Slow Start, Cheap Bosses, and Cheesy dialogue, but the Story and Gameplay are flawless just like the Graphics.
Pros:
-Japanese Imagination
-Stunning Visuals
-Artistic Game
-Beautiful Female Characters (Love me some Fang)
-Lovable Characters (after midway point of game)
-Enjoyable/Satisfying Story
-Outstanding Character Development
-Refreshing Gameplay (Challenging as well)
-Long a** game
-It's an experience, not just a game
Cons:
-Slow game before Chap. 5/6 (mixed bag for me)
-Most Characters are annoying before Chap. 5/6
-Gameplay is pretty limited before Chap. 5
-Linear RPG (Follow the line)
-Non stop Combat with mindless weird creatures (fun though)
-Talk about Cheesy Dialogue
-Later Chapter bosses (difficult)
-Chapter 11 grind fest
This is my first Final Fantasy game, so this review is written by a new comer (of course), but also from a gamer who is not in love with one genre. I grew up when most of the games that made Final Fantasy legend arrived, but I never played one though I found their cutscenes to be artistic. Japanese have a sense for being over the top, but that over the top artistic take on life really gives their work characdter. This game is no different. Bayonetta was my first full taste of Japanese gaming and I can say that game had character. This is my second full taste and I can say this was an experience, so on to my reivew.
When I first started playing this game, I honestly hated it...mainly because of the presentation of the story and the gameplay. Every character except Lightning bothered me. Snow and his gang of thugs (lol) were downright corny cliches. Snow wears a bandana, gloves, boots, and a trench coat...Hilarious. His 'crew' (lol) also dressed in weird outfits especially that cat with the red hair who looked like someone from Jersey Shore. Hope was b*tch, Zach sounded like he was voiced by a Japanese man though his character was black, and Vanille struck me as an odd case. Was she a kid, teenager, or young minded adult (oh Japanese culture). At first, Vanille weird voice hit a nerve with me, but to tell you the truth, her innocence was the reason I kept playing through the game and thank god I did because everything worked out for the best. The thing is, the first 5 or 6 chapters were nothing, but a tutorial with too much back story. It all moved so slow and nothing made since to me. What were Ceith, Fal' Cie, L'Cie, etc. Then the gameplay was foreign too me. Remember, I have never played a FF game before so having third person control over my character/characters is new to me, especially when you take into account this game is in real time.. So as I was learning the controls, I was always treated to beautiful cutscenes with what a time felt like either out of place or terrible music, terrible dialogoue, and over the top acting. My animosity towards the games atmosphere was a result of different taste therefore I really wasn't to interested with the games Japanese approach. Everything was so foreign to me, but everything felt so authentic and perfect that I couldn't stop playing. Eventually, I would be able to appreciate the games design.
See the thing is I am a sucker for stories and this game tells a grand story with it's own flair. This game reminds me of anime and I am one of those people that feel like only nerds watch anime. It's not my type of thing as everything seems happy all the time. It's weird to me...just my preference. But I began to actually start to liking the games atmosphere, artistic design, and voice acting. My hate towards the game began to subside and Vanille was the turning point for me. She was cute, innocent, and I began to love the purpose of her character. Many people seem to hate this character, but without her...this game is missing a big piece. The piece that got me interested. Once the story began to pick up and my actions had meaning, FF XIII became enjoyable, but before Chapter 5 or 6...I wasn't into the gameplay.
Everything gameplay related was pretty limited early on in the game. After Chapter 10, all of the six characters in the game are available for your choosing. 3 to a battle team and you do the rest of the strategy set up which opens up the true potential of this games gameplay. I have never commanded players to do actions, I just did them...like GOW. I didn't enjoy just pressing 'auto battle' all the time. This was all I did for the first 5-6 chapters...no real strategy...just click auto battle and the game did everything for me. It's like if I was playing basketball and I couldn't find a seam in the defense, I would just press 'auto battle' and then I would automically find a way through the defense for an easy lay up. Pretty boring, but the story kept me going. Anyway I would manually choose the minimal attacks at my hand, but it all was pretty stale until paradigms came into the picture, but it was still early in the game so enemies were still easy and all paradigm sets up were not avaiable yet. Then I was able to start leveling up my character, but couldn't proceed because either I didn't have enought CP or new levels for roles were not yet available. Everything was pretty limited until I actually fought a real enemy and realized how intense this RPG could be. This type of challenge didn't appear until Chapter 5 or 6, I don't remember, but when it did...I began to love this type of gameplay. Managing paradigms was essential to surviving and ultimately, the gameplay became very satisfying. But all this came at the expense of some pretty pointless early level gaemplay. As abilities were unlocked...fights didn't seem so one sided anymore. And because of this, the game made the enemies stronger of course and this is where the challenge comes in and that is always fun. After this, their was a dramatic shift in the gameplay. It went from boring, to exciting strategic brillance. Kudos
As far as characters went after Chapter 5, Zach became the most relatable, Hope was hope, Lightning became a great protangonist, Vanille was downright gorgeous and pleasure to listen too, and Snow became likeable after Chapter 7. Before chp. 7, Snow was the most irritating character...always wanting to be the hero just to be the hero. But I think what trully stole the show for me at more than once was two female charcters by the name of Serah and Fang. Oddly, Serah (just like Vanille) reminded me of little girls though they were suppose to be adults, but for some reason Serah was just so damn beautiful. I know this is just a game and I do like real life girls (got a fine girlfriend right here asleep in the bed right next to me...4 years and running), but she was beautiful, but nothing tops Fang. I always saw her in ads and thought she was pretty, but while actually playing the game...I became mezmerized by her...not addicted, but I thought she was beautiful. My girlfriend though the same thing then told me to stop falling in love a fake girls...LMAO. Anyway, once the story started to pick up and I begin to see the true sides/points of certain characters, everyting fell into a beatiful place and makes sense. I began to understand what Pulse, Coccoon, Ceith, L'Cie, Fal Cie, etc. were.
The story isn't original by any means, but the presentation and complexity of it gave it character as well as the Japanese anime flavor. The story is what kept me going for the first 4-5 chapters because honestly I just wanted how it ended, but this is no quick game to play so I had to wait, but luckily I did...because the gameplay is more engaging than most games I have played. Too bad the game took so long to actually get good because by that point, I was already 10 hrs in. Alot of that time was spent hating the gameplay, while enjoying the cutscnese then eventually becoming mildy entertained by the gameplay and widely interested in the story. Talk about terrible pacing, but it all pays of in the end in a big way. The story has twist and turns at every angle, you are never in one location, and the fantasy aspect of it is brillant. None of it is familiar, yet you can relate it easily to problem here in our world.
After, Chapter 7 the game really hit home for me. The story was great and action became meaningful and satisfying. Everyones roles expanded, more moves become available, summons become available, and challenging gameplay becomes apparent when it matter the most. Everything after this point started to blend together so well, but too bad you have to wait so long and after Chapter 10...the intensity and strategy is taken to higher levels creating satisfying/fun strategic gamplay. Oddly though, as the game progresses bosses become noticably harder and I died many times just figuring out what I shoud do. Chapter 11 may be my least favorite Chapter as I didn't care for the grind fest. RPG's like this love this leveling up bullsh*t and this is something I really hate about RPG's. FF fans love chp. 11, but I hated it as I just wanted to move along with the story. So much time wasted because I needed to level up...weak.
This game thrives at telling a story and not solely basing its narrative on just action, though that is all you do in the game...fight. Now I began to like RPG's after I played Fallout 3...a WRPG as nerds like to say. Then I tried Demon's Souls...Great game. So I said...let me try FFXIII and this is no RPG. This is an action/adventure game and a very long one at that. All you do in this game is fight, save...fight, upgrade...cutscene...fight...cutscene and so on. The gameplay only consist of fighting. When you are exploring, you don't even have to press a button to jump...the game does it for you just like the 'auto battle' command wins battles for you. In the beginning...I wasn't sure what the hell I was doing and why I was doing it, but everything started to make since after Chapter 5/6. Even though this game is linear...it didn't ruin the pace at all for me. I mean if a game can be linear and this long, why do you need towns to make the game last forever. Red Dead Redemption had towns and side missions and I beat that game quicker than this game. FF fanboys are mad there are no towns, but you know what...real life is full of towns, why don't you guys go explore that and stop doing it in the virtual world. I know this is why people are thumbing down this review...because I love the game for what it is, not because it satisfies the FF fanboys needs. But the option to explore would be nice, not just in a few Chapters. Pretty much half the game can be considered garbage, while the other half can be consdiered great...not a masterpiece, but great. If the beginning wasn't so crappy for me, I would have given this game a higher rating, but I have to rate it as a whole and that is why I gave it a 8.7, but since you can't on here I will just bump it down to a 8.5.
In a world where every game seems to be a FPS or TPS, this game was a breath of fresh air. Didn't pick up Mafia because the gameplay is based on shooting, tired of multiplayer games because all you do is shoot people. I have grown tired of shooters, though the occassional brillance of Rockstar and other triple AAA titles like Uncharted 2, Killzone 2, (any PS3 exclusive that's a quality shooter) keeps that genre fresh, but all in all... FF like GOW III, Demon Souls, Batman Arkham Asylum, Heavy Rain, etc. have given me hope. They offer single player expereinces that don't focus on trigger play. Final Fantasy may be the most unique game I have played this year based on it's artistic approach. I have never played a game liike this besides Bayonetta. GOWIII is the most enjoyable game gameplay wise this year, but that was expected. FFXIII shockingly blew me up then away. I went from upset to in love.
FFXIII is a great game. Fanboys hate the new look and I would probably be to if I grew up playing FF games from which I hear are completely different. I would be mad too if Metal Gear Solid became a action game (oh wait, Rising with Raiden as the lead...uhhh). Anyway, if your a gamer who is looking for something new and different. This is your game. If you like a good story with enjoyable gameplay...then this game is for you. If you want to buy a single player game that's worth the asking price...this is your game because this is a long game. Though the game was pretty boring in the beginning, the length of the game that was enjoyable was actually longer than most single player games. It was longer than GOWIII and Uncharted 2, though it was not as great as those titles. Let's just say, it's enjoyable single player portion/time trumphed alot of games I have played this year like Transformers War for Cybertron.
All in All...this is one damn fine game. FFXII has beautiful visuals, no sign of glitches, great character development, brillant emotional story, and fantastic strategic gameplay. Sounds like a solid package if you ask me. I would rate it higher, but that slow start really hurt it. Besides that, I enjoyed the hell out of this game.