I will come right out and say it. I like Japanese RPGs. From the likes of Final Fantasy to my Games of the Year 2008, Valkyria Chronicles and Persona 4, I tend to greatly enjoy video games from the east. However, both of the last two numbered Final Fantasies seem to want me to hate them.

For those of you not familiar with the gameplay of Final Fantasy XII, I will give you the lowdown. FFXII came out right in the middle of the MMO craze. FFXII boasts a gameplay system modeling a single-player MMO. Instead of controlling your party in Sqeenix's typical ATB or a turn-based system, the AI took over during combat. So as to not let the player place the blame entirely on the computer when a "Game Over" screen popped up, the "Gambit" system was employed. Outside of battle, you set up certain situations and subsequent actions for each of character. The computer would then well and faithfully execute your strategies. In the case you ran into a situation you had not foreseen, you could navigate one of the clunkiest real-time menus ever to try and save whatever semblance of life your party had.

Astute readers may recognize a similar system in Dragon Age: Origins, another game which I have nothing but loathing for. At least Dragon Age had adjustable difficulty in-case you decided to say "Fuck it, I'll finish this PoS for the story.", whereas FFXII will unapologetically rape you if you have not taken a ridiculous amount of time to "set-up".

If you noticed earlier, I also mentioned the latest Final Fantasy as a game I am annoyed with. FFXIII marks a return to the ATB system, as well as a class based system. There are 6 classes in the game, all with wildly different abilities. Each character has 3 out of the 6 classes. You can switch at any time between classes. I like this. It kinda makes me forget that I have been running in a straight line for close to 25 hours.

Unfortunately, you switch the classes of your party all at once, between six different presets. You say, "But wait, with 3 characters in your active party, and 3 classes for each, that is 27 different arrangements. Why should I be restricted to 6?" Why indeed, oh unfortunate gamer. I am around the mid-point of the game (I think) and just ran into a boss where about half-way through the fight, he changes his attack pattern dramatically. Also, half-way through the fight is about 5 minutes, give or take. Battling for 5 minutes, only to realize I brought along the wrong presets to even SURVIVE, is frustrating to say the least.

FFXIII likes to pretend it is FAST. I honestly can't play the game on normal speed. But you switch classes VERY often. And boy if the game doesn't let you know you are about to switch classes. Press L1, and all information regarding buffs and debuffs disappear, while a fairly useless GUI pops up to display your 6 presets. Another thing, each time you switch, it does a nice little animation where each character does a flourish, all in real-time. All this does is essentially interrupt whatever combo you had going, even if 2 of your 3 characters didn't switch class, while enemies are pummeling you.

How about, instead of wasting my time switching everyone all at once, I just switch each member individually. Let me paint you a picture Squeenix. I press L1. In the lower left of the screen, where my menu sits the rest of the time, the portraits of each of my characters pop up, with their current class displayed underneath. I press X, and it cycles to the next class. I can do this for each of my characters. When I press L1 again, the changes take place. If I did NOT change a character's class, they continue attacking as if nothing ever happened.

While we are on the subject of stupidity in FFXIII, why isn't enemy information displayed similarly to player information? Specifically, a GUI in the upper right corner, where the combo meter is anyway, that displays all enemies' information. A specific instance where the current system fails is when the player character is a buff/defense/medic class, you can't look at enemy information. Makes it really nice when you need to switch classes. "Do I need to debuff the enemies? Well, guess I should switch to a fighter, check, then switch again. Oh yeah, all while being pummeled."

Please note that I have absolutely no problems with the stories of these games (except Dragon Age, which has a story about as engaging as the story behind the gum underneath your desk). From what I understand, FFXII has a story rife with political intrigue and subtle machinations.

What I'm trying to say is, how does stuff like this make it out of the alpha-build of a game, let alone beta?

Instead, maybe crappy gameplay mechanics are just a symptom of Japanese games. Or maybe Squeenix spent the majority of their time on graphics. Or maybe, coding on the PS3 was such a time-sink they had to cut corners elsewhere.

Let's look at the graphics issue. FFXIII is undeniably pretty. Let's back up a second though. You know what else looked damn good, still does today, and plays a hell of lot better than FFXIII? Final Fantasy X. Also, the Crystarium, or whatever the hell it is called, is just a more linear version of the Sphere Grid from FFX.

In conclusion, I hope whatever problem Squeenix has with letting me enjoy their games works itself out, and FFXIII-Versus and the eventual FFXV are fun.

P.S. Lightning is a non-amnesiac, female Cloud. Except she doesn't have a sense of humor, so nowhere near as cool. "Let's mosey!" is noticeably absent.

P.P.S. Fuck you Dragon Age.