Post: Final Fantasy XIII Review
Options
03-08-2010, 04:32 PM
#1
eXoSkeleton
PSN: IceCold138
You must login or register to view this content.
The much anticipated and much delayed Final Fantasy XIII finally will arrive in North America this Tuesday, March 9, 2010. This game has been drooled over by fanboys for the past (what must have seemed to them) billion years. Yes there were high expectation, and yes, the game meets those.
Now, I have been fortunate to get a copy two whole days before it came out and I thought I would share some insight to those who are on the fence.
As with any other Final Fantasy game, it starts off with a cinematic masterpiece. This game has arguably the best graphics I have ever seen. I think it even beats Pong. The cut-scene that we are thrusted into wastes no time showing off the beautiful graphics, the flawless motions and it sets the tone for two characters right off the get go: Lightning and Sazh.
A little further in, after the first big boss is defeated, we witness quite possibly the most realistic 5 minutes of computer animation on video game history. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it is a pure jaw-dropping scene.
As expected, the visuals were amazing. But what about the game play? Many people questioned whether it would deliver. “Will the battle system be fun?”, “Will the story be fairly reasonable to follow?”, and “Will it be interesting to play?” were just some of the few questions that have been asked by many fans (and the odd new-comer) before its release.
Well, let me start with the battle system. As somebody who has only ever played 3 previous Final Fantasy games before XIII, I was relatively surprised at how not-boring this battle system is. Within the first couple hours of gameplay, various tutorials are given (with the option of skipping) to guide the player through various sequences. It isn’t perfect however. Because you only have control over one character, if the character you are controlling dies, it is “Game Over” and you must repeat this battle. It isn’t THAT much of an inconvenience but, over the span of a 30-40 hour game, I would imagine it could add up.
For this game, Final Fantasy has introduced a new “Paradigm Systsem” for battles. This new system allows for each member in your party to play a different role during a battle. This system is a little bit confusing when you first obtain it, even with a tutorial. However, after a few battles of using it, the player will start to get the hang of it. This use of this new “Paradigm System” can drastically change the battle depending on which roles you use.
The controls outside the battles are fairly decent. There’s nothing outside battles that would make it amazing. You run to-and-fro looking for your next destination. There is the odd sphere that you find which may give you gil, weapons, potions or another item. Another great thing about this game compared to X and X-2, is that the creatures and enemies are already on the map waiting for you to trigger them. You can, however, avoid them. Some enemies are more difficult. This is because each enemy has a field of view and a “Warning” guage that indicates how much it senses you. There are also certain items you can use to make yourself invisible to the enemies. This allows you to run past enemies without having to battle them. This saves a lot of time but at the cost of items, money, experience and other battle items.
Overall, this game has been well worth the wait. It isn’t perfect, but let’s be honest, no game is. The fanboys will be drooling over this game for years to come as it shows promise that it could take a very long time to beat 100%. And for the new-comers to the series, it is amazing. The visuals, game play and story are stunning. I have been addicted to first-person shooters ever since I got my PS3 and this is the first game that has every taken me away from Call of Duty for more than 2 hours at a time. I strongly recommend you check this game out. As always, I advise you to rent before you buy.
The much anticipated and much delayed Final Fantasy XIII finally will arrive in North America this Tuesday, March 9, 2010. This game has been drooled over by fanboys for the past (what must have seemed to them) billion years. Yes there were high expectation, and yes, the game meets those.
Now, I have been fortunate to get a copy two whole days before it came out and I thought I would share some insight to those who are on the fence.
As with any other Final Fantasy game, it starts off with a cinematic masterpiece. This game has arguably the best graphics I have ever seen. I think it even beats Pong. The cut-scene that we are thrusted into wastes no time showing off the beautiful graphics, the flawless motions and it sets the tone for two characters right off the get go: Lightning and Sazh.
A little further in, after the first big boss is defeated, we witness quite possibly the most realistic 5 minutes of computer animation on video game history. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it is a pure jaw-dropping scene.
As expected, the visuals were amazing. But what about the game play? Many people questioned whether it would deliver. “Will the battle system be fun?”, “Will the story be fairly reasonable to follow?”, and “Will it be interesting to play?” were just some of the few questions that have been asked by many fans (and the odd new-comer) before its release.
Well, let me start with the battle system. As somebody who has only ever played 3 previous Final Fantasy games before XIII, I was relatively surprised at how not-boring this battle system is. Within the first couple hours of gameplay, various tutorials are given (with the option of skipping) to guide the player through various sequences. It isn’t perfect however. Because you only have control over one character, if the character you are controlling dies, it is “Game Over” and you must repeat this battle. It isn’t THAT much of an inconvenience but, over the span of a 30-40 hour game, I would imagine it could add up.
For this game, Final Fantasy has introduced a new “Paradigm Systsem” for battles. This new system allows for each member in your party to play a different role during a battle. This system is a little bit confusing when you first obtain it, even with a tutorial. However, after a few battles of using it, the player will start to get the hang of it. This use of this new “Paradigm System” can drastically change the battle depending on which roles you use.
The controls outside the battles are fairly decent. There’s nothing outside battles that would make it amazing. You run to-and-fro looking for your next destination. There is the odd sphere that you find which may give you gil, weapons, potions or another item. Another great thing about this game compared to X and X-2, is that the creatures and enemies are already on the map waiting for you to trigger them. You can, however, avoid them. Some enemies are more difficult. This is because each enemy has a field of view and a “Warning” guage that indicates how much it senses you. There are also certain items you can use to make yourself invisible to the enemies. This allows you to run past enemies without having to battle them. This saves a lot of time but at the cost of items, money, experience and other battle items.
Overall, this game has been well worth the wait. It isn’t perfect, but let’s be honest, no game is. The fanboys will be drooling over this game for years to come as it shows promise that it could take a very long time to beat 100%. And for the new-comers to the series, it is amazing. The visuals, game play and story are stunning. I have been addicted to first-person shooters ever since I got my PS3 and this is the first game that has every taken me away from Call of Duty for more than 2 hours at a time. I strongly recommend you check this game out. As always, I advise you to rent before you buy.
Final verdict:
4/5 Stars
Pros:
-GREAT Cinimatics and Visuals
-New battle system is quite fun compared to previous Final Fantasy games
-Character development is good.
-Great Story
Cons:
-Story is hard to follow at points
-Some very cheesy lines
-New “Paradigm System” can be confusing.
Thanks for reading this review!
-eXoSkeleton
Edit: Here is gameplay. With the new "Paradigm System"
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZjQTR0trGY"]YouTube- Final Fantasy XIII Gameplay[/ame]
The following 5 users say thank you to eXoSkeleton for this useful post:
03-08-2010, 04:43 PM
#3
Madison Taylor
Anime Nazi
Hang on A second This has alredy been released in Japan right, I read a review around a month ago that complained about this game being way too linear and it was a massive faliure because of that and they ended up selling copies really cheap after around the first month.
I found the review I read:
I found the review I read:
Originally posted by another user
Criticism of blockbuster RPG Final Fantasy XIII has rapidly mounted, with the initial observation that the game is almost comically linear giving way to a litany of further dissatisfactions, many quite unavoidable even for the game’s many staunch defenders.
A digest of criticism from 2ch:
The whole game is completely linear until halfway through [approximately 20 hours].
There are hardly any towns.
The party is always fixed. The whole game just repeats the movie-battle sequence over and over [In fact the progression is closer to movie-run-battle-run-movie-boss-movie-run-battle…].
There are rather a lot of movies.
Moving around is like a long marathon.
The whole game system is just a clone of FF10.
You can’t flee battles [You can’t avoid most battles either as there is no sneaking past enemies, including weak ones].
Your party is completely healed after each battle.
If the main character in your party dies it is game over [There are only ever 3 characters in battle, often less, and often fixed].
The best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved.
The summons’ transformation scenes are a joke [i.e. Odin turning into a horse].
The story is rubbish… [Spoilers omitted, but complaints centre on Snow’s constant and cringe inducing insistence that he is a hero and will “protect” whatever it is the antagonists are menacing this time]
Shopping is only done at “online” shops on save points, with no proper shops to be found.
However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].
There have been next to no changes from the demo.
The status screen displays no real information.
There are only 8 items usable in combat [For that matter, there are hardly any weapons or accessories, and the “crafting” system mostly consists of spending drops to upgrade their 2 stats].
There are no levels.
With all their advertising money, just how was it they failed even to get Famitsu to give full points?
Some of these criticisms are exaggerated or require further qualification, but on the whole they are fair, and any review which does not dwell long and hard on some of these design choices is certainly suspect.
It already seems clear the game is far from the dramatic step forward it was supposed to be, though whether these issues make the whole game “bad” is certainly open to question. However, it does seem something went very wrong with the game’s development all the same…
A digest of criticism from 2ch:
The whole game is completely linear until halfway through [approximately 20 hours].
There are hardly any towns.
The party is always fixed. The whole game just repeats the movie-battle sequence over and over [In fact the progression is closer to movie-run-battle-run-movie-boss-movie-run-battle…].
There are rather a lot of movies.
Moving around is like a long marathon.
The whole game system is just a clone of FF10.
You can’t flee battles [You can’t avoid most battles either as there is no sneaking past enemies, including weak ones].
Your party is completely healed after each battle.
If the main character in your party dies it is game over [There are only ever 3 characters in battle, often less, and often fixed].
The best tactic is almost always endlessly attacking. There is next to no strategy or skill involved.
The summons’ transformation scenes are a joke [i.e. Odin turning into a horse].
The story is rubbish… [Spoilers omitted, but complaints centre on Snow’s constant and cringe inducing insistence that he is a hero and will “protect” whatever it is the antagonists are menacing this time]
Shopping is only done at “online” shops on save points, with no proper shops to be found.
However, this doesn’t matter as you hardly ever get any money [and you can never buy anything more powerful than what you already looted].
There have been next to no changes from the demo.
The status screen displays no real information.
There are only 8 items usable in combat [For that matter, there are hardly any weapons or accessories, and the “crafting” system mostly consists of spending drops to upgrade their 2 stats].
There are no levels.
With all their advertising money, just how was it they failed even to get Famitsu to give full points?
Some of these criticisms are exaggerated or require further qualification, but on the whole they are fair, and any review which does not dwell long and hard on some of these design choices is certainly suspect.
It already seems clear the game is far from the dramatic step forward it was supposed to be, though whether these issues make the whole game “bad” is certainly open to question. However, it does seem something went very wrong with the game’s development all the same…
03-08-2010, 04:45 PM
#4
Otaku Buster
Cake is a lie
Originally posted by I
Hang on A second This has alredy been released in Japan right, I read a review around a month ago that complained about this game being way too linear and it was a massive faliure because of that and they ended up selling copies really cheap after around the first month.
I read that on Sankaku.
But idc im getting it anyways
EDIT: Yep, thats the review.
03-08-2010, 06:51 PM
#5
Anal Treat
NGU's resident prick
03-08-2010, 07:36 PM
#7
Astro Zombie
professional lurker
gonna get it after i get two more trophies in heavy rain then that game is traded in for ffxiii. Question though: trophies yes or no
---------- Post added at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------
never mind i recently found out that trophies are on this game so good luck guys gettin platinum on a Final Fantasy
---------- Post added at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------
never mind i recently found out that trophies are on this game so good luck guys gettin platinum on a Final Fantasy
03-08-2010, 07:37 PM
#8
KiraYamato
Banned
i got it 2 days ago aswell how far are you? i just met fang
Final verdict:
4/5 Stars
Pros:
-GREAT Cinimatics and Visuals
-New battle system is quite fun compared to previous Final Fantasy games
-Character development is good.
-Great Story
Cons:
-Story is hard to follow at points
-Some very cheesy lines
-New “Paradigm System” can be confusing.
Thanks for reading this review!
-eXoSkeleton
how far are you? i just met fang
Originally posted by eXoSkeleton
You must login or register to view this content.
The much anticipated and much delayed Final Fantasy XIII finally will arrive in North America this Tuesday, March 9, 2010. This game has been drooled over by fanboys for the past (what must have seemed to them) billion years. Yes there were high expectation, and yes, the game meets those.
Now, I have been fortunate to get a copy two whole days before it came out and I thought I would share some insight to those who are on the fence.
As with any other Final Fantasy game, it starts off with a cinematic masterpiece. This game has arguably the best graphics I have ever seen. I think it even beats Pong. The cut-scene that we are thrusted into wastes no time showing off the beautiful graphics, the flawless motions and it sets the tone for two characters right off the get go: Lightning and Sazh.
A little further in, after the first big boss is defeated, we witness quite possibly the most realistic 5 minutes of computer animation on video game history. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it is a pure jaw-dropping scene.
As expected, the visuals were amazing. But what about the game play? Many people questioned whether it would deliver. “Will the battle system be fun?”, “Will the story be fairly reasonable to follow?”, and “Will it be interesting to play?” were just some of the few questions that have been asked by many fans (and the odd new-comer) before its release.
Well, let me start with the battle system. As somebody who has only ever played 3 previous Final Fantasy games before XIII, I was relatively surprised at how not-boring this battle system is. Within the first couple hours of gameplay, various tutorials are given (with the option of skipping) to guide the player through various sequences. It isn’t perfect however. Because you only have control over one character, if the character you are controlling dies, it is “Game Over” and you must repeat this battle. It isn’t THAT much of an inconvenience but, over the span of a 30-40 hour game, I would imagine it could add up.
For this game, Final Fantasy has introduced a new “Paradigm Systsem” for battles. This new system allows for each member in your party to play a different role during a battle. This system is a little bit confusing when you first obtain it, even with a tutorial. However, after a few battles of using it, the player will start to get the hang of it. This use of this new “Paradigm System” can drastically change the battle depending on which roles you use.
The controls outside the battles are fairly decent. There’s nothing outside battles that would make it amazing. You run to-and-fro looking for your next destination. There is the odd sphere that you find which may give you gil, weapons, potions or another item. Another great thing about this game compared to X and X-2, is that the creatures and enemies are already on the map waiting for you to trigger them. You can, however, avoid them. Some enemies are more difficult. This is because each enemy has a field of view and a “Warning” guage that indicates how much it senses you. There are also certain items you can use to make yourself invisible to the enemies. This allows you to run past enemies without having to battle them. This saves a lot of time but at the cost of items, money, experience and other battle items.
Overall, this game has been well worth the wait. It isn’t perfect, but let’s be honest, no game is. The fanboys will be drooling over this game for years to come as it shows promise that it could take a very long time to beat 100%. And for the new-comers to the series, it is amazing. The visuals, game play and story are stunning. I have been addicted to first-person shooters ever since I got my PS3 and this is the first game that has every taken me away from Call of Duty for more than 2 hours at a time. I strongly recommend you check this game out. As always, I advise you to rent before you buy.
The much anticipated and much delayed Final Fantasy XIII finally will arrive in North America this Tuesday, March 9, 2010. This game has been drooled over by fanboys for the past (what must have seemed to them) billion years. Yes there were high expectation, and yes, the game meets those.
Now, I have been fortunate to get a copy two whole days before it came out and I thought I would share some insight to those who are on the fence.
As with any other Final Fantasy game, it starts off with a cinematic masterpiece. This game has arguably the best graphics I have ever seen. I think it even beats Pong. The cut-scene that we are thrusted into wastes no time showing off the beautiful graphics, the flawless motions and it sets the tone for two characters right off the get go: Lightning and Sazh.
A little further in, after the first big boss is defeated, we witness quite possibly the most realistic 5 minutes of computer animation on video game history. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but it is a pure jaw-dropping scene.
As expected, the visuals were amazing. But what about the game play? Many people questioned whether it would deliver. “Will the battle system be fun?”, “Will the story be fairly reasonable to follow?”, and “Will it be interesting to play?” were just some of the few questions that have been asked by many fans (and the odd new-comer) before its release.
Well, let me start with the battle system. As somebody who has only ever played 3 previous Final Fantasy games before XIII, I was relatively surprised at how not-boring this battle system is. Within the first couple hours of gameplay, various tutorials are given (with the option of skipping) to guide the player through various sequences. It isn’t perfect however. Because you only have control over one character, if the character you are controlling dies, it is “Game Over” and you must repeat this battle. It isn’t THAT much of an inconvenience but, over the span of a 30-40 hour game, I would imagine it could add up.
For this game, Final Fantasy has introduced a new “Paradigm Systsem” for battles. This new system allows for each member in your party to play a different role during a battle. This system is a little bit confusing when you first obtain it, even with a tutorial. However, after a few battles of using it, the player will start to get the hang of it. This use of this new “Paradigm System” can drastically change the battle depending on which roles you use.
The controls outside the battles are fairly decent. There’s nothing outside battles that would make it amazing. You run to-and-fro looking for your next destination. There is the odd sphere that you find which may give you gil, weapons, potions or another item. Another great thing about this game compared to X and X-2, is that the creatures and enemies are already on the map waiting for you to trigger them. You can, however, avoid them. Some enemies are more difficult. This is because each enemy has a field of view and a “Warning” guage that indicates how much it senses you. There are also certain items you can use to make yourself invisible to the enemies. This allows you to run past enemies without having to battle them. This saves a lot of time but at the cost of items, money, experience and other battle items.
Overall, this game has been well worth the wait. It isn’t perfect, but let’s be honest, no game is. The fanboys will be drooling over this game for years to come as it shows promise that it could take a very long time to beat 100%. And for the new-comers to the series, it is amazing. The visuals, game play and story are stunning. I have been addicted to first-person shooters ever since I got my PS3 and this is the first game that has every taken me away from Call of Duty for more than 2 hours at a time. I strongly recommend you check this game out. As always, I advise you to rent before you buy.
Final verdict:
4/5 Stars
Pros:
-GREAT Cinimatics and Visuals
-New battle system is quite fun compared to previous Final Fantasy games
-Character development is good.
-Great Story
Cons:
-Story is hard to follow at points
-Some very cheesy lines
-New “Paradigm System” can be confusing.
Thanks for reading this review!
-eXoSkeleton
03-08-2010, 11:11 PM
#9
xXviciousbumXx
At least I can fight
Copyright © 2026, NextGenUpdate.
All Rights Reserved.
