Final Fantasy XIII reviewed

 

The first few hours of this game made me feel the spark of the old Final Fantasy episodes (rsp VII and X): breathtaking looks, intriguing characters, a promising storyline.. oh how I have missed this! But getting into the game, walking the endless corridors, hoping for some more information to reveal the full storyline and shed some more light on the characters it dawned on me: that's all the information I will get.

The characters seem to harmonise well together at first and some nice moments happen to and with them (between Hope and Lightning e.g.). Yet somehow they are quickly taken over by absurdity and one pointless event after another happens to Lightning & Co. as they seem to drift alongside a badly told storyline and are drawn into one random battle after the other. The cinematics are outstandingly beautiful and quite a bit entertaining, but it does wear off after some time and I unfortunately discovered that there's just no life in this mesmerizing world, and sadly, no plot to be found anywhere. And I have looked in every corner!

The battles are just annoying obstacles on the way to nowhere and while the paradigm system is somewhat entertaining and in the end more complex than I had imagined it still doesn't excuse the length of the enemy encounters. They really wanted to discourage us from grinding this time, I get it.

The other thing that really bothered me is a technical issue. Why oh why in Barthendulus' name is the music annoyingly loud while the volume of the voices is so low you can hardly hear the dialogue? I had to turn on the subtitles to understand what they were saying, so come on.. I heard some people had it the other way around in the US-Version with super-loud voice-acting and low music volume in the background. I'd rather had it this way, but, in the end, the characters really didn't have important things to say anyway..

I was hoping for some kind of enlightenment until the end, but, nothing, except countless battles with me, randomly dying at some points. I didn't get it at all. It really annoyed me, since the game had the full potential, going to waste in thin air.

Beautiful, mouthwatering designs and architecture, the coolest and most stylish heroine a game has ever seen and wonderful pieces of music to accompany the party on their journey. Why, oh why was there no point to it? Why, oh why was the gang split up randomly in the first half and then, it seemed, forcefully kept together in the second? What's the motivation for them or me to do anything, let alone go and save the world?

They really screwed it up this time.

Final Fantasy XIII for PS3

Fantasy on TV

 

I have heard about something that really accelerated my heartbeat: George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones will come out as a HBO series, and as the first season of the book cycle A Song of Ice and fire! This is really spectacular news since I for one loooove this book deeply (really, one "o" is not enough here) and I always very much enjoy HBO's high standard in terms of polished looks and great storytelling and over all high production values. In my opinion, their work is absolutely comparable to BBC's productions, because it's both extremely informative and visually appealing!

HBO plans on filming 10 episodes in total, starting this year, including one pilot episode which is already finished and I am very curious how this will turn out! The book has around 1200 pages and I hope they won't lose the complexity of the plot in 10 episodes...

 

By the way, I have some dark memories regarding TV adaptations of fantasy classics, and The Legend of Earthsea is on top of my black list. Appalling is the word that comes to mind when I think about this giant waste of broadcasting time. Studio Ghibli's version on the other hand was a surprisingly well written and delivered tale about Earthsea, not wanting to be an adaptation, but rather a story based on the universe Ursula K. Le Guin created..

I am really glad that Mr. Martin now gets a chance to see his works presented on TV, but ideally to a larger audience. I genuinly hope that in their version HBO will do justice to his unbelievably skillful written story. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Ursula K.LeGuin, The Complete Earthsea Cycle
Tales From Earthsea, Studio Ghibli

Being myself

I am going to be a great writer... I am going to be a great writer..


Have you ever heard of self-hypnosis? It implies telling yourself something over and over until you finally firmly believe in it.
The annoying voice in my head says I shouldn't put all my energy in becoming a writer, and acknowledge the possibility that it might never happen. To tell you the truth, I am too stubborn to listen to such nonsense. I want to please that stupid voice to shut it up forever!
So, instead of putting all my apples in just one basket, I decided to distribute them among a large variety of baskets.


I am going to be a great writer.. magician... fireman.. food critic..


Besides, I am outsmarting the system, because all these other goals are even more abstract.. at least in my world! So it's really going to happen!

No beauty in the breakdown

There it is, I am having another mental breakdown. Not only does my writing - uhm how shall I phrase it lightly; oh yes - suck, also my ideas are not that special. I have done a little research about writing techniques and I think I know a lot more now. But why is it, that finding out more about something I am passionate about is rather a frustration than a motivation? Ok, it's like that:

First tip from a real writer: No editing in a first draft!
My bad, because I am editing all the time, 'round the clock. I'm thinking about phrasing, translating, about who will read the damn book, if I ever finish it, why I even write, why I can't do it, why I should do it and what's for dinner. That's too much, even for me, a multitasking maniac!

Second tip: Use strong, short words!
But I love to use long, complicated ones! I feel the constant urge to point out that English is my second language. But in the literary world there is no price for writing in English.. No one will slap me on the back and say "Hey that's real good.. for a German!"

Thirdly, and most importantly: Don't tell, show!
Here's my downfall: I love telling people what I think. But the real good writers don't do that. They don't give away too much information because they want the audience to figure out essential elements like motivation e.g. for themselves. Good writers describe certain scenarios in a visual, not a judgemental way.

I am trying desperately to implement all those tips in the new story. But number 3 is a real mood killer...