Trust us when we say that the game has a shedload of side-quests, some of which have heartfelt or fun back-stories. But, while the premise of these quests are sometimes interesting, far too often do they lack purpose, encouraging players to engage in killing monster A to get item B. The game looks like it has a lot to do upon first glance, but the world presented is rather quaint, with the content at large being quite smaller than the developers would have folks believe. At least the synthesis mechanic will extend the play time, as it gives the chance to adjoin various spells and attacks to create more ferocious ones. Luckily, the system is super accessible, so upgrading gear and attacks truly is a breeze and integral to finding victory in combat.
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Still with me? Applause is due if so, because the first hour of Final Fantasy XIII can be quite difficult to understand without the accompanying in-game datalog. The game gives you the bare minimum of information organically through cutscenes and events, and then expects you to pick up the slack by burying yourself in the massive amount of datalog entries thereafter. And the truth is, once you understand the terminology that is vomited at the beginning en masse, the datalog entries only become supplementary to further expand your knowledge of the lore rather than being almost mandatory like in the beginning.
Simply put, a better job could have been done defining the staggering amount of terms and phrases thrown around in the first section of the game without you having to resort to digesting it via data logs, or from piecing it together on your own (but only after playing for several hours). I like comparing it to a friend that has a conversation with you about someone that you know nothing about, but they speak to you as if you are more than acquaintances. I get that having to spell out everything in a cutscene is not always the way to go, as it often can be overkill or entirely unnecessary.
As much as I have raved about the battle system thus far, that comes to a screeching halt once we get into how the game handles character progression. The Crystarium system in Final Fantasy XIII is the distant cousin of the License Board from Final Fantasy XII and the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X before it, but feels more like a downgrade rather than an upgrade compared to those before it. As a quick crash course to those unfamiliar: all of these are node-based progression systems. Rather than leveling up in a traditional sense, the EXP you gain in combat can be used to unlock nodes along a path.
Final Fantasy XIII is the latest game in the long-celebrated series of Japanese role playing games, Final Fantasy. Developed by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was initially intended to be a PS3 exclusive, but at E3 2008, Microsoft officially announced that Final Fantasy XIII was indeed coming to the Xbox 360 as well, and that it was going to be simultaneously released with the PS3 version internationally, following the Japanese PS3 release of the game in late 2009. It was released in the United States and Europe on March 9, 2010. The game is set in a futuristic world called Pulse that is filled with dangerous creatures that freely roam the land. It also features a paranoid Utopian society that is secluded and shut from the dangerous world that it lives on, called Cocoon.
Final Fantasy XIII is the major title in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, along with Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 . However, aside from Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, none of the games are directly related to each other.
The story is centered around the plight of a small group of people, some strangers, some not. A woman calling herself Lightning is the main character of the game. She has limited control over gravity by use of technology which makes the magic of the world usable by humans, commonly known as "manadrive." She specializes in collapsible weapons which can transform from a sword into a semi-automatic rifle.
The game is set in two sister worlds - Cocoon and Pulse. The beginning of the game takes place in the technologically advanced upper-world called Cocoon. Later on the player travels to the apparently much larger, untamed lower-world of Pulse. They are two separate planetoids, with a long history of paranoia and bloody warfare against the other. Humans are forbidden from traveling to or from Cocoon by the government, making it an enclosed society ruled by fal'Cie -- god-like beings who assign a human to govern Cocoon's citizens. However, there also exist fal'Cie from Pulse who turn humans into l'Cie (pronounced as Luh-See). These people are branded with a symbol somewhere on their body, given the ability to use magic, and given a single task known as a 'focus.'
Unsure as to what their focus is at first, the five new l'Cie set out to battle Sanctum, who, as it turns out, were only using the exile (known as the 'Purge') as a cover to kill them all. After all, the government considers anything from Pulse to be an enemy of Cocoon; by coming into contact with the Pulse Fal'Cie, the people of Bodhum become enemies of Sanctum. The beings on Pulse are at war with Cocoon and there is a large hole in Cocoon from an attack from Pulse several centuries before. Taking place in Cocoon and later on the surface of Pulse, the game covers the adventure of the new l'Cie as they try to figure out what their focus is and then fulfill it to avoid becoming Cie'th.
FFXIII features the series trademark Active Time Battle system, as players only have a limited time to execute their skills before the enemies take their turn. The battle system lets players control only the main party leader (who switches throughout the game), while only controlling the class of the other two party members, not specific actions. The main premise of the battle system consists of the player trying to chain attacks against monsters so that they become staggered and take extra damage. There is also a heavy emphasis on constant Paradigm shifts during combat.
Paradigms are player-configured setups that change the roles of each party member during combat. Since the players can't control their party members directly, paradigms are the only way to change their AI behavior. Players can fill up to 6 paradigms slots, ranging from offensive to defensive setups before a battle starts. Paradigms can be created by hand or generated by the game.
Eidolons are special creatures that can be summoned by players during combat to gain access to powerful skills and abilities. Players first need to defeat an Eidolon in a one-on-one battle to gain their allegiance. They are summoned using 3 Technique Points (TP). Each Eidolon can also transform into Gestalt Mode that allows players to ride and use the creature directly. Players lose access to their normal skills and even party members during this mode, but instead gain direct attacks through pre-configured button presses. Here is a list of the Eidolons in the game and their respective characters:
Similar to Final Fantasy X's Sphere Grid, the Crystarium is a linear method of character advancement. After a battle, the player receives a set amount of Crystogen Points (CP), which can then be used to connect to crystals in the Crystarium. The CP is doled out equally to every character in the game for every fight, regardless of whether they participated in the battle or not. The Crystarium is divided up by Paradigm roles, and apart from a few protruding branches the advancement is mostly straightforward. Any stat bonuses or techniques earned in the Crystarium (HP, ATK, STR, etc) are instantly applied to the character; however, any abilities learned are still relegated to the designated Paradigm.
Saving your game, shopping, and upgrading your weapons and accessories are all relegated to terminals placed frequently throughout the game. Unlike in most RPGs, losing a battle does not send the player back to a Save Point. Players are instead placed right before they started the battle, allowing them to either attempt the fight again, possibly with a preemptive strike, or avoid the fight altogether.
Final Fantasy XIII's soundtrack was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, who is notable within Square Enix for other composition roles including Final Fantasy X, Unlimited Saga, and Saga Frontier II among others. He also wrote the main image song entitled "Kimi Ga iru Kara" sung by J-Pop singer Sayuri Sugawara. However, the western release of the game features the song "My Hands" by UK X Factor winner Leona Lewis instead. Producer Yoshinori Kitase explained that this decision was an experiment in tailoring elements to different regions, as well as citing difficulties translating "Kimi Ga iru Kara".
Final Fantasy XIII was first shown at E3 2006. Along with Final Fantasy Versus XIII and the PlayStation Portable game Final Fantasy Agito XIII (later renamed to Final Fantasy Type-0 and removed from the franchise), Final Fantasy XIII is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII project, but none are a prequel or sequel of the other installments. Square Enix explained that although all three games take place in the same universe, they are not directly related in terms of story. The game runs on the Crystal Tools engine, a seventh generation multi-platform game engine built by Square Enix for its future games. The engine and the game were originally slated to be used with the PlayStation 2, but were later moved to the PlayStation 3.
Several of the game's developers had worked on previous installments of the series. Motomu Toriyama, director of Final Fantasy X-2, and director and scenario writer of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, directed the game and wrote the story. Eiji Fujii, previously the movie director of Final Fantasy XII, returned in this position. Isamu Kamikokuryō, previously the co-art director of Final Fantasy XII, returned as well, with Tetsu Tsukamoto designing the weapons. The main programmers were Kazumi Kobayashi and Yoshiki Kashitani. Occasionally, developers from Final Fantasy Versus XII provided assistance as well. Final Fantasy X's battle director Toshiro Tsuchida returned as the battle system director. 2ff7e9595c
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