To the people hating on FFXIII for being different.

Depending on whether you read everything on this blog or not, you might remember me doing a post on the people that hate all over the Gears games looking the same. Well, now I'm doing a similar thing. This, however, will be targeting the other narrow minded people, that think that a game franchise needs to recreate the exact same game with every release.

An amazing story, makes an amazing game. Simple.

Most people know of Final Fantasy, simply because of the amount of releases it has. It's known for it's often amazing storylines, turn-based battle systems and open-world RPG gameplay. The difference with FFXIII?

• It's storyline is still amazing.
• The battle systems were changed though, from slow-paced and turn-based, to fast-paced and real-time. Of course the haters would hate that!
• The open-world gameplay was made a lot more linear. Square Enix did this, because the XII haters were saying that it wasn't linear enough! You can't win with these people!

Of course, the storyline doesn't really allow the game to be non-linear. If you pay attention to the story, the L'Cie who are chosen need to complete their focus before their time is up. They don't know when that is, so obviously they aren't going to go wandering around the streets looking for something else to do! They're also absolutely hated when they become L'Cie, so they can't just roam cocoon without being prosecuted, which is the first 60% of the game! The Final Fantasy games are legendary for their storylines, with each one being distinctly unique, so any fan would really pay attention to what is going on in the game, and how everything fits.

The haters whine about the games characters and story being impossible to connect with, but it forcing you to be connected anyway. Each character has something to have most people connected to them. For example:

• Snow: Being a huge romantic, i felt connected with him the most. With his fiancee, Serah, being solidified in crystal, he needs to find a way to save her. That's his whole motivation to save Cocoon, in a nutshell. What really connected me with him was a scene where he finds Serah, stuck in the crystal in the crystal lake, so he stays behind alone, to try to dig her out.
• Lightning: People who are overprotective of siblings, or someone. That person is Lightning. She blames Snow for Serah becoming a L'Cie. Meaning, her whole motivation is to save the world, to save Serah from being a L'Cie, and mainly save her from her partner.
• Sazh: Draws parents to connect. His son turned to a L'Cie, and he wants to save him. Obviously this is what every parent wants, to save their children

The key is empathy. That's how you connect with the characters in any game. Being blinded by how different the game is to how you expected it, means that any other emotion besides hate will be blocked out.

The fact that the haters are simply hating because of change is ridiculous! There have been 12 other main FF games in the franchise. This isn't including spin-offs, or sequels. Don't be surprised when Squenix decide to experiment. They have in the past, and they will in the future. FFXIII brought a whole new audience to the FF series, instead of the typical fanboys. I'd expect they're going to continue with this gameplay, as well as the original gameplay. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of variety in a franchise!

What annoys me most is that the people hating on Final Fantasy for being different after 12 games, are the same haters that hate Gears Of War for being the same after 2 games!

I just need to remember, everyone hates everything. Simple. There's always gonna be people that will absolutely drill a game because they think they can do it better, or they wouldn't make the same mistakes the developer did. They can make the perfect game. It's exactly why everyone hates movie adaptions of games. Which is also why movie producers are too scared to set foot near the big name games.

People are silly.