By Sam Coles:
If you told me to go out and buy a Final Fantasy
game four years ago I would have told where the door is and given you a swift
boot up the arse to help you on your way. I was never into J-RPG’s I kept on
trying them but I just couldn’t get on with them, but as I’ve gotten older and
matured I’ve warmed up to them because I’ve learnt patience. A good friend of
mine who I talk to everyday helped me get into them. I was in town one day and
I saw Final Fantasy XIII for £3. Despite people disagreeing with me buying this
game I gave them the middle finger and bought anyway and honestly I don’t
understand the hate and I ended up loving it.
The game takes place on the planet Cocoon in the
town of Bodhum where the residents are being evicted or purged because they
have been contact with a pulse which is linked with a Fal'Cie which happens to be the main character Lightning’s sister Serah. It turns out that Lightning has been
branded as a Fal’Cie as well and has now been branded as a criminal although she
was a soldier in Cocoon’s military. You’ll meet a vast array of colourful and
interesting characters with deep and interesting back stories of loss which
helps you sympathise with them.
The gameplay is still
turn based in this game although the animations during the battles do keep you
engaged because they’re action packed so it feels less static compared to
earlier games. You can build what you’re going to use in your cycle during
battles or you can use the auto battle system which assess the situation for
you. You have Paradigm Shifts which adjust your stance during battle whether it
be defensive, offensive or a balanced shifts which changes up the battle and
makes you take into consideration of what the situation is, so it keeps you on
your toes.
After battles you’ll
get a start rating out of five depending how quickly you’ve defeated enemies or
how much damage you have inflicted per second in the battle. You get experience
points which you can invest into the Crystarium where you can sink points into
various roles which can give you new abilities, added strength and HP etc.
The presentation with
graphics and music is superb and considering this game came out six years ago
it still holds up. There aren’t many games that I can say have aged well in
terms with visuals from 2010. The character models are extremely detailed with
excellent voice acting, lip syncing and animation. The environments are beautiful
with bright and vibrant colours and are just a joy to look at and this is
during the time when drab and grey colours were the norm in triple A gaming so
it’s nice to see a bright and colourful game from this time.
The music oh god what
can I possibly say about the music that hasn’t already been said? It’s amazing,
even the music at the main menu is beautiful and I will sit there and listen to
it before I do anything every time. The battle music in this game has to be one
of my favourite battle themes from any Final Fantasy game, where it starts off
slow and subtle then speeds up as the battle intensifies. The music fits all
situations and scenes and hits it out of the park.
Final Fantasy XIII is
a good game, yes it’s linear but that doesn’t stop it from being a good game
because linearity isn’t necessarily bad sometimes it works. I just don’t
understand the hate and I want to thank a close friend of mine for getting me
into it because I’m very grateful.
Conpletely agree. "Its linear" is the worst complaint. Its linear done right. MGSV abandoned the linear playstyle and was my least favorite MGS as a result.
ReplyDeleteYeah exactly! I'm huge fan of MGS and the open world setting didn't work in my opinion.
DeleteYES! It's rare to see praise for this awesome game, even though it deserves it the most out of the franchise. I don't understand why people hate on it so much, it's just as good (better in my opinion) than the other titles in the Final Fantasy series. Glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI was pleasantly surprised with this game! :)
Delete