Final Fantasy XIII - Playstation 3

I feel like I should tell you what kind of games I prefer. I enjoy all types of games but my favorite has always been and will always be role playing games. that is why I purchased the PS3, for me it just had better role playing games, nothing against the 360, it is also a great game system. Out of the next generation games I have to say that Infamous and Batman AA have to be my 1 and 2. With Assassins Creed 2 placing 3rd. I am telling you my game list so that you can decide if my review of FF 13 is appropriate for you. My favorite FF is 10 and my second is 8. I love a good love story. So here goes my Final Fantasy 13 review I can not hit on every little thing but i will try to be as thorough as possible. The game starts out kind of slow, even to the point where it doesn't matter where you place your CP because you just have enough to get everything. However there is a reason for this. This fighting system is the most advanced fighting system that I have ever seen bar none. It may start easy but if you don't pay attention to what happens when you switch from paradigm to paradigm, then when push comes to shove you will get slaughtered. I like the fact that you can't play as everyone at all times. sometimes you can only play as 2 specific people and everyone else is locked out. This allowed you to experiment with paradigms that would have otherwise felt like a waste of time. Trust me when I say that this game becomes the most complex and rewarding fighting system to date. Halfway through, if you have not mastered it, you will get destroyed. The picture Quality pushes your system to its very limits. It looks absolutely amazing. It is hard to believe where we were in terms of picture quality only a couple of years ago. I heard a lot of people quit this game very early on. And I must say that if you are not willing to put 60 hours into the game and see it through to the end, then you will definitely miss out on what is one of the best FF games of all time. This game has about 40 hours of gameplay after the credits role. So alot of gameplay! The story is a good story, but not a great story. It does however end great. Really really great. I almost cried at the end. It was a great journey and I slowly began to care for the characters, but it was definitely not as great as 10 or 8. The connection just wasn't there. I felt like sazh and vanille were the only ones that weren't dorky or crybabies. it was hard to connect with anyone throughout. As the story progress I did find myself caring that they finished their journey, but I didn't really care about them, does that make sense? Overall I know it could have been better. it was just tiny things that kind of ruined the story. like the corny fist pump to the sky and such. it is not however a terrible story, just not as great as previous Final Fantasies. Overall though You will have fun. It is a great game with some minor setbacks. I totally recommend buying this one.

So far I have played Final Fantasy 7, 10 and 12 and have liked all of them. With all of the hype going on around Final Fantasy 13, I decided to give this one a try and here is what I thought. PROS. PARADIGM COMBAT SYSTEM: This game utilizes unique turn based combat system. To me, this combat system was the BEST ASPECT of the game. In Final fantasy games so far (other than 12), you have to do each action such as attack, healing, magic one by one by one. This game gives you option to do that or you can have "auto battle" mode where things are taken care for you. So the enemies you want to deal with "personally" you can combat them yourselves, but then you are not stuck hitting same command again and again for each fight you do in the game. Think of it this way, in other final fantasies, you are acting as individual soldiers while in this game you are mainly acting as commander. So instead of controlling each of the party member's action individually, you can set up a "paradigm" where you can focus more on physical or magical or healing or combination of these actions. At first you will find it a bit puzzling but once you get it, you will most likely love it. STAGGERING ENEMIES: To win a battle, you have to punish an enemy (or enemies) up to the point that they "stagger". At this point, the enemy will take a lot more damage and is less likely to attack. While it is not necessary to stagger an enemy to defeat it, for most game, you will find it difficult to defeat enemies without staggering them. So what is so special about staggering enemies? In order to stagger them in most cases you will have to use variety of paradigms and will have to come up with different strategies. Again, in the beginning you may find this difficult to understand, but once you get it, it gets to be quite fun. VARIETY OF BOSSES AND ENEMIES: Yup, there is great variety of enemies and different bosses in this game (as expected of "final fantasy"). Before you finish the game, you will have defeat quite a few different enemies and bosses and to defeat them you will have to use different strategies. While most enemies you may find it pretty straightforward to beat (especially in the beginning of the game), many later on enemies and bosses will be quite difficult until you figure out the right strategy. But don't worry there are ways to defeat them and you will find these challenges fun rather than frustrating. CRYSTAL LEVELING UP SYSTEM: This game has similar leveling up system as Final Fantasy 10. Defeating each enemies gives you points and then you use these points to level up different characters. The difference is you can level up a character in different direction (i.e. you can make a character better at magic, physical attacks, healing, sabotaging enemies, etc.) Each character will have 3 specialty areas and later on you can develop the character in all 6 different classes. Pretty addicting if you ask me. TONS OF SIDEQUEST BOSSES: So it takes a while to get up to this point, but once the open world portion of the game begins, there are tons of (>60) mini and major bosses to beat in the game. There is this portion called TITAN CHALLENGE (won't spoil much) which is very interesting. Here you will have to defeat a series of enemies in certain way. I liked it. SPECTACULAR SUMMONS: In this game each character gets a cool summon. While you don't have control over when you can obtain it, in order obtain them you have to beat them. LOVED IT. Once you obtain them you get to use their awesome powers and most importantly limit breaks. This has been my favorite part in many of the final fantasy game and just like previous final fantasies, this game has delivered them nicely. BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANT FANTASY WORLD: The creation of Cocoon and Pulse are just mind blowing. Everything in these worlds is very elegantly designed. If you look carefully designers have truly given attention to details. Loved just loved each and every level. WEIRD BUT UNDERSTANDABLE STORY: Really can't tell you much without spoiling it, but like in many Japanese games, this one also has a very strange, but unique story with a great underlying theme. WEAPON AND ARMAMENT LEVELING UP: I am happy in addition to character they also have weapon leveling up in this game. To level up your weapon though you have to collect and use different items in a unique manner. For example, certain weapons can only be leveled up to level 11; however, if you obtain these unique item you can break that limit and level it up even further turning it into a completely different weapon. If you like this type of stuff the game will keep you occupy for a LONG TIME. CONS LACK OF CONTROL OVER BATTLE TEAM: As described in pros, you have to design specific paradims and you can use them in the battle to your liking. However, these combination are not limitless. In other words, you won't be able to control all three of the party members in the exact manner you want to. For example, with characters A,B, and C, I want both characters A and B to attack the same enemies with physical attacks, I don't have that option. Also if I want to revive character B before healing character C that is also not an option (unless the character I control is the healer). While it seems like a major issue, it really is not. There is not a single enemy you won't be able to beat due to this problem. WHINY CHARACTERS: Ever since Final Fantasy 10, they have been having so many whiny characters in these games. Hate it, just hate it. Good thing is whiny character in this game will only whine for first quarter of the game. Also, what Japanese people and Westerners find "awesome" and "funny" are quite different. Some dialogues that Japanese may find awesome will simply sound lame to us. So that is also a problem in this game. CONCLUSION Contrary to the cons I described, this is a great game. Battle System, leveling up and hunt for different bosses and items will keep you busy and entertained for a long time. With side quests, it has taken me about 84 hours and I am still not quite done. With lowered prices, I would say this is a MUST OWN game.

I've played every Final Fantasy title from FFVI on, and I have to say, this is probably my favorite title of the series. The graphics, it must be said, are simply amazing. When Square stated they wanted an engine that rivals the visuals of Advent Children, they weren't joking. The first time you unleash Lightning's Army of One ability, your jaw will simply drop, despite the fact that you've probably spent a good 30+ hours being amazed by the graphics already. On the PS3, 1080p is stunning, and the cutscenes are beautiful and plentiful. Prior to this, I thought Mass Effect 2 had set the bar for gaming visuals, but FFXIII makes Mass Effect 2 look obsolete. In terms of combat, I find that XIII really combines the best of FFX-2 and FFXII. FFX-2, despite being much maligned by fans of the series, has the most interesting battle mechanism of all the Active Time Battle-based Final Fantasy titles. FFX-2 and FFXIII battle sequences look very similar. The difference, of course, is that instead of dress spheres that you then have to micromanage, now you have pretty much what amounts to preprogrammed gambits (as in XII). The advantages are obvious. I think XII made buffing and debuffing quite painless by allowing you to set them as gambits, and this is important because in previous titles, honestly, it is a simple pain to buff and debuff during mob battles. You will have to use every one of the six classes effectively, even at the very end of the game. Can you say that about any of the FF titles in the last 15 years (other than IX, of course)? I can't. Usually you spam the best ability for all it's worth. For instance, once Yuna learned Holy and Tidus learned Quick Hit in FFX and your stats get high enough, combat became ridiculously easy. VII is all about the Knights of the Round spamming. Sure, XIII suffers from a bit of that, too. The Death spell is a bit overpowered, and Sazh's Blitz is simply unfair. But even with these, forget to use your Sentinel and Synergists, and you'll be dying more often than you should. Which brings me to my next point. In terms of the frequency of Game Over screens, this is the hardest FF game of the 3D era, there's no question about it. Maybe that's not saying much, but you can get more emotionally (and physically) involved in the combat than ever before. You'll really be working for that Stagger, making split second decisions as to whether to go for that one extra turn of attacks or to heal/buff/debuff, whether to try Thaumatology or Diversity, whether to interrupt the current chain of commands or to wait. All these things matter. In what other FF title does that one split second decision matter this much? As for not controlling the other party members, that's such a minor point in my mind. Other than not using the best attack spells from time to time, it really feels like the AI is well programmed and does not hinder your abilities much. In any case, if you had to control all three characters, this system would just lose its urgency and excitement because you wouldn't be able to make the overall strategical decisions quite as much. Considering how fast and hard some of the enemies hit, having to do everyone's healing while dishing out magic and working on renewing buffs would be really annoying to say the least. I know everyone complains about the game's linearity (it's like X except no backtracking), but this game is really, really well paced, and a lot of that has to do. You can't get overly powerful because there are limits to what you are able to accomplish at any given point. Yes, I know, FFX had Key Spheres, but you could easily find Lvl 3 and 4 Key Spheres if you knew where to get them. Maybe RPG should stress the role playing aspect by letting you explore around before deciding to go ahead with the story. But I don't see anything that's truly realistic about being able to kill the hardest bosses in the story line with zero difficulty either, so I think it's a trade-off. I finished the game at about 55 hours and the final two chapters were the best ending 10 hours of any Final Fantasy game ever. Usually, this is often a very boring portion of the game, and 55 hours is long enough to get leveled beyond decency in most other FF games. Not so in FFXIII. I still dreaded facing certain enemies, and the end boss of Chapter 12, rarely have I celebrated so much at beating a story line boss in FF. I've compared this game a lot to FFX, which was previously my favorite title in the series, but not anymore. I think that it is true that at times, FFXIII does not feel like your average FF game. I mean, the only returning musical theme is the Chocobo theme, there are no towns and inns, and just about everything feels different from before. But once you dig deeper, you see elements of your favorite FF games from the past, only they have been distilled and refined into something that's more approachable. But approachable doesn't mean dumbed down. No, in this case, it means that combat is evolving, staying engaging and diverse until the very end. When you think about it, this is the only title other than FFIX that has achieved this, and FFIX did so with a very rigid character class system. Grinding for two hours won't change much in this game, only give you a bit more wiggle room. I find that to be absolutely brilliant. This review is likely to ramble on and on, but I feel that this game needs to be defended a bit, considering people are quick to dismiss it for what it should be, instead of trying to judge it for what it is and what it is trying to do. I have a feeling that once the dust settles, people will enjoy this game more. I know that my first playthrough of this game was the most fun I've ever had in the first playthrough of a FF game, and ultimately, I think that's what the game should be judged by. I know I've logged more hours into FFVII than any other game, but I didn't have too much fun sometimes in FFVII. This isn't an issue with FFXIII. Play this game with no prejudice or inflated expectations, and you'll see the title for what it is, yet another worthy FF title.

This is my first review and the English it isn't my native language so I'll be Direct. The Better: - The graphics are the best of a RPG on all the consoles. The characters, enviroments and enemys design are just fabolous. Really the best. -The Music like all the FF is marvelous. What's Good: -The Story and the well psicollogical builded characters, by far the best of the series, although they will not be the most charismatic and popular of all the final fantasy titles, but are good. -The Battles, are dinamic and fun. The system of "Jobs" (Rol in Spanish)is very good, easy to understand and have some detph strategic on it, although if have had leader change in middle of the battle and cutomizable jobs rutine like the gambits on FFXII it would be much more fun!! Because most of the time what you do is press X button repeatedly. And the Bad thing is... -Is so much linear, until some of 25 hours of play you don't have almost any other option than that advance foward and fight and kill every one that put on your way. -The system to upgrade your characters (crystarium) is so simple and detphless, is some bad mix of the Jobs system of FFXII and the Sphere board of FFX and you cann't unlock it any time just after some point battles on the storyline... BORING! -The secondary missions are almost all (except one)"kill some bad-ass monster" and the variety of monsters and enemys donn't equals that of FFXII. I'd gave to this game 4/5 stars because it was fun even with the bad and "no-so-good-or-no-so-bad" things on it, I'd enjoyed the story, the graphics, the music and characters (I LOVE YOU, LIGHT!!) even with the linear and repetitive issues. I recommend this game because of the fun and the actual price (I bought it at 34$ two months ago). PD: I spend 55 hours finishing the game and only have the 46% of trophys and I will need some of 30hours more to complete it for sure, It has replay value if you oversee the issues. SPANISH: Lo Mejor: - Los gráficos son lo mejor entre todos losjuegos de rol en todas las consolas. Los personajes, ambientes y diseño de enemigos son fabuloso. Realmente el mejor. -La música como todo FF es maravillosa. Lo que está bien: -La historia y los personajes están bien construidos psicológicamente, de los mejores entre todos los juegos que he jugado, aunque no sean los más carismáticos y populares de todos los títulos de Final Fantasy, pero son buenos. -Las batallas son dinámicas y divertidas. El sistema de "Jobs" (Rol en español) es muy bueno, fácil de entender y pasar un buen detph estratégico en él, aunque si tuviera cambio de líder y en medio de la batalla y la rutina de roles cutomizable como los gambits sobre FFXII sería mucho más divertido! Dado que la mayoría de las veces lo que hacen es presionar el botón X repetidamente. Y lo malo es ... -Es muy lineal, hasta alrededor de 25 horas de juego que no da mas opcón que ir adelante y luchar y matar a todo aquel que ponga en su camino. -El sistema para mejorar tus personajes (crystarium) es tan simple y sin profundidad, es una mala combinación del sistema de empleo de FFXII y el tablero Esfera de FFX y no se puede desbloquear hasta después de ciertas batallas/eventos durante la historia. .. Aburrido! -Las misiones secundarias son casi todos (excepto uno) "matar a un monstruo maloso" y la variedad de monstruos y enemigos no iguala la de FFXIII. Le doy a este juego 4/5 estrellas, ya que fue muy divertido, incluso con las cosas malas y "no-tan-buenas-o-no-tan-malo" en él, me gustó la historia, los gráficos, los música y personajes (TE QUIERO, LIGTHNING!) incluso con los problemas de linealidad y lo repetitivo que ess. Recomiendo el jeugo al comprarlo a bajo precio (lo compré hace tiempo a 34$) PD: Terminé el juego en 55 horas y solo obtuve el 46% de trofeos y necesitaré una 30 horas más para completarlo todo, tiene ciertarejugabilidad si obvias los problemas.

I've been a life long Final Fantasy fan, starting with Final Fantasy VI (III in the US). This has got to be the most controversial Final Fantasy release I have ever seen. The reviews are split between people who love it and hate it, and I was a little bit apprehensive about buying the game (I waited at least until the price dropped). There also seemed to be a general lack of buzz about it among my gamer friends, which made me think the game was going to be a flop. After actually sitting down and playing it, I couldn't disagree more with the negative reviews. I can't even see what is so controversial about it. First of all, this game stays true to the series. I see many, many pure Final Fantasy elements, from the characters to the story, settings, overall design, and yes, even the gameplay. Let's not also forget that the series has evolved over time, so I'm taking into account the recent titles as well, such as XII and X. Perhaps people are getting tired of Final Fantasy, but when I get a Final Fantasy game, I'm expecting a Final Fantasy game. That's why I got with this game. The best thing about the game is the aesthetic experience it provides: the beautiful, other-worldly environments, the fantasy settings, the compelling story, the love, the romance, etc. I have plenty of games with more complex gameplay, but what's the point of that if the game can't intrigue me and capture my imagination. These days I have a very hard time finding games that can do that, and so far this is the only PS3 game I own that can pull that off. True, it doesn't seem that difficult. That doesn't bother me. Final Fantasy (the main series) games were never very hard, and I also believe that it's acceptable to have varying levels of difficulty within a series. If anything, this game makes an excellent introduction to the series for new fans to the series and inexperienced in the genre. If I wanted to cut my teeth on hard gameplay, I'll play something from the Tactics spinoff. Also, it's pointed out that the game is linear. I also think it is fine for there to be a variety in linearity and openness in the series. Final Fantasy XII seemed incredibly open to me. Final Fantasy X was one of the most linear games I have EVER played. In the end, I loved them both. Plus, make no mistake that this game takes full advantage of all the perks that linearity has to offer--it's not merely a sacrifice of openness without any gains. This game can do some things that more open titles cannot. If I want a more open, rich RPG experience, I'll just pop in Oblivion and play that. If I want to play a game with an amazing story, I'll eject Oblivion and put in Final Fantasy XIII. It's pretty simple. Another thing is that I see more parallels between this game and some of the older titles (Final Fantasy VI especially) than I have in more recent Final Fantasy games. For example, the story starts out with our heroine--a mysterious, cold, isolated, outcast girl, ex-army, mysteriously can use magic, and so on. She fits Terra/Tina almost to a T (no pun intended). Then we bring in the immature male hero, the one who was once madly and riskily in love, who lost his fiance to suspended animation, who is desperately overcompensating for it by trying to be the hero all the time, and so on. Basically we have some of the same timeless characters and plotlines, and I definitely appreciate their resurgence in the series--they were powerful then, and they're powerful now too. Don't forget that Final Fantasy XIV is coming out soon. That's pretty much going to be the opposite of this game--more open, less story based, less linear, much more focus on gameplay mechanics and difficulty.

First I just want to say that this is not meant to be the most accurate review that can be found on Amazon. This review is only meant to encourage people to try this game and to try it the right way. I've been a follower of Square games ever since the original Final Fantasy. I've also followed Enix since Dragon Warrior (Quest). The two companies have since merged and it's a decision that makes sense at least from my point of view. Both companies have been putting out high quality RPGs for well over two decades. It wasn't a hard decision for me to at the very least give this game a chance. I just had to make the time because in today's gaming industry there are more selections than ever and not really enough time to try everything, especially if you commit to an RPG. I think I spent an entire summer trying to master Final Fantasy X. It just depends on how busy a person is I guess. I'm assuming that anyone looking to try this game has played the previous installments. Is the story as good as previous Final Fantasy's? Well, I can't really answer that because I'm only a couple hours into it. So you may be asking yourself why I'm writing this review already. I'll tell you why. I'm playing this game on a 120 inch screen with a DLP projector that converts 2D into 3D. The difference is outstanding! I mean, I compared just a little bit of this game in 2D and in 3D and all I can say is if you haven't tried it yet you should wait until you can give it the "theatrical experience" because it is much much better in 3D on a big screen then just standard 2D on a t.v. The world absolutely comes to life in 3D and really makes the game that much better. I really do think it's the only way to experience it. Perhaps Square-Enix intended this because there is a brightness adjustment in the menu and I don't think any other Final Fantasy games had one. Anyone scratching their head about that statement should know that when you convert a game from 2D into 3D you usually have to turn the brightness up a few notches to compensate for the 3D glasses because they are slightly tinted. Anyways, so far the story is decent enough to keep me interested. Square-Enix have never disappointed with stories(at least the ones I've played) so I'm optimistic about the long run. I've heard about some of the complaints about this game and all I can think is it's not going to matter on a 120 inch screen in 3D. I'm not talking about an expensive upgrade either, you probably just need your own living room and maybe a little over $1000 to upgrade. I'll never go back to t.v. and this really is one of those games that feels right at home on a big screen because it really is like playing a movie. The only other thing I can add information wise about this game is the battle system seems a little overwhelming at first but starts to become comfortable with practice. That and the level up system is a lot like the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X. Hope this helps anyone looking into getting this game and sorry if it sounds like I'm trying to promote DLP projectors or gloating about mine or something but it really does merit a mention because of the big difference it makes.

I find it rather hilarious that people scream and flail when SE, maker of FF games, comes out with an FF title that's too similar to the old formula, and criticize them for making "another cookie cutter FF game," but when SE attempt something that's completely different in a bid to answer those who screamed about how there's nothing new, they get whammed with a ton of criticism for how the older games are so much better. I guess you can never give people what they want? lol I've personally played FF2 (4), FF3 (6), FF7, 8, 9, X, and 12. All of them have their goods and bads, and I will say that I like certain FF games more than other. However, all FF games have their own merits, and that's certainly the case with FF13 now. Personally I thought FF8 and X were crap compared to FF13, but those two were hailed as awesome while FF13 get slammed. FF13 has its faults, some of which are mentioned over and over again like a mantra. Yes it is linear, I get the point. FF13 is almost like a direct reaction to FF12. FF12 was criticized for being too open (people apparently went into areas they weren't supposed to at their level and got slaughtered. SE's fault? not really when you're the one who runs off into other areas and expect SE to hold your hands...and they put that exploration there because you were yelling for it) and how the over arching plot is not very strong. The towns were also supposedly too large so people got lost in there and wasted too much time running around trying to find the shops (i'm guilty of that one). The characters were also rather flat. In direct contrast to that, SE decides to move toward the direction people seemed to have been yelling for...which is a more story and character focused game. The linearity is there to keep your attention at the story and characters, and honestly, if you're supposed to be hated by the citizens of the world you're running around on, i really doubt you can just stroll into town and be like "yo, gimme somma that weapon you got there...you know, so i can go destroy your ruling government and potentially destroy your lives." The battle system itself is, personally speaking, really fun. In the beginning it was a little slow, but i rather appreciate the slow leading up toward the craziness that was later battles. I'm also quite glad that characters are fully healed after each battle, and the retry option...as I've had to use it a few times. Yet the game is well balanced enough that I really didn't have to use that option too many times. It's only when i'm being very irresponsible during battle that I pay for it by having to redo. Boss battles are suitably difficult enough that typically it never feels like i'm banging my head against a wall (unlike some other games). SE did a great job with ramping the players up from a complete n00b to someone who can really make use of the entire configuration and battle system. It is also true that the story and character development also had its faults. There are no notable villains in the game that really stood out, and in many ways, the focus was more on each character having to fight against something within themselves in order to move on and reach the goal. But the following completely made that a minor issue in my world. The true standout in the game (aside from the battle system) is the presentation. Graphics are absolutely amazing no matter where you go, the characters are awesome looking, and the voice acting is the cream of the crop. I normally dislike English dubbings for anything Japanese (jrpg or anime), but after beating FF13 and then started Star Ocean The Last Hope on PS3 (International edition which have Japanese language) in Japanese, I actually find even the original Japanese voices craptastic compared to the English dubbed voice acting in FF13. The voices fit the characters (though Vanille and Hope could use a smidgen of help, but not awful by any stretch of the imagination) and are completely emotional and believable. Every cutscene and every interaction between the characters are awesome to watch, particularly some of the early to mid game scenes (scenes before Chapter 11 are better imo, probably due to the urgency of the story line, whereas the story became a little more loosely structured after Chapter 11 along with the opening of the explorable world). I suppose this game isn't for everyone, but if it wasn't marked as an FF game, I'll bet it would've been more raved about than criticized against. the FF name tag unfortunately screwed over several awesome games just because the expectation from all the fans are typically far higher than can be achieved at that point in time (with that amount of development time). Even FF8, which is my absolute most hated FF game, deserve a "it's pretty good...if it's not an FF game." Truth of the matter is, everyone goes into each FF game with a preconceived notion of what it should be, not what it actually is. Funnily enough, due to busy work and other issues in my life during the period when FF13 was being advertised, I actually went into this game with very little expectation at all. As a result, i loved it. For those who hated it due to comparing it with old FF games, well, you can always just completely drop the FF franchise, replay your old games, and stick with other games since you probably will never like another FF game. For those who aren't sure if they want to play FF13, just go into it with an open mind and less expectations, and i think you'd be very happy with your purchase.

With all the complaints about this title, which I waited until very recently to play, I was expecting to be disappointed. There was so much trash talk about how this was not FF, that it didn't live up to the series reputation, that the battle system was terrible, that Lightning had no personality...blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I have to say I enjoyed it in spite of it's flaws. FF fans have been saying "this title does not live up to the FF we know and love" since FF8. Every game released after 7 has supposedly been a disappointment to fans for not being what they expected. Personally, with the execption of FF12, I've really enjoyed them all (though 12 had some of my favorite characters in the entire franchise -Fran and Balthier). Sure, they all have their flaws, be it in the battle system, a convoluted story, plot holes, weak characters, etc. But to me, each and every one of them is a FF game, no matter how much they change from game to game. So what if there's no evidence of the 'Crystal Theme' in 13? So what if they re-named all the summons/guardians/eidolons/espers? To me, it's like hardcore fans of the first games want all of them to be exactly the same, which to me, defeats the purpose of FF and it's history. Every game (minus the sequels) is a stand alone story in a stand alone world. I wouldn't want it any other way. I wouldn't want to play a series of carbon copies of the early games, and neither would you. Further, I wonder, if these games of the past had been released today, with today's graphics, would they be considered as groundbreaking or amazing as they were then? I doubt it. What we remember as mindblowing would probably measure a weak 'meh' now because gaming has come a long way since then. And they were mindblowing...hours upon hours of story driven game play - it hadn't really been done, especially not so well, until then. And because of the relative awesomeness of those original games, our expectations have become quite high, maybe unrealisticly so. Some of us are still waiting for a game to come along and recapture that magic we felt at playing a fun game with a really intense story for the first time. So of course nothing since has lived up to that expectation. How could it? It hadn't really been done on that level before. When an idea is new and still relatively unexplored, it's still holds some fascination and wonder. Now, it's been there, done that with a hundred different titles, all trying to recapture that magic. Some may argue that FF7 was not the best title in the franchise, and maybe it's not, but it was a game changer in a lot of ways. And every game that's been released under the Final Fantasy banner since then has paled in comparison in the eyes of the fans. On to the characters....Yes, Vanille is annoying. Really annoying at times, but there's also some depth to her, which made her horrible accent and overbearing perky cheerleader behavior easier to take. And yes, Snow can be preachy and sometimes his dialogue is laughable but there's also a humanity to him that some of the favorite past characters lacked. Yeah, it's weird that Sazh walks around with a Chocobo nesting in his hair, but he's likeable in an earthy, laid back kind of way. Hope's kind of a sulky, cowardly brat in the beginning, and that's understandable, given the givens, but even he grew on me. Fang....well, to tell the truth I don't have much of an opinion on Fang. I gather her dialoge is supposed to be snarky or sassy, but most of the time it fell flat. I didn't love her. I didn't hate her. But at least she was an asset in battle. What is interesting to me is that Lightning is criticized as being wooden or having no personality at all. Y'all can't tell me she has any less personality than Squall from 8, and he seems to be a fan favorite. For me, his personality was pretty much summed up by his catch phrase "whatever." Same goes for Cloud Strife, also beloved by fans. For a good portion of the game he doesn't have much to say, and what he does say isn't all that interesting. And he spends the rest of the game freaking out or totally out of it due to Mako or Sephiroth or whatever. At least Lightning's got some vulnerable moments that show she's not as cold and unfeeling as she seems to be. And you don't have to wade through 75% of the story to get there. Maybe it's that Lightning doesn't need a hero that people find so uninteresting. She's no damsel and she doesn't need to be rescued. Maybe it's that old double standard. It's okay for a guy to be a cold loner, but it isn't for a girl. Who knows? Either way, I don't agree with the bad press. As far as the battle system, it could have been better. Like a lot of reviewers, I did find that there was no time to make any real choices besides switching from one paradigm to the next. But really, how is this much different than choosing "attack" or "insert type of magic here?" It was button mashing then, it's button mashing now. The difference for me, is that these newer games are real time, versus the old style where the monster would not attack you while it was your turn. You used to have time to ponder what your options were. But players wanted real time battles, so the developers made them. Well, you got what you asked for and you're still complaining? If you set up your paradigms correctly and switch them as needed, it's really not that bad. It's when you go into battle unpreapared that you're gonna eat it. So long as you set yourself up with a variety of options, it won't be that challenging for most battles. That said, my main complaint is that some of the regular monsters have more HP and are tougher to beat than some of the bosses, if only because of their insanely high HP and in some cases, insanely high stagger points. Nevermind having to fight 2-3 at a time, with some of the attacks causing more damage than your medic can heal before the monsters gang up and take you out. A lot of reviewers also complained that it's mostly a dungeon crawl. I agree and disagree to a point. You go from point a to point b fighting along the way. It does get repetitive and you don't get to get sidetracked in a town where you can chat with townspeople or go shopping or check out the bathroom in a stranger's home. But no more or less repetitive than trying to get from town A to town B in previous titles. Sure, there's a little more to explore in those other games, but those other games you often had to explore a bit to do some level grinding before you could move on to the next point in the story, otherwise the next boss would level you. That's pretty much not the case here. You fight just enough to level up to the point where you can beat the next boss without spending 2 hours fighting random battles in preparation. For me, this is a good thing, since I'm more interested in story development than the battles. I don't mind having to spend some time levelling up, but when it comes down to it, having to level grind is the same to me as a dungeon crawl. My last complaint is about the weapons upgrade system. First of all, it isn't well explained. You get lots of components that you can use to raise the level of your weapon. Great. But then you end up with a bunch of different weapons along the way, and it's difficult to tell which ones are worth the upgrade and which ones to leave alone. Furthermore, components seem plentiful at first, but are actually kind of rare in comparison to how many you need to level the weapons up. You can buy components from shops, but Gil is even more difficult to come by than components, so weapon development is slow and more challenging than it needs to be. There was nothing wrong with the old system where you find or buy upgrades. And if they felt it was really necessary to use components to upgrade the weapons ala FF8, then just stick with one weapon. Otherwise it's time consuming and confusing. Worse, if you think in the beginning the components are all stuff you can sell for the Gil, you wind up setting your weapon development back quite a bit. Like other FF games, this one is a work of art and that has always been my attraction to the FF games. Regardless of story or setting, you know you're getting top notch graphics from beginning to end. From platform to platform, this franchise has always been at the very top of the spectrum in terms of quality visuals. FF7,8 & 9 put the bar so high that nothing else on PS1 really even touched them in terms of beautifully rendered CG at the time of their respective releases. Even the background scenery in normal gameplay was far beyond what was being done at the time. The same is true of FF13. No game I've played on PS3 yet has come close to the artistry of FF13. It's lovely to look at from beginning to end. Is it a great game? Probably not. Is it fun? Not as fun as some of the other titles in this franchise and it has fewer side quests, but the story was compelling enough to keep me playing, and there's something to be said for that. Does it live up to the FF hype? Well, it's not as good as some of the other titles, but certainly not as bad as some of the reviews have made it out to be. For me, FF12 was a lot worse in some ways (and is probably my least favorite of the entire series). Overall, I'll give it a 3 for gameplay, 3 for fun, 3 for story and a 5 for visuals.

El juego me llego en buenas condiciones nada roto, lo más curioso, es que me llego el plástico blanco en vez de rojo, ya saben, cuando un juego es de categoría "Greatest Hits", pero por un rara razón, el manual esta todo en Frances, no tienen una sección en Ingles, y como no se francés, no entiendo nada de lo que dice, es como si me lo han mandado desde Canadá y no en Estados Unidos, tampoco es que vaya a devolver el juego por algo tan tonto, solo son pequeños detalles, si alguien estudia francés, esta es su oportunidad para aprender, quizás valga algo en el coleccionismo, ahora con respecto al juego, lo he estado jugando por el emulador de PS3, RPCS3 (Si, sé que está en PC, pero es un mal port y debe usar mods para corregirlo) la verdad, de momento, lo estoy disfrutando, espero que mis capturas sirvan de algo por si están interesados en comprarlo a día de hoy en 2023.

Thank you very much

Visually stunning game, the story was a bit hard for me to understand at first and the linear gameplay was boring. But that's all at the start. About 70% into the game when the true final fantasy(free roam and grind) experience starts and it's massive!!! Yea, have to be patient till then.

Video game package in excellent condition. Very fast quality shipping. Great communication. Highly recommended seller. A+++

great game love the ff series