Final Fantasy 13: The long awaited new installment in the storied franchise
The reason for the long delay between when Final Fantasy XIII was released in the US, March 9th 2010, and this review stemmed from my desire to get every trophy the game had to offer. By doing so I hoped that I would be able to experience every facet of the game and write a more effective and honest review. And come on let's be honest after waiting years for the game what's another month.
Final Fantasy XIII is the series' first iteration on a current gen console. The last game came out in 2006 for the Playstation 2. The game was announced at E3, the largest video game convention in North America, in 2006. At the time the major revelation was that Square Enix, the game's developer, would remove the franchises exclusivity with Sony and develop the game for the Xbox 360 as well. Needless to say this announcement caused some so called waves among the gaming community. Back then the game did not receive a solid release date but it was insinuated that it would be years before we saw the finished product. Now nearly 4 years later the final product is in our, US gamers, hands (the game was releases in Japan at the very tail end of 2009). The question is was it worth the wait? And does it live up to the solid pedigree the series has been known for?
The game was delayed just a bit for North America because Square Enix wanted the US release for the PS3 to coincide with the xbox 360 release. The PS3 version was released on 1 Blu Ray disc while the 360 version was released on 3 dvds. In comparison the PS3 version looks better but honestly the differences are really negligible.
As with any RPG, Role Playing Game, one of the more important parts of the game is the story. The main story of Final Fantasy XIII has to do with a bunch, 6 to be exact, mostly unrelated characters meeting up in order to accomplish a common task. But as to be expected things aren't exactly as straightforward as they seem as we learn as the plot unfolds. I don't want to go into it much further since the main draw of an RPG is the story.
The game's title character is a girl by the name of Lightning, however she doesn't exactly feel like the main protagonist. In all the previous games in the franchise the main protagonist felt like the main character in the drama that was unfolding but in XIII Lightning felt just like another character in the scheme of things. It's not so much a complaint as it is a statement of the different feel of the game. But the plot of this installment is no where near as strong as some of the stronger story based iterations of the series, not to sound like a broken record, Final Fantasy VII. The story does have it's strong points but it is weighed down by the weak moments. Not to mention that in the game's final act the story is really weak in this writers opinion. The story is not bad I mean it keeps the player motivated to keep going but it is not complex at all. I feel like the writers were trying to go for a larger more urgent tone about the perils of blindly following a governing power. But the way they went about it was sloppy.
Another complaint I have with the game is that the characters didn't feel all that deep. They were all sorta one dimensional. I mean yes they grew throughout the course of the game but that growth felt somewhat contrived. It didn't feel like a natural growth that a person would undergo. I also feel like I didn't actually know the characters all too well. There was a gist of the kind of person they were but the circumstances that led to who they were are as much a mystery to me now having played the game as they were before. I mean some back story was glossed over but that was all. It really comes down to the fact that throughout the course of the game I did not become emotionally invested with any of the characters. They were characters in a game I was playing and that's all they every felt like.
One of the biggest complaints with the game among the gaming community was the fact that it was way too linear. The game lacked a lot of the open world nature the previous games had. It felt more like slogging through dungeons in order to progress the story. I personally did not have such a problem with the linearity. I liked the direction that the game provided. It saved me some time backtracking and the like. But I did miss the lack of towns to explore. About halfway through the game the world becomes a bit more open leaving you to actually explore. And to be honest having my hand held up to that point, I felt a bit lost when I had the freedom to go where I wanted. But even that freedom is only to allow the player to take on side quests that have no impact on the plot of the game. Essentially extending the playtime with fluff. Every single one of these side quests require the player to kill a specific enemy. The game's linearity was not really a deal breaker for me as it seems to be for a bunch of others.
Now it seems like I've just been lambasting the game. But there are things I really loved about it too. For example the battle system for XIII has to be my favorite of all time. It is so much more involving that any other game in the series. Although the game only allows you to directly control the party leader, the battle system still feels intuitive. The meat of the system involves changing the roles of each character mid battle. When the game really picks up you always have to keep an eye on your party and switch roles, which in the game are called "paradigm shifts." There are 5 roles in total for each character and in the normal play through each character has a specialization, such as healing or protection or physical damage. With enough play it eventually becomes possible to make every character effective at every role but that takes hours of additional play. The player can set up the roles that want for each character in the party before a battle, 6 different combinations in total, and switch with a few button presses mid battle. The system sounds a bit complicated but in practice it's rather simple and intuitive and fun. With the system I always felt involved in every battle and whenever I was killed I always felt like it was my own fault for not having the right combinations or not switching at the right times. Whereas in some of the other games I always felt like there was some element of luck involved.
Also the game looks beautiful. But with a company like Square Enix high production values are expected. But that's not to say that the game still doesn't look great because it does. The meshing of nature and futuristic architecture environments were nicely done. The world they created felt visceral and real, which is more than I can say about the characters as I've previously stated. The transition between battles and free walk are seamless in parts. It's also great that the actual gameplay feels almost like playing a cutscene in other games.
So was the game worth the long wait? In short yes it was. The high production values and the great battle system make up for the rather lukewarm story. And let's face it if you are a fan of JRPGs Final Fantasy XIII is a game that you were anticipating with bated breath. It is nice to see another Final Fantasy game hit the market after it has had such a long break from home console gaming. The franchise has been very good in the past and I do believe they would have to make one or two completely awful games for the franchise for people to begin losing faith. Final Fantasy XIII is definitely not one of them. It is a solid, beautiful game with a not so interesting story and/or characters.
All in all I'd give Final Fantasy XII an 8.3
On a side note I would like to say that after playing this game I can see why White Knight Chronicles did not do so well review wise when it came out a few months ago. That being said I want to amend my score from the 7.9 I originally gave it to a 7.I feel like White Knight is a game that you have to play before you play Final Fantasy XIII because if you play it post FFXIII you will see the flaws of the game and honestly be quite bored with it.
Final Fantasy XIII is the series' first iteration on a current gen console. The last game came out in 2006 for the Playstation 2. The game was announced at E3, the largest video game convention in North America, in 2006. At the time the major revelation was that Square Enix, the game's developer, would remove the franchises exclusivity with Sony and develop the game for the Xbox 360 as well. Needless to say this announcement caused some so called waves among the gaming community. Back then the game did not receive a solid release date but it was insinuated that it would be years before we saw the finished product. Now nearly 4 years later the final product is in our, US gamers, hands (the game was releases in Japan at the very tail end of 2009). The question is was it worth the wait? And does it live up to the solid pedigree the series has been known for?
The game was delayed just a bit for North America because Square Enix wanted the US release for the PS3 to coincide with the xbox 360 release. The PS3 version was released on 1 Blu Ray disc while the 360 version was released on 3 dvds. In comparison the PS3 version looks better but honestly the differences are really negligible.
As with any RPG, Role Playing Game, one of the more important parts of the game is the story. The main story of Final Fantasy XIII has to do with a bunch, 6 to be exact, mostly unrelated characters meeting up in order to accomplish a common task. But as to be expected things aren't exactly as straightforward as they seem as we learn as the plot unfolds. I don't want to go into it much further since the main draw of an RPG is the story.
The game's title character is a girl by the name of Lightning, however she doesn't exactly feel like the main protagonist. In all the previous games in the franchise the main protagonist felt like the main character in the drama that was unfolding but in XIII Lightning felt just like another character in the scheme of things. It's not so much a complaint as it is a statement of the different feel of the game. But the plot of this installment is no where near as strong as some of the stronger story based iterations of the series, not to sound like a broken record, Final Fantasy VII. The story does have it's strong points but it is weighed down by the weak moments. Not to mention that in the game's final act the story is really weak in this writers opinion. The story is not bad I mean it keeps the player motivated to keep going but it is not complex at all. I feel like the writers were trying to go for a larger more urgent tone about the perils of blindly following a governing power. But the way they went about it was sloppy.
Another complaint I have with the game is that the characters didn't feel all that deep. They were all sorta one dimensional. I mean yes they grew throughout the course of the game but that growth felt somewhat contrived. It didn't feel like a natural growth that a person would undergo. I also feel like I didn't actually know the characters all too well. There was a gist of the kind of person they were but the circumstances that led to who they were are as much a mystery to me now having played the game as they were before. I mean some back story was glossed over but that was all. It really comes down to the fact that throughout the course of the game I did not become emotionally invested with any of the characters. They were characters in a game I was playing and that's all they every felt like.
One of the biggest complaints with the game among the gaming community was the fact that it was way too linear. The game lacked a lot of the open world nature the previous games had. It felt more like slogging through dungeons in order to progress the story. I personally did not have such a problem with the linearity. I liked the direction that the game provided. It saved me some time backtracking and the like. But I did miss the lack of towns to explore. About halfway through the game the world becomes a bit more open leaving you to actually explore. And to be honest having my hand held up to that point, I felt a bit lost when I had the freedom to go where I wanted. But even that freedom is only to allow the player to take on side quests that have no impact on the plot of the game. Essentially extending the playtime with fluff. Every single one of these side quests require the player to kill a specific enemy. The game's linearity was not really a deal breaker for me as it seems to be for a bunch of others.
Now it seems like I've just been lambasting the game. But there are things I really loved about it too. For example the battle system for XIII has to be my favorite of all time. It is so much more involving that any other game in the series. Although the game only allows you to directly control the party leader, the battle system still feels intuitive. The meat of the system involves changing the roles of each character mid battle. When the game really picks up you always have to keep an eye on your party and switch roles, which in the game are called "paradigm shifts." There are 5 roles in total for each character and in the normal play through each character has a specialization, such as healing or protection or physical damage. With enough play it eventually becomes possible to make every character effective at every role but that takes hours of additional play. The player can set up the roles that want for each character in the party before a battle, 6 different combinations in total, and switch with a few button presses mid battle. The system sounds a bit complicated but in practice it's rather simple and intuitive and fun. With the system I always felt involved in every battle and whenever I was killed I always felt like it was my own fault for not having the right combinations or not switching at the right times. Whereas in some of the other games I always felt like there was some element of luck involved.
Also the game looks beautiful. But with a company like Square Enix high production values are expected. But that's not to say that the game still doesn't look great because it does. The meshing of nature and futuristic architecture environments were nicely done. The world they created felt visceral and real, which is more than I can say about the characters as I've previously stated. The transition between battles and free walk are seamless in parts. It's also great that the actual gameplay feels almost like playing a cutscene in other games.
So was the game worth the long wait? In short yes it was. The high production values and the great battle system make up for the rather lukewarm story. And let's face it if you are a fan of JRPGs Final Fantasy XIII is a game that you were anticipating with bated breath. It is nice to see another Final Fantasy game hit the market after it has had such a long break from home console gaming. The franchise has been very good in the past and I do believe they would have to make one or two completely awful games for the franchise for people to begin losing faith. Final Fantasy XIII is definitely not one of them. It is a solid, beautiful game with a not so interesting story and/or characters.
All in all I'd give Final Fantasy XII an 8.3
On a side note I would like to say that after playing this game I can see why White Knight Chronicles did not do so well review wise when it came out a few months ago. That being said I want to amend my score from the 7.9 I originally gave it to a 7.I feel like White Knight is a game that you have to play before you play Final Fantasy XIII because if you play it post FFXIII you will see the flaws of the game and honestly be quite bored with it.
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