One step forward, one step back
I have mixed opinions about Final Fantasy XIII simply because it is a departure from previous games in the series. Unlike previous FFs, XIII focuses on the battle system and nearly eliminates the freedom of a open-world map. As a friend of mine harshly described it, XIII is the world's most beautiful hallway simulator: each world/chapter consists of traveling from point A to point B, with a mix of battles, cut scenes and NPCs to break the tedium.
The new battle system is a mix between FFXII's and Kingdom Heart's battle systems. The player is only able to control one character that is designated by whichever chapter or scenario the game is in. The Paradigm system, the meat and bones of the game, allows the player to assign roles to each character, ranging from offensive roles (attackers), defensive (curing) and strategic (status ailments). The player is able to switch Paradigm combos on the fly, and most battles require the Paradigm be change in order to adjust to the flow of battle (concentrate on curing when party is weak, offensive when the enemy is weak, etc.)
Similar to FFX and XII, the level up system is determined by points acquired during battle, which can then be used to fill up a giant grid of skills and power-ups. This is the only incentive to fight 1200 wolves, insects and blobs, which the developers lazily use in most levels by only changing their color.
One of the most noticeable battle changes is the Stagger bar, which rewards the player for correct Paradigm use and penalizes them for incorrect use. Successful attacks raise the Stagger bar and allow subsequent attacks to cause more damage. Poorly planned attacks will not raise the bar and drag the battle on. Effectively using Paradigms and raising the Stagger is key to every boss fight.
Straying from FF tradition, I found, was the option to retry battles. No longer will you cry when you lose a battle and realize you forgot to save your file. The retry option allows you to figure out a winning strategy via trial and error, but it takes away from the pressure of defeating bosses and trying to acquire summons. But if you play FXIII like I do, you will love the restart option.
Though XIII differs in its battle system and linearity, one thing hasn't changed: story telling. The beautiful cut-scenes are so painstakingly rendered and perfected that Pixar would be jealous. I found the story to be a bit convoluted, as Square attempts again to create alien languages/races that suffer disasters that represent our inevitable apocalypse. There are the usual FF cliches: a moody main character, a ditzy girl that eventually holds a greater importance in the universe, a gruff, take no prisoners pugilist that happens to be very sensitive and emotional... all of them join up to save the world from a evil corporation/government. But the story is much more personal and interesting compared to XII, the oddball of the series, but cannot match X's story.
Overall, it's good to see FF constantly improve its battle system, but unfortunately its at the expense of taking some of the control away from the player. The lack of an open, explorable world takes a huge hit from the series and almost makes the game feel incomplete (as if the developers were content with just the battle system.) With FFXIV already confirmed as a MMORPG, we may not see a next-gen, open-world FF for quite some time. In the mean time, FFXIII is a worthy time-killer.
PS3 vs. 360: PS3 uses one disc, 360 uses 3. Nuff' saidRead full review
