Final Fantasy 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.

Stunning graphics,good plots and strong characters.All of that is still not enough to make this game superior to FF 7;FF 8;FF 9;FF 10 and mainly to FF 12. The lack of optional things to do in this game is its greatest flaw.While in other FFs we have several optional bosses,stories and stuff,this one only has hunts!Why one would waste its time hunting monsters,many of them that can only be defeated after the end of the game,to earn items to make your characters stronger to fight no-one else but these hunted monsters??

We can have good times playing this one.All magic lies on the first time you play it.It is a Final Fantasy,thus it deserves to be played,only once, not twice.We can't spend too much time playing this one.

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.

I honestly loved this game. It's beautiful in almost every aspect--the visuals are probably the best visuals in a video game to date, the narrative is amazing, the voice acting is flawless, and the combat system is nothing short of brilliant. The major criticism this game is receiving is its linearity--which I agree, was a bit irking.

The game is very linear, with beautiful landscapes but paths so narrow you almost feel claustrophobic. However, if you think about it this was probably a tactical move by Square Enix in order to draw in new players without overwhelming them. The game is designed to be friendly to the new FF player, and hopefully after the disappointment that was XIV, Versus XIII will keep the new players hooked on the series, along with XV if Square decides to continue the series (and I hope they will).

The combat system is one of the most challenging you will find today. It starts out very simple--choose an attack and wait for the gauge to fill up, then repeat till the enemy is dead. However, soon you are introduced to roles, magic, and Paradigms--combinations of different roles to combine different attacks and moves. After all this, the challenge is choosing the right Paradigms, because that is the difference between victory and defeat in this game. It keeps you hooked and never bores you, and prevents players from just going through the motions.

The visuals are amazing, after the opening scene I was amazed that it was all CGI. The cinematics are beautiful on the PS3, so I urge you to get the PS3 version. Many environments are breathtakingly beautiful, such as a crystal lake, a house of moving stairs, and many more.

The narrative is brilliant and fits with the very likable cast of characters. You meet Lightning, a young woman who is portrayed as very cold, but slowly opens her heart up while keeping her ice cold determination; Sazh, a man who is drawn into Lightning's plans through curiosity and ends up getting more than he bargained for; Snow, a headstrong, confident young man who is engaged to Lightning's younger sister; Hope, a teenager who, despite his name, has no hope, but matures and gains confidence and courage; Fang, a strange woman with a past she can't recall; and, unfortunately, Vanille-- an upbeat redhead with a very annoying voice who will probably drive you crazy, but is hiding something dark within.

All these characters are citizens of Cocoon--a city-world in constant fear of invasion from Pulse, the world below. The government is corrupt and is run by godly beings known as fal'Cie, who carry out the Purge, in which people who live too close to Pulse fal'Cie and/or are or might become its slaves, Pulse l'Cie, are transported from Cocoon to Pulse against their will.

All in all, the game is beautiful and the storyline is touching and better than most Hollywood films. The linearity is bothersome but nothing too bad. I definitely think this game could be made into a movie, and end up as one of the greatest animated films of all time. I would recommend this to anyone.

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)