Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360)

Rated by Zeb on 23rd July 2010

I think this game is brilliant. It's true that it is linear for the first two discs. But I think it works quite well with this game. It really takes at least 7 hours before things get really good, and I know that sounds like a tall order but you have to understand even before the 7 hours you're constantly learning new stuff for the battle system, character skills etc. and it really is understandable. By the time the game has taught you all it has to offer it gets really intense. And I'm not exaggerating. The battle system becomes so much more complex, but not so much that it makes your brain hurt. More like a satisfying combination of quick thinking, real time and turn-based action. It really is a brilliant blend. The story made me care about the characters, the music was really good and the graphics were awe-inspiring. There were several times when I just stopped to look at the scenery and go "wow". It is a long wait but once you get to the 3rd disc, you're rewarded with the open world, free roaming area which is HUGE. And I mean huge. It takes ages to get from one place to another, and there's wild animals/enemies roaming the place, from tiny slimy ones to gargantuan ones; all approachable to battle. This is when you understand why the game kept it linear for so long. Once you go out to fight some of these enemies, several of them will completely tear you apart. You'll have a hard time adjusting and the game won't offer any more help to you, from here on out it's up to you to figure out new strategies, have well timed attacks and the lot. Tonnes of side missions, ultimate versions of weapons, upgraded equipment, there's loads to do here. You can always go ahead after a point and carry on with the game, or stay there to your heart's content. And trust me, you will want to stay there for a while. You can always come back to it as well, which is a welcome choice. All in all, impressive game. If you're a FF fan I assume you already certain expectations of this game. It does seem to deviate from the general FF games (my friends have 7 to 12) but even so this game is a powerful piece of media. If you like RPG's but have never played FF, give this one a go. If you're worried about the anime style then don't worry too much, it's not really that exagerrated like most anime-like games and has truely amazing graphics that you'll end up appreciating. The key is not to give up at the start of the game (which will seem slow) but to carry on and reap the rewards as you progress. You won't regret it. I've turned into a bit of a completionist and have completed it 100%, investing 70+ hours into it. (That's right!!) Don't worry if you don't want to spend a decade on it!! I just fell in love with the game, you can finish the game in probably half the time, if you're good that is :).

Rated by Alan Mc Graynor, Wicklow, Ireland on 19th March 2010

It seems like a lot of people are giving this game a bad score because they don't like it, not because it's a bad game. I'll be honest, I was a little apprehensive about FFXIII for the simple reason that X-2 AND XII were so bad story wise. But XIII has a great story! There's nothing wrong with it at all and I love the characters. The great thing about a FF game is the ability of the story tellers to make you care about the characters. In any story, if you don't care about the characters you're not going to follow the plot. This is why, for me, X-2 and XII were so bad. Team Final Fantasy have redeemed themselves in that sense with XIII. Lightning is seriously cool. For anybody who says she's a Cloud rip-off the developers said years ago that they were planning on using another Cloud type character. Hence the name Lightning. It's not a disguised rip-off, it's part of the plan. And it works. Every now and then you come across a character in a Final Fantasy game that's similar to one from another. There's nothing wrong with that. My only complaint about characters is Venille. She's really annoying. Her only real purpose is to giggle and look cute, something you see in a lot of Japanese stories unfortunately. Every FF since VII has had a cutsie younger female character: Rikku, Selphie, Yuffie... Venille's just really annoying. She does grow on you as the story progresses... kind of. She's still not annoying enough to turn me off the game though, I just leave her out of my party. But not everybody cares so much about the story so let's get in to the gameplay. The battle system is amazing, the best in any FF game so far. Anybody who says it's rubbish is only saying that because they either don't like it which doesn't mean it's rubbish, or they're just no good at it. The Eidolons are great. Each character has one assigned Eidolon they can use briefly in battle. They're very simple to use. A lot of people complain that the game is very Linear. The first 2 discs were absolutely linear, but it's not a bad thing if you enjoy the story. I remember playing FFIX and thinking to myself while looking for Steiner's best weapon that I'd love just one FF in which I get the best stuff and experience the world through the story rather than having to spend hours or days on sidequests. I do love sidequests and exploring, but just one time, to see what it'd be like. That's what Final Fantasy XIII has given me. It's completely story orientated for the first 2 discs (XBOX). You get swept along with events as they unfold and experience an absolutely breathtaking world in the process. There was one point where I had to stop and gasp as my characters walked by an amazing waterfall. The image was beautiful. Then you get to disc 3 and just when you're thinking you'd like it to slow down a bit and let you have a chance to explore, it all opens up and gives you sixtysomething monster hunting mission sidequests and a gigantic, beautiful region to explore at your own pace, or at a chocobo's. I've been exploring at the start of disc 3 for 3 days now. I've hardly gone back to the story because I'm trying to level up and explore every last corner. There's very little in the way of interaction with non playable characters or exploring of towns like in traditional RPGs, but this is NOT A TRADITIONAL RPG AND IT DOESN'T PRETEND TO BE ONE. This definitely is, however, a Final Fantasy. There are a lot of things that you'd expect to see in a Final Fantasy game that this game leaves out, but it keeps a lot of traditional stuff (summoning monsters, chocobos, a guy called Cid) and adds it's own stuff too. This game isn't Final Fantasy VII, it doesn't have a huge world map for you to explore in a airship that you can control. It doesn't have Blitzball like Final Fantasy X. This game is Final Fantasy XIII. It's its own game and it's worth playing. A lot of love has gone in to this game (something that some traditional FF fans like me felt was missing from the last few installments) and it has reignited the series. Final Fantasy re-invents itself with each title. That's one of the things that makes the series so special. I'm not that big in to the crystal chronicle, dissidia or tactics spin-offs, but I have 1 to 13 of the main series including the sequels to VII and X, and Final Fantasy XIII is my 4th favorite of them all. Only VII, VIII, and X are better than it. But it's hard to be as good as those three.

Rated by xsilverbackchimpx, Manchester, UK on 15th March 2010

First off, the game is a bit linear, I am up to chapter 12 now (out of 13, I believe) and apart from the map area (which I think first came about in chapter 11), there is only one route to take through pretty much every area, with only slight detours to take to gain experience points. The story is pretty confusing, but you can get the general gist of it. Not a patch on FF7 or 8 though. But the main part of the game, the battle system, is excellent! You only control 1 character (that is chosen for you up until around chapter 10/11), but this doesn't matter as the paradigm system works so well. You can choose so many options, from full on attack, attacking while healing, protecting your party, attacking while drawing the enemy to a particular team member, etc, the list is pretty much endless. The action is so fast paced, even when you use the auto-attack option. You are constantly switching between paradigms to attack, protect and heal your party, especially in boss battles. Although you don't have to use the auto-attack option, selecting your own attacks takes time, and in such a fast paced game, time really isn't on your side. Using manual attack is ok if you know exactly which attacks you want to use and where to find them, but I wouldn't recommend using it all that often. You can also choose which enemies you want to attack or avoid, which works better than the random battles found in earlier games. Overall im finding the game really good fun, despite the often-linear areas, but the battle system is what makes this game. Not a full on RPG, but fun all the same!

Rated by Ta Rykala on 13th May 2010

Quite simply - worst Final Fantasy ever. I've got to be honest - I'm not a diehard FF fan who's played every one out there, but I had played 7 and 8 a lot and finished 12 which I think is the best JRPG ever crated. After the gorgeous, massive and hugely addictive 12 I could not wait for 13 to be released and snatched up a copy on the day of release. What a massive dissapointment this one is though. I've spent 30 hrs so far and can't say that I thoroughly enjoyed even one of them. This game is so restrictive, so slow to gain any momentum in story or battle system and so self-indulgent that the player feels like nothing more than a robot required to endlessly press the UP and A buttons for the game to progress from one overlong and unnessecary cutscene to another. This is the Katie Price of games - it feels like it's the most important one of the bunch. One that people can't wait but to watch and praise for its visuals but it's ultimately a shallow experience, one that besides it's looks, has got nothing to offer and it just endlessly drowns in its own self-importance throwing one cut-scene after another at the dismayed viewer. I don't want to finish this game. It's already been gathering dust for a month on my shelf. And even though I would love to see how the silly story ends, I can't make myself to even spend another hour with. It's THAT bad.

Rated by Richard Willis, United Kingdom on 5th May 2010

As a fan of RPGs and considering all the hype focused around this game I had to buy it. This game series has been around for many years and I was more than pleased when I heard it was coming out on the 360. Then, the day came, I received my copy and I started to play. The graphics - amazing. The sound and music - Brilliant. The gameplay - Fluid and responsive. The story line - Involving. The overall execution of all of the above - BORING!!! A PERFECT CURE FOR INSOMNIA!!! Considering this game is supposed to be an RPG I found it to be mindlessly repetative as you lead a bunch of cliched characters from the start of the level to the end. For some reason the concept of freedom, which has been a fundamental part of RPGs since the days of Phantasy Star, has been removed from this game and it plays more like a platformer. From the very first level of this game the structure remains the same, you start with a pre-chosen group of characters, you fight a bunch of monsters and traverse a linear track through the level. And that's it. The only thing that changes are the back drops. The only real sign of freedom comes after about 30 hours of gameplay when you arrive at a large expanse of countryside on the planet's surface of Pulse. But even this is a sly trick to make you think you have a choice of direction. All this level consists of is a larger game map, about 20 submissions (which all involve killing a unique creature) and that is all. For a game that was supposed to be a mould breaker, a real trend setter, the greatest role play game ever invented, it falls far below all praise. If, like me, you're a fan of RPGs then please heed my warnings, this game is aweful. There are so many better RPG's out there to play. Star Ocean, for instance. Infinate Undiscovery. Even, The Lost Odyssey, completely wipes the floor with this boring, over hyped, snore fest.

Rated by C. Allcock, England on 24th March 2010

Like I have read in other reviews people are slating this not because it is a bad game but more for the fact that its not what they was expecting. I agree I was expecting a free roaming game, side missions, towns where you can interact, shops ect... The game is very linear to start of with, im currenty 7hours in, but I have a mate who is 40hours in and ive seen how open the game becomes later on with free roaming, hunts ect and to be honest im not really that dissapointed as I was at first because now im far enough into the game to appreciate what FF XIII is all about its just blowing me away. The battle system is perfect in my honost opinion, best in my FF experience and ive played:7,8,9,10,10-2,12. It mixes a fast paced action with tactical decisions, which keeps you on your toes, switching between all out attack to defensive to a more careful approach. It is abit slow at first and can take a while in my opinion to grasp but once you have it, it certainly grips you. The graphics are amazing as im sure you have heared and I cannot disagree with anyone else, they are beautiful. The Stotyline is amazing and certainly makes up for FFX-2 and XII storylines which didn't feel as epic as the previous ones and the characters are great...well excluding Vanille who is plain annoying but you get over it :-). All in all this is a great game and the graphics, storyline, characters and the amazing battle system makes up for the game being abit linear in the first half but like ive stated it all opens up later on. Great for newcomers to the series and a must for the old fans in my opinion. Definatly a 5/5

Rated by Iain Campbell on 10th March 2010

I took collection of my copy of FFXIII yesterday afternoon and I expected it to be an epic RPG adventure on a par with the PS1s FFVII and the PS2s FFX only even better due to today's HD graphics. So far I have played for 10hrs and I have been awed by the stunning graphics, sound, amazing cut scenes. The battle system is the best yet of any FF game but FFXIII plays like FFX2 and is more like an adventure game/movie than an RPG that requires you to battle your way from scene to scene, like a 3D version of the old side scrolling adventure games of the past, just to be rewarded with the next cinematic cut scene. Don't get me wrong I'm always impressed by the effort Square-Enix puts into the cut scenes but if I wanted to watch a fantasy movie spanning many hours I'd watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I am increasingly frustrated at the lack of exploration and how linear the game is. An RPG should have massive open areas to explore, side quests to complete, villages with shops and inhabitants to help or glean information from, an airship or some other form of quick transportation to explore the world with and hidden treasures all over explorable continents and some hard to find places like hidden caves and hard to reach islands etc. I have been a huge fan of the series since playing FFVII which along with FFX are in my opinion the best games in the series, Square-enix really needs to reflect on the qualities that made those two games special and firm favourites with fans then develop an epic RPG that fans can really sink their teeth into before they start to shun the series*. One of the biggest mistakes Square-Enix made prior to the release of FFXIII was to tempt fans into thinking they were going to do a remake of FFVII with the teaser trailer they produced not long after the PS3 was released. This just reminded diehard fans of FFVII just how ground breaking, epic and innovative FFVII was way back in 1997. FFXIII may be a technological marvel in terms of 3D graphics and high quality sound but lacks the soul and depth that made FFVII & FFX stand out and capture the hearts and minds of those that truly love the series. As an adventure game I'd rate FFXIII 10 of 10 but as an RPG I'd have to give it 5 out of 10 as it lacks so many of the qualities that make a true Final Fantasy RPG. *FFIV which is due for release later this year may just be that game but it is being developed as an online only MMORPG and after shelling out anywhere from £39.99-£59.99 for the game on Xbox-360 or PS3 who wants to pay additional mandatory £10 per month or so just to be allowed to play the game? I would like to add a foot note as I am editing this two days after my initial impressions above. *WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS* FFXIII is split into two worlds Cocoon & Grand pulse the first half of the game is set on Cocoon. Cocoon is everything I described above and it will take you around an agonising 25-35hours of playing in that soul destroying linear manner before you reach Grand Pulse. But once you reach it things improve, the initial cut scene is breath taking and it's as if you've been transported to a world still in its Jurassic period. Here is where the game opens up and resembles the steppes of FFX and contains most of those missing elements I mentioned earlier such as a large open explorable area with free roaming enemies that initially are far too strong for your party. The Archlyte Steppe as it's called has side missions to complete, Chocobos to ride (After completing the appropriate side mission), teleportation stones for fast travel (again once you complete the side mission for that stone), treasure hunting while riding a Chocobo. There is only so much you can do at this point before you have to move on because the enemies are so tough, I personally spent 10hours here levelling up my characters and I can still only defeat a handful of the medium sized enemies on show. Although I have not completed the game yet I know you return here later in the game (possibly after completing the main story line) once your party is stronger but until then it's back to the super linear game I've already had 27 hours of. Based on having played the game a bit longer and having progressed much further I feel like this is still overall an adventure game but with the RPG style explorable area thrown in as an afterthought to keep people like myself happy, which to a degree it has, but if this is the future of console based Final Fantasy releases I could still see myself walking away from the series if with each new release I'm going to be forced to play in such a linear fashion for so long before reaching an explorable area, or even worse no explorable area at all. I get the feeling Square-Enix may be trying to move the stand alone games away from the RPG genre and into the Adventure game genre to attract a new fan-base forcing traditional RPG fans such as myself turn to the MMORPG games such as FFXI & FFXIV. This of course is just my opinion. Previously I rated FFXIII 10/10 for adventure and 5/10 for RPG I now amend the 5/10 to a more respectable 8/10

Rated by Duncan Baxter, Belfast on 1st April 2010

As a final fantasy fan I have been waiting a long time for this and completed it last night. It is a total disappointment. First things first the game looks very well in engine. When it comes to the in game movies when there is a lot going on screen it becomes blocky. When you see it for the first time you will see it throughout the game. The game itself is to be totally frank is average. The combat system takes a while to get used to it works but this is were the problems start. There is no thinking in it. You buff, debuff and then kill and then use one button for this. It becomes pretty boring quick. You will only die in normal combat if you do not pay attention for the screen while you are on the internet at the same time. Yes thats right you don't watch the battles as they are boring. For the first hour or two you will because they look great but it becomes teadious. The story. It is really have baked. Its trying to appeal to fans as its a cross between VII and X the 2 most popular final fantasys. In the end it is a mess. Bar the real hardcore you have a idea what is going on but the story only gets interesting near the end. When people look back they will see this. The linear nature of the game is not the its main problem, the boring / confusing story and boring combat are the main problems,. For me a final fantasy is that you can go back and play it again but this is just a play once. There is very little you want to go back and do again. The only thing which would tempt me back is to finsh the hunts. I do like this and that was enjoyable. The problem with that is they only become available 20 hours in a so when you get to chapter 11 which is a non linear chapter. After this I just wanted to get to the end. This final fantasy is the easiest there has been. You will die due to boredom because you weren't paying attention. You no longer go back to a save point you can retry a battle straight away which is a good feature. Due to being linear the save points for the most part are well placed and you will say next save point. I would buy this game if you are Final Fantasy fan but you may be disappointed. It does have a lot of movies in it and if you have HD Telly and Playstation 3 I would get the PS3 version due to the movies not being in compressed. Its just an average JRPG not rubbish, not great there are 3 better JRPGs on the Xbox 360 being Enchanted Arm, Lost Oddessy and Blue Dragon. I would choose one of those before this.

Rated by HelenTubaStar on 23rd August 2010

Simply a great game. A proud addition to the exsisting volumes. Me and my boyfriend never get bored of this game!!!

Rated by A. Assad, UK. on 26th July 2010

FF 13 is a great addition to the final fantasy series, It is a very linear game up until you reach chapter 9 or so, The first few hours may annoy you since it does drag on a bit, however it does develop in to an amazing game, the battle system was an annoyance at first but it becomes SO easy to use once you get in to the game, some bosses take forever to beat, and one of the bosses took me 2 days to deal with. I'm nearing the end of the game now and I can honestly say I have enjoyed it.