In Review: Final Fantasy XIII

[Reverend Del]

So there I was, a long term aficionado of the Final Fantasy franchise, awaiting the latest installment with nervous energy. Will we finally see a return to the glory days of VI and VII or are we in for more of the same sort of game we've had for the last few attempts? Well the truth is a mite disappointing, but then it was always going to be really. Games have lost a certain something across the board, but none I feel more keenly about than what's happened to the JRPG games. So how does this affect Final Fantasy XIII? Let me tell you...


Part 1: The mechanics.

Well here's where the first let down hits, the combat system is needlessly detached from the player. The computer AI is very good indeed at deciding what the best strategy is for attacking or defending, as such inputting commands is often a waste of time better spent just pressing the confirm button a couple of times. A quick dose of Libra before a tough fight and the AI will adapt it's attacks according to the strengths and weaknesses of the foe in question far better than you could hope to do. Secondly you only control the one character and when it dies, game over. This can prove to be frustrating in battles if you aren't paying attention too carefully. One string of attacks and you're selecting retry to have another bash.

The upgrade system is another disappointment, you can happily avoid using it for the first half of the game. It doesn't make the game any tougher and frankly the components are better left to upgrade the weapons you chose to turn into their ultimate counterparts, rather than spent hither and thither on weapons that may not see you to the end of the game. Add to that there's no real rhyme or reason as to why some weapons advance to certain levels before being able to be turned into to the next weapon. It makes what could have been a fairly simple system into a slightly more needlessly complex one.

The summons are also fairly useless, harkening back to the more recent games trend of making them entirely optional and mere eye candy in most cases. especially as if you use a fixed team, a recommendation, then you'll only ever see one in action as only the party leader can actually summon. Yes they are powerful, yes they look good, but summoning one wastes valuable technical points you could be using for other more useful abilities like Renew, which heals your party to full health and removes all debuffs.

For all of that though combat does run smoothly, in nearly real time no less. So it's certainly better than the old turn based combat. It certainly looks pretty, which leads me neatly on to the next point.

Part 2: The Graphics

Well what to say here? It's next gen so yes it's pretty, but it's Square to boot so add a level on to that. It's almost exclusively gorgeous throughout. The maps are lovely and everything flows from one area to the next without fuss or bluster. Even the objects that are supposed to be dull still look good being dull. Other than that there's not much to say. Two thumbs up on the graphics front.

Part 3: The Plot

Alas here's another let down, the plot. It's good and well told. But we're not looking at VI here. There's no real openess to the plot, no real choices other than following the next waypoint. Even when the game does open up, the new areas are way too tough for your band of hopefuls to take on. You have to wait until the story is completed before you can do a lot of the fun things on offer. This is a little self defeating to my mind. XII had a few areas that were too hard for you the first time around, but going back to them later in the story allowed you to reap the rewards. XIII avoids the mess of interrupting the story by simply ensuring that the top tier of development isn't available until after you've clashed with and vanquished the final boss. This prevents you from breaking the scarier monsters. Which is a shame. The linearity of the plot isn't helped by the fact some fo the characters inform you happily that you're being railroaded.

In conclusion

Cetainly not the dizzy heights of VII nor the vertigo inducing tower that is VI, but a solid game nonetheless. Enjoyable enough for those of us who like the series, but if this is your first dabble, I'd heartily recommend grabbing a cheap PS1 and playing Vi and VII first. It is at least better than Final Fantasy X-2, but then what isn't?

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Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.

[Gaz83]

*Sigh* I was looking forward to this one aswell.

[Hundra]

OMG WHAT TEHE EFF R U TAKKIN BOUT

FF13 IS BEZZ GAEM EVAR


[color=#FF6666]BEZZ

GAEM

EVAR


edit: serious note,

i've heard the game was lacking, due to the fact it's not FF genre

just devil may cry with a different setting...

[Reverend Del]

This is not flood, I'd thank you to edit your post to contain content that doesn't amount to spam.

Of course you are entitled to your own opinion, but frankly I prefer my games to have a little more openness and a lot more interactivity. A game shouldn't see me pressing more buttons on the menu screen than I do in a combat scenario.

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Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.

[tansytansey]

The problem with most games now days is it's more like playing a movie than playing a game. Fixed path, fixed plot, every time you play it's exactly the same. No replayability what so ever.

If it wasn't called "Final Fantasy" no one would buy it.

Games have become too kiddy friendly, they've removed all the challenges, all the puzzles, all the onehitgameoverrestartfromtheverybeginningARGH.

Now it's all about the pretty graphics.

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http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv46/Ni...gcloudscopy.png
Image turned into a URL because it made your sig too tall. -Zuke
|Ashes and Draya's Epic Adventure|Ashes "Nighthawk" Yotaka|Nightfall|Eva Jones|
[5:50:49 PM] JakeSG (William Darkmoor) says: I like you, Ashes. You're more cynical than God.

[Sprolf]

Ashes is exactly right.

Old games are the fun ones, time was spent on gampley.
Newer ones aren't as fun, because all the resources are poured into the graphics department rather than the creative side of things.

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[kuth]

Thanks, you saved me some cash then. I've departed from the FF series after VII.....I've played the ones after it but none hold me like VII did.

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Lurker

[Prysin]

I played FF XIII at my mates house, got past the endless tutorial, which is ENDLESS (or so it feels)

Frankly, 2 things is dissapointing:
Lack of choices
Combat system

Only other FF game i played was IV, which, i dun remember much of other then being long.

So. my opinion:
Graphics: 100/10 (has so much win, and FF XIV Is like even more epic in terms of human physics and details)

Plot: 6/10 (more choices needed, should have some alternative stories and not just a "you play this book" setup)

Combat: 2/10 (god, cant they atleast make you fight those battles IN the map and not load a identical combat scene every time?)

Cutscenes: 3/10 (they could atleast add some more feeling then /sadface, /angryface, /happyface)

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DHC Discord

[ivr56]

Doesn't Surprise me
Lots of people dislike FF13.

Lots of my friends at school who are FF Freaks were disappointed in the game a ton.

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[finaldragons]

I playd FF 7 till the last version ,
To make it short i now just own a PS1 and the numbers 7,8,9 the rest they could keep.
Had high hope's but they where to high because after 9 i didnt enjoy playing FF as much as before.

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If i dont respond PM me i get lost in the massive amounts of posts here ..............