Final Fantasy XIII

 PlayStation 3
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2976 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,797 out of 2976
  2. Mixed: 513 out of 2976
  3. Negative: 666 out of 2976
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  1. 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
  2. HeikkiR
    Apr 7, 2010
    9
    First of all, I want to say that I'm really, really old fan of the series. I think many gamers out there who says FF13 is mediocre and too different, should go and play golden oldies all over again - because it was about the time for some change! (... and not the FF12 style of change, allthough I love the game) Final Fantasy 13 is worth every minute you play it. Gone are the dull First of all, I want to say that I'm really, really old fan of the series. I think many gamers out there who says FF13 is mediocre and too different, should go and play golden oldies all over again - because it was about the time for some change! (... and not the FF12 style of change, allthough I love the game) Final Fantasy 13 is worth every minute you play it. Gone are the dull environments of FF12, or paperthin characters of FF8 and 10. They are replaced by colourful world and characters with real motivations and history that fleshes out every conversation and even the one liners they throw while exploring the fantastic landscapes. Sure there are no towns as as you might remember them from good-old FF's and no worldmap either, but the structure of the game supports these decisions and you don't really remember to miss them that much. They are sacrificed to deliver an great experience. Battle system as every aspect in this game, is different from previous installments but is also excellent. Features of new battle engine is introduced to players little by little, so you won't ever feel lost with them. Battle dynamics really varies if you use different characters or different Paragrim Shifts. It could be said that the battle system is the salt of the FF13, without game feeling like grinding fest (that FF12 was). Story and setting of FF13 are very original, but if there was main inspiration from the previous installments of FF-series it would probably be FF7. Main structure of the adventure is very similar to that of FF7 (but has nuances of FF4 and FF6) and so are many characters. I would love to present theories on this, but I would spoil many things for new players. Fabula Nova Chrystalis has a lot of meat for new installments and I personally cannot wait for Agito and Versus 13!… Expand
  3. BP
    Apr 5, 2010
    8
    The game starts out incredibly slow.. way too much in my opinion. It's mostly crap until you get to the 20 hour mark or so -- battles are simple and almost 100% linear. You finally get a good rhythm going and then the game forces you into a weird battle party configuration. I was getting pretty fed up with it around chapter 7, but hung in and was glad I did. Along the way the The game starts out incredibly slow.. way too much in my opinion. It's mostly crap until you get to the 20 hour mark or so -- battles are simple and almost 100% linear. You finally get a good rhythm going and then the game forces you into a weird battle party configuration. I was getting pretty fed up with it around chapter 7, but hung in and was glad I did. Along the way the characters and story are slowly revealed, which helps ease the pain. Around chapter 10 or so, it gets good. You start actually having choices in gear and party and the battles start having strategy and depth to them. The world opens up for chapter 11, and exploring it and opening it up more by doing the marks is really fun. After this break, diving back into chapter 12 was lots of fun, even though it was going back to the linear story. Having gone from a stereo to surround sound setup midway through playing, I can tell you that the loud footsteps does not happen in stereo, but does in surround sound. You can tell the reviewers here who never played 20 hours from the horrible scores, and I don't blame them. If you aren't willing to put 25-30 hours in this game, then you won't like it. If you do get that far, you will be rewarded with a interesting and challenging battle system, characters and story with depth, and an experience worth the money.… Expand
  4. MarkR
    Apr 5, 2010
    10
    Absolute perfection by Square Enix. Bucking the trend of recent games: Boring, 6 hour long games which aren't worth the money you paid, Final Fantasy XIII gives you a 45 hour blockbuster of a game, a brilliant story, brilliant gameplay, brilliant graphics like Gaming Age said, the best graphics out on a video console right now. Character development is brilliant, getting to choose Absolute perfection by Square Enix. Bucking the trend of recent games: Boring, 6 hour long games which aren't worth the money you paid, Final Fantasy XIII gives you a 45 hour blockbuster of a game, a brilliant story, brilliant gameplay, brilliant graphics like Gaming Age said, the best graphics out on a video console right now. Character development is brilliant, getting to choose what class you want them to specialize in, out of 3 'primary' classes, which vary per character, and 3 'secondary' classes later on in the game. The paradigm system, while pretty simple, has an huge amount of depth, and mastering the paradigm system really will turn the tides of any challenging battle, changing to the right set-up, at the right time changes everything.… Expand
  5. brentl
    Apr 4, 2010
    8
    First of all the negative, liner, and you gota remember that a liner ff game is perhaps one of the worst things you can do to a franchise. the battles, you only get to control the leader. a very slow start. if it wasn't for these three problems (in reality the first two cause im ok with a slow start), this game would be a 10 and my personal game of the year. I love gow 3, im lookinFirst of all the negative, liner, and you gota remember that a liner ff game is perhaps one of the worst things you can do to a franchise. the battles, you only get to control the leader. a very slow start. if it wasn't for these three problems (in reality the first two cause im ok with a slow start), this game would be a 10 and my personal game of the year. I love gow 3, im lookin foward to red dead, and a new mario, metroid and zelda game are always amazing. but this could've been the best ff game ever, and easily the best of the year. perhaps the best of the last ten years. everything else tho is amazing, thats really the only positive thing im gona say, cause after years and years of being pushed back i expected more. to me this is like re5, still a great game in it of it self, but when compared to what i expected, its a 1 out of 10.… Expand
  6. 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. Wes
    Apr 3, 2010
    9
    There has been a lot of talk about the linearity of this game, and yes... this game does force you down a narrow corridor for the first 20 or so hours. That being said, this game is a lot of fun, and the story is very immersive (I actually think this is the first game that I have watched all of the cut-scenes while playing). I didn't really mind the linearity or the actual levels, There has been a lot of talk about the linearity of this game, and yes... this game does force you down a narrow corridor for the first 20 or so hours. That being said, this game is a lot of fun, and the story is very immersive (I actually think this is the first game that I have watched all of the cut-scenes while playing). I didn't really mind the linearity or the actual levels, however the fact that the leveling system is somewhat linear drops this game from a 10 to a 9. I also would have liked to have the ability to pause combat to select actions.… Expand
  8. EthanL
    Apr 3, 2010
    2
    This game had many great things going for it and a huge number of wonderful creative ideas and developmental risks that gave it such huge potential. But ultimately it had to be marked down as a huge disaster for one very simple reason. It seems to push the player to want to stop playing. The game takes forever to get anywhere, and the paths in between are littered with massive numbers of This game had many great things going for it and a huge number of wonderful creative ideas and developmental risks that gave it such huge potential. But ultimately it had to be marked down as a huge disaster for one very simple reason. It seems to push the player to want to stop playing. The game takes forever to get anywhere, and the paths in between are littered with massive numbers of pointless battles that serve only to slow down the game even further. And even if you get past all that once you figure out the convoluted systems. Once you get to anything remotely interesting, suddenly the game throws at you horribly impossible fights with no way guide or method to deal with them effectively. These become horrible experiences of torture where there is simply no way to progress without insane bonuses, micromanagement, and ridiculous item use.… Expand
  9. RM
    Apr 1, 2010
    10
    On each of the two previous generations of Playstation consoles the first Final Fantasy game was an awesome and groundbreaking experience. Nothing has changed in that regard here. This game is a solid and engrossing experience in no way simplified or dumbed down for modern gamers (e.g Wii owners). Graphics are awesome we can all agree. Story is good enough but it's the actual On each of the two previous generations of Playstation consoles the first Final Fantasy game was an awesome and groundbreaking experience. Nothing has changed in that regard here. This game is a solid and engrossing experience in no way simplified or dumbed down for modern gamers (e.g Wii owners). Graphics are awesome we can all agree. Story is good enough but it's the actual gameplay that shines through. The battles are fast and action packed and to someone watching may look like they are totally hectic and random but iare actually fully controlled and the player knows exactly whats going on. With a battle system this sophisticated theres no wonder it's all introduced so slowly. People seem to be complaining about trivial things like the fact that there are no towns or shops and that you only control one character. Regarding towns all i can say is they were the most boring part of every RPG i've ever played and i couldn't get out quick enough and i doubt anyone found running from one shop to the next to purchase weapons and armour particularly fun. As for controlling one character it was exactly the same in FFXII and that didn't stop it getting rave reviews by the same hypocrites complaining about it now. In conclusion FFXIII has taken out all of the boring and unnecessary RPG elements and kept what matters as well as adding some innovative additions e.g when you die you can retry from right where you were before the fight. Who hasn't died unexpectedly in a game and wished they had saved their game? Final Fantasy will never get a fair break from certain people (see Edge magazine and Teletext Gamecentral reviews) it seems that when FF7 defected to the PS they felt personally injured Square had betrayed THEM not Nintendo THEM. That decision has made Sqaure their enemy for life. These two also gave Super Mario Galaxy 100% score even with it's flaws e.g camera problems when backtracking. Hardly impartial are they? My advice is to check this game out for yourself and dont let biased opinions deter you. If you are an RPG fan you can't get better.… Expand
  10. RyanM
    Mar 30, 2010
    4
    I've played the game to completion over 60 hours. What an irritating mess. The characters are all terrible and horribly translated from Japanese (unless they sucked this bad in the JP version too). Why does every character have to either grunt, sigh, or moan while onscreen? Why can my group of 3 take down a 20 ft tall turtle monster, but in the following cutscene they walk ten steps I've played the game to completion over 60 hours. What an irritating mess. The characters are all terrible and horribly translated from Japanese (unless they sucked this bad in the JP version too). Why does every character have to either grunt, sigh, or moan while onscreen? Why can my group of 3 take down a 20 ft tall turtle monster, but in the following cutscene they walk ten steps and are all out of breath. This game sounds like a porno if you're just listening to the characters voice tracks. The writing is horrid, I never want to hear the words L'Cie, Fal'Cie, Pulse, Cocoon, or Focus, ever again. On top of all that, the sound effect they use for the characters footsteps is way too loud and is the identical sound for all characters and the same for all surfaces. It sounds like a minor gripe I guess, but you'll be listening to the same sound on repeat for 60 hours (well maybe 40 hours if you subtract all the non-interactive scenes). You do nothing but press the X button for the first ten hours. After that a reasonably designed combat system is slowly introduced to you like you're some kind of retard who's never played a game before. Seriously, there have been 12 other FF games, half the fun is figuring out the battle system. I'd give the actual gameplay elements a 7 or 8 because of the beautiful presentation, but the "Movie" part of the game drags it down to a 4. This is a terrible, poorly translated, nonsensical, anime with very pretty graphics. I've played every FF game since FF2 on the SNES and I've never been so generally annoyed by FF characters. There is no point in the story where you're given any reason to care about any of them. You never give a shit about the Cocoon they're trying to save, it seems like a crappy place full of d-bags. I'd blow it up and go live on Pulse, at least I'd get to wander around and hunt monsters there. In summary, this game is a beautiful mess. It's an ok linear J-RPG stuck to a conceptually interesting story with the worst characters and voice acting since Resident Evil 1 (Ok, maybe not that bad, but...). A lot of the action you'll be watching is completely out of your control and is extraneous to the story and the characters. It's like they had a rough outline of a story, then the art department made a bunch of cool cutscenes, monsters, and character models, then they tried to fill in the gaps with a hackneyed script and linear stitched together dungeons. Easily the worst FF I've ever played.… Expand
  11. MatthewF
    Mar 29, 2010
    9
    This is a very good game. I've been wating for it since its first announce in 2006 and it's the reason why I bought a PS3 that year. -Presentation: Awsome. Maybe the best i've ever seen as in Uncharted 2. Impressive cutscenes and dialogues. -Story: I'm sorry but the story is just great: better than the 12th and the 10th which i consider very good games despite the many This is a very good game. I've been wating for it since its first announce in 2006 and it's the reason why I bought a PS3 that year. -Presentation: Awsome. Maybe the best i've ever seen as in Uncharted 2. Impressive cutscenes and dialogues. -Story: I'm sorry but the story is just great: better than the 12th and the 10th which i consider very good games despite the many bad points they have. Characters are very deep and well described in emotions, thoughts and feelings. I could actually feel the pain in Sahz voice or in Snow's. -Combat System: the most difficult and complicated ever (just less than the one in "Resonance of Fate"). It' very dinamic: but if you don't believe me just try an Eidolon battle without the guide. -No secondary quest and exploration??? Well... it's not true. There are 65 (!!!!!) hunt tasks on Grand Pulse and all the training to have final weapons and all Cristallium filled. In 30 hours you arrive to chapter 11, right, but it doesn't mean you'll end the story in 35 hours! you do still have 20 hours -at least- to spend and enjoy. -No towns!!! true but... wat was the need to have towns? here the story NEEDS to take place OUT of towns and... to be honest... Palompolum and Nautilus for me where enough (3 hours of play) compared to all towns in FF12. -Linear??? yes but it has to be like that. Bosses are so challenging at the end that you need 30 hours of trainig on optima change if you don't wanna die immediatly. -Final Comment: Final Fantasy 13 worths the money you spend 100%. It's an awsome game with no tecnichal imperfections as Mass Effect 2 and it's not easy. Story and characters are great as the dubbling and cutscenes. And don't forget the best combat system ever! PS: sorry for the Eng writing but it's not my first language.… Expand
  12. 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.
  13. ChrisJ
    Mar 28, 2010
    3
    Yes Square, I understand your intentions for making the game linear. I just don't understand why'd you have to make it so crappy. Graphics are great (the UI especially), music is OK (far from the best). The overall story seems good, but the characters are trite and all dumbasses. I don't care about the world because I'm not exploring it. Hitting X over and over and Yes Square, I understand your intentions for making the game linear. I just don't understand why'd you have to make it so crappy. Graphics are great (the UI especially), music is OK (far from the best). The overall story seems good, but the characters are trite and all dumbasses. I don't care about the world because I'm not exploring it. Hitting X over and over and maybe the left bumper once and a while is hardly groundbreaking. and I wouldn't mind grinding if I had other stuff in the game to do! This is a disaster of a Final Fantasy! Like another poster stated, BioWare is doing things right.… Expand
  14. 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
  15. FrankG
    Mar 27, 2010
    9
    All the negative reviews I'm seeing seemed to be purely stemming from hate. People complaining about the fact that there are no towns/world map to explore is because all the characters are on BORROWED TIME. They don't have the time to be flying around a world exploring every nook and cranny. Did you pay attention to what being a l'Cie means? Probably not. Why don't you All the negative reviews I'm seeing seemed to be purely stemming from hate. People complaining about the fact that there are no towns/world map to explore is because all the characters are on BORROWED TIME. They don't have the time to be flying around a world exploring every nook and cranny. Did you pay attention to what being a l'Cie means? Probably not. Why don't you go and read the datalog for once, it's there for a reason, it explains everything for you. The characters do have some depth to their personalities, Vanille and Sazh being the most noteworthy. Graphics are absolutely killer on an HDTV. Would like to point out to Brett J that most people don't "get outside to play another game", plus your only comparisons are action/shooter games, have you tried a JRPG? Everyone's going to bash this game MORE because it's a Final Fantasy, if this game had another name made by some unheard of company, its reviews would have been unmatched. Key point is, if you sit through the first few chapters of the game, which are admittedly slow to get through, the abilities and choices present with the paradigm/battle system open up tremendously. Want your healer to double as a tank? Go for it; switch from mage to sword-slashing damage dealer? Choice is yours. The difficulty scales quite well and the challenge never backs down. I love this game, there's plenty to be doing. People need to understand that since the characters are all l'Cie, they cannot go to towns and talk to people, they are outcasts, they do everything on their own, I've accepted that, the game has CLEARLY defined this boundary; get over it. Thank you Square Enix, you've made an awesome game.… Expand
  16. HenryJ
    Mar 26, 2010
    9
    I give this game a 9 for just being the first FF title to the PS3 platform. They did pretty well for themselves the first time around. Yes, the game was pretty linear in the beginning to end (except for Chapter 11). But I still found it to be extremely fun with the intriguing battle system that they have created to this franchise. The game certainly changed a lot from previous FF titles, I give this game a 9 for just being the first FF title to the PS3 platform. They did pretty well for themselves the first time around. Yes, the game was pretty linear in the beginning to end (except for Chapter 11). But I still found it to be extremely fun with the intriguing battle system that they have created to this franchise. The game certainly changed a lot from previous FF titles, but it is still crazy fun.… Expand
  17. N.S.
    Mar 26, 2010
    10
    This is an epic game. 1. graphics are awesome. 2. Good RPG elements are still there (upgrading, equipment) 3. Great action in battle (for everybody out there who doesn't does it yet: Switch to ABILITIES as standard) 4. Whatever everybody saying the story is really good 5. It's not repetitive 6. saying this game has no side missions is a lie! There are 64 7. The game has 60+ This is an epic game. 1. graphics are awesome. 2. Good RPG elements are still there (upgrading, equipment) 3. Great action in battle (for everybody out there who doesn't does it yet: Switch to ABILITIES as standard) 4. Whatever everybody saying the story is really good 5. It's not repetitive 6. saying this game has no side missions is a lie! There are 64 7. The game has 60+ hours of gameplay I'm going to stop here cause I'm going to play it some more, but I could go on for days with good sides.… Expand
  18. GoogooG.
    Mar 25, 2010
    4
    Bought my PS2 and PS3 systems to play FF games.. just finished the game am am left with a decidable dirty taste in my mouth as if the Square team have just shoved a large phallic salami down my through and told me to swallow because this is good. im all for experimentation but this is just cud, yes spat out, reworked, Spat out and reworked one more time before final packaging. I remember Bought my PS2 and PS3 systems to play FF games.. just finished the game am am left with a decidable dirty taste in my mouth as if the Square team have just shoved a large phallic salami down my through and told me to swallow because this is good. im all for experimentation but this is just cud, yes spat out, reworked, Spat out and reworked one more time before final packaging. I remember seeing my first final fantasy game and being blown away, how it pushed the envelope it was jaw dropping , now i wouldnt drop my pants to piss on it . Yawn you lazy poor excuse for a FF development team. Battle system was interesting though .good job on that. next time maby we can interact with the world before being mindlessly thrown into battles or mindless running in straigth lines. Dear sqaure please rent some games that were made in the last 3 years and play them see if you can learn something called immersion either that or give me my money back.… Expand
  19. MrZ
    Mar 25, 2010
    3
    Attention gamers! Want to win your battles by outmatching and outwitting your enemies? No need! Just select 'Libra', mash 'auto-battle' and watch the pretty colours fly. Want any sort of say in the powers of your characters? Forget it! Hold down X and the thinking is done for you. Want hours of entertainment exploring a fantastical, otherworldly universe? Ever Attention gamers! Want to win your battles by outmatching and outwitting your enemies? No need! Just select 'Libra', mash 'auto-battle' and watch the pretty colours fly. Want any sort of say in the powers of your characters? Forget it! Hold down X and the thinking is done for you. Want hours of entertainment exploring a fantastical, otherworldly universe? Ever considered holding the left joystick in the 'up' position for hours on end instead? If you fancy doing nothing for ages and paying a few hours of wages for the privelege, then FFXIII is you. By a bored and previously avid FF fan. Apparently it gets better around the 25 hour mark. Usually the reward for 25 hours of play is something other than relief of boredom. As someone who got into gaming mainly because of FFVIII, I am in disbelief. Looks nice, though. Then again, so do flowers and fairies and lots of other boring crap.… Expand
  20. CoreyB
    Mar 24, 2010
    1
    I have played and loved all the Final Fantasy games since FF7 (with the exception of FF11). The series has long been the gold-standard in the JRPG genre; it's one of the few series where I am willing to buy the game the day it comes out without checking any reviews. All this is to say I'm biased towards liking any Final Fantasy and being forgiving towards the series flaws. Yet, I have played and loved all the Final Fantasy games since FF7 (with the exception of FF11). The series has long been the gold-standard in the JRPG genre; it's one of the few series where I am willing to buy the game the day it comes out without checking any reviews. All this is to say I'm biased towards liking any Final Fantasy and being forgiving towards the series flaws. Yet, despite this, all I can say is that FF13 is an incredible disappointment. While all the Final Fantasy games have been somewhat linear, FF13's linearity is oppressive. The battle system is awful; it involves no strategy, you don't even choose the specific attacks 95% of the time. The story is melodramatic, cliched, and completely unengaging. The characters are static and impossible to like. The only thing going for this game is the gorgeous graphics. All in all, this is an abomination that does not deserve the title of Final Fantasy. Absolutely awful.… Expand
  21. JohnnyD
    Mar 24, 2010
    10
    I thought that the idea of sticking with traditions probably would be silly when it comes to making attempts to inject a completely new life into the Final Fantasy series. Especially when the series that is nearly two decades old already. I felt that the latest installment should show us that Square-Enix has indeed made a dramatic escape from their somewhat crystallized philosophy in I thought that the idea of sticking with traditions probably would be silly when it comes to making attempts to inject a completely new life into the Final Fantasy series. Especially when the series that is nearly two decades old already. I felt that the latest installment should show us that Square-Enix has indeed made a dramatic escape from their somewhat crystallized philosophy in terms of game design… Expand
  22. JamesB
    Mar 23, 2010
    9
    Simply put: This game deserves better reviews. Do not trust very low scores (I do not believe that the people who gave the low reviews even played the entire game). On the linear and lack of freedom argument: The hand holding is a minimum. By the reviews I read, I was under the impression that it was for half the game, but truthfully, it is only in the first few chapters. Also, Western Simply put: This game deserves better reviews. Do not trust very low scores (I do not believe that the people who gave the low reviews even played the entire game). On the linear and lack of freedom argument: The hand holding is a minimum. By the reviews I read, I was under the impression that it was for half the game, but truthfully, it is only in the first few chapters. Also, Western gamers seem to forget that non-linearity often creates endless glitches which require patch after patch. FFXIII was released in perfect working order and that is a lesson Western developers should learn. The entire game flows seamlessly, the quality of the textures and graphics is incredible without any errors, the orchestrated music is by far some of the best of the series and for video games in general, and the storyline still manages to be fresh and exciting. The 13th installment in the Final Fantasy franchise has been made very well but cannot impress the gore and war obsessed Western gamers.… Expand
  23. LarryD
    Mar 23, 2010
    3
    The extreme linearity was a gamble that bet the farm on the narrative and characterizations being worthwhile enough to hold it all together. Sadly, the story is an abject failure. The first 20 hours are filled with painstaking cutscenes that attempt to humanize consciously-unlikeable archetypes, as well as occasional dropping clues to an overarching mystery. By game's end, you will The extreme linearity was a gamble that bet the farm on the narrative and characterizations being worthwhile enough to hold it all together. Sadly, the story is an abject failure. The first 20 hours are filled with painstaking cutscenes that attempt to humanize consciously-unlikeable archetypes, as well as occasional dropping clues to an overarching mystery. By game's end, you will hate the characters even more and, even worse, realize there was no mystery to speak of--the overarching conflict was just that bland, simplistic and irrelevant. The villain (insomuch as any villain could be argued to exist) has no impetus or motives to speak of. Not even lazy and cliche motives like "evil" or "nihilism"--nothing. The plot and characters compare unfavorably even with the half-hearted, pot-smoker effort of something like Bad Dudes.… Expand
  24. AdelbertS
    Mar 23, 2010
    10
    In my opinion, the best game ever. Final Fantasy IX is very different thematically to FFVII and FFVIII since it returns to its roots. Instead of a modern world with mobiles and emails, the setting is pretty simple (although there are airships). It truly feels like a fantasy game and one that is done extremely well. The characters are all unique and are brought to life by a beautifully In my opinion, the best game ever. Final Fantasy IX is very different thematically to FFVII and FFVIII since it returns to its roots. Instead of a modern world with mobiles and emails, the setting is pretty simple (although there are airships). It truly feels like a fantasy game and one that is done extremely well. The characters are all unique and are brought to life by a beautifully written script. Nobuo Uematsu returns for his last solo FF sound track and the results are spectacular. From the beginning piece 'The Place I'll Return to Someday' to the emotionally powerful 'You're not alone', the music never fails to pull at those heart strings. The gameplay is solid, deep and enjoyable despite its lack of uniqueness. The familiarity of FFIX works well as the game is in many ways a throwback to earlier Final Fantasys, taking elements from each which were fun and satisfying whilst eliminating any annoying quirks. The plot, characters and setting too are not ground breaking but all these aspects are done so damn well that Sakaguchi, the series founder, called it the best Final Fantasy yet. Uematsu said the same. In conclusion, FFIX is a magnificent game containing a vibrant world filled with exciting events and deep characters. Unfortunately it failed to make the impact that many FF fans (such as me) feel it deserved. So, for those of you who haven't played it, now is your chance to experience this classic. And remember, it is more than just a fun game; the experience and memories may well last you a lifetime.… Expand
  25. BrianG
    Mar 22, 2010
    10
    This game is really good, and unbelievably underrated. Let me explain why. This game is only linear for the first half, I know thats a lot but you have to understand the only reason it was made like that so that it could explain the story really clearly. This game is much better in my opinion than final fantasy XII, even though I liked it, the characters in that could have been better This game is really good, and unbelievably underrated. Let me explain why. This game is only linear for the first half, I know thats a lot but you have to understand the only reason it was made like that so that it could explain the story really clearly. This game is much better in my opinion than final fantasy XII, even though I liked it, the characters in that could have been better portrayed. Whereas final fantasy XIII depicts a tale that is amazing, I loved every bit of it. The gameplay may turn you off, when you hear about it but you play it for awhile it is simply just fun.… Expand
  26. AngelV.
    Mar 22, 2010
    8
    Some people may hate this game for the change from the old final fantasy elements, but FF has always been a changing franchise, and FFXIII is no exception. It's not the best of the series, but with the 70 hours I have logged in; I have seriously had fun with the battle system and the missions of Gran Pulse. Personally, I think the only thing that may annoy you is the linearity. You Some people may hate this game for the change from the old final fantasy elements, but FF has always been a changing franchise, and FFXIII is no exception. It's not the best of the series, but with the 70 hours I have logged in; I have seriously had fun with the battle system and the missions of Gran Pulse. Personally, I think the only thing that may annoy you is the linearity. You may hate more, but that's for you to decide. If you've never tried a Final Fantasy before, I suggest renting as FFXIII is highly difficult and was perhaps targeted for veterans of the series.… Expand
  27. JohnP.
    Mar 21, 2010
    10
    Never before have i been compelled to write a user review until this game. but after experiencing this masterpiece i felt obligated to share my opinion of it. never before have i seen visuals on par with this game. now im a huge gamer and have played through all the recent graphical masterpieces such as uncharted 2, killzone 2, and am currently playing gow 3 when im not plating this Never before have i been compelled to write a user review until this game. but after experiencing this masterpiece i felt obligated to share my opinion of it. never before have i seen visuals on par with this game. now im a huge gamer and have played through all the recent graphical masterpieces such as uncharted 2, killzone 2, and am currently playing gow 3 when im not plating this title. i got both gow3 and ff13 at the same time and began playing gow 3 first. at that time i thought there was no way a current gen game could look any better. then i began ff13 and was absolutely blown away. the in game graphics are like playing a cg movie. nothing out there can compare. as far as it being to linear, that is actually a plus for me as i enjoy a focused game experience over wandering around lost all the time in a game. The truth is that its a shame this game didnt score over a 90 just because so many fans of the series felt like they know the direction the game should have took as opposed to what square decided to do with it. i have played ff10 and ff3 on the snes so i cant consider myself i hardcore ff fan. that works out to my advantage because i can just enjoy the game rather than wishing it was more like ff games in the past. don't let bad review scores stop you from playing this game because you'd be missing one of the biggest moments in gaming history.… Expand
  28. 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
  29. GregN
    Mar 21, 2010
    9
    Fantastic! Much better looking than even MGS4. I put that game in my console just to compare and couldn't believe how drab and washed out it looked next to FF13 and I loved MGS4. In fact, I still think it is the greatest single player game ever! It just isn't the best looking anymore. As great as the Heavy Rain people did with there awesome attempt at realism this game still is Fantastic! Much better looking than even MGS4. I put that game in my console just to compare and couldn't believe how drab and washed out it looked next to FF13 and I loved MGS4. In fact, I still think it is the greatest single player game ever! It just isn't the best looking anymore. As great as the Heavy Rain people did with there awesome attempt at realism this game still is the most visually engaging video game experience yet. The gameplay is also leaps and bounds beyond it's predecessors and explains why so many so-called FF fans are upset. They are like your Grandfather who is afraid of change, even if it's good change. No having to heal between battles? Great! No pointless annoying mini-games? Awesome! Being able to buy, sell and upgrade from all save stations which are placed generously? Hear Hear! I did find the end to be a little unnecessarily torturous. I actually found Hope to be a much more annoying character than Vanille but by the end the great storytelling had me caring about all the characters. Not perfect but a great effort in a great new direction where RPG's are less of a chore and more fun for your valuble time.… Expand
  30. GabB
    Mar 20, 2010
    7
    Maybe I'm jaded but this game feels very empty and souless. What you see is what you get. There's next to nothing in terms of towns, exploration, npcs, hidden items and sidequests. The game offers no depth and further more the story is so dragged out for so long and rarely do you feel any emotions for the characters(partially because they're so stupid). People compare it to Maybe I'm jaded but this game feels very empty and souless. What you see is what you get. There's next to nothing in terms of towns, exploration, npcs, hidden items and sidequests. The game offers no depth and further more the story is so dragged out for so long and rarely do you feel any emotions for the characters(partially because they're so stupid). People compare it to FFX when you argue that it's linear but FFX at least gave you the ability to backtrack and plenty of hidden sidequests and cutscenes AND towns. Not to mention some pretty good mini-games(ex.blitzball). This game simply put depresses me to the core because it forces you down one precise path with not even the slightest attempt to distract you and pull you off course. Fortunately the game has good graphics and music but after playing a game like uncharted 2 it's not really that breathtaking. This game is actually pretty generic for what it was supposed to be. Final Fantasy might as well be dead now since both this and FFXII and ffX-2 were massive letdowns to the final fantasy name. I'll probably pick up FFXIV simply because it's behind the guys who made my favourite mmorpg and versus XIII because it could be seen as a mature substitute for KH3 at the time. As for the main development team I couldn't care less really. They are more than likely going to make FFXIII-2 anyway since they said they wanted the XIII franchise to last 10 years.… Expand
  31. JesseC
    Mar 19, 2010
    4
    The problem I have with FF13, is that it claims to be an RPG, but pulls that off terribly. This game has value in of itself, for what it really is, but it is far from being an RPG. Also, it sets expectations, being a title of the Final Fantasy series, that it was not able to live up to. This title felt more like a random, no-name JRPG that could have been randomly picked up at any game The problem I have with FF13, is that it claims to be an RPG, but pulls that off terribly. This game has value in of itself, for what it really is, but it is far from being an RPG. Also, it sets expectations, being a title of the Final Fantasy series, that it was not able to live up to. This title felt more like a random, no-name JRPG that could have been randomly picked up at any game store, on discount, rather than another epic produced by Square. Sorry, but because of all this, I'm going to have to give it a 4.… Expand
  32. TimothyH
    Mar 19, 2010
    9
    Final Fantasy 13 is an excellent example of how JRPG's can evolve into more action-based genres and succeed. The game has managed to sell over 5 million units worldwide since the release in Japan and continues to sell in big numbers today. The story is simple and easy to understand and you can easily emphasize with the characters and their plights. The battle system requires a large Final Fantasy 13 is an excellent example of how JRPG's can evolve into more action-based genres and succeed. The game has managed to sell over 5 million units worldwide since the release in Japan and continues to sell in big numbers today. The story is simple and easy to understand and you can easily emphasize with the characters and their plights. The battle system requires a large amount of tactics and forethought before rushing headlong into battle with overpowered characters that kill everything in one hit. The music is superb, if not the most memorable. Final Fantasy is definitely a game that RPG lovers will enjoy, go out any buy it today.… Expand
  33. 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
  34. BrettS
    Mar 18, 2010
    10
    Within the first 5 hours of playing this game, I was upset knowing that Gamestop would only five me 47% value back....I was greatly dissappointed. I am so glad I decided to give it a chance because the game REALLY picks up. I thought the story was great, good to see SE stepping away from the love triangle stories and focusing in on groups and teamwork. Most people bash the linear Within the first 5 hours of playing this game, I was upset knowing that Gamestop would only five me 47% value back....I was greatly dissappointed. I am so glad I decided to give it a chance because the game REALLY picks up. I thought the story was great, good to see SE stepping away from the love triangle stories and focusing in on groups and teamwork. Most people bash the linear gameplay, but it didnt bug me at all, wouldnt even notice a diffence from ffX in that respect unless you look at the map. As for no towns......they WOULD BE POINTLESS!!!! The whole story has them trying to avoid people because they are seen as the enemies. The music is good, not mindblowing. The visuals are GREAT......definately not the best i've ever seen. Combat is traditional, only disguised to make it look faster. I didnt care much for controlling one character at a time, however the strategy of the system and the fast past nature of combat make it necassary. Lots of people complain about the auto combat making it so the just have to press the X' button. I on the other hand welcome it just as I enjoyed the auto combat in the ffiv ds remake. Lets be honest, most of us only focus or need to try on boss battles in FF games anyway....same here.… Expand
  35. 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
  36. ShawnF
    Mar 17, 2010
    9
    Honestly people, Square is never going to make another "old-school" RPG like VII-IX again, might as well accept that and move on. Catering to a wider audience makes more money and they probably won
  37. RubenG
    Mar 17, 2010
    3
    I have been a lifelong Final Fantasy fan & had been anticipating this game for so long now. I was so excited to get it only to be met with total shock & disappointment. Everything I loved about the series was stripped away. Square Enix promised us a reboot of the series which gave me hope for a great game that more would enjoy but they went the other way. They stripped the franchise of I have been a lifelong Final Fantasy fan & had been anticipating this game for so long now. I was so excited to get it only to be met with total shock & disappointment. Everything I loved about the series was stripped away. Square Enix promised us a reboot of the series which gave me hope for a great game that more would enjoy but they went the other way. They stripped the franchise of anything that was good & left us with just pretty graphics. Sadly unlike most people including some of these "Professional" reviews....I don't care about graphics, that's not what makes a game, it is the gameplay & story, which this game is severely lacking in. This is easily one of the biggest disappointments to me the 26 years I've been gaming & also this is easily the worst Final Fantasy in the main series, perhaps in the future they should go back to the classic way the game should be, or else they will lose me as a fan forever.… Expand
  38. KennyM
    Mar 17, 2010
    10
    FINAL FANTASY XIII is equal or much better than FINAL FANTASY VII, The cutscenes are spectacular and the characters are super detailed and involving, the story is marvelous and perfect, everything is perfect, I love it. Some people criticize this game because is 'too linear' but this is the only way to tell the amazing story of the characters and the society of FFXIII. Others FINAL FANTASY XIII is equal or much better than FINAL FANTASY VII, The cutscenes are spectacular and the characters are super detailed and involving, the story is marvelous and perfect, everything is perfect, I love it. Some people criticize this game because is 'too linear' but this is the only way to tell the amazing story of the characters and the society of FFXIII. Others say this genre needs to stop recycling the same tale of old JRPGs and make new games with new ideas, but they also say that FFXIII has left the main features of a FF game off. In other worlds, they want CHANGE and NEW IDEAS... but if Square-Enix changes the Battle system or makes a more linear game and new completely different worlds... then, they DON'T LIKE IT and now they want a FF game like the old classics. I don't understand.... first they say one thing but then they want another. FINAL FANTASY XIII is one of the best in the series, the cinematic, the 'heroes' the linear thing, the story, the worlds, everything is perfect! I love it and will love it for ever, excellent work from Square-Enix, really... BEAUTIFUL. I give 10 out of 10 for FINAL FANTASY XIII.… Expand
  39. A203D
    Mar 17, 2010
    9
    Although not perfect and dissappointing is some ways. Having actully finished the game I can say I really enjoyed the story, characters, new battle system & the dense atmosphere. I hope people take the time to get at least halfway before making their verdict. I think the reason its get so badly judged is because the story in the first few chapters has been exposed so much on game sites Although not perfect and dissappointing is some ways. Having actully finished the game I can say I really enjoyed the story, characters, new battle system & the dense atmosphere. I hope people take the time to get at least halfway before making their verdict. I think the reason its get so badly judged is because the story in the first few chapters has been exposed so much on game sites etc, its not enough to carry the game at first because we already know a lot of what will happen at the beginning. I think there shouldve also been a bit more depth into the fal'cie origin in the main story not just the datalog. But of course this is planned as the first in a complication of games. So I'm looking foward to seeing how this series pans out. Definitly an intense & exciting game.… Expand
  40. HerrS
    Mar 17, 2010
    3
    Just a turd dressed in a very expensive and fancy dress, visually stunning, FMV's are mind blowing, but thats about it. No character development, or too much(Whine whine its hopeless). Characters are based of Anime sterotypes (The annoying 'I cant be bothered to watch this' kind.), No proper towns or sidequests till late in the game is a glaring oversight for any RPG that Just a turd dressed in a very expensive and fancy dress, visually stunning, FMV's are mind blowing, but thats about it. No character development, or too much(Whine whine its hopeless). Characters are based of Anime sterotypes (The annoying 'I cant be bothered to watch this' kind.), No proper towns or sidequests till late in the game is a glaring oversight for any RPG that wants to actually invite the player in and encompass them into the game world. They should of just re-made FF7 to be brutally honest.… Expand
  41. JayS
    Mar 17, 2010
    9
    i'm a 100% ff fanboy no game gives me more hours of fun then final fantasy's.. for me 10 & 7 were my favourites and obviously i can't expect them to stick to the same routines lvl up, towns, run around spawning endlessly fights .. well all that said this game is totally different i've play maybe 6-7 hours and the graphics are brilliant as you would expect the story i'm a 100% ff fanboy no game gives me more hours of fun then final fantasy's.. for me 10 & 7 were my favourites and obviously i can't expect them to stick to the same routines lvl up, towns, run around spawning endlessly fights .. well all that said this game is totally different i've play maybe 6-7 hours and the graphics are brilliant as you would expect the story line is a little dull battle system is average but treat this game as a new rpg and not a final fantasy game and it makes it feel alot better.… Expand
  42. LoweG
    Mar 17, 2010
    9
    I don't understand why such a game only get 82 for PS3 and 83 for 360. I think it can get better. Hmm... But, as I knew before, I think the PS3 ver is slightly better than 360 ver due its graphic. Only slightly. But, why did it get lower score than the 360 ver. What happen man???
  43. DustinL
    Mar 16, 2010
    9
    I'm 27, and have ben playing since FF 1. The series has changed things once again, but if I really think about it, they haven't changed at all. Any complaints are usually about something that FF has had before. Hatres, and nostalgia goggles are the only reason for low scores. I'm 42 hours in and loving every minute.
  44. 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
  45. RyanK
    Mar 16, 2010
    3
    One of the worst RPGs I've ever played. Boring, poorly written, and terribly paced. The only grace is pretty graphics, but if you want pretty graphics only, then look out your window for free! The gaming press is easily fooled into thinking that nice graphics mean a quality game. As usual only Wired, Edge and Destructoid look at a game through an adults critical perspective. The One of the worst RPGs I've ever played. Boring, poorly written, and terribly paced. The only grace is pretty graphics, but if you want pretty graphics only, then look out your window for free! The gaming press is easily fooled into thinking that nice graphics mean a quality game. As usual only Wired, Edge and Destructoid look at a game through an adults critical perspective. The others may as well have been written by children dazzled by colorful lights.… Expand
  46. BillG.
    Mar 16, 2010
    0
    Just beat this game, and I want my money back. I have played almost all Final fantasy games, and this by far is the worst. It's a Linear tunnel crawler, with cut scenes. I Never got that "Involved Feeling" with this Final Fantasy. By the end of the game I just wanted to finish it, and get it over with. It kind of makes me sad that Square Enix would do this to us.
  47. SeanG
    Mar 16, 2010
    3
    The accessory & weapon upgrade system in this game is completely broken and they did a terrible job implementing it. Thats the main reason I stopped playing. Because at chapter 11, I was stuck. I had put experience in accessories that were quickly trumped by better random drops. No refund for experience spent. And my weapon, I upgraded it to the second level, but then found much better The accessory & weapon upgrade system in this game is completely broken and they did a terrible job implementing it. Thats the main reason I stopped playing. Because at chapter 11, I was stuck. I had put experience in accessories that were quickly trumped by better random drops. No refund for experience spent. And my weapon, I upgraded it to the second level, but then found much better weapons later I wish I could've upgraded instead, but with the vast lack of upgrade materials and lack of incoming GIL, you get terribly stuck. Plus, I found out there are ways to combine accessories to make better ones, but I found that out online in a forum, not in the game , so there I am retrying Bahamut and Carbuncle 7x each , when I could've upgraded my weapons and gear earlier in the game had they properly informed me. For all the hand holding early in the game, the complete silence on upgrading is a slap in the face. And furthermore the catalyst upgrade system is horrible. Why cap it? Why prevent me from moving on? If you just kept the CP tiered up, the rewards are diminishing for the amt of CP you are getting in the earlier chapters. Overall, I give the game a 5 for the graphics and battle system, but a 1 for the horrible story, horrible characters, horrible upgrade system and linear "on rails" progression system.… Expand
  48. DannyV
    Mar 16, 2010
    10
    This game is definately a love-it-hate it kinda game. You either love the new, fast paced, quick acting nature of the game, or you are a fat slob living in your mom's basement who needs 78213 minutes without the enemy being able to do anything in order to have "fun" playing an RPG game. The graphics are phenomenal, and the story line is pretty good too. Good day sirs.
  49. DaneelO
    Mar 16, 2010
    10
    Awesome game. Don't get discouraged by some of the bad reviews. This is one of the best, and the most beautiful, final fantasy games ever made. The battle system, one you get into it, is arguably the best the series has ever seen.
  50. MarcF.
    Mar 15, 2010
    9
    In the last years Japanese games, specially RPGs has been reviewed very hard. It is true that they no longer have the innovation or technical superiority, but most reviews are completely misleading. Complaining about linearity in a FF is like complaining in a GTA for freedom. JRPG have been linear since forever, and towns and sidequests don't make them less linear. And, if this FF is In the last years Japanese games, specially RPGs has been reviewed very hard. It is true that they no longer have the innovation or technical superiority, but most reviews are completely misleading. Complaining about linearity in a FF is like complaining in a GTA for freedom. JRPG have been linear since forever, and towns and sidequests don't make them less linear. And, if this FF is linear, then ALL the shooters, and 99% of games nowadays should be reviewed accordingly. This FF is not perfect (hence the 9), but overall is excellent. Technical beauty, good music, good story and awesome gameplay. The game opens up and it becomes a really great game, with absolutely everything you expect from a FF game. It appears too late in the game? Well, that's the creator decision, but at least it's there. Reviews seem to forget about it. Any JRPG is gonna like it. Any FF fan is gonna love it. Graphic wh*res are gonna like it. The rest, at least should give it a try. A production like this doesn't come often.… Expand
  51. AnonYmous
    Mar 15, 2010
    10
    I don't see how this game was reviewed as poorly as it was, does it give people happiness to know they bashed a great game? Exploration isn't what it used to be, but it's still there. The new atb battle system works wonderfully as a cross breed between real time and turn-based fights. Square also doesn't dissapoint in graphics or sound (unless you have to listen to one I don't see how this game was reviewed as poorly as it was, does it give people happiness to know they bashed a great game? Exploration isn't what it used to be, but it's still there. The new atb battle system works wonderfully as a cross breed between real time and turn-based fights. Square also doesn't dissapoint in graphics or sound (unless you have to listen to one of the few Vanille-themed tracks, which are pretty much high-pitched japenesse pop music) and make this game friendly to the senses.… Expand
  52. JamesP.
    Mar 15, 2010
    9
    Not the best ps3 has to offer, not the finest of the series but still an incredible work of art you have to experience..I admit i had my reservations at the start (for all the known reasons) but the innovative battle system, the beautiful graphics, the tight storyline and douzines of other smaller touches won me over. Must buy!
  53. JavidK.
    Mar 15, 2010
    10
    People need to stop bashing on it just because it doesn't follow the trend of Final Fantasy games - the developers tried something new, and in my opinion it worked great. I'm almost done the game and I can safely say, it isn't always linear (but then again this wouldn't be the first FF game that was linear, right?) and even though it is, that doesn't hinder the People need to stop bashing on it just because it doesn't follow the trend of Final Fantasy games - the developers tried something new, and in my opinion it worked great. I'm almost done the game and I can safely say, it isn't always linear (but then again this wouldn't be the first FF game that was linear, right?) and even though it is, that doesn't hinder the game. I do miss limit breaks, but with the fast paced action in the new one, having limit breaks wouldn't work. The stagger system and paradigm shifts work great and by the end of the game the fights are very frantic (if you are still getting 5 stars, that is).… Expand
  54. JimmyC
    Mar 15, 2010
    3
    Most of the reviewers have already narrowed it down but I needed to vent my frustrations for the game to more than just my wife who could care less about my video games so here it goes. The exploration is a joke. You run down corridors fighting packs of monsters trying to get in a pre-emptive strike over and over again. Battles consist of figuring out the right tactic for the right Most of the reviewers have already narrowed it down but I needed to vent my frustrations for the game to more than just my wife who could care less about my video games so here it goes. The exploration is a joke. You run down corridors fighting packs of monsters trying to get in a pre-emptive strike over and over again. Battles consist of figuring out the right tactic for the right monster and switching up your healer when your health is low. Eidolons are outrageously hideous but they are fun to use and fight with. The characters in the game are so insanely over-the-top anime cliche that I couldn't play the game after Vanille joined my party. I only played a few hours but I have never been so disappointed in my life at a video game besides possibly Fable 2. Anyway, trading it in today on God of War 3. The whole game was awful.… Expand
  55. JamesW
    Mar 15, 2010
    9
    I really don't understand all the criticism of this game. First of all yes there aren't any little villages to wonder around, get over it! Why do you want to have to walk to separate shops to buy weapons, armour, potions etc...? Yes it's linear, just like all the others, it just doesn't try as hard to disguise that fact. I am pretty certain from reading the review by I really don't understand all the criticism of this game. First of all yes there aren't any little villages to wonder around, get over it! Why do you want to have to walk to separate shops to buy weapons, armour, potions etc...? Yes it's linear, just like all the others, it just doesn't try as hard to disguise that fact. I am pretty certain from reading the review by Edge magazine that they have now become totally corrupted by bribes from publishers! Bayonetta got 10/10, a totally linear game with terrible screen tearing, dodgy voice acting and an overly complex plot. Then they give Final Fantasy 5/10?! Final Fantasy 13 is an epic, huge and beautiful game, totally absorbing with an incredible story, great characters and one of the greatest battle systems I have ever come across. Stop nit picking about the lack of Japanese soundtrack(!?!) lack off little villages with silly shops and lack of attempts to disguise the linear story and just enjoy this fabulous games, You won't find another game that provides this many hours of solid entertainment for your money until the next one!… Expand
  56. RockmanX20
    Mar 15, 2010
    10
    I am a old school Final Fantasy Player. I have played the original on the NES and have continued on all of the American Versions. I have retired on Final Fantasy and haven't played seriously since Final Fantasy 7. After about 13 years, I decided to play this one and I am extremely happy with it so far. I am about 10 hrs into the game and I recognize this highly as being Final I am a old school Final Fantasy Player. I have played the original on the NES and have continued on all of the American Versions. I have retired on Final Fantasy and haven't played seriously since Final Fantasy 7. After about 13 years, I decided to play this one and I am extremely happy with it so far. I am about 10 hrs into the game and I recognize this highly as being Final Fantasy. People say that this game is linear, but this must be the new generation of kids talking. Every Final Fantasy has been linear(at least what I played so far) and I have no problem with them telling me the story. The real treat is in the fighting system. The fighting system is AWESOME! I love the Paradigm system and how it requires you to switch between different Paradigms to beat your enemies. It's all so fast pace, yet it's still turn based. Music so far is wonderful and the graphics are very detailed, not quite Uncharted level, but it's great.… Expand
  57. billc
    Mar 15, 2010
    0
    Right !! can anyone tell me where the heart is in this game? im yet to see it. now i may be on my own BUT isnt the point of a game to relax and have fun, be a "FUN pastime?" So far all this game has to offer is bad game play, The music is shocking! a battle system thats terrible... if your a old school gamer dont bother, if your a new age gamer that only cares about graphics and couldnt Right !! can anyone tell me where the heart is in this game? im yet to see it. now i may be on my own BUT isnt the point of a game to relax and have fun, be a "FUN pastime?" So far all this game has to offer is bad game play, The music is shocking! a battle system thats terrible... if your a old school gamer dont bother, if your a new age gamer that only cares about graphics and couldnt care if its a pile of crap, and you know no better, Then this games for you.… Expand
  58. Balthier21
    Mar 15, 2010
    9
    A new direction for the franchise. Beatiful graphics, incredible soundtrack, great characters and storyline and adictive battle system. Althougth some problems, like few side quests and frenetic rythm sometimes get tired, is a great great, with new perspective.
  59. JasA
    Mar 15, 2010
    9
    Just play the game before giving it a bad score. There is exploration in the game, it even says so in the manual. And be patient it takes some time before you get there. FF13 is similar to FF10. Leveling system is getting more interesting as you advance in the game.
  60. RinduriC
    Mar 14, 2010
    9
    8 seems too low and 9 just a bit high, so I'll round up. First few hours (Chap 1-3): good storyline, boring combat. Next few hours (Chap 4-6): boring storyline, repeatative combat. From there on out (Chap 7+): FANTASTIC gameplay and where the game really does show it's colors. By the way, once you get past Chapter 11 it opens up and throws away the linear-ness to a point where 8 seems too low and 9 just a bit high, so I'll round up. First few hours (Chap 1-3): good storyline, boring combat. Next few hours (Chap 4-6): boring storyline, repeatative combat. From there on out (Chap 7+): FANTASTIC gameplay and where the game really does show it's colors. By the way, once you get past Chapter 11 it opens up and throws away the linear-ness to a point where you will hate yourself for ever doubting the game. In my opinion, this game is amazing, just give it a bit and don't judge a book by it's cover. Oh, and the story is pretty freaking awesome.… Expand
  61. JoshS
    Mar 14, 2010
    9
    I love movies so much more than games. I do, however, love Final Fantasy games more than all of the movies in the world. Why? Because to me, getting to know and love a cast of characters for 40+ hours is so much more impactful than after 2 hours. Yeah, a multi-entry saga like The Lord of the Rings can have a serious impact after its total 10+ hours of film, but it still can't come I love movies so much more than games. I do, however, love Final Fantasy games more than all of the movies in the world. Why? Because to me, getting to know and love a cast of characters for 40+ hours is so much more impactful than after 2 hours. Yeah, a multi-entry saga like The Lord of the Rings can have a serious impact after its total 10+ hours of film, but it still can't come close to emulating the emotional satisfaction I feel when I complete a Final Fantasy game. It's been nearly a decade since I've experienced this. Final Fantasy X was the last entry in the series that I consider to be a "real" FF (Final Fantasy). FFX is also what first inspired me to pursue storytelling and animation as a career. It's definitely one of the greatest stories ever told, and without a doubt, my personal favorite story. Ever. Imagine my anticipation for the coming of what appeared to be the first "real" entry to the series in nine years! Finally, another FFX! By the way, all FF games are completely self contained and featured unique worlds, characters and stories. Only a few elements carry over to each, giving it a familiar, yet entirely original feel. So, did it meet my expectations? Well, I'm pretty sure that would be impossible. It is, however, a great game. Unfortunately it's not one of the stronger entries. Luckily, Final Fantasy XIII is far greater than the sum of its parts. The futuristic city world of Cocoon floats above the abandoned wilderness of Pulse.Hovering above the wilderness of the world called Pulse is Cocoon, a self contained human paradise. It was created by the god-like beings known as fal'Cie (pronounced fal-see) to protect humans from the dangers of Pulse. The fal'Cie would occasionally deem a human their servant, which would be known as a l'Cie (pronounced luh-see). If the l'Cie falied his (or her) "focus" or took too long to complete it, he would turn into a cie'Th (pronounced seeth). If success was achieved, he would turn into crystal and gain "eternal life." To humans, either fate was worse than death itself. In Cocoon, there was no need for l'Cie, in fact nobody had been turned into a l'Cie in hundreds of years. They were deemed myth, and everything of Pulse origin was feared and loathed. When six Cocoon citizens are turned into l'Cie by a Pulse fal'Cie, they are labeled enemies of their home, Cocoon. Can they defy their fate? Final Fantasy games are story-centric. They always follow a similar formula, too. A group of unlikely heroes must band together to topple some form of corrupt government, which usually leads to the reveal and pursuit of a much higher, world-threatening power. Nearly every entry in the series has done a great job of keeping that concept completely original and fresh. The members of the creative team at Square-Enix are expert storytellers. They've proven it time and again. It's a little unfortunate that the first time it comes across slightly stale (at least when compared to their enormously positive track record) is with the first game whose level of production matches that of CG movies (thanks to the PS3). It really does have an INCREDIBLE story at it's core, but the way in which it's told certainly isn't as masterfully crafted as its predecessors. The world is deep and vast, and once I finally got a grasp on what had been going on behind the scenes, all of the seemingly aimless segments of the game's plot fell in to place. Still, some plot aspects seemed awkwardly forced, as if the great cast of characters were constantly being thrown into situations that the writers deemed "had to happen." It's not always like this, as there are a few multi-hour segments that feature some of the best storytelling in the series. Outside of the cutscene-featured plot I also had to read many entries of the "datalog" to really appreciate the world and story. This is something I really loved. Similar to the appendices at the end of The Lord of the Rings, the datalog provides a vast amount of information about the deep workings of the huge world Square-Enix created. Unfortunately, a lot of this game's players simply aren't going to take the time to read it, and will therefore miss out on a LOT of the game's inner plot. Although it's a great addition to the game, I really wish a bit more of it had been worked into the cutscenes to make the plot flow a bit better. A few slow areas and forced events aside, FFXIII really does have a great story. It's really the characters that make it work. They are some of the best characters in the series. They're endearing, relatable, and by the time I reached the end they had become an active part of my life. Yeah, they start out as jerks and have some seriously messed up motivation, but the realization of their own flaws just makes them that much more relatable. I became incredibly involved in their struggle to defy their fate. On many occasions I found myself yelling at the bosses I was fighting because I was so furious at what they were putting my dear friends through! And now it's all over. I miss them already! Complementing the story is a fantastic battle system. A heavily evolved version of the classic turn-based combat the series founded two decades ago really takes the gameplay in a great new direction. Rather than inputting the commands of each party member and waiting for your next turn while enemies wallop you, the player controls only the party leader in a seemingly real-time experience. You enter manual commands (multiple chained abilities per-turn) while also actively switching sets of "roles" for your party to fit the current situation. The system really puts you in control of the tactical flow of the battle, rather than having you input every single command. It takes a LOT of strategy, especially since the battles are moving incredibly fast. The handy "auto-battle" command sounds like a cheap way to let the game play itself, but it's honestly a life saver. The complex battle system can be excruciatingly punishing at times, but that just makes it all the more rewarding. Leveling through the Crystarium (a simplified version of FFX's sphere-grid leveling system) is also a welcome change to simply gaining level-ups after a battle. It allows some freedom to choose which roles you develop for each character. There's also a fancy weapon/accessory customization feature. As far as level design goes...Yeah, it's linear. Linearity doesn't really bother me as long as there's a great story driving me. I mean do many gamers seriously enjoy getting lost? Not me! During some of the plot's slower chapters I did start to notice just how claustrophobic and narrow some areas could be, but it did little to detract from how beautiful the scenery is. The narrow corridors do have one huge benefit. When you finally make it down to Pulse, the reveal of the open landscapes and natural environments rank among my absolute favorite moments in gaming history. It's just so liberating! The game looks and sounds great. No need to elaborate much here. It may not be as visually impressive as Uncharted 2, but it's got a level of polish that generally isn't seen in a game. There are tons of changes in scenery, each containing equal attention to detail. The character models, however, are hands down the best seen in a game. Ever. Best facial animation, best motion capture, best hair...You name it, FFXIII wins. Prerendered FMV's (full motion videos) are also the best ever seen. and run in full 1080p on the PS3. The music is also fantastic and memorable, despite a few tracks that seriously don't fit the mood well (harmonica solo...). Oh, and the voice acting is top-notch. It adds yet another layer of believability to these incredibly human characters. It may seem like I'm tearing the game apart, but it's really just nitpicking. Though I wasn't entirely thrilled with the experience while I was playing, it now all blends into a single fantastic memory. If I had never played a Final Fantasy game and then dove straight into FFXIII, I would probably call it the greatest game ever made. The team at Square-Enix has made so many absolute masterpieces that even a game like FFXIII, which I consider to be one of the greatest games of the current console generation, will come across a tad disappointing when compared to FFVII, FFIX and FFX. It really is a masterpiece. It's just that I've come to expect nothing short of perfection from Square. FFXIII makes a number of missteps; some large and some small, but for each of the game's downsides, there are many upsides that blow all games in recent memory out of the water. In the end, the game comes to such a satisfying climax that my mixed reactions of the past 45+ hours all instantly melded into a single, complete memory of fondness and love. Go in with an open mind and I assure you that an incredibly satisfying fantasy epic awaits you. Overview: Pros: +Has a great story at is core. +Endearing, relatable characters. +Fantastic character backstory, development and drama. +Top-notch voice acting. +English lip-sync! +Cutscenes are beautiful and are at the same production level as a CG movie. +Emotionally investing and rewarding. +Satisfying ending. +Some great and memorable music. +Epic. +Enthralling action scenes. +Pretty scenery. +Nice art direction. +Exploring Pulse is fun. +Deep and involving battle system. +Incredibly addicting. It makes the hours pass like minutes. Literally. I played for 22 hours straight at one point and it felt like 5. +Challenging difficulty once it gets going. +Incredible final bosses. +Generally impressive AI. +Tons of deep coverage on the worlds of Pulse and Cocoon in the datalog. +Snow getting punched in the face. Cons: -A few long stretches of seemingly unmotivated plot developments. -Some claustrophobic level design. -Paradigms (sets of battle roles) reset whenever characters are swapped. There seriously needed to be a "save paradigm set" feature. -AI-controlled party members don't always target the leader's target. -The great story isn't told as well as it could have been. -Lots of essential plot will be lost to players who refuse to read the datalog. -Menu animations are too slow. I wanted to click faster than it would let me. -Gameplay could use more variety. Towns to explore, sidequests other than monster hunts, more mini-games, etc. -Some music has awkward placement. -The final location in the game is really ugly. Consensus: Far greater than the sum of its parts, Final Fantasy XIII overcomes its would-be glaring flaws with great characters, a fantastically addicting battle system and a deep, complex world. There's also a great story hidden away at its core, but it might require a little extra effort to uncover it than simply watching the cutscenes. Go in with an open mind and I assure you that an incredibly satisfying fantasy epic awaits you. 9/10.… Expand
  62. RichardD
    Mar 14, 2010
    7
    The good is the somewhat fun/fast, if not simplified, combat system. Gorgeous graphics from the environments and character detail to the incredible CG sequences. Story starts off confusing and weak. The characters have a irritatingly massive lack of self-awareness. First 11 chapters (25 hours or so in and there are only 13 chapters in the game) are essentially riding on a rail and using The good is the somewhat fun/fast, if not simplified, combat system. Gorgeous graphics from the environments and character detail to the incredible CG sequences. Story starts off confusing and weak. The characters have a irritatingly massive lack of self-awareness. First 11 chapters (25 hours or so in and there are only 13 chapters in the game) are essentially riding on a rail and using the Auto-battle button. Linearity and pacing is further restricted by the lack of towns, explorable areas, and character build customization. Summons have an uninspiring part in the story and the lackluster amount of classic summons is a personal major drawback. Few or no side-quests or mini-games compared to previous Final Fantasy installments. Soundtrack feels nonexistent using primarily one song for the majority of the cut scenes and no memorable tunes from battles or boss battles. For more Final Fantasy 13 is a step back for the Final Fantasy series I've come to enjoy it over the many installments.… Expand
  63. LungY
    Mar 14, 2010
    0
    I used to be a FF fan, but this game just destroyed the franchise for me. I Played FF13 for 8 hours, and hated it. I was basically smashing the x button for most battles except for boss fights. I didn't get drawn in with the story or the characters. I hate how they are introduced and their unrealistic reactions. So far, in my 8 hours of gaming, puzzles and areas are ridiculous I used to be a FF fan, but this game just destroyed the franchise for me. I Played FF13 for 8 hours, and hated it. I was basically smashing the x button for most battles except for boss fights. I didn't get drawn in with the story or the characters. I hate how they are introduced and their unrealistic reactions. So far, in my 8 hours of gaming, puzzles and areas are ridiculous linear... Enemies AI is just plain stupid. They are constrained in a small region. When you get detected, the enemies would follow you up to the limit of the small region. You can basically have the enemy right in front of you doing nothing. The control and camera are terrible too. There are invisible walls everywhere. Clearly, when there is no prop blocking the way, I expect to be able to move in... On top of this, the moving animation does not look fluid at all. On many occasion, the camera control becomes unresponsive and tedious. Sure, the cut scenes are pretty, but they are overdone and doesn't make much sense. This is a HD game? Only the main character's head look good, everything else looks low poly. Clearly, I am done with Square Enix. I have not enjoyed any of their games since FFX. One last thing... Summons==Transformers... Really square?... really?!… Expand
  64. DreS
    Mar 14, 2010
    10
    This game is an outstanding blend of Final Fantasy VII and X. The characters and overall story are more reminiscent of VII while the setting, music, and aesthetic remind me more of X. The battle system is tremendously fast, fun, and flexible. After four years of waiting, Final Fantasy XIII is even better than I'd hoped.
  65. JordanF
    Mar 14, 2010
    9
    Great game. Music is fantastic, graphics are DECENT (they are not as great as everyone says, but hey, who cares), great animation, fun and exciting new battle system which is both frantic AND tactical, and an intersting storyline. Im guessing that people will either love or hate this game. If you LOVED FFXII, I'm betting you won't like this so much. However, if your like me and Great game. Music is fantastic, graphics are DECENT (they are not as great as everyone says, but hey, who cares), great animation, fun and exciting new battle system which is both frantic AND tactical, and an intersting storyline. Im guessing that people will either love or hate this game. If you LOVED FFXII, I'm betting you won't like this so much. However, if your like me and found XII to be dull and uninspiring, this is probably the FF game for you.… Expand
  66. ChristopherC.
    Mar 14, 2010
    4
    How oh how in the world could any self-respecting Final Fantasy Fan call this hyperactive/repetitive action mess a true Final Fantasy game? This game has nothing of the deep heart-felt aspects that have always defined the Final Fantasy series, slowly bringing you into the world and story and characters so that you never want to ever leave. I'm afraid this is the death-knell for the How oh how in the world could any self-respecting Final Fantasy Fan call this hyperactive/repetitive action mess a true Final Fantasy game? This game has nothing of the deep heart-felt aspects that have always defined the Final Fantasy series, slowly bringing you into the world and story and characters so that you never want to ever leave. I'm afraid this is the death-knell for the series, and the trend of most video games in general. It is as if the developers now think that just throwing more hyper-kinetic activity at the player will hold the gamer's attention (especially if the little young gamer's Ritalin is wearing off. Heaven forbid they should have a moment to look around and absorb the nuances of the game, we might lose their MTV attention span.) Or, let's give them better graphics and that will make up for the lack of any real substance. I'm convinced that if there is a smart developer out there who's listening, try putting out an old-school graphic game but with a story and world that Square-Enix has now lost their way to create. You will make bank now that Final Fantasy is giving up the mold that first put them on the map and gave them their repected reputation (mostly Square). Hell, I can go back and play not only old-school FF but Grandia or Zelda and have WAY more fun than what passes for a fantasy RPG on the new generation consoles. Somebody please capatilize on Square-Enix's folly! Final Fantasy is about wanting to spend more time in the Final Fantasy world, but there is NOTHING about this game that will make you truly care about the characters or stories. Besides the major mistake of trying to build drama through flashbacks; which any writer will tell you is not the most effective way to build character sympathy, through exposition and the characters having to explain themselves and their motives; but the folklore of the world itself is BORING despite what other reviewers are claiming. Taken objectively, after every cutscene/character interaction, the upshot of the whole drama was dully repeated with the phrase, "We are enemies of Cocoon." Boring, and nothing epic here, unless you want to geek out debating the difference between a Fal'cie and and L'cie (I don't even care about the spelling!) However and above all, the worst offense this game puts on the true Final Fantasy Fan is the inability for the player to feel a true part of the experience. You cannot explore, interact (unless you call standing in front of a NPC and listening to them rattle on as interactive), cannot shop and customize to a "feel-able" degree, and CANNOT EXPERIENCE THAT YOU ARE TRULY POWERFUL AS YOU GAIN NEW SKILLS/MAGIC/STRENGTH. In a true Final Fantasy game you level up and then get to go try out your new power and revel in all your awesomeness. In this waste slapped with a number 13, the action takes precedence and is so fast you cannot tell if your leveling up really made any difference at all and definitely does not contribute to any real strategy. I just gained the skill to do such and such, why can't I sit back and SEE IT! (Yes, I know you get to see Launch, one of the few, but it grows beyond tiresome after the thousand's time.) The music, which to me is intergral to the Final Fantasy experience, and I own every soundtrack available, is as throw-away as a meal at a fast food restaurant, enjoyable for a moment and then entirely forgettable. For those of you who felt FF had lost it's beating heart with 12, and the wooden, expressionless, character-less Vaan, just standing there like a dork, this lack of heart applies to the Brittany Spears pop soundtrack of 13. I remember creating multiple save points on my old systems to go back and re-watch/enjoy the cut-scenes and music, not this time. I know I was ruined for future FF games, for despite all it's flaws, FF 10 was the first RPG I had experienced. Bear with me those of you who hated on 10, you cannot deny that it had heart. It is one of less than a handful number of games that has actually brought tears to player's eyes because the game knew how to hook the player emotionally. Final Fantasy without the emotion is not Final Fantasy. Period. If this game had come out from a different developer and under a different name, I would maybe rate it a 6 for technical achievements such as the graphics and lip-synching to English audiences, that is objectively impressive. But, those of us who have played all of the previous games and supported the Final Fantasy series for years, we may be witnessing the destruction of what made the games so unique, powerful, and worth waiting years for them to release in the West. Now there is talk from the developers about the interest in a FF13-2 which is probably all we have to look forward to as well as more multiplayer online stuff. Do any of the true fans remember not being able to wait to get home and fire up the console to go back to that FF world that was so incredible you stayed up all night and went to work the next day without sleeping? That has been lost somewhere along the way in trying to out develop other developers with graphics, gore, bust-lines that bounce realistically, and anything else they think will appeal to the kids that have to use Mom or Dad's credit card to pre-order their games. Last thing I wish to say, if you are a true Final Fantasy Fan, be careful about supporting this game with such high rankings because you are voting with Square-Enix to give up what made Final Fantasy so special. Hell, even Advent Children was emotionally touching. Please don't support the execs deciding what we want to see in future FF games. Think about it. I encourage all who agree to also write and vote in the hopes that maybe somebody who can make a difference, either within Square-Enix or another rogue developer who wants to grab for the carrot of a true fantasy RPG that we have not so far seen on the next generation consoles, will see it and make a difference. Peace.… Expand
  67. JonathanR
    Mar 14, 2010
    9
    Its a new, fun take of the Final Fantasy franchise, but lacks the old Final Fantasy feel. Its a very good game, but after growing up playing most of the Final Fantasy out their, it doesn't give you that nostalgic feeling that others might give you. The plot is great, even though it extremely hard to understand in the first 10-12 hours. The graphics are amazing and the combat is great Its a new, fun take of the Final Fantasy franchise, but lacks the old Final Fantasy feel. Its a very good game, but after growing up playing most of the Final Fantasy out their, it doesn't give you that nostalgic feeling that others might give you. The plot is great, even though it extremely hard to understand in the first 10-12 hours. The graphics are amazing and the combat is great (although with some fights it does get repetitive). But in the end, its a great addition to the franchise (especially since the last 2 were really weak) and hope we come to see many more Final Fantasy in our future.… Expand
  68. NJB
    Mar 14, 2010
    10
    @Brett J You provide no factual evidence supporting your claim. Everything you've said about XIII's graphics being inferior to KZ2 and MGS4 are utter bullshit. Factually speaking, XIII is technically superior to those games in nearly every single way. I think everyone here would benefit from not having you troll the comments section. About the game: This game is wonderful. @Brett J You provide no factual evidence supporting your claim. Everything you've said about XIII's graphics being inferior to KZ2 and MGS4 are utter bullshit. Factually speaking, XIII is technically superior to those games in nearly every single way. I think everyone here would benefit from not having you troll the comments section. About the game: This game is wonderful. I've played other final fantasy titles before, but this one takes it to a whole new level. The battle system is easily the game's best feature, as it's taken a leave of micromanaging individual attacks, and has you focusing on micromanaging your Paradigms. It's a wonderful strategy that has you changing classes on the fly with accordance to how the battle plays out.… Expand
  69. IsaacS
    Mar 14, 2010
    3
    Bad points: Chaotic combat system halfway between action and turns, totally linear, absolutely no sidequests except some "hunting" missions, no relevant NPCs, no cities, no exploration, cliched characters, hours and hours of cutscenes. Good points: Good graphics, sorta good story. This is not my Final Fantasy, this game is just the peak of current generation problems: Nice graphics, bad Bad points: Chaotic combat system halfway between action and turns, totally linear, absolutely no sidequests except some "hunting" missions, no relevant NPCs, no cities, no exploration, cliched characters, hours and hours of cutscenes. Good points: Good graphics, sorta good story. This is not my Final Fantasy, this game is just the peak of current generation problems: Nice graphics, bad everithing else. Totally not recommended unless you like 60 hour movies.… Expand
  70. MattiasP
    Mar 14, 2010
    3
    I really, really wanted to like this game. But after 13 hours of play I finally gave up and threw away my controller in disgust. FFXIII is the worst title in the series and possibly the worst game I've played in ages, and that's saying something considering I've played most of the previous Final Fantasy titles and enjoyed them immensely . No amount of pretty graphics can I really, really wanted to like this game. But after 13 hours of play I finally gave up and threw away my controller in disgust. FFXIII is the worst title in the series and possibly the worst game I've played in ages, and that's saying something considering I've played most of the previous Final Fantasy titles and enjoyed them immensely . No amount of pretty graphics can hide the fact that FFXIII is a tedious, shallow and linear game that flounders in its own horrible game design. While the Final Fantasy games have always been linear by nature, FFXIII takes this to an entire new level. 90% of the time you just run along a single corridor or path, moving from point A to B, fighting monsters along the way. At point B either fight a boss or see a cutscene/cinematic. If that wasn't bad enough the new combat system is downright horrible. While there are a new interesting ideas (such as Paradigms and Staggering), they are sadly so badly implemented that the final thing makes you want to cry. For the majority of the fights you'll only use two or three of the available Paradigm roles, making the majority of them extremely underused. In addition, the game automatically controls your companions and most attacks can be automated through auto-chaining. The game does such a good job at this that for the most time you can win simply pressing the X button at all times. The combat ends up as a tedious, dumbed down affair that feels more like some kind of Tekken game. Heck, even your summons (Eidelons) are controlled by different controller combinations, like special moves. I get the feeling that Square Enix wanted to create a more action paced system suited for a new generation of idiot gamers used to 1st person shooters. Tactics and brains are not required. If that wasn't bad enough, the story moves at a snails pace. Even after 13 hours nothing of interest has happened except for some boring flashbacks. No interesting plot twists, villains or events. It's more fun to watch paint dry. The characters are also for the most pretty uninspiring. Lightning feels like a female copy of Cloud or Squall from the previous titles. Vanille is so damn annoying that I wanted to bash her brains in and toss her cold, dead body from a cliff. Suffering hours of her silly giggling and overly cutesy voice made me grind my teeth. The only character I did like was Sazh, perhaps because he doesn't come across as so convoluted. However, the major problem with FFXIII is not what's there. It's what's missing. Square threw away everything that makes a good roleplaying game. In fact, I can't even call FFXIII a roleplaying game. It's more like a cinematic fighting game, and a bad one at that. There are no towns to explore. No buildings to poke around in. No silly or interesting NPCs to talk to. No mini-games. No really well-hidden secrets. Nothing. The game feels shallow, empty, void. So barren and desolate that the pretty graphics are more like window dressing rather than something that could immerse you into an interesting world. Since I can't really interact with the world in any real sense it ultimately also means that I don't care for it. What made the previous titles so engaging compared to FFXIII is that they immersed you into the world, the protagonists and the plot in such a grand way that you felt part of it. FFXIII makes me feel disengaged from the world of Cocoon, like I'm some kind of voyeur. The world is abstracted into tiny details that end up being explained in the games Datalog. FFXIII may look pretty, sound great and it will dazzle you with its cinematics. But in the end it's like eating cotton candy. All sugar, but no filling.… Expand
  71. 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
  72. ValC
    Mar 14, 2010
    9
    Despite the game being the largest disappointment of the generation, and of Final Fantasy history, the game is still absolutely amazing. FF7 and 8 are definite 9.8s and FF10 and 12 are definite 10s. But this game is just around about 9.0. I say this because the game is actually really good, despite falling short of all Final Fantasy expectations. The battle system is amazing, the story is Despite the game being the largest disappointment of the generation, and of Final Fantasy history, the game is still absolutely amazing. FF7 and 8 are definite 9.8s and FF10 and 12 are definite 10s. But this game is just around about 9.0. I say this because the game is actually really good, despite falling short of all Final Fantasy expectations. The battle system is amazing, the story is amazing. The only thing that is stupid is that the paths are not just linear, they are ABSURDLY linear. Like totally linear. Let's just say that there is no other game in gaming history (that I have played) that is this linear. I mean, we're talking walk straight for hours on end, until you get to about halfway through the game, and it becomes slightly less linear. The graphics are stunning, you want to play the game again and again if you have the chance, and the length is perfect for a FF game.… Expand
  73. NickT
    Mar 14, 2010
    9
    I'm a bit disappointed by the bad reviews that this game has been given. It seems to me that they either didn't play the game long enough to get to the real meat and potatoes or they don't understand that each Final Fantasy game is unique in it's own right. Sure, I'd love to see the series go back to the battle and leveling systems of FFVII or FFVIII but I am also I'm a bit disappointed by the bad reviews that this game has been given. It seems to me that they either didn't play the game long enough to get to the real meat and potatoes or they don't understand that each Final Fantasy game is unique in it's own right. Sure, I'd love to see the series go back to the battle and leveling systems of FFVII or FFVIII but I am also willing to try new things. Those of you who don't like this game really need to actually play from start to finish while keeping in mind that each game is its own experience. Anyways, back to my review of Final Fantasy XIII. Graphics: Final Fantasy XIII is the most visually impressive game on the PS3 to date. The game uses nearly 100 percent of the systems processing power and to great effect I might add. Character models are richly detailed, so much so that I found myself wide-eyed when I noticed things like realistic hair that moved naturally, individual strands of threading coming loose from clothing (Snows jacket for example) and facial hair to name a few things. The environments are lush, vibrant and incredibly detailed. Again, I found myself gawking at the impressive scenery that was paraded in front of my eyes. Enemy designs are varied and range from silly to incredible, especially the gigantic enemies found on Gran Pulse. All in all, it's safe to say this game is a technical milestone for the PS3 hardware. Story: To me, the characters were engaging and believable and the voice acting was some of the best I've seen in any game. Not wanting to give any spoilers for potential players I'll keep it short and simple. The plot is nothing compared to FFVII or FFVIII but great in it's own right. It can be confusing and sometimes contradictory but soon rights itself thanks to flashbacks and further explanations by both the characters and the Datalog that can be accessed from the menu. Gameplay: The reason I gave this game a 9 instead of a 10 rests in this area of the game (though I would have rather given it a 9.5 but didn't have that option). I like that I am able to see what I'm about to fight before engaging and enemies are easily respawned for your farming pleasure. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system gives the game a feeling of turn based combat with a dynamic and visually action-packed feel. However, the lack of party control and auto-pilot mode forced me to give this otherwise stellar game a slightly reduced score. For those who are still unfamiliar with Final Fantasy XIII's battle system I will explain it in a bit more detail. You control only one character at any given time and until Chapter 10 (out of 13 chapters) you have no control who that person will be. The other two characters are issued commands through the intuitive and rather ingenious Paradigm Shift system. There are six roles that can be assigned which each behave differently. Those roles are; Ravager, Commando, Sentinel, Saboteur, Synergist and Medic. Medics do exactly what their name implies, Synergists apply special status enhancements to your party like Haste and Protect, Saboteurs cast status ailments on your enemies, Sentinels are tanks who take the brunt of damage from enemies, Ravagers cast devastating magical spells and Commandos deal massive amounts of physical damage. While the AI is smart in that it knows what to do in these roles, it gives you little control over your party. I miss being able to control exactly what my party does. The Auto-Battle function leaves me with the feeling of not truly being in control of my party leader. Don't get me wrong, you are more than welcome to manually select your leaders attacks and spells but there are battles in the game where doing so could spell disaster. It's not that they are overly hard (though there are some tough battles) but the game is extremely fast paced and the enemies do not kindly pause while you select your attacks like in previous iterations. I'm also extremely disappointed in the fact that if your party leader dies it's game over, even if the other members are alive. You're actually the only one who can use the items in battle, the other members use whatever spells or abilities the situation calls for. The system works for the game but is a slight disappointment. For those that complain the game is too linear, that is true for the first half of the game. Once you are able to explore the beautiful regions and fight the towering enemies on Gran Pulse any feeling of linearity quickly fades. The first half of the game helps to immerse you in the rich storyline and character developements. Fans of FFX will loved the Crystarium. An improved version of the Sphere Grid it gives you control over what bonuses and spells you give to each characters roles instead of creating super characters who can do everything at once. I for one like having characters who excel in one thing at a time. Aside from the lack of party control and auto-pilot mode this game does everything superbly. And for those who complain that some bosses are too hard unless you know how to beat them you obviously haven't played other games in the genre. I like that this game makes you think and take advantage of strengths and weaknesses. Sound: As stated previously the voice acting is quite possibly the best in a game to date. I truly felt like the characters were real people with realistically portrayed emotions when the situation called for it. The game music was also incredible aside from 'My Hands' by Leona Lewis. I wish they had picked a different theme song but it at least worked and I found it struck an emotional chord when it played (though you didn't hear me say that!). Final Fantasy XIII is an amazing game that is a definite must buy for any fan of the Final Fantasy series or fan of RPGs in general. It does nearly everything right with exception to the battle system which could have been better but works with the fast paced battles in the game. This game gets my seal of approval and the game in my opinion is worthy of a Final Fantasy title no matter what those low rating blasphemers say. Enjoy my review and enjoy the game!… Expand
  74. ChadS
    Mar 13, 2010
    0
    "..." is what comes to mind. I have played every FF game since nirmal nintendo. I think I wactehd the trailer for this game a zillion times and read everything leading up to its release which i had on pre-order of course and bought the collectors edtion game guide. that being saif, i could not of been more disapointed in my life. The intro seemd promising with you fighting a seemingly "..." is what comes to mind. I have played every FF game since nirmal nintendo. I think I wactehd the trailer for this game a zillion times and read everything leading up to its release which i had on pre-order of course and bought the collectors edtion game guide. that being saif, i could not of been more disapointed in my life. The intro seemd promising with you fighting a seemingly cool epic kinda boss, although of course super easy to win it gave me a pleasure shiver juting thinking of what was to come next. well what came next was 25+ hours of the most boring story ever with the most annoying characters ever. lighting is the only char worth caring about. The other 5 just wine and complain and do stupid annoying things common to anime. this game might of well been a 2d side scoller cause that is what it is a linear p.o.s. suureeeee it looks good but so does any game for a next gen console if it isnt made by r-tards. now the battle system. what battle system? you mean the one click system, one char system??? and witht he paradimes every char basicially becomes the same. only some are a lil bit better in a role than others they all have the same moves and can be substitued with anyone else whcih u can't until chapter 10 of 13 WTFFFFFFFFF. OH yeah and the worst thing about this money sucking succubus of a game is that 90% of it is played with only TWO CHARACTERS!! wow i mean at least let the game be 2 player if your going to screw me out of a party system which is a conrer stone of any FF game. PLEASE STOP RATING THIS GAME 8+ JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE IN BED WITH THE COMPANY (like most of the online review sites) OR A BLIND FAN BOY!!!!! dont even rent this game cause it will just waste your weekend b4 u get to the good parts and have to take the game back. Id pay around 4$ for this crap.… Expand
  75. JonA
    Mar 13, 2010
    9
    I give this game an 8.5, but round it off to 9 instead because of the people who give it less than 7. I thought I would be disappointed in this game after seeing a few reviews, but I was wrong. The most defining thing about every final fantasy game is its graphics. I have to say that this doesn't disappoint. The graphics are just gonna amaze you and it is one of the best this gen of I give this game an 8.5, but round it off to 9 instead because of the people who give it less than 7. I thought I would be disappointed in this game after seeing a few reviews, but I was wrong. The most defining thing about every final fantasy game is its graphics. I have to say that this doesn't disappoint. The graphics are just gonna amaze you and it is one of the best this gen of gaming. The cutscenes are rendered in 1080p and it is sweet! The game itself runs at 720p (for PS3), but it still looks great. Another good thing about the game is the battle system. In my opinion, the battle system is the best out of any Final Fantasy game I've played. It's more traditional ATB than one would think and I thank Square Enix for drifting away from the FFXII battle system. You get to play in roles: Commando (the traditional melee/warrior-type class), Ravager (the mage/magic-user), Medic (the healer), Synergist (the party buffer), Saboteur (the enemy enfeebler), and the Sentinel (the defender role). All of these can be arranged withing your party and it is called a Paradigm. In-battle you can switch paradigms to take advantage of a situation/enemy weakness. For example, if you find your attacks to be insignificant, make a paradigm shift that has a saboteur and allow them to cast Deprotect and Deshell, then quickly swap to attack-specific paradigm to chain attacks and stagger an enemy making them even more vulnerable. This allows great room for strategy and it is executed well. Yet another great thing in this game is the abscence of random encounters as well as healing to full life immediately after battle allowing for less healing on the main menu as it was in previous FF games. The characters are generally likeable and the story picks up later on in the game. These things make the game great, however, there are also flaws that need to be adressed. First is the very linear nature of the game. The game forces players to follow very linear dungeon type maps. It's basically get from point A to point B. There's also a clear lack of town and world map. I miss these things because it allowed the player to rest in between story sequences. The game does, however, turn less linear when you reach a certain point in the game, but it is way too late in the story. Overall though, this game is a very good addition to the FF series as it has one of the most exciting battle system in any JRPG game. I hope this helps!… Expand
  76. AdabrianA
    Mar 13, 2010
    0
    This game would be a 5/10 actually but the lack of soul, the terrible character designs, the ridiculous adolescent plot, the linear and boring gameplay, and everything else on a game with the Final Fantasy pedigree deserves a zero. XII with all its faults, was way better than this. Stay away if you are mentally older than a insecure 16 year teenager or you will despise this game.
  77. ReddE
    Mar 13, 2010
    10
    absolutely stunning game, much better than i anticipated, when it was first announced i thought it would have been like Final Fantasy XII which was a major disspointment, but it wasn't it went back to a Final Fantasy X style of battles and stat increasing which IMO was the best way to do it, so you could choose your experience and what to focus on. The Paradigm Shift system gives for absolutely stunning game, much better than i anticipated, when it was first announced i thought it would have been like Final Fantasy XII which was a major disspointment, but it wasn't it went back to a Final Fantasy X style of battles and stat increasing which IMO was the best way to do it, so you could choose your experience and what to focus on. The Paradigm Shift system gives for alot of variations on battles, with many different ways of approaching them, of course there is always the best and worst way but that doesnt mean the worst way will lead to a Game Over screen, and with them easy to sue and switch you can easily change the tide of a battle in just a few buttons. The story is deep with massive backstorys for all characters and with regular flashbacks of what led to the current situation that you play through. The game itself is broke down into a chapter system which is just nice, doesn't enhance the story of make it worse, just interesting. The actual in-game graphics them selves vary from absolutely amazing to mediocre, but most are amazing especially the CGI cut-scenes which are better than anything i have seen. Music, if your are a true Final Fantasy fan, you will be dissapointed to hear its not from Nobuo Uematsu as he is doing the music for FFXIV at this moment in time and thus doesnt have the same feel, but the composer they brought in, Masashi Haumazu was co-composer on Final Fantasy X so its still up to scratch and definately works, but there is one or two annoying tracks. The game is as linear as Final Fantasy X was until you got the Airship so i don't see the problem people have with that, in Final Fantasy XIII it opens up once you get down to Pulse which is also were you can tell there has been care taken to make the graphics the best they can be, with skylines and such looking completely realistic. A must buy for any Final Fantasy fan.… Expand
  78. JoeyS
    Mar 13, 2010
    10
    This game is as close to a masterpiece any JRPG has come for a long time. The battle system is absolute genius, you've never experienced anything like it. The story is intriguing, the characters lovable, the world enthralling, everything is polished to perfection. It does have flaws; early in the game the battles are too simple, the maps are too linear and the pace can seem one This game is as close to a masterpiece any JRPG has come for a long time. The battle system is absolute genius, you've never experienced anything like it. The story is intriguing, the characters lovable, the world enthralling, everything is polished to perfection. It does have flaws; early in the game the battles are too simple, the maps are too linear and the pace can seem one sided. Towns never really materialize, which certainly removes something from the experience. Trust me though, you'll hardly notice. Don't pay attention to the people rating this game lowly. I doubt any of them have actually touched FF13; they're all so caught up in "tradition" they can't see when a masterpiece comes along. If you're at all a fan of RPGs, fantasy and drama, epic journeys, tactical bouts or artistic genius, buy FF13 right now.… Expand
  79. MattS
    Mar 13, 2010
    10
    FFXIII uses a streamlined approach to JRPGs, the graphics are stunning, the music is great, and so far the story has me wanting to play every second I can. I've read a lot of people/critics complaining about the lack of towns, but if they have ever played a Final Fantasy title, they should know that FF towns only serve a few purposes: 1) Heal/Rest your team 2) Has the NPC that will FFXIII uses a streamlined approach to JRPGs, the graphics are stunning, the music is great, and so far the story has me wanting to play every second I can. I've read a lot of people/critics complaining about the lack of towns, but if they have ever played a Final Fantasy title, they should know that FF towns only serve a few purposes: 1) Heal/Rest your team 2) Has the NPC that will trigger the next series of events in the story 3) Has shops to purchase weapons and items FFXIII takes care of all three of these, just in a little bit different of a way than past FF titles. 1) If you survive a battle, your team will be completely healed. And I'm not sure if this can be unacceptable in the critics eyes as their concesus has Mass Effect 2 at a 96 and it handles team healing the same exact way. 2) This is where it gets a little shaky for traditional FF fans. The game is very focused, and doesn't allow much exploration (at first) so there isn't really a need for this as you are mostly on the story path anyways. This comes down to player preference, though I will say that if you are a Final Fantasy and are dismissing it for this reason, you are probably missing out. I'm not saying it will be for everyone, but I bet a lot of players would enjoy this kind of approach. 3) This one is probably the best IMO, FFXIII has save points which also serve as an access point for online shopping. Instead of going to a weapon store in a town, you have to acquire a login for a weapon store online and gain access to the store through the save station. Overall the game feels very polished and has an extraordinary battle system. If this game came out and wasn't a Final Fantasy title and wasn't put out by Square, the critics would be hailing it as RPG of the year, but unfortunately for FFXIII, it carries the legacy of Final Fantasy and with that comes unmeetable expectations in the eyes of critics, fans, and all gamers. For those of you that are unsure wether you should pick up this game I'll say this, go in without any expectations of what it should be like and you will most likely come away with a great gaming experience that ranks up there with the best of all time.… Expand
  80. JulianF
    Mar 13, 2010
    9
    Final Fantasy XIII is like a double step. On one hand, you lose some of the classic things that made Final Fantasy memorable, like towns, mini games and the classic battle theme. On the other hand, this is a huge release for RPGs on next generation systems. This is by far the best battle system ever created in the series, with millions of possibilities a few buttons away, and a live Final Fantasy XIII is like a double step. On one hand, you lose some of the classic things that made Final Fantasy memorable, like towns, mini games and the classic battle theme. On the other hand, this is a huge release for RPGs on next generation systems. This is by far the best battle system ever created in the series, with millions of possibilities a few buttons away, and a live action animation sequence. No more crappy gambit system that 12 had, FF13 is all about getting the job done. On top of that, this game has the most memorable cast since Final Fantasy 7. The only problem I had with the story was the lack of a powerful villian that prior games had, aka Kefka, Sephiroth and Jecht. Other than that, you will not find an equal title on both consoles, I highly recommend any RPG fan to buy this game.… Expand
  81. JohnJ
    Mar 12, 2010
    3
    FF 13 does a great job of playing itself. The developers leave absolutely no room for the gamer to take ownership of the beautiful world they created. Graphics are the only positive. Story is average. Gameplay is absolutely terrible. As a long-time FF fan, I do not expect it to possess the open ended Fallout 3 or Mass Effect style. But the groupthink developers completely dropped the ball FF 13 does a great job of playing itself. The developers leave absolutely no room for the gamer to take ownership of the beautiful world they created. Graphics are the only positive. Story is average. Gameplay is absolutely terrible. As a long-time FF fan, I do not expect it to possess the open ended Fallout 3 or Mass Effect style. But the groupthink developers completely dropped the ball this time around. They must have been supremely confident in their vision of the game, because they leave no room for anyone else to jump into the fun.… Expand
  82. Dewayne
    Mar 12, 2010
    10
    Cmon. This may not be the best final fantasy but it is great. The graphics are phenomenal. Yes the game starts out linear but cmon really could you go anywhere in final fantasy x until a certain point, yeah there were npc's but most npc's usually offer nothing more than an illusion of depth. This is the best combination of a action game and an rpg i have seen, and it works very Cmon. This may not be the best final fantasy but it is great. The graphics are phenomenal. Yes the game starts out linear but cmon really could you go anywhere in final fantasy x until a certain point, yeah there were npc's but most npc's usually offer nothing more than an illusion of depth. This is the best combination of a action game and an rpg i have seen, and it works very well, everyone who is crying out there is complaining cause it doesn't feel like final fantasy, news flash they can't keep making the same game over and over again, every game has to evolve or it will get boring. anyways this game rules so buy it.… Expand
  83. BrettJ.
    Mar 12, 2010
    1
    I really dislike this game. For the comments related to this having some of the best graphics, you really need to go outside and play another game in your life, this must be your first one. Metal Gear Solid 4 which came out 2 years ago has better graphics, Killzone 2 last year has better. Crysis for PC came out 3 years ago has better... the list goes on and on. An extremely average I really dislike this game. For the comments related to this having some of the best graphics, you really need to go outside and play another game in your life, this must be your first one. Metal Gear Solid 4 which came out 2 years ago has better graphics, Killzone 2 last year has better. Crysis for PC came out 3 years ago has better... the list goes on and on. An extremely average graphics engine, nothing is going on in the environment, other than character models which look ok, everything looks generic and bland. A pathetically linear game for a jrpg. I have nothing against a linear game if its done well, but this is ridiculous for a game put into this genre. This is not a FF game. If it didn't have the name slapped on it, all these high scores would be no more than a 4. Blind love for the series is getting ridiculous. The battle system is ok, but it gets old. Unless your a 5 year old girl, you wont like the characters or plot (which is the same garbage we've seen 500 times before). Pass on this. It was only made for money, nothing more. I'm done with SquareEnix for good... there simply crap. Bioware can have my money now.… Expand
  84. AdamJ.
    Mar 12, 2010
    10
    Anyone who rates this less than a nine obviously hasn't played for more than few hours. All the rubbish about it being too linear has to stop, every Final Fantasy game has been linear, they just had the illusion of not being so because of the world map. Also, bashing it because it doesn't have towns is stupid. The whole concept of going from town to town just wouldn't work Anyone who rates this less than a nine obviously hasn't played for more than few hours. All the rubbish about it being too linear has to stop, every Final Fantasy game has been linear, they just had the illusion of not being so because of the world map. Also, bashing it because it doesn't have towns is stupid. The whole concept of going from town to town just wouldn't work with this game.… Expand
  85. DanH.
    Mar 12, 2010
    4
    I'm as big a Final Fantasy fan as they come. So, you can imagine my excitement when this game finally came out. One of the two reasons I originally bought the Playstation 3. And... the game fell flat on it's face. I may be a huge fan of the series, but I will not blindly accept this garbage they sold us. There is no exploration in this game. Here is the formula: fight mobs > I'm as big a Final Fantasy fan as they come. So, you can imagine my excitement when this game finally came out. One of the two reasons I originally bought the Playstation 3. And... the game fell flat on it's face. I may be a huge fan of the series, but I will not blindly accept this garbage they sold us. There is no exploration in this game. Here is the formula: fight mobs > fight boss > LOST cutscene (flashback). On top of that the story is incredibly boring and elementary with characters who are strongly influenced by Japanese Anime stereotypes... I had to hold back the vomit while playing this game. I want to know what pill these other reviewers took before playing. The only redeeming part was the experimental battle system which could still use some work.… Expand
  86. 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
  87. 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
  88. TonyA
    Mar 12, 2010
    10
    Lets be honest, anyone who gives this game a bad score, has done so because it is a new direction for Final Fantasy. People expected something different. To me, the battle system has the feel of the old turn based FFs but faster, much faster., and the reason you control one character only is purely to keep the intense pace of the action running. It is a masterpiece of graphical art, the Lets be honest, anyone who gives this game a bad score, has done so because it is a new direction for Final Fantasy. People expected something different. To me, the battle system has the feel of the old turn based FFs but faster, much faster., and the reason you control one character only is purely to keep the intense pace of the action running. It is a masterpiece of graphical art, the loading times are virtually none existant, and the story, fighting and cutscenes blend so well. There are many linear games out there that get top scores, this one is a frantic, beautiful, incredible piece of software in its own right, and is unmistakebly, still, a Final Fantasy game.… Expand
  89. JakeH.
    Mar 12, 2010
    10
    Awesome game! My second favorite after IV :). The linearity is a tad bit tedious but does not distract from the game seeing as the entire story (outside of the first 13 non-playable days) takes place in only a few days. Exploration isn't a must, surviving to the end is! The battle system is the best IMO, fun, exciting and very fast paced. You can get screwed if you don't set Awesome game! My second favorite after IV :). The linearity is a tad bit tedious but does not distract from the game seeing as the entire story (outside of the first 13 non-playable days) takes place in only a few days. Exploration isn't a must, surviving to the end is! The battle system is the best IMO, fun, exciting and very fast paced. You can get screwed if you don't set your Paradigms up right! The Crystarium is a nice touch, but a little too linear compared to the Sphere Grid until the last few unlocked levels. Gran Pulse is amazing and really makes the game shine with everything that goes on! I understand why the devs didn't include towns and cities. If they made them to scale with everything else in the game they would be GINORMOUS and would be a complete wast of time/resources/disc space that only a minute amount of people would enjoy anyways. It's not like you don't go to some awesome locales inside each city (you do visit a couple!). A+, now only to wait until FFXIV and another MMO to get addicted to :D PS - Amazing voice work this time around.… Expand
  90. Breck
    Mar 11, 2010
    0
    Quite possible the worst final fantasy in the entire series. It shouldn't even be considered a true final fantasy. Nothing about this game is good, I returned it. Something that took 2 years to make, was delayed for ps3 for another 2 years and downgraded so they could put it onto 360. Pathetic. Besides that, graphics still are bad with ps2 style environments. Annoying characters, and Quite possible the worst final fantasy in the entire series. It shouldn't even be considered a true final fantasy. Nothing about this game is good, I returned it. Something that took 2 years to make, was delayed for ps3 for another 2 years and downgraded so they could put it onto 360. Pathetic. Besides that, graphics still are bad with ps2 style environments. Annoying characters, and the same damn plot you've heard 100 times. Unless your a 6 year old girl, avoid at all costs.… Expand
  91. SidMan
    Mar 11, 2010
    10
    Its an amazing game period. It has questionably one of the best graphics ever made. The story is ok, the battle system is fun and challenging. Many people don't appreciate the game due to their expectations from previous games, but IMO, it exceeded it. I also like the linear gameplay, but sometimes you do feel like you want more freedom. Aside from that, this game will keep you Its an amazing game period. It has questionably one of the best graphics ever made. The story is ok, the battle system is fun and challenging. Many people don't appreciate the game due to their expectations from previous games, but IMO, it exceeded it. I also like the linear gameplay, but sometimes you do feel like you want more freedom. Aside from that, this game will keep you occupied for 60 hours +. In other words, you pay 1 $ for an hour of gameplay. … Expand
  92. 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
  93. JasonB
    Mar 11, 2010
    9
    Spending time in the world of Cacoon and Pulse, I've come to realize that what we have here is a fresh approach to the FF series. Some scoff at the fact that the game is linear, but I say to those scoffers, "Isn't this a Final Fantasy game we're talking about?". If you're looking for an amazing rpg with an inspiring combat system and awesome story....then look no further.
  94. LauroN
    Mar 11, 2010
    10
    As great as, say, Valkyria Chronicles and Demon's Souls, but still an excellent Rpg, despite being linear, the plot and characters compensate the abscence of side quests, and the graphics are second to none when it comes to rpgs! 4-year-wait was worthy!
  95. JoeR
    Mar 11, 2010
    4
    OMG what a disaster, awful characters that will get on your nerves, a mediocre story, unsurprising cinematics and 0, I repeat 0 feeling that you are actually in an RPG adventure this felt more like an interactive movie. This is my goodbye to J-RPGs specially the ones from Square-enix, Im a Bioware guy now.
  96. KrisS
    Mar 11, 2010
    9
    Being a long time FF fan, I do have some trouble calling this a Final Fantasy game. However, that is ridiculously unfair to square-enix for this amazingly good game. Based on its OWN merits, it definitely stands on its own as a great story, great characters, and beautiful graphics. Just because people think that a Final Fantasy has to have airships, world maps, tons of side quests, and Being a long time FF fan, I do have some trouble calling this a Final Fantasy game. However, that is ridiculously unfair to square-enix for this amazingly good game. Based on its OWN merits, it definitely stands on its own as a great story, great characters, and beautiful graphics. Just because people think that a Final Fantasy has to have airships, world maps, tons of side quests, and the wide world to explore doesn't mean that Square is going to sacrifice their narrative for you to relive your glory days. This is a GREAT game.… Expand
  97. RandyB
    Mar 11, 2010
    10
    Final fantasy XIII is everything I expected and more! After what seemed like forever, the greatest fantasy of them all arrives and man does it deliver. In the cold winter months leading up to the release, there where alot of nay sayers about final fantasies most recent installment and some reviews that rated the game as low as 4/10, after playing I can reassure you that this game deserves Final fantasy XIII is everything I expected and more! After what seemed like forever, the greatest fantasy of them all arrives and man does it deliver. In the cold winter months leading up to the release, there where alot of nay sayers about final fantasies most recent installment and some reviews that rated the game as low as 4/10, after playing I can reassure you that this game deserves nothing less then a full 10. Alot of series traditions(I.e. towns, exploration) have been cast aside in favor of a more combat focused adventure as well as a very well told and very human storyline. The fact that you cant really edit or change tho configuration of your party until relativly late doesnt aid the game, in its defense this is really a favorable allternative to losing story elements because your controling the wrong party member. Now lets talk about what everybody seems to be most bothered by, the linaerity, yes final fantasy 13 is very linear, but why is that bad? FFX was linear and it is one of the highest reviewed games in its generation, I understand fans have certain expectations but change is not always a bad thing and in this case its a phenomenal accomplishment. If your a fan of the series dont be turned away by misplaced judgements and do yourself a favor, play what is likely to be one of your favorite games from the series. Final fantasy 13 is a work of brillant innovation, if I could give an 11 i would.… Expand
  98. BobbyS
    Mar 11, 2010
    10
    Final Fantasy XIII has long been on my radar of anticipated games. Far too often when I anticipate a game in this manner, the end result is many times disappointing in comparison to the hype. In the case of Final Fantasy XIII, this is not true. Final Fantasy XIII is a stunning game with extremely high production values. The battle system while at first sounds awkward is extremely fluid Final Fantasy XIII has long been on my radar of anticipated games. Far too often when I anticipate a game in this manner, the end result is many times disappointing in comparison to the hype. In the case of Final Fantasy XIII, this is not true. Final Fantasy XIII is a stunning game with extremely high production values. The battle system while at first sounds awkward is extremely fluid and entertaining.… Expand
  99. DrunkC
    Mar 10, 2010
    1
    For an RPG, it would be an 8 for a FF game a 1. This game takes the FF formula and throws it out the window, with linear gameplay, poor characters and story and minimal exploration. Content was cut to make it on the 360, and SE wouldn't spend the extra cash to put another disk and give all users (PS3 and 360 alike the full experience). Only people who like this game are FF For an RPG, it would be an 8 for a FF game a 1. This game takes the FF formula and throws it out the window, with linear gameplay, poor characters and story and minimal exploration. Content was cut to make it on the 360, and SE wouldn't spend the extra cash to put another disk and give all users (PS3 and 360 alike the full experience). Only people who like this game are FF fanboys/girls, SE new motto, call it FF and watch it sell.… Expand
  100. AzureB
    Mar 10, 2010
    10
    I think it's great, personally. Keeps me going, battles are fun, nice to be a little difficult, pluse the restart option is there which basically encourages you to experiment, just think you could control all the characters at once, just don't see it happening with the way they designed it, that's why you can't.
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Awards & Rankings

37
#37 Best PS3 Game of 2010
2
#2 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2010
3
#3 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 83 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 73 out of 83
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 83
  3. Negative: 1 out of 83
  1. RPG Fan
    81
    As an RPG, it is an excellent experience that provides a beautifully crafted world and engaging battle system. However, as a Final Fantasy game, it falls short of expectations somewhat.
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  2. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    90
    Ten hours in you might have doubts, but stay with it and you'll be smitten right through to the frankly unbelievable end. [Apr 2010, p.104]
  3. Everyeye.it
    85
    An unexpected Final Fantasy. The 13th chapter has a great story and some of the most incisive characters of the whole series, and even the battle system works very well, being deep and complex (even if you control only a single character). But on the other side the overwhelming linearity of the plot, the absence of cities to explore, and the small amount of side quest will disappoint fans' expectations.
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