I’ll admit it; I’m a fan of the Final Fantasy series. I wouldn’t say that I’m a fanboy though, which I think puts me somewhere in the middle of giving a game too much credit because I refuse to look at its flaws, and reaming it for every little thing that it didn’t get right. I played through Final Fantasy, FFII, FFIII, FF7, FF Tactics, FF8, FF9, FF10 and FF12, and I had mixed feeling about each of them; some of them I loved others I just could not get into. This latest offering seems like it’s a step in a different direction, but the more I played it the more it reminded me of a typical final fantasy game. I generally don’t get into role playing games (well, “traditional” role playing games, I’m not calling Mass Effect or Fallout 3 role playing games), but I always get up for a new Final Fantasy experience. And this certainly didn’t disappoint.
Okay, first things first. Yes the game is very linear for the first 25 or so hours. The popular critique initially was: “oh my god, how could they make the game so linear, what will I ever do without the ability to wander around for hours instead of continuing the story?” Hey man, I partially agree. In previous FF games when I would get to a new area I’d wander around, explore towns, check things out, grind out a few levels, etc. But I can honestly say that I didn’t find the linear gameplay lacking at all. I didn’t miss walking around a town for 20 minutes clicking on X hoping to find something, hearing the same ridiculous one-liners from NPC townspeople, and having random encounters with the same three monsters in the forests or deserts in the surrounding area. Final Fantasy 13 pushes the story along, (well “pushes along” as fast a typical JRPG does), until you reach a certain point. Once you get to that point, you can either continue with the story, or start embarking on the huge number of side missions the game has to offer. My main gripe was once you reach this point, you’re essentially required to grind and build up your characters before you can continue the story. Grinding is a part of RPGs, that’s just a given, but you shouldn’t have a super linear story that never requires you to level up or upgrade weapons up to a point, then basically tell me “if you want to continue, you need to put in some work.” It was really bad pacing in my opinion. That being said though, I didn’t mind the gameplay changes they went with, and I feel it worked well in this game.
We're going to need a bigger chocobo...
Another fairly significant change is in the game’s combat system. Final Fantasy games have gone through some changes in combat over the years, from straight turn-based battles into an almost hybrid of an action RPG. This time around, you only control the party leader as opposed to all characters, and the other two members of the battle team are AI controlled. Your actions are narrowed to what class you have selected. Each character starts with three classes, but has the option to choose any class later in the game. The classes are Commando (physical attacks), Ravenger (magic attacks), Saboteur (debilitating offensive attacks like poison or spells to lower enemy defense), Synergist (support magic like protection spells or haste), Sentinel (defensive class which draws enemy attacks away from other party members) and Medic (typical healing spells). You mix and match these classes into “paradigms” that you use in combat, and you can switch paradigms at any time during the battle. It’s not terribly different from other games where certain characters could only learn certain abilities, but it’s much more strategy oriented with picking your paradigms and switching between them in battle since you can only control one character.
The AI is okay, sometimes it’s stupid in its spell selection (and they never use their individual special attacks, which is annoying because they look awesome), but for the most part you get used to what it’s going to do and you don’t really pay any attention towards the end. It took me a while to figure out how everything worked, but once I did I really enjoyed creating paradigms and switching between them. Like I said, at its core it’s not much different from other FF games, but the presentation of what you’re doing is certainly new. One thing I didn’t get was the summon magic. The game makes a point to make you go through these (at times) difficult boss battles where each character gains the ability to summon a giant creature to help you in battle. Yet I never found a time in the main storyline where this was useful, or even necessary. It was kind of a waste because the summons are cool, but I ended up completely forgetting about them. And since you only control one character you can only use their individual summon. It would have at least been nice to be able to summon any of my active party’s characters.
We’re gonna need a bigger chocobo
There are two fairly drastic changes in combat. I think the most significant gameplay change is the ability to respawn after death in exactly the same spot. In past games, if your entire party perished, then the game was over. In FF13, if the party leader dies, that’s the ballgame, doesn’t matter if the other two characters are alive. However, in past games you would avoid death at all costs because dying meant that you’d be forced to load your last save, and if that save was 30 or 40 minutes earlier then it could be a very significant loss. In FF13, if you die, you just respawn in the same spot right before the battle and have a chance to do it again. It takes some getting used to, but once I did I really enjoyed the change because it encourages you try new things and be creative. In FF13 you’re “graded” on your performance in each battle, so the faster you beat the enemies, the better your “score” and the better your loot. But without the fear of dying and having to re-load from a save point a while back, you can just run into battle and try things out. Most battles take less than 3 minutes, so if you die you can just roll back in and try it again. The second of the drastic changes is that after each battle, you’re restored to full health. FF Tactics had this same system, but it’s new to the non-strategy games. Again, at first it seems to dumb down the game, but when I thought about it I realized that after almost every single encounter in other FF games I would stop, heal up my party, and then move on. All they’re doing here is eliminating that step, which I can appreciate.
The story. …… Well the story is typical Final Fantasy. A ragtag group of strangers come together in some extraordinary circumstances and have to save the world. There’s nothing groundbreaking here. I enjoyed the story enough that I ended up paying attention to what was going on, but let’s be honest; the story isn’t the strong point of most Final Fantasy games. One thing I did enjoy was the datalog, which gives you a Cliffs Notes version of the story. Some people dislike this, saying “if you have to tell me what’s just happened then your game isn’t very good,” but for people with bad short-term memory like myself, or for those who only play once every few days, it’s nice to be able to get a recap of what just happened instead of running around trying to figure out where you are and what the hell you’re supposed to be doing.
Would you trust the fate of your planet to these people?
The characters are …… well they’re pretty typical Final Fantasy as well. At first I was excited because the “main” character was a chick soldier, and I like games with female leads. I was also happy because I didn’t want to play as another whinny emo douche with a stupid haircut. Unfortunately the main character just isn’t that interesting, and actually begins the game acting like a complete bitch to everyone all the time. While she gets better as the game progresses, I just didn’t get into her character at all. And when you don’t relate to the main character, it’s really tough to care about what happens to them. I got scared when I saw the crazy, peppy, Japanese teenager, but she actually is one of the more interesting characters and has a nice background story. After the first few chapters she didn’t get on my nerves. I was disappointed that they did throw in the whinny angsty 13 year-old kid (and his default classes make him valuable so you’re almost forced to use him for a while), he was the one character I really disliked. Overall the group is average; it’s not their worst, but definitely not their best. The voice acting is very good most of the time though, which is a plus.
I don’t think I need to bring up graphics. Final Fantasy, much like the Metal Gear franchise, always pushes the envelope in terms of visuals. The game is outstanding. One of the best looking games to date, period. I don’t think anything more needs to be said.
Is the game different from pervious Final Fantasy games? Yes. But when you think about it, what FF game hasn’t offered something new, or changed something familiar. The most significant change is the linear gameplay, but for me that didn’t take anything away from the experience. The graphics are amazing. The gameplay is fun, fast-paced, challenging, and interesting. I’ve dumped close to 80 hours into this game and I still haven’t had enough. For me, this is the best RPG that’s come out on the next gen consoles.
I give it 4 dead chicks
Out of 5.
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