Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Game Review: Final Fantasy 13

Photobucket

So first of, I know that this game has been out for some time. But I this is a series that I really like and I wanted it to be the topic of my first post.

First let me give you some quick background information about the game and the series. Every Final Fantasy game is set on its own universe, unless otherwise stated. For example, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII are not connected to each other in any way. But, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 are connected.

Final Fantasy XIII is set in a futuristic society and is set in a flying shelter called Cocoon which is under the Sanctums rule. Everything is provided for the people living there and everything is really peaceful. But it wasn't always like that. In the past there was a great war between Cocoon and the world below. The enemies of Cocoon are known as the fal'Cie. But there hasn't been any major conflict between the two groups for some time.

One day, a dormant fal'Cie is discovered inside Cocoon and all hell breaks loose. The people of Cocoon are consumed by fear and panic and choose to exile everyone that lived around the area where the fal'Cie was discovered.

The game allows the player to control a total of 6 characters through out the game. They are: Lightning, Snow, Hope, Fang, Vanille, and Sazh.

Photobucket

This game combines a great story with fantastic visual world and character design. Battles are fought in real time, so it keeps you engaged and on your toes. But you also have to think about how you will structure your team. You have to know when to switch roles and go on an all out attack formation or a defensive formation in order to survive.

The characters have a hard time interacting with each other at the beginning of the game, but as time passes you can see how they develop a friendship. This makes the characters feel more human and less like dolls moving on your screen.

If you've played any of the Final Fantasy games and haven't played this one, I totally recommend it to you. This game is challenging and is another great game in a long line of fantastic stories.

6 comments:

  1. I've played many of the FF series (7,8,9, 10) but i haven't played this one.. yet. cos i've heard it wasn't good, at all. But! i still want to. Btw I'm glad someone else is doing a game blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I actually really liked this game. While it's in no way as epic as FFVII, it was still a really good game.

    One thing that I didn't like was that it seemed kind of short...

    Other than that I liked the battle system and the story line.

    Thanks for commenting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've played this game and I enjoyed honestly. But enjoyed doesn't equal love. For me this game was much too linear.There was no chance of leaving somewhere and going and doing something else, like in traveling the world and doing multiple mini quests. I LOVED the battle system though, although it took a lot of effort fighting bosses like Barthandalus where you constantly have buff/rebuff/debuff over and over! Not too mention in all the games you had a pretty clear cut decision of what you were going to do - kill Sephiroth, kill Ultimecia, kill Kuja, kill Seymour/Sin, and so forth but the whole "What should we do! We aren't going to do that! NO WAIT!" and so forth got so tedious.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Erin: I agree that the game was a little too linear. But towards the end, you can start going back to places that you visited before and even into areas that you couldn't go to before.

    For example, you can do the trials of the titans (I think thats what they are called) and the other side missions. Plus, if you want to get your most powerful weapons for your team, you still need to go back and farm for some items.

    I also thought that the boss fights were complicated. I know that the last boss kicked my butt a few times. But instead of getting worked up, I just went to gamefaqs and found a few tricks to beating Barthandalus and so on. But I know too well what you mean. :(

    Some of the characters were a little too wimpy, like Hope. Especially at the beginning, he was too childish and wasn't acting like I thought he should. Other than that, I didn't think that the interaction between the characters was bad.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't played FFXIII yet but I've also heard that it's not as good as the others. I've played 7 and 8 and loved them both! My brother was weary of playing 13 because he had also heard that it wasn't the best, but after a good recommendation from one of our friends he ended up buying it. It wasn't his favorite but he liked it better than he thought he would! Guess I'll have to give it a chance :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. @angel: Yup. One of my friends was the same way. Just that instead of buying the game, I just let him borrow mine. He said that there was a few things that they could've done better, but he still like the game overall. Like you said, its no FFVII but its also not bad.

    ReplyDelete