It looks like 13 is an unlucky number for the famed franchise.
THE GOOD
-Stunning visuals
-Paradigms are a nice feature
-Story and gameplay picks up towards the end
THE BAD
-Extremely linear
-A few annoyances with the battle system
-Weak story and characters for most of the first two discs
OVERVIEW
Final Fantasy XIII marks the first time that Square-Enix's beloved series has appeared on a Microsoft platform. The setting for this tale takes place in a world called Gran Pulse. Floating high above the surface is a smaller, artificial world known as Cocoon. Both civilizations have their own demi-gods called Fal'Cie who choose humans to become L'Cie and carry out a specific task called a Focus. If a L'Cie completes their Focus they are turned into crystal and granted eternal life; failure leads to a much more dreadful fate. It should also be noted that there is a long standing hatred between Gran Pulse and Cocoon.
The story in this game begins in Cocoon upon a train deporting humans that have come in contact with something from Gran Pulse. In fear of the unknown, this "Purge" is a way of protecting the denizens of Cocoon by banishing those that have been cursed. Lightning, the main character, forces her way aboard on a mission to save her sister Sarah from this atrocity. Fortunately, for our brave heroine, she doesn't have to tackle this burden by herself and although reluctant at first, she finds aid in a few others that cross her path.
Sadly, the story and dialog oozes with melodramatic cheesiness for most of discs one and two. However, once you pop in the third disc, around the 25th hour mark, the game does a complete 180. At this point our disappointing tale really starts to take shape and actually finishes on a better note. Overall, it's not the same great storytelling that fans are use to, unfortunately.
Out of the six playable characters, Lightning (the stoic warrior), Sazh (the Danny Glover persona) and Fang (the passionate sentinel) stay believable and likable for the entire game. The other three are just plain awful; at least until you reach the third disc when they kind of get a little more tolerable. First on the list is Snow, a meat head with a superhero complex that ends up calling himself "hero" about three hundred times. Next is Hope, a boy who complains about how weak he is all the time; we get it, you suck, now shut up. Finally, we have Vanille. Vanille is a young airhead that would be completely happy if you sliced off her arms and beat her with them.
GAMEPLAY
This Final Fantasy is much different than most of the other games in the series because its extremely linear. Until the third disc, when it becomes somewhat free roaming, your faced with many long and narrow passageways. It's so linear that one may wonder why even bother having to move your character from point A to point B. Simply teleporting your party to the destination would have been just as fun.
The gameplay, much like the story, starts off extremely limited but gradually intensifies over time. It almost feels like you're in one long training session. When things do pick up, the battle system is actually quite exciting, aside from a few annoyances. Fighting in Final Fantasy XIII may seem dynamic and free flowing but it's actually bounded under the active time battle function. Characters on the screen move around but you'll have to wait for the gauge at the bottom of the screen to indicate when you can take action. You have the option to preselect abilities (i.e. attack, magic, etc.) or use the Auto-Battle command. The Auto-Battle feature queues up the best selection of actions for your particular situation and it works well for the most part.
In battle, you only have control over the party leader's actions. The computer willingly steps in to decide the correct actions for your comrades. The AI does a decent job here but it will let you down from time to time. One major annoyance is the fact when the party leader dies, your game is over. This has come to haunt me many times throughout the game and the feeling of losing when you're just about to defeat a boss and he magically slays your leader with the other two members at full health is agonizing. I'm still scratching my head, in anguish, over why this was added to the game. Anyways, moving on.
The Paradigm system is very similar to the class options you've seen in many other RPGs. There are a total of six different paradigms to choose from: Commando, Ravager, Synergist, Saboteur, Medic and Sentinel. The Commando and Ravager utilize physical attacks and magic, respectively, to deal damage and get your enemy to a "staggered" state (meaning that you're damage is magnified for a short period of time). The Synergist and Saboteur inflict helpful and hindering buffs or enchantments. Lastly, the Medic and Sentinel are your defensive stances where one heals the party and the other defends allies from harm. Each character starts off with some points already invested towards certain areas but you'll have the option to freely customize each hero. Before you do battle you can set up each "Paradigm Shifts". Then, while in combat, you can switch classes to suit your situation on the fly via the LB button. All in all, the Paradigms are a fun way to conduct combat in this game.
Almost every Final Fantasy lets you summon majestic beasts to aid you in combat and this game is no different. Eidolons are granted to each of your party members and ideally will help you out in a jam. The cut scenes look cool, but in my opinion they could have left it out altogether. The reason is that they really aren't that powerful and you can only use the Eidolon attached to your party leader. So in essence, you end up using the same one over and over again.
The leveling system or Crystarium is pretty much a rehash of the old Final Fantasy X sphere grid. You'll earn CP after every battle and these points can be used to increase attributes and unlock new abilities. Much like the rest of the game, there is a linear progression for each character and the Paradigm you're upgrading. It is worth noting that each hero has differing Crystariums for the same Paradigm so you may think that you can freely customize your party but this only leads to inefficiency. For example, you can turn Lightning into your main spell caster but she is much more suited to be a hand to hand fighter and won't nearly be as effective, as say Hope would be.
Usually at this point I would start discussing all the side quests and extra goodies an RPG has to offer. Unfortunately, there is only one major mini-game worth noting and that's an enemy hunting experience. If you make it to the third disc a plethora of marked enemies will be available and slaying these beasts will handsomely reward you. This feature is actually a fun one and I recommend spending some time here. Aside from that, you can upgrade your weapons and accessories via the save points and other than that there really isn't anything else you can do.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
Final Fantasy XIII really shines when it comes to the graphical presentation. The visual rendering of the characters, environments and animations are absolutely breathtaking. The stunning in-game and cut scene graphics are some of the best the Xbox 360 has ever seen.
The audio doesn't fair quite as well as the visuals. The music is all over the place. Sometimes it works really well, the main theme and battle soundtracks come to mind, and other times you're left scratching your head wondering how high pitch chanting fits the theme of the area. The voice acting is actually quite good but it might be hard to notice with the sub par dialog.
CONCLUSION
The take home message with Final Fantasy XIII is that you have to wait an absurdly long time for a decent RPG experience; the key word is decent. Why Square-Enix makes you wait this long is beyond me. Until then you have to muck through many long and narrow passageways while listening to a mediocre story unfold. I would really only recommend a rental because unless you have a lot of patience you'll probably dump this game rather quickly. FFXIII was a huge disappointment for the beloved franchise, taking one step forward and about ten steps back. Hopefully, the next installment won't repeat the same mistakes and look back to what worked in the past.