sorry to koolkingdom for posting w/o permission on his thread but I put loadsa effort into this so I want people to look at what this has to offer:
FINAL FANTASY 13:
I can review it as my 2nd favourite game of all time (next to KH2).
PROS: The gameplay, graphics and songs are awesome. Square has enticed me with the most stunning graphics on any game I have played, with HD graphics in a wide expanse of the lush plains of Pulse and the detail of Cocoon. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system, is a rich new experience, simple yet tricky to master with the Paradigms you must create to get the edge on your foes. The musical arrangement is just fantastic, the move to incorporate Leona Lewis into the US and EU versions of the game gives a powerful ending ballad to the game, the orchestration of the rest of the in-game music fits the mood and area the protagonists are in and they range from spine-tingling tunes to edgy battle themes, wonderful. I love the character designs too, particularly partial to Lightning's "looks", Nomura you dirty dog
CONS: As much as I love this game I have to admit that the first half of the game is a bit linear, the first 9/10 chapters of the game consists of running around with two characters at a time which limits Paradigm power and it gets tiresome going from one story to another, and the story itself is a little hard to get at first, it's hard to understand what's going on sometimes and this game gets you to think a bit tooo much when it comes to putting the pieces together. It was only post-completion when I went back and did it again for a perfect save when I fully understood the story, nothing like Square's Kingdom Hearts storyline that's for sure. It gets worse, once you go along a steady line of difficulty throughout the game BAAMMM! Brick wall of getting raped by the monsters of Gran Pulse (chapter 11 I think) at the half-way point of the game, that's right, the end of chapter 10 is only the mid-point. This wall of difficulty can be overcame by clever GRINDING FOR HOURS ON END... I digress.
But after 50 or so hours, 15 of that solid grinding I completed the game and by god was it a hell of a gaming experience. Sure the story was a little bland and the grinding was tiresome but hey, the graphics, music and hearty Characters incorporated into the story made it worth not understanding fully and the grinding made me a ton of money and it set me up for the post game Crystarium expansion so it makes up for it . (The story is quite easy to get to be honest, but I skipped a load of cutscenes on my first run through SO PLEASE DON'T SKIP THE CUTSCENES PEOPLE!!)
In conclusion, I give FFXIII/FF13/Final Fantasy 13/Final Fantasy XIII/SWEET MERCY, I digress, a 9/10. If I was being generous I would mark it 10/10 for being awesome, but that's not my job here, it's to give you guys an honest review. I say 9 as pretty much all it's flaws are easily overcome by positive thinking for the grinding and not skipping vital cutscenes for the storyline. What dropped the mark for me is quite simply the fact that the storyline isn't great and that all the characters are split up by a linear story until like 15/20 hours into play .
I hope this has helped potential buyers into more Square games
Note:
If anyone needs a hand or just wants some power levelling or Gil farming tips then just drop me a message and I will happily help or even take a look at my Youtube videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mastersilversoul
sorry to koolkingdom for posting w/o permission on his thread but I put loadsa effort into this so I want people to look at what this has to offer:
FINAL FANTASY 13:
I can review it as my 2nd favourite game of all time (next to KH2).
PROS: The gameplay, graphics and songs are awesome. Square has enticed me with the most stunning graphics on any game I have played, with HD graphics in a wide expanse of the lush plains of Pulse and the detail of Cocoon. The Active Time Battle (ATB) system, is a rich new experience, simple yet tricky to master with the Paradigms you must create to get the edge on your foes. The musical arrangement is just fantastic, the move to incorporate Leona Lewis into the US and EU versions of the game gives a powerful ending ballad to the game, the orchestration of the rest of the in-game music fits the mood and area the protagonists are in and they range from spine-tingling tunes to edgy battle themes, wonderful. I love the character designs too, particularly partial to Lightning's "looks", Nomura you dirty dog
CONS: As much as I love this game I have to admit that the first half of the game is a bit linear, the first 9/10 chapters of the game consists of running around with two characters at a time which limits Paradigm power and it gets tiresome going from one story to another, and the story itself is a little hard to get at first, it's hard to understand what's going on sometimes and this game gets you to think a bit tooo much when it comes to putting the pieces together. It was only post-completion when I went back and did it again for a perfect save when I fully understood the story, nothing like Square's Kingdom Hearts storyline that's for sure. It gets worse, once you go along a steady line of difficulty throughout the game BAAMMM! Brick wall of getting raped by the monsters of Gran Pulse (chapter 11 I think) at the half-way point of the game, that's right, the end of chapter 10 is only the mid-point. This wall of difficulty can be overcame by clever GRINDING FOR HOURS ON END... I digress.
But after 50 or so hours, 15 of that solid grinding I completed the game and by god was it a hell of a gaming experience. Sure the story was a little bland and the grinding was tiresome but hey, the graphics, music and hearty Characters incorporated into the story made it worth not understanding fully and the grinding made me a ton of money and it set me up for the post game Crystarium expansion so it makes up for it . (The story is quite easy to get to be honest, but I skipped a load of cutscenes on my first run through SO PLEASE DON'T SKIP THE CUTSCENES PEOPLE!!)
In conclusion, I give FFXIII/FF13/Final Fantasy 13/Final Fantasy XIII/SWEET MERCY, I digress, a 9/10. If I was being generous I would mark it 10/10 for being awesome, but that's not my job here, it's to give you guys an honest review. I say 9 as pretty much all it's flaws are easily overcome by positive thinking for the grinding and not skipping vital cutscenes for the storyline. What dropped the mark for me is quite simply the fact that the storyline isn't great and that all the characters are split up by a linear story until like 15/20 hours into play .
I hope this has helped potential buyers into more Square games
Note:
If anyone needs a hand or just wants some power levelling or Gil farming tips then just drop me a message and I will happily help or even take a look at my Youtube videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mastersilversoul
Aaron