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| Review of the Month: Final Fantasy XIII | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 21 2010, 09:18 PM (283 Views) | |
| AdamNW | May 21 2010, 09:18 PM Post #1 |
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Needs moar Sety
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If you guys remember I started this a while back, but I had tennis since March and couldn't find the time. Here's the official restart: --- The world’s most popular RPG franchise makes its HD debut. So, what could go wrong? ![]() Game: Final Fantasy XIII Developer: Square-Enix Rating: Teen Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 Final Fantasy’s thirteenth installment (into the main series) is also the first to appear on an HD console. As usual, the series keeps it’s tradition of the games having nothing to do each other. This version tells the tale of six people whose lives become intertwined by an inescapable fate. I will go into more detail in the next paragraph. ![]() Despite this game having nothing to do with games 1-12, many staple creatures continue to make appearances. The universe of FFXIII is divided into two distinct worlds: Cocoon and Gran Pulse. Cocoon is a civilized nation that floats over Gran Pulse, which, in stark contrast, is wild and unruly. The gods that sustain life on both worlds – known as Fal’Cie – select humans to complete a ‘focus’, which is an extremely important task that can’t be completed by the Fal’Cie itself, and in failing the focus, the human turns into a Cie’th (or rather, Zombie). The game’s six protagonists and Cocoon residents – Lightning, Sazh, Snow, Hope, Vanille, and Fang – are chosen to complete a focus given by a Gran Pulse Fal’Cie, and in turn, become enemies of Cocoon. The only problem is that they don’t know what their focus is. ![]() Gran Pulse’s endless, beautiful landscape If it sounds confusing now, don’t worry. The story is extremely easy to follow once the game gets going (about an hour or two in), without any necessity to look into the datalog the game provides. Despite a few clichés, once the story gets going, it gets going. FFXIII definitely has one of the stronger stories I have witnessed in a game for quite some time (better than its most recent predecessors, FFXII and X-2, for sure), although the last ~5% could have been better. If you enjoy a good story, definitely check this game out. ![]() Cocoon’s brilliance, as shown by it’s greatest city. Unsurprisingly, the battle system has been altered drastically. Instead of one move being used per turn, the playable characters now receive (up to) six ‘ATB’ slots, which can be used to complete several different attacks with varying ATB slots. For example, a standard Fire spell uses one ATB slot, but using Fira, a more enhanced fire spell, uses two. The characters also fill drastically different roles, such as the Ravager, who sole duty is to ‘stagger’ the enemy as fast as possible, or the Synergist, who gives his allies various stat boosts. A character can only use one role at a time, but this role can be changed on the fly during a battle. With six roles and three active party members, the choices are endless, and against tougher bosses, you will be constantly switching roles to fit the needs of the battle will keep you on your toes for every second of it. Of course, this new battle system probably won’t bring in anyone who dislikes the Final Fantasy series in the first place, but it’s a nice change of pace from the rest of the series. ![]() …then again, do you really want to fight that? Despite it's strong points, Final Fantasy XIII falls victim to many shortcomings. With Square-Enix being known for their brilliant CG work, it is expected that the game looks amazing. And that’s true – if you own a PS3, at least. I played this game on the Xbox 360, and honestly, the graphics are subpar. It won’t affect actual gameplay much, if at all, but in scenes such as the revealing of the Palamecia, or any close up on a character, where several spots on the screen look pixilated and gross. The character models themselves have almost PS2/Wii-quality graphics, with jagged corners and blocky hands. This can sometimes push you out of the zone the story itself puts you in, but it isn’t anything worth not playing the game if you only own an Xbox 360. The PS3 version, on the other hand, is just simply beautiful. In fact, this sole difference is the reason for my differing overall scores. My other main grievance with the game is the length in comparison to the content. Several areas in the early part of the game (particularly all of Chapter 3) seem unnecessarily lengthy. This is especially prevalent in sections of the game featuring only two party members, as the battles will take far longer than you may want, and will very commonly result in low ranks (which mean worse loot payouts). Had the story not had been as great as it was, I wouldn’t have even attempted to play it past the ten hour mark. The main story will probably last 40-50 hours, and the post-game content adding an additional 10-20 hours. However, the post-game is nothing more than a series of fetch quests with ridiculous gaps in difficulty. I personally found it difficult to bring myself to even attempt anything that I missed (I completed about half of the missions before beating the game), because I felt that, with no more story, there was no more point. ![]() The gang’s all here. What’s the verdict? Final Fantasy XIII isn’t the type of game that will change your mind about the franchise. Rather, it’s a payoff to the JRPG fans that have been waiting for this release since the poorly-received Final Fantasy XII. If you don’t like Final Fantasy or JRPGs in general, you won’t like this game. If this is your first Final Fantasy, be warned that you won’t be able to put it down for the next 50 hours of your gaming life. I rented the game, and after many late fee payments, I certainly don’t feel bad about it. tl;dr version +Great, satisfying story +New battle system is fun to play and will keep you busy -Parts where the story isn’t strongest are very dull to play -The Xbox 360’s graphics are pretty bad -Post-game content feels worthless ? What exactly is Vanille’s accent supposed to be? I’m torn between some form of Scottish, and Australian. The Grade: B…for the PS3. The 360 version gets a B- simply for its worse graphics. It’s not a major difference, but it’s certainly noticeable. Edited by AdamNW, May 22 2010, 09:20 PM.
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| Light Yagami | May 22 2010, 02:58 AM Post #2 |
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As dog as a Fetch
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I think the 360's Graphics are great using an HMI cable...of course my TV kicks ass though...AND HEY, FFXII was awesome! other than that, nice review. I do agree that were parts of the game I just wanted to get over with, like being on Oerba. I just want to gtfo already X__X |
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| -HJ- | May 22 2010, 03:17 AM Post #3 |
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I've failed to come up with something witty, so I hope you will enjoy this filler text instead.
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Oerba was like a shining ray of hope in a game that had begun to drag on like nobody's business, I really like the ambiance of that place. Temjin's Tower (or whatever) was also great because it felt like an actual dungeon, not just a long path. I didn't think the story was really that good, the pacing was horrible, it was absolutely riddled with the clichés we've seen in so many JRPGs, the dialogue was badly written in a lot of cases (OPERATION NORA) and never truly well-written, some of the character development wasn't believable at all (Snow) and some characters just... didn't have any (all the villains). Still I agree with this review more than your review of Bayonetta, at least. I would just have given the game a B- all in all. Edited by -HJ-, May 22 2010, 03:33 AM.
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| Light Yagami | May 22 2010, 01:33 PM Post #4 |
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As dog as a Fetch
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^agreed with the whole lack-of-character-development thing. I'm sure the whole fight with Cid would've been MUCH better had they given him more of a background and much more interaction with the main crew. I barely had an opinion about him until he showed up out of no where. I've also never been big fan of grinding. I was hoping you wouldn't really NEED to for some fights seeing as how they took out a lot of things like towns and actual shops. I guess I went in assuming it'd be much more fast paced knowing this. and yes...there were parts that just draaaaaaaged on...I'm a little reluctant about playing the game again later on because I wasn't a huge fan of having only 2 people in my team for the first fifth of the game.... other than that it was awesome, lol ps. I'm tired of the monsters in Oerba. They're super annoying and those big fat ones that throw up shields are the worst. I'd leave certain spot, having killed one of them, only to later find out I have to go BACK to that spot and find a piece to fix some retarded robot and the fucking monster is there again! oh and those crawling Ci'eth that only have one arm hit hard and for some reason Sahz and Hope feel that the party leader is the least important person on the team and take for ever to cast freakin' protection on Lightning. T__T Taijin's Tower was ok. I'm not all too cray about back tracking but at least it didn't drag on for 10 or so floors, just 6. The boss battle was disappointingly easy though. Maybe 'cus I had to grind in an earlier chapter I know I made it seem like I don't like the game, but I actually liked it a lot Edited by Light Yagami, May 22 2010, 01:40 PM.
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| Noisu | May 23 2010, 11:25 AM Post #5 |
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Wii doesn't release Any good titles anymore :/ |
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| Light Yagami | May 23 2010, 03:24 PM Post #6 |
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As dog as a Fetch
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Mario Galaxy 2, bra |
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| Noisu | May 23 2010, 03:53 PM Post #7 |
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Never played the first. I'll most likely get it. has it come out already? .-. |
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| Othin | May 23 2010, 07:23 PM Post #8 |
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That one guy who never really leaves
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It came out today. It's also the greatest platformer ever. |
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| Light Yagami | May 24 2010, 04:06 AM Post #9 |
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As dog as a Fetch
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It's received some of the highest review ratings I've seen in a long time. |
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| AdamNW | May 24 2010, 09:07 PM Post #10 |
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Needs moar Sety
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Galaxy 2 is considered the best game of the year, thus far. In fact, it's only reviewed worse than OoT and the first Galaxy. EDIT: Actually, it's "better" than the first one as of today, but the first game has like sixty more reviews
Edited by AdamNW, May 24 2010, 09:10 PM.
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| Kovu | May 24 2010, 11:01 PM Post #11 |
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Zidane was always entitled to 12 MOV!
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You were extremely generous with this review. I've been poked about doing a review of FFXIII on a different forum. In my extended absence I couldn't be bothered. Game was far too linear, characters didn't strike me as particularly great and there were only six pieces of music in the game I liked (four of which were battle-ish themes). I never had any issues with the graphics, and I own the Xbox version. Lack of some version of the traditional victory fanfare was a major bummer. Previous 12 managed to fit it in, somehow. Even the less-than-stellar XII version. Fun review, anyway. ~ Kovu |
![]() Famous Quotes Kovu's Awards Formerly known as: Zidane, Miroku, Kovutachi, Artemis, Phantom Judge.
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| AdamNW | May 24 2010, 11:05 PM Post #12 |
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Needs moar Sety
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There was one but it got cut off too quickly, assuming I guessed correctly what you are referring to./ Edited by AdamNW, May 24 2010, 11:06 PM.
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