Final Fantasy XIII Review

Final Fantasy in recent years seems to be having an identity crisis. For so long they were happy to use the same battle system and only see changes in the world and characters. Now with so much backlash towards J-RPG’s for going stale, Square-Enix has been changing things up. Final Fantasy X-2 put a spin on the classic ATB system, Final Fantasy XII took a more MMO and real time approach to battles with the mixed bag that was the Gambit System. Has Final Fantasy XIII found a winning formula? Can it bring back the faith of western gamers? Click to link to find out.

Final Fantasy XIII
Developer: Square-Enix
Price: $59.99
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360 (reviewed)

The story of Final Fantasy takes place on Cocoon, a planet made for the purpose for being a new home for humanity after neighbouring planet Pulse became inhabitable. The world’s are run by Fal’Cie an ancient power that control all aspects of life. They often take in servants called l’Cie who give them a Focus, a task to complete. If they succeed they are granted eternal life as a crystal, but if they fail they become l’Cieth and spend eternity as a monster. This is why many see life as a l’Cie as a curse. Due to events early in the game our heroes becomes Pulse l’Cie, who are enemies of Cocoon. They are left on the run trying to find out their focus and try and escape their fate as a l’Cie. Like most Final Fantasy games it’s a story you can only understand if you actually play the game. The difference between Sanctum l’Cie and Pulse l’Cie can be confusing. Thankfully you can find a Datalog in the menu to help go the backstory and past events if you ever get confused. As a narrative Final Fantasy XIII does a lot of things right, a majority of cut-scenes keeps things short and to the point, no longer are you waiting on a half an hour cut-scene for the story to progress, the actual ending itself takes less than 10 minutes before the credits roll. The story as a whole takes you through a heart-felted action packed adventure with some amazing set pieces that sees you taking on an airship on the rooftops or battling it out on a race track. That’s not to say it doesn’t fall into the same Japanese cliches of melodrama and cheesy one liners, but for the most part Final Fantasy XIII tells a good story, which may take a little bit to get going but once it hits you don’t want to put it down.

The same can be said for the characters, who starts off as your typical cliches later turn out to be far more complex. Lightning who starts out as a cold hearted bitch later opens up and shows her humanity, Snow who has a serious case of Hero’s complex later shows comes to terms with his complex and Vanille’s happy escapism later catches up to her in an awful way. If the characters are feeling weak, so will you. It’s just a shame they made these changes so sudden and make it seem so obvious without any subtlety, some characters literally say “I have changed”. Unlike Final Fantasy XII’s more political premise, XIII decides to concentrate 100% on the heroes and their battle to fight fate. It’s just a shame mos cut-scenes involve constant talk of their focus, more interaction with others would of been nice. Interaction with NPC’s are rare at best, coming into contact with one will trigger one phrase, which often shows their disgust for you. Towns are also absent, at least in the traditional sense. A couple of chapters take place in certain towns but the ability to shop and explore is absent, effectively making them dungeons rather than towns. This gives the game a real feel of loneliness and in the context of the narrative makes perfect sense, giving you the feeling of actually being a fugitive. It’s just a shame we had to lose an RPG stable in order to get a point across.

Unlike past games, XIII doesn’t beat around the bush and is very upfront with the idea of being very linear. Most paths are simply straight lines with the occasional split path for treasure. Looking at the mini-map gives the opinion of a very repetitive game, but thankfully chapters are varied and beautiful to look at. That followed with a nicely paced story doesn’t stop your enjoyment. This style means you are constantly pushing forward with the narrative. It appears to be sacrificing series stables in order to tell a well paced story. That’s not to say the game doesn’t open up. Chapter 11 sees you enter Pulse and huge vast world opens to you along with over 60 side missions, though the phrase too little too late springs to mind. Unfortunately all side missions involve defeating monsters, they consist of no variety what so ever. Though you will encounter past series stables such as Tonberry’s and Chocobo’s as you do more of these missions.

The battle system this time around is an evolution of the system seen in Final Fantasy X-2, making use of the ATB system where you can interrupt enemies moves and change roles mid-battle. One big change is the introduction of combo’s each turn you aren’t picking 1 move but rather 3 or more as you progress. At first your options are limited, you are given auto-attack or you can make a combo of attacks yourself. But a majority of the time auto-attack picks the best possible outcome so the need to set your own attacks is pointless. For the first few hours the game plays itself, you effectively just press X (or A) for the whole battle. This dynamic changes dramatically once Paradigm Shifts come into play. This allows you to change your roles on the fly. Since you only control one character the challenge and dynamic of the game doesn’t come from picking attacking but rather role management. If you don’t adapt to each given situation you will die within seconds, with health and status effects healed after each battle you instead give your full attention to the battle, no longer do you need to constantly go to the menu to heal. Despite the streamlined approach, you will find this is one of the hardest Final Fantasy games in recent years. Bosses and some normal encounters can make you scratch your head, and have you winning on while on the verge of defeat. No other Final Fantasy has had this same level of accomplishment once you’ve gone through a tough battle. No longer are you just using attack several time followed by heal. You will be using all abilities at your disposal, for once buffs and de-buffs are actually vital, especially if you want to get a good star rating.

Summons are now called Eidolons, (just like in Final Fantasy IX) each character have their own summon you may use in battle at the cost of Technique Points. They replace all other party members and aid you in battle, you may also enter a Gestalt Mode where they will transform into a vehicle and you may perform a series of special attacks. While these summons are flashy they quickly become obsolete and just become a desperate heal if things are getting tough since party members are revived/healed once the summon is over. Summons have a greater tie to the story then they do in battles, but they need to be more useful in battles.

Just like Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid, you don’t level up, you earn CP (Crystarium Points) after each battle which you can use to level up roles individually. Each crystal has a different stats, Strength, HP or an ability tied to it, so your characters progression is gradual. The Crystarium for a majority of the game is limited, you unlock new areas as you progress during the game. This actually removed any grind during the game, as long as you fight in a majority of battles you can fully fill up the Crystarium before the end of the chapter. This allows battles to be more about strategy and not ‘what level are you?’ Only once you reach Pulse does the need to grind appear, enemies become much tougher. I only completed a few side missions before I continued the story, I made it through chapter 11 and 12 with difficulty but chapter 13 becomes brutal. I ended up grinding for 5 hours until I felt powerful enough to complete the game. This was a shame, it’s sudden change in pace in order to make it become more open, ended up breaking what I loved about the game, it’s pacing.

Stats and equipments have been heavily toned down. Stats now only consist of HP, Strength and Magic, that’s it. Same goes for equipment customisation. All weapons are equipment can be levelled up to increase their usefulness. Once they reach a maximum level you can upgrade them with a specific crystal. You level them up with loot dropped by enemies (or later on bought in shops.) This streamlined approach works well but a more in depth system would of been nice.

Now this is the point I got confused, without any doubt Final Fantasy XIII has been streamlined so any casual newcomer can pick up and get a rough idea on how the game plays, this is proven further with how ridiculously long it takes the game to feel like you’re ready to fully experience the battle system. But at the same time this is one of the hardest Final Fantasy games in recent years which would detract those casual players along with a storyline that is confusing at first. These contrasting views leaves you feeling like you’re not sure what Square-Enix where aiming for. The hardcore followers or a newer casual audience?

There’s no doubt about it, Final Fantasy XIII is a beautiful game, every environments are unique and just great to look out. The sheer scope of Pulse is just amazing. Huge monster litter the environment along with a God of War III sized Golem traversing the background. So much polish went into how the game looks, very rarely will you find any technical hiccups. Occasionally the frame rate will drop during some battles, but for the most part your experience will be smooth with quick loading times. The menus are some of the best looking menu’s you will see in a game. The soundtrack also rates very highly, the battle theme for starters will stick in your head. Each song suits the mood perfectly, even Leona Lewis’s ‘My Hands’ works really well during the ending cinematic. Though the chocobo theme’s rather weak compared to past titles. For the most part you won’t fault the game’s soundtrack. It’s just a shame the same detail didn’t go into the voice acting and dialogue. Voices for the most part are good, despite Vanille’s annoyingly happy and mix accented voice. But the dialogue is plagued with mediocre one-liners and melodrama. While this is more of a stab towards the Japanese style of story telling, they need to really go above and beyond with the dialogue. Final Fantasy XII did this so much better.

You will either love or hate Final Fantasy XIII. Square-Enix made a lot of changes to really immerse you in the story and for the most part this works, leading to one of their strongest casts to date, I just wish they did more with the world around them instead of concentrating purely on the characters. It will take you a while to really get it, but once the battle system opens up and the characters really develop you will have a blast. Unsure this game is for you? Rent it first, but if you enter this game with an open mind you can find a lot to love with Final Fantasy XIII.

The Final Word
Final Fantasy XIII’s more streamlined approach many alienate some hardcore followers. It may start of slow but once things start to open up, you will find that a strong battle system and story are more than enough to pull you through this beautiful adventure. It’s something all RPG fans at least need to check out.

– MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent