My "Final" Fantasy?

There are moments in life when people make bad decisions; decisions where every ounce of our being screams “STOP” and yet we continue. Like ordering the Double Down from KFC or having the hiccups while practicing sword swallowing. Sure, I know it is bad for me and that there is little reward waiting for me at the end of the challenge, but I have to persevere. So I went through with playing Final Fantasy 13 and came out wondering what Square Enix was thinking.

This game is gorgeous, full of interesting environments and fantastic wildlife. It is by far one of the best looking games of our generation. Combat is fast paced and complex, despite a simple interface. The new system makes the standard JRPG turn-based combat feel a little “old hat”. Even the narrative is approachable, being fully voice acted and having a straight forward story. Somehow, despite all this, it ends up being one of the laziest and frankly most boring RPGs Square has ever made. The pacing is its biggest shortcoming, where the player spends the first 15+ hours in what seems like the tutorial from hell. You run through straight corridors, in parties of 1 or 2 people, for hours. This makes the Paradigm system seem rather bland (Paradigms are mixes of various classes like a Commando and Medic), despite how great it is later on. Game Mechanics are introduced hours apart and Square almost doesn’t give the player enough credit. The way players are spoon fed information, it is like we haven’t been playing RPGs for the past 20 years.

The main stint of this “tutorial” is spent on Cocoon, a moon orbiting the planet Pulse. After that, a kind of world changing event takes place and you move from one locale to another, opening up the game to some extent. Up until this point, there has been no need to use the inventory system really. Sure you can swap out weapons or accessories, but the entire craft system and all its loot has been completely unnecessary. So, with almost no explanation, you begin to realize that there is this underlying meta-game of trying to level up and craft new items through transformation. The catch, there is no system of measurement to explain the most efficient way of doing this. Without seeking out a FAQ online or trial and error, you pretty much are pissing in the wind. So, what could have been a fresh approach to inventory management quickly turns into one of the most cumbersome systems in an RPG. It just does not make sense to spend so much time stream lining the game, to turn around and shoe horn a complex crafting system in.

The story itself is very Japanese; I enjoyed it, but was not thrilled by any of the voice work or hidden messages. If you enjoy JRPG’s, then you would most likely enjoy Final Fantasy 13’s story. Do I regret spending 55 hours of my life in this game? No. The masochist inside me who has already spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours playing JRPGs just considers this one a least favorite. The only problem is how many westerners are going to be as patient as me? With companies like BioWare and Bethesda I think the standard for RPGs is changing and Final Fantasy is lagging behind. This is really a shame, since historically JRPGs had always been some of my favorite games. Let’s hope the next one is a hit.