Final Fantasy XIII – First Impressions

FFXIII

So, I caved and bought a second-hand PS3 Slim for S$300 (about 220 USD), partly because the PS3 has finally been successfully modded with a hacked debugging dongle reminiscent of PSP’s Pandora battery. (I am a cheapskate…) The awesome part is that my ancient Dell monitor has secret HDCP-via-DVI support through a HDMI>DVI converter and displays 1080p perfectly, so I don’t have to wander out of my room into the great unknown that is my living room to forage for a Barvia.

I finally get to play that (second-hand) copy of FFXIII I bought in Japan five months ago for cheap. Having skipped right passed all the Final Fantasies released during the PS2 generation (because I am such a cheapskate that I didn’t buy a PS2 until the PS3 was released), FFXIII comes as quite a huge leap forward from my perspective. I’m a FFVIII guy, so all this tech futuristic stuff is just right up my alley. After all, there’s no real difference between magic and sufficiently advanced technology.

Anyway, some first impressions after sitting through the tutorials.

There’s something about Japanese society that keeps producing these utopia-turn-dystopia stories, like how Chinese producers love to talk about the Warring States Period. The former is a rather pessimistic view of how Japan’s material-rich society is but an illusion that will eventually be its own downfall, while the latter is a constant reminder of why mainlanders prefer strong leadership to individualistic ideals of democracy. But I digress.

FFXIII

Story

I just started playing the game, so I’m going to extrapolate what I think is going on based on the first generic corridor Lightning runs through, using my keen plot sense horned by years of studying anime modern Japanese visual culture stereotypes. This is what I have so far:

We have the Cocoon (obvious name is obvious), a floating spherical utopia — that looks suspiciously like a Death Star — in the sky where humans lived in peace for hundreds of years. (I’m guessing this is a metaphor for Japan and the sheltered lives the Japanese live.) Then we have the fal’Cie, some kind of non-human supernatural beings who built Cocoon for humans. (Uncle Sam?) I’m playing the Japanese version and the katakana for fal’Cie is exactly the same as that of Farsi, which is the Persian language they speak in Iran. Interestingly, Iran just started fuelling its first nuclear reactor. This is all linked somehow… I just need my conspiracy tin-foil hat to think.

Cocoon hovers over a planet called Pulse, which in kanji is rendered as 下界 (underworld) but read as Pulse. Apparently all manner of wild magical beasts roam free on Pulse. There are also non-friendly fal’Cie living there who apparently want to invade/destroy Cocoon for unknown reasons (probably because they are bored of frolicking around the grasslands). The government of Cocoon is called 聖府 (holy government), which is a pun of the Japanese world for government 政府 and has a decidedly less punny English name — Sanctum.

FFXIII

I’m going out on a limb here and guess that the fal’Cie from Pulse is trying to destroy Cocoon for humanity’s own good and the Sanctum, though ostensibly trying to protect Cocoon’s citizen, is actually a corrupt evil organization hell-bent on preserving some kind of status quo for its own nefarious purposes.

Sanctum is probably demonizing the underworld to stop people from realizing how awesome it is to go out. It’s basically a conspiracy to turn its citizens into hikkikomori. The moral of the story at the end will be that the great outdoors is an awesome place and we should all go out of our room and roam free in the wild like savages. Well, I’m not falling for it.

But seriously, I’m still running straight paths down endless corridors in the game, so I’m just making shit up based on a few paragraphs of flavour text in the game menu. Don’t bother correcting me either. I possess a 10kΩ resistance against spoilers.

FFXIII

Graphics

Graphics-wise, I feel a bit conflicted. While FFVII and FFVIII offered a substantially differentiated experience for their time, it’s a whole lot harder to be impressed nowadays, particularly since the PS3 and the 360 run on three-year-old technology comparable to today’s budget PC graphics. I’m not holding my breath, but I did like the train sequence at the start of the game. That is to say, the graphics and cinematics do have their moments, and it’s nice to not have that the immersion-breaking back-and-forth between curvy FMV cutscenes and blocky in-game graphics for which I remember the PS1.

Gameplay

So far, there’s really nothing much to speak of in terms of gameplay. I hope it gets more complicated than facerolling on the controller’s O button and running in straight lines.

I kind of get turned off by games that require insane min-maxing to win, so I should be happy. But I’m kind of worried that FFXIII goes too far in the opposite direction. Maybe it’s because I haven’t run through enough straight corridors to get to the good part yet.

Conclusion

…Okay, this is turning out to be one negative-sounding first impression. It’s actually not that bad. The high production value basically guarantees a minimum level of quality enjoyment. And if all else fails, there’s still Lightning’s Japanese voice-over by Maaya Sakamoto. She keeps me hanging on. But if you ask me whether I would still play through FFXIII if the Japanese version didn’t exist, I would be hard-pressed to give you an answer.

Maaya doesn’t just tip the balance, she breaks it.

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9 Responses to Final Fantasy XIII – First Impressions

  1. Dan says:

    Having beaten FFXIII, I can say I didn’t enjoy the entire 50 hours I put into it, but I did enjoy some very specific parts. I thought the game was taking itself too seriously.

    The new battle system is nice, but it wasn’t very complicated. Most of the combat was mash auto-battle and take over only when you have to. There were only a few enemies throughout the game that required me to look through the skill selections before acting due to random elemental changes. The rest of the combat was pretty stale for a Final Fantasy game. While I did have to use paradigm shifts fairly often, it wasn’t like I was consistently adapting to a challenging situation. It was mostly rinse and repeat. Buff, debuff, stagger, kill, or tank and heal when absolutely necessary. The game was pretty easy, so the only parts I had a harder time with are the ones where I was slightly underleveled.

    I didn’t really like the story all that much, but as a character, I really liked Hope the most. I would talk more in depth but I don’t want to spoiler, so I’ll say I like the way he matures throughout the game.

    I don’t feel any reason to replay FFXIII. I’ve put over 150 hours into Tales of Vesperia and I’m on a third playthrough, and I don’t feel like stopping anytime soon. However, one run of FF was enough for me. Despite the amazing CGI, I felt like FFXIII was lacking in every respect, and the only thing that kept me playing was Hope and Sazh’s chocobo.

  2. Cancer says:

    omg.. can’t believe lol i usually don’t play games much but i actually finished FF13 before you… that surprised me, anyway…

    i guess u might have read online already… but yea, it’s pretty much just straight and linear until you can get to [censored due to spoiler?] … rather ‘late’ in terms of story, but not necessarily game hours…

    and lol, i like your conclusion, graphics was a real plus for me, but perhaps i was a little easier to impress as i don’t play games much.

    and i agree with the maaya-san part XD

  3. lightning says:

    It’s a decent game, but definitely is lacking in other departments such as diversion from the game’s main plot (mini games, proper side quests that doesn’t involve killing things). The constant battling became very tiring lol, but I do love the paradigm shift system!

    I don’t hate the game, but I wish trophies don’t start replacing proper side-quests in future FF games. It just seems like a cheap way out… :/

  4. JohnDarksabre says:

    This game is actually mostly scenery porn, if you stop and look. The real side quests and non-linear game-play elements starts quite late in the game.

    And as a plus, for those Japanese illiterate Maaya-fans or dub-haters out there, the asian version is available.

  5. Small Implosion says:

    @JohnDarksaber
    Asian version?
    A subbed FF13 exists?
    Ps. soz for being ignorant : S

  6. manga says:

    What should I say that isn´t a spoiler?

    I can´t think of anything.

    From my own experience from playing: Great graphics, a not so optimal storyline or battle system. I most often just sat there pressing the X button to activate auto-battle and that was that.

    Paradigm shift was a nice upgraded version of the FFX-2 system but still boring.

    Just not how I want my FF games for some odd reason.

  7. exaltdragon says:

    Sneaking up behind monsters for surprise buttshecks moments is t3h win…

  8. DarkMirage says:

    Small Imposion: The Hong Kong version of the game actually contains both Chinese and English text with original Japanese voice-overs. Americans are getting ripped off. :P

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