Final(ly) Fantasy XIII
I’ve been looking forward to Final Fantasy XIII for such a long time. I got it on the release day and I’ve been playing it as soon as I’ve come home from work.
I’m currently about 12 hours in and just started chapter 6. I probably did something wrong, but it took me 16 minutes to beat the Aster Protoflorian at the end of chapter 5. Normally the battles are a couple of minutes long, maximum.
You’ve probably read some mixed reviews of this game online (I probably read too much about this game before I started playing it) where people are complaining about this and that. I only have one major gripe with this game: on the back of the package it clearly says that it supports “DualShock3 Vibration Function”, but there’s no vibration in the game (edit: during cut-scenes and summons). I always found that it enhances the game-play, especially during dramatic cut-scenes. Also, if you want to get DTS audio, you have to disable Dolby Digital in the PS3 audio settings.
This game reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy X, which I really liked by the way. The beginning of the game is a bit… fragmented. Most of the background story is shown in flashbacks as the game progresses. It’s also pretty easy and tutorial-y for a long while - you’re introduced to new mechanics for battle and character and equipment upgrades little by little. The battles get harder pretty quickly after you’ve learned everything. I actually like the characters better over all in FFXIII than in FFX.
The complaints people have been having is things they’re missing in this game that was there in earlier Final Fantasy games, but most things they’re missing are things I didn’t like. Like countless “hunts” and side-quests a la Monster Hunter Freedom (puke) that make you forget about the story, towns where you have to go around and press X on every person to see if they have some important info and mini-games like, wait for it, Blitzball in FFX, and even more micro management for upgrading weapons and equipment. I think this game is good the way it is, as long as you’re patient in the beginning.
One nice detail in the game is that when you load a saved game you get a recap of the story while the game is loading.
A tip is to save to a new save game file after the big cut-scenes if you want to watch them again later.
2010-03-12 (Fri) 15:39
I agree, I prefer to persist with the story rarther than boreing side quests. I liked FFX as well. Played it many times
2010-03-13 (Sat) 00:19
I have to revise what I wrote above. There IS vibration in this game. I just noticed it after playing the game for 17 hours
There is no vibration during cut-scenes nor when you summon Eidolons (in FFX you had to hold on tight to the controller when summoning or it would escape).
There is however vibration during battle - when you get hit and when you stagger an enemy. But the controller doesn’t go “durrrrrr”. Instead it goes “dud” for each hit you take. And “dud” when the enemy gets staggered. I just noticed it when I got hit by a gatling gun and a bunch of missiles at once.
2010-03-13 (Sat) 07:22
Good review, but only one thing, Monster Hunter is a great game, dont puke for that. Only that, peace and great site too.
2010-03-13 (Sat) 08:15
I’m sure Monster Hunter is good game. I just don’t want it in Final Fantasy
2010-03-31 (Wed) 18:56
Played it now, it’s awesome! Only thing I don’t like is if the party leader dies, it’s game over!!! That sucks, who came up with that one? Pretty sure its not been done before on a FF game…. Has it?
2010-03-31 (Wed) 22:41
I’ve only played Final Fantasy X and later. In all of those (except Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core) I think you select 3 members of your party to play and you can switch between controlling those characters. And if the selected party members die it’s game over. In a way that’s similar to FFXIII since you still have other (non-selected) members of your party that are basically just standing there, off screen, while the rest are being killed. But I agree that it takes some extra attention to keep the party leader alive in FFXIII.