From Final Fantasy to Pokemon

A game that takes a decidedly different approach to its franchise and a game that doesn't stray very far at all from the formula. The firestorm of a debate that was created in FFXIII's wake was simply astounding and created a lot of genuinely important discussion when it came to Western and Japanese game design. It really opened my eyes as to just how different us bumbling Americans are from the Japanese forefathers of gaming.

I find it interesting that both games are of established franchises with enormous expectations set upon them and yet the initial response to both is essentially two sides of a coin. FFXIII has divided players on their opinion while Soulsilver and Heartgold has begrudgingly united people. I wanted to run through the differences and similarities between these two rpgs and see if there's anything that can be distinguished from the two.

Story
Final Fantasy has always been about a strong narrative. I won't dwell on Fantasies past, but I'm fine with XIII's story. I watch anime and am certainly used to melodramatic scenes. After sticking with it for a while, I grew to love Lightning's torn warrior instincts and Snow's goofy yet misguided idealism.

Pokemon on the other hand doesn't exactly put story first. I think they've always tried to put in a fun hook with legendary pokemon lore and quirky criminal organizations but in the end you're simply put in the world of pokemon and are expected to start catching them all while pitting 'mon against 'mon.

Battle
The thing I love most about XIII despite any shortcomings people bring up is the combat system. Battles don't seem like a grinding process and instead are quick battles of flowing offense and quick decisions. Say what you will about mashing one button for auto-battle, the paradigm shift is my single favorite feature about XIII. Just select the roles you want your characters to take on in a few pre-defined configurations and switch your relentless offense style to a defensive formation with a healer. Going back to simple turn based combat just feels slow compared to this.

And speaking of turn based combat, we're back to it in pokemon. But weaknesses and resistances are a much more prevalent role. Yes, in XIII it's useful to know elemental weaknesses, but every character has access to different elemental powers in some way. In pokemon, you personally construct a 6 'mon team with specific strengths, weaknesses, and only four different attacks for each. Not to mention there are fewer elements in FF then in pokemon and swapping out 'mons for type countering has its risks.

Freedom and choice
This is where things get hairy and will inevitably draw debate, but I'm not drawing XIII out for linearity. In fact, when you think about it, pokemon is the same thing. It funnels you on a set path and forces you to fight against trainers much like how XIII forces you down a set path to fight enemies forced upon you.

The difference I want to address here is freedom of choice. Like how other people talk about the open world of Gran Pulse becoming accessible late in the game, character choice isn't available until sometime late into the game (I hit the 19 hour mark when I got the chance).

In the context, the game is telling me a story with specific character but the lack of choice is still present. Some areas I'd be stuck with Sahz and Vanille for a long stretch without the help of a more physical brawler like Lightning and I god knows how long I went without seeing Snow.

Of course, as pokemon lacks a specific character structure, you're free to choose whatever team mates you want to tackle battles. You're not even obliged to stick with your starter pokemon at all. The gym in Olivine city for example, fighting steel type pokemon, I could've used my fire type Quilava but could just as easily have used a fighting type Hitmonlee I had.

I think what I appreciate and have understood through the discussions blazing across the Internet is that the developers have put a tight rein on the story in order to tell it their way. Pokemon on the other hand never has a problem with story. The developers just drops some wild pokemon in the tall grass and just looks at you, expecting you to catch some 'mons to experiment with in team building.

Isn't it just crazy that no one really complains about the linearity in pokemon but strangles the issue in XIII? I just think it's funny how pokemon, of all games, has put this issue of what Japanese rpgs are like with some context.