The Geeking: Final Fantasy XIII Review

Okay, so you know how I promised that I would review Final Fantasy XIII after I finished playing it? You do? Well, I actually finished playing the game about a month ago...oops! Hey, don't get mad at me! It's not like I'm a lazy bum who just procrastinates all the time!

...Oh, right.

With that aside, let's get to the FIRST EVER. GEEKING. REVIEW. ON. VRP!


FINAL FANTASY XIII REVIEW

Final Fantasy XIII is a game that RPG gamers have looked forward to playing for a long time.We stuck with the breath-taking trailers, fantasized on the FF Forums, even made poorly written fanfiction about it before the game came out. While not a forum poster or a fanfiction writer myself, I was among the many who looked forward to playing the game as soon as it came out. I have played many of the games before it: XII, X-2, X, IX, VIII,VII, V, and IV, and loved all of them. Needless to say, XIII (I shall be calling it that from this point onward) had clown-sized shoes to fill.  So did they fill them?

The answer, ladies and gents, is a Yes, and a No.

Yes, XIII is a good game. It's lovely, with good game play and interesting world design.

As for a No? You'll just have to keep reading to find out. I'll be basing this on the needed factors of an RPG: Graphics, Game play, Lasting Appeal, Plot, and Characters. Let's start with the good stuff and head down from there.



GRAPHICS/GRAPHIC DESIGN:

Oh gee mamma, this game is pretty. It might just be the prettiest game I've played. The world varies from lush plains to dark and dingy robotesque factories. The characters are all wonderfully rendered, with great detail extending to even the texture of their clothing and hair. Each area is obviously well thought out, and there are new little objects to look at wherever you go. And then there are the cut scenes, which are just so beautiful, sometimes, they make your pupils go wide and your jaw drop.

So with such a pretty world like this, is there anything disappointing about how this game looks?

Uh-huh. You see folks, there might be lush plains in the game, but you won't be able to see them for most of the story line. Instead, you'll be trapped in dark, ugly, monotonous areas full of rusty trash and debris for a lot of the game. Sometimes, the areas blend together and you forget where you are. Sure, the game is pretty, but when it comes to variation of graphic design the game falls short. There are high tech parts that have lots of magical space ships and all that, but once again, they all kind of look the same. When you get to Gran Pulse, the heart of the game, you'll be on your knees, thanking your deity for the warmth and the sunshine. (Of course, that will be after about 14 hours walking through a dirt pile. ) Gran Pulse might even get boring after a while, because it is where nearly ALL of the side quests are located, so if you want to beat everything, you'll have to look at a whole lot of green.

GAME PLAY:

XIII is a pretty fun game to play. And like each Final Fantasy, it has a defined battle system.

I won't go into detail with the system, but it I will tell you it is a nice blend between button mashing and strategy. The battles are all about switching your battle team up to fit certain circumstances, and you do that by changing the roles that each character plays. You have three characters in a team, also. For example, if you were fighting an enemy with a strong defense, you would switch up your battle team to a Saboteur (A debuffing role), a Commando (hard attacker), and maybe Medic (healer). The Sab would weaken the defense, while a commando rapidly attacked, and a medic healed. Of course, it isn't as simple as that. There are also things called chain gauges, and each enemy has one. The more you attack, the faster the chain builds. If it reaches a certain point, the enemy is "staggered" which means that he is stunned and super weak. The game also judges you on how fast you win each battle. This puts some emphasis on the need to switch your battle teams up from defensive to offensive to beneficial as quickly as possible, making the battle system a thrill ride. (END confusing rant.)

So yes, battling is fun, but what if that is all you do? I'm serious. There are no side quests besides hunting down and killing monsters. There are no mini games like in the previous FFs.

Oh, I forgot. You walk. How rude of me to forget that.

You will be walking forward for most of the game. Don't even try to turn left, you don't need to. Each area is so linearly designed that essentially all you have to do is push the joy stick forward, and watch your character move to the next screen. I guess you could go to that little cubby over there and pick up an item, but there are essentially no side paths to go and explore. For the plot line, literally all you can do is go to the next area, watch a cut scene, (OH, there are many, many of them), and battle, battle battle. Repeat. For 30+ hours.

This is where the game falls flat on its face, and can't get up again. At first, you will be dazzled by the special effects of the game, and you won't even notice that all you are doing is pushing the joy stick forward and battling. But about three hours in, you'll realize that's all you are doing. Walk. Watch Cut Scene. KILL. You can't even walk into a shop to buy something. You see, there are no shops outside save point digital stores. There aren't really any people to talk to outside cut scenes, because you'll be mostly alone in robot factories, fighting....robots. Did I mention there are a lot of robots? 

Later, when you reach Gran Pulse, you'll get to ride CHOCOBOS! (Omg omg omg), but that will be more than half way through the game, at which point you may have given up already. I dropped the game for a bit before I finally got there.

So yeah, great battle design. But for game play-again, variation-, this is the most linear game I have ever played.

PLOT:

Final Fantasy XIII is a game about people trying to set things to what they believe is right, and to also be accepted at the same time. The characters have been marked as l'cie, which are apparently monsters that are to be destroyed. Luckily, being a l'cie has its benefits such as shooting fire from your fingertips, so it isn't the worst thing to be as you truck through robot factories on you way to save the world. The problem? The l'cie have been given orders to destroy the human world, and if they don't do it, they will be turned into hideous monsters! Conflict!

I have just stated the plot as simply as I could just now. Really, it wasn't until the end that I had any idea of what's going on. I was getting terms and ideas mixed up left and right. It wasn't the plot that was confusing, it was the world that was confusing. You see, there are several terms that you need to be familiar with to understand the game. Terms such as l'cie. There are several aspects of the game plot wise to learn so you know what is going on. The game teaches you these terms by throwing them in your face.

At the beginning of the game, I was assaulted with terms like Pulse l'cie, Pulse fal'cie, and let's not forget, i'cie. That was within the first hour, and trust me, I was confused. Apparently, fal'cie are good. Unless they are Pulse fal'cie. In that case, you should kill them. L'cie are human until the turn into i'cie, which are demon monster things. Both are considered evil. Got that? You probably did. I only got them straight after hours of playing. Lets not forget all of those divisions of the armies. Some are good, some are bad, some have nothing to do with the plot. Yay! So much to remember with the first couple hours.

The lore of this game is very, very interesting. They just expected me to know it right away and get on with the game, which I didn't. The terms could have been introduced in a much softer way, and the fact that they didn't,  hurt the overall game.

On the in game menu, you have the option of looking at a plot log that tells you what happened in the game thus far. It helps keep things straight, but I think it is a lazy touch because if the programmers just did a cleaner job, I wouldn't be scratching my head right now and needing a log.

Overall, the plot is very nice. It just could have been executed better. It repeats itself a lot, which seems to be a problem with the overall game.

CHARACTERS;

The characters range from interesting to obnoxious. I'll give an example here:


INTERESTING:We have the main character Lightning. I love her. I really do. She's cool and she wears clothes that completely cover her body. What's not to like? She's actually the most original of the group, and I had her with me for the entire game out of choice. She's my favorite part of the game, next to the battle system.

OBNOXIOUS: Then we have...Snow. Snow is the only final fantasy character that I have wanted to murder. Snow could have been done well, but the creators got lazy and limited his volcabulary to two words, Serah and Hero. (Serah is his fiance) They could have made him interesting to watch, but they limited his actions to fist pumping and smacking his fists. He runs around, parading about, declaring his love for his fiance. If he is feeling down, he will give a speech. And not just any speech. A five minute speech. About love and hope and all of that crud.

All the other characters blend into the background, really. We have Hope, who is my second favorite for his character development, but he is too a bit cliche. By the end, you've grown a little attached to them, but they were little more than just vessels for telling a plot, when characters should be so much more than that.


LASTING APPEAL:
The above seems a little mean, I know. But I did play this game for 40 hours so obviously it has lasting appeal. The characters, while cliche and typical, are interesting enough to keep the plot churning till the end. The side quests, while limited to slashing and bashing, are really fun, and there are about a hundred of them. It's just that you probably won't want to play this game again, because once you've played the story through, there isn't much to go back to.

TALLY

Graphics: Lovely, and while sometimes redundant, a joy to watch. 10/10
Game play: Fun battle system but linear game play hurt this Final Fantasy. 6/10
 Plot: Interesting and confusing. 7/10
Characters: Cliche but well done. 8/10
Lasting appeal: After you beat it you probably won't want to side quest. 5/10


OVERALL:

A great game, but a bad Final Fantasy. This game lacks the diversity to hold its own to the rest of the series.

7/10

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For those who took the time to read this monster, thanks.