FFXIII

It still grips you like only FF can

In many ways, every game in the franchise following Final Fantasy VIII has been doomed to complete and utter failure.

IX wasn’t realistic enough and embraced the word “fantasy” a little bit too enthusiastically and many were turned off by the idea of controlling a party who lacked the flexibility of previous instalments.

X was criticised for the criminal lack of a proper world map which you could explore to your heart’s content and XI was ridiculed for being exclusively available online.

Opinion was divided on Final Fantasy XII, many loved the new improved battle system but loathed lacklustre characters and a convoluted plot. A plot explainedand executed so poorly that few cared for the plight of  the kingdoms involved.

That’s not to say each game wasn’t without it’s own charms, but one by one they failed to step into the shoes of messrs seven and eight.

But despite the lack of another perfect Final Fantasy game, this reviewer couldn’t help but be filled with excitement when the next instalment in the series was announced.

Until the most recent trailer was released.

Leona Lewis, what are you doing here? Get out!

I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who screamed when I heard that, for the purist in me, it was far from a promising sign and left likeminded gamers quaking with nervous anticipation for the release.

But tt’s finally here… and it’s an incredibly mixed bag.

The plot is not the strongest in the universe, but better than XII. It bears some striking resemblance to X’s as it features a conflict against a near-religious government who wish is to purge beings known as the L’Cie, who have been marked by crystal bearing wielders called the Fal’Cie.

Have I confused you yet? Not to worry; once you’ve wrapped your head around the new terms the game uses, the plot becomes far easier to understand.

The basic premise is that people generally fear the L’Cie which leads to the government running a ‘Purge’ of  the L’Cie. The characters more than make up for any of the plot’s shortcomings and it’s truly interesting to watch them interact and see their relationships develop.

Cinematics have made up the core of RPGs since Final Fantasy X and these cut-scenes don’t fail to impress. Half of the time you can’t tell the difference between in-game graphics and those of the CGI rendered cut-scenes. The visual quality is almost seamless and loading times between scenes are short – made even more brief once you’ve installed the disk to the 360′s hard drive.

Despite my earlier whining about Leona Lewis singing the English theme song, the soundtrack is memorable and makes me wish I could take the game by the ear, shake it about, point at its younger sibling and tell it that it could have sounded like this.The battle theme alone makes me look forward to fighting yet another horde of monsters without making the game seem interminable. Final Fantasy X’s battle theme it definitely is not.

The worlds (there’s two of them) are beautifully constructed. Cocoon’s environments are lovingly rendered with a detail that is quite literally awe-inspiring. It’s a technical milestone for the genre, and though we’ve seen stunning graphics in games such as Lost Odyssey and The Last Remnant, after playing this it becomes clear that Final Fantasy XIII has achieved a whole new level. There are few moments where I could detect any screen-tear – and these environments are truly spectacular.

But this is where one of the main problems lie.

After all, what’s the point of having beautiful gorgeous worlds which stretch away into the distance if you’re not even given the chance to explore them? In a radical break away from Final Fantasy tradition, there are no towns, and there are no non-playable characters to interact with which I see as more of a blessing than a curse.

But it does detract away from the notion that this is a world, where people actually are living. Final Fantasy VII had a myriad of memorable towns, where the population was either living it up in the lap of luxury or suffering in the slums.

Final Fantasy X had a population that lived in constant fear of a giant sea monster’s next attack and though the people of Final Fantasy XIII are in crisis, there is remarkably little to make it feel as though this is the case.

The game’s new battle system works fabulously well, lending speed to the process and without any overly complicated elements added until the third hour of the game. But you may find it overly simple.

The player can get by just hammering the Auto-Command button without thinking about strategy which might be enough to put people off the game entirely. It’s easy to fall into mindless button pressing as it doesn’t last long. It becomes much less of an issue once the class system, which successfully adds depth to the battle system of the game, is introduced.

I love the game to bits despite the few short-comings it has. Every game in the series has a different angle and a different feel to it and Square Enix tried to do something new, which isn’t easy in an age where innovation is at a premium.

Whilst the latest addition may have been streamlined to the point of linearity – which certainly detracts from the experience – the game makes up for it with an interesting set of characters, an addictive battle system  and a plot that might not break any new boundaries, but still grips you in a way that only Final Fantasy can.