AlucardsFate
06-20-2010, 06:53 AM
Episode #62: Hallway Number Thirteen...
Possible Spoilers Ahead!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Boxshots/FFXIII.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Scores/852.png
Final Fantasy XIII (Playstation 3)
If your make me gonna walk a straight line...thanks for making it a fun one...
What's Good: The game is absolutely GORGEOUS. Interesting plot premise that does hold your attention for the most part. Fast, flashy and really fun battle system. The production values are top-notch all around, as you might expect from a FF title. Oerba Yun Fang...she's awesome.
What's Bad: The game is linear by design, outside of hunts there isn't much to do. Inconsistent characters...some can be annoying. (Ugh...I hate Hope) While the game on the whole has a nice difficulty balance...the final boss is pretty underwhelming. Confusing ending.
Badges:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Badges/Luxo.jpg"Luxo Jr - Great Visuals" FFXIII is really starting to blur the line between the in game visuals and the CG cinematics that SquareEnix is now famous for. This game looks amazing. But when they finallly erase that line...where will we be?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/GoodSequel.jpg"Liquid Snake - Good Sequel" I will say it, to everyone...even all you Final Fantasy purists who won't believe me. XIII is a good sequel. So there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/ChronoCross.jpg"Chrono Cross - Great Soundtrack" Now I have to be a bit specific here...as most of the soundtrack is good but not super noteworthy. But I absolutely LOVE the main battle theme...which plays a lot obviously. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kbzEkWyklg"]YouTube- Final Fantasy XIII OST - Blinded by Light [Enhance if your interested) It's on my list of very favorite battle themes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Hopeannoying.png"Hope - Inconsistent/Annoying Character(s)" While I happen to like most of the games cast, Hope and Snow get on my nerves. Though Hope more then anyone else...I just want to smack him...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Badges/Tunnel.png"The Tunnel" - Linearity" As I'm sure you have probably heard by now, FFXIII is quite linear. The first 20 hours of the game see your hand tied to the game's as it takes it's sweet time introducing you to the gameplay and setting you loose. And there isn't much for sidequests to speak of...if you like extra stuff...prepare to be frustrated.
Long Road to Release
Final Fantasy XIII was in development for a long time. (Wasn't it supposed to be ready for the Playstation 3's launch?) I can recall it's appearance in magazines well before the launch of the PS3 and it suffered numerous delays. (The only game I can remember being delayed so much that actually eventually released...was Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver) And in this new age where people argue about games before they even release...by trolling forums, that's a long time to be in the infosphere. More then any other FF title I can remember, everyone's minds about this one were made up well before it finally hit US shores here in 2010. Depending on who you are, it either had something to prove, or a lot to live up to, neither are good options to have. So how did it do? On the whole it did pretty well for itself, providing a pretty, fun and surprisingly lengthy adventure...though it's not without it's caveats...and we all know what the most publicized one is, so let's hit that first.
Yes, Final Fantasy XIII is incredibly linear. For the vast majority of the game, the only objective even available to you is going forward to the next point in the story. There is no world map to run around. (Sorta...but more on that later) It's going to tell you what characters your using and your just going to run forward to the next objective and usually a cutscene, and fight a lot of battles along the way. That's pretty much the gist of it. Most people may miss the idea of stopping to shop and what have you, but I don't particularly miss talking with townspeople who have nothing useful to say. But maybe that is just me. But if it's going to shuffle me from cutscene to cutscene, is the story any good? Well I'm going to talk about that...in the following Spoiler button.
For the most part it is, it begins in grand enough fashion with you on Cocoon as Lightning fighting to rescue your sister Serah from the Sanctum. As she has been branded by a Pulse lac'ie she is now the feared and hated enemy of everyone in your floating world. I actually really like that idea, as I can't recall any of the FF games taking on the idea of discrimination quite so blatantly. As she chases Serah's captors down, she crosses paths with Sazh, Snow, Vanille and Hope who have been thrust into this through various other means...all headed to the same destination. The first act culminates with them destroying a Pulse Fal'cie which then brands them. But what does that mean? When branded, they are flashed visions of a "Focus", a task they must complete. If they don't complete it before their visible brand draws out completely, they are turned into mindless Ceith...left to wander for eternity. But success ensures that they may live forever...sorta. The story does take some turns after a semi-brief middle portion lull, but I found the ending rather confusing. (And very Japanese)
That's the basic setup, which I think is pretty cool. Most of it is told via flashbacks, which slowly reveal bit by bit how everyone came to this point. Which is a cool way to tell the story I thought...to be slowly teased with details. And the first part of the story, all the way up to Gran Pulse is all really good and genuinely fun to partake in. But it will kind of lull there for awhile. (which coincidentally is where it FINALLY let's the reigns on you go and you can do what you want) This kind of very deliberate pacing is going to prove frustrating to a lot of people, especially since the sidequests...aren't necessarily sidequests.
Your cast of characters are for the most part passable to good. Lightning, the main protagonist, very much does start out as a female version of Cloud Strife...sort of. Cloud might groan at something and brood...then fight it. Lightning may say something about it being in her way...then she doesn't just fight it...SHE TEARS THROUGH IT. Way better. (Though she does come off as a bitch) Vanille...I think is the character who has spawned the most internet flaming. I LIKE HER. She's the relentlessly positive (But not overly talkative Rikku) type. (And just wait until you see what she's hiding from you) Despite her rather unusual "Britstrailian" accent, I find her to be the most interesting of the bunch. Sazh is a decent enough half serious/half comic relief. I really like Fang, a no nonsense tyoe with a sense of humor power gal with an Aussie accent. She is your wild card. Now...Snow...is an overconfident douche. I couldn't stand him...but more then him...there is Hope. I DO NOT LIKE HOPE. Remember how whiny you though Raiden was in Metal Gear Solid 2? Raiden probably sees Hope and says "What a pansy!" He spends the first fourth of the game whining about revenge and not doing anything about it. So annoying.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/screens/FFXIII_battle05.jpg
Why does every RPG have slime based enemies?
Blinded By Light
But for all the little chinks in the proverbial armor, the gameplay in XIII is rock solid. The battle system is somewhat difficult to describe, but it's almost a hodge-podge of VII,VIII, X, X-2 and XII run into flashy anime overdrive. Everything runs at high speed, (Some battles can be over in 3 seconds if you play correctly) Now...you only control the party leader, the other two characters are controlled by AI. You have an ATB bar that...as you would expect goes up during your idle time. Now you can select commands during this time, which each take up a certain amount of the ATB guage. All you need is for the bar to get high enough to accommodate the commands you selected and your character can act. In addition to that, you can set up to 5 "Paradigms" which is really just a specific job setup for your party. You can't have an physical attacker and a healer user on the same character for example, you have to switch strategically between Paradigms to win effectively. If you can raise an enemies chain gauge to it's peak, you can stagger them, which allows you to knock them down, into the air and do A HUGE amount of damage until the bar drains. That's how you really get a good battle rating.
Now, you don't level up your character's in a traditional sense...you more level them up class to class on a board VERY similar to FFX's Sphere Grid. Here you can find stat upgrades, new abilities, accessory slots etc. During your battles you will earn the CP to spend here. Now this system works pretty nicely...though it is hampered by the game's linearity. It does allow you enough game to use all of it, that's not the problem. Each character has 3 primary jobs which they are best at, and the upgrades in these jobs are priced okay...but what if I want to say...turn Vanille into a Commando? Well it gives you the menu...but almost only so you can't say it didn't. You see...outside job upgrades are not just MORE expesnsive...THEY ARE OBSCENELY "I'M NEVER GONNA GET ALL THOSE POINTS" EXPENSIVE. It's very clear to me that they don't want you to use this feature. That's pretty annoying and very dissapointing. But once you get the hang of everything, the battles are fast,fun and a joy to watch.
Your weapons and accessories aren't done in a very traditional manner either. While you do get access to shops, they are pretty useless as the prices are nuts, and you'll find all these items in the field anyway. (And you almost NEVER find gil) Now some weapons may have poor attack ratings, but offer some other bonus. (Use Lightning's Axis Blade...no attack...but ATB bonuses like crazy when combined with certain accessories...) You can further upgrade these with spoils you find in battles, first by adding a multiplier to them, then using better items with the multiplier to level them up fast, then when you max them you can transform them into another weapon via a crystal. It's kinda odd at first, but once you figure out how to use it, your characters will become monsters. (I powered up Fang like crazy)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/screens/FFXIII2.jpg
I'm not sure cinemas look better then this...
Hello Gorgeous!
The production values, from the voices to the visuals are all fantastic. But I'm sure you expected nothing less from a Final Fantasy game. But since the game itself is rather fun, this is, as always and awesome bonus. The world looks more convincing then ever before, with long backgrounds and beautiful scenery to see all over the place. And you will stop to awe at the scenery at least once, especially later in the game. I won't say much aside from there are a lot of ruins....you can tell some awesome civilization USED to exist on Gran Pulse. If those other XIII centered games are gonna be prequels, color me excited so I can see just what exactly happened here. The character models are crazily detailed and everything moves and flows convincingly. That's all I'm going to say, as there isn't much to say except that they are awesome, and from screenshots you can probably already see that. And I can't really comment on the 360 version outside of what I have read, which is that everything is of noticeably lower resolution, but still looks great. (Which makes sense...seeing as how it was designed around the PS3 and ported)
So...is it Final Fantasy?
Well the old-school "The only FF game is a swords and sorcery adventure about cystals" types will say no. But I say "Yes it is an RPG" and "Yes it is a Final Fantasy game" and a good one! Now it's not the best one...not even of the "modern" games. (VII and after...I'd say XII get's that honor) But irregardless, it is a fun game and at the very LEAST you should rent it and pour about 10 hours into it at least. Why so long? Because it takes FOREVER to get off the ground in terms of gameplay. It's going to drive you crazy with it's early handholding, but "your pain will soon turn into ultimate pleasure, I promise!" (Sorry I just had to use that quote) But seriously, if you give it a chance and tough it out, it will get good. I promise it will.
Next time: "Episode #63 Ninja Nonsense Part 3!"
Possible Spoilers Ahead!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Boxshots/FFXIII.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Scores/852.png
Final Fantasy XIII (Playstation 3)
If your make me gonna walk a straight line...thanks for making it a fun one...
What's Good: The game is absolutely GORGEOUS. Interesting plot premise that does hold your attention for the most part. Fast, flashy and really fun battle system. The production values are top-notch all around, as you might expect from a FF title. Oerba Yun Fang...she's awesome.
What's Bad: The game is linear by design, outside of hunts there isn't much to do. Inconsistent characters...some can be annoying. (Ugh...I hate Hope) While the game on the whole has a nice difficulty balance...the final boss is pretty underwhelming. Confusing ending.
Badges:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Badges/Luxo.jpg"Luxo Jr - Great Visuals" FFXIII is really starting to blur the line between the in game visuals and the CG cinematics that SquareEnix is now famous for. This game looks amazing. But when they finallly erase that line...where will we be?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/GoodSequel.jpg"Liquid Snake - Good Sequel" I will say it, to everyone...even all you Final Fantasy purists who won't believe me. XIII is a good sequel. So there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/ChronoCross.jpg"Chrono Cross - Great Soundtrack" Now I have to be a bit specific here...as most of the soundtrack is good but not super noteworthy. But I absolutely LOVE the main battle theme...which plays a lot obviously. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kbzEkWyklg"]YouTube- Final Fantasy XIII OST - Blinded by Light [Enhance if your interested) It's on my list of very favorite battle themes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Hopeannoying.png"Hope - Inconsistent/Annoying Character(s)" While I happen to like most of the games cast, Hope and Snow get on my nerves. Though Hope more then anyone else...I just want to smack him...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/Badges/Tunnel.png"The Tunnel" - Linearity" As I'm sure you have probably heard by now, FFXIII is quite linear. The first 20 hours of the game see your hand tied to the game's as it takes it's sweet time introducing you to the gameplay and setting you loose. And there isn't much for sidequests to speak of...if you like extra stuff...prepare to be frustrated.
Long Road to Release
Final Fantasy XIII was in development for a long time. (Wasn't it supposed to be ready for the Playstation 3's launch?) I can recall it's appearance in magazines well before the launch of the PS3 and it suffered numerous delays. (The only game I can remember being delayed so much that actually eventually released...was Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver) And in this new age where people argue about games before they even release...by trolling forums, that's a long time to be in the infosphere. More then any other FF title I can remember, everyone's minds about this one were made up well before it finally hit US shores here in 2010. Depending on who you are, it either had something to prove, or a lot to live up to, neither are good options to have. So how did it do? On the whole it did pretty well for itself, providing a pretty, fun and surprisingly lengthy adventure...though it's not without it's caveats...and we all know what the most publicized one is, so let's hit that first.
Yes, Final Fantasy XIII is incredibly linear. For the vast majority of the game, the only objective even available to you is going forward to the next point in the story. There is no world map to run around. (Sorta...but more on that later) It's going to tell you what characters your using and your just going to run forward to the next objective and usually a cutscene, and fight a lot of battles along the way. That's pretty much the gist of it. Most people may miss the idea of stopping to shop and what have you, but I don't particularly miss talking with townspeople who have nothing useful to say. But maybe that is just me. But if it's going to shuffle me from cutscene to cutscene, is the story any good? Well I'm going to talk about that...in the following Spoiler button.
For the most part it is, it begins in grand enough fashion with you on Cocoon as Lightning fighting to rescue your sister Serah from the Sanctum. As she has been branded by a Pulse lac'ie she is now the feared and hated enemy of everyone in your floating world. I actually really like that idea, as I can't recall any of the FF games taking on the idea of discrimination quite so blatantly. As she chases Serah's captors down, she crosses paths with Sazh, Snow, Vanille and Hope who have been thrust into this through various other means...all headed to the same destination. The first act culminates with them destroying a Pulse Fal'cie which then brands them. But what does that mean? When branded, they are flashed visions of a "Focus", a task they must complete. If they don't complete it before their visible brand draws out completely, they are turned into mindless Ceith...left to wander for eternity. But success ensures that they may live forever...sorta. The story does take some turns after a semi-brief middle portion lull, but I found the ending rather confusing. (And very Japanese)
That's the basic setup, which I think is pretty cool. Most of it is told via flashbacks, which slowly reveal bit by bit how everyone came to this point. Which is a cool way to tell the story I thought...to be slowly teased with details. And the first part of the story, all the way up to Gran Pulse is all really good and genuinely fun to partake in. But it will kind of lull there for awhile. (which coincidentally is where it FINALLY let's the reigns on you go and you can do what you want) This kind of very deliberate pacing is going to prove frustrating to a lot of people, especially since the sidequests...aren't necessarily sidequests.
Your cast of characters are for the most part passable to good. Lightning, the main protagonist, very much does start out as a female version of Cloud Strife...sort of. Cloud might groan at something and brood...then fight it. Lightning may say something about it being in her way...then she doesn't just fight it...SHE TEARS THROUGH IT. Way better. (Though she does come off as a bitch) Vanille...I think is the character who has spawned the most internet flaming. I LIKE HER. She's the relentlessly positive (But not overly talkative Rikku) type. (And just wait until you see what she's hiding from you) Despite her rather unusual "Britstrailian" accent, I find her to be the most interesting of the bunch. Sazh is a decent enough half serious/half comic relief. I really like Fang, a no nonsense tyoe with a sense of humor power gal with an Aussie accent. She is your wild card. Now...Snow...is an overconfident douche. I couldn't stand him...but more then him...there is Hope. I DO NOT LIKE HOPE. Remember how whiny you though Raiden was in Metal Gear Solid 2? Raiden probably sees Hope and says "What a pansy!" He spends the first fourth of the game whining about revenge and not doing anything about it. So annoying.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/screens/FFXIII_battle05.jpg
Why does every RPG have slime based enemies?
Blinded By Light
But for all the little chinks in the proverbial armor, the gameplay in XIII is rock solid. The battle system is somewhat difficult to describe, but it's almost a hodge-podge of VII,VIII, X, X-2 and XII run into flashy anime overdrive. Everything runs at high speed, (Some battles can be over in 3 seconds if you play correctly) Now...you only control the party leader, the other two characters are controlled by AI. You have an ATB bar that...as you would expect goes up during your idle time. Now you can select commands during this time, which each take up a certain amount of the ATB guage. All you need is for the bar to get high enough to accommodate the commands you selected and your character can act. In addition to that, you can set up to 5 "Paradigms" which is really just a specific job setup for your party. You can't have an physical attacker and a healer user on the same character for example, you have to switch strategically between Paradigms to win effectively. If you can raise an enemies chain gauge to it's peak, you can stagger them, which allows you to knock them down, into the air and do A HUGE amount of damage until the bar drains. That's how you really get a good battle rating.
Now, you don't level up your character's in a traditional sense...you more level them up class to class on a board VERY similar to FFX's Sphere Grid. Here you can find stat upgrades, new abilities, accessory slots etc. During your battles you will earn the CP to spend here. Now this system works pretty nicely...though it is hampered by the game's linearity. It does allow you enough game to use all of it, that's not the problem. Each character has 3 primary jobs which they are best at, and the upgrades in these jobs are priced okay...but what if I want to say...turn Vanille into a Commando? Well it gives you the menu...but almost only so you can't say it didn't. You see...outside job upgrades are not just MORE expesnsive...THEY ARE OBSCENELY "I'M NEVER GONNA GET ALL THOSE POINTS" EXPENSIVE. It's very clear to me that they don't want you to use this feature. That's pretty annoying and very dissapointing. But once you get the hang of everything, the battles are fast,fun and a joy to watch.
Your weapons and accessories aren't done in a very traditional manner either. While you do get access to shops, they are pretty useless as the prices are nuts, and you'll find all these items in the field anyway. (And you almost NEVER find gil) Now some weapons may have poor attack ratings, but offer some other bonus. (Use Lightning's Axis Blade...no attack...but ATB bonuses like crazy when combined with certain accessories...) You can further upgrade these with spoils you find in battles, first by adding a multiplier to them, then using better items with the multiplier to level them up fast, then when you max them you can transform them into another weapon via a crystal. It's kinda odd at first, but once you figure out how to use it, your characters will become monsters. (I powered up Fang like crazy)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/G-Prime/Reviews%20Redux/screens/FFXIII2.jpg
I'm not sure cinemas look better then this...
Hello Gorgeous!
The production values, from the voices to the visuals are all fantastic. But I'm sure you expected nothing less from a Final Fantasy game. But since the game itself is rather fun, this is, as always and awesome bonus. The world looks more convincing then ever before, with long backgrounds and beautiful scenery to see all over the place. And you will stop to awe at the scenery at least once, especially later in the game. I won't say much aside from there are a lot of ruins....you can tell some awesome civilization USED to exist on Gran Pulse. If those other XIII centered games are gonna be prequels, color me excited so I can see just what exactly happened here. The character models are crazily detailed and everything moves and flows convincingly. That's all I'm going to say, as there isn't much to say except that they are awesome, and from screenshots you can probably already see that. And I can't really comment on the 360 version outside of what I have read, which is that everything is of noticeably lower resolution, but still looks great. (Which makes sense...seeing as how it was designed around the PS3 and ported)
So...is it Final Fantasy?
Well the old-school "The only FF game is a swords and sorcery adventure about cystals" types will say no. But I say "Yes it is an RPG" and "Yes it is a Final Fantasy game" and a good one! Now it's not the best one...not even of the "modern" games. (VII and after...I'd say XII get's that honor) But irregardless, it is a fun game and at the very LEAST you should rent it and pour about 10 hours into it at least. Why so long? Because it takes FOREVER to get off the ground in terms of gameplay. It's going to drive you crazy with it's early handholding, but "your pain will soon turn into ultimate pleasure, I promise!" (Sorry I just had to use that quote) But seriously, if you give it a chance and tough it out, it will get good. I promise it will.
Next time: "Episode #63 Ninja Nonsense Part 3!"