Box Art
Game: Final Fantasy XIII
First Released: March 9, 2010, PS3
Developers: Square Enix
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, iOS, Android
Rated: T, for Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence
First Released: March 9, 2010, PS3
Developers: Square Enix
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, iOS, Android
Rated: T, for Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence
How I Came To Play This Game
At the time I finished Final Fantasy X, I had heard many bad things about Final Fantasy XII. I wasn't going to play Final Fantasy XI either since it was an MMO, so I decided to skip it and go straight for Final Fantasy XIII. This game also had a huge group of haters who didn't like it, but it also had a large fan base. A fan base so large it got two sequels. So I decided to disregard all that anyone has ever said, and play it for myself so that I could have an unbiased opinion about it. I turned about to be another great game in the Final Fantasy series.
Story
Final Fantasy XIII begins in Cocoon as the citizens of the town of Bodhum are being evicted, or Purged, from Cocoon after coming in contact with something from Pulse. Over the course of the game, the player is shown flashbacks of the events of the previous 13 days, which began when a fal'Cie from Pulse was discovered near Bodhum. Lightning's sister Serah had found the fal'Cie from Pulse and been changed into a l'Cie by it. Lightning and Sazh derail a Purge train bound for Pulse in an attempt to save Serah. In the subsequent battle, Snow leads his resistance group, NORA, to rescue the Purge exiles. Several of them are killed, including Hope's mother. As Snow heads to the fal'Cie Anima to save Serah, he is joined by two of the exiles: Hope and Vanille. The two groups meet at the fal'Cie, and find Serah just as she turns to crystal. Anima then brands them all as l'Cie and they are cast out into a different part of Cocoon. During this transformation, the newly crested l'Cie all have the same vision: a monster called Ragnarok. The group, arguing over the ambiguous nature of the dreamed Focus, find Serah in her crystallized form; Snow remains with her as the others leave. Snow meets Cid and Fang after being captured and detained aboard the airship Lindblum. Meanwhile, the others escape from PSICOM, but are separated during an air strike; Hope and Lightning travel to Palumpolum, while Sazh and Vanille travel to Nautilus. In Lightning's scenario, she unintentionally supports Hope's goal of killing Snow as revenge for his mother's death. In Vanille's scenario, Sazh discusses how his son Dajh was turned into a l'Cie by a Cocoon fal'Cie and was taken by PSICOM to discover his Focus. At Palumpolum, Lightning tries to persuade Hope not to go through with his revenge and meets Snow and Fang. Fang reveals that she and Vanille were l'Cie from Pulse who were turned into crystals; they were turned back into humans 13 days prior to the start of the game, sparking the Purge. Hope attempts to murder Snow, but after Snow saves him from an airstrike, he decides not to go through with it. The party then escapes the city with Cid's aid. At Nautilus, Vanille reveals herself to Sazh as a l'Cie from Pulse, and indirectly the reason that Dajh was turned into a l'Cie. PSICOM then captures Sazh and Vanille and detains them on board the airship Palamecia. The other members of the party stage a rescue mission and reunite with Vanille and Sazh before they confront Galenth Dysley, the Sanctum's Primarch. Dysley reveals himself as the Cocoon fal'Cie ruler Barthandelus. He tells them that their Focus is to transform into the beast Ragnarok and slay the sleeping fal'Cie Orphan, who keeps Cocoon afloat above Pulse. Slaying the fal'Cie Orphan will result in the destruction of Cocoon. The party escapes and learns from Cid that the fal'Cie believe that Cocoon's destruction will summon the Maker, the creator of the worlds. The fal'Cie cannot harm Orphan themselves. Vanille and Fang reveal to the party that they were involved in the War of Transgression centuries prior, and that their Focus then had been the same: to transform into Ragnarok and attempt to destroy Orphan. The party flies away to Pulse and travels to Oerba, Vanille and Fang's hometown, where they hope to learn how to remove their l'Cie marks. The town is deserted, and they find no living people on the surface. The group is unsuccessful in removing their marks, and Dysley confronts them again. He tells them that he is forcing Cid, now the head of the Sanctum, to create chaos in Cocoon to force the Cavalry to attack Cid and Orphan in a coup d'état. The party infiltrates Cocoon with the goal of preventing its destruction. They head towards Orphan only to find that the Cavalry have been turned into Cie'th. The party encounters Dysley and overpowers him, but Orphan awakens and merges with Dysley, then compels Fang to finish her Focus as Ragnarok while the others are seemingly transformed into Cie'th. The group reappears in human form, preventing Fang from transforming. The party engage and defeat Orphan and escape Cocoon, which is now falling towards Pulse. As the rest of the party turns to crystal for completing their Focus, Vanille and Fang remain on Cocoon and transform into Ragnarok together. They prevent a collision between Cocoon and Pulse by turning themselves into a crystal pillar between the two worlds. The rest of the party awaken from their crystallization on Pulse and find their l'Cie brands gone. The game ends with Lightning, Hope, Snow and Sazh reuniting with Serah and Dajh.
Pros And Cons
Story
An enormous Adamantoise
I think this is the first time I can say that the story outranks the gameplay. The game is portrayed in a cinematic style as if you are watching a movie. Your reward for playing through the game is to see the next part of the story. Once again you are thrown into a world that is similar, yet very different from the one we live in. You have to explore and learn the history, laws, customs, and beliefs of this world, and that it what I love about the Final Fantasy series. This game is part of a sub-series called the Fabula Nova Crystallis series. It includes this game, it's sequels, Type-0, and Final Fantasy XV.
Characters
Unlike the bland characters of the previous game, this one get's it right. All of the characters are interesting and have their own backstories that led them to where they are today. Similarly to Final Fantasy VII, the characters aren't really friends. They have just sort of been thrown into the mix together and need to cooperate in order to survive. I think my favorite is Sazh because of his comedic nature. He has a Chocobo living in his hair! How weird is that?
Gameplay
Combat is familiar, yet different
Once again the gameplay has been changed, but this time it's for the better. It's sort of a hybrid of the original style and the one from Final Fantasy XII. You still run into enemies in the actual game world, but you don't fight them there. Instead, when you come into contact with an enemy, then it takes you to a separate battle mode like the older games. The active time meter is back too and is properly implemented with an interesting twist. What determines if you can use a move is if you have enough Active Time Bars or ATBs. As the meter fills up more bars, the more powerful moves you can use. Like if you want to use a move that costs three ATBs, you have the wait for the meter to fill up three ATBs before you can use it. Then after that you can either choose to do that again, or wait for just one ATB to fill and use a weaker move. This makes it less stressful than what was previously used, and makes it more familiar, yet new at the same time. Once again the game is linear like Final Fantasy X, but this time even more so. This is the problem that most people who don't like this game had. The tutorial itself lasts at least 30 min, and your forced to follow a set path to let the story progress. A lot of long time fans of the series did not like this new style, and dislike the game very much. They like it better when there's an overworld to explore at your own freedom. Personally, I like this game's style for what it is. Later in the game it becomes more open, so I guess most people like that shut the game off before they could ever reach that part. There you find side missions that Cieth Stones give you where you need to track down and kill specific monsters or Cieth. This game also has a new growth system too. No longer is there the License Board, but instead the Crystarium. From battles, you get CP, which replaces EXP, and you spend the CP in order to unlock new abilities on the Crystarium. This is very simple to understand, but it locks you off from the later portions of the Crystarium until you reach certain parts of the story. A lot of people didn't like this either. The farther you get, the more CP you need, and it eventually starts to get ridiculously expensive. With enough time and patience though, you can max out your stats. This game also has it's own class system that is completely original. With new jobs such as Commando, Ravager, and Medic. Also, instead of upgrading to newer gear, you actually continuously upgrade the gear you already have and convert it into stronger forms. I can understand why a lot of people hate this new gameplay, but I think it's fine.
Graphics
Look at the detail!
The graphics of this game are amazing. They look like the full motion videos from the PS2 games, only it's during the actual gameplay. Many more full motion videos are used throughout the game to give it that cinematic feel like your watching a movie. However, the downside to this is that it takes a lot of memory to store so much video, so the Xbox 360 version had to use three disks in order to fit the entire game. The game itself looks and feels just like a fantasy world.
Music
Honestly, the music of this game was boring and uninspired. I cannot recall any good tracks off the top of my head except for the battle theme since I heard it so many times. All of the classic music such as Victory Theme and Main Theme are gone. The only one left is the Chocobo Theme, which isn't even a very good remix. The music does fit the feel of the game though and that's all that matters.
Releases
Box Art
Final Fantasy XIII was originally released exclusively for the PS3 in Japan. Then it was released worldwide on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 9, 2010. It wasn't until October 9, 2014 that it was released for PC. A version for iOS and Android devices was released in Japan in 2015.
My Rating
I give this game a 10/10. This game may have changed up even more things than the one before, but at least it did it right this time. This game is great no matter what the haters say.