Japanese trailer, Leona Lewis free.. 
Spoiler Free, Unless you highlight what's in the spoiler quote boxes!
As you could probably tell, I am a big fan of the Final Fantasy franchise. Not really for the graphics, not really for the gameplay, but really for what it brought to the video game RPG experience. While Final Fantasy is very D&D inspired, many things that were introduced through means of final fantasy bled through to many other games, whether it be battle systems or character / monster designs, final fantasy is a relevant part of gaming history and is a franchise many of us have experienced atleast once, with either positive or negative reactions to one of the many titles that share the Final Fantasy name. It also was one of the first games to really be about the narrative, a game that focused on telling a story and not about kicking turtle shells around or running through a labrynth of hellspawn with only a shotgun and a cigar. Personally, growing up an experiencing these games that focus on narrative, having those become a part of my life and having it really be a gateway for me to try to grasp higher literary goals, it is something I am thankful for. Without narratives in games, I don't think I would have ever fancied the observation of stories in any medium.
Now, skip ahead to nearly 10 years after my favorite of the series, I've matured a lot when it comes to my expectations with games, and since then I have played many more titles within the series and observed it's strengths and it's weaknesses. What it has done right and what could use improvement. So how does final fantasy XIII stand up against the rest of the games in the series, and the even bigger question, how does this game compare to the rest of gaming culture and developments as a whole?
First, let me start by saying this isn't your traditional final fantasy game. The game is almost impossible to compare to other games of the series, because it abandons a lot of the things that made final fantasy -- well... Final fantasy! The Turn-Based battle system has been thrown out the window, the peaceful towns that players would find willing to let you stay for the night have all burned down, the traditional classes have become mixed hybrids of one another and retain new names. But this is what everyone asked for anyway, so to be honest a little change is probably what this type of RPG game needs in order to move some units not only in Japan but in the world wide market. Besides, change is good, especially when trying to make a point that your game is something other than just a visual upgrade of a previous game. However, like most things with change, there's a lot of positives and negatives that are apparent in the new design philosophy!
Positives
- The story of this game certainly stands up against the rest of the series, which for many is probably very reassuring. I can't touch up on it too much without spoiling the game for everyone, however there are many moments that hit very hard. The characters in this game, and the designs of the characters, are probably the best the series has ever seen. The story is very simple in the general concept, it's just a love story, but yet again so is Romeo and Juliet. What is important is how well character progress, and how every character has some sort of resolution or some sort of catalyst that people can relate to, which is an important accomplishment for any story-writer!
- A battle system that's fun, especially since it's actually hard at times! This is probably the best part of this game, there's a lot of complexity and depth in the battle system. In fact, this is probably the first RPG where I felt I actually ENJOYED fighting things, and that was what made the game really "fun." Most RPGs, it would be "oh this guy is in the way, I've got to kill him." In this game, I felt as though the battle system was very entertaining, and for the first few chapters in the game I spent chasing down enemies! It doesn't just end a fun though, it's even difficult and there's a lot of strategy for it. In fact, most of the time you spend will be planning out your best party configuration. The new Paradigm (Optima) system and the new ATB bar is a welcome addition to the game, and I think it's something that should stay in the next iterations of the final fantasy series.
- The Music is definitely one of the games brightest points, and instantly you find yourself humming the battle theme, the theme song, or even singing along to the rather amusingly catchy pop-song rendition of the main theme! This song is probably my favorite game as of yet musically, and I think that Masashi Hamauzu has done a wonderful job on this soundtrack and hopes that he does not stop retire completely even though he has lost his job at Square Enix.
- Beautiful UI and Menus. It's really something when you can make looking through your items and equipment enjoyable, and I think that has to do with the way the menus are animated and the look to them. They did a wonderful job modernizing the rather traditionally bland equipment menu.
- Some non-cutscene based discussions. It seems like Square Enix was paying a lot to a certain western developer we all love, and how character will state things as you are traveling with them. In this game, you can see the other members in your party as you are traveling, and they will make observations or just have small talk with you as you are traveling. This was great, though it could have been used more, but it's good to see them adopting some more ideas. I think if they implemented this even more and tried to make cut scenes seem less "tacked in there" as they do now a days, they'll have a wonderful mix between full on immersion and cinematic glory.
- (JAPANESE) Voice Acting is probably one of the best video game performances to date. Characters were given some very famous Japanese voice actors, and even some less famous, and the whole cast works very well together. The interactions between characters are very memorable, certain heart touching scenes are performed so well that it seems nearly impossible for any company to top it. The dubbing was also stellar, they did a very good job making sure that they avoided another Final Fantasy X in terms of making sure the voice matches the mouths.
- Animation is stellar. From beginning to end, the characters perform some amazing animations and even the in battle scenes do a good job making things look interesting. Character have their own very detailed idle animations that are hard to keep track of where the loop is in the animation, the animations for healing, attacking, or just about anything looks amazingly detailed. The Square-Enix animation team pulled off a huge success with the animation both in and out of cutscenes.
- Localization is probably my least favorite part of this game. The voices for characters seem odd, Vanilla went from a cutey Japanese girl, the type you would expect to hear around harujuku, to some odd english voice that sounds rather... annoying and put on. Here's the best comparison video I could find:
Maybe I think I'll make one myself to make the point at a later time, but Final Fantasy XIII's english voice isn't even the worst part of the localization. Actually, there's some voice actors that do a pretty damn good job making a convincing double.
The worst part about it is the translations. Many moments of the game you hear something that's some sort of fucked up hybrid between Japanese and English. Like someone answering someone by saying a "N" sound, which in English means absolutely nothing to me. Small things that make the English version very unconvincing, and make it just seem like it's bad writing in general. Stuff that works in Japanese, but not in English. This is something that can be said ABOUT ALL English translations of games. To be fair, the translation has it's moments, and it does an ok job trying to fit things within a reasonable length given to them. But having said that, there should really be dual language support, specifically since that is something that has been apart of many other modern games and has been apart of many mediums for many generations. Imagine if you were french and you couldn't watch Star Wars in English with french subtitles, wouldn't that be fucking annoying?
The last annoying thing about localization is the mixing, this again is noticeable in any English localization of just about anything. The music is always turned down a whole ton, and the voice and sound effects generally wash out the music. However, in Japan, mixing it typically done so the music is nearly as loud as the speaker, and generally as loud as the sound effects, depending on the type. - Lack of Puzzles and Mini-Games, which really would have broken up the pacing of the game in a good way. Many of the times you feel as though the game is : Go from Point A => B, Fight Enemies, Save, Cutscene, Continue to Point C and Repeat. Dungeons lacked any sort of puzzle aspect, which every final fantasy has at some point had, and the lack of it is really apparent. To be fair, there was ONE dungeon that used puzzles, but at that point it was too little too late. As for mini-games, there were some perfect opportunities for them to add something fun but they didn't. In fact, you spend a whole period in a carnival and there's literally only ONE minigame, and that's the only one in the entire game. Not only that, but it was rather dull!
- Dungeon Design, Lack of Environment Interaction. Nothing in this world really feels "there" sometimes, because of how little you interact with the things around you. In other final fantasy games, you would generally have some sort of way to observer your environment. I think Final Fantasy IX is a good example of how it should be done. Final Fantasy XIII had a few moments of it, but certainly not enough. As for dungeon design, it's basically a straight line besides 1 secret shortcut, a few things hidden off the map, and dead ends that OBVIOUSLY contain a treasure chest in them. This isn't to say that EVERY dungeon in the game is like it, but far too many are like that!
Whew, that's about it. Hopefully you enjoy the read. Going to make this a post in my blog and probably make more posts like this in the future if you like it.
