Fainaru fantajî XIII

This game came out a while after part twelve and I was eagerly anticipating it. Twelve, quite frankly, is my least favorite Final Fantasy game and I was hoping this one would make up for it. Well, it is better, but in the end still a disappointment. It amazes me that Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and X all came out in a five year span. Since then we have gotten four original stories, but wait, two of those are online and quite frankly should not be apart of the sequential FF games. They should have been called FF Online or something, so that makes the list of original games down to two...TWO! The two we get are also two of my least favorite of the series. What happened? Before Enix and Square united, both were so much better and produced lots of RPG games. During that five year stretch, the one year we did not get a FF game we got Xenogears which is better than this game and its predecessor! Lot's of things wrong here and the only thing this one has going for it is phenomenal graphics, but it is missing many elements that make an RPG an RPG. The previous game, twelve, would be better had they just tightened the game up and made better characters. One just had to level for too long to finish the game. This one, as I said, is just missing so many components that make a RPG game fun.

The story is pretty good. It establishes a lot and it does get to be a bit much in this game's sequel when they add even more stuff to what is introduced here. The game opens up on multiple fronts as a warrior named Lightening is raising a ruckus on a train that is taking people to something called a 'Purge'. Basically, the people live on this strange manufactured type world while there is a planet that is a bit rough in nature below them called Gran Pulse. A boy named Hope sees his mother die, a rebel leader, literally causes her death and a man fights to save his son. All of these people will soon join together and try to figure out how to not only save themselves, but also that of the world!

The game play is unfortunately a bit too simplistic for a game of this nature. During most of the game, you guide your character from point A to point B while fighting enemies. There are no towns to visit, characters to speak too or any of the things that make an RPG an RPG. I tend to think they are trying to make up for the fact that the towns in twelve were a bit overwhelming, but now it goes from one extreme to another! The combat is very fast paced, and not very complicated; however, it is not a very involved combat either. You spend most of the time simply changing your characters class and occasionally making them throw an item into the mix. Like I said, it makes the game very fast paced, but a lot of the battles are not of the epic variety. The last fight took me less than eight minutes and I apparently took too long to defeat it!

The game has its good points and overall I did enjoy it. I just wish they would make them more like they did in that five year stretch or even during the cartridge days. If they could make a great story and fun game in such short spans of times, why do they seem to be having so much trouble making games when they take forever to make them!?! We get a nice game that has super cutting edge graphics, but is missing a lot of the elements a RPG is supposed to have in it. The game before we had a wonderfully expansive world, but one where you just spent so much time trying to power up your character that you forgot the story. Perhaps, they should simply just try to focus on other aspects rather than graphics? In the end, a nice game, that I probably would not be so hard on had it been titled something else. I just miss the old days which were most certainly the good old days in this case.

One of the very few videogames to ever have fully capture me.. Super immersive and captivating, I found myself completely engulfed and taken over by this game ever since I started to play. It is super rare for me to get fully immersed with a game to the point where I can't get it off my mind, as I am normally pretty tough to please with my standards for games. It has one of the most likeable cast IMO next to FFX and FFVII, the soundtrack is so beautiful and epic, the graphics are the best, and the battle system is perfect and flashy. I'm intrigued by the story as well, it is one of the best Final Fantasy stories and a top contender in terms of personal appeal for me. As for the linearity everyone complains about, that's exactly why I love this game. I am not a big fan of non-linear games, and so FF13 along with FFX, and FF7 remake, are my top three favorite Final Fantasy games. I feel like this game is vital to the franchise because it is only the third modern FF turn based game (not including the sequels to FF13) before the switch to action rpg style. And so as much as I love FFX, which is my all time favorite, it's nice to get to see an upgraded and more advanced Final Fantasy turn based game as well in terms of graphics and gameplay.

This has been an event four years in the making. With the power of PS3 and Xbox360 behind it, Final Fantasy XIII is something special to behold.

From the first cut scene, to the unforgettable race track scene near the end of the game, the graphics are something that we have not seen before. There were moments in this game that took my breath away and made me think how far we have come since Final Fantasy VII.

The major criticism of this game is how linear it is. I do agree that the game is very straightforward, but that is the only real major problem I had with it. Even that, it didn't really bother me as much as my fellow gamers.

I think the best feature of the game is the battle system. It kind of reminded me of FF X-2, where you can change battle styles in the middle of battle. This makes for not only exciting battles, but battles that must be thought through with careful detail. It also prevents from you using the same characters the whole game, at least for me. I had the same team throughout most of the game, until the end.

The story is pretty interesting and the characters are well rounded. If you love video games or Final Fantasy...pick up this game...It is damn fun.

It is clear that FF13 tries to innovate the franchise in order to compete with other next gen titles. And while I also think that some changes have to be made it shouldn't lose it's charm of the old JPRG genre we learned to love. Visually FF13 is the most beautiful game of the PS3 at the moment (Although I assume it will be just as beautiful on the xbox 360). Game play wise it is still Final Fantasy,only much more linear (until Chapter 11) with side quests and secret areas to explore. However I must say that the sudden rise in difficulty is a bit shocking. Because clearing the first 10 chapters didn't require much grinding,in Chapter 11 is a must since even the tiniest monsters can beat you in a whim. The new battle system takes time getting used to. And when yo do you will experience one of the most fun and intense battle system created in the genre. But it can be off putting in the beginning since it seems almost too easy in the beginning. In Chapter 11 you will find out however that it is pretty deep and that the first 10 chapters have served as some sort of training levels. (I must add that in the beginning I really missed the old turn based strategy system,but the fights wouldn't have been as intense at it is now.) So visually and game play wise there is nothing wrong. Story wise however this part just falls short. Yes the cut scenes were brilliant and yes there were some solid moments where you learn to care for the characters. Only in my opinion not enough. Not everything is explained in the cut scenes. Most of the background story is explained in the datalog. But even then it is hard to make sense what the purpose of your characters are to defeat the villains. The villains in FF13 aren't as evil as they were in the earlier parts of the franchise. The story wasn't as engaging as it could have been. And to me that is just as important as the visuals and the game play. I'm still playing this game even after finishing the main story for the side quest monsters who are brutally more difficult than the end boss. Overall Final Fantasy 13 is still one of the best games on the next gen consoles. Only people who expect a story as engaging as the for example FF10 will be disappointed.

Final Fantasy XIII (and its sequels) is very different than the rest of the FF series. Especially its extremely linear pathing and story that you wont fully understand unless you read the datalogs. It (thankfully) got rid of Random Encounters for this game, and instead you can see your enemies, pick and choose your fights, and (hopefully) win. The music is not composed by Nobuo Uematsu for this installment, however this does not cut down on the quality of the soundtrack, as a lot of the songs are wonderful and memorable earworms. The story is genuinely good (in my opinion) and i like the themes that are covered by the game (taking charge of our destinies, not giving on to despair even when things get difficult, etc). The game is good, even if long and a little tedious. Get it when its on sale if you can. Dont buy it on PC though PC Port is not very good (not bad enough to take away from the game as a whole, but definitely not the best port i have played)