Custom background I made with Photoshop.
It has been four years since the last installment of the Final Fantasy series, now we have been given the 13th installment which was released March 9th, 2010. Having played every Final Fantasy game possible since the original Final Fantasy on the NES, I have been a fan of the series since. Now before reading any further remember a review no matter how neutral one may try to be in a matter of opinion.
Cacoon.
Final Fantasy XIII takes place on a superficial planet called Cacoon which hovers over a much larger planet called Gran Pulse. The people of Cacoon live an easy life of having everything like food and energy done for them by “higher beings” Known as Fal’cie. When a Fal’cie needs something to be done it finds a human and turns them into a L’cie which is like being a puppet. When chosen the L’cie gets a dream or a blurry vision of what they need to do, if they complete it they turn into a crystal and is granted eternal life and happiness or so one would think. On the other hand if they do not complete their task for whatever reason they turn into a Cie’th which is a ghoul monster form where they mindlessly kill all things living, sounds fun huh? Turn to crystal or turn into monster.
The story is debated on both sides of being amazing and being linear, in my opinion its a good mash-up of both. You have the saving the world from a corrupt ruler or just plain evil bad ass who wants everything destroyed, but on the other hand they throw in thoughts of moral value such as the main theme of the game “defying the will of a world”. For example how far would you go to save a sibling? Would you do what ever it takes even though the world hates and fear that person? or would you forsake the outcome of your own life for that of everyone else? The best part of the story line to me is how each character grows together as you go along. At first when you load the game you start playing as Lightning with Sazh as a companion and you are wondering how did these two join forces? As the story goes on it tells you the how and whys for each person even when some horrid things happened because of one another they still manage to stay together as a group.
The only part that I hated about the game’s story is how it was fight a few monsters and cut-scene, fight a few more monsters and cut-scene. The reason being is at first the characters were not really outspoken with each other it was kind of bland which in any story is needed as you start out slow and work your way up to the climax which is what Square Enix did but 20 hours a little much time needed. If they would have added a few mini climaxes within those 20 hours to get you feeling like “Damn, did that really just happen?” That would have helped making those hours spent feel more important to play.
The Active time battle system I say is a step in a good direction, the reason why I say only a step is because while as a whole is a fun battle system it has some set-backs that holds it back. First off the graphics and frame rates while beating the crap out of enemies are amazing. Never once did the frame rates drop to the point where a human eye could notice, but the best things I noticed was those little details of the terrain. One Example being is you use a Water spell on a group of enemies and the area it hit will look wet or you used a fire spell and the ground is actually on fire, which I found satisfying for some reason. The Paradigm shifts is a great addition to the franchise giving you added strategy on how you are going to take down a group of foes. Say you want to have all 3 characters help buff up your group you can do that then when done switch to a different make up which allows you to adapt to the challenges each foe can present a much appreciated addition to active time battles.
With all that good there is bad and the worst is simple this. If your character you are controlling dies your teammates give up, does not matter if they can revive you or not you must start the fight over but the game does allow you to start just seconds before the fight so you don’t have to worry about saving before every boss fight which is a nice addition. The other two major draw backs are not being able to move your character on your own and no ability to switch characters in battle, although it might be too much to handle with the paradigm system but I for one disagree and would add even more strategy to the game. I have played multiple games with a ATB system and the ability to move your character can make or break a victory. Especially when you are trying to focus all attacks to you and your character decides to stand with the group, when it happens you will know exactly what i mean.
Over all the is well worth the $60.00 USD spent, with stunning visuals, a solid battle system, music that goes well with each area you go through, and overall great game play it worth playing. Final Fantasy XIII is a good step in the right direction although if you are a hardcore Final Fantasy fan you might miss not having any towns or a lot of open areas you get to explore. Which is something Square needs to fix for future installments, the ability to explore and find things is what made Final Fantasy games so mush fun. But do not be discourage for Gran Pulse offers a vast area to explore which makes up for their mistake this time. Riding the chocobos was amusing and satisfying.
Over all I would rate this game a 8/10. It is something new to a big franchise so there is bound to be a lot of debate to wither these changes are for the better or for the worst. I hope that with the next release there is more exploring to be done.
Rating:
Story – 7.5/10
Game play – 7/10
Music – 9/10
Graphics – 9/10
Overall – 8/10
Gran Pulse with Cacoon in the sky.
***I will be editing as time goes on, I have not fully beat the game just yet still have a few missions and trophies to gather.***
