From the creative minds behind FINAL FANTASY VII and FINAL FANTASY X comes the latest installment in the critically acclaimed series. As FINAL FANTASY VII was for PlayStation, and FINAL FANTASY X for PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, FINAL FANTASY XIII will be the first numbered FINAL FANTASY title for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360, and will look to once again reestablish the series as the RPG brand. Players will follow Lightning, Snow, and the other heroes who are dealt a hand of fate by the god-like fal'Cie. Cursed and regarded as enemies of society, they have the world against them and nobody to rely on but each other. Will they find the strength within themselves to break free of their curse and determine their own fates, or will they succumb to this higher power? With a story that is sure to connect with players' hearts, diverse new characters from world-renowned creator and character designer Tetsuya Nomura, and exciting new gameplay features centered around an evolved Active Time Battle system, FINAL FANTASY XIII will be the pinnacle in gaming experiences.
First and foremost. This game is LONG. Completionists beware - to acquire every trophy is a minimum of 80 hours gameplay and some are missable! That aside, the story is deep and the world is believable. Graphics are stunning. The voice acting of some characters can become annoying at times, but you begin to look past this after time. Addicting. The first 10 hours or so are the slowest, but once every feature is unlocked, you will become immersed. Gameplay is intuitive. Good game.
FF13 changes quite a bit as it enters into the next gen age. Combat is an active system, no pauses and you only control one character. It can be very fun later on in the game but for the first 15-20 HOURS, the fun moments are heavily outweighed by the tedious, repetitive battles. During this time the game is 99% linear, you go forward, no puzzles, no exploring, just forward. This is made worse with the poor story and cliche characters. If you can survive the slow start, you may have fun.
If you liked past final fantasy titles, there's a chance you will like this one. Unfortunately, they have revised the formula in this game, and several things are different:
1- The game is EXTREMELY linear until you get to the end of the game
2- Battle system has been simplified. ALOT. Might not please people who like to have to figure out bosses's elemental weaknesses and such, as everything's semi to all automatic.
In the beginning, I found that the constant jumping between characters was incredibly annoying, and the inability to change party leaders even more so. That got better later on, but the game is so linear that I was well and truly bored by the time I reached the more open-world bit. The story was decent, however, and I'm terribly fond of the music. I did enjoy the battle system as well.
I'm not sure how so many people suffer through the game until it 'gets good at 25 hours'. The game is extremely unwilling to let you go without the training wheels, which turns early combat into just pressing X until it's done. At which point all you'll do is steer your character forward until the next battle. Rinse, repeat. Story is fragmented and characters are typical (stoic soldier, token black guy, cutsie girl, young naive boy, etc).
