Murray
Well-Known Member
You've survived FF X, you made it through your addition to FF XI and forgot that there was a FF XII. Welcome to FF XIII
You start the game in the middle of a political conflict. You are playing as Lightening! No Wait! You're actually Snow! ... Wait a second. No you're that guy with the chocobo in his hair!.
That's the first 40 hours of FF XIII
Graphics/Music - This game is stunningly beautiful and I have the sound track to the game as well as its successor. The music helps to tell a story. The polish that these games go through is topped by none. This game sticks with its roots and turns a world of wonder into something gorgeous on the TV Screen.
Mechanics - The game relies on a paradigm shift style play (think garment grid from FF X-2 but not quite as ...strip teasish?) where your characters can all provide different roles through out battles. The fighting is fast and furious and this actually helps with the game. You're never stuck in a battle more then 45 seconds for the most part and are rewarded more when you hit under half a minute for the battles. The thing about the system is that your first play through may leave you questioning what roles people should be. You'll find yourself investing time into creating these characters and then be zoomed to an entirely different party to start the process over until they all decide to stick together. So, let me just say, battle system not bad, spending all that time and having your characters taken away so often... STOP THAT!
So, you've heard a lot of things about the level design to? Okay, so here's the truth. Many of the levels is a straight shot. There's not a lot of exploration until you get to a place called Pulse. This is an awful fact about FF XIII. Its not that interesting in the places you go to. Not until 40 hours in! After that, its like you're playing an entirely new game. This is no joke.
Story - Okay, FF is known for their stories and this is no different. This is a war where politics and these spiritual creatures and everything is colliding. Its kind of intense. One second you're trying to save someone, the next you're public enemy #1, the next you have to save the world. The story is actually quite beautiful, because its told from so many sides. A boy who lost his mother and hungers for revenge, a man whose cocky and confident and leading a world to change, a woman who lost her sister and is cold and presses on for no other reason then she just doesn't want to die, two friends on the brink of their own demise, a father who endures for his own son and all these things are happening at the same time. Story is just wonderful.
The skinny - Final Fantasy fans have a certain expectation when an FF title is put in front of them. They want that JRPG style difficulty and leveling up. They want tons of side quests and huge areas to explore. They want to be able to have a story that's breath taking and characters that they love. Sadly, FF XIII doesn't deliver on all of these fronts. Its not a bad game, but if it were still $60 it wouldn't be worth it. What it is, is a game where you need to just open a guide and follow it and let it deliver you to these set pieces that tell you about the world and the life these people are living and enduring. That's the bread and butter of this game and until 40 hours in the gameplay just doesn't back up the intensity of the story. I gave this game a 3 out of 5.
Reason for a 3:
The level design is ****
The grinding is uninteresting and less rewarding then what you would expect from an FF Game
The paradigm system isn't well explained, but it is fun once you do get the idea, hard to get use to at first
The story, though beautiful, tries to over complicate itself by basically inventing a new language, but you catch on like 15 hours in
You never have a chance to truly grow to love the characters as they are constantly pulled away from you for a good 20 hours.
You start the game in the middle of a political conflict. You are playing as Lightening! No Wait! You're actually Snow! ... Wait a second. No you're that guy with the chocobo in his hair!.
That's the first 40 hours of FF XIII
Graphics/Music - This game is stunningly beautiful and I have the sound track to the game as well as its successor. The music helps to tell a story. The polish that these games go through is topped by none. This game sticks with its roots and turns a world of wonder into something gorgeous on the TV Screen.
Mechanics - The game relies on a paradigm shift style play (think garment grid from FF X-2 but not quite as ...strip teasish?) where your characters can all provide different roles through out battles. The fighting is fast and furious and this actually helps with the game. You're never stuck in a battle more then 45 seconds for the most part and are rewarded more when you hit under half a minute for the battles. The thing about the system is that your first play through may leave you questioning what roles people should be. You'll find yourself investing time into creating these characters and then be zoomed to an entirely different party to start the process over until they all decide to stick together. So, let me just say, battle system not bad, spending all that time and having your characters taken away so often... STOP THAT!
So, you've heard a lot of things about the level design to? Okay, so here's the truth. Many of the levels is a straight shot. There's not a lot of exploration until you get to a place called Pulse. This is an awful fact about FF XIII. Its not that interesting in the places you go to. Not until 40 hours in! After that, its like you're playing an entirely new game. This is no joke.
Story - Okay, FF is known for their stories and this is no different. This is a war where politics and these spiritual creatures and everything is colliding. Its kind of intense. One second you're trying to save someone, the next you're public enemy #1, the next you have to save the world. The story is actually quite beautiful, because its told from so many sides. A boy who lost his mother and hungers for revenge, a man whose cocky and confident and leading a world to change, a woman who lost her sister and is cold and presses on for no other reason then she just doesn't want to die, two friends on the brink of their own demise, a father who endures for his own son and all these things are happening at the same time. Story is just wonderful.
The skinny - Final Fantasy fans have a certain expectation when an FF title is put in front of them. They want that JRPG style difficulty and leveling up. They want tons of side quests and huge areas to explore. They want to be able to have a story that's breath taking and characters that they love. Sadly, FF XIII doesn't deliver on all of these fronts. Its not a bad game, but if it were still $60 it wouldn't be worth it. What it is, is a game where you need to just open a guide and follow it and let it deliver you to these set pieces that tell you about the world and the life these people are living and enduring. That's the bread and butter of this game and until 40 hours in the gameplay just doesn't back up the intensity of the story. I gave this game a 3 out of 5.
Reason for a 3:
The level design is ****
The grinding is uninteresting and less rewarding then what you would expect from an FF Game
The paradigm system isn't well explained, but it is fun once you do get the idea, hard to get use to at first
The story, though beautiful, tries to over complicate itself by basically inventing a new language, but you catch on like 15 hours in
You never have a chance to truly grow to love the characters as they are constantly pulled away from you for a good 20 hours.
