A good review, my sentiments exactly.

I fucking hate this game.  I'm not going to wait 15 hours for it to finally make me give a shit about its terrible story, or to give me an ounce of fun.  My game time is precious enough, I'm not going to waste it on a meaningless piece of pretentious, self-righteous tripe like this.  Glad you found something good out of it Brad, but I don't have the time to wait for the fucking thing to get its act together.  Worst-paced game I've ever played.

Good review,
 
rented, was pretty mediocre.

I think reading the comments here made my day a little better. Some people just won't allow folks to have an opinion.

Hey Brad, not sure if you know (your text can be interpreted a bit ambiguously) but Nobuo Uematsu didn't compose the soundtrack for this game. It's Masashi Hamauzu. Whether that supports your argument even more, well, you can decide.

" Brad does not appreciate great games. "

Brad does not appreciate great games.

Brad, you can borrow my flame shield if you want.
 
 
also i was kinda expecting a video review but still, giant bomb has the best reviewers so this is (obviously) a great and honest review with no bias (looks at billions of other sites)

The level scheme is too complicated?  It took me all of ten seconds to figure it out... hold down X and make things light up, when at a "fork" in the tree choose the direction you want to go and hit x some more... I do agree that ability descriptions weren't always very descriptive but if I was able to figure it out without reading the manual or using google anyone should be able to figure it out because I'm the dumbest person I know.
 
I like what they did with their focused content.  Having a world map to explore is nice but often tedious.  Feeling obligated to search every last dark corner in a town for a hidden chest or item is not something I miss.  Instead of focusing on artificially increasing the length of the story with large open world areas they chose to increase the length of the game by having more content.
 
I don't understand how anyone could seriously miss a largely dead ghost town of an open world and explorable cities.

The only FF13 review that matters is finally here!!
 
I totally understand Brad's frustration at the almost brutally linear path that so many modern JRPGs take. One thing I think we all loved about the majority of the other FF games (especially FF8) was that you could take a few days grind, do some side-quests and level up.
 
Feeling like your being dragged along like a bull with a ring in its nose is not fun for an RPG. And neither is waiting for 20 hours before you can go out and actually have some fun.

Brad is right about the game it does take a long long time to ramp up.
 
Bad things. 

1. Long ass start up time. I found the game quite boring and repetitive until i got to the part with Sazh and Vanille where you're warned about the armoured lizards, for me this is where the battle got interested.
2. The weapon upgrading is more opaque than a librarians tights (the old lady kind not the bayonetta type). i had to get online to learn about how to upgrade the weapons past T1
3. Fuck off Leona Lewis we don't want you in Final Fantasy.
4. And finally Vanille's and Snow's script writer and Voice actors should be shot. After some thought I realise why they used australian voice actors because any other strong english accent sounds too jokey just imagine fang and Vanille using an indian or irish accent.

1. The Battle System is almost perfect. Once you get all the jobs and characters the feeling you get after you completely waste an enemy is almost indescribable. But I don't like how you can only control one summon at a time and are limited to one every few battles they look awesome and i used less than 10 the entire way through the game. Even worse was i had to control Hope to use Alexander.
2. The graphics are insanely good. This game is very, very pretty and the cutscenes are equal to what Pixar puts out, The cutscene between chapters 11 and 12 is absolutely mind blowing if you have the 360 version find a friend with the PS3 version and watch it.
3. I thought the story was brilliant it has a long introduction but then it really gets good  SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

• Fang and Vanille's return to their village is particularly heart wrenching.

" I'm glad you finally got the review out bro...hope there is a video review. I have FFXIII...but i'm still hesitant to play it. The review was really helpful. Cheers mate "

" I don't wish to be rude but what good is a review of this game this long after it's released. Who does this review serve? "

the battle system scares the hell out of me. but fuck it. im going to give it shot!
 
 
P.S.
Brad, if you could please give us a quick look of the game in action in the later parts where is really ramps up. That would be awesome and i love you long time =)

" FFXIII is pretty great, the only thing that bothers  me is the fact that the Paradigm animations can take WAY too long (while you're still getting hit) . The story and battle system are awesome imo. "

 Great review, Brad. I want to play this game but it seems my reservations about the lackluster pacing and linearity have been confirmed. Maybe I'll pick this up for cheap(ish) sometime in the future.

" Excellent review.  The score is exactly the what it should be.  The game is good, just not great.  It's a competent JRPG, but that's really about it. "

" @hamchan said:

" @Peanut said:

but achievements = trophies.

haha no one cares about trophies "

The elusive Final Fantasy XIII review, finally. Take a break, Shoemaker. You've earned it.

I'm glad you finally got the review out bro...hope there is a video review. I have FFXIII...but i'm still hesitant to play it. The review was really helpful. Cheers mate

" @Zenaxzd said:

" @CL60 said:

" I still don't see why everybody is complaining about it being linear...it's just as linear as every other Final Fantasy. It just doesn't throw an illusion that it's not in our face. "

Indeed, it is structured very much like X which no one had a problem with then. It just became overblown on the internet, it really isn't that different and hell the story justifies it and the game opens up when the story goes in that direction where you would expect it to open up, course that is completely overlooked by most people, this review too. "

Did you not read the first two paragraphs? He talks about the point where you are finally able veer right or left.  "

The west meets east, metaphorically and literally. I guess microsoft lost if this were a race. I shall now fap to my own existance (intentanal mispelling).See what I did just then?

Great review brad. Unalike most sites you actually put in the hard hours and went through it all.

" @Peanut said:

but achievements = trophies.

" Brad's obsession with the fucking resolution of the cut-scenes really puts me off. I've got both consoles, but achievements > shitty cut-scenes.  "

Final Fantasy has always been linear, better this than some crappy overworld with crappy random battles I say.

" @CL60 said:

" I still don't see why everybody is complaining about it being linear...it's just as linear as every other Final Fantasy. It just doesn't throw an illusion that it's not in our face. "

Indeed, it is structured very much like X which no one had a problem with then. It just became overblown on the internet, it really isn't that different and hell the story justifies it and the game opens up when the story goes in that direction where you would expect it to open up, course that is completely overlooked by most people, this review too. "

I completely agree with this review. 
This is also a mildly pointless comment, I guess. :O

" Great review even though you are about a month late to the party :) "

Great review even though you are about a month late to the party :)

I did not expect this at all. How dare you have an opinion, Brad Shoemaker??!!
 
:P

FFXIII is pretty great, the only thing that bothers  me is the fact that the Paradigm animations can take WAY too long (while you're still getting hit) . The story and battle system are awesome imo.

I think the combat is quite horrible myself, they should have ditched the real-time stuff it really detracts from strategy as you have about 1 second to think about what to do next instead of careful planning and consideration. Controlling only 1 character in combat is also abit boring, sure paradigms are cool but they should have been optional for those easy-to-defeat mobs.  
 
Quite dissapointed in this game actually, it could have been much more. 
 
And whats up with vanilles dialect, can she make up her mind? :)

" Sad to see the Final Fantasy series die out like this. It was all Square's fault for not trying to adapt to the changing marketplace of better games and game design. At one point, this series was the best of the best, and now it is just average POS like 90% of the games out there.  No one will even remember this game by the end of the year.  Good riddance I say. And can we get rid of the whole JRPG classification? They should be rated and reviewed at the same high standard that all other, superior RPGs are rated on.  

Seems a little high for a game that takes that long to get fun at all.

After reading Brad's review, I feel a little better about passing on this game.
I'll probably pick this up in the bargain bin in a few months.
 
I'm glad I chose Resonance of Fate.

" Brad's obsession with the fucking resolution of the cut-scenes really puts me off. I've got both consoles, but achievements > shitty cut-scenes.  "

" Sad to see the Final Fantasy series die out like this. It was all Square's fault for not trying to adapt to the changing marketplace of better games and game design. At one point, this series was the best of the best, and now it is just average POS like 90% of the games out there.  No one will even remember this game by the end of the year.  Good riddance I say. And can we get rid of the whole JRPG classification? They should be rated and reviewed at the same high standard that all other, superior RPGs are rated on.   Good review, although it seemed like you gave the game mercy points (stars?). "

you could feel the honesty in this review lol. bummer, now i'm having doubts about picking it up, determining if i really care that much to trug through the beginning.

" I think it only right that Brad go back to the 360 version and finish his play thru.  For the integrity of the review process. "

Brad's obsession with the fucking resolution of the cut-scenes really puts me off. I've got both consoles, but achievements > shitty cut-scenes. 

" I still don't see why everybody is complaining about it being linear...it's just as linear as every other Final Fantasy. It just doesn't throw an illusion that it's not in our face. "

Brad should've addressed the plot more. For one the narrative is poor. Plot points are eluded to and obscured leaving you in the dark until someone wants to monologue every last little detail in the most melodramatic way. And not just plot points or bad guys, the main characters do this everytime. They announce what they're feeling, what they thought, and how they were wrong to do so in the same kind of over revealing, melodramatic way. If this was a book it would be committing literary brain hemorrhaging. There are like a thousand ways to develop characters, reveal mysteries, hint at plot points, and expand story without the same dumb use of in your face monologuing.

I mean, seriously, think about it. It happens like 3 times a chapter and it does not provoke anything. The characters are so easy to read as well, so when they spill their guts and melodrama out like some teenage girl its like literary vomit. There is also problems with a clear badguy. Every great save the world story has a great villain. Darth Vader, Sephiroth, Kefka, whoever. 
 
The gameplay is good, the graphics beautiful. The game is a slow burn, has serious pacing issues, and didn't captivate nor capture me in anyway. 

I still don't see why everybody is complaining about it being linear...it's just as linear as every other Final Fantasy. It just doesn't throw an illusion that it's not in our face.