Final Fantasy XIII - Playstation 3

So far I have played Final Fantasy 7, 10 and 12 and have liked all of them. With all of the hype going on around Final Fantasy 13, I decided to give this one a try and here is what I thought. PROS. PARADIGM COMBAT SYSTEM: This game utilizes unique turn based combat system. To me, this combat system was the BEST ASPECT of the game. In Final fantasy games so far (other than 12), you have to do each action such as attack, healing, magic one by one by one. This game gives you option to do that or you can have "auto battle" mode where things are taken care for you. So the enemies you want to deal with "personally" you can combat them yourselves, but then you are not stuck hitting same command again and again for each fight you do in the game. Think of it this way, in other final fantasies, you are acting as individual soldiers while in this game you are mainly acting as commander. So instead of controlling each of the party member's action individually, you can set up a "paradigm" where you can focus more on physical or magical or healing or combination of these actions. At first you will find it a bit puzzling but once you get it, you will most likely love it. STAGGERING ENEMIES: To win a battle, you have to punish an enemy (or enemies) up to the point that they "stagger". At this point, the enemy will take a lot more damage and is less likely to attack. While it is not necessary to stagger an enemy to defeat it, for most game, you will find it difficult to defeat enemies without staggering them. So what is so special about staggering enemies? In order to stagger them in most cases you will have to use variety of paradigms and will have to come up with different strategies. Again, in the beginning you may find this difficult to understand, but once you get it, it gets to be quite fun. VARIETY OF BOSSES AND ENEMIES: Yup, there is great variety of enemies and different bosses in this game (as expected of "final fantasy"). Before you finish the game, you will have defeat quite a few different enemies and bosses and to defeat them you will have to use different strategies. While most enemies you may find it pretty straightforward to beat (especially in the beginning of the game), many later on enemies and bosses will be quite difficult until you figure out the right strategy. But don't worry there are ways to defeat them and you will find these challenges fun rather than frustrating. CRYSTAL LEVELING UP SYSTEM: This game has similar leveling up system as Final Fantasy 10. Defeating each enemies gives you points and then you use these points to level up different characters. The difference is you can level up a character in different direction (i.e. you can make a character better at magic, physical attacks, healing, sabotaging enemies, etc.) Each character will have 3 specialty areas and later on you can develop the character in all 6 different classes. Pretty addicting if you ask me. TONS OF SIDEQUEST BOSSES: So it takes a while to get up to this point, but once the open world portion of the game begins, there are tons of (>60) mini and major bosses to beat in the game. There is this portion called TITAN CHALLENGE (won't spoil much) which is very interesting. Here you will have to defeat a series of enemies in certain way. I liked it. SPECTACULAR SUMMONS: In this game each character gets a cool summon. While you don't have control over when you can obtain it, in order obtain them you have to beat them. LOVED IT. Once you obtain them you get to use their awesome powers and most importantly limit breaks. This has been my favorite part in many of the final fantasy game and just like previous final fantasies, this game has delivered them nicely. BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANT FANTASY WORLD: The creation of Cocoon and Pulse are just mind blowing. Everything in these worlds is very elegantly designed. If you look carefully designers have truly given attention to details. Loved just loved each and every level. WEIRD BUT UNDERSTANDABLE STORY: Really can't tell you much without spoiling it, but like in many Japanese games, this one also has a very strange, but unique story with a great underlying theme. WEAPON AND ARMAMENT LEVELING UP: I am happy in addition to character they also have weapon leveling up in this game. To level up your weapon though you have to collect and use different items in a unique manner. For example, certain weapons can only be leveled up to level 11; however, if you obtain these unique item you can break that limit and level it up even further turning it into a completely different weapon. If you like this type of stuff the game will keep you occupy for a LONG TIME. CONS LACK OF CONTROL OVER BATTLE TEAM: As described in pros, you have to design specific paradims and you can use them in the battle to your liking. However, these combination are not limitless. In other words, you won't be able to control all three of the party members in the exact manner you want to. For example, with characters A,B, and C, I want both characters A and B to attack the same enemies with physical attacks, I don't have that option. Also if I want to revive character B before healing character C that is also not an option (unless the character I control is the healer). While it seems like a major issue, it really is not. There is not a single enemy you won't be able to beat due to this problem. WHINY CHARACTERS: Ever since Final Fantasy 10, they have been having so many whiny characters in these games. Hate it, just hate it. Good thing is whiny character in this game will only whine for first quarter of the game. Also, what Japanese people and Westerners find "awesome" and "funny" are quite different. Some dialogues that Japanese may find awesome will simply sound lame to us. So that is also a problem in this game. CONCLUSION Contrary to the cons I described, this is a great game. Battle System, leveling up and hunt for different bosses and items will keep you busy and entertained for a long time. With side quests, it has taken me about 84 hours and I am still not quite done. With lowered prices, I would say this is a MUST OWN game.

I've played every Final Fantasy title from FFVI on, and I have to say, this is probably my favorite title of the series. The graphics, it must be said, are simply amazing. When Square stated they wanted an engine that rivals the visuals of Advent Children, they weren't joking. The first time you unleash Lightning's Army of One ability, your jaw will simply drop, despite the fact that you've probably spent a good 30+ hours being amazed by the graphics already. On the PS3, 1080p is stunning, and the cutscenes are beautiful and plentiful. Prior to this, I thought Mass Effect 2 had set the bar for gaming visuals, but FFXIII makes Mass Effect 2 look obsolete. In terms of combat, I find that XIII really combines the best of FFX-2 and FFXII. FFX-2, despite being much maligned by fans of the series, has the most interesting battle mechanism of all the Active Time Battle-based Final Fantasy titles. FFX-2 and FFXIII battle sequences look very similar. The difference, of course, is that instead of dress spheres that you then have to micromanage, now you have pretty much what amounts to preprogrammed gambits (as in XII). The advantages are obvious. I think XII made buffing and debuffing quite painless by allowing you to set them as gambits, and this is important because in previous titles, honestly, it is a simple pain to buff and debuff during mob battles. You will have to use every one of the six classes effectively, even at the very end of the game. Can you say that about any of the FF titles in the last 15 years (other than IX, of course)? I can't. Usually you spam the best ability for all it's worth. For instance, once Yuna learned Holy and Tidus learned Quick Hit in FFX and your stats get high enough, combat became ridiculously easy. VII is all about the Knights of the Round spamming. Sure, XIII suffers from a bit of that, too. The Death spell is a bit overpowered, and Sazh's Blitz is simply unfair. But even with these, forget to use your Sentinel and Synergists, and you'll be dying more often than you should. Which brings me to my next point. In terms of the frequency of Game Over screens, this is the hardest FF game of the 3D era, there's no question about it. Maybe that's not saying much, but you can get more emotionally (and physically) involved in the combat than ever before. You'll really be working for that Stagger, making split second decisions as to whether to go for that one extra turn of attacks or to heal/buff/debuff, whether to try Thaumatology or Diversity, whether to interrupt the current chain of commands or to wait. All these things matter. In what other FF title does that one split second decision matter this much? As for not controlling the other party members, that's such a minor point in my mind. Other than not using the best attack spells from time to time, it really feels like the AI is well programmed and does not hinder your abilities much. In any case, if you had to control all three characters, this system would just lose its urgency and excitement because you wouldn't be able to make the overall strategical decisions quite as much. Considering how fast and hard some of the enemies hit, having to do everyone's healing while dishing out magic and working on renewing buffs would be really annoying to say the least. I know everyone complains about the game's linearity (it's like X except no backtracking), but this game is really, really well paced, and a lot of that has to do. You can't get overly powerful because there are limits to what you are able to accomplish at any given point. Yes, I know, FFX had Key Spheres, but you could easily find Lvl 3 and 4 Key Spheres if you knew where to get them. Maybe RPG should stress the role playing aspect by letting you explore around before deciding to go ahead with the story. But I don't see anything that's truly realistic about being able to kill the hardest bosses in the story line with zero difficulty either, so I think it's a trade-off. I finished the game at about 55 hours and the final two chapters were the best ending 10 hours of any Final Fantasy game ever. Usually, this is often a very boring portion of the game, and 55 hours is long enough to get leveled beyond decency in most other FF games. Not so in FFXIII. I still dreaded facing certain enemies, and the end boss of Chapter 12, rarely have I celebrated so much at beating a story line boss in FF. I've compared this game a lot to FFX, which was previously my favorite title in the series, but not anymore. I think that it is true that at times, FFXIII does not feel like your average FF game. I mean, the only returning musical theme is the Chocobo theme, there are no towns and inns, and just about everything feels different from before. But once you dig deeper, you see elements of your favorite FF games from the past, only they have been distilled and refined into something that's more approachable. But approachable doesn't mean dumbed down. No, in this case, it means that combat is evolving, staying engaging and diverse until the very end. When you think about it, this is the only title other than FFIX that has achieved this, and FFIX did so with a very rigid character class system. Grinding for two hours won't change much in this game, only give you a bit more wiggle room. I find that to be absolutely brilliant. This review is likely to ramble on and on, but I feel that this game needs to be defended a bit, considering people are quick to dismiss it for what it should be, instead of trying to judge it for what it is and what it is trying to do. I have a feeling that once the dust settles, people will enjoy this game more. I know that my first playthrough of this game was the most fun I've ever had in the first playthrough of a FF game, and ultimately, I think that's what the game should be judged by. I know I've logged more hours into FFVII than any other game, but I didn't have too much fun sometimes in FFVII. This isn't an issue with FFXIII. Play this game with no prejudice or inflated expectations, and you'll see the title for what it is, yet another worthy FF title.

So I have read a lot of negativity around this game. I have been a FF gamer since FF7 and have since played all of the major titles. I certainly understand some of the criticism given to this particular installment and it is definitely without it's flaws. But for me, what I try to do with each FF game is to take it for what it is. For me, here's some things I've noticed: Linearity: Okay, as a game series that's typically notorious for it's ability to roam freely and explore, this certainly is not the case with this installment. Now, I could moan and groan and say that I don't get to explore, which at times I missed, but, however, I have found the linearity a breath of fresh air. Simply put, I don't have the time these days to explore, grind, do every side quest and monster hunt. I would have liked a good monster hunt sidequest or two, but I certainly don't feel cheated. Don't get me wrong, I like to explore in RPGs when I have the time but it was kind of nice to see a little more focus on the story (which I will get to in a minute). Gameplay: At first, I thought it was senseless button mashing for about the first ten hours of the game, but things started getting real tricky without the right paradigm. It really made me concentrate on the roles that each player needs to be strong at. The battle system is fun and works well and requires a little bit of strategy without having to micromanage. I like the quickness of battles and like all the little unique changes that this installment has. It'll seem weird at first, but it makes sense as you go and assume more roles and aquire summons. Story: Definitely, for me, the shining part of the game in conjunction with the beautiful artwork/graphics. It' is very story driven. It was confusing at first, but things seem to fall into place as you go. I would have to disagree with the bandwagon thought that the story is weak and could have been written by a five year old. It has its flaws I admit, and I would have liked maybe a little more depth to the characters, but keep in mind the story is more about the group as a whole and not necessarily focused on each character. I would agree that it follows some typical RPG story patterns and is somewhat predictable. However, however, it's a fresh new take that I found engaging. It certainly good. Maybe not the best, but certainly not the worst. All in all. It's kind of like the iPad. If you know what you're getting and acknowledge the flaws, then it is quite remarkable for what it is. It' doesn't follow the traditional path of most RPGs and in a lot of ways differs, but if you give it a chance go into this understanding this, then you will enjoy the game as much as I did.

This is a great FF with some noted defects. As always my reviews will center around in order of importance, story, characters, and gameplay. Story: 8/10 The story is one of the strongest aspects to this game. The story is way out there but it keeps you interested. Has a good but surreal ending and stays true to the great FF's when it comes to story. Leaves you wanting more but definitely ends it well. It does get confusing sometimes especially if you put the game down for any amount of time and then come back to it. It's hard to keep track who the bad guys are in this game but all in all the story is great Characters: 8/10 This probably has one of the better casts in all of final fantasy with one major exception. You easily become attached to the characters and the back development of each character is great. Each character evolves as the story goes and really keeps you into the story and game. Nonetheless, Lightning is a bit boring though not the worst main character i've seen. One major exception to this is Snow. Snow is one of the most annoying and useless characters in the game. It got to the point that I cringed whenever I heard his voice. Hope is extremely annoying in the beginning but keep going he gets better. Gameplay 7/10 Gameplay has some of the strongest points in the game right along with some of the weakest. First the good. The battle system is awesome. Keeps your fingers moving and keeps your brain ticking. Absolutely loved the battle system. Completely new to the series and I can't say enough good things about it. A lot of people don't like it because you are no longer able to control the other characters in your party but instead assign roles to them. I will admit that at times that does get annoying when I'm wanting my synergist to cast haste on a certain character but instead he casts shell on someone else. However, the slight shortcomings don't hold the battle system back any Now the bad..I personally don't like Eidolons or any of the FF's that have them. To me they just aren't that great and I have been less than impressed with the most recent FF's and their summonings/eidolons...but that's very small and largely chalked up to personal preference. Now the really bad...LINEARITY. The game does hand hold you through the first 10 chapters and it does get annoying. But my main linearity complaint is the lack of depth when it comes to sidequests. There just aren't any sidequests besides mark hunting. FF XII's hunting was good but it also had other sidequests to go along with it. FFXIII pretty much just ignores sidequesting completely unless you want to hunt stuff....I will also say that the majority of the game is like walking down one large hallway that has a few twists and turns. It is very linear and many people absolutely hate it. That aspect didn't bother me as much but I will admit that it does take away from the game. I do not like completely open world games but I also hate running down the same hallway for 3 screens. I loved FFX and if FF is going to do linear games it should go back to that type. Overall 8/10 All in all this game is a good game. The story is decent, the characters one some of the best and the gameplay is still great even with a few noted blemishes. If you are a fan of FF and are considering playing this game, do yourself a favor and pick it up.

To start off, it needs to be said I have played EVERY Final Fantasy game since their release. I was around 10 when I started FF1 I and have been a stalwart fan of the series. I haven't liked all FF's (i.e. 8 and 12) so I feel I do weigh my perspective with some thought. The best thing I can say about Final Fantasy XIII is that I feel it is a bold step to try to evolve the series with some new elements. Like with any change or evolution of something, you are going to get those that resist change (which you will see in earlier reviews) and others that are for it. As a result, I think FF13 ends up being a love it/hate it game. Where you will end up ultimately depends on how you approach this game. If you come into FF13 with an open mind and a willingness to try something different with no preconceived notions, you could end up being in the love it category. 13 brings with it a great story with a lot of heart and characters you care for. The battle system is refreshing and unique. At first I was slightly hesitant not being able to micromanage my characters, but it ended up being exhilarating. You do have a lot of control over the battle, but control different elements of the battle that many people are not accustomed to. The "Paradigm shift" feature of the game is like a job class for your team of characters rather than individual roles characters play. I enjoy shifting paradigms and trying different strategies in taking down enemies. Outside of the gameplay you are given an amazing setting with graphics that are amazing on the PS3. The lush visuals and details that were put into this game are outstanding. The facial expressions on your characters are impressive and the overall environment is immersive. The voice acting of a couple of the characters can be annoying at times, but overall, I found the game to create a world that I wanted to explore. I mentioned it earlier, but the storyline is also intriguing with a lot of themes that run beneath the surface. Overall, this is an engaging experience that will keep you captivated. Now if you come into FF13 with preconceived notions about JRPGs and a desire to play a more traditional RPG where you dictate the detail of what each and every character does, then this game is not for you and you will fall into the 'hate it' category (most likely). I loved that this game approached the battles differently and had you focus your energies on team dynamics and not specific actions, but that is NOT for everybody. If you are a person who needs to dictate the action of everyone, you may struggle enjoying this game. The other issue that you read about is how linear it is. It is true that FF for the most part is a linear experience giving you freedom only within the battles and the customization of your characters abilities/weapons. You explore a world, but it plays out more like chapters than an open world. In today's games with endlessly open worlds, this may create a problem for some people. At the end of the day, Final Fantasy is an engaging and enthralling experience depending how you come into the game and if you can accept evolution/change. The elements of Final Fantasy are still there for longtime gamers, but are explored in different ways. Newcomers to the series will also enjoy a fresh take to a classic JRPG style. It's not for everyone, but if you open yourself to a fresh experience and approach it as such, you may leave highly satisfied.

I recently got this game when I got a ps3 (so I could download all the old FF games and play them again from PSN). I've been a long time fan of the series, though I put off playing this one because of the horrible press I had heard. I often complain about how mainstream gaming developers do anything to widen their audience, selling out the core base for the sake of more money by expanded demographics. Having played games my entire life, I remember when titles had culture and fit a niche, instead of everyone on the planet buying call of duty's newest title every year. This game changed it's audience, but didn't widen it like people would expect. It honestly feels more narrowly focused than any title before. Things that make some gamers love this title so much are often the same things other people detest. From here on, I'll focus on what those points are. 1. It's VERY Japanese. The people, the culture, the mannerisms, the voice acting, the story, all make great sense and are incredible, assuming you understand and like Japanese culture. People find Vanille grating, or don't understand the story telling of the cutscenes, often because of these cultural differences. 2. Increased graphics / sound led to increased subtlety. They love to play on words and use subtle character expression to try and tell the story. Not everyone catches these, or finds it to be an acceptable way to move a plot along. +10 points if you can spot the awesome Dylan Thomas reference that Sazh makes(chapter 4 ish I think?). It's a one liner in a cut scene, but it ends up connecting on a lot of levels. They LOVE doing things like that, or making character names massive plays off the plot. Again, some of these are just more popular from that culture. 3. Linearity is used to control a very carefully crafted story. You are dragged along because the characters are. I do agree that this could have been done in a more inviting way, more as previous titles. In FF 7, in Midgar, you felt like you were exploring, and connecting with the world, even though you were still locked down to a couple zones at a time. The story being told wouldn't do well with that kind of environment. It would be hard to do that without creating weird plot holes. I do think this is something that both could have been improved, and sounds like that has been noted for future titles. There needs to be non-combat sections spread around, breaking up the pace. 4. Soundtrack. The music is good ambiance, and does what it looks to do. It is not like the older FF titles however. Instead of simpler, melodic tracks that have a tune you just love to get stuck in your head (Nobuo Uematsu FTW), they feature more generic and modern songs to meet an ambiance they're looking for. It works, but it isn't going to be as timeless as the chocobo theme or cosmo canyon. Back then though, the characters weren't constantly talking, so the music had a lot more focus on the audio anyways. Now, it seems like they're afraid a powerful song will detract from the game itself. There are a few places the soundtrack really does do a great job, and takes the lead, but it isn't a commonplace thing. 5. Combat. It progresses slowly. 12 hours into this game, they will STILL be introducing new combat elements. This makes the beginning incredibly over simplified (first couple hours are mostly just "attack attack attack"), but it ends up getting players sped up to a very complex and fast paced system. If it weren't for a ramp up over a long time, it would be too daunting for many players to figure out. The pacing could stand to be improved (it was a bit too slow for anyone familiar with turn based rpg's). It's surprising how easy it becomes for you to know how to implement reasonably complex strategies later in the game, after being so slowly led through each option and choice. And as a final note, I still fail to see the redeeming qualities of Eidelons as anything more than a plot element. I can't for the life of me understand how vehicular summons with meager attacks and out of place animations really do anything right for anyone in actual combat, besides just trying way too hard to be cool. I pretty much avoided using them entirely, especially since the TP cost was too much to justify it. Identifying an enemy's stats 3 times was almost always a more valuable option to me than bringing up a motorcycle so I can wheelie someone's face for no damage.

I wanted to complete Final Fantasy XIII before I wrote an adequate review and I'm glad I did. As we all know, FFXIII has gotten a lot of bad publicity from everyone. Well I can honestly say that it's not as bad as what everyone says nor is it as good as what big publications say either. The game itself is just okay, the end period. Point 1-Linearity. All the complaints about the game is actually justifiable, it's absolutely linear, completely non interactive, and just plain sterile. The exaggerated notion that the game is basically a corridor game is in truth correct. The layout of the each section in the game is just going from point A to point B, nothing more nothing less. There are branching parts that leads to either dead ends or treasure but even then its far and few. From beginning to end the players will be following a set path that leads from start to finish. This game is the absolute pinnacle of linearity, not even the original Final Fantasy 1 was like this. Point 2-Towns/NPC. Towns are completely devoid of interactivity. I wouldn't say there are no towns because there are, three actually. But what you can do withing those towns are pretty much none existence. You won't able to visit homes because there are none, you won't be able to purchase items because items, accessories, and weapons are bought through save points, and you won't be able to speak with NPC's because they talk automatically once you move by them. It's more as if you're hearing them speak when you pass by than it is actually starting a conversation with them. The towns are also like the rest of the maps, its basically once again going from point A to point B. Point 3-Battle system. The battle system is a mixed bag for me, sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I don't, and sometimes it feels very boring and like a chore. If you're unaware of FFXIII's battle system its completely new to the series. Your party consists of three members, and players only control the party leader the rest of the members are AI controlled. Battles occur in real time and are pretty fast. I wouldn't say its lighting fast, but its faster than the rest of the main series. To help players easily navigate through the speed of the battle system there is an auto button that will smartly choose what actions to take during battles. If you want to still manually input your commands you can also do so, but you would have to have pretty fast reflexes and cognitive decisions to keep up with the pace. Actions are separated into sections bars and commands are inputted and queued awaiting the ATB bar to fill up before proceeding. For example, when you have three action bar you could press attack, attack, attack during the time the ATB is filling up and once it does the action is performed. There are also different roles for each of the party members to change into which will change the abilities available. These role are similar to tanks, casters, buffers, healers etc. It's every similar to Final Fantasy X-2 dress grid, where you're able to change into a different dress to again different abilities, expect in FFXIII you won't be changing dresses. These role swaps are crucial to defeating enemies so don't think that you can tank your way through the entire game. You have to strategically swap roles or enemies and especially bosses will decimate your party. There are no magic points in the game so you can use as much magic as possible and items are distributed throughout your entire party. At the end of the each battle your party's HP will replenish itself so there's no need to heal outside of battles. Whether all this is a deal breaker to players or not, I can see why the developers decided on these choices. You will be battling a lot of enemies throughout the game so its very counter intuitive if you have to heal yourself after every battle. The game also doesn't provide you with a lot of items nor money, and purchases are only available through save points so it doesn't make sense to have to heal outside of battles. It's basically all about stream lining the game and these choices help to really keep the pace smooth and consisting. Now like I mentioned earlier the battle system is sometimes fun and sometimes a chore. I saw a video review where the reviewer summed up the battle system as pressing X, X, L1, and X. Unfortunately, that's pretty much what the battle system is. You press X to select your option, then L1 to change roles, and followed by your last Xs to finish the command. Every battle consists of this formula and as you play further in the game, it becomes extremely boring. There's also the complaint that once your party leader dies, the game ends. Well I don't have a problem with that because you can always retry the battle if you die. What's good about this is that when you retry you get the option to change your battle configuration and updates to your character before engaging the enemy again. What I found extremely annoying withing the first 30 hrs are the sections where certain battles are meant for certain party members, and when engage your configurations are reset. I often died during these sections to have to retry and reset my party configurations. It was a major annoyance to me. Okay for the good, FFXIII has amazing graphics for this generations RPG. It's very sad that the graphics are restricted to the narrow environments, but its beautiful graphics non the less. The story is also pretty good, in fact the story was actually the part of the game that kept me playing. As far as how the game is, I found it to be okay and only okay. I'm not sold on the battle system, it was fun at first until I realized the basic fundamentals and it became boring. I absolutely did not enjoy the linearity of the game and its non interaction. People like to compare FFXIII to FFX, well in a sense they are similar but not exact. FFX was linear but here's where the line is drawn. You can interact with NPC, explore towns, buy items from item shops, backtrack to a previous area, participate in mini games and side quests, revisit towns, and explore hidden areas when you have access to an air ship in FFX. FFXIII has non of that, you can't backtrack, you can't interact with NPCs, there are no mini games and only one side quest, no revisiting towns, and no air ship. What you can do is participate in a side quest that involves hunting down creatures, similar to FFXII "Hunt Marks" side quests, upgrade your weapon and accessories, and collect trophies. Reviewers like to say that the linearity ends at a certain part within the game near the end, well that's just not true. What they are talking about is the option to re-explore a vast area that consists of a gorge and monsters exactly like FFX's "Calm Land" just larger. This is also the area where you take part in the monster hunt side quest, which in turns take you all over gran pulse again. And again area to area, point A to point B. So, should FFXIII be played or avoided all together? Well honestly it depends. I did have fun during my time with the game, it just wasn't as fun as the rest of the series. I had a lot of moments of boredom and irritations and a few moments of awe and wows. But honestly this game should at least be rented and tried out. It's not the most disgusting and worst FF series developed, but it's not the next generation FF we were all expecting. After all, besides the graphics there's nothing in FFXIII that couldn't have been done with the last generation consoles.

I'm amazed by all the negative reviews for this game! I replayed the original Final Fantasy on my iphone last year and absolutely loved it. In the context of how far the series has come in last 25 years, this game is nothing short of extraordinary. I can't begin to imagine the hard work, careful planning, and passion that went into it's creation. If it's not your cup of tea, fine - but hating it? Really? It is true the game has one major drawback, which is often described as "linearity" - although some of the best games in the series have been incredibly linear - IV and IX especially, but many others as well - XIII takes this to a new level by having the first 10 chapters of the game constructed as one-way stages that offer minimal exploration and cannot be returned to later in the game. This changes eventually and things become more open ended, but I admit, I was feeling the monotony for a while, and I missed both the exploration and social interactions of most other games in the genre. But in the end, I give the game 5 stars in spite of this, because the extraordinary graphics, the battle system, and above all the story actually do make up for it. The entire story is a mediation on fate and free will. The main question the characters ask themselves is whether they have any control over their own actions, and how to do the right thing. Given that's the theme, isn't the linearity in the first half of the game oddly appropriate? I mean, you have these characters struggling with feeling helpless to change anything about their fate - and here they are, running down this prescribed path, unable to do anything about it. It's a clear case of form matching content, which in literature is a sign of a very sophisticated piece of work. Is the linearity frustrating? Yes! And that is a perfect mirror for what the characters are going through. It might lose points for pure entertainment, but it gains points for art - and artful interactive storytelling is for me what the Final Fantasy series is all about.

El juego me llego en buenas condiciones nada roto, lo más curioso, es que me llego el plástico blanco en vez de rojo, ya saben, cuando un juego es de categoría "Greatest Hits", pero por un rara razón, el manual esta todo en Frances, no tienen una sección en Ingles, y como no se francés, no entiendo nada de lo que dice, es como si me lo han mandado desde Canadá y no en Estados Unidos, tampoco es que vaya a devolver el juego por algo tan tonto, solo son pequeños detalles, si alguien estudia francés, esta es su oportunidad para aprender, quizás valga algo en el coleccionismo, ahora con respecto al juego, lo he estado jugando por el emulador de PS3, RPCS3 (Si, sé que está en PC, pero es un mal port y debe usar mods para corregirlo) la verdad, de momento, lo estoy disfrutando, espero que mis capturas sirvan de algo por si están interesados en comprarlo a día de hoy en 2023.

Thank you very much

Visually stunning game, the story was a bit hard for me to understand at first and the linear gameplay was boring. But that's all at the start. About 70% into the game when the true final fantasy(free roam and grind) experience starts and it's massive!!! Yea, have to be patient till then.

La boite est en anglais, cela dit ça ne m'aurait pas dérangé de jouer le jeu en anglais. Le jeu est adapté à votre console, donc, si la console est programmée "française", le jeu est automatiquement en français. Une histoire vraiment riche en émotions, même si un peu brouillon, malgré les combats assez répétitifs et le gameplay assez linéaire, il est compensé par un incroyable graphisme et des personnages tout aussi attachants les uns que les autres. 5/5 Recommandé.

A lot of people, especially Final Fantasy did not enjoy this game. This game offers a lot of new things that have come to shape modern day final fantasy. The paradigm shift battle system is an interesting take on the active time battle system and you can avoid the fights on the open world since mobs are displayed on the map. They have an interesting leveling system that is pretty linear, but it has branches and slight deviants so you can pick and choose stats for your characters for a short while. The lore behind the Fal'Cie is actually pretty strong, and makes a compelling back story. After the first few chapters the game, and the characters really start to take shape, but that seemed to be too long for most people.