Review: Final Fantasy XIII

[John Funk]

Review: Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII stumbles out of the gate, but catches up by the end once it finds its Focus.

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[bartholen_v1legacy]

Nah, good review. I played this a coupla hours at my friend's house and it seemed interesting.

When is some game here going to get some other score than four stars besides No more heroes 2? It would also be better if there were also star halves to give, I've always had trouble with the difference between 3 and 4 stars.

 

[Zahri]

Great.

Thank you sir, now i want to play it, despite the goofy names. o.o

Seriously, the names make me gag.

Thank you ^^

 

[wooty]

Good review, have to say that I agree with most of it, especially the combat and graphics.
Though I also cant wait for FF15 either, playing as such future memorable characters as Hail and Percipitation

 

[Danpascooch]

I gotta say, overall the game is good, but it had one hell of a rocky start, about 2/5 of the way through

Spoiler

Before Palumpolum, after which things seem to come together

I really considered outright quitting the game.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I can't wait to get my hands on a copy

 

[BlueHighwind]

"FF13 feels like a direct reaction to many fans' criticisms of Final Fantasy XII: It was too open-ended and sprawling; there wasn't enough focus on the story to carry things through; it was too easy to get lost, etc."

Who are these people? They sound ill of mind.

 

[Virgil]

Good review. I haven't quite finished it yet, but I did finally get to choose my own party, hit the open-world section, and opened up the Crystarium so I have actual options. I still wish that I had hit this point about 10 hours earlier though.

Thank you sir, now i want to play it, despite the goofy names.

The only thing worse than the names is Vanille's voice acting.

 

[Chipperz]

Nice review. I loved it for all the reasons most people hate it, and I don't know if it's any consolation for Final Fantasy fans who can't imagine playing something with a linear story, but after the first twenty or so hours, the game becomes a massive open-world grindfest. Sadly, my love of the storyline has put me into the trap most people I know have fallen into playing ANY Final Fantasy game - didn't grind enough, can't beat a boss, fucked over in sight of the ending.

It's really, really soured me on the Final Fantasy series, even more than before. Have Japanese people heard of scaling enemies!?

 

[Izerous]

The only thing worse than the names is Vanille's voice acting.

I have not found myself fond of her voice acting either. It isn't the worst compared to some other games but it feels that it just doesn't fit.

I'm not that far along yet do to my work schedule but I'm quite enjoying it so far.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The soundtrack is great, I especially like the Chocobo Theme from Nautilus. There. That doesn't spoil a damn thing.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

I think my wife is really going to enjoy this.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I know what they're TRYING to do with these early hours (thankfully I'm past them myself) but I agree with John, it's a ROUGH design choice that doesn't entirely work. Tycho of Penny Arcade puts it well, why are we given bronze characters who turn into gold instead of gold characters who turn into platinum? Why do only Sahz (and in my case Snow as well) start out as likeable?

Anyway, good review, I'm glad that The Escapist's blind prejudice against JRPG's doesn't extend to the actual staff/magazine.

 

[John Funk]

Nice review. I loved it for all the reasons most people hate it, and I don't know if it's any consolation for Final Fantasy fans who can't imagine playing something with a linear story, but after the first twenty or so hours, the game becomes a massive open-world grindfest. Sadly, my love of the storyline has put me into the trap most people I know have fallen into playing ANY Final Fantasy game - didn't grind enough, can't beat a boss, fucked over in sight of the ending.

It's really, really soured me on the Final Fantasy series, even more than before. Have Japanese people heard of scaling enemies!?

I never really "grinded" in the game, I just defeated every enemy that was in front of me. Hell, I managed to avoid most of the enemies in the entire last two sequences abusing Deceptisols, and I still managed to beat the game.

 

[Tonimata]

...Why does the combat system sound A LOT like the one from Tales of Symphonia from what I understood there??

Edit: How long exactly is the game? I'm going to run out of Xbox Live soon, and I want to make sure my money is well invested.

 

[Plinglebob]

A very good and very fair review. Nothing there I can really disagree with which is very annoying!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

...Why does the combat system sound A LOT like the one from Tales of Symphonia from what I understood there??

It's not...I love Tales, and FF could take a few cues from them, but its not.

 

[blalien]

I refuse to take seriously any review with a pun in the headline.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

Excellent, exactly what I was waiting for Mr Funk. Now I just need to complete the God Of War Collection and God Of War III, then it's FFXIII for me, I'm looking forward to it more now. And with a bit of luck I'll find it on the cheap somewhere.

 

[Chipperz]

Nice review. I loved it for all the reasons most people hate it, and I don't know if it's any consolation for Final Fantasy fans who can't imagine playing something with a linear story, but after the first twenty or so hours, the game becomes a massive open-world grindfest. Sadly, my love of the storyline has put me into the trap most people I know have fallen into playing ANY Final Fantasy game - didn't grind enough, can't beat a boss, fucked over in sight of the ending.

It's really, really soured me on the Final Fantasy series, even more than before. Have Japanese people heard of scaling enemies!?

I never really "grinded" in the game, I just defeated every enemy that was in front of me. Hell, I managed to avoid most of the enemies in the entire last two sequences abusing Deceptisols, and I still managed to beat the game.

Really? How did you beat...

Spoiler

The second Proud Clad? Even with two healers (Lightning and Vanille) in the party and spamming potions with a sentinel (Fang, also my Leader), I just can't heal enough damage when it does the "Moon Beam" or "Limiters Deactivated" abilities.

I've tried summoning Bahamut and Odin as well as bashing out Renews and not summoning, and I don't want to use Vanille as leader. Partly because I want to keep an AI healer and partly because I have a feeling that hearing Hecathanacatathaciticathier in her voice might break my brain.

Time's a factor, I've only rented it until 10 tonight (so that's, like, 7 hours...)