Final Fantasy XIII

The trailer for Final Fantasy XIII amazed when it was unveiled almost half a decade ago. A long time has passed since the announcement, but now that the game is here, does it live up to the name “Final Fantasy?”


Describing the story of most RPG’s is like trying to explain one season of an anime series. It’s too comprehensive to cover in detail, but the basic premise involves a struggle between citizens of Cocoon, a giant floating shell in the sky, and elements of Pulse, the hell-world below.

You’ll get to play as various characters in different situations, but the most prolific is Lightning. The story starts when trains filled with people are being delivered to their extermination, all in order to protect the fearful citizens of cocoon from the threat of “l’cie.” Fal’cie are giant monsters/deities that take care of humans, and l’cie are people who are controlled by a Fal’cie. The entire dynamic between fal’cie, l‘cie, and crystals is standard convoluted Japanese fare that relies on in-depth knowledge of the universe. The included Datalog, which catalogues and records your adventures and every character you meet, is immensely useful in figuring out exactly what the hell is going on. As great as the Datalog is, it also magnifies the weakness of the storytelling, because what kind of story relies on an accompanying encyclopedia just to understand it?

The story presents the necessary ups and downs of an arduous journey filled with challenges, along with some idealistic preaching with a mix of flashbacks to flesh out the details. The characters change over the course of 13 days, and while the story isn’t spectacular, you may become fond of some of the characters, and that in itself, is no small achievement.

FFXIII may be the most linear RPG you may ever play—but that isn’t a bad thing. Gameplay can be broken down into exploration, combat, and watching cutscenes if you’re feeling pedantic. Exploration has been dumbed down and reduced to the simple act of moving an analog stick around. Finally picking up from Half-Life’s innovation of scripted sequences in real-time, you might find yourself running while ships randomly crash in the background as well as other scenes of destruction unfold to give you a sense of conflict and scale. Exploration is straightforward as all pathways are clearly defined. There aren’t many forks and dead-ends usually hold a treasure chest for those who like to go off the beaten path. This may come as an immense disappointment to folks who relish the old school formula of town>overworld>dungeon rinse and repeat template, but for those of us who don’t care, it’s not that bad.

Combat is easily the best part of the game where suites of abilities are associated with a specific “job.” Battle is mostly automated, which calls for the player to switch job configurations on the fly as part of higher-order strategic posturing. Since you only control one character (AI controls the other two), the battle system makes you more like a “coach.” As awful as it may sound, I found the speed of battle fast and rewarding.

One of the most puzzling parts of the game is the weapon upgrade system, which frankly makes no sense. You’ll gather a bunch of organic and machine parts which arbitrarily contribute points towards your weapon’s “levels.” It’s obscure enough to require excel sheets to figure out.

Some people may find Final Fantasy XIII the worst “Final Fantasy” yet but I quite like it a lot. I always hated forks in the road, and towns were simply an excuse to read poorly translated lines of dialogue anyway. With the best combat system in the series and some great music, Final Fantasy XIII is a fantasy worth entertaining.

Finding Fantasy

With the imminent release of Final Fantasy XIII, I'd like to take this moment and reflect on the series. "Final Fantasy" is one of those names that people instantly associate with video games, sharing company with name brands like "Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Super Mario Bros" as poster boy game franchises. It certainly has a storied reputation among gamers, and the exorbitant sequel number only underscores the derivative nature of the gaming industry--despite the fact that none of the mainline Final Fantasy's are direct sequels to each other (spin-offs, side-stories, and remakes aside). There's no doubt that it has be an exceptional series, both critically and commercially. The wait for the latest installment has been excruciatingly and inexcusably long, but at long last, it will finally come.

There are things to expect when you hear the words, "Final" and "Fantasy" put together. Yellow oversized birds called Chocobos, a guy named Cid, and breath-taking cut scenes laden with CGi wizardry and big budgets. Honestly, that's all I really expect. Final Fantasy was never one of those game series that I thought of as the penultimate expression of the JRPG genre. They're fine games in their own right, but I never saw them as "Game of the Year" material. They're not mediocre by any stretch--they're mostly stellar, just not masterpieces of the highest order. I regard the series with a fine level of respect, akin to the respect reserved for accomplished commercial writers like Stephen King and J.K. Rowling. Not many can argue that their literary merit rivals Twain or Tolstoy, but we can all agree that they have authored some very successful and entertaining stories. While Final Fantasy never really achieves transcendent sublimity, it always guarantees a hell of a good ride.

There have been some murmurs of discontent regarding the latest sequel because of it linearity. Classic overworlds and townships have been completely replaced by a straightforward narrative that proceeds down story-driven segments and dungeons. Some gamers view this as an evolutionary step backwards for the JRPG genre, and its particularly worrying since this move comes from Square-Enix, the good 'ol reliable JRPG standby capable of delivering triple-A experiences time in and time out (although that sentiment has mostly eroded into nostalgic-driven cynicism). It's as if all FFXIII will have is cutscenes and combat, without any of the exploration elements that was always present in the series.

People say linear like its a bad thing. Compared to the shockingly nonlinear creations of the WRPG genre, games like "Fallout 3" and "Oblivion," I'd gladly say: fuck open-world RPGs. Those games are examples of some of the most mind-numbing mundane experiences I've ever had the displeasure of, well, experiencing. There's such a thing as too much freedom, as the very prospect of "go anywhere, do anything" paralyzes my gaming soul. Especially in today's world, with college life limiting the amount of time I can use for gaming, I'd rather be filed down a finely crafted ride rather than wander aimlessly like a chicken without a head, trying to derive my own fun in an empty wasteland devoid of the intricate modeling and design sensibility that linear game design can afford. One thing that linear games provide extremely well is a sense of progression, a sense that you have accomplished goals and continue to move on to higher and higher levels of skill. Open world games have a tendency to generalize gameplay mechanics all over the map, becoming a Jack of all trades, and Master of none.

When FFXIII comes out this Tuesday, I will not be so concerned with the evolution of next-gen JRPGs. I'm not even looking for a story that will blow my socks off. Even for a genre so driven by narrative, I'm not expecting big things from the story, although I'm sure it will be very entertaining. A soap operatic-novella-esque melodramatic tale with swords, magic, explosions, gunfire, and fantasy--for a Final Fantasy, that's all I need.