Final Fantasy 13 – is it truly a Final Fantasy…?

It was only a matter of time before I had a bit of a rant about the latest instalment of the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 13.

Actually, it’s not so much a rant. It’s more of an overview of what the game has to offer the player, and I am currently seeking Final Fantasy (FF) fans on their opinions on this.

I will stress before I continue that I have not quite completed the game and that I am about to embark on the side missions before taking on the big guy at the end. Whoever that may be. It’s also worth noting I’m 50 hours or so into it so be prepared to invest some time into this game (cue laughter from FF fans).

For the not so Final Fantasy fans, it’s worth knowing the essence of what makes a Final Fantasy – basically, within the first 5-10 hours of playing you meet the characters that will eventually join your “Battle Team”. You then all get caught up in the storyline and travel a world, defeat enemies, level your characters up to defeat bosses along the way, while being submersed in a huge storyline that can be overwhelming at times but makes sense in the end. All of this, with some hugely impressive FMV, stunning graphics and backdrops, as well as a wondrous soundtrack – guaranteed every time.

The Battle system itself changes with each game, as does the way you level up characters – FF7 had a ‘dedicated live battle mode’, FF10 had the ‘turn based dedicated battle mode’ while levelling up your characters with the ‘sphere grid’, FF12 had a ‘real time battle mode’ with a chess board like ‘grid’ to level up characters. With all of them, you get to select three characters to participate in your battles. One is usually a healer, one is an attacker and another is a mage. Typically.

So, this is where I start with the ‘not so good compared to other Final Fantasies’ part of FF13 – it’s Battle System. You control one character. The other two do their own thing. Ok, it works most of the time. They know who you are attacking so they follow suit and yes the job gets done. But what if I did’t want them to attack the same guy? What if I wanted them to cast Silence on a guy casting Firaga on me (Silence prevents them from casting any form of magic – normally)? Change your battle group during battle to a “Commando” (attacker) “Ravager” (mage) and “Medic” (er…medic) and the medic doesn’t always heal the most needy. The most needy is normally the Ravager who is dead and needs to be raised, yet the Medic continues to heel the Commando who has about 90% health as it is. One redeeming factor though is the Battle System is easy to use, and flows very well without much thinking. Hell, if you can’t be bothered to be strategic, just hit “Auto Battle” every time, the game does it for you! As for the levelling up, you only have one choice and that is to follow a path through the “Crystalium”. You can’t go and level up on a particular attribute (Strength, Aim, Magic, Agility), which is quite unfortunate.

Now with all pre-FF13 games, you wonder around a world, visiting places, carefully buying weapons, items, armour and magic ready for your journey. Not in FF-13 – you visit a “virtual” shopping menu system to buy stuff. Or, the items you pick up along the way you can use to ‘upgrade’ your weapon. Most of the stuff you can buy from the store you either already have or is just totally redundant because you’ve spent too long upgrading your current weapon / armour. I’ve only just bought new weapons myself! Also, the ability to freely talk to other people has been taken from the game, partly because there isn’t anyone to talk too. You do however have two worlds to ‘explore’ so that’s not a bad expansion.

To touch on the characters, you have: Lightning, the “I’m on a mission” good all rounder, Snow “Let’s do this!” hard man, Sazh “token black guy”, Vanille “Whacky and Funky” mage, Hope “timid and scared but will cast magic for kudos”, and Fang “comes out of no where but is one tough cookie”.

There are also recognisable items, magics, summons and creatures from previous outings, such as Chocobos, Potions, Phoenix Downs, Blizzard, Water, Fire, Aero, Bahamut etc. so FF fans will not be without.

So far, a battle system that’s a bit linear, the purchasing department that is a bit limited and a world with no one to talk to. Not looking to good.

All complaints come through me first

Except, it’s a great game. The storyline is blistering, the graphics are simply the best ever seen in any Final Fantasy and the soundtrack is, as usual, pure bliss. And, as every good game should be, its highly entertaining. So, why the ‘rant’?

Well, it’s all a bit too linear. There’s no sense of “I can’t wait to do this”, no “Bahamut will sort this out”, and certainly no ‘advanced strategy’ behind the battle system, exciting they however may be. Which actually makes the game a hell of a lot more appealing to the wider public than previous Final Fantasies.

So, the short of it is, if you haven’t got into Final Fantasy before, now is your chance – you might just like it.

Whilst I go away to find out what the ending is, FF fans answer me this question – considering the battle systems, the exploration, the character development, and overall experience you got from previous Final Fantasies, is Final Fantasy really a Final Fantasy? To help you answer this question, just go back and play the predecessors…