(NB This review was based on an imported version of the game, with text and audio in Japanese.)
There was once a game deeply different, a special game. A game that dragged on with each release and inaccessible to new quality standards not only his own saga, but the whole industry of electronic entertainment. A game that i (million) fans waited spasmodically, counting the days, make sure that their high expectations were not disappointed. A game that was not just a game, but an emotional experience extraordinary, capable to shake our minds and hearts of people.
That game no longer exists. Final Fantasy died in 2002, with the European release of the splendid tenth episode. E 'dead in silence, without making any noise, so much so that many do not yet have been noticed. But almost everyone knows, consciously or unconsciously, that since then things have not been the same.
We are in 2010 and that game is legendary by now only the name - a name that is still millions of dollars and still manages to generate hype at a significant level in the people videogiocante. I find myself here in this cold January, to say the obituary of my favorite games, what made me dream and think more than any book or film, the main reason that led me and brought to challenge the pad over the past ten years.
now are too big to make a fuss. I still had twelve or fourteen years, I probably feel as if I had an arm amputee. But now I have so many thoughts in my head - study, work and pussy - that the decline of Final Fantasy sorry I can only superficially, as it should be (otherwise I would need a psychologist ). Still a bit 'of bitterness there. The bitterness dry and tedious that catches me when I lay eyes on the cover of Final Fantasy XIII , or when I insert the Blu-ray disc in the PS3 just to remove some puffing minutes later.
It 's a fact that all my favorite sagas have gone to hell with the advent of this generation HD Resident Evil, Silent Hill , Tomb Raider, Soul Calibur , Grand Theft Auto ... The only one that is still somewhat resistant Metal Gear Solid, though I shudder at the thought of the next episode, which will be multiplatform and will be following the unpleasant subtitle "Lightning Bolt Action" (not really appropriate for a stealth game, it will agree with me). Those that do not have worsened so sensational, migrated on handheld consoles ( Suikoden, Valkyrie Profile , Jak & Daxter ) or have disappeared into thin air ( Breath of Fire, Bloody Roar , Onimusha, Dino Crisis , Wild Arms ).
In this scenario already a disaster, the passing of His Majesty Final Fantasy - finally arrived with the disgraceful chapter thirteen, I am going to review - it seems the last act of a Shakespearean tragedy or an ancient prophecy. The stars are aligned now, the harsh reality is finally visible to all (or should be ...) and I find myself, despite myself, with my computer and my disappointment, to tell you things that maybe you never wanted to read.
Already
FF X-2 FF XII and had raised several doubts in fans. The optimists were clinging to what little 'that was good in both games to defend them from criticism of the defeatists with each other and that - obviously, or secretly - hoping they were simple mistakes, which would stain were soon washed. But the third consecutive defaillance (not counting the horrible spin-offs that have punctuated these years: junk like Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core , Dissidia and the entire Crystal Chronicles ) one wonders if there are still excuses to bring up, or not quite the case of recognizing that the saga is in the midst of a violent identity crisis that is shrinking in the shadow of itself. A condition which perhaps there is no return.
Final Fantasy XIII is told in no uncertain terms, a squalid business transaction. A little 'as FF X-2, but with the aggravating circumstance of not being a spin-off, but a chapter in the main series and the first of the new generation.
It 'obvious that it was developed without passion, without ideas, without any effort whatsoever. I wanted to write "without courage," but in reality it takes a lot of courage to post a J-RPG that makes a mockery of all the canons of the J-RPG. And not to replace them with something else, but instead leaving huge gaps and obvious.
Removed the patina of shiny graphics (the only outstanding aspect of the game, even if it does not bear comparison with Uncharted 2 and other recent productions Western), what remains is a J-RPG anonymous voted to absolute minimalism, where the characters have only three-to-head stats (HP, physical strength and magical power) and the game world is reduced to an infinite sequence of corridors. Disguised as mines, forests and temples, but still corridors.
There are no cities in Final Fantasy XIII . There are no inns to rest between a crossing and the other, there are no shops to visit, there are people to listen to unearth clues about how to proceed in the adventure or to be entrusted with missions. The exploratory element is absent in the game and the way forward is only one, clearly visible. There is no kind of deviation from the trail and is also not allowed to retrace their steps back over the areas already traversed. FF XIII is even more linear action game like Ninja Gaiden or God of War, which are a relatively large with a good dose of backtracking and dissolve their inherent with repetitive puzzles and other diversions (while in FF XIII is not not even a hint of puzzle or puzzles are totally absent and even the mini-games, unlike the other chapters of the series).
sounds like a joke (for those who do not laugh), but it's true.
Only at the end of the game, after at least 25-30 hours of pure boredom, the characters find themselves suddenly thrown into a vast plain, to explore far and wide and in whom they can devote to optional lenses ... but then it is too late. Who has not already left the game out of boredom, however, will find hard to gloss over the frustration felt before.
If you think this is the only or the main flaw of the game ... Well, think again. There are at least two others of equal gravity, to which is added a long series of more or less venial faults, ranging from unexplained smudges in polygonal modeling (fingers, elbows and shoulders squared) to a soundtrack does not always equal, rising plot for a flawed and needlessly sickly sweet that is receiving much criticism from people who know Japanese and can understand the dialogues of the game (I can not, therefore I abstain from judging the goodness of the script: I will only say that "nose" did not seem nothing exciting).
The other two flaws I mentioned particularly serious concern respectively the combat system and character development, which I shall now consider in detail. The combat system of
FF XIII is a variant of the classic ATB system that, while not entirely evil, and indeed working quite well, sacrifices the strategy and depth that you would expect from a J-RPG on the altar of 'immediacy and spectacle. The fights are fast, fast. To the point that we often fail even to understand what the heck is happening on the screen.
The idea of \u200b\u200bmaking the battles more fluid is not, in itself, negative. It 'a painful but necessary step for a genre that now begins to show the infirmities of age. This type of radical innovation is precisely what one would expect from Final Fantasy series more than once that has influenced the entire genre of J-RPG and established - for better or for worse - the example to follow. Unfortunately, the developers of FF XIII went well beyond the useful and necessary. A little 'as Resident Evil 5 , which mimicked Gears of War and lost sight of its original nature of survival horror, or as the last Prince of Persia , having reached the extreme point of eliminating the game over the foolish presumption to appease the players, this Final Fantasy you turn ninety degrees to the modern trends that want the game even easier, more immediate, more accessible even by those who have little time or little desire to engage.
You control one character at a time, with the other two completely entrusted to artificial intelligence. Even for the character directly controlled (the leader, as defined in the game) there is a convenient function that deals with Auto-Battle to automatically select the most useful moves for every situation, transforming the battles in a hectic and pressure of the slavish X button All in a bath of special effects and stunts that serve to distract the player and sick with the graphical prowess offered by modern console, even had a snake that needs to be hypnotized.
The only element-like strategic is constituted by the 'Optima System "(a feature that, for the admission of the developers, was included in the game at a later time, apparently to give a semblance of decision-making power to the player). There are six "roles" that can be assigned to each character: Attacker, Blaster, Healer, Defender, Jammer and Enhancer. The Attacker performs only physical attacks, the Blaster uses mainly elemental magic, healing spells the Healer, Defender assume a defensive posture and put on the front lines to "absorb" most of the shots, the Jammer adversely affect the status of Enhancer affect positively the enemies and that of party.Prima to wage battle through the main menu, you can save it to your liking until you are "training" for example Attacker-Blaster-Blaster or Defender-Attacker-Healer, or Blaster-Blaster-Blaster ... and so on. During the fight, pressing the L1 button opens a window with a list of all the "training" stored, and can-switched instantly between one and another.
Moving from training to another is simple, fast and (at least initially) funny. The strategic element is enclosed all of the battles here, or in experiencing different combinations of roles and understand what is the most appropriate grid for each situation. Other than that, does not require any other type of strategy, since just press the button continuously "Auto-battle" and the characters if the expedite alone. Add to that HP's
you reset yourself after each battle, the ability to start from the beginning of that same battle if ... Game Over and understand well that this FF has a simplified structure of the game beyond belief. For someone like me, usually with trinkets which amuses Shin Megami Tensei , play FF \u200b\u200bXIII is how to move from university to kindergarten.
The summons are just six - one for each main character - and for the first time are less of a historical presence, that of Ifrit, and Shiva is represented with a unique design and totally unusual: no longer an icy lady, but of a different complexion twins who share the power of the ice and can perform in a vaguely lesbian choreography (see to believe) before joining to form a motorcycle. It 'good to clear that all the summon of FF XIII can be transformed into a mechanical device of some kind, each time consuming sections of a bar that gradually fill up again battle after battle. These stages in-vehicle replace the so-called Limits of the preceding chapters. On those occasions, it has more direct control of the character and perform combo (very basic) like in a fighting or action game, reading the keystrokes to a meager selection of moves that appears on the screen.
The character development system, called Crystarium, there is really little to say: This is an abridged version and ultra-simplified Sferografia of FF X, where you'll spend the points earned at the end of battle (CP) to acquire various upgrades, but where, however, is almost impossible to decide the order in which unlock upgrades and you are forced to follow a path already mapped out. On balance, is a graphical representation of the visible and old, never-ending system of Level Up, in which the parameters of the characters go up at regular intervals according to a predefined scheme. Which is pretty absurd: he might as well bring the matter directly to Level Up, as in many other episodes in the saga, and save me the hassle of having to manually acquire power-ups every five minutes.
From any point of view you look at it, this Final Fantasy resembles a colossal taken for a ride. It stinks of the smell of blatantly commercial products, those made without any regard for the audience, with the one and only purpose of selling as many copies as possible, preferably with minimal effort. A thesis supported by the fact that this will be the first (and hardly the last) Final Fantasy platform, the questionable decision to include as a main theme of the Western version of a song of American singer Leona Lewis (in place than that, not at all bad, written directly from the composer of the game and sung by idol Hamauzu Masashi Sugawara Sayori), or with an unusual lineup of development followed the creation of the game (originally planned for PS2, FF XIII was designed to PS3 entusistica the public reaction after the infamous technical demo of FF VII , then become a platform as a result of secret agreements with Microsoft, and about four years of development it seems that more than half have been spent only for the loan point in the White Engine, the game engine). Already
FF X had gone dangerously far along the path of linearization and cinematograficizzazione (while remaining a valuable member of the genus by a series of successful features), while the XII had introduced the novelty of fighting dangerous managed largely AI, the summon relegated to a secondary role and a character development (through the Licensing) devoid of the necessary thickness. The XIII does nothing but draw liberally from the worst elements of both games, creating a hybrid of rare ugliness. And unfortunately lacks a memorable cast as that of X or a world wide and full of life as that of XII that compensate for gaps in the gameplay.
What remains is a game to forget and leave without hesitation on store shelves, in the pious hope that the criticisms gathered serve to Square Enix to reconsider their plans. No doubt some will try to pass it off as yet another masterpiece in the saga of a seemingly perfect (the 39/40 of Famitsu is a clear indicator of things to come), as there is no doubt that certain players succeed, despite all the problems the game suffers, to have it pleasure (de gustibus ...).
But who grew up with the historical chapters of this series, who wept bitter tears at the death of Aeris still echo in my ears and hear the funny laugh of Kefka, who is excited about the stories love of Tidus and Yuna and Squall and Rinoa, who is still touring the world in search of treasure with Zidane and his chocobo ... for all of you, sorry to say but after touching FF XIII will remain in the hands of only a handful of flies and many sweet memories of the past. And maybe a shudder of disgust at the way in which a video game legend unshakable turning tricks in the market for all to see, or at least those who do not want to be blind at all costs.
now be averted Final Fantasy Versus XIII that the (very little, actually) material released so far, it seemed much more inspired and hopeful of his party. Not by chance the item is drawn and directed by Tetsuya Nomura and the melodies of Yoko Shimomura, the authors of that that Kingdom Hearts is one of the few good things born out of Square Enix recently. If the Versus XIII should disappoint the expectations of the public, I believe that no more dare to talk about Final Fantasy as a megalith of the gaming landscape, but those magazines and those networks that for sordid necessity or pure habit, you acronisticamente insist on singing the praises of this new era of gaming shaky as a smiling father accompanying his daughter to the altar where convolerà wedding with a mobster.
Farewell, Final Fantasy . Or maybe goodbye. Why hope, you know, is always the last to die.
Rating: 5
