One of the most rewarding experiences you will have. A superb addition to the series.

Final Fantasy XIII Playstation 3

A bit of background on me: I fell in love with the first Final Fantasy back in 1990 when it was released on the NES. I was 9 years old, and the game simply blew my mind. I've played through it at least 30 times subsequently in its various incarnations, and I've played through FFIV at least 20 times. VI was wonderful, and I consider VII and VIII both excellent but perhaps not quite as refined as the previous entries. IX was thoroughly charming, but didn't exactly push the series forward.

Every Final Fantasy game released in the PS2 era was a relative disappointment. X had cornball characters and some serious storyline issues, not to mention a childishly simple battle system. On the other hand, X-2 boasted greatly improved combat but was brought down by a spastic play structure and motifs that would only appeal to adolescent girls. XII started strong and gave me great hope for a revival of the series, but the story became increasingly hard to follow, especially during periods when cut scenes could be several hours apart. The open ended game play of that title was simply not compatible with the linear narrative style that its developers excel at crafting

Enter FFXIII. From the experiences I had with recent titles in the series as well as by the reviews I'd been reading, I was not expecting much. I bought the game out of my sheer loyalty to the early roots of the series.

Throughout the first few hours of my initial playthrough, I did find the linearity troubling. The combat struck me as rather simplistic and the screen seemed a little cluttered. Upon hitting chapter 3 however, those feelings quickly eroded. Here, the game begins presenting you with customization options which allow the battles to become progressively more strategic as time goes on. I quickly found myself adapting to the game play style, which has a much faster pace than previous entries in the series. I heartily disagree with any reviewer who claims that there is no complexity to be found in the game 's battle system--in fact, I seriously doubt that these people even made it to the 3rd chapter. Another interesting thing to note is that, unlike nearly every other rpg, the farther you progress in FFXIII, the more challenging it becomes, which in my book is a tremendous achievement in this genre. This is partially due to a progressively increasing experience cap, which largely eliminates the benefit of grinding through repetitive battles.

The game play here has been streamlined in many ways. The boring and repetitious actions that I have grown accustomed to spending thousands of hours on since the beginning of my rpg days have been largely removed: No more false sense of freedom, which generally does little more than require one to walk back and forth scanning every inch an area; no more ten minutes of backtracking at a fork in the road because you chose the path leading to the next area instead of the treasure chest; no more having to click through 10 screens of sub menus in order to heal after battle; no more having to micromanage the process of exploiting enemy weaknesses and choosing the right buffs and debuffs. Because of the cumbersome and inefficient nature of these tactics, I find it easier in most rpgs to level up a bit and wack everything to death with melee attacks. Here, you play as a general instead of a solider, where the fun lies in pre-battle planning and the issuance of strategic directives throughout each battle. This is a fresh and richly engaging experience for those of us willing to embrace change.

The storyline: I'm hearing a lot of criticism about these characters. What I'd suggest is that those with a problem simply go back to playing American game s.html" target="_blank">game s and stop judging what is completely normal to all forms of Japanese media. These characters, although emotional, are very much human, and the story is actually far better developed and executed than any other Final Fantasy game thus far. Yes, it requires you to make an effort to figure out what is going on in early chapters because of its complex setting and alien terminology--so does almost any cult classic sci fi / fantasy movie (Blade Runner) or book (Dune). For one example of the richness of this story, notice all the subtle nuances of Vanille's reactions to situations in the early chapters. If you are paying attention--and not judging her as a Japanese caricature--you might begin putting together who she is and what her role in the story might be.

Finally, the visuals. People seem to be in agreement that the graphics are good, but it's not just the quality of the graphics engine that makes this game so impressive. It is the incredible attention to detail of every single facet of the game world. This is visual art design at its very best. Serious creative effort was put in to every instance of plant life, creature design, and exotic architecture in this beautifully developed world.

Also be aware that the game is divided into two distinct segments. The first is an interactive story experience, relatively linear in nature yet one of the best of its kind--even rivalling Metal Gear Solid 4's brilliant story. The second segment begins on Gran Pulse where you will be given your much desired freedom and the opportunity to go through a hunt system--far superior to that of FFXII--where your strategic skills will be pushed to their limit. As I spent more than 50 hours going through these missions and mastering their challenges, I never once found myself bored. Even with a fully maxed out party, there are still mighty challenges to be had, requiring you to think your way through every major confrontation. I also adore the fact that the Final Fantasy series has finally figured out how to allow for customizable characters along with each party member having distinctive and unique attributes. Every other game in the series has gone to one extreme or the other.

People can be like an angry mob or like sheep in a flock that all go in the same direction. That is why this game , probably the best in the series, has become so maligned. Japanese story game s.html" target="_blank">game s probably have gone out of style, and fashionability is the only crime that this game commits. If it were released in another time, I'm certain it would have been hailed as a masterpiece. I for one am grateful that this game has contributed to us having a richer variety of game play experiences, and I'm perfectly happy with Final Fantasy XIII precisely as it is. Let's hope that XIII-2 doesn't make too many concessions to the critics out there.

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