Yeah she's a badass
Yeah she's a badass

Over three years in development and so far I would say it was time well spent. At just over 13 hours into Final Fantasy XIII I can say that there is an awful lot to like in this game... that is if you're a JRPG fan.

Personally, I'm a casual acquaintance of JRPGs. In fact, the Final Fantasy series is pretty much where it ends for me with the exception of the Suikoden series and Valkyria Chronicles. That said, I'm really enjoyed what I've experienced from FFXIII so far.

The Good

The Characters: Well most of the characters, are very likable, interesting and complex. They all have specific motives and seem to have deeper back stores that I hope are explored as I progress though the story. Of all the playable characters, Sazh is my favorite. He's considered the "old man" of the group and is genuinely funny - which is strange because the Japanese idea of comic relief is usually facepalm worthy.

Lightning is a female version of Cloud which, if you're a fan of FFVII, is awesome. She's also a nice relief from the flamboyant main characters of the past few Final Fantasies. Snow has a never-say-die attitude which is fantastic for me however, I have to admit I'm getting tired of his constant references to his own heroism.

Hope is a complicated character, who suffered a tragedy in the opening act and is, of course, upset - blaming Snow for the lost. As a result, he starts off angry and standoffish but I suspect that his anguish, as well as his cowardice will change as he "becomes a man" throughout the story. Vanille, when she relaxes she's alright; she seems to have a very religious side and I'm expecting her to have a tragic back story. Fang is clearly the femme fetale of the group (or will be) I don't know much about her yet but I have a good feeling she'll be one of my favorites as well.

The Voice Acting: The fact that Square Enix actually took the time to go back and re-sync the lips to the English script really puts voice acting in FFXIII above all it's predecessors. Some stand outs include Lightning, Sazh and Fang, there is some very excellent work done by their actors.

The Story: So far, the story is very Final Fantasy; it's very complex and clearly has been fleshed out greatly by the Square Enix writers. With references to past events, a strange but intriguing government and a very alive world with its own technology and culture FFXIII is shaping up to have a very epic story. I can't comment too much on this particular point however - as I'm not far enough in to appreciate the greater movements of the narrative.

Final-Fantasy-13-Pulse

The Combat: here is where this fantasy really shines! Seriously the paradigm system is a lot of fun and allows for a lot of strategy.

Paradigms are basically a job system. Characters can take on the role of a commando, ravager, medic, synergist, saboteur, or sentinel and you use these roles to form paradigms that allow your characters to act based on their class (job). Once you create paradigms for your party it's just a quick switch between them in battle, allowing you to have an all-out assault group one second and a defensive healing group the next. It has a great deal of control, it forces you to think on your feet and that's something I really think the Final Fantasy series needed.

The "active time battle" system is especially unique in this title - as you wait, you can set actions that take up a certain amount of the ATB bar - once it's full the character will then execute the assigned action(s). If you have played the Legend of Legaia games it'll feel like second nature - if not, don't worry, it's a pretty simple system to get used to.

Because of this style of ATB as well as the visuals, combat scenes are fast and full of action - making getting into fights interesting rather than a chore. That's something that a lot of RPG's, in particular JRPG's, lack. I really think Square Enix has solved the problem of boring turn based combat in FFXIII. It's combat is very unique - in fact I would go as far as to say that it's one of the best systems I've ever used.

Final-Fantasy-13-combat

The Crystarium: is Final Fantasy XIII's leveling system and it's much like Final Fantasy X's sphere grid - but it's based on the classes available to the character rather than an overall character level up. Thankfully, it seems that each characters abilities and techniques they learn from their available classes will be unique - that way you don't end up with all characters being generic clones (like Final Fantasy X).

No Random Battles: This is a feature that I for one am so very glad of. The ability to plan your attack and get advantages based on sneak attacks, is absolutely one of the best things ever to happen to Final Fantasy.

Instant Healing: Yes after a fight there's no open then menu - go to items - select a potion - then heal your party process. It makes the game so much more fluid and thank the gods for that.

The Music: Though not as memorable as some past Final Fantasies it is still a great Masashi Hamauzu score that I'm very happy with.

The World: Cocoon and Pulse is a pretty fantastic one with some amazing visuals, in fact this is one of the best looking games I've ever laid eyes on - it even has some of the best hair physics in the industry - which, we all know, is extra important for JRPGs.

Continue to see The Bad and The Ugly of Final Fantasy XIII...

The Bad

Linear Paths: Similar to Final Fantasy X is the linear corridor like areas with some branching paths and arenas - this could be a deal breaker for some. It is a bit restricting and apparently it opens up later on in the story, but is it just me or does anyone else miss world maps?

Theme Songs: In particular, Snow's theme is the cheesiest "rock" build up music ever. It does not fit the story or the atmosphere and whenever it's used, it simply sounds out of place. It's like they wanted to really push that "Snow is a Bad Ass" which, lets be honest, he's not. Honorable mention goes to Sazh's theme which again seems out of place when it's used and again is like they really wanted to hammer home this characters role as comic relief.

No Towns: Instead you shop at save points, which by the way are almost laughably frequent. This to me is not that bad but still it kind of takes away form the excitement of getting to a new town, checking out the shops and potentially getting awesome new gear.

Upgrading Gear: Once you get to a save point, you can also level up your weapons and accessories. This in my opinion is an absurdly unnecessary feature that just makes it more annoying to get better gear as the story moves on. It also forces you to spend more time in menu's which no one wants to do.

Level of Difficulty: For the veteran Final Fantasy gamer or any of us hardcore types this is a good thing. However, this may not be the Final Fantasy a new player to the franchise should start with. If you're not on top of the combat it can quickly end in the enemies favor. Like I said before it's very fast and at times there's so much happening on screen that it could be very overwhelming to some players.

The Ugly

The Characters: Or rather just one character, Vanille. I almost don't want to talk about her she is that annoying. If I must say anything it's that she's overly excitable, too enthusiastic, and often sounds absolutely ridiculous - to the point that her vocal work is like nails on a chalkboard. I'm left wondering why every Final Fantasy game has a character similar to Vanille, you'd think Square Enix would learn that this character type does not work in North America.

The Story: I'm only 13 hours in so take this one with a grain of salt but so far it's just not that interesting (They all can't be Final Fantasy Tactics). It seems to be going somewhere great but it has yet to get there, drop back for the up coming review to see where it ends up.

Final Fantasy 13
Yeah she's a badass

Final Fantasy XIII has a definite chance for game of the year and it's easily one of the best looking games in the past few years. It's also easy to overlook some of the flaws (except Vinelle, it's impossible to overlook her) and The battle system is one of, if not the, best system of the series with definitely the best voice acting of the series.

I'm looking forward to another twenty-eight or so hours with it!

Look for Game Rant's full review - coming soon.

What do you think of the game so far? Was it worth the wait?