Final Fantasy XIII - My Thoughts on Square Enix's Latest Epic RPG

We waited years for the release of this game. It's the very first Final Fantasy for the current console generation. The very first Final Fantasy in high-definition. The very first Final Fantasy with a kickass FEMALE lead! At last, nearly a month ago, we got our hands on the very latest installment of the long-running Japanese RPG series.

Needless to say, if you haven't already bought the game, please opt for the PS3 version if you have both consoles! The Xbox 360 version, which comes on three DVDs as opposed to the PS3's one blu-ray disc, has comparable in-game graphics, but the cutscenes look absolutely terrible. They must have compressed the video down to squeeze the game on three discs, and it shows. In contrast, I could hardly tell the difference between a CG cutscene and a cutscene rendered in-game on my PS3.

So, when you first start up the game, you can't help but be blown away by the beauty of it. It's one of the best-looking video games out there. The in-game graphics look better than many of the CG-animated films that get popped out of Hollywood these days. The characters are very well designed, so that while they still look a little anime-esque, they don't fall into that uncanny valley of trying to look like real people but just not quite cutting it. And yet, as you play, you don't think of them as cartoons, at least from a visual standpoint.

One complaint I've heard a lot from various game critics is about the acting. At first, I couldn't stand Vanille, either. She's the pinkish-haired girl with the annoyingly femme voice who can't decide if she's American or Australian because her accent switches back and forth all the time. She was simply cringeworthy at the beginning. Later on, though, you'll find out that she acted so strange for a reason, and the actress must have gotten better at doing the accent because after the first half of the game she's a little more consistent.

Vanille aside, by far the best acting is delivered by Lightning, our tough leading lady, and Sazh, the middle-aged black man with a baby chocobo (for the uninformed, chocobos are large yellow birds people ride on in the Final Fantasy universes) who lives in his afro. Lightning is somewhat hard to like at first. She gets far too easily annoyed and is often a little too brooding and emo for my tastes, though like Vanille, she improves as her character develops. Sazh, while based on my first description might make him seem like an unfortunate racial stereotype, is actually my favorite. He's by far the most likable of the protagonists, though I really can't say much more about why I like him without giving away some spoilers. Just know that Sazh is awesome! Snow, the meatheaded fiancee of Lightning's sister Serah, is often obnoxious but he's very earnest. His love for Serah runs incredibly deep, and even if he doesn't always think first, his actions are always a sincere attempt to help her. Hope, the tween whose mother dies at the beginning after a battle with the Sanctum turns bad, is understandably emotional and distraught, and yet most of the time you wish he'd just be quiet. He's far and away the least likable, but later on in the game he's very useful in battle as a Ravager. Last to join your party is Fang, a tall, mysterious woman with a thick Australian accent. You don't get her until around 10-12 hours in, so to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that she's a good character though not all that memorable.

Alright, so, the graphics are amazing and the characters are pretty good (though at times obnoxious). Story? Well, the story is very confusing in the beginning because you are thrust right into this unfamiliar world. You start off on this world called Cocoon, which is powered by these god-like creatures called fal'Cie. After a fal'Cie from the lower world called Pulse is discovered, Cocoon's government, the Sanctum, orders everyone who came in contact with it to be "Purged". The game starts off on a Purge train headed for Pulse, the hellish world below.

Of course, much of this isn't really explained, and many gamers felt alienated by this approach to storytelling. Personally, though, I didn't mind it. These characters have no reason to sit down and explain everything to us, and as the game progresses you learn through context. Many films and novels do this: they start off in the midst of an unusual place and the audience learns about this new world through the actions and speech of its characters. For those gamers who really don't want to think that hard, the game gives you a handy feature called the Datalog, which essentially will explain everything you need to know about Cocoon, Pulse, and fal'Cie to make your way through everything.

Gameplay-wise, I found this Final Fantasy to be wonderfully fast-paced. Many fans of the old games weren't too keen on the new battle system, which puts you in control of just one character rather than three, and the only way to control your other two party members is through the Paradigm system. The Paradigms assign each party member to one of six roles: Commando (physical melee attacks), Ravager (black mage, uses offensive elemental magic like Fire, Water, etc.), Synergist (uses defensive magic like Faith, Haste, Shell, etc.), Saboteur (hinders enemies with spells that weaken their defense or magic), Sentinel (sits back and takes damage from the enemy to protect other party members), and Medic (white mage, heals your party). It's very different from the more traditional turn-based systems we've seen in the past, but I find it to be a refreshing change. Battles move much more quickly this way, making the game feel faster than it actually is.

Speaking of game length, if you hadn't already guessed by the fact that it comes on three DVDs for the Xbox 360, it's very long. You can probably finish it in 45 hours if you skip the side quests later in the game. I finished it in just under 60, and I only did about a third of the later optional quests. One thing that's bothered me about a number of reviews from critics I normally respect is that they simply didn't give the game a chance. They should have known going into it that it would be long, and to give up and call the game awful after only 12 hours isn't fair. Yes, the beginning of the game does feel a bit like running down a hallway, but after about 15 hours it gets much, MUCH better.

So, to come to some sort of conclusion after rambling for so long, I can safely say that Final Fantasy XIII is an excellent game. Is it the best of the series? No, not quite (I still like FFX the best, though I will admit I haven't played VII!), but it's still another excellent game by Square Enix. Its story is strange at first, though as it progresses it keeps getting better. The gameplay is very different and somewhat confusing in the beginning, and the lack of freedom early on is a little frustrating. The characters are mostly very good, though there are a few I could have lived without (Snow and Hope, to be precise, and Vanille at the beginning). Still, overall I enjoyed the experience, and let me reiterate that it is an experience! These are honestly the most stunning graphics I've seen from a video game, so much so that you really do feel like a part of these colorful worlds (though again, it's really best on an HDTV with the PS3). If you like Final Fantasy, or Japanese-style RPGs in general, this is certainly a must-buy. The beginning is a little slow gameplay-wise, but the fast-paced story makes up for it.

And for the lazy reviewers out there: give it another chance! Once you get past the beginning, the story and gameplay improve dramatically.