Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 4

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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 part of the story to be able to use it. Once defeated the summon may be called into battle with TP to fight alongside the character or be ridden where button presses will perform various moves.

Growth and leveling opportunities are presented in the form of the Crystarium system and equipment modification. You may use crystal points to proceed along a series of crystals representing abilities and bonuses to HP, attack, magic. Etc... There is a set of these crystals for each role the character can play. You don't need to worry about which role to focus on as each character will need to be proficient in all of their roles, but you can choose to skip some crystals, or allot more of your points to one or the other of the roles or specific abilities you want to level. Also weapons and equipment can be upgraded by consuming various items you've collected via a menu in the save terminal. The save terminal is also where any shopping is done).

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

Return to, Final Fantasy XIII Review for PS3 - Part 1

• Follow the link if you're interested in importing the Japanese version of this game for PS3.
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• or here if you want the US version but are outside the US.