Final Fantasy XIII Review PS3

Final Fantasy has been around since the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the mid 1980s. Each entry into the series is an entirely unique story with the exception of Final Fantasy X, which is the only Final Fantasy to have a direct sequel. Each game also had completely revamped battle system and skill/ability mechanics. Final Fantasy XIII revolves around the continuing war between the inhabitants of Pulse (The actual world) and the inhabitants of the floating satellite known as Cocoon. The Maker created beings known as fal’Cie to care for the inhabitants of Pulse, and in the process, the fal’Cie created Cocoon to shelter and control the humans. The fal’Cie mark individuals and assign them a focus to complete a task. These individuals are henceforth known as l’Cie. If a l’Cie fails to complete the focus, a transformation into a mindless zombie Cie’th occurs. If a l’Cie does complete the focus, the individual will transform into a crystal and have eternal sleep.

1,300 years ago, a war between the inhabitants of Pulse and Cocoon occurred, in which Cocoon emerged victorious. As a result, the fal’Cie have created an atmosphere of supreme control over the inhabitants of Cocoon, but dissidence exists within.

The story begins with the character Snow on a mission with his resistance group NORA to stop the fal’Cie from destroying the inhabitants they deem a threat. The game then cuts to the character Lightning with the assistance of Sazh attempting to rescue her sister Serah who was turned into a l’Cie by one of the fal’Cie. The plot spans both Cocoon and Pulse over thirteen chapters.

Graphic and sound:

Final Fantasy XIII is one of the most visually appealing games ever created. From the enormous environment of Gran Pulse, to the highly detailed character models that only slightly differ from the cinematic character models. Creature models vary from mechanical to completely organic with an interesting variety. Walking and looking around the environments is simply breathtaking. With the exception of Gran Pulse, all the levels are very linear with a few branching paths for the collection of items and fairly small in size. I actually wanted to roam around Grand Pulse for hours to view every nook and cranny including Yaschas Massif and the Fault Warrens sub-areas.

The Final Fantasy series has always had an amazing soundtrack and although we are disappointed that Square Enix chose to have Leona Lewis singing songs, it is not as torturous as we expected. The soundtrack is actually very good, but obviously not a comparison to the likes of Final Fantasy III or VII. Voice acting is also very good considering most translated games enlist amateurs to do the voice acting, ala White Knight Chronicles. The only exception to the voice acting was the actress for Vanille. I am sure the character was scripted to be an annoying naive child, but honestly, it was a bit much at times. My only complaint is that I wish the enemies would have more sound effects when attacking, such as the Behemoth roaring when it rose up on its hind legs to continue battling.

Gameplay and controls:

Final Fantasy XIII consists of thirteen chapters that pits the six main characters of Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Hope, Vanille, and Fang, against the forces of the fal’Cie Barthandelus, who is intent on bringing about Ragnarok. The game is extremely linear, with absolutely no towns or overworld to explore. The only open area is Gran Pulse, which consists of side quests that are just more battles albeit centered around specific enemies or treasure hunting on the back of a Chocobo. Merely gimmicks thrown in to create the illusion of freedom. Most of the side quests are tackled after the main story is completed because the characters are too weak to take on the more powerful foes in Gran Pulse.

The game mechanics center around a battle system called Paradigms, which allow the player to setup a series of commands based on the category of the Paradigm. For example, the Evened Odds Paradigm consists of a Medic, a Saboteur, and a Synergist. The Medic heals the party, while the Saboteur inflicts status ailments upon the enemy, and the Synergist applies status enhancements to allies. There are six character roles that are used within the Paradigms: Medic (Healer), Ravager (Stagger Enemy), Commando (Offense), Saboteur (Status Ailments), Synergist (Status Enhancements), and Sentinel (Tank). When enemies are attacked in succession, a stagger bar is filled, which enables the player to do increased damage up to a certain percentage. Staggered enemies still attack most of the time, but they can be heavily damaged during the brief duration of the stagger. The player can only manually give commands to the party leader, the other characters are AI controlled through the Paradigm chosen by the player. Paradigms can be changed at any time during battle and to win later battles, must be changed numerous times. The party leader can be changed out at certain times throughout the game and even party members can be switched out in Chapter 10 onward.

Summons were an integral part of earlier Final Fantasy games, but in Final Fantasy XIII, they seem to take a back seat halfway through the game. Each character is assigned one Eidolon (a.k.a. summon) and only the party leader may use an Eidolon during battle. When the Eidolon is summoned, it has an HP that is steadily declining, when it reaches zero it will disappear and heal all party members. The Eidolon has predetermined attacks that build up its Gestalt gauge, that allows it to transform and perform more powerful attacks that can be manually issued by the player or set to automatic. During Gestalt mode, the Eidolon has a timer counting down to zero and certain attacks take an assigned amount of time to complete. At zero the Eidolon will disappear and heal all party members, even fallen ones. Eidolons are useful in the first half of the game, but become less effective by Chapter 10, and honestly useless by the end of the game.

Experience is gained throughout the game through battles and called Crystogen Points, which are used in the Crystarium, a ring based system for learning new abilities and improving stats. Player characters have 3 basic roles in the beginning of the game, depending on the character, with the final 3 roles available later in the game. Maxing out all roles is impossible until the main game is completed once and level 5 of the Crystarium is opened up for the player.

In Final Fantasy XIII, the only items equipped are weapons and accessories. Both item types can be upgraded using components found throughout the game environment and battle spoils. Weapons can also be transformed into even more powerful ones using special catalyst items. The upgrade system is a bit confusing to maneuver without a proper understanding of how to work the system for as cheap as possible, but in the end, some extremely powerful weapons and accessories can be created.

Overall thoughts:

Final Fantasy XIII is a game that players will either love or hate, there is no middle ground. The linear gameplay will scare off most diehard Final Fantasy players that enjoyed the openness of previous games, yet might entice the newcomers who honestly just want a short RPG to whet their appetite. The elimination of towns is a plus, since now aimless wandering just to find where to go next and to buy supplies is now gone. The story keeps the pacing quick and the player quickly forgets about the confined levels. The battle system is a welcome change to the granular nature of previous games and allows for quick decision making in the heat of battle. Overall, Final Fantasy XIII is a step in the right direction for a series that was going downhill with Final Fantasy X and X-2 that were abysmal.