest for them. There are 60 of these
fights and they are the only optional objective. They do not even add
to the world like other side-quests in other games do since they do
not give the player any information that they are not already aware
of by going through the main storyline. Again, this is something
Final Fantasy X did well. Throughout the game, there are a number of
times where the party is allowed to just stop for a second and help
out the local populace, giving the player the ability to play the
game at his/her own pace and/or learn about the world and the people
inhabiting it.
As I have said in prior articles, there is nothing inherently wrong
with a linear game design philosophy. While it is not my preference,
it can work so long as the player is immersed enough in the game that
it no longer feels linear and that the game is railroading the
player. This is ultimately the problem with Final Fantasy XIII: The
game does not do enough to disguise its linear nature. The player
feels like they are going through nothing but corridor after corridor
completely absent of any form of sentient life. The player is not
given enough incentive or context for this to work. Part of me
wonders why so many little things went wrong in XIII. Square-Enix was
much better at this before, as demonstrated by games created both
before and slightly after the merging of Squaresoft and Enix.
Hopefully they will be able to turn things around in the future, else
I fear they might be another in a long line of corporations that have
fallen by the wayside this console generation.
