The effectiveness of the storytelling is well beyond previous Final Fantasies. The characters are brought together via some powerful motivations and some more capricious twists of fate, but they are split apart and you're allowed to spend time with each set of characters as you learn about their back stories and about how they are more connected than it may first appear. The characters have real reasons for their actions and behaviors and we sometimes learn things about them that color previous interactions in an entirely new light. The way that the game takes its time developing the characters and the battle system makes both of them more engrossing the further you get in the game.
Please check back for the continuation of this review of the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3.
- Follow the link if you're interested in importing the Japanese...
You can hardly see a screenshot or video of this game and not appreciate the attention that was paid to how nice this game looks. It's arguably the best looking game to come out for the PS3 to date. Because of this, I feel it's fair to be appropriately harsh on the aspect of the game where I have one of my few criticisms. The environments and backgrounds while beautiful seem sometimes a bit sparse and not always up to the quality of the character models or of other levels. Chapter 5 in particular has a beautiful but repetitive level design which is hard to excuse when the level maps are as simple as they are. Pains should have been taken to make the backgrounds varied and interesting at every opportunity. That aside, everything else is top notch and genuinely impressive.
I'm far from a connoisseur of game soundtracks but the music in Final Fantasy XIII jumps out and stands in the spotlight tine after time in this game. The crowning achievement of Final Fantasy XIII however,...
A 5 star system let's you know how well you did at the end of a battle and you will see your battles go from always 5 stars down to 4, 3 and sometimes 0 if you don't finish a battle quickly enough. This forces you adapt fast and learn the most efficient ways to eliminate various types of enemies. In later battles the fast pace can mean a quick death if you aren't careful though you can start the battle right over again from your last location with almost no penalty. This gives you a chance to figure out how to defeat a tough opponent, and respawning can allow you to go back and hone your skills.
The game eases you into the various elements of this battle system slowly over time. What begins as a fast, fairly basic and bare-bones battle system slowly becomes a fun, fast, and challenging experience worthy of the Final Fantasy name. In addition to the elements I've mentioned above there are summons that each character can perform. Each character must defeat his or her summon as...
During battle you only control one character, the leader. For this character you can chose what abilities they use based on their current role (more on that later). So let's say the enemy is weak against fire and water. If you're only controlling one character how do you get your party members to use fire and water? The answer is simple; you don't. Use Libra, you find out the enemies weaknesses and automatically your party members who have those abilities will start using them against that enemy. No tactics/gambits or any of that, your party will automatically make good use of the information you acquire without you so much as opening a menu.
Here is another example. Let's say that you are controlling Lightening (a character) and you chose for her to attack. Here's what happens. A set of attacks are queued up in a chain and the Active Time Battle gauge begins to fill. As it fills up past the first attack, hit triangle and you'll perform the attack. Let the gauge fill up all...
In FFXIII you don't spend a lot of time exploring, you don't get lost, and you understand where you need to go with only a glance at the map. If there is a side branch along the way it's short; you know there are optional enemies and treasure there. If you want to get them you only need to go down the short branch first, if not you keep going on the long branch. You don't wonder where to go, nor do you worry that you are missing anything. There are plenty of small side branches and optional enemies as you go, but you never waste time exploring a large or confusing area for minimal return on time investment.
Speaking of time investment, how many times have you made good progress in a dungeon, equipped new items, and leveled up your characters only to frustratingly die and start over from a save point? How about died while fighting a boss and had to make your way back? Have you ever had to painstakingly manage your equipment and inventory for almost as much time as you spent...
I'm going to get this over with right now; I've played over 20hrs of FFXIII and there are no towns and the boards are highly linear. Ok I said it. Are you still with me? Good. There are naysayers out there saying "What kind of Final Fantasy game has no towns?" Well, it's called FFXIII and you're probably still going to play it. Let me explain why.
Like it or hate it, Square Enix redefines Final Fantasy every iteration. Between numerals there are neither characters, world, nor even battle or level up systems that remain the same. Final Fantasy XIII is no different in that it IS different and therefore it's Final Fantasy. How is it different? I liken it to Resident Evil 4 when compared to the rest of the Resident Evil series; it's still Resident Evil, but it's not the same-old-Resident-Evil you're used to. It's like Square Enix took a laundry list of complaints about Final Fantasy XII and made a sincere attempt to rectify each and every one of them for the betterment of the...
I love the whimsy and wonder that a Japanese PS3 game can evoke by bringing together familiar elements in an unfamiliar way. A child's eyes are always wide with the wonders of a new and interesting world, but to inspire that same sense of wonder in those who are already familiar with a great many things requires no small amount of imagination, talent, and artistry. All three of these things appear to have have been brought together in Sega's 3D action title Bayonetta. Keep reading my preview to find out if Bayonetta is the Japanese fantasy-action game you've been waiting for on the PlayStation 3.
What makes Bayonetta a Japanese game? Is it politically correct or even fair to generalize about a game based on the culture that it comes from? It's hard to argue that the Japanese games industry does not produce unique games and I believe it's that uniqueness that deserves to be examined, especially when it highlights interesting things about games, gamers, our different cultures...
Dragon Age is NOT a Japanese RPG. The world of Dragon Age is based heavily on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings which of course influenced Dungeons and Dragons, the starting point of the traditional western RPG. Unlike many Japanese RPGs there is no whiny teen angst or anti-establishment themes, rather a typically-western war and political power struggle narrative. Don't let that dissuade you though. If you have any love for non-Japanese RPG at all, Dragon Age is probably the best one you've played to date. It does just about everything that a "normal" western RPG does about as good as any other one. I played Dragon Age on the PS3 and if you've played Oblivion or World of Warcraft you basically have the right idea. Mash the two together and you're not too far off. There are some notable exceptions however where Dragon Age goes way above and beyond and that is what sets it apart.
I maintain firmly that the best PS3 games are the ones that...
One of the most novel modes is the Afrika Viewer. Here you can set the game up to automatically cycle through various stationary cameras set up throughout the landscape in a dynamic video presentation. You can choose the time of day and the location you'd like to see and leave it running like a screensaver on your PS3. Use it as relaxing ambient background noise or just a way to relax for a few minutes when you are sick of trying to get the perfect shot. You can view it with the in game music turned on or off and can even choose which music track (or all) you'd like to hear. If that wasn't enough, you have the option to go online and upload your pictures. There will likely be photo contests conducted online where you can compete against everyone playing for the best photos.
Afrika is what a "casual" game should be. It doesn't belittle your intelligence or skill, but it's not a twitch game that rewards kill counts or button combos either. Unlike Pokemon Snap Afrika is not...
As a Japanese PS3 game Afrika stands in stark contrast to the closest western equivalent; hunting games. I happen to live in a rural, snowy area where deer populations will starve to death during the winter if they are too large. Hunting them responsibly is a welcome alternative that benefits the remaining deer as well as the hunters. To be honest, there are people living here who can benefit from some extra food in the winter. It also helps us stay connected to the land and to our food. There is a time and place for hunting and it can be a way for us to be stewards of the land rather than defilers of it. However, it's tremendously refreshing to encounter a game that encourages the taking of beautiful photographs over the taking of beautiful animals to the taxidermist.
A few other games have attempted photography as a gameplay element with great success, most notably Pokemon Snap and Fatal Frame, but others such as Dead Rising, Metal Gear Solid VR Missions, and Dead or Alive...
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