Another good Final Fantasy entry, with LOST-like storytelling, good characters, and great battles

User Rating: 9.5 | Final Fantasy XIII PS3
It took awhile to arrive, and you can argue about some of the design choices that were made, but Final Fantasy XIII finally released, and after having played through it, I believe it was definitely worth the wait. It may not be the best RPG available, but there is a very good RPG here, highlighted by an interesting job system, chaoticly fun combat, and a solid story with some good characters.

FFXIII takes place on the world of Cocoon, a shell of a world, almost like a small moon, that floats over the planet of Pulse. Residents of Cocoon live in fear of an invasion of creatures from Pulse, provided to by a group of Fal'cie that helped create Cocoon. However, a set of events are set into motion during a cool series of flashbacks, provided like on LOST, that flesh out a period of 13 days prior to the events of the game. These flashbacks provide extra background of most characters, along with what drives them during the story. At the outset, you are introduced to Lightning, our cover girl, who along with Sazh, Hope & Vanille, are on a train, captured for being near a Pulse Fal'cie. That's where everything begins. Soon enough you'll come face to face with a Fal'cie, and actually quite a few of them on your adventure.

Now, the complaints lobbed at FFXIII include the lack of any towns or shops to visit. Well, the way the story is told and how it plays out, I can safely say, having a town would have been a mistake, as it would not have made sense. And you do have shops, they are just integrated into the save points, which I did like as it made purchasing certain things much easier than if you had to go back somewhere else. Speaking of that, you'll rarely travel back anywhere, as the game is pretty linear until about 3/4-4/5 of the way through. Surprisingly, I liked it better when it was linear because it allowed the story to keep moving forward. The freedom is nice at that point, but FFXIII is at its best when its moving forward.

Like most new Final Fantasies, there is a new battle system to learn here. Playing out like a mix of FFX-2 & FFXII, battles can be somewhat chaotic, in a good way. Sadly you only control the party leader, and the AI handle the other two, but the actions the AI take are surprisingly good. Each character specializes in a certain job, with two other jobs they can train in, with 6 jobs in total. These three primary are where you want to focus initially. Late in the game you'll unlock all 6 jobs for each character, but they require a lot of effort to level up, so sticking with the 3 primary is the way to go until the end game. The 6 jobs are Commando (melee attacker), Ravager (spell caster), Medic (healer), Sentinel (defense specialist), Synergist (party buffer), and Saboteur (debuff enemies). Using these, you can create up to 5 different party combinations, all coming with their own designated name. Experimenting with the different combinations is part of the fun of the battle system. Coming up with your own configuration that you are comfortable with in battle takes some tinkering. Luckily you have plenty of time to figure it out. Plus, and this may not be a great point but still, for more than half the game, you usually only have a 2 or 3 person party, so you're stuck with few choices until the latter half of the game when the full party unites.

Once the full party unites is where the real fun begins as you take your knowledge of the different jobs and create the best 3 person party you can. Leveling up the different jobs is like leveling up in FFX's sphere grid, except its not all encompassing. Each job has its own grid that you use Crystarium points, earned in battle, to progressively level up stats and learn abilities. The three primary jobs level up quickly, so taking your time, you can eventually have your three jobs maxed out prior to the Crystarium getting expanded. The game is divided into chapters so usually near the end of a chapter, another level of the Crystarium is opened up. You'll also be able to acquire or purchase weapons and accessories, like usual. But these weapons and accessories can be powered up using certain items acquired in battle or purchased from a shop. Weapons and accessories can get leveled up (weapons into the 20s, some to 100, while accessories usually to level 2) which make them more powerful or provide better stats.

And to make all this possible, let's check out the battle system. Battles are not turn based. They are somewhat similar to those in X-2 & XII, with its own twist. Like in XII, you can see your enemies on the field, running into them triggers a battle, like previous FFs. Like I said, in battle you control the party leader, and you have a few actions at your disposal. Surprisingly, the first is an Auto Battle option which is very good, since it uses the best options for you a large portion of the time. That's not to say it will battle automatically for you, just pick the actions for you. Another option lets you pick which skills or spells to use. A third will let you use some utility skills like Libra or to summon your Eidolon. Of course you can also use Items. Depending on the battle, I would pick what I wanted to use, but I used Auto Battle more often just because it made battles quicker and somewhat easier. You have an ATB gauge that fills up in segments. At the end of the game you'll have 5 segments, and each of your actions take up a certain number. Basic attacking is one, but more powerful abilities or spells can use 2, 3, or even all 5. This can be why Auto Battle is helpful, as it can quickly determine the best ones for the battle. But you can always pick your own options. Plus for longer battles, if you pick your attack options, you can quick select them if you don't want to change them.

The battles can be a little crazy due to all the action taking place. Even though you're controlling just one person, you can change the party's job configuration at any time, so there's a layer of strategy to the tougher battles. You'll want an all out attack group, but you definitely want some inbetween groups so that you can keep damaging enemies while minimizing damage you take. Its a very nice balance that leads to some great battles and moments.

Sadly there are few side quests. Once you get to the part where the game opens up and you can freely move around, a side quest does open up that is like the Hunt missions from XII. But otherwise, there's not much else, which some people look on as a bad thing. Me, it didn't bother me all that much since I was enjoying the story and was happy to keep it going. Usually I like to say that the story helps dictate whether you'll like an RPG or not. That is especially the case here, as while the battles are fun, the story is without question the main, and nearly solo, attraction. So, I did enjoy the story quite a bit. The party was definitely likeable, if it took awhile in some cases. The story was a bit slow moving early on, but once it picked up, it got very good I thought. Its not the best RPG I've ever played, but I still thought it was a really good game.

FFXIII looks phenomenal. Environments and characters all look great, not to mention all the nice battle effects. Initially the music wasn't quite as great as previous entries, but it grows on you. Plus the voice acting is done nicely. What I especially loved is the characters' faces. I'll explain. In Mass Effect 2, there were some characters where, while talking to them, it really looked like they were staring blankly in front of them. That's not the case here. You'll notice their eyes moving, their face too, making them all the more realistic.

Final Fantasy XIII may have taken awhile to get here, but I felt it was worth the wait. The battles were good, most of the characters were good as well, and so was the story. It may be linear without any towns, but I actually felt that that was for the games benefit, not hindrance.