Let's take a moment to reflect on the past:
Square Enix, formerly Squaresoft, has been delivering Final Fantasy to the Americas for nearly three decades. One might even claim that it was Square and their flagship Final Fantasy who introduced the Japanese Role Playing Game (JRPG) genre to us westerners. Over the years we have come to love and adore these games and Square has grown a reputation for providing breathtaking visuals, fully orchestrated soundtracks and rich plot and character development over an expansive sci-fi or fantasy themed adventure. If you wanted to make a game that was great looking and great sounding with an involved plot line you looked to Final Fantasy as a cornerstone. However, never in its past twelve titles, has the Final Fantasy series been known for its gameplay across the industry. Let's face it, up to now pressing "X" was all you had to do to complete a Final Fantasy. In fact, I believe there was an exploit in Final Fantasy 7 where you taped your D-pad and X-button down so that Cloud would run in circles auto-engaging in battles to power level materia. Press X, that's all you had to do.
Let's look at the now:
With companies like Bungie, Blizzard, Bioware, Naughty Dog and 2K producing massive hits as Halo, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, The Last of Us and Bioshock we have realized that stunning visuals, mesmerizing soundtracks and robust story development can coincide with excellent gameplay value. Square no longer had the market hold on pretty visuals, great sound and intriguing storylines. It had competition and lot's of it.
Square is in the business of making video games, and any good business must adapt their business model to the ever changing market needs. With the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy and more so with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 (LR:FF13) we have seen Square's attempt at adaptation.
Sure, they could have given us another archetypal JRPG Final Fantasy and those of us who grew up loving the previous titles would have praised the gods and shouted, "Thank you Square Enix!! We love you and you love us by demonstrating your ability to create another shining example of a JRPG."
But the industry would have shrugged and said, "So what. We know you can make pretty, great sounding, story driven, turn based RPGs. But that's not what we want. We want a HaloMassEffect(without the Mass Effect 3 ending)BioShockLastofUsWorldofWarcraft Final Fantasy and you've just given us the same thing we've seen for the past 12 titles. We're no longer interested in that gameplay. We want more."
Over three iterations we have seen Square attempt to address the market need in producing a relevant Final Fantasy that held up to its previous merits while demonstrating its capacity to provide the gameplay that the new era of gamers demand.
Did they succeed? I would say, yes. While still far from perfect, LR:FF13 is the best presentation of a RPG and hack-n-slash hybrid. I can no longer smash X to my heart's content and bowl over enemies. I have to pay attention to their actions and time my blocks appropriately. Also, the famed Libra ability actually has a use and I must learn to rely on its information to appropriately set up my schemata set for the enemy.
BUT BUYER BEWARE!! This is not your typical Final Fantasy, but there is still enough there to warrant the Final Fantasy title. The visuals are outstanding, the sound is on par with previous titles and the gameplay is FUN! The storyline, however, was a bit meh in my opinion but three outta four ain't bad.
For those who expect or long for the nostalgic days of Final Fantasy and its roots in the archetypal JRPG, I pity you as you will not find it here nor do I expect you to find it in any forthcoming Final Fantasy title. But should you? Not unless you want your beloved series to fade into oblivion because Square was unwilling to adapt to changing market conditions.
This Final Fantasy is new and being new it is going to shock those of us used to the day of yore. But remember change isn't inherently a bad thing. Change means growth and potential for moving towards something better. I personally think Square is on the right track and I'm excited to see what is coming down the chute for upcoming titles. We're on the precipice of a new Final Fantasy and its one I think will be for the better. Keep in mind though that LR:FF13 is not the end result but merely a prototype for a new era in Final Fantasy.
So how does it all come together?
Graphical Presentation: Great - 8 out of 10
Though LR:FF13 still utilizes the same engine from the first game, the environmental and character depiction are still outstanding. There is unfortunately some degradation at certain times which keeps a perfect 10 out of reach, but it's not so noticeable that it will take away from the awe inspiring environments and carefully constructed character models.
Sound: Amazing - 9 out of 10
Throughout the whole game the sound is crisp and clear. The background music changes appropriately and reflects the mood of the given situation. My only criticism is that for a story revolving around the end of the world, the soundtrack was not quite as epic and foreboding as I would have personally liked to hear.
Battle System: Amazing - 9 out of 10
It is in this point that I believe the most contrary opinions will exist. This new battle system requires forethought, action management and precise input for success. Now that may sound like a mouthful, but in reality it's not all that complicated. The new system still uses the ATB system for action input, however it is much more fluidized to simulate actual combat.
The enemies in LR:FF13 are limited in number but each presents a new set of attacks and the timing on these attacks are vastly different from each other. What does this translate to? Battles that require a great deal of focus in order to time blocks and attacks correctly. This for me was a great deal of fun and reminded me of Legend of Dragoon.
Battle System Protips:
The first thing you must realize is that each action has a priority value given to it and an action with a higher priority will cancel an action with a lower priority. Block/Evade and Item Usage have the highest priority and will cancel other actions with the exception of a finale. So what does this mean? If you're in the middle of an attack string and you see the enemy gearing up for an attack you can wait until the enemy's attack is just about to land and block cancel your attack string to minimize the damage. This is crucial and is what the developers wanted us to learn as players, DEFENSE IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF LR:FF13.
The second thing you must learn to be successful is that you must treat each schemata as a party member. So in previous Final Fantasy titles you normally have your magic damage dealer, your physical damage dealer and your tank, same thing applies here.
The third thing you must learn is that ATB is a valuable resource that must be managed not consumed without regard. You will be swapping schematas at a feverish pace and this is intended. If you stick to a single schemata for too long, you will drain that "party member's" ability to contribute the battle, think of hit and run strategies - a couple strikes from this schemata and then switch out to the next.
The fourth thing to be successful is to understand that Libra is your friend. YES, THE LIBRA THAT YOU'VE NEVER USED IN THE PAST IS NOW YOUR GREATEST FRIEND ON THE BATTLEFIELD. USE IT OFTEN!! Once a battle begins, pull up the Libra menu to analyze your opponent to determine their weakness and stagger attributes because if you're not staggering opponents on a regular basis you're not going to last very long.
The fifth point is more about gameplay but has application to the battle system and that is to save often. You have unlimited save points, use them often. Say a monster spawns that you haven't encountered before, pause and save, then go whack it with your sword. Why? Because if it turns out your current schemata set wasn't appropriate for that battle, you can reload your last save make the changes necessary and then go bash in that monster's head with newfound clarity. Also, the developers were rather practical with monster design and difficulty. If it appears to be a small monster, it's probably pretty weak. If it fills up the screen then its going to be a rough day and you need to prepare.
Gameplay: Good - 7 out of 10
Probably the biggest point of contention for this whole game is the countdown timer to oblivion and how it prevents players from exploring the world to their heart's content. However, the theme of this game is the end of the world. You can't really lollygag around when the end of the world is coming and so I felt that the countdown to oblivion fit the theme of the game perfectly. For the most part LR:FF13 shows itself as a traditional MMORPG in its quest and storyline. Canvas of Prayers and Side quests are of the order of go find this for me or go kill this many things for me. The fetching quests can get a bit repetitive, but the kill quests I found to be no problem at all because the farming of monsters to maintain my EP levels normally gave me the number of kills necessary to complete the quests relatively quickly.
Gameplay Protips:
If you have one point of EP available and you're not in Chronostasis then you're doing it wrong.
Every one of the four main zone has a large enemy - in some cases two - that will yield 2 EP points upon death. Every zone has respawning chaos zones that will provide at least 1 EP on the most pathetic of enemies. Use these enemies and zones to farm your EP to full and then chronostasis away to complete your normal quests and adventures. With a little practice you will be able to defeat these large enemies quickly and efficiently - aka without taking huge damage requiring you to use 2 EP for Curaga - even the dreaded Chocobo and Earth Eaters can be defeated with taking little to no damage.
LR:FF13 in game map has the ability to set drop pins with customized notes. I strongly recommend using these on a frequent basis and reminding yourself to view these notes. You will encounter many a quest that require you to talk to a specific person at a specific time or time range or you may have to come back to that person after a set amount of time has passed. Use these notes as reminders and planners for your day's activities. It will save you worlds of time in the long run.
Storyline and Character Development: Poor - 3 out of 10
As you may have seen from other reviews, Lightning aka Claire Farron is about as emotional as a frying pan. Yes, the writers have drummed up a reason for Claire's lack of facial expressions and monotone voice but it never is delivered in such a way that is believable or even authentic. Every performance seems forced. Rather than seeing a stoic character with emotional baggage you find yourself viewing her as merely a mannequin - but alas there is a theory on that as well.
The second complaint I have is that for an end of the world theme, the remaining population - who is well aware of the end of times - is very complacent and their motivation for having Lightning complete certain tasks are almost baffling considering the ominous undertones of the game. All in all it just doesn't mesh well together.
Lastly, if this truly is the end of the world why aren't my friends around? Throughout this game Lightning is aware of the end of times, her friends from previous FF13 titles are aware of the end of times, so why is Lightning doing this alone? It would seem logical if not assumed that a "band of brothers" who had underwent such tribulations experienced in the first FF13 would rally together in the face of the end of the world for one last Huzzah!! Even if we take the writer's point that Lightning is the only one capable of stopping the end of the world, wouldn't her friends at least want to be around her for moral support? Nope. You're on your own.
Wrap Up: Good - 7 out of 10
All in all, the FF13 trilogy was not a bad series. It had it's rough patches, but considering what Square was trying to accomplish, I think they responded accordingly with each iteration. Lightning Returns was the best of that trilogy and shows great promise for what can be expected from future FF titles in terms of gameplay. Yes, the storyline and characters of FF13 were forgettable at best, but I can overlook that flaw in the grand scheme of things. I strongly believe that once Square finds it's step in this new expression of gameplay, the stories and characters that we expect from Final Fantasy will return.
I personally recommend this title even if you have had no experience with the previous two FF13. The game does a good enough job to fill in the gaps that Lightning Returns can be a stand alone title.