Final Fantasy or Finally Failed

Final Fantasy has been a very long running and successful series for Square Enix, but has it finally lost its spark with its newest installment of Final Fantasy 13?

One thing that Square Enix has always done well in its games is provide us with the most stunning and magical cut scenes, so one would think that with all the iterations thus far that we're bound for a major let down? But nope, that doesn't happen in this installment either. These cinematics completely draw you in to the game and help you feel like part of the universe, immersed in all the wonder and splendor that the developers have created. The end cinematic is especially powerful, bringing about the conclusion to the game with pure grace.



The amazing cinematics are supported by a gripping and intriguing storyline, which leaves you wondering what will come next, and where you will be taken! The characters themselves all have back stories, which information about is trickled slowly to you throughout the game, adding to the element of intrigue and making you feel closer to the characters, as you learn their sins.

Despite the great work that has been done on creating a gripping storyline the game has a very linear path and there is very little that you can do apart from follow the main story. The one exception to this is the Cieth stone missions, but once you have exhausted these numerous missions there is nothing more to do than progress further into the game until the end which some might find disappointing.



Another element of the game that is very limiting is the battle system. In FF13 they have tried to make the system more real-time by allowing you to only play as one character, although you can alternate which character you play as so you dont have to play as the same person throughout the whole game. This system of controlling one character means that the battle is somewhat faster than before and if you dont watch whats going on or attack then your teammates and the enemies will continue, and not wait for you to make your move. Anyway back to the point at hand, the battle system is immensely repetitive and you will probably find that most of the time you are simply jamming auto-attack to sort out the more common battles, with a bit more thought needed to take out bosses. One thing that is great about the battle system is the Eidolons which are the summons that each player acquires throughout the game, which adds an exciting element to the battles and are a very helpful tool for turning the tide.

The leveling up system, the Crystarium, is also constrictive in the fact that you cannot change the classes that each player can be until about halfway through the game, by which point the characters are far too developed within the 3 classes that they have access to at the start, meaning that you always have to have the same characters in the same roles each play through.

Overall I loved Final Fantasy 13 game play, overlooking the linearity and repetitiveness of the game play and battle system that is, the story really drew me in completely and I played continuously for as long as I could each day. It gripped me, intrigued me and the ending cinematic blew me away, as I watched the characters I had come to know over the course of my 42 hours of game play finish the story for me in a heroic manner.

Nano's Game Rating 8.5/10