Heres my take on the game.
To start off, Im going to divide this up into sections covering all of the usual things folks like to talk about, graphics/sound, gameplay, and story/characters. In each section, Ill list my personal plus and minuses as well as explain them to make it easier to read. Ill start with graphics and sound because this is probably the briefest.
Graphics/Sound
+ Graphics are absolutely gorgeous. Animation is top-notch.
- You dont get to really soak it in as much as you want.
Ah, the graphics. Honestly, this may be my favorite looking game this generation so far. Its just an absolutely gorgeous game from the backgrounds to the character models. The aesthetics is like the perfect blend of both technical and artistic elements. There are some areas that are just absolutely gorgeous. The character models are absolutely fantastic and they all have personality to them. The animation is top-notch as well. There was a lot of attention paid to how the characters move and its really evident if you watch a lot of the mannerisms the characters use.
On the downside though, you dont get as much time to really take it all in. This is a bit of a gameplay issue as Ill discuss below but there are a lot of areas where I wouldve just loved to have seen more because of how cool it was. Also, more of a personal problem, but the image is so detailed sometimes, that I had a hard time focusing but that might be more because I was playing the game for long stretches.
+ Music is good, very mood-setting. Voice-acting is not bad.
- Not very typical for FF, sometimes it blends a bit too well. Some cringe-worthy line delivery.
To make a comparison, the OST for this game is like what it would be if you asked the game composers to make a soundtrack for a movie version (not the Spirits Within). A lot of the pieces absolutely works wonders for the scene its accompanying and it totally hits the right moods. Beyond that, its a little hard to say personally because music is usually the last thing on my mind when it comes to the aesthetics. There are some really fun twos, the two versions of the Chocobo theme are great too.
On the other hand, for some, the music not being so videogame-like might be a bad thing. I generally liked it but it did sometimes lack the feel you sometimes get from videogame tunes. It also blends in so well that I sometimes forgot it was even there, though thats a personal thing.
Voice acting wasnt too bad, most were pretty good choices. I didnt really like Yukari Fukui as Vanille and Maaya Sakamoto as Lightning though. There also quite a few times where lines were delivered a in a bit too cringe-worthy of a manner. Its partially on purpose I think but it doesnt really excuse it. Anything involving Snow and Feng and their accents or lingo was pretty cringe-worthy to me.
Gameplay
+ Excellent combat system.
- Combat system couldve been fleshed out a bit more.
I think most of had it already but the combat system in FF13 is absolutely fantastic. Its fast, active, and engaging for the most part. With the way the battle system is structured, youre worried less about the minute activities like choosing commands than you are about how the overall battle is flowing. By choosing roles for your characters, you change their skills, abilities, and AI focus. This allows you control everyone without having to individually pick commands or work on setup AI commands. The end result is a battle system thats been sped up significantly and youre really focusing on the flow of the fights.
The battle system does have downsides though. Theres a lack of variety in skills and roles thus you usually end up spamming the same spell or or attack every turn and gets kind of repetitive if youre looking to try new things out as you go. More skills to use within the roles or even more roles with new skills would really spice the system up. Otherwise, it feels a bit basic. The system also isnt as streamlined as I hoped. You either pick the attack button which will randomly pick the skills for you to use, or you have to manually pick attacks every time. This is a little annoying especially when you want to start off with a specific set of attacks because youre in a certain area. Youll have to manually select the moves every time or hope the randomizer knows exactly what youre thinking. The ability to group attack sets wouldve really been a helpful addition. Also, the ability to toggle skills for the AI wouldve been immensely helpful so I could prevent certain skills from being casted when I only wanted a specific type. I think Bebpo has this problem where he only wanted Haste but was always getting Protect and shell first.
+ Challenging and interesting fights at times
-
because the balancing can be a bit icky. Can also turn into an easy game.
This game is rather interesting to me because it provides very little middle ground in difficulty. It either is really challenging and difficult or its too easy. I found most of the game to be fairly challenging, almost a bit too difficult in fact. However, others have found that the game was extremely easy for most of it. There are very few people that seem to find it just right.
It seems that the way the games monsters were designed, you only can blow through them or get blown away by them. I dont think I ever really encounter an enemy that was just a moderate challenge in the game. I think its a combination of the progression system and how stats were designed for the enemies. Its a little frustrating because I typically dont grind (purposefully or otherwise) when I play so I got to a point where the enemies in the game were just so strong that I couldnt take them out without really digging down to beat them. There were parts in the later parts of the game where Id get pounded into the ground by regular enemies and had to restart a bunch of times until I got the enemy attack pattern downs. There were a few folks that found the game easy for quite a bit of it so Im not quite sure what the difference is between players.
+ Crystarium is a good progress system
- Its a terrible customization system.
As my point says, I think the Crystarium is a pretty good progression system. It does away with the standard progression of XP into levels and opts to allow you to upgrade as you go and not wait for an XP meter to fill up. This is a rather nice feature because it allows players to strength themselves before fights or bosses or whenever you like. It also allows you, to an extent, to bypass some upgrades to focus on a specific stat if you want though theres no reason to since theres only 3 stats in the game. Can also choose to strength roles that you use the most often rather than gaining points in areas you dont use.
Though it has pluses, the Crystarium is actually a pretty poor customization option. Theres only 6 roles and the paths along in those roles are largely straight with a few branching points for extra skills or stat bonuses. Theres no real customization in those roles because of that. Granted, all the characters have different abilities in the end but it wouldve been nice to see each of the roles expanded and allow you to specialize in certain aspects of a role. Theres not enough skills either within the roles, its a very basic layout of the standard final fantasy skills with a bit of FFXI/FFXII debuffing thrown in.
I should emphasize that the Crystarium works fine as it is but it honestly feels a bit repetitive by the end using such limited skills in such a great battle system. Definitely feel like the game could really open up bigger possibilities if it really improved this system.
Story/Characters
Now to the juicy part. There are mild spoilers. Its nothing specific, more general things.
+ Good concept for storyline
- Structure of the plot is a total mess.
As far as RPG stories goes, I think FF13s is actually a pretty good one. Its a very intense ride for the entire game going from one really packed sequence to another. There really isnt any filler to the plot (though that depends a little on perspective). The very concept of the storyline is pretty good too and you get to play a role that you dont often see in RPGs with set storylines. Im not going to spoil it here though, as this is meant for everyone to read. I will say that the details of the plot are pretty interesting and unique when you think about it.
The problem with the story though is that the structure is pretty bad. I think they clumped a lot of the storyline elements in the wrong places and did the sequence of events wrong.
In particular, the first half of the game is very character heavy. However, were thrust into it without a proper setup and idea of what their goal is or what theyre up to. It means were seeing a lot of development for characters we were just introduced to. By doing it so early into the game, I think the impact of the events and revelations are lessened.
Theres also a pretty significant divide in the game between character-focused section and the main plot thats easily identifiable. I think this structure works against the game very much so because it creates a very rushed pace for the second half while making the first half feel a bit sluggish. It creates a bit of a FF6, World of Balance and World of Ruin problem. There are really talkative and personal characters in the first half but thanks to it being segmented, the characters almost feel a little interchangeable in the second half.
+ Likable cast, Good development for most of them
- Needed more background or setup (big complaint), too many motivational speeches, Poorly developed supporting cast and villains, Feng is absolutely dreadful.
I think this might be a point of contention with a few folks but I generally think the heroes in this game are pretty good. They fairly developed personalities (for the most part) and likable all around. Most of the development they have is pretty good too. The way they fit together works really well too (since its a bit archetype based) making for some decent interaction from time to time. Design-wise, theyre also really nice.
Although I do like the cast, I do have a pretty solid list of complaints in this area.
First off, there really needed to be more background on the characters beyond the flashbacks to the series of events that happen prior to the game. A lot of the character development we see within the game feels a bit off because we have no basis to use to view the growth. I mean we can infer that the characters are like this and maybe get a feeling of it in what was presented but there really shouldve been more effort into providing the players with the necessary information. Again, I can get into specifics but I wont for the sake of people who havent played the game yet.
Next is well, something Zefah and Budokai would understand, too many goddamn motivational speeches. This goes back to my point above about the WoB/WoR problem. This stuff happens so much in the second half of the game, the characters kind of start to blend. We lose a bit of the uniqueness in the story for them and all the We can do it! Blah blah actually starts to get a bit annoying (and I usually filter it out mentally!)
A good cast needs good supporting characters and good villains but sadly, thats lacking in this IMO. Outside of the primary cast, theres no development for the support characters in the game. Not many if any scenes for them, no development, and no impact. They feel like set pieces more often than not and it reduces much of the impact that some of the scenes we have in the game are supposed to have. The same goes for the villains. Theres a lack of a menace in the game and the menace that is there comes off as a bit more silly than threatening because of how little time the main story gets. You dont necessarily need to build a villain that everyone can understand or that you can quantify (FFX does this very well for example) but 13 really fails in that area.
Feng is the worst character in the game to me. She gets absolutely no development and by and large all of the scenes involving her are absolutely awful. Im not really sure what they were thinking with this character but they really shouldve put a lot more work into her because she definitely is the worst one. What IS in the story isn't too bad but it definitely lacks the background and story that is needed to give it the proper meaning and impact. This could probably be fixed a bit more with my next section.
+ Fantastic presentation of storyline, story and game design reflect each other very well.
- Underdeveloped elements (world, story, content), overreliance on Auto-Clip (encyclopedia), incredibly linear.
I think folks have already said this, in terms of presentation, this FF game is hands down the best. The sequences are put together amazing well. Everything from the body movement of the characters to the usage of the camera and music is just fantastic. I dont think Ive played a game that has come close to this level of presentation on the whole (Uncharted 2 is the only one I think would be close but I havent played it yet) The aesthetics are absolutely top-notch and the world is very interesting. Design choices that reflect the story into the game are great as well.
Now for the bad part.
Theres a lot of this thats far too underdeveloped, from the story to the characters, to the world. Too many pieces of the puzzle are missing, this is particularly true in the ending where theres some stuff and youre not quite sure why or what the hell happened. Theres not enough explanation of the world and theres particular things that are pretty important to the plot that are barely touched on. They really rely on the Auto-Clip to fill in the gaps that they dont do. That breaks a pretty big rule for me. If youre going to do a story, present everything the player needs within the story itself and not as supplemental material. In particular, theres something that shouldve been touched upon in the story to make the ending make more sense.
This leads to a content problem, theres very little outside of the main storyline and monster hunting. Previous FF games (excluding FF12) all have extra content for the player to do and at the same time it builds the worlds. The world is so interesting and pretty in FF13 and you want to see more of it but you simply cant. There arent any towns to at least gawk at (even if they serve no function), no twisty little corners to check for things, no interesting residents to get tangled up with and the like. There arent even mini-games to dawdle your time with.
Lastly, linear gets a new definition in this game. While I understand why it was a design choice it doesnt really excuse it especially with how the end product turned out story-wise. I mean freaking hell, give me some towns along the linear path or something, some houses to enter, some buildings to explore. Maybe toss a monster bounty up or something? BLARGH!
Ok, Ive typed way too much and its starting to ooze out of my ears and become incoherent bottomline:
Play Final Fantasy XIII for yourself and come to your own conclusion! Personally, I think it's a fun game but flawed like most other games. More than anything, what annoys me most is the lost potential in the game.
