Read Mixed User Reviews for Final Fantasy XIII on PlayStation 3

JD

Mar 19, 2010

5

Worst Final Fantasy ever. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fanboy for sure, but this has got to be the worst in the series. First, it isn't a "game" per se, since you can get through the whole game mostly using "x" and a few directional keys. Second, the RPG element has been removed. It is hard to believe that Final Fantasy has been dumbed down to pretty graphics and awful, boring Worst Final Fantasy ever. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fanboy for sure, but this has got to be the worst in the series. First, it isn't a "game" per se, since you can get through the whole game mostly using "x" and a few directional keys. Second, the RPG element has been removed. It is hard to believe that Final Fantasy has been dumbed down to pretty graphics and awful, boring gameplay. This is basically a game for the attention deficit disordered millenial generation, and I'm afraid for the future.… Expand

16 of 24 users found this helpful

Mattaclysm

Mar 29, 2011

7

FF13 is an average RPG put in an amazing environment. The graphics are hands down some of the best on consoles and the visuals are very nice in a lot of areas. Character models and people look good as well. What's ruined is that most areas are mainly narrow paths which I feel is a step back from FF12. Battle system is unique. Square has been trying to keep Final Fantasy's fresh ever sinceFF13 is an average RPG put in an amazing environment. The graphics are hands down some of the best on consoles and the visuals are very nice in a lot of areas. Character models and people look good as well. What's ruined is that most areas are mainly narrow paths which I feel is a step back from FF12. Battle system is unique. Square has been trying to keep Final Fantasy's fresh ever since 1 by adding new elements in every game and the Paradigm battle system is one of the worst idea's I think they've ever come up with. It becomes stressful and confusing mixing , matching and switching these to fight certain enemies, bosses and marks. What was wrong with the whole Attack Magic Item Defend style that they felt they needed to get rid of. The story isn't good. Though I don't think it's bad either. I had trouble getting into it for the first 15 hours or so which was about half of the game for me. I also was highly disappointed by the music it seemed like they used about 4 tracks in the whole game each had some form of rehash remix, which I felt got old after a while.
I agree that Final Fantasy 13 is not as memorable as the older FF but it is the prettiest and probably one of the best looking games of this gen.… Expand

KritU

Mar 9, 2010

5

I need to re-score this game. I gave the Japanese version a 0 for doing such a horrible job. I had a high hope it would help if I understand the story. Yes it did. I like FF13 a lot better. However, it's still far from being my favorite RPG. Still wouldn't make it to the top 10, heck it wouldn't even make the top 100 most favorite RPG of mine. Square-Enix, next time, please I need to re-score this game. I gave the Japanese version a 0 for doing such a horrible job. I had a high hope it would help if I understand the story. Yes it did. I like FF13 a lot better. However, it's still far from being my favorite RPG. Still wouldn't make it to the top 10, heck it wouldn't even make the top 100 most favorite RPG of mine. Square-Enix, next time, please just keep FF as a turn base, k? I love innovation but this is what I call "not true to to series".… Expand

9 of 12 users found this helpful

ChrisS

Mar 10, 2010

5

I can live with XIII. It is a very pretty game. But the epic feel, the interactivity of previous titles is just not there. Square got scared of the market. They see games like halo and MW2 in the west selling a bazillion copies, and want a piece of that mass market appeal. Mass market = we need to idiot proof our game. 2 equip slots, 2 stats. No running around to buy your items, the store I can live with XIII. It is a very pretty game. But the epic feel, the interactivity of previous titles is just not there. Square got scared of the market. They see games like halo and MW2 in the west selling a bazillion copies, and want a piece of that mass market appeal. Mass market = we need to idiot proof our game. 2 equip slots, 2 stats. No running around to buy your items, the store is at every save point. No towns for most of the game. Hell you don't even talk to npcs anymore, they just mumble something when you get near them. There is more but others have listed it all I know. This was an effort to make a Final fantasy game have a wider mass market appeal, this was an effort by Japanese devs to capture the western console market. In doing so however they have removed most of the things we loved about the previous FF games. They have produced a very pretty movie with some interactive scenes. FF needs to go back to its roots again. We need a real JRPG from them. Else they are going to loose the fans that made the series what it is, while gaming on the whims of the fickle modern gamer. Whos tastes change like the seasons. What i fear is that when Dragon Quest 9 comes out this summer on the DS, if it does not sell really well, they are going to use that as justification for the continued dumbing down of Final Fantasy.… Expand

8 of 11 users found this helpful

ChrisT

Mar 21, 2010

5

This game is a huge disappointment. I've played over 20 hours so far and the game isn't just linear, but the beginning of the game starts with you running forward for 10 hours, I really don't care for linear games, since I've played games like Xenosaga. After the running forward for a few hours, we get to a few right turns, left turns, but it's always just run This game is a huge disappointment. I've played over 20 hours so far and the game isn't just linear, but the beginning of the game starts with you running forward for 10 hours, I really don't care for linear games, since I've played games like Xenosaga. After the running forward for a few hours, we get to a few right turns, left turns, but it's always just run straight forward. You can literally AFK a boss in this game, I've done it twice. I went downstairs to get food, ten minutes later, the boss is dead. The characters are annoying as can be, the little boy Hope is a whiny little emo brat who blames the entire group and won't take responsibility or finish his sentences. He's also a racist bigot. Snow won't stop talking about being a hero and his girlfriend, everything he says has to do with them, he never brings up a new topic. The game is confusing as hell in the beginning because you have no idea whats going on, they give you terms, but don't define them until way later. I only played this game for story, I typically don't care for gameplay too much, as long as it isn't boring, but the story is such a bore, half the characters you play as piss me off. That being said, Square Enix doesn't listen to their customers, Bioware and Bethesda do. Since the next gen consoles came out, JRPGs have been failing and western RPGs and Sandbox RPGs have been dominate, theres a reason for that, it's because they listen to their customers.… Expand

8 of 11 users found this helpful

Matt

Apr 15, 2010

5

Good visuals. Annoying battle system. Not being able to move your AI characters out of aoe attacks cripple the battle system. A fight that should be easy can turn into a disaster if the AI places characters to close to the enemy. Convoluted story. Annoying characters. Tedious battles. Crappy weapon customization/progression. I finished it only because I felt like I had to because Good visuals. Annoying battle system. Not being able to move your AI characters out of aoe attacks cripple the battle system. A fight that should be easy can turn into a disaster if the AI places characters to close to the enemy. Convoluted story. Annoying characters. Tedious battles. Crappy weapon customization/progression. I finished it only because I felt like I had to because it's a FF game.… Expand

8 of 11 users found this helpful

MohamedS

Mar 16, 2010

5

Linearity is not a bad thing. Resident Evil 4 is Linear and it's one of the best games out there. Mass Effect 2 is Linear and it's an awesome game. The difference is that those two games used their Linearity to deliver a focused intense gaming experience (the village fight in RE4 comes to mind) while FFXIII uses it to shove a story down the gamer's throat. That would be Linearity is not a bad thing. Resident Evil 4 is Linear and it's one of the best games out there. Mass Effect 2 is Linear and it's an awesome game. The difference is that those two games used their Linearity to deliver a focused intense gaming experience (the village fight in RE4 comes to mind) while FFXIII uses it to shove a story down the gamer's throat. That would be fine if the story was good or the characters likable but it's simply pretentious and the dialougue is hilariously bad (Snow is the biggest culprit here). The battle system is very close to becoming FFXII's autopilot as well and battles take a lot longer than they should (20 minutes for some large bosses) simply because it relies too much on the stagger system. Good points include great graphics and CGI, decent music and Sazh.… Expand

10 of 14 users found this helpful

GalvinO

Mar 10, 2010

5

This review was written by a gamer that has been playing JRPGs since the SNES era and has been anticipating FINAL FANTASY XIII since it was first revealed at E3 2006. ------------- Prologue ------------- "If the main selling point of the software is the non-interactive story scenes rather than the actual gameplay then it's not a game." ~ Shigeru Miyamoto (Director: Super Mario 64, This review was written by a gamer that has been playing JRPGs since the SNES era and has been anticipating FINAL FANTASY XIII since it was first revealed at E3 2006. ------------- Prologue ------------- "If the main selling point of the software is the non-interactive story scenes rather than the actual gameplay then it's not a game." ~ Shigeru Miyamoto (Director: Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) "If a games designer chooses to have the story be the most important part of the video game then they must find a way to tell it interactively to the player. Even if it's a strictly linear and pre-scripted story, there needs to be some form of interactivity from the player when it's being presented. To have the most important part of a video game not require any interactivity from the player is a serious game design mistake." ~ Fumito Ueda (Director: Ico, Shadow of the Colossus) "The most important part of a RPG is the player feeling like they are taking the role of a character in a fully realised fantasy world. They can explore, visit various towns and places, talk to people, customise their character, collect various items, and defeat monsters. The story is not the focus of the experience and is only there to make the atmosphere of the fantasy world more interesting and engaging during the course of the game." ~ Yuji Horii (Creator of the JRPG genre/ Supervisor: Chrono Trigger) "Although the FF series has greatly advanced over the years, it's still a RPG. FF tends to be mostly story driven so I always try to balance the experience by putting more effort into the RPG gameplay." ~ Hiroyuki Itou (Director: FFVI, FFIX, FFXII) ---------------- Introduction ---------------- FINAL FANTASY XIII (FINAL FANTASY is referred to as "FF" for the rest of the review) is the latest main series FF from SQUARE ENIX (SQUARE ENIX referred to as "SQEX" for the rest of this review) and has been in development for almost 5 years by Product Development Division - 1. FFXIII is a game that numerically follows FFXII but the game is nothing like it as FFXII was made by a completely different development team called Product Development Division - 4. FFXIII instead is an evolution of the game design of the last main series FF by Product Development Division - 1 called FFX. However, the decision to skip the gaming innovations of FFXII and go back to the incredibly restricting and interactive move-like game design of FFX is ultimately the downfall of FFXIII. The leader of Product Development Division - 1 is called Yoshinori Kitase and he studied to be a Film Director before he joined SQEX. He has openly said in interviews that it's the intention of the games made by his division to play like interactive movies. After FFVII: Advent Children (a CGI movie released on DVD in 2005) was made he said in the bonus footage contained on the DVD that he, "Always wanted to make something like this." The problem with Yoshinori Kitase is that he values film and cinematic qualities over gameplay and good game design and that mentality has greatly affected the game design choices of FFXIII. FFXIII is an interactive movie with RPG elements. This is not a video game and it doesn't even try to pretend it is one. It is unashamedly a CGI movie with a stylish battle system and pretty growth system tacked on. Summing up the game is really that simple. --------------------------- RPG Game Design --------------------------- Firstly, what exactly is the game design of a RPG? It's about the player feeling like they're actually taking the role of a character in the story and virtual world. Therefore, what needs more depth is the story being told in a way that the player actually feels like they are the character in the story. The player must also feel like the virtual world is a real place in which the character can fully interact with. During the course of the game this character grows in strength and learns new abilities and techniques. That's the definition of a Role-Playing Game. If it just has a deep story that doesn't mean it's a RPG as any video game genre can have a deep story. The game design in FFXIII is atrocious and a shining example of why games will never become a majorly respected art form. It claims to be a RPG but you never once feel like you're assuming the role of a character, you only feel like you're controlling their bodies and everything else about them is cut off from you. You move them to the story scenes but during these story parts you completely lose control of them and they become their own person doing whatever they want. How is this then a RPG? It feels more like moving actors to their next story scene and when you reach it the actors turn off your console controller and do whatever the **** they want regardless of you being there or not. If you want to make a film then make a film; if you want to make a game then make a game. If you want to make a hybrid then go for it but don't call it a video game, instead call it an interactive movie and if you're making interactive movies then don't classify yourself as a games designer. I don't know why this beautiful medium that's built on interactivity as a foundation has people that keep using lengthy non-interactive cinema scenes as the main focus of the game. If I want to see pretty CGI from SQEX that I can't interact with then I'd watch FFVII: Advent Children Complete or FF: The Spirits Within on Blu-ray in 1080p. A film is a motion picture so no matter what the director tries to do it will always primarily be a visual moving photo. With a video game, it's interactive computer entertainment so no matter what the director is trying to accomplish it should be focused on the interactivity as a foundation. It can tell a deep story but it must first embrace the interactivity, just like a film must first embrace being a motion picture before it can provide a story to the viewer. FFXIII has been in development for almost 5 years and yet it appears that most of the focus was put on the non-interactive story scenes and graphics. The bad thing about this is that non-interactive story scenes and graphics can both be done in cinema. Interactivity cannot be done in film and as such is what needs to be focused on and perfected in order for games to really stand on their own two feet as an art form. FFXIII doesn't even try to present any form of interactive storytelling and is instead a story that is presented to the player in completely non-interactive motion picture format. I will not go into the specifics of what the story is about but I will say that while the story never becomes majorly epic, it does include a lot of character development for all the playable party members. Sadly, it also contains more melodrama than any other FF released to date. What hurts FFXIII besides the numerous non-interactive movies is that the parts where you actually play are incredibly alleyway-linear. I'm talking like an alleyway where a woman could get raped or a child get mugged, just that the alleyways in this game have been majorly decorated with superb art direction and some with beautiful skylines and vistas and others with numerous things going on in the background. You run down these pretty alleyways and fight some battles. The enemies are on the field but because the fields are so alleyway-linear it's mostly impossible to avoid these enemies and thus when you contact them it switches to a completely different field for the battle. The enemies are on the field but the battles are not seamless and take place on a separate field, a clear step back from the innovations of FFXII by Product Development Division - 4. After the battle ends you reach the next long non-interactive cut-scene. This cycle repeats for almost 40 hours making up 80% of the main game. You eventually reach a huge open environment near the end of the game but that whole big area is completely bland compared to the superb art direction of the alleyway-linear areas and it is also thrown in far too late into the gameplay experience. To make things worse, it's impossible to back track to the beautiful alleyway-linear areas once you complete them. You see an alleyway-linear area only once and if you want to see it again after you pass it you must start a new game. For a game that's been in development for 5 years this is the game design they're selling me? There's nothing remarkable about this as a video game. Only buy it if you want a beautiful looking interactive movie. Product Development Division - 1 has even axed the towns, shops, conversable NPCs, side-quests and other JRPG staples. Sorry, but I need to repeat this so really it hits home: - No towns. - No shops. - No conversable NPCs. - No side-quests. - No mini-games. - No airship. - No world map. With all this **** missing they have the audacity to call this a RPG? You'll realise this is barely a JRPG at all if you return to the Prologue section of this review and read the quote by Yuji Horii who created the JRPG genre. There is innovation of existing gameplay mechanics and there is removal of it, the **** Product Development Division - 1 have done is removal of it. They have just removed all the fundamental JRPG game design elements in their pursuit to make the game feel more like an interactive movie. They gave the non-interactive story scenes and graphics so much priority that important JRPG gameplay elements were given no attention. Don't get my words twisted, there is nothing wrong with playing a video game for the story but this story must be interactive and part of the gameplay experience and not separate from it. Think for a moment... If the main reason you're buying any video game genre is for the parts that are non-interactive then why should the developer even bother adding any interactivity to the game? If the non-interactive story is the most important part of the game and the reason you're buying it then the game should never have been a video game to begin with and instead just a film. FFXIII is a deep but non-interactive story with some brief gameplay on the side. This is not a video game that is striving to make this beautiful interactive medium the greatest art form of the 21st century. ------------------------------------------- Graphics and World Immersion ------------------------------------------- FFXIII is the most beautiful video game you will ever set your eyes on. I'm not going to waste time on this point, FFXIII is the best looking video game ever made. The Art Direction is also superb but it's expected as it's by Isamu Kamikokuryo (who was also Art Director of FFXII by Product Development Division - 4) but sadly Kamikokuryo has not been able to show the full extent of his talent. When he worked on FFXII he was allowed to design fully explorable locations and cities. With FFXIII he has been restrained to design alleyway-linear maps and his art just used mainly as background with no real feel of world immersion via exploration and interactivity. Also, sexy graphics do not make a great game and even though FFXIII looks like a burning hot girl, it plays like taking that girl home and discovering she is a dude in drag. It would appear that Product Development Division - 1 focused so much on graphics that they didn't bother to focus on world immersion. The majority of the locations in FFXIII resemble a movie set as they are straight to the point with no real breathing space. You often feel that if you could move out of the alleyway-linear maps you'd bump into the camera crew and set decorators. The world just doesn't feel like a real place at all. It has a nice sci-fi atmosphere but you never feel fully immersed and that it's a real world, instead you feel like it's just the setting of a film and that you have only one direction to move in that the film director has planned for you. Here's the first 10 hours of the game in maps. You will be able to see from this image that the maps are very alleyway-linear and unfortunately they make up 80% of the main game (SPOILERS): http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/9029/alleywayi.jpg -------------------- Battle System -------------------- Really, this is the only enjoyable interactive element in this game and sadly it's more flawed than the Active Dimension Battle (ADB) of FFXII. The name of the battle system in FFXIII is called Command Synergy Battle (CSB) and was an attempt to bring the stylish fight scenes seen in FFVII: Advent Children into interactive format. You have the ATB bar of past FF games but there are now up to 6 of them and depending on the move that you do it will take up one or more ATB bars. A standard "Attack" command will take up one bar while a move like "Firaga" will take up 3 ATB bars. You can mix and match as many moves as you have ATB bars for and then release them as a single chain of commands. This part of the game is very fun but then it becomes slightly tedious with the addition of the Break bar on enemies (Stagger bar in the NA/EU version). When you first begin combat with an enemy you will first have to make it fall into Break mode before you can do any real damage to it. You do this by attacking it as quickly as possible to fill the Break bar and when it's full the enemy will fall into Break mode and take much more damage. It's an interesting addition but it makes certain battles become overly drawn out and tedious. CSB would have been far quicker and streamlined if the Break bar was only on certain enemies instead of all of them, you could therefore damage the regular enemies straight away while certain powerful enemies and Bosses have a Break bar that needs to be filled before you can perform major damage on them. It would have made the system more interesting and varied, you'd have the enemies that you can speedily and stylishly defeat while others take longer to bring down. Also, while the underlying gameplay mechanics of the CSB system are fun, it's still lacking in areas. Firstly, there's the decision that you can only ever control one party member in battle and that the game will never present you with a choice to switch controlled party member during a battle. It's a shame as ADB in FFXII offered the feature and all past FF games let you control all party members in a battle. Say you're playing as Lightning in a fight but then want to play as Snow for a bit in the same battle, it's impossible to do that in this game. You can switch party member but only outside battle and even then you only get the ability to do this 80% through the main game so almost 40 hours into the game. What I don't understand is why they could not make it so that you can change controlled party member during battle like you could in the ADB system of FFXII. It would have been a simple process of swapping over the AI routine of the character you want to switch to with the character you're currently controlling. Also, why so late in the game to give the player the feature to choose their own party members? The reason is obviously the linearity and majorly story driven nature of the game. Because of how story driven the game is, it even scripts what characters you control and who your party members must be for 80% of the main game. Yes, you read right, you can only really begin to choose your own party members around 40 hours into the game. Everything about whose in your party is pre-scripted before this time. You only get to make a party made out of party members of your choice when you reach that big open area I mentioned earlier in this review. They have also made it so it's Game Over if the party leader dies. What this means is that if the current party leader is Lightning and she dies while the other two AI controlled party members are still alive it will be Game Over, even though there are two other party members that are still alive. It's a very harsh game design approach especially given that past FF games have allowed the whole party to be controlled. If it was so difficult for Product Development Division - 1 to allow the player to control all party members in battle with CSB they should have at least found a way to allow the player to switch to and play as another party member during a battle. What makes this Game Over feature even worse is that when you're fighting a boss or powerful key story related enemy, it will cast "Doom" on the party leader if you're taking too long to defeat it. It just feels very forced and cheap and makes the CSB system feel very user-unfriendly compared to the both ATB and ADB. The AI system that is used in FFXIII is called Optima Change (Paradigm Shift in the NA/EU version) and was added much later in the games development. Product Development Division - 1 initially had CSB having the player only controlling the party leader and the other two party members on AI with no editing from the player. They later decided that they needed to find a way to let the player control the party member AI rather than have them only control the party leader and that's how the Optima Change system was born. The Optima Change system is not even close to being as deep as the Gambit system that was in FFXII as the Gambit system existed in FFXII from the start of that games development. As I've just mentioned, Optima Change was a last minute addition to CSB in an attempt to give the player more control over the AI. The Optima Change system basically involves you having 6 AI roles to choose out from for each character in your party and by mixing them together in unique ways you create various party battle strategies. The problem is that the AI can't be customised to the degree it could be with the Gambit system in FFXII. Optima Change basically has you choosing a role for all three party members and the CPU then decides when and what move the two AI controlled party members do based on what role they currently are and what's going on in the current battle. You can't take over this position from the CPU and set your own AI routines so the AI characters act according to what you told them to do. The way it's set up works most of the time but there are times when you wish an AI party member did a different move instead of the one the CPU told them to do. The lack of control over party member AI in the Optima Change system is a huge step back from the Gambits in FFXII. ---------------- Conclusion ---------------- I'm a gamer who calls a game **** without any fear or hesitation, if it's a bad gaming experience then I'll openly say so regardless of what famous series it's part of. FFXIII is a shining example of a game that refuses to stand proudly on both legs as a video game and instead leans heavily on the film medium for support. To think this game took half a decade to produce and what we have is an experience that is not revolutionary is a crying shame. FFXII, which was released on PS2, is more innovative and more revolutionary as a RPG than this game is and it was released on far inferior hardware. What hurts more is that FFXIII has game design that is worse than JRPGs released on even the SNES. The majority of the time spent making this game went to the graphics and non-interactive story scenes but none of these aspects are important to make a great gameplay experience; none of these will help make video games be regarded as a major art form. The bottom line is simple: If you're buying looking for the sexiest and most beautiful looking interactive movie ever made then buy this without hesitation. However, if you're looking for a RPG with more than just pretty graphics and instead with good RPG game design and interactive storytelling then you should avoid it. ----------- Scoring ----------- - RPG Game Design: [ 2 ] - Graphics: [ 10 ] - World immersion: [ 3 ] - Battle System: [ 7 ] - Final Score (Not an average): [ 5 ].… Expand

9 of 13 users found this helpful

Seth

Mar 10, 2010

6

Where is all the exploring? In this game you fight, walk, watch a cutscene and repeat. Over and over. There are practically no options to customize your character, you cannot control more than one character at a time. The story is probably the weakest Ive played in the series. The music is bad. It makes me miss the old Nobuo Uematsu tracks. The only thing this game has going for it are Where is all the exploring? In this game you fight, walk, watch a cutscene and repeat. Over and over. There are practically no options to customize your character, you cannot control more than one character at a time. The story is probably the weakest Ive played in the series. The music is bad. It makes me miss the old Nobuo Uematsu tracks. The only thing this game has going for it are the graphics. The only thing that allows this to be called an RPG is the turn based combat, which is outdated. The combat in XII or X was far superior. There is no sense of "role playing" rather, you are watching a FF movie with a few turn based limited combat situations.… Expand

11 of 16 users found this helpful

TinoH

Mar 14, 2010

6

This game suffers from MANY flaws. I can't understand people / magazines giving it perfect scores. There is nothing outstanding except the graphics. Even the story is extremely cheesy and boring. The battle system is a strain on my thumb because you can beat 95% of all encounters by repeatedly pressing "X" from fight start to fight end! The enemies have soooo much HP that you will be This game suffers from MANY flaws. I can't understand people / magazines giving it perfect scores. There is nothing outstanding except the graphics. Even the story is extremely cheesy and boring. The battle system is a strain on my thumb because you can beat 95% of all encounters by repeatedly pressing "X" from fight start to fight end! The enemies have soooo much HP that you will be hacking "X" for 1-5 m inutes EVEN FOR NORMAL ENEMIES! The battle system offers no challenges at all except keep your "leader" alive. One of the 2-3 people you walk around is is your "leader" - if he dies the game is instantly lost. But dont worry - you will not have to replay anything. Because if you fail a fight you can just RETRY it .... The list of flaws continues but I don't want to write anymore.… Expand

8 of 12 users found this helpful

Joshua

Mar 27, 2010

6

This Final Fantasy is an utter dissapointment. First the good points: Graphics and story (sort of). This game is beautiful as everyone has said. No doubt about it. The story is also very cool except that at several points I literally stopped at verbalized a WTF which I don't usually do, and sometimes the dialogue gets a little FFX Tidus-esque. But overall very good story. The bad: This Final Fantasy is an utter dissapointment. First the good points: Graphics and story (sort of). This game is beautiful as everyone has said. No doubt about it. The story is also very cool except that at several points I literally stopped at verbalized a WTF which I don't usually do, and sometimes the dialogue gets a little FFX Tidus-esque. But overall very good story. The bad: Super linear. It is boring as hell to walk straight for 1 minut fight for 3 minutes watch cutscene for 5 minutes repeat. Since everyting is like a long hallway it feels claustrophobic and uninteresting even when you change scenery. Somtime I could change from a cityscape to a forest and not even feel like I went anywhere because I was just so disengaged. The battle system is crap. Paradigms sound cool for about 3 seconds but when you have to switch back and forth every turn in some battles it gets pretty annoying. Plus it just feels cheap when you don't have a perfect paradigm set up so one character is doing nothing useful for a turn or when you want to cast slow once then go back to attacking but can't because to cast slow you have to be in a job that doesn't have a normal attack. The stagger system is ridiculous in my opinion. All it amounts to for me is a sensation of being extremely weak and underleveled in every single battle for the whole game with no real way to level up, but with the possibility to suddenly do normal or good damage in the last 5 seconds of a battle. Yay. Overall this game is very average in terms of an RPG, you could definitely find better out there, even in this RPG drought generation. As a huge fan of the FF series this game feels pretty close to a last straw. XV is no longer a must buy for me.… Expand

6 of 9 users found this helpful

RichardT.

Mar 12, 2010

5

Quite possibly the most beautiful looking console game out there, but very, very dull. Run down corridors, engage in pre-arranged (no random encounters or grinding here) quasi-turn based fights that involve figuring out the correct tactic for the particular enemy and spamming it endlessly. No town, no XP, no gambit system and very little control - your party fight under AI control similar Quite possibly the most beautiful looking console game out there, but very, very dull. Run down corridors, engage in pre-arranged (no random encounters or grinding here) quasi-turn based fights that involve figuring out the correct tactic for the particular enemy and spamming it endlessly. No town, no XP, no gambit system and very little control - your party fight under AI control similar to Mass Effect (although in Mass Effect you can at least control your party's use of powers). Very weak and generic story as well. Apparently it all gets a bit better after about 25 hours, but who has the time to play a boring game for that long? The Edge and Wired reviews nail it pretty much perfectly I think.… Expand

9 of 14 users found this helpful

SeanR

Mar 29, 2010

6

I can't understand how so many people give this game such high scores. A 6, at best, is what it deserves. JRPG's aren't exactly known for their steps in innovation, but they are at least consistent. The previous FF's added onto the previous one, or at least did something better. For XIII, Square Enix just chopped off whole elements and replaced it with cliches.

7 of 11 users found this helpful

Trevor

Apr 7, 2010

6

I tried and tried through out the entire 60 hours to care about this games story and characters, but no matter how much I tried, I simply could not. The battle system is, for the most part, fun. However, the story is just horrible, I expected WAY more from the company who brought us FFVII and X. I tried to over look the lack of side quests and cities, but could not do so. This just feels I tried and tried through out the entire 60 hours to care about this games story and characters, but no matter how much I tried, I simply could not. The battle system is, for the most part, fun. However, the story is just horrible, I expected WAY more from the company who brought us FFVII and X. I tried to over look the lack of side quests and cities, but could not do so. This just feels like a mediocre game wrapped with the occasional FF reference. A definite rent, but be buy at your own risk. If you love FF VII and X's stories, prepare to be disappointed.… Expand

7 of 11 users found this helpful

AnthonyP.

Mar 12, 2010

6

Epic let down! First off id like to say this game is a fairly solid dungeon crawler/interactive movie. You jump from dungeon to dungeon, cutscene to cutscene. Minimal character interaction outside cutscenes, the best you will get is idle chatter while you explore the linear paths (Mostly stuff like "Hey this place is neat" or "Look at that") If you thought FF12's characters needed Epic let down! First off id like to say this game is a fairly solid dungeon crawler/interactive movie. You jump from dungeon to dungeon, cutscene to cutscene. Minimal character interaction outside cutscenes, the best you will get is idle chatter while you explore the linear paths (Mostly stuff like "Hey this place is neat" or "Look at that") If you thought FF12's characters needed more depth then you have not met Lightning the ex soldier without a personality...sounds like Cloud actually, but without the actual good plot twists that make him remotely interesting. The battles are either impossible or too easy, meaning if you know what to do they are simple but if you dont know the exact way 100% to fight a boss you cant win period. Why must I fight a boss EXACTLY one specific way ...that is boring. Moving on...Area's dont get interesting till chapter 10 (Out of 13), Summons are extremely cheesy...two blue sisters interlocking thier thighs making themselves into a motercycle is NOT my ideal Shiva. No towns, no shops, boring late-late game sidequests, boring item grinding, truly a dungeon crawler with cutscenes every 5 minutes. The game drops you in the middle of its storyline, it actually needs 10,000 flashbacks to explain itself, it feels almost like a cheap FF6 story, only without the ground breaking gameplay to make up for it. On a plus its graphics are great but not jaw dropping. The sound is amazing, voice acting is decent. On a side note character development is a pretty version of the sphere grid, only you cant really customize a character the way you want. Its monitered and capped in a way that basically everybody will end up with the same characters near endgame. I give this game a 7/10, but since its the most epic letdown of the past 10 years, it gets a 6/10 out of spite.… Expand

5 of 8 users found this helpful

Pat

Mar 17, 2010

6

This game makes you appreciate final fantasy 12 so much. FF13 is Final Fantasy for dumb people. Go from point A to point B. Fight a few enemies. Fill up the predetermined skill path. Be annoyed by two characters, one that doesn't stop whining and one that just doesn't stop squealing giddily. "My feet hurt, this is too hard, its all your fault!," "Don't worry!, you have to This game makes you appreciate final fantasy 12 so much. FF13 is Final Fantasy for dumb people. Go from point A to point B. Fight a few enemies. Fill up the predetermined skill path. Be annoyed by two characters, one that doesn't stop whining and one that just doesn't stop squealing giddily. "My feet hurt, this is too hard, its all your fault!," "Don't worry!, you have to have hope, we can't give up!, everything will work out in the end!, HE HE!" After the first few hours of gameplay you figure out that you really only need to kill a few enemies every chapter to fill up the skill grid. They cap the grid so once you hit the cap, you just stop fighting until they raise it again. So then it becomes a game of how fast can you run to the next cutscene without punishment for being weak when you get to the next boss fight. Boss fights tend to be much easier than the normal fights oddly enough. Randomly their are very hard enemies. Advice to developers, if you are going to have a game where you lose when the party leader dies, do not put enemies that one shot you, it is annoying. Graphics wise, I am typically a PC gamer so this isn't all that great looking. CG cutscenes are still beautiful, characters other than the two I mentions are a bit better. But yeah, final fantasy 12 was the like the pinnacle of customization. Sure it was a bit overwhelming at first but once you get everything set up the way you like it was great. 13 is like hey, you are this, you get to use this move, spam it. I also do not get how people think the fight system is good. I just sit there tapping x and occasionally pressing L1 to change "paradigms." And it is not that I don't enjoy a big produced cinematic game. I loved 10. But it needs to be done right, 10 made you feel like part of the game. You were there with the characters, you cared about them, you wanted everything to work out. Thirteen does not do this, I don't care about anyone, they seem to blabber on about random crap that does not relate to anyone. Everyone's parents died when they were a child in the game. Like seriously, every time someone starts explaining their past in the game, its starts off with "I am an orphan, I never got to know my family much" Game is way too easy + some retarded annoying piss you off type hard parts. It doesn't just hold your hand it holds them both, and your feet, while giving you a back massage. I am hugely disappointed. I give it a 6 because the cutscenes are pretty.… Expand

5 of 8 users found this helpful

GaryW

Apr 4, 2010

6

So fast-forward to now, and here is Final Fantasy XIII; a game I thought would bring me back to the old days and loving the series again. In fact, I think everyone was thinking the same; as the game's director was the same one that worked on Final Fantasy VII. And here I introduce the big problem of this game: not only was I trying my hardest to enjoy it, but this game was obviously So fast-forward to now, and here is Final Fantasy XIII; a game I thought would bring me back to the old days and loving the series again. In fact, I think everyone was thinking the same; as the game's director was the same one that worked on Final Fantasy VII. And here I introduce the big problem of this game: not only was I trying my hardest to enjoy it, but this game was obviously trying its hardest to be enjoyed. From a character heralded as the female version of FFVII's main character Cloud (hell, even her name was fairly similar, being Lightning and all...) to stupidly detailed cut-scenes (that really give away how bad most of the graphics actually are in the game), this is a game that wants to be loved so badly. OK, I lie; it's a game that wants to make Square Enix money. The in-game graphics really are quite horrible for at least the first half of the game, where they look no better then the previous FFXII's environments. It's not just the graphics are bad, but the environments seem carelessly designed. For example, in one part Sazh (one of the few decent characters I will come back to later on) and Vanille (a horribly "australian" voiced character who, thankfully, I will not come back to again) are travelling through a forest. This forest just looks like any bog-standard, generic one you would see in any other game. But it looks boring, too. It's not until you get in the last third of gameplay that we begin to see some of the wow-factor and huge environments a Final Fantasy game should be. And I don't want to sound like a graphics whore, but when compared to in-game graphics of a game like Uncharted, you begin to feel the frustration that Square could have actually created something arguably just as good as in the already mentioned amazing cut-scenes. Well, amazing definitely described the look of the cut-scenes. Their editing and direction leaves much to be desired. Maybe I'm coming at it as I have done video-editing, but you get the feeling they let a child or something mess about with the footage before the game was released. Horrible, sweeping camera angles I'd associate with lesser games unfamiliar with cinematography are used to death. Scenes and lines cut-short, along with music that rarely properly reflects the atmosphere or what's happening on screen. The voice acting is terrible. But the worst thing is the writing. Whoever wrote the English script should find a whole to crawl into before I find them, as it was extremely disappointing. Forget decent characterisation or trying to tie and emotional bond with the gamer. No, it's just full of bad cliches and a horrible narrative. Which leads to the biggest problem. I really don't care what happens to just about all the characters. Rather than take a primary character who we see develop, with well developed supportive roles, we see a narrative that tries to make all the characters have a more or less equal role. Which simply doesn't work; by the time we start to develop some sort of feeling for the characters, it swaps to the other half of the team for a few hours. There is one exception to the rule: Sazh. In my opinion, he has the best character, voice actor, and role in the game. He's an older guy who has been thrown into this mess because he wants to save his toddler son. He is also really likeable, compared to the rest of the gang of freaks. But I think the ageism in the game says it all: in his mid-thirties, he's an "old man". All the other characters are younger, (apparently) sexier, and just as fake and one-dimensional as the probable target audience of the product. He ends up taking a back-seater by the middle of the story, being used from then on as someone to give the odd annoying one-liner. The annoying thing is this is meant to be a role-playing game. But the dialogue is so awful you can't ever fit into a role. There is also no exploration whatsoever, at least until the final chapters in a section full of side-quests which seems more like it has been bolted on to please hardcore fans. And this is one of the few parts that looks amazing; it is so huge. There is no "world-map" you can explore, and most of the game you are getting from a-to-b. Not even any "exploration" exists, as your map in the top-right corner makes it pretty obvious that the very rare off-shoot of the path probably hides some treasure. There's no sense of "home" throughout, and no more towns you can explore or find useful things out from the townsfolk. In the few sections you can converse with people, they repeat the same thing over and over. Finally (and arguably the flagship of any RPG) is the battle system. And in all fairness, at the beginning you think it is really well done. You control one character by selecting their attacks/defence in battle, and can select the "stance" (or paradigm, as this game decides to call them) the other two people in your team have. i.e. whether you want them to keep healing, keep using magic attacks or physical attacks etc.It all starts off well, but very quickly you see it's limitations. It all feels too on-rails, like the rest of the game. They've even provided an "auto-battle" mode so you don't even have to control your main man/woman!! And more usually than not the other two party members act in a way you never would if you were actually controlling them. Indeed, I doubt any sane man would act that way either. They made one massive, massive mistake with the battle system though: if the party leader gets knocked out, it's game over. Why the hell did they decide that? Do your other party members, who are quite happy to use revive magic to any one else on the team, suddenly forget how to heal you? There isn't even any logic for this decision in terms of the battle system as a whole. It seems just a lazy decision on Square's part to make the game a bit harder. So overall, I was very unimpressed with the game. It is trying too hard to make money and look all glitzy and great, but you can't base the soul of a good game or storyline on making money. You don't feel the passion they put into their games anymore... it seemed to all disappear after the 10th instalment of the series (which compared to this really wasn't that bad). If they wanted a guaranteed cash-cow that I would buy and actually enjoy, they should have re-made Final Fantasy VII like everyone begged them to. Interestingly, the related game/tie-in/sequal Final Fantasy Versus 13 really doesn't look that bad. In fact it looks a lot darker, like in FFVII. And it has a world map to explore. Seeing as they seemed to lose their way after getting rid of a world you travel around, maybe it's a sign they'll go back to their roots. Maybe.… Expand

7 of 12 users found this helpful

Regal4point1

Jul 31, 2012

6

FF13 is definitely one of my guilty pleasures, and this makes the game hard to recommend. It has its highlights, but the restriction required to get there isn't often worth it. The battle system is fast and fun, but easily exploitable. The plot is good but horribly executed. The characters are multi-dimensional but deliver rotten dialogue. The game's world is beautiful but restrictive.FF13 is definitely one of my guilty pleasures, and this makes the game hard to recommend. It has its highlights, but the restriction required to get there isn't often worth it. The battle system is fast and fun, but easily exploitable. The plot is good but horribly executed. The characters are multi-dimensional but deliver rotten dialogue. The game's world is beautiful but restrictive. Every aspect of the game has at least one issue holding it back. Did I enjoy my time with it though? Oddly enough I did. You might be one of the few like me to get something out of it though.… Expand

jaga420

Dec 4, 2010

5

I absolutely loved the graphics and the gameplay.
The story was detestable at best. It has a good base but it has way too many cheesy moments and doesn't make much sense unless you read all the data logs. It only had one cutscene that wasn't cheesy and had meaning (with Sazh and Vanille just before he gets his summon)
The music was great and went well with the battles and environment, butI absolutely loved the graphics and the gameplay.
The story was detestable at best. It has a good base but it has way too many cheesy moments and doesn't make much sense unless you read all the data logs. It only had one cutscene that wasn't cheesy and had meaning (with Sazh and Vanille just before he gets his summon)
The music was great and went well with the battles and environment, but I miss Uematsu's work
The game was linear, but so was God of War.
The voices are the worst part. Vanille's is the worst of the worst, with many of her sound effects sounding more like orgasms than pain. I would have liked an option of changing the voices to the japanese versions and having english subtitles.
Overall, a huge disappointment but still worth a rent.… Expand

DemonKnight94

Mar 20, 2014

7

FFXIII is a very repetitive game. At very few times i found it fun for the sake of gameplay. And that is the combats fault. It´s to repetitive and for the first half of the game u basicaly mash one button in manny battles lasts forever aswell as its undramatic. Fighting, running around enviroments and watch cutscenes is what u do in this game, Usualy that is not a problem for me but iFFXIII is a very repetitive game. At very few times i found it fun for the sake of gameplay. And that is the combats fault. It´s to repetitive and for the first half of the game u basicaly mash one button in manny battles lasts forever aswell as its undramatic. Fighting, running around enviroments and watch cutscenes is what u do in this game, Usualy that is not a problem for me but i found running around the enviroments thte creative and beautiful, at times spectacular inviroments and watch cutscenes more interesting.

Aswell as that FFXIII has a soundtrack that u hear when running around the world and during cutsceenes that is great but not to often, all you hear is Combat Theme trough every fight. Great estetics, poor gameplay… Expand

DanielP

Mar 11, 2010

7

Who in Square Enix said: "Hey you know what we should do? Make this new installment of Final Fantasy as linear as a freaking two dimensional Sonic game!" "yeah man! That's a GREAT idea!" All I wanted to do through the entire first half of the game was go find an optional boss, go into an optional zone, or engage in a sidequest. For those of you who played FF7, let me put it this way, Who in Square Enix said: "Hey you know what we should do? Make this new installment of Final Fantasy as linear as a freaking two dimensional Sonic game!" "yeah man! That's a GREAT idea!" All I wanted to do through the entire first half of the game was go find an optional boss, go into an optional zone, or engage in a sidequest. For those of you who played FF7, let me put it this way, you don't get out of Midgar till the game is more than halfway over!… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful

Leontorres7

Nov 15, 2018

7

The game could have been better and its lacking a lot of elements but still it is entertaining.

Iqbal

Aug 24, 2010

6

Shocked. The wait was not worth it. As someone who plays Final Fantasy for only the story telling aspect i was shocked to see such an unnecessarily complicated plot that it took away all meaning from the game. As an old school Final Fantasy player i was bitterly disapointed to find out the lead is not a blond haired male. Infact there were no traditional character roles at all. NoShocked. The wait was not worth it. As someone who plays Final Fantasy for only the story telling aspect i was shocked to see such an unnecessarily complicated plot that it took away all meaning from the game. As an old school Final Fantasy player i was bitterly disapointed to find out the lead is not a blond haired male. Infact there were no traditional character roles at all. No summoner, no black magic specialist etc. What a disapointment.… Expand

DemonWithin

Jun 3, 2011

5

Ok first off I am a HUGE RPG fan and Final Fantasy is one of my favorite series.But 13 let me down.The story was confusing the battle system is boring in my opinion and I don't really like any of the characters other than Lightning and Fang.The graphics are great but to me that doesn't make up for the game-play.I couldn't even finish this game I was so bored with it but after spending $60Ok first off I am a HUGE RPG fan and Final Fantasy is one of my favorite series.But 13 let me down.The story was confusing the battle system is boring in my opinion and I don't really like any of the characters other than Lightning and Fang.The graphics are great but to me that doesn't make up for the game-play.I couldn't even finish this game I was so bored with it but after spending $60 bucks I felt in titled to review it.It may be for some, I sure as hell wasn't one of them though.It's linear game play,I still can't get over that it's FF after all.I waited for this game since the first trailer and info was out,but it wasn't worth it.… Expand

lightning101

May 14, 2011

5

Not a game I would recommend to my friends or for people viewing this comment. They have good looking characters in it, I love Lightning, but the game is just not good enough. The story, character backgrounds, the ending, the sexual gasps being heard from Vanille is just bad. The trailer might be good but those are only the best parts of the game, the rest is just awful. And I am a fan ofNot a game I would recommend to my friends or for people viewing this comment. They have good looking characters in it, I love Lightning, but the game is just not good enough. The story, character backgrounds, the ending, the sexual gasps being heard from Vanille is just bad. The trailer might be good but those are only the best parts of the game, the rest is just awful. And I am a fan of this game, but it's just not good enough.… Expand

Valipex

Aug 30, 2010

5

Well I wouldn't say that the game was THAT BAD but it could have been SO MUCH BETTER. VERY disappointing as a FF game.

I mean, I haven't bought the game but I've watched the entire thing on Youtube and from what I've seen, there wasn't really much to do other than walking around and fighting monsters...Not much room for exploration at all dude. I DID enjoy the characters. All of them inWell I wouldn't say that the game was THAT BAD but it could have been SO MUCH BETTER. VERY disappointing as a FF game.

I mean, I haven't bought the game but I've watched the entire thing on Youtube and from what I've seen, there wasn't really much to do other than walking around and fighting monsters...Not much room for exploration at all dude. I DID enjoy the characters. All of them in fact, but some of them could have used some more time to develop ( i.e. Serah, Snow and Vanille ). And many aspects of the story still don't make sense to me ( AND I've read the novels )

The graphics were pretty tight though and unlike many people I really like that SE tried to go all futuristic with the series! Nothing wrong with trying new things! But you gotta succeed in doing so....… Expand

Hikaru

Sep 13, 2010

6

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Well... all I can say for FF13 is WOW.
Good and bad, i found no in between here. All the good was amazing, the bad was... horrible.
The story-line and most of the fighting styles were great, and put a new edge to the Final Fantasy series. Unfortunately, while the story and graphics were amazing, the fighting was great, I simply could not get my head around some of the changes from the old final fantasy elements.
Turning summons into (for lack of a better word) mounts was ridiculous, and many boss fights were just pointless. Unless you were a longtime FF fan and knew how to defeat certain types of enemies, the only way to defeat some enemies was grinding levels and hoping for the best.
While i HAD to play it because of it being part of the FF series, I would not suggest this game to anyone looking for a reminder of past Final Fantasies.… Expand

rave_rd

Feb 15, 2011

5

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game was very much a mixed bag for me (thus the five)....most of the other reviews here have covered anything, but I'm going to add mine because maybe it'll help me feel a little bit better about the 50+ hours I just sunk in to this game. Did I enjoy the story? Yes (I can handle some melodrama, that's fine...and sure I can swallow some of the awkward writing). No surprise about the game being beautiful (and it really, really is, especially in HD). Then there's the gameplay: linear, linear, linear. Walk cutscene, fight, walk, fight, cutscene. Ok, this mean the story needs to keep me interested (and it did, I kept going).

SPOILERS

Then Orphan shows up. Death To All? Really? So if I don't have the right accessory then I have to rely on luck to not instantly die? REALLY? 50+ hours later and I'm screwed--I don't have the gil to buy things, and my saves are at the ending...so I guess I lose. Thanks FFXII.
All I can say is make sure you read a walkthrough/guide, or expect to be really frustrated at the end.… Expand

SalarymanDaishi

Jan 22, 2011

5

A grand journey like any Final Fantasy should be, sadly trimmed down to just bare essentials: flashy cutscenes and combat. As fine as both of them are, quite a bit of what makes an enthralling JRPG has been culled as well and the result is a linear and vapid ordeal of preciously little else than running and fighting for 50 hours. Sure, the story and the characters weren't bad at all butA grand journey like any Final Fantasy should be, sadly trimmed down to just bare essentials: flashy cutscenes and combat. As fine as both of them are, quite a bit of what makes an enthralling JRPG has been culled as well and the result is a linear and vapid ordeal of preciously little else than running and fighting for 50 hours. Sure, the story and the characters weren't bad at all but overall, the game is worthy of just one gigantic, heartfelt meh. Not because it wasn't what some of us stubborn FF purists wanted it to be but because it's not even a particularly memorable representative of its genre. Not exactly bad or good. Just... Meh.… Expand

Albyproulx

Jan 9, 2011

7

By far the worst Final Fantasy game. It was still decent, but anything with the name Final Fantasy attached has built up certain expectations. I feel that the franchise is losing its luster with each release. This game was so linear it's ridiculous. As a player I felt like I was just running from battle to battle, cut scene to cut scene. The story was interesting, but the game playBy far the worst Final Fantasy game. It was still decent, but anything with the name Final Fantasy attached has built up certain expectations. I feel that the franchise is losing its luster with each release. This game was so linear it's ridiculous. As a player I felt like I was just running from battle to battle, cut scene to cut scene. The story was interesting, but the game play has no depth. The visuals are very nice, but there is not much beyond that.… Expand

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2	#2 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2010
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