We’re going far back into the mists of time this week. Well, maybe 2010 isn’t really all that long ago, but “the mists of two years ago” really doesn’t have the same ring to it does it? With the launch of Final Fantasy XIII-2 just around the corner (and after the suggestion came from TheLoneSteven) Final Fantasy XIII seems a good bet for this week’s WeView.
Now I know I frequently pick games I haven’t played for WeView, but they’re normally games I have at least a passing interest in. Final Fantasy really doesn’t fall into this category at all, the whole series holds no appeal for me at all. I mean I tried to play Final Fantasy VII but it just didn’t click and nothing I’ve seen of titles since has really drawn me back.
However, enough of my feelings. I’ll pass things over to Peter’s review of the game from back in March of 2010. He was fairly positive about the title, rating it at 8/10. If you prefer your opinions less numerical and more textual then here’s some words that, by a happy coincedence, happen to be about Final Fantasy XIII.
Ultimately your enjoyment of the game will depend on your tastes but for fans of traditional RPG games (and especially for fans of the Final Fantasy series) this should be unmissable. However, for those more casual players or newcomers to the genre it may be slightly overwhelming and the repetitive nature and sheer linearity of the early level design might be quite a disappointment for fans hoping for more from this generation’s first Final Fantasy RPG.
So that’s the view Peter gave in his review of the game but it’s time to hear what you think about the game. Does Final Fantasy XIII fill an RPG shaped hole in your life, or did it you leave you craving something more? Whatever your opinion of the game, you can drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Remember once you’ve given your thoughts on the game to give your final verdict on the Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It, Avoid It scale. If you want to your opinion and verdict to count in the community’s overall verdict next week you’ll need to have everything in by Sunday afternoon at the latest.
Nylon_Crash
Final fantasy is one of my favourite game series of all time, they are so epic. With characters you fall on love with and stories you want to be a part of.
Every Final Fantasy has a special place in my heart and all for different reasons.
Final Fantasy 13 is just a in-depth as the others with characters you love and some you want to hate and yell at. It may be the most linear of all of them, but that doesn’t mean its bad. It just means its going to throw the hard core final fantasy players a bit.
It doesn’t make it a bad game, in-fact I quite liked it about this one, it kept pushing me to play it, to learn more of the story and of the characters.
The Graphics are fantastic,I would go as far as saying beautiful. The details are awe inspiring from the threads in their clothes to the pores on there skin and eye lashes. This is the best looking game out there and shows what a ps3 is capable of.
Game play wise, at first I found it hard. The battle system was different and I was uncertain of it. But a couple of hours in I was a master, changing from Paradigm to paradigm in a blink of the eye. If anyone is having a hard time with it I recommend keeping with it, you get use to and in the end you will love it. I found it made the battles fast paced right to the killing strike.
I love this game, it may not be my favourite final fantasy but its up there and I do hold a special place for it in my heart like the others.
Buy it.
Tuffcub
I got stuck battling a big boss thing with a big head and four small upside down heads. I can’t beat it. Tried many times, always fail.
Roynaldo
Remember it well. Quite a nasty spike in the game. Need your tactics firmly down for him.
KeRaSh
Yeah but that’s the thing. Half the people moan that the battlesystem is a Auto-Attack spam fest, the other half quit the game because they couldn’t get past a certain boss. The Paradigms are there for a reason. If you equip the right ones beforehand and switch them at the right moments it’s really not that much of a problem. :)
Adiemus
Never underestimate the sentinal switch!
TSBonyman
I haven’t played much of the series but having played the impressive FFX on PS2 i really expected better. I found FFXIII tedious and frustrating to play. I plodded through it for five hours, plus another few hours trying to grind in the limited amount of ‘tunnel’ that you could back-track along but still the spiking difficulty curve took any remaining fun out of it for me. I paid €40 for it and when i went to trade it in two weeks later i was offered €1 as the game was now being offered new for €5 when you traded-in any game. I gave it away to a friend instead.
I’ll have to go with RENTAL – because i can’t quite bring myself to use the word ‘bargain’ where that game is concerned.
aerobes
Without getting into it, this game is a far cry from a series I grew up with and adore and it shares nothing with the Final Fantasy series but the name. One of the biggest disappointments on PS3. Avoid it.
KeRaSh
As a long time Final Fantasy fanboy (there, I said it) I had this beauty preordered as soon as it was up on Amazon. I actually bought the PS3 with the fact in mind that someday there will be a FF game on that console and I’d buy one just for that game anyways, so why wait?
Like many people I entered the FF franchise with FFVII, which is to date still my favourite game. If I was to play that game now for the first time I would probably say something different but the nostalgia effect raises this game above everything else. I was young and easier to impress. Don’t judge me…
Anyways, FFXIII came out and I spent more than 100 hours playing it, squeezing any last drop of content out of it and looking back, I regret absolutely nothing.
If it wasn’t for FFVII, this would be my favourite FF game and it wouldn’t even be close.
The story is interesting and has the right amount of twists to keep you guessing while not confusing you.
The battlesystem is probably my favourite battlesystem to date. Yes, you can’t control every character but if you were able to you’d be stopping the flow of the battle because on top of selecting abilities for your main characters, you have to be quick when changing the Paradigms at strategic points. This wouldn’t be that much of a problem during the first half of the game but later, when the difficulty of enemies and bosses picks up and you gain more abilities and ATB gauges, you’re glad you don’t have to pick every damn action yourself.
As for the linearity of the game. I must admit I don’t mind this at all. Actually, I’m quite glad it was that way. Classic RPGs with overworlds can be quite confusing. It’s not always obvious where you have to go to proceed with the story and I’ve never been a fan of running into the wrong direction just to get my ass handed to me by monsters that are way too tough for my current level. Does that make me a lazy/lame RPG fan? I couldn’t care less. At the end of the day I’m there to enjoy a story and FFXIII delivered just that.
The graphics are probably the best I’ve seen on the PS3 so far, the CGI cut scenes are nothing short of amazing and you get all that without installing any game data to your PS3 HDD and with almost no loading screens at all. I wish other developers would take a note.
Bottom Line:
It’s not FFVII, or any other “classic” RPG. Times have changed and I’m glad FFXIII took a more modern approach. You might get pushed down a narrow corridor but only to pace the story the way the developers intended it to and for me it worked. The areas you passed during your journey in the game looked nothing short of stunning and a more open world approach would not have made this any more enjoyable for me.
My opinion: Buy it.
Tanzil
As a Final Fantasy game, it’s very different (and not always in a good way). But as a standalone game, not thinking about the others, it’s brilliant. It’s got the story of an FF, graphically it’s as polished as any other FF and the music is epic as usual.
The main complain was linearity, which (to be honest) it was, was it’s only problem in my opinion. If you duked it out like I did, you’d have come to love the game. Yeah it was linear, too easy, too simple, they got rid of the end-of-battle music for a piano jingle, but overall it was definitely one hell of an experience.
I riked it. I riked it a lot.
yogdog
Really didn’t enjoy it, too linear an RPG for me. Avoid it.
Kennykazey
I have a love-hate relationship with this game, and is still trying to finish it from time to time. The thing is, after a while, it feels like I’m not really progressing as much as I would like to and I start to get bored as the game gets repetitive somewhat quickly. I hate the shop and upgrade system, the old FF games where much better in that regard with “real” shops and simpler, more easy to grasp upgrade systems that felt like it had an impact on the game. It feels like a chore in FF13. I’m also not a big fan of the battle-system as I much prefer the way it’s done in the old games like VI and VII. I guess I just want FF to be more old-school. Some of the characters are pretty good (I like Fang, the tough-guy of the group even if she’s a girl, Lightning the female Cloud who gets by on her good looks and quiet nature, and Sazh the comic relief with a bird in his ‘fro), but they often just come off as whiny sobs and this can get tiresome. The graphics are some of the best this generation and the audio isn’t half bad. Some of the environments are really cool aswell. And I have spent over 30 hours on it, so the game must be doing something right. As the game is pretty cheap now anyway, I’ll say Buy it
arodmell
I played it from start to finish.
Polished and slick but marred by linearity. I, like most FF fans, are still waiting for game to surpass FF7. Linearity has no place in an RPG….and you DEFINITELY shouldnt have to play 50hrs+ before you get a bit of a runaround.
Personally I would recommend that you RENT IT. Better still don’t play it at all until FF XIII-2 has been completed.
Roynaldo
Being (probably) the biggest FF nut around these parts of the interweb I doubt my Final verdict will surprise.
However there are some little niggles I can point out but I wont bore you with the details and comparisons as I dont think this game was designed to be like the rest. I believe this in some sort of way was testing the next gen waters, mainly graphically.
The story was deep and meaningful, the characters were vastly contrasting, the game had enough to keep you going for 90+ hours before getting the shiny platinum.
If you are looking to relive your youth with a next gen VII, VIII or IX then you are in for a shock…which occured on many. If you are looking for a different style RPG with superb visuals and story, casting aside your comparisons over other FFs, then you will be delighted with your purchase.
BUY IT!
KeRaSh
“Being (probably) the biggest FF nut around these parts of the interweb”
Oh, we’ll see about that! :P
Adiemus
Speaking of FF nuts! Have you tried the XIII-2 demo yet? (Screw waiting for it to come on EU PSN, Kupo!) It’s nothing short of awsome, Kupo! Starts with the battle system from XIII but expands throughout it showing you whats changed, It even has side missions, Kupo!
Tho I may be biased as I love Moogles and there is many many Kupo Kupo Kupo’s in it, Kupo.
KeRaSh
Haven’t tried the XIII-2 demo yet and probably wont. I want to go into the game without any spoilers (story or gameplay). :) Can’t wait for my Collector’s Edition to arrive…
Adiemus
Ah well then, based on what you said about about XIII i do believe youll love XIII-2! They do seem to have delivered what they set out to do (fix the problems and concerns) and even added some much needed humour! Without removing the stuff you liked, even with multiple paths its very clear where u need to go for example.
KeRaSh
Oh man, stop it. I can’t even wait for this to come out without you teasing the game! :P
Sounds great. I’m very tempted to download the demo but I have to resist…
maneorix
“Being (probably) the biggest FF nut around these parts of the interweb” Yet you’ve only played the PS2 FF’s and XIII :P – what’s with that ROY?!
Roynaldo
huh? ive played from VI onwards. what made you think that?
maneorix
That’s what you told me!
Roynaldo
must be thinking of someone else mate. found FF back in 1998 and not looked back since.