Final Fantasy's first title for this current gen delivers a great experience, but doesnt quite live up to its legacy.
As with almost any final fantasy game, the basic premise remains the same: A small group of young people out to save the world. This time the world is Cocoon. A small, moon like world that sits in the atmosphere of a larger world, Gran Pulse. Citizens of Cocoon know very little about Pulse other than fear and hatred. The government of their home world has taught them that contact with anything from Pulse could lead to contamination, death, and destruction. It is just such an event that starts off the game. You are quickly introduced to the two main protagonists in the story, Lightning and Snow (for some reason SE likes weather names). Lightning is an ex-soldier/guard of the government with a mysterious past while Snow is an outspoken leader of a group of rebels. As the game progresses, you will meet several other characters whose paths are inextricably linked by the early events of the game.
As for the gameplay, it has undergone some advancements and evolution, but any final fantasy veteran should find the learning curve fairly short. There are 6 character classes in the game: commando, ravager, sentinel, medic, synergist, and saboteur. At first each character is only limited to a handful, but eventually all classes will be available. Each class has its special features. Commandos tend to dish out physical damage. Ravagers specialize in magical attacks and high damage output. Sentinels function as a tank. Medics of course heal. And finally, synergists and saboteurs act as buffers/debuffers respectively. These classes can be advanced by using the crystarium, a special grid very reminiscent of the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X.
Over the course of its games, final fantasy has gone from pure turn based to now an "active time battle" feature. You need to enter your combat selections fast as battles take place in real time. Your battle team consists of 3 characters. Generally, you can control what set of classes they utilize and thus what battle algorithms they use. Later in the game, you can have tons of combinations of character classes and can switch mid-battle to any of 6 setups. The downside of this setup is that it takes a lot of combat out of your hands. You only have control of the lead character as the other two are managed by the AI. While you can control their basic algorithm, you can't control their individual actions. As for your main character, even here, you seem to have less control than in previous games. Your character has an auto feature which allows them to use what skills the AI feels are best. It's generally fairly accurate, and it can save you crucial seconds in battle. Otherwise, you can scroll through the tabs and select the individual skills to use. However, this is one thing I hate about the "active time battle". It just feels rushed. If you want to pick your skills, you have to quickly scroll through a long list of skills and try to select them as quickly as you can. Otherwise you risk inaction while your enemy continues to pound you. I feel like it takes away from some of the decision making and strategy of the game.
One important new element during battle is the chain gauge. Each individual enemy has a chain gauge. Certain actions while cause this meter to fill, and once completely full, the enemy will be staggered. When they are staggered you can dish out much more damage to them and special attacks and effects become available. Filling the chain gauge becomes a critical strategy in most battles, and the player is left to experiment with different class combinations in order to do this effectively.
Over the course of the game, each character will gain an eidolon. A special summon that they can bring forth during battle. When summoned, the eidolon and summoning character will be present whereas the other two characters are in limbo. The eidolon has a certain amount of health that will be continuously depleted over time and whenever it takes damage. While your character and the eidolon take actions, they can build up a gestalt meter. Eventually, if it gets high enough, you can enter gestalt mode and execute special combo attacks with the eidolon. While fun and graphically impressive, I never found the eidolons to have much strategic value in the game. They seemed more like a side show as any decently run party can dish out far more useful effects.
In terms of the overall environment, the game really delivers. Gorgeous landscapes, beautifully detailed characters/enemies, and a captivating soundtrack all help make this a memorable experience. The story, itself, just didnt have the appeal or allure of past final fantasy tales. The characters were interesting, but none were that captivating (and one - who shall not be named - was incredibly annoying). In past games, I've found myself drawn into the world and characters, but I didn't have that same connection with this game. Part of that may have been the culture shift. The game has a lot of abstract spiritual themes and concepts that may not translate as well to western audiences. There may have been more subtle points that I just simply didnt get.
Overall, I enjoyed this game and spent well over 100 hours doing all the little side quests and secrets that final fantasy games famously deliver. While I felt that the gameplay and story were a little bland, the whole experience was still very entertaining. Fans of the genre should definitely not miss this title.