Absolute garbage wrapped up in Final Fantasy packaging
Final Fantasy XIII is not a good game. The story is poorly delivered and makes little sense unless you refer to the Datalog. The characters constantly speak in non sequiturs. The first TWENTY hours is a series of hallways mixed with tutorials. Side characters are introduced, only to quickly disappear or reappear after dozens of hours. The CGI cutscenes feel out of place introducing gameplay ideas, settings and environments not found in the actual game. The item upgrade system is barely explained but necessary to pursue. The latter half of the game feels like a giant waste of time with optional monster hunt quests and regular enemies with ridiculous health pools. The whole game lacks a solid vision and feels like a combination of several rejected Final Fantasy games.
The gameplay is an evolution of the Jobs system found in FFX-2 called the Paradigm system. The Paradigm system allow each character to dynamically swap from 6 roles while in combat: Commander (phy dps), Ravager (mag dps), Sentinel (tank), Synergist (buffs), Saboteur (debuffs) and Medic (healer). The game is mostly automated. Your 2 party members will always use skills based on their paradigm role and the character you control is mostly going to use the Auto-Battle choice. I found the system quite fun as it cuts out the boring bits of RPG gameplay such as healing characters that are low in health or treating characters with status ailments. I would switch to a healing Paradigm and let my characters do the work. This game emphasizes the importance on the strategic team decision making and character building over selecting individual moves and skills.
I cannot recommend Final Fantasy XIII even at its’ best moments. The story and characters are a complete disappointment. The optional quests were boring. The whole game felt like a complete waste of time. This is my least favorite Final Fantasy and I think is even worse than the hot garbage that is FFX-2. There is something wrong, when my most memorable part about this game is not the story, not the characters but the Paradigm system.
