In defence of disc switching

I've finally reached a point in Final Fantasy XIII, nearly three and a half months after it first came out, where I can say that I'm able to comprehensively discuss and analyze the game. My full review will come out tomorrow, but something I thought I would mention before diving into that is that despite the (ever so slight and hardly noticeable) graphical differences, I actually believe that the XBox 360 version of the game is the one to get.

One of the criticisms that has been launched against the 360 version of the game is that you have to (gasp!) get up and change the disc every fifteen hours or so. This, apparently, is too big of an inconvenience for game reviewers, and a sign that the PS3 version is the better one. Now, don't get me wrong – as the game was designed with the PS3 in mind, it most definitely has more fidelity to the vision that Square Enix had for the game (whatever that was). But I'm here to say that switching discs is a good thing, and in terms of epic-length games, should be the standard.

In essence, most JRPGs and RPGs (and, let's face it, narrative games in general) follow a three-act structure. There's the introduction to the characters in the first act, the rising action in the second act, and the thrilling conclusion in the third act. There is, of course, major and minor variations from this generalized template, but nearly every narrative-based game I can think of follows this basic structure. Not to say that it wouldn't be cool to see a game told in a traditional First Nations circular story style (although I wonder how that would be done…), but this is what we have.

In every disc-based Final Fantasy game that I've played (VII, IX, and XIII), the disc changes actually work as logical signifiers for a change in action. They work exactly as they're intended to, giving each game a sense of heft that is usually reserved for theatre. As I've played through each game, making my way to those disc changes became a source of motivation, as I knew that something new was around the corner of that disc switch. It also encourages logical "intermissions," providing downtime that isn't a signature staple of games (outside of those annoying "why don't you take a break?" messages in Wii Sports Resort, for instance).

What putting a huge game like Final Fantasy XIII on one disc says is that that natural rising and falling action is all supposed to be considered as a whole, and I'd contend that the very structure of the game dictates a more compartmentalized view of the action. It's maybe not as well done as in Final Fantasy VII, where the change in locale, objective, and motivation from disc to disc was clearly and expertly integrated, but it's there nonetheless.

There's no denying that producing multiple discs is more wasteful and ultimately will probably go the way of the Dodo, but while we have it, I think that some developers are absolutely taking control of this particular limitation and artfully using it to their advantage. That's something that I believe of limitations in general – they often make for more innovative and creative solutions to a developer's problems. So the question for prospective Final Fantasy XIII buyers is: slightly better graphics, or logical storytelling structure dictated by the medium? I'd have to go with the latter.