Final Fantasy XIII – Incoming

As if you didn’t know. When it comes to JRPGs, there’s only one franchise big enough to break the world into a sweat in the run up to release – and that, of course, is Final Fantasy. This thirteenth episode in the series is the first to launch on this generation of consoles, so expect some spookily detailed characters and an array of stunning FMV sequences presented for the first time in high definition. Multiformat gamer? The capacity of Blu-ray should make the Playstation 3 version an altogether better experience than that of the Xbox 360, with uncompressed video and the removal of disc swapping.

Just take a moment to think back over the years and picture all those moments in your mind. We’re not going to dwell on any specifics here, but throughout its 23 year history, Final Fantasy has become well known for its powerful and emotional storytelling. And that’s still the case here, with Square-Enix expecting players to grow even more of an emotional attachment to the characters than ever before because of their realistic tendencies and lifelike facial animations, including support for English language lip-synching.

The story may be wackier than ever – something that even we are struggling to fully comprehend, as it centers on lead character Lightning siding with a race of super-powered humans to bring down a floating city – but nevertheless it promises to remain utterly compelling throughout its ridiculously long 50-60 hour playtime.

It just wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy game without the Active Battle System, which returns in FFXIII, along with a few new additions. It works slightly differently to before, now allowing players to stack up a large amount of moves in advance before unleashing them simultaneously in a combo, with bonuses rewarded for particularly well thought out attacks. Each character can summon one Eidolon assigned to them by the crystal inside them. We did say it got weird. But an even bigger difference is the removal of MP. Each command now demands a set amount of ‘Cost Points’, which can be spent on stacking up whichever moves you like – provided you’ve got the points available to spend. And because of the removal of MP, you can forget about having to heal your characters post-battle, as your party’s health is automatically restored after each fight.

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Final Fantasy XIII – Review • Final Fantasy XIII – Hands On