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| Final Fantasy XIII Review; Crono's Thoughts from 2011! (though I edited a little bit) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 22 2014, 03:51 AM (402 Views) | |
| CronoLink9 | Jan 22 2014, 03:51 AM Post #1 |
Keeper of Time
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I wrote this review a few years ago, but here's everything I think about Final Fantasy XIII in writing: Fabula Nova Crystallis: the most ambitious FINAL FANTASY title yet innovates and divides fans, but should certainly touch your heart. (Yeah, I did little "taglines" for my reviews.) OVERVIEW After the interesting deviation that was Final Fantasy XII (the game is part of a spinoff series of Final Fantasy games called Ivalice Alliance), the developers at Square-Enix decided to attempt an unprecedented game with cinematographic battle sequences, life-like character model rendering, and a completely breathtaking story which would be thoughtfully and dutifully told throughout the course of the game. Many long years went into the project; Square-Enix made use of a new game engine called Crystal Tools to develop the game, which allows detailed facial animation to look realistic, among other advancements. At long last, gamers all over the world can enjoy the wonder that is Final Fantasy XIII. STORY AND CHARACTERS As always, the story of a Final Fantasy game is very important. A number of the previous entries in the series have had some of the best narratives in video games, so following them up at any time would be a difficult task. But oh, how Square-Enix answered the challenge! They crafted a detailed and twisting plot that resonates at a personal level. The tale is about a group of god-like creatures called fal'Cie, and the people who serve under them. When specificallly handpicked by a fal'Cie, humans become marked as l'Cie, and are bound to do the will of their overlords. If they fail in their duties, they become zombie-like creatures known as Cie'th. The fal'Cie are not benevolent, but highly flawed and prone to human sin. Fal'Cie are divided into two groups: the Sanctum fal'Cie, who reside on the world of Cocoon, a paradise which floats above the enormous world of Pulse, and the Pulse fal'Cie, who unlike their enemies on Cocoon are not organized in any groups, but instead look after the planet as a whole. In ancient times, Cocoon and Pulse fought against each other, both areas believing the other to be evil. Unbeknownst to the peaceful citizens of Cocoon, a relic of this ancient war contains a Pulse fal'Cie, who has been long asleep, but has now awoken. The protagonists of Final Fantasy XIII become marked as Pulse l'Cie, bound to follow the unclear wishes of the Pulse fal'Cie. The majority of the story revolves around the challenges the protagonists face with following their Focus (what the Pulse fal'Cie has charged them to do), and their relationships with each other and with the world that hates them, for the rest of the world hates the Pulse l'Cie, seeing them as accursed monsters who threaten the stability and peace of Cocoon. While most games have a playable protagonist with a supporting cast, Final Fantasy XIII takes an approach more along the lines of Final Fantasy VI in that all major characters receive more or less equal weight and presence in the story. Lightning would probably be considered the lead protagonist, being the leader of the party at many points in the journey; she is a strong-willed young woman, so much so that she comes across as rather harsh. Snow is a heroic but rather brash character whose overstatements veil his naivety. Sazh is a pilot in his mid 30s who keeps a baby Chocobo as a pet and whose tough-guy attitude and cynical remarks mask his softness underneath. Vanille is a bubbly teenage girl who constantly looks on the bright side of everything. Hope is a spoiled 14-year old who has much distaste for Snow and is pretty much a wimp all around, at least at the beginning. Fang is a tough woman with many secrets that she keeps to herself. It's a varied cast, and all of them are highly enjoyable to watch and colorful, keeping the story moving along. And if there's one thing Square-Enix gets right over some studios, it's in their selection for voice actors...for the most part, anyway. The cast is portrayed through top-notch voice work, matched word-for-word on screen through realistic lip-syncing (even during FMVs), an effort that must have been enormous, particularly in re-syncing the words for the English translation. DESIGN Graphically, the game is positively gorgeous. The graphics don't fail to impress on every level, and while there are a few environmental textures that look a little wonky, they are just that: few and far between. Along the way, the characters are able to summon Eidolons, enormous mechanical spirits with some of the flashiest moves and techniques in the game. At certain times, cutscenes meld seamlessly into battle, making some of the more intense cutscenes all the more engaging. While the FMV scenes, of which there are many, are noticeably of a higher quality, they don't take away from the beauty of the in-game graphics. Square-Enix's new engine is their greatest asset, and it will hopefully make games look this good (or better) in the future. GAMEPLAY FINAL FANTASY has almost always been a turn-based RPG franchise, meaning that in battles, the player and the enemy took turns battling and got to attack in order based on their agility statistic. As the battle system evolved into more complex forms, such as the introduction of an Active Time system (which called for more realistic battles, as enemies could attack while the player was still making decisions for the characters' turns) or the use of an Overdrive (which utilized action commands similar to those in Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi), the gameplay of the different Final Fantasy entries differed from game to game. In Final Fantasy XIII, the battle system is perhaps the deepest and most intriguing yet. It mixes a lot of the various systems together while introducing new, unique tenets of its own. The player can only control one character at a time: the party leader. This is quite different for a turn-based RPG, but the new Active Time Battle system is complicated enough to require this. When commanding the leader to attack, several commands are input, in contrast to the normal "input-attack-enemy attack-wait-input again" cycle. Kindly enough, the game eases the player into different aspects of the battle system. The refined AI takes over the other two members of the party in-battle, but through the use of a Paradigm Shift mid-battle, the player can change the behavior and roles of the different characters in the party. These six roles (Commando, the strength-based attack; Ravager, the magic-based attack; Sentinel, the defense position; Saboteur, the status decrease; Synergist, the statistic-boost; and Medic, the health and status healer), when used in different combinations, yield different bonuses and enhancements to the battle team. Because the key to battle is driving the enemy's chain gauge up to do more damage, different paradigms are needed to make battles swifter (or at times, even possible to complete). Although on paper, this sounds a little complex, it makes more sense once you get used to it. Battles are flashy, quick-paced, and at times, surprisingly hard. MUSIC The game's music is great; so great, in fact, that I would put it near the top of the "Greatest Video Game Soundtrack of All-Time" list. Nobuo Uematsu's sort-of successor (since he is still composing music for FINAL FANTASY) Masashi Hamauzu proves with this soundtrack that he is very ready to take hold of the reins of his predecessor. The standard battle theme is perhaps the series' best yet, and the inclusion of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra on several tracks is quite welcome. The soundtrack is a nice mix of electronica, jazz, and beautiful leitmotifs. I've read quite a number of complaints about how Uematsu wasn't on board for this soundtrack, but I can't recall ever reading claims that this soundtrack was bad by any means. It's phenomenally, beautifully composed. POINTS OF CONTENTION I know a lot of people hated how linear the game was. At times, the player literally is walking a pretty straight line from point A to point B. FINAL FANTASY generally contains exploration, world maps, and so forth, but much of this game does not have that. If I'm being honest, though, I really wasn't too disappointed about this. The developers have explained why they chose this course of design, feeling that they couldn't tell the story the way they wanted to if they gave free rein, as is pretty common in most Western RPGs. And being as satisfied as I am in the brilliantly elaborate and detailed story, I have no complaints about this. If I had one complaint about this game, it's in the lack of sidequests. While one rather large one opens up later in the game, the others throughout the game are very few and far between. Not being able to go back to a lot of areas can also be a little annoying, but the monster variety at later stages in the game is quite enormous. ETC. Also enormous is the game's length. Most RPGs run upwards of 50 hours, and Final Fantasy XIII is no different, clocking in between 50-60 hours for the story alone. After the game is complete, though, many more hours can be spent doing that aforementioned large sidequest. In conclusion, Final Fantasy XIII is the culmination of over 20 years of FINAL FANTASY's spellbinding storytelling, and in this reviewer's eyes, there's no better game in this console generation, particularly if you like JRPGs with excellent stories, unique battle systems, and fascinating design. Edited by CronoLink9, Jan 22 2014, 03:55 AM.
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Gamertag/PSN Name: CronoLink91 3DS Friend Code: 2766-8640-8214 Nintendo Network Name: CronoLink9 SPACE DANDY IS A DANDY GUY IN THE SPACE. 
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11:56 AM Jul 13