Final Fantasy XIII Impressions Part 1

Final Fantasy XIII was launched on the December 17, 2009 and many fans have bought their copy. A handful of them have completed the game by now with the endless grinding and rushing the game. I have yet to complete the game due to work but  I am 15-16+  hours in the game right now in the city of Palumpolum and honestly I am loving the game despite the gameplay being linear so far.

the disc cover, manual and extras

Disc Package

I didn’t buy the R2 version of the game which comes with a Final Fantasy XIV beta key, got the R3 version which comes with the standard game disc and also a free Little Big Planet Premium XMB theme promotion code. Despite the region code differences, both are in Japanese. The R3 came with a extra piece of paper that translates some of the key controls and gameplay elements in Chinese.

BREAK MODE!

little drossel was engrossed with the game that it returns me a “fail to respond ” error

Story Summary

In Final Fantasy XIII, players will set on a journey through the world of Cocoon and the outerworld of Grand Pulse, encountering and fighting alongside fellow allies. The world revolves around powerful mechanical beings of godlike power created from crystals known as Fal’Cie and people marked by the Fal’Cie with a purpose are known as the l’Cie. They are entrusted with a mission not said to them directly. Failure to accomplish the purpose given to them will turn them to Cie Corpses.

What is the true purpose and motives of the Fal’Cie ..it is up to you, the player to find out.

Our main characters were tasked with the powers of l’Cie, some against their will given with the task to bring down Cocoon.

Opening Impressions (3-6 hours)

The first 5 hours of FF XIII was very exciting with lots of exciting cutscenes, CG cinematics and smooth transition of boss battles. Tutorials are given to guide the player on the new gameplay elements in FF XIII such as how to engage the enemy into break mode, how the battles work, etc. It is helluva exciting as various perspectives of our lead characters come into play and the eventual meeting in Cocoon.

Chapter Impressions (6-16 hours)

The eventual meeting, the escape, the battles are almost exciting as it looks and the gameplay soundtracks work their magic to keep the player going. That’s when this happen … Picture how lead characters try to escape from the Sanctum’s purge and you get kind of a linear map. yes, it is intentional that the first part of the gameplay exploration is very linear until your character reaches the world below.

Perhaps, the linear gameplay isn’t that welcomed by some players but I am still ok with it so far.

Gameplay

OPTIMA CHANGE!

a boss battle (minor spoilers begin after the battle ends)

Battle Impressions

A lot of things have changed in Final Fantasy XIII as compared to the previous FFs. You cant control your party members in battle, they do the job for you, however, you can designate roles by doing Optima Change (e.g. healer, defender, etc)

Multiple commands can be stacked in the familar ATB bar and the character you control will execute them. Successful chain of attacks will eventually make the enemy go into “break mode” which of course, means you can deal more damage and the air combos you see in the demo video.

PS: enemy suffers from fall damage if they got launched into the air

Battles are unlike FF XII which is real time interaction. In FF XIII, touching the enemy will have a transition of your character in a rather a short flash to a new battle screen.

opening prologue video

Music, Voice Acting and Characters

One word to describe this: AWESOME

I have to say the Japanese seiyuu’s emotions in the characters are really so full of feelings. Sazh was funny, Vanille as lively, Lightning is kinda brooding, Snow is hyperactive and Hope is a emo kid. Yes, I am not wrong there, play the game and you will know why

I have uploaded a short video here with my iPhone, a rough idea of the world around the character and also the music track that’s playing behind.

Things I Wish Was included in FF XIII

The Crystatrium system is similar to the sphere board in FF X where you move along  a board to strenghten your characters. There is no level up or whatsoever for your characters. However, the crystarium system is linear as well in my opinion

Items are kinda rare in FF XIII

While Eidolon summons are very closely related to the story and each character has one unique eidolon, I wish you are able to control mulitple eidolons ;(

Final Fantasy XIII will be out for the states and europe on March 9 2010. The theme song for the english counterpart is by Leona Lewis. Check out our post here with a comparison between the Japanese and English songs of FF XIII. Will you be getting a English copy ?

Ok…now back to the world of Cocoon. Will get a part 2 impression after I complete the game :P