As many of you may know, March 9th was the day that the highly anticipated RPG Final Fantasy XIII was released to the public of North America. That day, I got up early, walked to Wal-Mart, and picked me up a nice brand spankin' new copy. The first thing I noticed though, was that even the case was delightfully shiny and holographic. Then I noticed something else that I thought was funny. The PS3 case (which is obviously the one I got) was actually shinier than the 360 case. This could have been because I was looking at it through glass though. I found this quite funny, and satisfying, because just like the case, the PS3 version of the game is also shinier.
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ITS SO BLOODY PRETTY!
When the Xbox 360 version of the game was anounced at E3 a few years back, I remember thinking "now I don't need to buy a PS3, all the games I want are going to be on the 360". This is more or less still true to this day, with Resident Evil 5, Assassins Creed 2, Devil May Cry 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, and FFXIII all losing their PS3 exclusivity. But one thing is certain. The PS3 version of FFXIII is prettier than the Xbox 360 version. If you have the luxury of owning an HD monitor, go on YouTube, IGN, GameSpot or any other site that hosts videos that may relate to video games, and look up a comparison video. Even in 720p resolution, you can see that the PS3 version is sharper. With that said though, both versions are immaculately detailed. I don't own an HDTV, and i still crap my pants at how amazing this game looks. From the expansive landscape to the little lines on characters lips, all is spectacularly pretty. The only problem I've had is that sometimes the framerate can dip a little, but this could be because im playing on an SDTV, and it really does not take away from the experience.
This was one of the reasons I got the PS3 version of the game. (The 360 version is only 3 disks in reality)
Theres something I would like to address. A lot of people have shown concern about the linearity of the game. I myself had this worry, but after playing the game, have to say that this really isn't a bother at all. The story is told through linear paths, yet the strategically placed and well paced cut scenes make you forget this. For the sake of writing this article, I downloaded a save file from farther in the game, once the crew makes it to *POTENTIAL SPOILER* (but not really cuz you should have known this if you've been following the game) Gran Pulse. This area is AMAZING. I hate to repeat what I've said above, but it is the area of Gran Pulse that truly shows the games spectacular graphical detail. The environments are lush, the backgrounds are amazingly rendered and my jaw literally dropped when i saw this world.
I bring up Gran Pulse not for its awesome awesomeness though, but because it detours from the games previous linearity. This area opens right up, and allows the characters to explore its massive environments, taking side quests that can help with character development, and to earn trophies and achievements.
Gran Pulse is the prettiest thing i have EVER seen in a video game.
One of the things that good ol' Squenix hyped the hell out of was the battle system, and after playing it for several hours, I can completely understand why. This battle system has been one of the most interesting and challenging systems I've ever played with in my life. I would endevor to say that its even weirder than the "Draw" and "Junction" systems in FFVIII. I'll try to explain the best I can here, and hopefully some people will understand. At the true heart of this battle system is an Active Time Battle (ATB) Gauge. When this gauge fills up, your allowed to attack. Think FFVII and FFVIII. There is one fundamental difference with this gauge and the ones in FFVII & FFVIII though. This gauge is segmented, and each segment can be used for an attack. While the gauge is filling, you are given the choice to chose from four commands, the "Auto-" command, the "Abilities" command, the "Techniques" command and the "Items" command. Lets work from the ground up shall we?
Items is straight forward. You don't have to wait for your ATB gauge segments to fill to use an item, and items are series staples such as Potions, Antidotes, and Phoenix Downs.
Techniques also do not require the ATB gauge to be filled, but does need your TP to be somewhat filled. You have a TP bar underneath your HP bar, and this fills gradually. I will explain the requirements for filling it a little later. Techniques is where you will find options such as summon and libra.
The Abilities command opens up not just you're stereotypical abilities such as magic, but all of your offensive, defensive, and supporting moves, this might sound like a lot, and it can seam like it at times, but what is in your Abilities command depends on what role your character is in. You'll be able to understand this a bit better when i delve into roles a little further in this review.
The Auto- option is something that was added in for players who like suggestions. Or maybe for the lazier fellows of the gaming world. Depending on your role, the Auto- command will pick abilities for you and suggest the best enemy to use said abilities on. For example if you're fighting an enemy that is weak against fire (and assuming you've scanned the enemy with libra), when you hit the Auto- function will chose to attack the enemy with fire based attacks, as opposed to water or ice based attacks. This is of course if your character knows fire based attacks.
The knowledge of certain attacks brings me to something I'm sure you've been wondering about: Roles. A role is similar to a job class from other games in the Final Fantasy series. If, for example, you chose to have your character play as a commando, then you would be using mainly physical based attacks. If you chose a ravager as your role on the other hand, you would be attacking with magic. There are 6 roles to choose from, Commando, Ravager, Sentinel, Synergist, Saboteur, and Medic. These roles are what can change what is located in the Abilities command.
Commando: Physical attacks, slow the chain bar, making it easier for ravagers to build up a chain.
Ravager: Magic attacks of all elements. Quickly can build up the chain bar, but the bar drains quickly if only magic attacks are used.
Sentinel: Defense heavy. Have boosted defense stats and provoke enemies to attack them so that the others in your party can deal damage without receiving it.
Synergist: Casts protective and stat boosting spells on party members, such as shell, protect and haste.
Saboteur: Casts stat inhibitors such as slow, fog and deshell.
Medic: Healers. learns cure, esuna, ect.
Each Paradigm tells specific characters to take specific roles in battle.
What roles your characters are using can make or break you in this high intensity battle system.
Oh yea, did I mention that you only get to control one character? Thats right, you only control the leader of the party. Some of you might be a little weary of this, but the games AI for your allies is quite superb. The only downfall Ive found is that if your allies are assigned the roles of Synergist, Saboteur, or Medic, once they've cast all of their buffs/debuffs and healing spells, they'll just stand there dumb. There is a way to avoid this though.
Paradigms. If the ATB gauge is the heart of the system, Paradigms are definitely the soul. A Paradigm is what governs the roles of your party members. Each Paradigm states what role a certain character has while in that specific Paradigm. For example, in the Relentless Assault Paradigm, you will have 2 characters assigned as Ravagers, and one as a Commando. Who has what role is determined by which roles are open for which characters, and what you have assigned in the Paradigm menu in the main menu.
The last thing about battles that is very interesting for the game is the rating system. Each battle that you complete is rated out of 5 stars. The higher the rating you receive for the battle, the higher the amount of TP you will receive at the end of the battle.
So, now that I've ranted about the awesome battle system sufficiently, I'll give you a little taste of the story.
Final Fantasy XIII follows six protagonists, each with their own past. These pasts all somehow intertwine with each other (I'm not going to tell you how, to avoid angry emails, so you'll just have to play the game ;)). Our protagonists - whom I'll name and describe momentarily - Live on a world known as Cocoon. Cocoon is a giant sphere, floating over the big mclarge huge overworld of Gran Pulse. The citizens of Cocoon live in fear of Pulse, because the world is shrouded in mystery.
Our six main protagonists are:
Lightning: A former Guardian Corps. soldier.
Snow Villiers: A young man who is responsible for the creation of Team Nora, a group fighting against the operations of the Cocoon government.
Hope Estheim: A young boy, about fourteen years old. Lives in a town called Pallempolum.
Sahz Katzroy: A former military airship pilot. Has a Chocobo chick living in his hair.
Oerba Dia Vanielle: A young girl with a mysterious past and an obscenely eccentric personality?????: This character isn't revealed until much later in the game, so telling you about them could be a spoiler.
There is one character that is crucial to the story of the game, and that is Serah Farron. Serah is Lightnings sister and Snows Fiancée. She is the driving force behind both characters actions throughout the game.
Then there are the fal'Cie. In the universe of FFXIII, fal'Cie are more or less gods. They are responsible for building Cocoon all those years ago (never directly stated, but I'm guessing anywhere from thousands to millions of years) from bits and pieces of Pulse. They control the weather, food production and other such important duties for Cocoon.
From here on out, until you see multiple *, may contain what some of you call spoilers, even though the events I am about to describe happen within the first moments of the game, and were the prominent events of the Japanese demo.
Years and years ago, there was a war between Cocoon and Pulse, and Pulse had almost breached Cocoon before the fal'Cie intervened. After the war, the fal'cie from Cocoon brought up more objects from pulse to rebuild the floating world. Little did they know that had brought up an object housing a Pulse fal'Cie.
Through a chain of events I won't reveal, Serah is chose by the Pulse fal'Cie to be a l'Cie - a tool to finish an order from the fal'Cie. The order that the fal'Cie gives is called a focus, and if the l'Cie finishes the focus, it is turned to crystal and granted eternal life.
After discovering the existence of the Pulse fal'Cie, the Sanctum - Cocoons government - orders the Purge. The Purge is a massive deportation from Cocoon to Pulse. It is in the Purge that our characters all meet. Some fueled by the wanting to save Serah, and others fueled by their own motives, the main characters all meet in the vestige housing the Pulse fal'Cie. When Serah reunites with both Snow and Lightning, she turns to crystal. This enrages Lightning, who engages the fal'Cie in combat. After the battle, all of the characters are branded by the fal'Cie, thus becoming Pulse l'Cie, enemies to their home, Cocoon.
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It's about time to wrap this up, so here I go. Final Fantasy is a stunning game. From the amazing graphical performance, to the superbly fun and challenging combat system, to the deep and absorbing story, this game has it all. I cannot rate this game any lower than a 5 out of 5 bits. If you don't already have this game, go and pick it up, because it is a must have for anyone up for a good story, a pretty thing to look at, and a consistently fun battle system.
-Paul S.
- Think you could have done better? have anything to add? Post a comment or send an email to TechJunkie.Gammabit@gmail.com
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