Before I get to anything else, the sub of the first episode of Oofuri S2 is finally up. I know it's a one-hour special, but I was starting to think that I'd see the next ep of Durarara!! before this would be released. x__x;

ANYWAY. I started playing FFXIII, and so far I think it's... okay. It's not terrible or anything, and I've heard that it gets better once you're further along. But the fact that I'm over five hours into the game and I STILL haven't escaped the tutorials is kind of lame. Also, the fact that I've literally done nothing other than watch cutscenes, run around, read tutorials, and fight things. Not even a single fleeting side game! And platforming & free-roaming are non-existent. :/

And seriously, Square. You used to know how to pace your games. What happened? FFX was the last FF game that had a story I gave a damn about or even fully comprehended. What the hell even happened in FFXII? Because thinking back to it now, I don't remember a thing.

Bah. I think the biggest issue is that the recent FF games have tried to cram in as much world-building as possible within the first few hours, but it just ends up being overwhelming. And the characters suffer from it too. More than any other FF, the characters in FFXIII feel like new incarnations of the same tired molds we've seen before. Snow and the black guy (forgot his name, lol) aren't quite so easy to label, but the others... Annoyingly bouncy girl, whiny blond emo boy with a parent complex... It wouldn't be so bad if they only let us care about them more instead of just having them run from one plot point to the next. Square even explicitly stated that Lightning is meant to be a female Cloud. (Except softer b/c she's a woman. Oh, Japan.) If you're going to imitate aspects of FFVII, why not copy something of actual consequence? Like the PACING of the story. And besides, what is the point of copying Cloud's NEGATIVE personality traits? Bitchy ex-soldier =/= popular character if that's all there is to them. =_=;;

But on a more positive note! I think this is a large part of the reason why I'm so very excited for KH: Birth By Sleep, because from what I've heard, that game is actually really well-paced. A FIRST FOR THE KH SERIES. =____=

So yes. Everyone buy Birth By Sleep when it comes out! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D