Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Underappreciated"

Final Fantasy XIII defies tradition while never straying from the path of an RPG. Square-Enix has done what few studios can: create a wholly unique experience within the confines of a tried genre. Final Fantasy XIII is a masterwork of design that brings in a vision of where the future of the RPG genre lies and is a game that should at the very least be played by anyone that can appreciate a risk taken in a long-running franchise.

Final Fantasy XIII is a linear game, but to simply call it linear would be doing it a disservice. What Square-Enix has done is to completely cut out towns, dungeons and an overworld. None of those things make an appearance in Final Fantasy XIII. You are simply placed into the world, and this linear structure given to the game's design helps the pacing of the game tremendously. From the moment the game begins you will be swept up into the world before you in a way that no RPG has ever done before. It's unprecedented and the game simply gets better with each passing hour.

This sort of bold design comes at the cost of leisurely running around random towns and sleeping at inns, but that's a loss most will be willing to take. While there are towns in Final Fantasy XIII, they aren't in the traditional sense where you will be safe from attacking monsters and enemies. In this game, nowhere is safe and since the story is about outlaws fighting for their survival it makes complete sense. But it's that realization that ties everything together. The design choices made by Square-Enix for Final Fantasy XIII were used as a singular guiding vision for the experience behind a single game. There was nothing added to Final Fantasy XIII that could hinder the game but rather to streamline it, to perfect it.

All of these design decisions wouldn't mean much without a good battle system and it's here again where Square-Enix made a bold decision. Initially the battle system won't amount to much. The game recommends you use the Auto commands where it will generate moves that your character will perform while the AI controls the other characters in your party. This is boring in the beginning where you will have one or two options and will more than likely stubbornly mix them up with manual inputs. But as the game progresses the battle system opens up, and the first sign of it comes with the unique Paradigm system.

Paradigms essentially assign roles to the characters in your party. There are six total: Commando (attack), Ravager (magic), Sentinel (defense), Medic, Saboteur (enemy debuffs), and Synergist (party buffs). Different characters have the ability to use different roles though eventually all of them will open up for each party member. From there you will create Paradigms, a combination of three roles. For instance, you can have a Commando set to attack, a Synergist set to buff the party and a Medic set to heal the party. From there you will select the Auto command and the game will queue up a list of actions to be performed by your character and the two party members will do their own jobs. You cannot stay in one Paradigm forever though.

The essence of Final Fantasy XIII's battle system is to win quickly. Your characters will regain all of their health after each fight. With that in mind it isn't a matter of winning strategically by focusing on the little details, but a matter of winning strategically by focusing on the bigger picture. You have to always look a move ahead. Switching Paradigms intelligently is key to success in Final Fantasy XIII. For instance, once the Synergist has fully buffed the team, switch him to a different role. Try and debuff the enemy, if there's a single powerful attack switch to a defensive paradigm, etc.

Using the various roles it is your job to stagger enemies by bring up the chain gauge located on the top right of the screen. Once an enemy is staggered the chain builds up quickly and causes the enemy to take massive damage that far exceeds the initial damage cap of 9,999 points.

The various roles come with secondary attributes as well. For instance the Commando role can maintain a chain gauge while the Ravager role will boost the gauge significantly. Final Fantasy XIII is a game surrounded by calculated risks. Play it safe and you will find no reward. Take too long and the game will impose a time limit on you before killing you off. The game provides a substantial risk/reward system and these tactics must be applied to some of the stronger enemies and bosses in Final Fantasy XIII.

The battle system incorporates summons as well into the mix. Each character has his or her own summon called an Eidolon. Since you can only control the leader of the party only that character's Eidolon may be summoned in battle, rather than multiple summons. The Eidolons are powerful and attack autonomously with the lead character. As the two of you attack a gauge near the bottom will fill up called the Gestalt gauge. You don't need the bar to fill up, but obviously enough, you will enter Gestalt mode with your Eidolon. This causes the Eidolon to transform allowing the caster to ride the Eidolon. For example, Odin will transform into a horse and Shiva into a motorcycle. A different list of commands comes up in this mode, though they are easy to understand. With the Eidolons in Gestalt mode plenty of damage can be dealt to enemies, though it is recommended to use the summons in battles against one enemy rather than multiple enemies, particularly if they're strong.

Everything in Final Fantasy XIII, from the design down to the summons is fully integrated into the story. The story itself isn't above and beyond what's expected, but it matches RPG convention and in some ways surpasses it. The citizens of Cocoon, a small, floating orb in the sky fear the lower world of Pulse. Naturally there are some forces behind this fear, and these forces are known as the fal'Cie. Fal'Cie can be found all over the world, both in Cocoon and Pulse and they have important tasks completed by branding humans as l'Cie. This gives that person a focus that must be completed. Should the focus be abandoned that person will turn into a Cie'th, essentially a zombie. Should the focus be completed that person will turn into crystal and sleep until they are reawakened. With that, Lightning and company set out to kill a fal'Cie that had turned a loved one into a l'Cie, only to find themselves branded and cast out of society as they fight for their survival.

What's extremely refreshing about the game is that the melodrama, awkward dialogue and sappy romances are kept to a minimum in Final Fantasy XIII. While the first few hours have some cringe worthy romance scenes shown through flashbacks, the game never goes overboard. The party is on a mission and everything that happens within the game's plot seems possible within the context of the game's world.

Even more surprising about Final Fantasy XIII is the wonderful atmosphere. Cocoon feels oppressive, tight and controlled. The unique areas you'll visit, from a frozen lake to a theme park that is essentially Final Fantasy's version of Disneyland and right down to a robot junkyard. It feels artificial and it's meant to be because once you reach Pulse and the game world opens up everything will feel organic. The atmosphere will still stay with you though. The single most beautiful part of the game occurs when you walk through an abandoned and destroyed village covered in ashes and the haunting score plays in the background to add to the somber mood as the sun sets behind the clouds.

Another thing that merits attention about Final Fantasy XIII are the menus. It may sound odd to mention that, but even the game's menus have been given tremendous thought and Square-Enix should be commended for it. Everything is easy to navigate; even quitting the game is as simple as pressing a button. These are beautiful menus and it will be hard to accept anything less than this in the future.

One of the few things that are obvious upfront about Final Fantasy XIII is the beautiful graphics. This game looks fantastic and it is a combination of both technical prowess and wonderful art design that brings this game to a level not reached before by other console games. From the lush plains and caverns of Pulse, to the biological areas of Cocoon where lights will guide you on your path right down to the design of the final boss in all of its glory. This is a game that will forever stand the test of time visually.

Even the music is surprisingly superb despite Uematsu not taking any part in the game. The battle theme is one of the all-time greatest and never gets dull while the main themes are excellent themselves and a few lighthearted tracks are mixed in to brighten the mood. The voice acting is top-notch as well. Every single character sounds excellent and acts believably with no awkward pauses in the dialogue to speak of.

Final Fantasy XIII is a game guided by a singular vision. Nothing in this game feels superfluous in any way. The game eliminates the tedium and downtime found in many other RPGs without giving a watered down experience. The battle system itself doesn't forsake strategy but changes what sort of strategies are to be used. And the game is one of the most beautiful of all time. Final Fantasy XIII is not simply a sequel but a calculated risk, and this is one risk that was well worth taking. Final Fantasy XIII is simply marvelous.