Review: Final Fantasy XIII

[xerofayte]

I was bitterly disappointed that this piece of music (or rather, the English translation) wasn't included in the CD that came with the Collector's Edition.

Boo, Square Enix, boo.[/quote]


As was I. I just passed that part of the game this evening and was whistling along to it and driving the girlfriend insane at the same time. Its soo catchy!

 

[AgentNein]

Just hit the point in the game where things open up and I finally have control over my party.

IMPRESSIONS! (yes their may be SPOILERS)

Love the game. Really, really dig it. The first bit was such a mind numbing trudge, any strategy consisted of getting the jump on the enemies. Thank god the magic and paradigm system hit. Made the game much more interesting.

Anyone else agree that at this point he only honest to god memorable area in the game at this point is that theme parkish place? On an aesthetic level it reminded me of a mashup between the Golden Saucer from FF7 and the Dark City Treno from FF9. You know, only without...anything to do....

On a side note, Square are a bunch of bastards for giving us a theme park area with nothing to do but chase around a chocobo chick for a few minutes. What the hell is that all about Square?!

Love the general pallet of the game. I was running around the outside of some airship with Lightning and it struck me. The game just has a wonderful use of color.

The general concept of Vanille as a character makes me worry for Square and their eternal salvation.

I have to admit, I miss towns. The theme park type area really highlighted this. Even walking around Hope's dad's pad was a nice change of pace. Sure the marker was clear as day but I just walked around for abit, checked out some pictures, it was just a nice change of pace. That's what this game needs more of in the first ten or fifteen hours. CHANGES OF PACE. Come to think of it, I also miss dungeons. Not just any old dungeon, but when Square would put some thought into them. It's the little things, like remember that area in FF9 where the castle was upside down? And at some point you realized that stats were reversed and you had to put on your worst equipment? Sometimes it's the little things, Square.

I dig all of the characters for the most part. Yeah they're still Final Fantasy characters, they still launch into gradeschool motivational speeches. I guess it's just something you have to accept if you're going to play a Final Fantasy game. For what it's worth, these guys some of the best. Even Snow redeemed himself for me, of course that involved being a badass driving around on a motorcycle made of two chicks.

On the whole Sazh suicide thing cop-out, it was sort of interesting because my roommate just started re-reading The Myth of Sisyphus when that happened. We both nodded our heads and made intellectual grunts at eachother. It was good times. But really, what a cop-out. They carried him away in a freaking coffin! How do they explain that one? Not that I don't like the character. I honestly do. I liked him so much that something like that might've effected me on an emotional level if I didn't already know it was a cop-out and that Square doesn't have the cajones to do something like this any more. YES I'M CHALLENGING YOU SQUARE.

The summons are just insane. It's Square at their most insane. And you know what, I like it. When they don't pull any punches, and show how fucking nuts they are, there's something liberating about it. Zazh has a devil type dude who transforms into a Hotwheels racecar. That's just fantastic.

I'm still finding the storyline pretty interesting, but is it me or is there not really a clear villain yet? I've always preferred the Final Fantasies that gave you a villain right off the bat more or less, and then didn't bring some wacky asshole out of left field as the REAL villain.

I miss random, optional secret junk in Square games. Is there any chance that I'm going to fight a sandworm and that this sandworm might eat me and my party, sending us into a secret optional area with a secret optional party member? No. Boo Square, Boo.

But yeah. So far so good. I don't know if I touched on the battle system but I love it to death.

 

[VMerken]

Well, played it last weekend for about 8 hours trying to like the game, then stopped out of sheer boredom (what a godawful lame storyline, what papier-mache characters, what a simple battle system).

Now, I don't mind linearity. All games are linear - they start and they end. However, I hadn't thought the developers at Square-Enix would turn a huge part of a RPG into an action-oriented one-track dungeon corridor crawler. Because let's face it - the first part of FFXIII is not a RPG.

Maybe in a few weeks, I can muster up some motivation again to get to the part where things apparently get interesting. I pray that it will be worth it, that I get to play something resembling a RPG. But right now... yeesh.

Oh and yeah, for the statistics: I loved FFXII, the best Final Fantasy title to this point. Exploration, open ended-ness, solid storyline and likable characters which make sense - love all that. Needless to say, I didn't like FFX, which is also pretty corridor-like.

Have a good one!

 

[Pocket Apocalypse]

Right, because it seems to be possible to predict closely what people will think of FF13 based on their opinions of FF10 and FF12, I'll start this by saying that I loved both games, though my preference is definitely for 12. Those of you who now think I'm retarded, please stop reading now. Clearly we are of such different preferences that no conversation on this topic is possible.

I more or less agree with Funk's review, in that I think the game starts off achingly, patronisingly slow, but is carried along by an impressively well-realised cast of (varying degrees of) assholes (major points, by the way, to Square for actually letting 'you' - Lightning - punch Snow in the face for being annoying XD) and nice-guys. It does come together neatly about the 25-hour mark, if you can get that far, and after that, there's some genuinely enjoyable, inspiring gameplay. I still get a shiver down my spine looking out across the Archylte Steppe.

There are two problems I've had with the game, though, that haven't seen much mention. Firstly, the rewards for each ordinary encounter feel frustratingly weak through most of the game, both in terms of XP and loot. I've never felt so strapped for cash in the final third of an FF game, never mind how tedious grinding upgrade items can be (I'm just past 70 hours in, deep in the optional content, and I've still not seen a Trapezohedron). It doesn't sound like it should be a substantial issue, but it makes the not-so-random encounters feel like such a chore, particularly since at lower levels, ordinary monsters can take several minutes to kill.

The second problem, for me, is the ending. I have to apologise; I don't know how to do spoiler cover-ups, so I'm going to try to describe my problem without spoilers. The warning signs come when you figure out who the main villain is, because the main villain is pants. You can see what Square were shooting for, but they're wide of the mark in every way; he's a scenery-chewing monster that you couldn't take seriously if he were real and had you at gun-point, and the attempt to give him motivation and sympathy falls completely flat because of it. No-one with supposedly noble motivations EVER cackled that hamishly over the heroes.

Far worse than that, though, is that at a point about 40 hours in (around the end of chapter 11, once everything's out in the open), two bizarre and distressing changes come over the central cast. Firstly, they stop being able to say anything that isn't either a whiny loss of faith or a farcical, cod-inspirational soundbyte barely worthy of a presidential candidate, and every cutscene for the remaining ~10 hours of the game consists of one of them whining and then the rest effectively saying 'Come on, don't give up!' in the most trite ways possible.

The second, more damaging, thing is that their actions stop making any sense at all. There are a couple of points where everything the characters have ever said they're trying to do goes out the window so they can smash stuff. The first of these happens at the start of chapter 12 and is mostly superficial given how the machinations of the bad guy unfold shortly afterwards. The second is actually the set-up for the final boss of the game. I'm sure most people reading this are familiar with what happens with the final boss of FF9 (again, I'm trying to avoid spoilers - sorry for my ineptitude); it's been the consensus of my housemates that this is at least as inexplicable, albeit slightly less random. Given how far the story and characters carry the game, to have them collapse on the final straight is really frustrating.

Having the final part of the levelling system - the bit that makes some of the optional content conceivably doable - only unlock after you beat the final boss is galling, as well, but that's a minor niggle.

 

[F8L Fool]

Linearity in and of itself isn't a bad thing. For example, pacing is generally much improved, but I think it's safe to safe Final Fantasy XIII is more linear then previous games in the series.

True. Sometimes the experience and overall gameplay is enhanced when the developers hold your hand, tell you where to look, and how to perceive things. At times a bit of structure really can help you feel sane and really involved with the story. At other times it can make you feel smothered, lacking control, and almost as though you're in an interactive movie of sorts.

Uncharted 2 is an example of when it's nice for a developer to put things on rails, yet still make you feel like you have freedom to explore throughout the entire game.

Oblivion is an example of when not having that guiding light (linearity) can at times feel overwhelming, and devoid of purpose. The only times where order is restored being when you stumble across the main quest line.

I have to agree however that it's far more linear than games in the past. Previous games have more diverging sections even in the linear dungeons. If you go down path A instead of B or C, you run the risk of missing something valuable. In this game you run the risk of missing essentially nothing that's of real value until 85% of the way through.

Me, I hated FFXII because it just wasn't a FF game any more.

OT: Why did you say the linearity was a bad thing to people that enjoy exploration? This is a FF game, people who don't like linearity shouldn't buy it.

The games really vary in how linear they are. Some sections have a lot more freedom to explore than the others. Not only that but at what point the world map opens up, how complex it is, and how populated with side quests it is, really varies a lot from game to game.

The games that are more linear generally speaking are the ones without the means to expand upon the ideas. When you look at games like FFVII, X, and IX they all had really expansive sections that were devoid of any sense of linearity.

When most of the dungeons are quite literally LINES I think calling the game "Agressively Linear" is fair.

Ha I agree. When you can look up at the mini-map and go "Strange, there's nothing there but a canal-esque path to 'explore' here", that's different than your typical linear games.

I mean there are dungeon crawlers that are expansive, consisting of many floors and layers, secret rooms, multiple bosses, and so on.

There's multi-path dungeons that are somewhat linear, but varied.

Then there's the one route straight to the end of the dungeon, with perhaps one or two culdesac's (that are easily distinguished as so) on the way. I think the latter would fall into the category of "Aggressively Linear", and sums up about 75% of the content within this game.

 

[Michael Orlando]

50 hours or so

 

[Fearzone]

Just finished it, as a first time FF and JRPG player ever wanted to throw in my two cents.

Gameplay: Interesting system that handles team commands better than many games, maybe even better than most. It needs some refinement, but hopefully this is the starting point to deeper development (and hopefully more control) of this sort of "paradigm system." My main beef is the controls. Why is it to use a potion or change a target I have to navigate a ridiculously complicated menu system? Why do I have to specify that a potion be used on all of my party member when potions ONLY work on all party members? Why do I have to specify who to use the Phoenix Down on when only one is KO'd? For actions that need to be done on the fly it sometimes takes 4 or 5 steps. Bad, bad Square Enix!!

On linearity and RPG elements: For a game that forces us down highly linear pathways in all parts but Chapter 11, the whole upgrading weapons system was a chore, that was under-explained, and seems very random. In a more open world system where you can grind infinite amounts of components and gil, such a thing would makes sense, but in a linear and confined world things like crafting just feel misplaced. It slowed things down a lot and made the game less fun.

The story: WTF?!? Where it wasn't totally unintelligible it was laughably melodramatic, which never changes or tones down from opening sequence to closing. Mostly, I view it as a window into a different culture with different narrative standards than my own, and found some appreciation in it that way. I pretty much liked all the characters except Lightning. Sasz needed more soul.

Despite these critiques, it is a game which rises above the sum of its parts to be a fun and addictive experience that leaves me wanting more. The over-the-top story is laughably bad but at least is laughable, boss fights are tense, and the combat system is hopefully the first step in a new system for group control.

Finally, I'm in the camp that DID like the Chocobo song, with vocals.

 

[Swmystery]

Right, because it seems to be possible to predict closely what people will think of FF13 based on their opinions of FF10 and FF12, I'll start this by saying that I loved both games, though my preference is definitely for 12. Those of you who now think I'm retarded, please stop reading now. Clearly we are of such different preferences that no conversation on this topic is possible.

There are two problems I've had with the game, though, that haven't seen much mention. Firstly, the rewards for each ordinary encounter feel frustratingly weak through most of the game, both in terms of XP and loot. I've never felt so strapped for cash in the final third of an FF game, never mind how tedious grinding upgrade items can be (I'm just past 70 hours in, deep in the optional content, and I've still not seen a Trapezohedron). It doesn't sound like it should be a substantial issue, but it makes the not-so-random encounters feel like such a chore, particularly since at lower levels, ordinary monsters can take several minutes to kill.

Surely 12 suffers from this problem far more then 13 does? Unless you actively sit down and grind through long chains of enemies to amass hordes of loot, you won't be able to afford most of the equipment and spells by around the midpoint of the game, if not before. I also personally believe 12's combat to be far more tedious then 13's, but that's obviously something which is a personal dislike and so means little. These two factors meant that I found the combat in 12 was more tiresome by far then that of 13.

As far as XP goes, I actually liked the fact that they were actively trying to discourage griding for experience, because without any such caps almost all previous FF's have been too easy, at least in the main story, because all it took was running around an area or the world map beating up monsters and you could take on almost anything. By limiting your development it ensures a sense of challenge which can be removed in any other FF.

 

[Xarandele]

Final Fantasy is absolute crap now,a nd people trying to give it nice reviews like this is why it will remain to be crap, The story was severely stupidly lacking, and no the battle system wasn't a great innovation or the best one they've had yet, it's complete shit, they've fixed it some in accordance to how FF12 was which was as we all know a complete load of crap, and Yahtzee has nailed this game completely on the head, I felt no compelling force what so ever to finish this game after the first disc because it was just completely and sadly a suck fest.

WOOOOOOHHHH You can control one character at a time and even then you just use fucking autobattle at a ratio of 99:1 And why the fuck would you not want to control your other characters? "You died, game over, these other two useless fucks can't revive you or continue the battle by themselves because they're absolutely retarded, start over again." It's absolute stupidity, I was once a long time fan of Final fantasy and I feel it's increasingly sad that retards are continueing to try and say Final Fantasy is good after it clearly started dying after 9. 10 was okay but it's like the last dying breath of a man and 10-2 and up so far have just been travesties to the greatest series that has existed, no let me rephrase that, used to exist.

Maybe it has skipped the minds of most people that USED to be fans of this series that its dying because they're trying to make it somethings its not, You don't play RPG's for the "Story" in most instances though yes story makes it better, You play this to become an absolute badass and for saying "Oh look, I found everything." Grinding was an essential part of the Final Fantasy series as it made you actually have to fight things thus making you appreciate many different aspects of the game more, such as concept and design as well as gave you something to look forward to obtaining as a reward, Why the living hell does anyone say that 13 is good is beyond me, You spend countless hours of your life playing extremely one track levels where you run in a straight line for an hour, enjoy 5 cutscenes that make half to absolutely no fucking sense and then you repeat, You get virtually no loot and the level system is severely lacking by making you get stronger on only SOME parts of the game and even then your still shit balls weak to even the weakest random encounters, which by the way is no longer a "Random Encounter" if you take into consideration it's the same damn monsters in the same damn place every damn time. You require gobs of upgrade materials and money to buy things of which you virtually find none, if you're lucky you may find one or two upgrade materials for stuff but unfortunately most of the ones you found in the beginning of the game are sold to the market because the game IS TO RETARDED TO TELL YOU TO KEEP THEM. Which I find is highly amazing considering a good portion of basically ALL OF THE FIRST DISC is pretty much a massive fucking tutorial. And they don't give credit to the materials until you figure it out mostly by yourself after its too late. But returning to the loot system, When I kill something I expect a reward, Not just the great grind of doing so in great aspects (Sarcasm) of getting to raise my near non existent 1 sphere in the next fucking disc, and usually even if I sell the sparse rewards I do receive Its not even enough to purchase enough potions to matter.

Then you move to the magic and summoning system, I suppose the return of the summon system that allows you to actually control the summon is okay, Though I find it highly pointless the way it is given, You spend 5 minutes whacking on a monster to raise your Gestalt gauge and then when you finally go into gestalt mode after the monster has been rather undestroyed by this supposedly OP summon wailing on them, You then go into a second form wh ere you wail on them using special attacks and/or can sacrifice all your gestalt moves to execute a finisher/final move or what I am gessing that is meant to be. Yet sadly this one move that can take up 2 gestalt moves or 30 causes the same ammount of damage NO MATTER WHEN ITS USED. Come on, you'd think if I accidentally hit the wrong button or did it intentionally and sacrificed 30 other moves it would at least do more damage, give something extra, at least put the monster in fucking chain break mode. Which was another sad part, after the summons finisher, for some reasont he monsters break chain magically resets to zero despite a millisecond previously it being at 199.9/200

All in all, final fantasy has once more proven why it's less desirable then a bullet to the brain.

 

[ghostrider409895]

The game seems pretty cool. I might rent it to see what it is like.

Also, good comment on the weather related names.

Just remember FF team, moving on to days of the week, months and the colors to name your characters is not a step in the right direction. We want actual names, not a random things you spot around your house. (I apologize if anyone was offended by the names comment. I am sure your name is lovely.)