First, (and I'll start positive) this game is BEAUTIFUL. The landscapes go from sleek and futuristic, to dingy and moody and both look excellent.
The character design is on point, and there are a fair few likeable faces among them. Lightning, the main protragonist; is vibrant, complex, strong and independent. At one point she repeatedly slugs a character who is a more typical JRPG "hero", because he is being a complete idiot and deserves it.
The score, as always, is amazing. Even though Nobuo Uematsu has retired- his legacy lives on in the genius team behind the music
I have to say though- all things considered- this game is by far the worst in the entire series.
The story is confusing. Really hard to follow, and even harder to stay interested in.
Nothing is explained, except in Datalog entries that the game expects you to read- which is really galling... Sure, Kingdom Hearts does it, but it's supplementary information- you can still follow what things are and what's going on without reading it- it just adds depth. After completing the game, I still don't know what a Fal'Cie is- something mentioned in the first half hour of gameplay.
The item-levelling thing is stupid, it's just so redundant until you get to the end, and you stop getting better items. The job levelling system is... All right.
It's also very easy. Least amount of time I've spent in a final fantasy game. You can count the real problem bosses and difficulty spikes on one hand each.
But by far this game's worst offence is its monotony. And this is demonstrated in two key areas:
Firstly, the battle system. One of the key elements of these games, is the turn based strategy against enemies.
Over the course of Final Fantasy titles, characters with unique skillsets are introduced and as the player, you have to work out which characters and abilities to use to overcome your adversary. FFXIII takes that all away. For starters- you only get to choose the actions one character- the designated "party leader"- whilst the other two are on autopilot. However, you won't do that. All you'll do is hammer "X" to "Auto Battle", unless you want to summon something.
The characters can switch "jobs" in battle using predetermined paradigms that you set for them- giving them roles. These roles are Mage, Fighter, Buffer, Healer, Tank and De-Buffer- but they all have needlessly complex and pretentious names.
Once you've found a winning set of paradigms, you can breeze through the whole game without much incident. In FFXIII, you aren't the one fighting, you're in the director's chair shouting at the characters. You can do most of it whilst eating a plateful of dinner at the same time; I speak from experience.
Seemingly, the developers wanted to make battle a lot flashier; in the wake of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (The FFVII CGI sequel movie) they wanted the games to look as good as that, which is an admirable pursuit. The reality of it though, is that you are watching a battle happen and stepping in if it all goes to shit. Watching, I might add through the most barf-inducing camera ever known in a video game. Imagine Lakitu from Super Mario 64 on crack cocaine, and you're not even close to how janky it is.
Secondly, (and this is what outrages most fans) the game is so linear. It has jokingly been called Final Corridor XIII, which would be hilarious if we weren't all stumbling down it whilst playing.
About four-fifths of the game is running down a road or corridor in a straight line; with the only divergence being the silly bouncing "treasure chests"; which are almost always a disappointment.
When you get that far though, you are greeted with a beautiful sight: a huge sprawling open map, monsters running and stomping about like real animals; and almost acting socially. It looks like a real ecosystem. It reminded me a lot of Avatar's Pandora (not just because of the shamelessly similar flying creatures.)
However, before long, it's back to the straight-line trudge, more or less until the end of the game, before you can come back here. This really angers me. Not only is it the complete antithesis of Final Fantasy of years past; but it shows you this area in the opening cinematic! Right before you reach the start menu!! It lures you in with beautiful visuals before sending you down an unremarkable rat-run for 40+ hours.
The ending was at least nice, and there is a second game which supposedly rights a lot of this game's wrongs, but that remains to be seen.
Fuck this game. I don't think I'll touch it ever again. It has next to zero replay value, and the only reason I saw it through at all is because I'm that much of a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the franchise that I would feel incomplete if I hadn't.
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