Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 1

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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 game. What was addressed? Read on and find out.

As I've played the Japanese import version of FFXIII on my PS3 my roommate began playing Final Fantasy XII on his PS3 in anticipation of XIII's March 9th release here in the US. He is an RPG player and he loves JRPGs. He's an explorer and likes to search every nook-and-cranny for loot; or rather I believe it's become a learned behavior. If you've ever made it to the end of a game only to find you missed the best weapon or lost the change at the good ending you may have started to develop a kind of completion neurosis. Final Fantasy XII did a poor job of combating this condition by presenting you with large areas where it was unclear what needed to be explored. Final Fantasy XIII directly combats this with levels that are clear and straightforward.

Read on to discover what my review of the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 has in store.

Continue to,
Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 2
Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 3
Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 4
Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 5
Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 6

• Follow the link if you're interested in importing the Japanese version of this game for PS3.
• You may want to check here if you're interested in ordering or pre-ordering the US version
• or here if you want the US version but are outside the US.