Customer Reviews
Square Enix needs to take a look at older Final Fantasy's - By: C. Anderson, 26 Jul 2010 
I love the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy 7,8 & 10 have consumed WAY too much of my time, but that was because they are excellent games, even 9 & 10-2 were great games. However...
Why have they got rid of the much loved Materia system from 7?
Why have they gone super-futuristic?
Why do you spend the first hour & a half of this game running through corridors, fighting stuff, not having a clue as to what is going on?
Why have battles become cack?
Why has magic got almost no placein the game anymore?
Why can I win this game by attacking & using potions? this is ridiculously boring & easy.
Why is there an option that lets me fighters fight by themselves?
Why do I repeatedly run,fight,run,fight,watch cut scene,fight,run,fight,save?
Why is there no exploration like there isin others?
Why is there a massive lackin extras by comparison to 7,8,etc?
Why are the different factions called L'cie, Fal'cie,Pulse L'cie,etc. This takes ages to figure out who is who!
On the positive it looks great when it wants to.
I don't understand how a company with so many great previous titles can make this game. What they need to do is take all the best features from their previous titles & put them into a game. What they have done here is get rid of them, like all of them - hence the massive price slash.
The game overall as a game is ok, but don't expect a classic game that you'll spend a month playing.
Not the best.....but not at all bad! - By: L. R. Barnes, 24 Jul 2010 
After so many entriesin the series is it very hard not to compare a Final Fantasy game to earlier games.
Personally I fellin love with the seriesin the PS1 era, so for me VII, VIII & IX serve as my benchmarks, for me these are 5 star games.
Final Fantasy XIII has a very good story although I would imagine it is hard to keep track of if you do not read the datalog story updates along the way.
I was also impressed by the cast of main characters, they are a very likeable bunch & are quite interesting. The downside being it is the non playable characters that are sorely lacking, those that we do have are forgettable. The game also lacks a great villain (need I mention Sephiroth?), the main villain is just, well, plain boring & uninspired.
Gameplay itself is like many before me have said, just too linear. You could probably play the game by just looking at the small mapin the corner of the screen, however the section on Gran Pulse is a welcome relief & the only free roaming part of the game, & there are lots of missions to complete, this section is available to continue after the main game is over, just like Grand Theft Auto 4, however this makes little sense as 2 of the characters who die at the end of the story are stillin the main party.
The battle system is excellent, fast paced, smart & above all fun, the job system & paradigm shifting are brilliant.
The graphics as well are absolutely stunning, I would go as far as to say beautiful, an absolute treat for the eyes.
I belive the musicin an FF game really makes a big difference to the whole experience, & this game has a reasonably good score. Apart of course from that horrible song at the end.
In summary this is an excellent game, it just lacks a bit of freedom, & that Epic touch.
FF: Frequently Futile - By: Rosh, 23 Jul 2010 the experience is styled around simplicity, where character depth, locations, & general gameplay is very limited
the characters fail to captivate......reviving old rpg stereotypes such as Snow who portrays te groups naiive motivator convinced their dilema can almost be shrugged off & consistenly trying to liven up the atmosphere with his cheery facade
locations!!!! gran pulse is the only place to explore though the dimensions appear titanic there is very little to actually see....it just takes forever to traverse even with chocobos
the game mechanics revolve aroun the paradigm system which while engaging still requires very little maintainance or strategic thinking....ff9 had so much variety it was overwhelming which at times irritated me....giving me too much choice....this game gives me almost none at all.....battles aren't difficult strateically only really just tedious
stunning, though expected, graphics but gameplay is relativily lacklustre.
A bland, repetitive game with good presentation - By: ProM, 22 Jul 2010 
This 13th episode delivers, right from the start, incredible production valuesin the form of costume, weapon & vehicle design, well orchestrated musics, & graphically polished cinematics & menus. Simple tutorials introduce the new combat system to the player step by step, making the game easy to learn for the least experienced gamers, & without being an annoyance to the most experienced.
The innovative combat system makes battles much more dynamic & interestingin general : even though it's still turn based, it feels like real time because there is nearly always something going on & characters change formations by themselves during combat. An interesting mechanic called "Paradigms" allow you to change your character's role during a combat, which you will find yourself doing a lot for more efficiency. This, coupled with the new "chain" system, which encourages you to focus on one enemy at a time with the right types of attacks, makes battles that are fun to figure out, play & watch. You can also customize each character by upgrading any of their 6 available roles (healer, guardian, physical attacker, magical attacker, enhancer, crippler).
Good, but what about the story, the narration, the feel & atmosphere of the game, which is the most important element of a role playing / adventure game that Final Fantasy games are ?
Unfortunately, this game is a real failurein this department. Right from the start, cut scenes feel like they're out from a bad action/drama movie, using & reusing the most ridiculous clichés. Most of the characters lack an interesting personality, background & motive for their actions. The English voice acting is insufficient, & the dialogs dumb. Even the musics, that Final Fantasy fans have come to expect a lot from, fail to create fascinating atmospheres like some of the previous games did.
What doesn't help is that outside of combat, the game has little to offerin terms of gameplay. Here is what you will do & keep doing when playing Final Fantasy XIII : you will walk down a linear, repetitive path blocked by enemies. From time to time, you will find a bonus itemin a futurist-looking chest hidden on the side. Every few fights is followed by a cutscene. And that's it. Once you've reached the end of the path, you'll just find a different path with new looks & some new enemies, but it will always be as linear, with the same chests, the same repetitiveness & inability to do anything but fight your way to the destination. Where are the previous games adventure moments, where you could explore a city to find something out, or even just interactive story telling moments where you would hang out with other characters somewhere & choose who you want to talk to ? Where are the beautifully crafted environments that were so much more than a repetitive path to a destination ?
I found myself keep playing anyway because I still enjoyed the battles & the general presentation quality, even though that one gets worse & worse as you progress through the game. But eventually, it becomes obvious Square Enix made it so you have to play a lot of battles, & made them as long as possible, to give the game a longer play time & hide it's shallowness. After you realize even the story barely develops at all through the whole game, you're left wondering why they would possibly make this much, much worse game than Final Fantasy VII or VI despite all the modern technological assets to make a game look & feel great.
Change your fate? Not in this linear game! - By: Ms. S. L. Houghton, 04 Jul 2010 For a game with a story that so heavily revolves around the idea of beingin control of your own destiny & actions, it's remarkable that the player is almost an afterthoughtin what is essentially a mildly entertaining, completely linear movie.
What SquareEnix did right: the game looks amazing, the battle system has some interesting ideas & is fast-paced, & occasionally you get a glimmer of insight into how good the game really could have been.
What SquareEnix did wrong: Geez, where do you start?
The biggest problem for me is the linearity & the lack of 'fat'. FF13 is truly 99% fat free, except that the fat NEEDS to bein RPGs to create worlds that feel alive & not justin existence for the convenience of the game plot. There are no towns, no NPCs to interact with, no real, diverse sidequests (I don't count 60 monotonous, simple monster hunts as sidequests!). You are basically moving the characters from cut scene to boss fight to cut scene along a straight road for 90% of the game. The environments may be pretty, but a straight road is a straight road. The only world you get to explore of your own free will is a dead, non-immersive one devoid of anything but monsters & dull ruins.
You get to fight battles along these straight roads, though, sure. Unfortunately you are a) rewarded for speed & b) given 'auto-battle' functions that select the best option 99% of the time as long as you scan your enemy for weaknesses. There's little to be gainedin wasting your time, fiddling around with the manual ability selection just for the sake of it, meaning that the most efficient course of action is just to hammer auto-battle. The paradigm system addsin some level of manual interaction, but it's about the only element you really feel the need to control. You reach the point where you have to ask 'what is the point of me even being here when the game can basically just play itself?'.
The gameplay mechanics & designin general tend to boggle the mind, too. FF13 is lumbered with a weapon upgrade system that is utterly joyless to use, & dependent on very expensive components, most of which you won't have enough of until the last quarter of the game. The way it works, & the optimum way to avoid wasting your very limited funds of money, is also barely explained & relies upon a number of 'hidden' functions that you'd never figure out on your own. You can't even preview upgrades before you apply them, leading to a lot of frustrating reloading so that you don't end up wasting your precious components. Eidolons are, yet again, mostly useless except for a few gimmicky farming opportunities. The character development system is completely linear & offers no choice until the latter part of the game. In fact, you are pretty much restrictedin what you can do until you complete the storyline, at which point you can fully develop your characters & take on tougher enemies on Pulse. What's the point though, you have to ask yourself? The story should be the motivator for an RPG. Once it's over, you're likely to lose interest.
But what of the story itself? The story is good, right? Well . . . yes & no. For me, an RPG really needs a lead character for the player to connect with - none of the fairly bland cast here really perform that role. You're left with a group of headless side-characters, none of whom are particularly memorable, except for those who are infuriatingly annoying (I wanted to strangle Vanille by the end of the game). Each one goes through a horrendously forced 'revelation' during the story that 'solves' their primary character flaw & then everything is hunky dory for them. Add to that a plot that gets absurdly abstract/unexplainedin the latter half of the game & has a completely ridiculous ending, & I felt distinctly short-changed on rich & interesting plot for this Final Fantasy.
This is, essentially, a game that could have been a decent movie. It would have taken very little effort to remove the gameplay elements from it. Check out Heavenly Sword or Uncharted for games that manage great visuals & brilliant production values, whilst still being very playable & immersive. Unfortunately, Final Fantasy seems to be heading the way of all style & no substance, & as a long-term fan, I was ultimately very disappointed by this latest entry.
