Final Fantasy XIII

Well I went and picked up the latest of the Final Fantasy line.

It has pretty graphics I'll give it that. Very nice cut scenes, to go along with those graphics.

The story is your average war between the upper and lower classes that breaks out in full scale slaughtering. Heroes step in looking for someone and get caught up in a new adventure.


The battles can be fast paced. You select what abilities you have active at the time. Each one has it's cost to use on your action meter. And when that fills up the abilities activate on the target(s). You can try to avoid or set up tactical moves with the enemy if you're fast enough or have an item to hide you. So not all battles have to be fought.

Weird that the main leader dies, the fights over. Not the get other people to use a phoenix down on you. But you can set up your two other party members to have different roles as you see fit. Then you can upgrade those roles with points you get as you adventure, to make them more useful.

One of the big down sides was the linear feel. I was pushed along the story with little chance to explore the world like I would of liked. So it wasn't the same FF I've grown and loved, and from what it seems has disappointed a lot of people.

But yeah why should I be forced to follow the story, when I want to diverge and go do side quests till the sun comes up outside my basement (ahem). And why do they include kids as fighters or make them as the main character in some cases?

This was not exactly the game I thought it was. I can't say I didn't have fun.

Rating 7 out of 10
Graphics +
Story - a little awkward and quirky but that has appeared in other FF and well most Animes.
Gameplay + Decent combat setup
- Linear feel to actual game