Final Fantasy is one of the most recognized names in video gaming and with good reason. With a 20 year history consisting of 13 full games, countless spin-offs, several full length movies and even an anime series or two, it is safe to say that the Final Fantasy franchise has many, MANY fans. For the last 2 decades whenever the term “Japanese Role Playing Game” has been spoken, one title has always jumped to mind… Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy XIII is the first Final Fantasy title to wander away from the series trademark Playstation exclusivity, and onto Microsoft’s console. In so doing, Square Enix brought the Final Fantasy brand of JRPGs to the masses of Xbox 360 bound fans of the series, as well as introduced many new players, like myself, to the genre for the first time.
A Hand Held
Final Fantasy XIII is incredibly “noob” friendly, slowly introducing the player to new gaming mechanics via a guided tutorial and then letting the player get to grips with them before introducing the next. This means anybody can pick up the game and will be able to play it without feeling like it punishes them for being new to the genre.
Square Enix has crafted a colorful, unique, world that is full of strange creatures and compelling characters. The CG cutscenes, can be nothing short of jaw dropping in their HD brilliance. The in-game visuals do fall a bit short when compared to the CG, but are still on par with current industry standards. The frame rate is stable and there are none of those texture pop-ins that have marred other recent titles.
The combat system isn’t your standard JRPG turn based fair, but a combination of turn based and real time combat. This means that the player still chains attacks and then executes the chained attacks when the ATB bar has an adequate charge to cover the cost of the attacks. So while the player may be sifting through a menu to use a potion or one of the other combat techniques, the enemy can continue to pound the player’s party. Luckily the game isn’t plagued by an overly cluttered combat interface, with all usable items or techniques only a single button press away.
In good old RPG tradition there are 6 different classes; the Commando – a melee expert, the Ravager – an elemental magic user, the Synergist – buffs allies, the Saboteur – debuffs enemies, the Sentinel – the damage soaking tank, and finally the Medic – speaks for itself. Each of the 6 characters has access to at least one of these classes from the start and later up to 3. To compensate for the player only controlling one party member during battles, the Paradigm System lets the player setup several combinations of classes within the current party to deal with a specific situation. For example, combining the Commando and 2 Ravagers will let the player build up better chain attacks against a target where as a Commando, Ravager and Medic will let the player attack while not having to worry about using potions to heal the party. A Sentinel, Saboteur and Synergist combination will let the player protect the two support characters while they buff allies and debuff enemies. At any time during the battle the player can freely switch between Paradigms to get different advantages or effects. If a large enough chain is built up the players can stagger an enemy and then for a limited time the player’s attacks will do an extra percentage of damage anywhere up to 999.99%.
The actual plot of Final Fantasy XIII plays out very much like an Anime film or series. It starts off slow, carefully developing each character before moving on to the next. The use of flash backs also does a good job of fleshing the characters and world out. The player will lead a cast of six heroes on a journey of discovery and rebellion to protect their home, a home which has branded them enemies…
A Hand Held Too Tight
For all its “noob” friendliness, Final Fantasy feels incredibly dumbed down. The levels are no longer large open spaces for the player to explore and experience; the player starts at point A and from there proceeds to end at point B in a linear fashion. Every so often a second alternative – though still linear – path makes an appearance. There are no towns or villages and NPC interaction is more akin to something out of an FPS than an RPG.
The combat’s “auto-battle” button, effectively a “choose which attack will work best” button reduces what could have been thrilling combat to menial single button pushes. The player has the option to not use “auto-battle” but this could lead to the enemy obliterating the player because he/she was busy stacking attacks. Only being able to control 1 of the 3 party members in battle is also a bit of a pain as this means the AI decides which attacks to use and when. This leads to the Medic sometimes standing around picking his/her nose while a giant monstrosity introduces the player to the Game Over screen.
While the combat is explained and slowly introduced to the player over a pain staking 10 hours, other features, such as the weapons and accessory upgrade system is never really explained at all. The character advancement system is, like the game, linear with little or no real decision making required. Something that bothered me personally was the discovery, at hour 19 or 20, that all characters now have the ability to advance in all classes. If this had been mentioned earlier I would not have wasted all my Crystogen Points (CP) advancing each of the characters in at least 2 classes to have a well rounded team.
Players who enjoy character customization should also look elsewhere as the characters in Final Fantasy XIII will look the same from beginning to end, and each Commando will have the same attacks. The cannon fodder enemies the player engages with as they move from point A to point B also get old a little fast, with creatures battled in the early hours of the game reappearing later on with a different paint job or skin and passed off as a new.
The game’s difficulty curve is akin to a toddler with tourettes. For the first 10 chapters, only the boss battles will have players throwing their controllers around in frustration but chapter 11 quickly becomes overwhelmingly difficult. It is also here where the game starts to alienate those players it slowly, and reassuringly, lured in during its early hours.
A Death Grasp Broken
Final Fantasy XIII starts off a promising title for players looking to dip their toes into JRPGs without having to dive into the hardcore deep-end. However the linearity, stripped down RPG elements, and repetitive and sometimes flat-out infuriating gameplay may leave returning Final Fantasy veterans and new players alike unsatisfied or just disappointed.
Reviewed on Xbox 360
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