Final Fantasy 13 delivers as it always does, but falls short in some staple things you expect from the series...
Everything you'd expect from an FF game is there: the crazy plot, the diverse but yet still one dimensional characters who overact perfectly into their stereotype, the trials, the tribulations, and of course, the chocobos...
But it wasn't what everyone was expecting, I'm sure. The linear story was a big change from previous FF's and unfortunately, you spend most of the game feeling like you're simply running down a ridiculously beautiful hallway, leading to one single door. The character development was great and the story was the typical "save the world" genre... but you spend most of the time wondering what the hell is going on. Once you think you have the story figured out, they change it and tell you a new piece of information. I'm all for discovering the story as the game goes on, but it got to the point where it became annoying. Trying to explain it in itself can become a challenge and even when you do fully understand it, it lacks the kind of common sense you'd expect from the good vs. evil paradigm.
One of the worst parts about the game was the music. By far this FF has some of the gayest, most ridiculously childish and annoying tracks ever composed. Even a 5 year old would turn to you and say, "that's effing stupid." I'd listen to "Wheels On the Bus" on repeat for 40 hours instead of some of the tracks in this game... the one in particular was one that simply becomes an instrumental as the game goes on (thank God), which starts out with the lyrics of "something over the rainbow" or something like that. I was ready to turn off the game from sheer embarrassment that I'm associating myself with this...
The music wasn't the only part where the game fell short... as always, Square went overboard with the cheesiness of the characters and some of the dialogue is straight out of an after school special. They also overuse the "grunting". By "grunting", I mean every time a character would say "yes" without saying yes, they would just do this little "umph" or grunt. This is common in most Japanese to English games I guess, for some reason they think we won't get the point if the character simply nods, they have to put in the obligatory grunt that becomes annoying to the point of insulting your intelligence... Also, if I hear Snow say "hero" one more time, I'm gonna kill someone.
Despite being visually stunning, I felt the game was seriously shorter than any of its predecessors. I feel like Square concentrated more on the look of the game, rather than expanding the story... I assume it wouldn't be coming out until 2011 if I had gotten the game I wanted at the length I wanted.
The battle system felt dumbed down as well. Only controlling 1 character, but being able to set your roles for your teams was a new twist, but it quickly got old. Switching back and forth from paradigm to paradigm became a race to stay alive rather than strategy.
When the end was near, I found the last boss to be infinitely easier than any of the random mobs I encountered in the game. The last boss is in 3 phases, with little cutscenes in between. But they all were so simplistic and easily defeated, as I was fighting, I kept saying to myself, "This feels like the end, but it can't be. It's too easy."
Overall, this was a fun game to play, but I'll probably never pick it up again. Rent it and keep it for a month. Beat it and be done with it. Disappointing overall, but still fun nonetheless... It's made me seriously question whether or not I'll even give FF14 a glimpse, let alone a chance.