PS3 Review – Final Fantasy XIII
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The latest chapter of Square Enix’s legendary Final Fantasy series is finally here. Final Fantasy XIII was announced nearly 4 years ago at E3 2006. Initially intended to be a PlayStation 2 title, Final Fantasy XIII accumulated over 5 years of development time. During these 5 long years of waiting, Final Fantasy and RPG fans worldwide have heavily anticipated the title as its release date seemed to push further and further into the future. Was the long wait worth it?
Final Fantasy XIII is set in the world of Pulse and its floating sister paradise Cocoon. Unlike previous Final Fantasy installments, while the story follows the ex-Guardian heroine named Lightning, there isn’t necessarily a “main character”. Instead, Final Fantasy XIII follows the story of Lightning and 5 other heroes that she meets throughout the story named Fang, Hope, Sazh, Snow and Vanille. Early in the game, Lightning and several of these main characters are subject to an exile from the floating city of Cocoon along with the other inhabitants. However, this major event becomes a point of contention since the heroes refuse to leave during the exile. It is during this time that the characters meet one another and begin the long conflict-filled story that tests the mettle of each character.
The story in Final Fantasy XIII is both well-presented and intriguing. While the journey starts with a simple beginning, the deep characters, great character interaction and action-packed events create for a splendid adventure through dozens of environments. The struggle to survive and battle to the next stage is truly felt through the emotion of each individual character. For a good portion of the game, the adventure remains largely predictable and consists of several battles followed by a boss and a cutscene. Fortunately, the story really does a great job of pulling in and making cutscenes feel like a reward for accomplishing each task. Each evolution of the story injects new interest into the characters and their adventure together.
Final Fantasy XIII is unlike any previous Final Fantasy title. Each character is able to be assigned a Paradigm which is basically a class. The Paradigms consist of Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Synergist, Saboteur and Medic, each of which has its own capabilities as well as benefits for the party. Combat is mostly as simple as maintaining up to three characters in a party as they fight enemies. With the use of Paradigm Shift, the roles of each of the characters can be changed instantly in combat to any of the Paradigm Sets that have been configured in the party menu. While choosing the abilities to execute is possible, there is only the option of controlling the main character of the party. What this means is that combat is limited to selecting which attacks or abilities to use for the main character of the party as well as shifting between Paradigm Sets to counter enemy abilities and strengths.
The most surprising thing is that each Paradigm for the party leader has the option of using autocast. Basically what autocast does is let the player choose which enemy or friend to direct abilities to, and the CPU then chooses the abilities. Coupled with the Libra ability which scans the enemy for weaknesses, autocast usually does a better job than a player can. This is mostly due to the fact that the encounters are incredibly quick and actions must be selected in a timely manner. In many situations, selecting which abilities to use is better, but the time it takes to select them means less time spent monitoring the battlefield to adjust to split-second changes.
One gripe about Final Fantasy XIII is that a good portion of the game feels like an extended tutorial. The first 20 or so hours are up and down; sometimes the game is a lot of fun while sometimes it’s repetitive. This is largely due to the fact that the game isn’t particularly challenging early on, and therefore the quick tactics that make the combat so enjoyable are only seen during some of the moderately challenging fights and bosses. After about 20 hours the game spikes in difficulty and the combat becomes much more fast-paced and interesting. The reaction speed, timing and combat knowledge required make this arguably one of the best combat systems in any Final Fantasy title. While the 20 hour “tutorial” is definitely too lengthy, the combat is rather challenging, so a tutorial of sorts was definitely needed.
The great thing about Final Fantasy XIII’s combat is that it requires delicate balancing between offense, defense, and counters. During combat, all attacks boost a “chain gauge” on the enemy. While Commandos don’t boost the gauge much, they are great at keeping it from dropping back down. On the other hand Ravagers boost the gauge much more, but also have drop back. When the gauge reaches its max, the enemy is staggered and takes extra damage for a limited period of time. Due to this, there is a lot of strategy involved with deciding when to have damaging Paradigms out and when to have supporting roles out. The chain gauge is an incredibly important part of combat and many enemies are impossible to kill without balancing damage and survivability during combat.
Another reason combat is fierce and challenging is each and every fight in the game rewards based on how quickly the fight ended, and how well the player performed. If a fight ends before a certain amount of time expires and the player was quick and decisive, better spoils are rewarded after the battle. The difference between default and 5 star spoils are significant. The spoils are used to upgrade both weapons and accessories, both of which are the only equipment that can be selected. While upgrading is learned early on, it doesn’t become very important until the game spikes in difficulty later on. In terms of equipment, weapons and accessories are either purchased or found. In just about every case, both are obtained in raw form and once upgraded become much more powerful. It is worth noting that in order to obtain “Ultimate Weapons”, it is required that a level 1 weapon is fully upgraded with both upgrade materials and a rare material specific to each weapon.
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24 Responses to “PS3 Review – Final Fantasy XIII”
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March 15th, 2010 at 2:58 PM
i was wondering why RPG’s take too long to complete,hell its 100-120 hrs of gameplay.i completed crisis core in 25 hrs,very long for a handheld title..hmmm
March 15th, 2010 at 3:02 PM
I don’t know what is up with me and this game. I see one set of videos and I am so excited and what to get it. Then I see another set of videos and I am so turned off by this game. I am borrowing it from my friend next week. I want to play a good 20 hours before deciding whether or not to buy the game and beat it, or just finish the game and give it back to my friend.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:21 PM
I’m enjoying the game a lot but I’m finding that it’s liberality is the real turn off for the fans.
@ TheHater
I highly recommend the game but be warned, you’re gonna need to put more than 20 hours into it before you truly see it’s worth. I’ve played it close to 30 hours and I’m just starting to see the potential.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Good review. Unfortunately I won’t have any time for FFXIII due to God of War III.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:42 PM
@Gumble
“I’ve played it close to 30 hours and I’m just starting to see the potential.”
See that the problem. I don’t want to play 30 hours before getting interested in a game.
March 15th, 2010 at 3:44 PM
My friends’ review went something like this: “If I am forced to play a game in Hell, this will be that game.” LOL
March 15th, 2010 at 4:02 PM
@thehater
actually its the first 18 hours and before that its fast paced.. the slow start is in every game. The variety aspect being limited? i wasted almost 2 days in 1 world bulls***ting around and there are different combinations of items and things you could do to your character with the system, weapon and materials… it all depends on what you consider a story line pick up… for me it was after 6 hours after that ive been hooked. im on 55 hours or more and haven’t completed every mission just saved and started going forward.I cant give away the story but theres a reason why there arent multiple shop towns. You do see 2 cities but its more a 1 stop than move on (some events happed, everyone auto talks once upclose). Heres an example: when it finally starts opening up the ones that were raving over the story being awesome and the implement of linearity to an extent were turned off by the openest your given. Now you have to think in advance, prepare, search and go multiple ways to get from 1 area to another (this includes hidden roads, weapons etc).. before that your presented with little side roads here and there. You also have a free roaming camera and smart people would scout the area before going there. Ive heard nothing but positive things about this game since December. My recommendation to you is dont buy it.. your not even giving it a shot based on random people since forever and it sounds like you want to buy it but than find something to dislike..
March 15th, 2010 at 4:23 PM
@ The Hater.
I would agree with your decision to invest some time into the game before you decide if you want to buy. I would also add on to that as one of the above posters said your going to have to put more time into iit.
To be honest Its very linear for the first part of the game, but it keeps you moving from one locale to the next and the story is great with its progression. I haven’t made it to the part where it opens up yet, as I’ve been taking my time and school. I’m going to put in some hours after I get back from class tonight, so hopefully by tomorrow morning or so I’ll have opened it up.
I’m in chapter 7 or so probably more towards 8. What I can say is this….it feels different in terms of a FF game. I keep waiting for something to click in my mind that gives me that ole FF feel. It hasn’t at this point and I think its because It hasn’t opened up yet. Though to be honest It really doesnt matter to much to me because I think the game is great.
Giver yourself until it opens up that would be my suggestion, and what I mean by that is give it a little bit after your able to change your party members on your own. I would assume that is when things start to pick up. Take into account however I have not gotten that far yet but hopefully again by tomorrow I will be because honestly I really want to grind a bit and see the other nuances of the game.
Good luck man.
March 15th, 2010 at 5:21 PM
I think I have decided that I need to rent this game before I can invest any significant money into it. I have never played a Final Fantasy game before so I don’t need to worry about it being different from past titles, but I usually find it hard to get into JRPG’s. I like the Mass Effect style of RPG that is a lot more action and limited role playing elements. But I honestly can’t say I have ever given a JRPG that much of my time to really give it a chance. I’m like TheHater though, I watch some videos and the characters and environments look so impressive that I’m not sure I want to miss the experience, but then sometimes I watch battle sequences and get turned off…
Any input by someone else?? Is Final Fantasy different from most JRPG’s? The Japanese style of making games, like Yakuza for example, kind of bothers me.
March 15th, 2010 at 5:54 PM
I’m about 15 hours into it and really enjoying it. I’m currently grinding for spoils to upgrade Lightning’s weapon. This game is a grinder’s dream.
March 15th, 2010 at 6:52 PM
It’s a chore in the beginning, I want to get to Pulse and get it over with. I also don’t like the scenarios, always switching back and forth between characters, I want to use Lightning, Sazh, and Vanille but my party is always splitting up. Hope whines to much.
I am having fun with the Crystarium and upgrading my weapons. My favorite part of RPG’s is the tedious systems. I haven’t gotten to a point where I can grind, and I love grinding. We need random encounters back in RPG’s it’s about the only way you can truly grind. Right now I clear an area of monsters and that’s it.
March 15th, 2010 at 6:57 PM
@studious
walk out of there view and walk back.. they reappear.
March 15th, 2010 at 6:57 PM
@Studious
Try exiting and re-entering an area, it will bring back the monsters. Idk if you’ve gotten this far but in the area with the large tree looking things where you ride the elevators up and down. It’s a good idea to take out the six leech/snail looking enemies in one of the sections, go back a little bit and ride the elevator down and back up, take out the six enemies again, repeat, repeat, repeat. Each fight is 156 CP as well as a rare drop that adds +14 to your weapon bonuses multiplier when upgrading.
March 15th, 2010 at 7:51 PM
great review and i am really loving this game
March 15th, 2010 at 9:10 PM
Just the score I’d thought this game would get. Still, I’m interested enough to buy it with GoW3 tomorrow.
March 15th, 2010 at 9:10 PM
How did I get a double post?
March 15th, 2010 at 9:37 PM
So I have just put reached the 70 or 80 hour mark in the game. I want to bring something up for those on the fence about this game. The game changes after you beat it. Without spoiling anything I wanted to point some things out.
While you can attempt the marks when you get to Gran Pulse, you will not get very far through them. The game has the hardest content after the story line, like many FF games. There just happens to be more of it in FF13. I kinda thought of the game as a 45hour tutorial for the real endgame content the game has to offer.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:20 PM
l’ll rent this
March 16th, 2010 at 12:11 AM
I totally loved this game although I’m not a big FF fan. The story is the best thing about it, also the combat system is great!
March 16th, 2010 at 1:01 PM
ive never played any final fantasys and i enjoy this one… although i dont know the characters that great… chocoba is the best :b for the first ff game i played…graphics are nice, i can def. say rpgs have come a long way since i played them years ago…ive played a few hrs and i dont think i can upgrade my weapons yet… ive equipped a few new ones but cant upgrade them…is there something im missing
March 17th, 2010 at 2:15 AM
Seriously, because of 12, I don’t know if i can do it. I loved 7 8 and 10, and the combat and…style/bounciness of 12 was nauseating to me… Not to mention i just want a FF game to return to it’s roots and stop d***in around with the combat system! Maybe you dont like it, but i thought 1-10 had fantastic styles, especially 10.
Maybe I’m getting too old for this new age free roaming squeenix….
also for giese- why don’t you consider purchasing 7 on the PSN? I hope you’re not one of those types who wouldn’t play a gem because of something as trvial as graphics….
As far as japanese style games and your tastes, from what I’ve learned of you by your posts over the while, you probably wouldn’t really dig them- but everything’s worth a shot, no?
March 28th, 2010 at 10:04 AM
I’m just looking at it like I’m playing an interactive FF movie for the first 15-20hrs. In which case it delivers and is awesome! Almost all of the cutscenes(rendered or in-game look as good or better than Advent Children) I have been very impressed by this game so far. I only bought it because I found a used copy for $37. Thanks to that person that didn’t give it a chance.
March 31st, 2010 at 12:38 AM
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