Final Fantasy XIII - Review

[Elleon]

Gameplay:
Repetitious with invisible walls and a very directed course through the game, the whole of the overall gameplay is good, but could have been so much more with a bit of a sandbox approach. It’s wash, rinse and repeat gaming.

~ Gamezone.com

Graphics:
The bar for console gaming is not merely elevated, it is blown into the stratosphere. There are some prototypical effects, but the environments, the characters and the cut scenes are amazing.

~ Gamezone.com

Sound:
Some of the sound bites are well done, some are silly and predictable and the game seems to ebb and flow from solid to silly. The musical score is nice, but very repetitious.

~ Gamezone.com

Difficulty:

Easy-Moderate

Aside from boss battles and an occasional encounter with a ridicuously high level mob comming out of nowhere, everthing else is fairly easy to win, and considering there are no consequences for losing, it's almost entirely irrelvant to have a difficulty level.

Concept:
Graphically stunning with a multi-layered story, FFXIII relies on some tried-and-true combat models. The overall experience is way too linear.

~ Gamezone.com

Great emphasis on the overall experience being way too linear.

Overall:
Final Fantasy XIII is a game that impresses easily – merely looking at this game will have eyes popping and jaws dropping. However, get beyond that and there is a very linear game with many prototypical J-RPG elements in place. While there is some latitude for how battles are fought, for the most part, the game holds the player’s hand and escorts them through this fantastical land that is part fantasy and part sci-fi.

~ Gamezone.com

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I left the review up to gamezone because that those are my generally feelings towards it and simply put, they review it a lot better.

Veterans won't find it amazing, but newcommers will most definentally consider it appealing.

My final score would be 8/10, but with great dissapointment.

[Wrathek]

see, you give it an 8/10, but you sounded like you were calling it a 3 and i was like wow, this guy.

That review makes it sound pretty damned good to me. I don't get the point of calling the score repetitious, since a game gets songs in your head by playing the same or samey songs throughout, its called a theme for a reason lol. And having "many prototypical J-RPG elements in place" tickles my fancy very well. I'm not sure why you think a veteran wouldn't find it amazing, because I'm a fan of jrpgs in every since of the word. Hell, i love the dragon quest series as well, for its constant nature of being that good ol' turn based dungeon crawler still as it always was.

[Elleon]

see, you give it an 8/10, but you sounded like you were calling it a 3 and i was like wow, this guy.

That review makes it sound pretty damned good to me. I don't get the point of calling the score repetitious, since a game gets songs in your head by playing the same or samey songs throughout, its called a theme for a reason lol. And having "many prototypical J-RPG elements in place" tickles my fancy very well. I'm not sure why you think a veteran wouldn't find it amazing, because I'm a fan of jrpgs in every since of the word. Hell, i love the dragon quest series as well, for its constant nature of being that good ol' turn based dungeon crawler still as it always was.

Considering today's standards of games and the appeal to newer generations, yes, it most likely is very appealing. I may just be caught up on the turn based strategy myself, not entirely comfortable with the fast paced, almost hack n slash concept RPGs are moving towards.

Calling the score repetitious is probably tied to game itself. For entire chapters i found myself in the same environment, so it was the same song continuously playing in the background, the same for quite a few cut scenes, and the same for a lot of of battles. Of course there is a certain "cue" that signifies an event is taking place and what kind specifically, but considering out progressive this title is, it is expected repetition of that nature wouldn't be an issue.

The elements are always nice when you want to feel a bit nostalgic, but after 20 years, you expect a bit more change would occur. I think that is the problem they are speaking of, the lack of variety. Trademark aspects are nice, but completely revolutionizing the genre has been in anticipation for some years.

Eh, that is what I have taken away from it anyways.

[Wrathek]

I don't expect them to change that much. Like I said FFXII was probably too much change. they've made record sales on a series not because they bring new things to the table all the time, but because they have a very good formula that works.

It's the exact same thing with zelda, except for zelda actually doesn't change at all. In fact, the titles in the zelda series that I consider boring are ones that they changed too much with. All I ask from the zelda series is that they stop messsing with things and just make a gigantic, good game again like ocarina of time. The last game was good, but it wasn't long enough for my tastes.

I can definitely see what you're saying and you have a very valid point. i dislike alot of the forms of full action rpgs, but i make exception to KH and its ilk (which is why i agree with looking forward to vs. XIII).