RPG fans are going to buy Final Fantasy XIII. No surprise there. But what is surprising is that under that stat-ridden RPG skin is the core of a fast-paced, hard-hitting action game that could even turn the heads of button-mashing face-stomping Killzone and God of War lovers.
Most RPGs, including many of the past FF games, bog players down with mundane number crunching, finicky and repetitive levelling-up, dull-looking dungeon crawling and slow-paced, complex turn-based battle systems. All that comes part and parcel with the genre. FFXIII pushes all that to one side and shoves you through an explosive eventful quest at an alarmingly action game-like pace.
It's not a shallow RPG by any means. It has all the elemental attacks, status-changing spells, stat-boosting items and summons commands of the previous games. But, not to seem like we're contradicting ourselves, its the streamlined delivery of all of this that's genius.
Everything from the intricacies of the FFXII-inspired Action Time Bar (ATB) battles to the truly epic story, the characters and even the universe in which everything takes place unfolds in such a clever way as to never once feel daunting or overwhelming. It feeds you information in small bitesize doses, giving you enough time to digest before serving up the next portion.
The battle system is the key to every RPG and FFXIII's is one of the best. Hardcore FF fans will have already analysed trailers and dissected how it all works, but essentially the whole system centres around the ATB, a self regenerating bar that's divided into segments. You queue up a number of commands, each taking up a specific number of ATB segments, and choose your target.
The ATB takes just a few seconds to charge fully at which point your character launches into action, executing your chosen moves in the order you queued them with hard-hitting brutality and eye-pleasing flair.
It's fast. Really fast. Before you have a moment to pick your next move, the ATB is charged and your fighters ready to go mental again. So your brain and fingers are verging on meltdown as you choose from standard or elemental attacks, magic spells, items and summons moves.
The game boots your ass along even faster with other speed-driven elements. Each blow to an enemy builds up that foe's attack Chain bar. When full the enemy becomes 'staggered' making them weaker to attack - an essential factor in beating many of the game's tougher foes. The catch is that Attack Chain gauge rapidly depletes when the enemy's not being hit, so an almost constant barrage is required to charge it fully and achieve that essential 'staggered' state.
End-of-battle status screens also rate you based on the battle time with better ratings awarding you better dropped items and more Crystarium points (FFXIII's experience points).
And so you see that battles, while plentifully sophisticated, are all about going batshit mental on your foes and slaughtering everything as fast as you can. It's brilliant.
Seriously - this editor is one of those action game-types mentioned earlier, and usually not one for turn-based strategy, yet I find every battle in FFXIII truly thrilling. Even though you're not actually pushing the 'slice' button, the fast ATB system gives fights a sense of immediacy. It's a far cry from those dull turn-based battles of old RPGs where the fighting on screen felt completely detached from your hugely pre-emptive menu management.
What's really clever about it is how, as deep as the system is, it's all completely manageable even to action-game brains. A clever Auto-Battle command helps you along by automatically queuing up a list of moves and suggesting a target, keeping battles moving along without completely playing the game for you.
Then you have the Paradigm Shift system. That's a whole other layer of strategy which gives you control over the roles the other members of your squad play. While you only directly control one character (much to the distress of some hardcore fans), the other players fight away automatically according to the roles you set them.
A Commando is a hardcore attacker. The Ravager's attacks are weaker but charge the chain attack bar faster. Sentinels cast stat-boosting spells on team mates while Saboteurs reduce the defense stats of enemies. And your good old Medic heals your team. Hit L1 at any time during battle and you can change the roles of your team, which is absolutely critical to survival, and key to finishing battles quickly for high ratings. But with six roles and a maximum of three fighters in a squad, there are plenty of strategies to pick.
There are huge debates on the internet over some of the game's more restrictive elements, but for as much as the game restricts you in one area, it gives you freedom elsewhere. Yes, only directly control one person in your party, but the paradigm system gives you plenty of strategy and control over the actions of your whole team. You can also still equip and customise the weapons and accessories of everyone on the team.
There's also much talk of the game's linearity. The directors, responding to this criticism, say it's intentionally linear in earlier stages while the player learns the game's nuances. And while we think 15 hours of dead straight single-path linearity is a little overkill, we think it a clever move. And come to think of it, we can't see much difference between this and the equally linear 'go-here-do-this' mission chains of almost all previous Final Fantasy games.
And it matters even less when you consider that moving through the game's chapters flicks your control between the five characters who are most of the time each exploring different areas, keeping things fresh. And these paths lead you through some of the most gorgeous environments we've witnessed - so much so that we found ourselves eagerly anticipating our arrival at the next area.
Meanwhile you're kept gripped by a story that unfolds via well-written in-game dialogue (although at times obviously translated from Japanese) and undoubtably the highest quality CGI cutscenes in any videogame. Ever.
It's truly enchanting stuff, with the lead characters, Lightening, Snow, Sazh, Vanille and Hope, unwittingly caught up in an unavoidable fate and a centuries old battle between two worlds - the peaceful utopia of Cocoon and the unknown yet much feared underworld of Pulse. The latter is where the game's linearity subsides, making way for more open environments with sidequests and hidden bonuses that give players the freedom to explore.
Final Fantasy XIII isn't just a game you merely enjoy. You fall in love with it. It's gorgeous worlds have you stopping to admire them in complete awe, while a graceful soundtrack massages your brain (despite the unfortunate replacement of the original Japanese theme with a song from Leona Lewis). That along with the lovable characters and their desperate plight, and the brilliant ATB system come together to form an enchanting 60-hour quest.
This just reinforces my current belief that I'm going to play it, and then take my collectors edition box and permanent marker out the Final Fantasy so I can keep a good game without feeling too much like I'm betraying Sakaguchi
Wasn't expecting it to top an 8 for some reason. I think interest had gone but I honestly think I will pick it up as I'm not betting splinter cell thanks to my 360 dying on me (after 1 hour of mass effect 2 which is way over rated I might add or maybe I just dont like sci-fi) So in my eyes 360 is a dead end and not for any fanboy reason before people say its just I can't trust the 360 any more. Peace out!
Wasn't expecting it to top an 8 for some reason. I think interest had gone but I honestly think I will pick it up as I'm not betting splinter cell thanks to my 360 dying on me (after 1 hour of mass effect 2 which is way over rated I might add or maybe I just dont like sci-fi) So in my eyes 360 is a dead end and not for any fanboy reason before people say its just I can't trust the 360 any more. Peace out!
All you have to do is look at your previous posts to see how far up sonys anus you realy are, Why do people like you make statements about not being sony fanboys when there own posts are proof they are!! you and svd its like The geek squad from sony defence force
Wasn't expecting it to top an 8 for some reason. I think interest had gone but I honestly think I will pick it up as I'm not betting splinter cell thanks to my 360 dying on me (after 1 hour of mass effect 2 which is way over rated I might add or maybe I just dont like sci-fi) So in my eyes 360 is a dead end and not for any fanboy reason before people say its just I can't trust the 360 any more. Peace out!
All you have to do is look at your previous posts to see how far up sonys anus you realy are, Why do people like you make statements about not being sony fanboys when there own posts are proof they are!! you and svd its like The geek squad from sony defence force
Why get so defensive over what I put? I've had both consoles so I'm no fanboy. I dont care about Sony or MS. If you pair of geeky fags have the balls come to Conwy in North Wales come at once if you want (give you a better shot) and call me out face to face. But odds are you are just keyboard warriors raging because some how I insulted MS or xbox.... I actually feel kinda sorry for you taking it so serious.
I like button mashing games, but I dont want the Final Fantasy equivalent. Its just square-Enix trying to appeal to a mass market, who dont like the slower, more thoughtful ways of a traditional RPG. I think JRPG's need a shake up, but perhaps not in this direction? Oh, and the battle system sounds similar to Valkyrie Profile.
I can post this now. Playing Japanese import since January. Well, in truth I got it 8th January, and got bored of it by the 11th January. Played 6 hours a day for three days, and didn't once make a meaningful decision of any kind. Characters skill increaseses offer no choices, plot offers no choices and team make up - you guessed it, no choices. "Streamlined gameplay"? If it was any more streamlined you would just be watching a movie. Combat is visceral and nice for first 10 or so battles, then becomes dull as your character skills can't evolve away from a preset path. Also, if I'd have wanted an action shooter - then that's what I'd have bought. Why does every game have to become an action shooter? Can developers please STOP turning every game into an action shooter, there are thousands of them.FF used to be "different" to me it has become another game in the "mush" of action shooters.."meh" Enough already!
I'd add a comment about these comments but I can't be bothered. I pre-orered mine awhile back & I'm eagerly awaiting Tuesday morning & it's arrival. Been a FF fan since VII which made me go back & play some earlier ones, later ones, sidequels & XI. I made my choice based on my own interests, hopefully others will do the same & not be too swayed by others experiences.
Why get so defensive over what I put? I've had both consoles so I'm no fanboy. I dont care about Sony or MS. If you pair of geeky fags have the balls come to Conwy in North Wales come at once if you want (give you a better shot) and call me out face to face. But odds are you are just keyboard warriors raging because some how I insulted MS or xbox.... I actually feel kinda sorry for you taking it so serious.
ohh s**t your so hard because your from Conwy in North Wales. Now i live near some of the roughest places in England (MK, Aylesbury)so f**king come here and say that welsh c**t
All I do is express and opinion from my own personal experience and BOOM I'm branded a fanboy.... This stuff really gets up my nose...
You're branded a Sony fanboy because other than the first part of your post which relates directly to the topic, you spend the rest of it making Xbox fanboy-baiting statements. Whether you're right or wrong is not the issue, but you can't be so naive as to post comments like that and not expect a bunch of people calling you out on it.
I prefer my PS3 as well but I don't go around stirring it up. You can obviously post what you like, and you should do so, but don't think you can start whining when you slag off one of the consoles and people start to pick on you.
Anyway, despite reading this great review, and thoroughly looking forward to the game (GAME have dispatched my pre-order today!), I have decided to remain cautious lest my hopes soar too high and be dashed in a bloody kamikaze.
Why get so defensive over what I put? I've had both consoles so I'm no fanboy. I dont care about Sony or MS. If you pair of geeky fags have the balls come to Conwy in North Wales come at once if you want (give you a better shot) and call me out face to face. But odds are you are just keyboard warriors raging because some how I insulted MS or xbox.... I actually feel kinda sorry for you taking it so serious.
ohh s**t your so hard because your from Conwy in North Wales. Now i live near some of the roughest places in England (MK, Aylesbury)so f**king come here and say that welsh c**t
I hope your joking and don't seriously think that,lol. Im from MK and is so far from rough and full hardnuts its funny, just plenty of people that are good at talking the talk. Just yesterday some berk cut me up at a roundabout and then gave me abuse, i got him to pull over then i jumped out ready for a scrap (no im not hard, road rage madness,lol), saw there were 3 big lads mid 20's emerging from the car heck im 6'1 looked bigger than me, they soon jumped back in their car mouthing off and sped away - had to laugh, thought i was in a bit of trouble to be honest - phew for MK being all mouth and no trouser or i would be looking a little less pretty today,lol.
You gotta be taking the pi ss was a good one tho nearly had me. Guess you were going for the ammusing comment of the week or something.
As for FF, i have always read great reviews about the series, then tried each game for 20minutes and really havent remotely liked any of them to be honest, just not my thing i guess.
Jesus there are so many children on this forum. Did you people learn to troll on 4chan?
Announcing that you're Welsh, then calling people 'fags' does a massive disservice to the reputation of your country. That's an awful way to behave on a public forum.
As an FF fan....I couldn't wait 4 this game. Got it 3 days ago and have to say I couldn't be more disappointed. Played it for about 7 hours at it is so boring....all you to is press A all the time with the odd paradigm shift here and there. Theres no towns, no cities, you can't die coz you restart where you've just died, there's a save point every 5 minutes, the crystalium system is poor. They only things that are true to FF are graphics, characters and music. Square just seems to be ruining FF, to me this doesn't even feel like an RPG.
RPG fans are going to buy Final Fantasy XIII. No surprise there.
No CVG, maybe JRPG fans will but I am more of a WRGP fan myself. Though I may give this one a rent seeing how you claim it is so different from all the other JRPG's out there.
proven fact that all road rage knobs are big immature pathetic weans.
charlotte church is too hot.
this review is falling for big name hype. its shite. they are just telling the fans what they want to hear.
I hope that wasn't in reference to my road rage retaliation,lol. Don't react to them like i did kids it could get u in a little trouble - unless ur driving in MK that is, u can just take off ur jacket and stare them down here; as they fly away in their lovely little darkened windowed peugeot waving their fingers out the window acting hard in retreat. Yay MK! lol
And Charlotte Church use to be ok, not great now tho - u should have gone with Katherine Jenkins
Why get so defensive over what I put? I've had both consoles so I'm no fanboy. I dont care about Sony or MS. If you pair of geeky fags have the balls come to Conwy in North Wales come at once if you want (give you a better shot) and call me out face to face. But odds are you are just keyboard warriors raging because some how I insulted MS or xbox.... I actually feel kinda sorry for you taking it so serious.
Easy for people on here to pick fights, pretty pathetic really, I am currently training to become a mid weight MMA fighter, I am only 5 ft 6 but can handle my self, there has been loads of people on here who have p****d me off but would not say come to my home town and have a fight you just never know who may turn up? there is always someone tougher then you out there I have learned that the hard way.
@ Hi im !? this weasel lives NEAR a rough area so naturally he a is tough guy too..... with a pile of his friends no doubt I've been through enough of your kind to smell you a mile away. you little s**t house
I simply expressed an opinion if they took it to heartand thinks im going on the offensive against the 360 thats their problem not mine. doesn't give them the right to call me a fanboy. common sense tells them otherwise considering I have xbl and psn. But on topic I will be getting ff13 as it simply scored better than I was expecting.
@ Hi im !? this weasel lives NEAR a rough area so naturally he a is tough guy too..... with a pile of his friends no doubt I've been through enough of your kind to smell you a mile away. you little s**t house
Trust me, i live where he said was rough - it so isn't - its pratically suburbia compared to some of the places i have travelled to play football. I had to laugh at him and pull him up on it when he said it, and if he thinks it is rough and full of hardnuts then you really wouldn't have a problem dealing with him.
The reviews for this game are all over the place, 5 from EDGE to GameRadar's 10. I'll give it a rent and maybe pick it up when it's cheap.
For me im taking it as the hardcore fans of the series aren't liking the new changes to please the mainsteam hence the low scores, but those that havent been fans are giving it favourable reviews for a change, am tempted to give it a try after not really liking previous incarnations. But there are a few others i'll give a go first and maybe pick it up at a knocked down price during the summer games drought me thinks.
When will the 360 version get reviewed, the pixel counting types say its running at 576p against the PS3'3 720p, but tbh I did not see a great deal of difference between the screenshots. Both versions look very nice with the edge going to the PS3 version by all accounts.
So if you own both consoles then maybe the PS3 version will be the one to get. Either way the actual game experience will be the same on both consoles (barring Disc swappage).
As for people arguing where they live makes them harder, well I dont think bragging about living in slums is anything to be shouting about on the internet.
I've no intention adam81uk. He wasn't involved with what happened with the other guys mouthing off at me for no reason. Hi I'm !? is just a big mouth really. As I told the other guys earlier, they come here then I can plead self defense I wont drive out of my way to deal with a pair of nerds that don't know a fanboy from a gamer
It was because of the low reviews I was surprised is scored highly on CVG hence why I said ill get it through loyalty to the franchise as ive bought every other one over the years (minus x-2 my sister got that and I lent it = big ewww)
one of the best reviews so far, most of the other reviews seem to have concentrated of the negatives ie its linear but I'm all up for a bit of lineraity for the sake of concentrating on the story!
Jez when are guys going to realise that we are reading a computer games site, i seriously doubt any of us are particularly hard,lol. I mean yeah i trained for the SAS after being too violent in the wrestling ring and broke my hands to often when i boxed so now as a hard person i scroll through the CVG forums to proclaim my greatness - oh wait, you want to meet me because of my big mouth - quick log off log off, phew that showed him how hard i am,lol.
Grab some air folkes ur getting worked up at a computer screen.
I reckon we should have game offs to settle grievances, on here - of course then we would have the problem of fanboys refusing to play on a certain platform, hmm is a tricky one to solve
Not sure I guess they took something I said serious and thought I was taking a pop at their obsession or something. Then labeled me as a sony fanboy and a 2 year old. Guess I was in wrong frame of mind and snapped back. I know what you mean though. I'm good at Tekken and a pretty mean GTA player and finished MW2 and WaW on veteran level so I'm pretty ard! Gaming is just one of my many hobbies so I just leave comments relating to my tastes and experience if people don't like it then thats their tough luck.
Mass Effect 2 overrated?! I don't think so, I think it has more to do with your retarded choice of buying a scifi RPG when you don't like scifi. I don't like golf and therefore don't buy golf games, I don't buy them and then slag them off.
See? thats what I mean I got it because friends raved about it and people on here spoke highly of it. So I give it a chance and becasue I thought it was over rated that makes me a retard? Sheesh some people are way too touchy. Which is kinda sad and funny at the same time
With regard to my previous comment... I meant advert. Not article. Despite failing horribly with that I still stand by what I said. If I want to buy a DS I will buy one.
Oh wow, just read all comments and still find myself laughing at 'I'm hard because im from near MK and Aylesbury'.
AYLESBURY? Seriously? If he'd said Bedford and Luton I might have been more likely to believe him. Then again just because you're from a rough area doesn't mean that you actually are 'hard' too.
Anyways, unfortunately, this review praises the things im not so keen on in RPG's. I like turn-based combat. Shining Force 3 did it best on the Saturn. Judging by the diversity of review scores I would say that this is definately a love it or hate it game. If thats the case, its probably best not to rely on a reviewer's opinion and try it for yourself. I'll give it a fair crack but I don't think this will be a game I'll like. Hopefully I'm wrong on that though.
Another RPG ish type game I hear good things about is that valkarie chronicles I did try the demo but never got into it. But people that got the full game and played the demo said not to judge it. Anyone else played the full version? I normally follow my gut/tastes on most games but If I hear too much from friends I cave easily hence why I tried mass effect 2. I was told I would like it even if sci-fi isn't my normal thing. But it just never grabbed me. I still have the game and may give it another try if I decide to get a new 360.
The only thing funnier than this review is the e-toughs arguing in the comments, maybe you guys should compare your wieners or something.
Anyways having played the game I'm not impressed, at all. A game should at least have an element of fun to it, otherwise its just a tedious grind, and this game is exactly that. It goes like this, move forward, combat begins, press A button, wait for power bar to fill up, press A button again, rinse and repeat till enemies are vanquished, then walk forward again till battle again commences. Maybe for some people this is enjoyable, but I just couldn't squeeze any enjoyment out if it.
I'd say the 5/10 reviews are closer to the mark, it doesn't matter how pretty they make it look, you can't hide a dull game behind pretty graphics and expect people not to notice....well unless those people are CVG that is.
why did they get that talentless idiot to sing the theme that alone is almost turning me off the game along with how much and crap the combat has changed....wait for your bar to fill attack run around like a idiot trying to dodge attacks and repeat its b******s
why did they get that talentless idiot to sing the theme that alone is almost turning me off the game along with how much and crap the combat has changed....wait for your bar to fill attack run around like a idiot trying to dodge attacks and repeat its b******s
Does anyone actually give a f**k where any of these trolls come from, i only read the comments to see honest opinions from people who played the japanese release, not to read people bitching about which console is best and who has the smallest c*ck.
I love FF games but like everyone else im aware they have got worse after FF7. Well i say worse, they only really got bad once square teamed with enix. Not sure how much enix play in terms of the release but it seems like the whole style of games shifted pretty dramatically once they teamed.
The only reason to criticise the 360 in this game is that it'll be on 3 discs and have lower resolution graphics because the console isnt as powerful and its been slighty downsampled than the ps3 versions. However the only important thing here is how the game plays, so shut up about whos harder, no one cares.
This review already started off on the wrong foot with me when it stated that RPG fans would buy this game regardless. That is incorrect. I'm a long time RPG fan and I have no intention of buying FF XIII upon release nor at full price.
Unless it can challenge and meet, if not surpass, BioWare's "DA: Origins" (my GOTY 2009) and/or "Mass Effect 2" (my GOTY 2010) in terms of plot and character development (which I have yet to see ANY JRPG do) this will be the sorry left overs I might eventually consider paying attention to once I've methodically worked my way through a back log of some 40+ games. FF XIII is a case of too little, too late for my tastes. Time to wake up RPG Japan! You are being left in the dust by your Western RPG competitors these days.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Looks incredible
you just never know who may turn up? there is always someone tougher then you out there I have learned that the hard way.
lol.
