After a long hiatus due to the holidays, SushiGames is finally back to work. We have asked Taco Blitz (remember Bejeweled?) to do another review on games. This time it’s Final Fantasy XIII. Though he hasn’t finished the game yet, we asked him to review the game based on his first 15 hours of play.
Taco:
Hello everyone. It’s Taco Blitz again... the last few days was enjoyable and fun with family gatherings, turkey, sushi, and games. Though I haven’t finished Final Fantasy XIII, I would like to share a glimpse on how the game is going so far.
At first hand, the graphic looks great. There is no telling whether it is pre-rendered or running in real time unless you look very carefully to the details. The animation was smooth, characters are lively and the background is huge and colorful. Though there are some minor glitches (when the characters are zoomed in during cut scenes), it is negligible overall.
FFXIII’s battle system is not something you can grasp straight away. The new ATB (Active Time Battle) is an ongoing system. Instead of issuing an attack when the ATB bar fills up, you are given more ATB bars where you can chain different moves at one go, making satisfying combo moves. As you progress, more ATB bars are added so you can mix and match combos as per your liking. The game lets you control one character with maximum of two CPU supporting characters.
FFXIII introduced a ‘Role’ system similar to classes in previous FF games. Each character is given assigned roles by default. For example, the role ‘Attacker’ are suitable for close combat and can inflict higher physical damage, else the role ‘Blaster’ can cast spell attacks for elemental damage. The roles are interchangeable during encounters and can mix and match between characters to suit the battle situation. There is a limit break for every enemies you encountered, where breaking the limit will stun you enemy and you can launch enemy to the air and perform ariel combos, devil may cry style.
Summoning is similar to FFXII. When summoned, you fight along side with the summons. Summons can transform themselves during ‘driving’ mode in which characters can drive them to perform deadlier combos and finishing moves.
Weapons can be upgraded by fusing loots on it. However, I don’t find any elemental upgrades yet.
FFXIII is a very linear game in my first 15 hours play. Its way too linear that almost every five minutes of game play you will get cut scenes. The settings and characters remind me a lot of FFX. For non Japanese speaker like me, it’s overwhelmed every time I go through the cut scenes, not knowing what they are talking about. There are some cut scenes that will ‘wow’ you, but not much. Most cut scenes involves two or more characters talking to each other, telling their own stories, shouting at each other, and act cute ^^.
Overall, the graphics and battle system has already won over my heart. The graphics are by far the most beautiful and advance to date. However, I find that developers are overdoing on the cut scenes to tell the story. I spent most of the time watching lengthy cut scenes rather then playing the game. All in all, it is still an impressive game and worth the wait.
Ratings: 9/10
SushiGames would like to take this opportunity to wish all readers and SushiGamers a
Happy Blessed New Year 2010!
Think Sushi, Think Games ^^
