Leveling Down

Final Fantasy XIII’s most notable innovation is its combat system

I started Final Fantasy XIII last week and have played a good 10 hours into it (after eight hours I’m already on disc 2 of 3?). To be honest, I’ve had a tough time trying to get myself to sit down and play through it, as I’ve been on a Modern Warfare 2 frenzy and have actually spent more time playing Modern Warfare 2 than Final Fantasy XIII over this past week. Still, 10 hours is a pretty good amount of time to spend on this game to share some initial impressions. When I think about it, this entry is practically long enough to be more of a review on it, but read on for my lengthy impressions of the game. A review may follow once I’ve completed it (and it’ll most likely be shorter than this entry).

My Final Fantasy Background
To know where I’m coming from, I do enjoy Japanese RPGs – especially Final Fantasy games. I remember playing Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy on the original NES, and while the Japanese prefer Dragon Warrior, I’ve always been more of a Final Fantasy type of guy. Since then, I’ve gone on to play basically every Final Fantasy that has been released in the United States, going from Final Fantasy 1 on the NES to Final Fantasy IV (which was released as Final Fantasy II on the SNES in the US), and Final Fantasy VI through XII. I think I did end up going back and playing through the original Final Fantasy II when it got released on the GBA, but the only Final Fantasy games I probably not really touched are Final Fantasy III on the NES and Final Fantasy V on the SNES. In any case, I’ve played through many of them, and like any Final Fantasy fan, I do have my favorite order. In a way, I think it’s worth sharing so you can better understand my thoughts/feelings behind Final Fantasy XIII:

Starting with My Favorite to Least Favorite
1. Final Fantasy IV (the story, characters, and gameplay made this game Final Fantasy perfection)
2. Final Fantasy VI (amazing game, but too many characters and the game was a bit overambitious in scope)
3. Final Fantasy VII (definite showpiece for the PS1)
4. Final Fantasy IX (odd character design, but a welcome return to classic Final Fantasy gameplay roots after the weird FFVIII)
5. Final Fantasy X (several changes to gameplay, but great characters and storyline for the PS2 system)
6. Final Fantasy I (the classic and original was quite enjoyable for its time)
7. Final Fantasy XII (interesting single player style MMORPG gameplay, but boring storyline and characters)
8. Final Fantasy VIII (I know there’s a heartwarming love story under it all, but I just couldn’t enjoy the gameplay)

I didn’t name all of the Final Fantasy games, but if I were to, they would all come behind Final Fantasy VIII, which is still currently among my least favorite Final Fantasy games. It was a very polarizing game when it was released, and I was among the camp that did not really enjoy the game. Final Fantasy VIII and XII are the only two Final Fantasy games that I started but could not keep enough interest to finish – although I did end up spending over 60 hours on Final Fantasy XII.

As you can see, my favorite Final Fantasy games were ones that combined an interesting storyline and characters with the “classic” Final Fantasy gameplay. What is this gameplay? I’ll get to it a little bit further down. The question now is whether I think Final Fantasy XIII is shaping up to be among the top of the Final Fantasy games on my list or the bottom. Let’s see!

Impressions for those new to Final Fantasy
If you haven’t played Final Fantasy games (not too surprising if your first console was a PS2 or even a 360/PS3), then you may not have any idea what you’re getting yourself into. Based on this console generation’s RPGs, Final Fantasy XIII does not quite stand up to their level of awesomeness. The big RPG players in this generation are Oblivion, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. Among the four games, Dragon Age is perhaps the most traditional RPG, but with RPG games the most popular game-type in Japan, Final Fantasy does have relevance. Of course, when compared in a vacuum to Dragon Age Origins, Fallout 3, Oblivion, and even both Mass Effect games, I don’t think Final Fantasy XIII is better than them. In fact, overall, I would recommend Dragon Age: Origins over Final Fantasy XIII for anyone that is interested in playing a traditional RPG game on the console. But that’s fine – I appreciate Final Fantasy XIIII for what it is as a JRPG fan.

Final Fantasy XIII is pulling an 83 so far on Metacritic, scoring lower than any of the other major RPG players I’ve mentioned. But what I’ve noticed is that an 83 for a J-RPG is ridiculously good from Western reviewers. In fact, I would even go so far as to argue that if you enjoy JRPGs, inflate the Metacritic scores for JRPGs by 5 to get a more indicative score. Final Fantasy XIII would jump up from an 83 to an 88, Tales of Vesperia would jump up from a 79 to an 84, Lost Odyssey would go from 78 to 83, and so on. (Lost Odyssey a 78? What were the reviewers thinking?!) Based on this, you can probably tell that unlike the harsher critics of Final Fantasy XIII, I’m actually pleased with the game. This will be discussed in the next section, as I tackle the reasons why I think it’s a good game so far.

Impressions for Final Fantasy/JRPG Vets
If I were to summarize why I am enjoying Final Fantasy XIII, it’s this: the game appears to adhere to traditional Final Fantasy gameplay elements, while taking it a step further to add more subtle innovations and conveniences. I’ve played several JRPGs on the 360, and I feel that Final Fantasy XIII should be played by both Final Fantasy and JRPG fans alike. In a way, Japanese RPGs these days are like indie films in movie theatres. They can’t compete with the million dollar blockbusters, but do have their audience and can be successful. If you are among this camp like I am, you will most likely enjoy Final Fantasy XIII. Here’s why.

The traditional Final Fantasy elements are in Final Fantasy XIII
1. Fighting enemies in a turn-based screen
To a degree, every single-player Final Fantasy game has had the turn-based screen except maybe Final Fantasy XII where you engaged monsters right then on the field as opposed to jumping into a new screen with them. It may feel like “grinding” to some, but this battle screen is what makes several JRPG fans feel like this is a JRPG game.

2. An Interesting Spherical Leveling System
The leveling systems tend to differ a bit from one Final Fantasy game to the next, but with Final Fantasy XIII, the system seems to be very similar to Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid. This isn’t the traditional RPG leveling up system, but it’s interesting in its own way since each character earns exp from every battle and you can use those exp points to move further along your character’s grid to unlock stat boosts and abilities. While it may seem out of control, Final Fantasy XIII’s sphere grid-like system is quite linear and thus easy to understand when upgrading.

3.Summons
I’ve already come across Odin, so I’m wondering if I’ll see Bahamut later. The more recent Final Fantasy games have all included summons, with lengthy cutscenes involving the summon process as you marvel over them – or hit a button to skip the process. Final Fantasy XIII continues this hallmark of the series.

4. Item Management & Upgrading
While I consider Dragon Age: Origins to be the better RPG overall with what I’m seeing in Final Fantasy XIII so far, one thing that Final Fantasy XIII completely destroys Dragon Age: Origins in is item management. There’s simply one weapon type for each character, and  accessory slots for all characters. Easy to figure out what is an upgrade, easy to change accessories, and best of all, seemingly endless inventory space – all of this has been pretty traditional Final Fantasy. I do miss the Final Fantasy VII and IX gameplay elements of equipping items on your weapons to inherently learn spells/abilities for good, but at least Final Fantasy XIII has a weapon upgrade system based on finding random component items throughout the game.

5. Cutscenes & Character Development
And of course, Final Fantasy XIII continues the Final Fantasy trend of having lots of cutscenes and character development. I’m not a huge fan of the storyline so far, but one thing I will admit is that at least with Final Fantasy XIII, it’s gone back to a more traditional storyline and character development unlike what happened in Final Fantasy XII where I couldn’t care less about the characters or why I was even playing.

Final Fantasy XIII Also Sports Some New Conveniences
1. Seeing Enemies (no random battles)
It’s been a while since I played Final Fantasy X, but from what I recall, there were still random encounters in that game. Final Fantasy XII did show enemies, but since it was MMORPG style where you actually fought the enemies right there on the field instead of going to a battle screen, it was a little different. In any case, Final Fantasy XIII goes back to the classic Final Fantasy battle screen encounters, but this time you can actually see the enemies before engaging (and thus, setting yourself up for pre-emptive strikes).

2. Health Refills at End of Battle
Back in the old Final Fantasy days, we had to worry about tents and cabins and staying at inns, etc. “What happens if I get too far into a dungeon and I don’t have any tents left?!” Gone now in Final Fantasy XIII. At the end of every battle, all your characters’ health bars are full, so they always begin full at the end of every battle. Genius. I’m glad they cut that out, as it’s not the most enjoyable gameplay to worry about the health of your characters between battles.

3. No Magic Bar
Similar to the health refills at the end of battle, there is no actual MP bar for the characters now. Nearly all of their spells/abilities simply take up “turns”. I will get to this further when I describe the combat system further on.

4. No Towns or World Map – All Dungeon All The Time
For some this is bad, and others it is good. For me, it’s good. I think some people enjoy being able to take a break between dungeons but I don’t really enjoy my time running around new towns for hours talking to people and looking for treasure chests in their bedrooms. In Final Fantasy XIII, the stores are accessible at every Save point, allowing you to save or buy/sell equipment. You are also informed when new things are for sale, so it streamlines the whole process.

5. Not Worrying About Achievements
Unlike other Japanese RPG games, Final Fantasy XIII is the first one in a long time that I can actually play from the comfort of my couch without worrying I’ll miss an Achievement/Trophy. There are no missable Achievements – crazy stuff like making sure you open every single chest in the entire game, or even crazier stuff, like not opening certain chests as in Final Fantasy X. I can just sit back and play this game, enjoying it from start to finish, and then all the optional stuff I want to tackle is where the Achievements lie. A super convenience!

Final Fantasy XIII’s Primary “Innovation”: The Combat System
Final Fantasy XIII sports a turn-based combat system that seems to have some similarities to older Final Fantasy games, but it has enough major differences that I want to discuss it in further detail. The Active Time Gauge returns in Final Fantasy XIII, which basically means every character can attack once their real-time action gauge fills up. New to Final Fantasy XIII’s battle system is the ability to input in a chain of commands at once. In past Final Fantasy games, when a character’s bar was full, you’d choose for him to attack, cast a spell, use an item, etc.

FFXIII utilizes a multibar gauge for characters throughout the game. Currently, most of my characters have 3-4 bar slots, and the way it works is if you choose attack or a low level spell, it’ll take up one bar slot, but higher level abilities like area effect spells and attacks will take up 2 bar slots. You can queue up your actions in any order you want to perform them in, and there’s even an “Auto pick” abilities option that allows the system to automatically queue up the most optimal actions for that character’s class at the current situation. You don’t have to wait for all of your slots to fill; you can perform your action as soon as the bar for that particular action is full. So for example, if I were a mage with 3 bar slots and I chose to cast Fire, Water, Lightning when my entire bar was full, the mage would cast all three spells in succession. However, as the bar is filling up, once the first of the three sections of the bar is full, I can hit a button to immediately cast Fire and then go back to the menu screen.

Staggering Enemies
Enemies in this game have ridiculous defense (or, your characters are just weak). Several enemies I’ve encountered so far take a very lengthy amount of time to kill, because practically everything in this game is strong due to the new combo and staggering mechanics. In this game, you’re expected to attack enemies in succession several times, raising a combo bar on the enemy. Once you attack the enemy enough times, it finally hits a point where it is in a “Staggered” state, and all of your attacks do enhanced damage. The “Staggered” state is only a limited amount of time, so if you do not kill the enemy in that time, you will have to attack the enemy at reduced damage for several more turns before getting it into a “Staggered” state again.

Paradigm Shifts
Another major change to the combat system is that you only can only control the Leader of your party – meaning one character. The AI controls the other two characters. In Final Fantasy XIII, each character has several classes, called Paradigms, in this game. There are Paradigms that correspond to a warrior class, a mage class, a healer class, and more. Between battles, you can set up your different Paradigm groups because in this game, you’re expected to perform Paradigm Shifts throughout a combat situation to change your characters’ classes. This is because of the relation of the combo meter of an enemy and how different Paradigms affect that meter.

The mage Paradigm is the primary “increaser” of an enemy’s combo meter. The combo meter shoots up when the mage attacks, but unfortunately, it also drops down quickly right after. The warrior Paradigm reduces the “bleed out” of the combo meter from the mage attack, so ideally how you want to quickly put an enemy into a staggered state is to have mages pounding the enemy followed by a warrior attacking the same enemy to keep the combo meter on the enemy as high as possible. But the problem with this situation is, there are no medics. What happens when your mages and warrior are pounding the enemy but they take a ton of damage? That’s when the real-time Paradigm Shift comes into play – you hit the LB button and quickly pick the grouping with classes that you want your characters to change into – most likely one with a healer of some sort. Then once your party is back to full health, you can switch back to the “relentless assault” to raise that combo meter on the enemy.

Time & Rewards
While the combat can be pretty passive due to the “auto-ability” command, it is limited because most of the time, each of your characters will not stay the same class throughout a combat encounter. The innovation behind this combat engine is that the developers want us to juggle our characters among different classes as necessary in order to defeat an enemy so we are playing a more active role in the encounter. In a way, you’re thinking on your toes, because there is an optimal approach to every encounter.

This is further beaten into your head because at the end of every combat encounter, you are graded out of five stars based on how much time you spent in that particular encounter. If you take too long, you’ll get basically no stars, but if you kill enemies quickly enough and score 4-5 stars in that encounter, the possibility of rare drops from the enemies increases.

Things That Didn’t Quite Sit Too Well With Me
1. Vanille’s Voice
One of the characters you control in the game is a young girl, but her voicework is just terrible. What kind of accent is that?!

2. Serah & Snow
You’ll learn early on that there is a romance between two characters in the game. Except that the male looks like he’s 30 and the female looks like she’s 15. I guess their love is supposed to be heartwarming or something, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy at this “illegal” couple.

3. Music is Forgetable
One of the hallmarks of Final Fantasy games has almost always been memorable music tracks. Even Final Fantasy X had some good tracks (“Return to Zanarkand” was among my favorites). But so far in Final Fantasy XIII, it seems bland and repetitive. Maybe they’re just running out of ideas?

4. The First Part of the Game (Maybe 20 hours?!) is Poorly Designed
This is my major issue right now from my first 10 hours. I’ve read in a couple reviews how the game opens in a very linear fashion and forces you to play through it for 20 hours or so before “the world” opens up to you. I haven’t gotten that far yet, but from what I’ve experienced so far, this is true. You’re basically in dungeon after dungeon, but walking along a linear path and encountering enemies as you go. In a way, it reminded me of Bayonetta’s linearity, but at least in that game, the enemy encounters were exhilirating and plentiful. I’m actually OK with the linearity of FFXIII so far (what non-sandbox game isn’t linear?), but it’s the next point that makes the first part of the game so slow.

The new combat system is interesting, but the major drawback to it is the limited number of party members you can have on the field. I remember the good old days of Final Fantasy when you could put 4 or even 5 characters on the battlefield at once. Now it’s down to 3, and while that is certainly playable, these first 10 hours I’ve been forced to play maybe 9 of those hours with only 2 characters in a party at a time. 3 character battles move quickly and I finish encounters at the pace I like, but 2 character battles…ugh. You sit there watching the bars to fill so you can attack and do minor damage enough times to stagger an opponent before you can actually do real damage. I’ve practically fallen asleep in a couple of these battles. I think one of the battles I was in took 11 minutes or so, and felt like it would never end. I can only ask the developers if they really thought the game was enjoyable forcing us to play with two characters at a time for the first 10 hours of the game. It’s made everything so slow going. Terrible design decision there and it can potentially turn off all but the more serious Final Fantasy/JRPG fans.

Parting Thoughts
As I’ve mentioned earlier in this entry, Final Fantasy XIII doesn’t seem to quite stack up so far to contemporary Western RPGs, but it still has enough going for it to perhaps be the best Japanese RPG this console generation so far. If you are a fan of previous Final Fantasy games, you’ll still most likely enjoy this one. Just be aware that it doesn’t sit among the top Final Fantasy games due to some hits and misses in the design of this game. FFXIII so far seems to place between FFX and FFI on my list, which is actually towards the bottom of my FF rank order. This is not to say that FFXIII is a bad game, but as of now it seems to lack the memorable storyline and enjoyable gameplay that the other ones provided. Maybe Final Fantasy has already reached its peak? Once I put in the next 90 or so hours needed to complete the game, I’ll see if my opinion changes.

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