Final Fantasy XIII delivers

Allen ARIAS, Gaming Editor
April 17, 2010
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Gaming

At the request of Southwest Photographer Tony May, and after a mostly complete play-through, Final Fantasy Xlll has left a lasting mark not only through style, but through the story, itself.

Like most of the newer additions to the series, the player starts the game in the middle of a crisis, this time the situation being a rebellion. The player takes control of the main protagonist, Lightning, with a support character named Sazh.

The game gives a stellar linear tutorial of the simplified, but still exciting battle system, then resumes the story giving some background on Lightning and why she was helping the rebellion. It turns out, her story isn’t as simple as everyone else’s, and just after the first real struggle, the player is introduced to Snow and his companions on the complete opposite side of the city. 

The player takes control of Snow and his friends to learn the story of the real rebels. Their short struggle is ended with a wrenching cliffhanger as the player switches back to Lightning.

Final Fantasy XIII is full of moments like that, leaving the player on a horrible cliffhanger to connect the other strands of the story. This is hardly a downside however, because it keeps the player enthralled as every piece fits together, and helps to give a learning curve to each character and their specific abilities and stories.

Every character, as mentioned before, has set roles, which expend over time. Some characters, including Sazh, focus on magic both offensive and defensive, Lightning is a rounded characters who learns offensive magic, melee fighting skills, and healing magic, and Snow learns both to fight and defend his allies from danger.

Aside from the actual focuses of the game, the graphics are top notch. Everything is rendered beautifully and deserves to be viewed on a high definition television. The cinematic cut-scenes are amazing, but the battles hold a magnificent luster with camera angles that allow all of the action to be viewed on screen.  The spells effects aren’t half done, and each character freely roams the battlefield based on his or her role.

Attila Juhasz, 11, said, “Brilliant storyline that ties up the whole game and the beautiful graphics make the game play feel like you’re watching a movie, but in a good way. Sometimes it makes me wonder if the characters in the game were alive and right next to me.”

The chaining system makes an appearance, and allows for multiple attacks to build up and eventually stun an enemy into a “stagger” state that allows characters to deal extra damage and use certain abilities.

Characters each have their roles, some being aggressive, some defensive. If the character assumes an aggressive role, like Commando or Ravager, he or she can be seen intimidating the enemy and keeping an advantageous position. Should the character assume a defensive or supportive role like Synergist or Medic, he or she can be seen sticking close to their allies and keeping their distance from enemies.

The battle system is amazing and easy to pick up on. The character is only in direct control of one character while the other one or two will automatically battle depending on their roles. The player can switch each character’s roles on the fly in the middle of battle to adapt to certain battles and situations.

It is a game for all ages.  In fact, Sebastian Arteaga, 4, said, “I like this Final Fantasy, ummm, that guy Snow was hardcore. He like straight up tore those bad guys up.”

With the option of an auto-battle that will focus on the most effective way to deal damage and boost chains without wasting characters items or dealing useless attacks the battles can be played with little strain allowing players to focus on the battle itself rather than the strategy. When the party gains knowledge of a certain enemy, it will abuse it’s weaknesses, and hinder it’s strengths.

Character roles are advanced through a flowchart like system called “The Crystarium” with “CP” earned from battles. The player can choose to have players specialize in one role, or round all the characters to be adaptable to any situation. Each character can also impress and summon an Eidolon (Giant magical beast) that helps to make decisive moves in battles or just for the cinematic fun.

Everything sounds complicated in theory, but in practice it all blends wonderfully together in a fun and somewhat addictive style, the likes of which never seen before.

This addition to the series is highly criticized by some because of its short length and somewhat cramped feeling.

The game almost rushes each of the six character’s backgrounds into the first half of the story by forcing the character to be played, then gives the player control of who to play as during the second half up to the final battle and conclusion. Side quests aren’t even available until the second half, but they yield amazing rewards like the option of gaining ultimate weapons for free.

May said, “Final Fantasy XIII is a good game, but it does have its flaws.  It is good because it is not so linear, and there is a little more freedom to do things.  The graphics and sound are remarkable, as usual, from square-enix.  While I know they are needed to make the game work, there are so many cut scenes.” 

While highly ridiculed by some, Final Fantasy XIII does everything it should in the simplest and most effective manner possible, which leads to one of the most easily completed editions of Final Fantasy to date. The PS3 holds some advantages over the Xbox version including blu-ray quality, and a single compact disk compared to the Xbox’s three.

Final Fantasy XIII is still a great buy, though it’s a staggering $60 for a new copy, or $55 used.  It would be wise to rent first and “test the water” while waiting for the price to drop.

Although May would rate the game an 8 out of 10 because it is not until “after those first 20 hours [that] it really opens up…it is just too bad that you have to wait that long to get there,” there is certainly no loss in purchasing it immediately, though, leaving Final Fantasy XIII rated a 9 out of 10.