ENCOURAGING HOPE
Final Fantasy XIII - https://youtu.be/FiwrE7hBNqg
Both of chapters 4 and 5 revolve around Hope's character. Vanille continues to be the "background information, please" character, which definitely isn't necessary considering they have SO MUCH text you can read if you wish. (Sazh also volunteers background info in a much better fashion anyway, such as his conversation with Lightning during chapter 2.) Then again, as I've heard that people will complain to developers that there's "no story" when they skip all the cutscenes or dialogue… maybe Vanille is necessary for some people. I do actually read all that text (at the start of every chapter), which is why you'll see sudden 45-minute skips on the timer in the top left of the video. That and I skip you past all the running around and fixed-but-not-story encounters. As a reminder, the unedited video is linked in the video description if you want to see the encyclopedia the game gives you.
The audio this time had a -6 dB modifier instead of the normal -7. I didn't really see a difference in the recording. Hopefully that changes as I continue to increase the volume.
The areas continue to be just as restrictive to run around in as for Crisis Core. I do want to note that's not a complaint; it's just not as open as FF XII, so that might be some of the disappointment that people had with this game. But it lets the developers focus a little more on other parts of the game. However, I did notice one area that makes me wonder if we'll be revisiting it…
Do you see those massive sections off the main path? They're all next to mechanisms that Vanille said "needed power"… oh.
I should have gone back.
Just a little further down the path is a massive device that gives power to a gate. I bet that if I'd headed back to this area, I would have been able to access those spots. Too late now, I suppose.
Anyway, that's all for today. Next week, I will not be playing this game, because I will instead be streaming Skyrim for a charity event. That'll be my first playthrough of that game as well, though be warned that I will have to skip on exploration for the most part. Not my style but if I'm going to beat a game that big in only 24 (nonconsecutive) hours, I'll have to stick to the main quests.
