Final Fantasy 13 (First Five Review)

 

Since I don’t always buy new games as soon as they come out, and since I don’t often play them through quickly enough, I’ve never done a video game review before. But I thought since Final Fantasy 13 is still pretty new I could try out an idea I’ve been toying with for a little while: A “First Five” Review. The idea is that I play through the first five hours of a video game and offer a “first impression review” based on my experience.

I’ve been a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series and have played every game in the main series (excluding the game boy games, or games like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest or Final Fantasy X-2) starting with the original Final Fantasy on the 8-bit NES.

The chief elements that have brought me back to the series again and again are the strategic, fun battle systems and the blend of sci-fi and fantasy. FF games also tend to boast the best RPG graphics, involving stories and lengthy playtime. My favorite games in the series are (in order of preference) Final Fantasy 9, Final Fantasy 3(6 in Japan) and Final Fantasy 12. Final Fantasy 12 had to grow on me because of the new battle mechanics, but I eventually came to love them and they became the strongest part of the game for me.

There was a time when Japanese RPGs were the only choice for video game console players. American RPGs (or those targeted at an English speaking demographic) were almost exclusively on computers. But in recent years this has changed, with giants like Bethesda, Snowblind and of course Bioware, changing the landscape of console RPGs and catering much more effectively to an English speaking audience.

Likewise, as technology has advanced, video game creators are able to express their ideas and characters much more effectively. Full voice acting and motion capture actors are able to bring characters to life fulfilling their creator’s visions like never before. (For better or for worse.)

All of these factors have had an interesting effect on my fidelity to the Final Fantasy games in the last 5-10 years. Without voice actors hamming it up (with less subtlety than performances in a children’s musical), I could imagine the dialogue in old-school JRPGs sounding however I wanted. (Namely, with much less inflection and no strange grunting or gasping whenever someone so much as turns their head or raises an eyebrow.)

JRPG scripts (especially in the FF series) often deal with deep and serious subject matter. Overdone inflection with accompanying grunts, sighs oohs and aahs may be normal in the Japanese language and culture. But whoever is calling the shots during the translation process seems oblivious to the fact that this is not the case in most English speaking cultures. It just comes off weird at best and annoying at worst.

Now, add to this the fact that English designed RPGs are hitting consoles all the time with American players in mind. Bioware alone has done an excellent job of writing, casting and directing with Americans and English speaking players in mind. And since I’ve just come off of a streak of great “English produced” console RPGs, it was a shock to play Final Fantasy 13 and once again have to make allowances for all the strangeness that comes with translations of Japanese RPGs and Japanese Anime.

So although in years past I would have just accepted these elements as par for the course and not factored them into a review, the RPGs available to American consumers have raised the bar for that demographic. With no other information about how these games are made, I have to assume that those translating these games are aware of this on some level and have simply chosen not to adapt the games’ cultural sensibilities as much as they could, for whatever reason. So I’ve found I can no longer make allowances for JRPGs since as far as I can tell it could be addressed pretty easily(and would probably net them more American customers!).

Alright, I’ve spent a TON of time on all that because I think it takes a little more time to lay the foundation for that issue to be a valid criticism. But on to the game itself.

This game is gorgeous. The first HD game in the series and it jumps out of my TV with incredible detail and splendor. The battles are wonderfully choreographed and dazzling to watch. The world is vast and incredible to look at. Every once in awhile I find myself pausing just to move the camera around and take in the immense spectacle of this world. The camera doesn’t always move the way you’d like it to during exploration and so behaves strangely now and then, but not so much that it is frustrating.

Although the voice acting is standard for a JRPG, it’s not as “over the top” as it could be, with the exception of one female character that I actually wanted to lose a battle with in hopes that she would die and be removed from the game. (No luck…yet.) And the acting is still plagued with all the strange grunts and emotionally expressive “noises” that accompany already obvious expressions of emotion in body movement. After Dragon Age and Mass Effect, the ridiculousness of this kind of behavior is severely amplified and no fun. But if you’ve built up a bit of a tolerance to it as I have, it’s not horrific. Just lame.

The music in the game is well done, though not the best in the series. And the battle music sounds downright happy and strangely dated. Like the upbeat music of an 80’s TV adventure show. A little too bright for my tastes. I can think of much better sounding music to kick butt to, or to have my butt kicked to.

The story presented is interesting and it’s nice to see how the characters are thrown together against their wills. So far, character motivations all make sense and I’m interested to see where things will go. The down side of the story is the way exposition is presented. By that I mean that exposition is not presented. Or when it is, it is sparse and hard to understand, due partly to translation issues.

The game continues to update a file that recaps the story. You can look at this file any time and at the beginning especially it will be vital. Names, places and terminology are being thrown around in dialogue as though you already know all of this stuff. Only by reading every new page of exposition as it was unlocked was I able to understand what people were talking about. And these bits of exposition are only unlocked after the scene in which you needed to know them. So very often I find myself reading and then saying , “Oh THAT’S what they were talking about in the last scene.” It’s gotten better as the game progresses, but it’s still a big beef I have with the way the script is written and the story is presented. It’s hard to be involved with the emotion of a scene when you’re not quite sure why people are upset.

The game has already been criticized for being linear during exploration and in many ways this is literally true. In the opening level, you are largely traveling along a single straight line. But it wasn’t long before the maps provided enough detours to satisfy me and make me feel a little accomplishment for veering off the main path to find a hidden treasure. So this is a point of criticism that I don’t echo as a significant issue for me.

The combat system in this game took some getting used to. In fact, I suspect that more and more concepts have yet to be introduced to me. At first, it’s just a whole bunch of hitting “A”, since the auto-battle option is almost always the best strategic choice. So battles at the start are not exciting. Add to this the fact that there are a lot of cut-scenes in the game and the first hour or so feels a lot like “A,A,A,A,A,A,(watch a cut scene),A,A,A,A(walk forward some)A,A,A,A,A,A”. But grind your way through this and combat strategy does become more interesting.

Although you only directly control your party leader, you decide the overarching strategy of your party. If you were able to make the change from turn-based playing to the combat in Final Fantasy 12, you’ll probably make a similar transition into the combat on this game after a period of adjustment. However, unlike Final Fantasy 12, I find I’m virtually unable to watch and enjoy the battle as it plays out. Instead, I have to keep my eyes glued on the health of my party members and the action gauge so I can see when I’m able to input the next command (even if it is just “auto-battle” or a quick strategy switch for my party).

So why would I have to be watching so intently for every opportunity to input a vital command? Because you can’t pause!! Well, okay, technically you can. But it will do you almost no good in formulating your strategy, because you can’t access any menus or look at any stats and the screen is completely fuzzed out. And when battle is un-paused, the bad guys keep hammering at you. So you have no time to sift through and carefully consider your command options. For better or worse, this means that the actual strategy in battles is very simple. It is only made challenging by the fact that you have to be on the ball and make your choices quickly.

I’m getting used to this aspect of the game and I’m enjoying combat quite a bit. But it’s still a real shame that I’m only able to enjoy the dazzling and beautiful battle animations out of my peripheral vision. And no, slowing down the combat gauge (as the game allows) did not solve this issue for me. I just ended up waiting and watching my characters wait in between times of staring feverishly at my health bars and missing most of the eye candy. Slowing the gauge also reduces the rewards you are able to get for battles, since the speed with which you finish a battle effects the rewards you obtain.

In terms of philosophical relevance, this game says something very interesting that reminds me of the uniqueness of Christianity. In the world of FF13, if a human servant fulfills the purpose given to them by one of the powerful types of beings you encounter in the game, that human is granted eternal life as a frozen crystal. The implication is that everyone else simply dies and ceases to be.

Firstly, this type of spiritual economy is one thing that separates Christianity from possibly every other religion or philosophy that teaches on an afterlife. In nearly every religious system, you have to “earn” eternal life, or a good eternal life, through actions on earth. In Biblical Christianity, Christ earns all of this FOR those who simply trust that he did. While the Bible does teach on additional eternal rewards for serving God in this life, everyone will have the same incredibly close relationship with God and a wildly wonderful eternal existence. No one will be thinking, “boy, this isn’t as great as I’d hoped it would be…”

In addition, the eternal existence of the believer will not be some less than human ethereal existence. We won’t just live on in the memory of others. (What kind of sucky existence is that anyway when you think about it?) We won’t exist as vapor or crystal or some other inanimate material that simply sits motionless singing “aaaaaaah”. Believers will be given bodies and will be doing things. We will live an adventure that never ends!

Despite the fact that I’ve spent more time explaining my complaints of this game than my praises for it, I find it pretty addictive so far. The combat moves fast and may look intimidating, but it actually runs very smoothly and is very satisfying, Also, if you have trouble or even die, you always get the option to try again starting right before the last battle. And the elements I’ve enjoyed are easily strong enough to make the game stand out from many others and make it worth pushing through the game’s downsides.

Rated T.

Quality: 8.5/10

Relevance: 7.0/10