Final Fantasy XIII Review

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Final Fantasy XIII – First Draft

The long awaited sequel to the award winning series

By Stuart Laverty

May 28th 2008 – Rapid RPG fans have waited anxiously for the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy games to advance to their Next Generation consoles. Nintendo and Microsoft fans have never had the pleasure of hosting one of the truly great Final Fantasy games, and once again Sony exclusively welcomes the next inclusion in the series onto the PS3. Years after making a historic debut over two decades ago, the boom in popularity of the fantasy-adventure series has led to the Japanese creation to become a household name. Finally, months of anticipation have elapsed – the wait has ended – as Final Fantasy makes its long-awaited debut to the Playstation 3. However, with the apprehension based around its release, and with the unprecedented success of its predecessors, did Final Fantasy XIII live up to the hype?

What began as a miniscule cult following back in the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System has now become an RPG revolution, with Final Fantasy capturing the spirits of obsessive internet and critics alike – and has helped forge the series into a worldwide extravaganza. What this has culminated in, is the longest running series of games ever – and has helped bring this game to the next generation.

Enter the XIIIth Fantasy

Succeeding a game which has created so many iconic characters and moments can never be easy. From the legendary death of Aeris in the 7th instalment; to the timeless and tragic love story of Tidus and Yuna in FFX; all the way to last year’s cool and casual Balthier character – Final Fantasy has it all. More pressure was put on game designers when, if you were to go onto Youtube and type in Final Fantasy XIII into the search engine, you would get a trailer with over three million views. That’s anticipation for you. The question on all Final Fantasy fanatic’s minds is: did this year’s game leave the other Final Fantasy’s in their dust or will it be stuck in mediocrity? Well, it certainly holds a claim for being the most unique game, for better or for worse.

Fast as Lightning

The game introduces the mysterious warrior girl – Lightning – who explodes onto your new HD TV in dramatic fashion. The girl is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VII’s Cloud Strife, employing similar characteristics in terms of personality and even in looks – with her green eyes and exaggerated jawline. In our hands on, we argued how this character remained unoriginal, and was just going to be regarded as a shadow of Cloud Strife. While the resemblance is uncanny, as you continue through your journey the deep and dark history of Lightning becomes apparent, and it truly silences any critics.

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Lightning lives up to her name in the all new battle system. The battle system was contrived the creators, and makes the game more like a movie – eliminating any dull and tedious fighting. Once again, the no random battle concept that was first introduced in the PS2 game Final Fantasy XII returns, but has now expanded to make it more life like. No longer will you find one character standing around doing nothing while your other characters are being annihilated by a fifteen foot mutant, but will be more active. This also brought in a lot of critics, ...

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