| Final Fantasy XIII   | 
| From: Square Enix
Category: Video Games
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $55.99
as of 3/11/2010 04:21 CET details
You Save: $4.00 (7%)
New (13) Used (6) from $55.00
Seller: Kgrillz
Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 2
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
Genre: role_playing_games
ESRB: Teen
Media: Video Game
Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Age: 12 - 20 years
Operating System: PlayStation 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6
Memory Card
MPN: 91001
Model: 15783001
UPC: 662248910017
EAN: 0662248910017
ASIN: B000FQ2DTA
Release Date: March 9, 2010 (New: This Week)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| |
| Features:
| • | Newest installment of Final Fantasy features futuristic civilization illuminated by the Light of the Crystal | | • | Features the latest in cutting-edge technology | | • | Provides tangible, intuitive controls | | • | Delivers seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and stunning in-game cinematics | | • | Developed by Square Enix |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
 Prepare for Linearity March 9, 2010
Travis Harris (Sacramento, CA USA)
47 out of 58 found this review helpful
I am now a little over 12 hours into Final Fantasy XIII. Here are my first reactions:
-As many preliminary reviewers have stated, this iteration of the Final Fantasy series is quite noticably linear in nature. Compared to the previous FF installments, which allow you to explore a vast open world from the outset and take on various optional side-quests, FFXIII gives you neither (at least for the first considerable chunk of the game). There is also little opportunity to "level grind" (although the term doesn't explicitly apply here, more on that later). You are given a proverbial "ceiling", a temporary limit to which your party members can be strengthened and developed, and for better or worse, you have to make the most of what's available to you to overcome the next challenging boss battle. Also, NPC interaction is highly limited, almost to the point of non-existence. It's like one big, long, winding corridor full of hurtles to jump. But damned if it isn't the most visually appealing corridor I've ever seen.
-Which brings us to the graphics. Square Enix has historically made painstaking efforts to keep its Final Fantasy games on the very cutting edge of the graphics scene, and FFXIII is no exception. The characters--even token NPCs--are all meticulously rendered and animated, each doing justice to the art of the series' premiere character artist, Tetsuya Nomura. Their facial subtext is unprecedented in the seires, making for very convincing performances. The way they move in battle is consistently a treat to watch, particularly in Lightning's case, as she vaults and flips about, slashing up baddies and tossing fireballs around the arena. Despite participating in chaotic battles with as many as 10 enemies on-screen, I've noticed absolutely no lag or slowdown in the framerate. The environments are positively SPECTACULAR in both their scope, lighting, and design. It's enough to make you cry, knowing that you're chained to a single path and unable to freely explore these awe-inspiring vistas. The prerendered cutscenes are even more beautiful, in my opinion surpassing the taut action and visual appeal of even the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete [Blu-ray] feature film. They occur fairly often, and they're an absolute joy to watch.
-About battles: the new battle system is a great departure from what FF vets might be used to. There are up to three party members fighting on your side, and you directly control the actions of the leader only. The other two members provide AI support based on their role in your party's currently active Paradigm (a battle plan that assigns specific roles to each party member, and can be changed on-the-fly at any time). Timing these Paradigm Shifts is the name of the game, otherwise you'll get pummeled in short order. Gone are the days when you'd have to manage your party's HP and MP between battles; HP is automatically refilled for all party members (even KO'd ones) after every battle, and MP is non-existent. Magic spells take the form of elemental techniques that are seamlessly integrated with physical attacks and other special techniques, in long hitstrings that cost only ATB Meter stocks. The focus is not only to survive and win battles, but to finish them quickly and decisively. It pays to have your strategy thought through before challenging the next group of enemies. Judiciously switching Paradigms in mid-battle is indespensible to victory, and necessary to receive a 5-star rank at the end of the battle, and ultimately more valuable spoils. Summons take the form of Eidolons, who join you as AI-controlled battle buddies when called upon. You can also press Square to enter the Eidolon's "Gestalt Mode", wherein it tranforms into some sort of vehicle that the summoning character rides on/in, unlocking new attack options and enabling you to execute the Eidolon's ultimate technique on command. It takes some getting used to, but the game offers plenty of tutorials to explain how to make the most of the options available to you. Personally, I find this new battle system to be a lot of fun.
-Character levels as you know them are gone as well. Your party members' stats are boosted through the expenditure of Crystogen Points (CP) in the Chrystarium Development system (very similar to the Sphere Grid system of FFX). As you advance through the Chrystarium, you gain new techniques and spells, and increase the levels of each character's available Roles. What does level up are your weapons and accessories. Spoils you earn in victory can be spent to allocate Experience Points to your equipped gear, raising their stat bonuses and special attributes, and even transforming them into other, more powerful items. I guess this is your incentive to shoot for that 5-star battle score.
-Okay, so it's linear. It hasn't bugged me one iota thus far, and I'm having a blast playing FFXIII. The story is deep, mysterious and compelling, and the characters each have very interesting, multi-dimensional personalities.
The long wait is all worth. Enjoy the big budget bonanza March 9, 2010
ice grizzly (Dream Land)
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
With so many crap shoot publishers like EA, it is nice to see SE pouring money on its pinnacle title. This review is without any spoilers, no worries. I have played a big portion of the game, WOW WOW WOW. The game is awesome smooth and grand. The initial portion is more like a hybrid of Western action title and JRPG. You are pushed down a straight path, similar to Gears/Uncharted. Move into an area, clear enemies and move on the next. It feels very refreshing as you will be constantly introduced to new skills and upgrades. By the time you get the entire arsenal and understand the combat system it will be 30 hrs in and the game opens up at the right time. If it had opened up a little earlier, you will be left to scratch the head. So it is 30 hrs of story & combat building and 30 hrs of exploration. Perfect balance. You will never notice that you have already spent 30 hrs in learning the combat mechanics as it is very deep and satisfying.
The battle system is the best we have ever had in any RPG before. Yes we have seen slow mo shooter this and that, nothing this deep and well flushed out. Every battle requires a different strategy. You can't go all offense or defence and win every thing. Every monster you fight requires you to think and solve like a puzzle. You need to setup different paradigms. Simply put they are sets of characters with specific jobs and abilities. AI is very smart and they can take care of them selves. It took so long for AI to be independent and not run directly into line of fire. You will be switching in and out of paradigms multiple times during the fight. Try different combination before settling down. Combat is a visual selectable.
Don't miss it. Yes we have a abundance of AAA titles. But nothing this grand and epic. If it was a book, it will be 700 pages. It is one of the well flushed out stories that you can find in digital entertainment. Romance, valor, sacrifice, friendship all add up to a very satisfying epic novel feel. I felt lucky that I was able to borrow and play the Japanese version. SE has redone the lipsync for English version. Voice acting and script is top notch.
Final Fantasy XIII Review plus compared to Other Final Fantasies March 10, 2010
Hassan B. Bn Hadhram
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Final Fantasy XIII is a Victim of bad gaming journalism, This review is spoiler Free, i have finished the game (And already made a full english walkthrough for the game in youtube if you search "HassanAlHajry" thats me!
Anyway unlike other reviewers who rate a game they didn't finish and rate the game for what they want it to be instead of rating it as what it's, i will Talk about FFXIII alone, then i will compare it to other FFS and i will talk about the game for people who have never played an rpg before.
Ladies and Gentleman Final Fantasy is back indeed even though it's not the perfect Game overall , it's perfect in many other things
So what do you expect from this game?
First of all Storyline, the storyline is epic and emotional, fill with drama and an amazing Cast, i was never attached to any other FF cast like the Final Fantasy XIII team, the amount of Cut scenes about the characters story is massive, you can take any FFXIII character and i guarantee you their story will be far more interesting and emotional than the Entire FF12 story, they did focus at the characters story a LOT, there are no character with no purpose or just wondering around plus the storyline is not about "saving the world" it's way more than that but i can not explain it because that would spoiler the story
Gameplay is as epic as it gets, trust me if you plan to repeat any older FF do it now before you play FFXIII, it will be hard to go back to the classic battle system after playing FFXIII, There are 6 Jobs for the battle system (Attacker/defender/Buffer/Debuffer/Magician/Healer) you can switch between jobs during the fights and you will have to do it to survive, for example some attacks will do +2000 damage to your hp with 1000HP, how do you survive? you switch to defender and reduce damage to 200-300, the gameplay is super fast and doesn't feel chaotic at all once you get to know what are you doing plus it's the HARDEST FF ever even regular enemies can and will kill you if you don't pay attention, however newcomers to the RPG world do not be afraid, FFXIII is the hardest FF but it's not "unfairly hard" and there is a Reset button if you fail any battle (you wont have to reload your game and walk all the way back again)
Music, well some themes in the game are pure genius and overall it's a very good with some epic orchestra and other character related songs, the chocobo theme was a surprise (I wont spoil it you will see in the game) however it's not as good as FF7/FF8 Soundtrack in my opinion but make no mistake the quality of the soundtrack and instruments used are the best in the FF series
Production value and Graphic : You will drool again and again and again, the Best graphic, the Best CG, the Best cut scenes in the series by far, it's the best looking PS3 game i have ever seen (Uncharted 2 top it in many places like areas though, however FFXIII character models during regular cut scenes looks like CG) the production value is amazing you will be shocked on how much thought was put in the game.
After i have played FF12 i was disappointed with the lack of story and weak storyline of the main story and the characters stories, i can guarantee you that the amount of story telling in FFXIII is the highest of any FF ever, play it and you will see for yourself, after all Final Fantasy is all about the characters to me and gameplay/exploration
So this get us to the final point "Exploration" first of all people keep saying that there are no towns, well there are few towns but they are dull "no treasures to be found there and no optional quests, just towns filled with people that you can talk to and advance through the storyline" the Game is 35-40Hours long for the main storyline (With over a 50 hours of optional content), First 20 hours is completely liner and you can only follow the arrow just like FFX if you get what i mean, however right after the 20hours mark the game literally EXPLODE, you will walk through the biggest open areas in any FF and you WILL be lost hehe, those massive open areas are filled with optional content like missions/bosses/storyline character cut scenes/etc however it's completely optional you can ignore them and return to them after you finish the game (Yes they will let you control your character even after completing the game), so yes the game is not completely liner and i didn't get angry for the lack of towns because there were some in the game (Which surprised me because everyone said that there are no towns so they caught me by surprise.
In the end if you are a Final Fantasy Fan or not this game is a must buy for anyone who is interested in soild story/best battle system in any rpg/etc of the things i mentioned.
FFXIII however got one of the weakest first few hours of any FF though (By the fourth hour it will start getting super amazing and till the end of the game)
Beautiful March 10, 2010
Jessica Pomeroy
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Everything about this game is fantastic and beautiful from the graphics to the battle system, the character development, and even the music is perfect. All in all a must but for RPG players.
My First Impression Of FF13 March 10, 2010
Patrick_91 (Canada)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
So far I'm only 4 hours into FF13 and its been great! After the major disappointment (IMO) that was FF12, FF13 is a godsend. Imagine a dash of FF7 and a hint of FF10 and you get the basic mechanics of FF13. You don't get to control all your characters, you tell them what type of actions you want them to do and the AI chooses the best actions for them, be it medic,attacker, or defender. You only get to control one character that the game assigns you, usually Lighting or Snow. Unfortunately the game also gives you your party members automatically with no way to change them around. The level system has also gone back to FF10 style where you use a more refined sphere grid to gain HP,strength,MP etc...
The graphics of FF13 are some of the best I've seen on my PS3 to date,the character models are fantastically done,possibly THE best so far. The cut scenes are also fantastic and are only marginally better than the in game graphics. The menu system also has some pretty cool animations. Definitely unique. The story is also very intriguing and I could barely pull myself away from the game to write this review or even to eat!
FF13 is linear, but I like it linear. I hated the open free roaming world of FF12 that doesn't tell you were to go or lets you go to an area your not ready for and lets you get mopped around by the monsters. Apparently the game opens up at chapter 10 (out of 13). A lot of people complained about the linearity of FF13,but then way more people complained about FF12's open ended world...cant make everyone happy.
Overall this game is the best FF since FF10. And I recommend you buy it as soon as you can. I also recommend you get the strategy guide as a couple of places in the game are fairly hard without a hint. If you pre ordered it at EB games you got a free mini guide and poster. But the mini guide only covers the first 3 chapters/4 hours of the game.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 46
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
Powered by Plaza Stotes All rights reserved. In association with Amazon.
Amazon is a registered trademark of Amazon Inc. | |
