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Straight off, I will admit that I was one of the sceptics of Final Fantasy 13. Having been a die-hard Final Fantasy Fan from a very young age, every screenshot that I saw enticed me to buy a PS3 specifically for this game. However, when the coverage began on various sites, complaining about its linearity among other things, naturally, my expectations dropped substantially. Having been so excited for the game for so long, my gamer's heart broke a little. Looking back now, I really should have known better. Despite the fact that I was a sceptic going into playing the thirteenth iteration of the main Final Fantasy series, my scepticism was swept away like a flan being swept away by Bahamut's Mega Flare.
Final Fantasy 13, like every other iteration in the main series, has no connection to the other games other than some obvious references, such as Oerba Yun Fang's Kain Lance. The characters are different, even though one in particular seems to be a female analogue of a past character (I'm looking at you Lightning...I should really stop staring now). The story is again different to past games, though the main "Save the World" archetype remains. Final Fantasy 13 is a fresh experience in the series, and seems to be taking cues from Western RPGs in a sense, but it maybe goes too far in some respects.
The most striking thing about the game is its visuals. I would go out on a limb and say it is one of the most graphically stunning games we have seen to date. Some areas in the game are breathtaking, especially in the case of Gran Pulse, a stunning vista that seems to go on for miles. The character models are very well designed, even if I question some of the outfits *Coughvanillecough*. There are some moments when I said to myself, "Oh...that's a very obvious repeating texture." At times, especially when events on screen get very busy and chaotic, there is slowdown, but it does not detract much if at all from the experience. The animation is very smooth and crisp, and some aspects are very impressive. It is odd to say this...but they animated Lightning's hair very well. Now I must crawl into a corner and curse myself for noticing that.
Cutscenes, glorious cutscenes. I was definitely surprised to see that the cinematics in Final Fantasy 13 were not very long. Japanese games, especially JRPGs, are known to have very long cutscenes, however, I find it hard to recall a cinematic that lasted more than five minutes, other than the major cutscenes at the start, middle and end. I must say that some cutscenes aren't very action focused, nor do some show off the amazing job that their creators did on them, but one particular cutscene comes to mind when speaking about them. I believe it is at the start of Chapter 12, and though I won't spoil it, it truly showcases the work that the people that worked on Final Fantasy 13 are capable of.
The sound, as always, is a pivotal part of the game. The tracks aren't awfully memorable, and I was certainly glad that they didn't play Leona Lewis' My Hands too loud during the ending cutscene. My major gripes with the sound in the game, is the voice acting. Some of it...is painful. While most characters were well cast, others weren't. At times, the voice acting of some characters influenced me into not having them in my party, or being thoroughly disappointed when they were forced upon me. If I'm to be straight out honest, I didn't appreciate the voice acting for Snow or Vanille. While my dislike for Snow's voice acting was mainly due to the writing, Vanille is a whole other story. The character, or the voice actor, couldn't seem to choose an accent at times, and while I know that she is meant to be the happy character, to provide relief from some of the character's problems, at times it becomes too much. To quote Joshua Ivey on his recent article on this very game, "...some of Vanille's fighting noises sounds like she's getting off..." I'll end this portion of the article on that note.
