Well, I've played FFXIII up to the point where it becomes much less linear, and all there is to do is prepare for the final (two) chapters. I've seen gameplay to the end, so I guess I can give a valid opinion.
Oh yeah,
SPOILERRIFIC! warning.
"LOL NO TOWNZ?"
Actually, there are towns in the game, but not in the traditional RPG sense. They are, geographically, towns, but you can't buy items or take on quests. Why? Because your party members are wanted fugitives, there's no time for sidequests.
"This game is way too linear"
It is true that the game is heavily story driven with little else to do in terms of sidequests, but that doesn't really take away from the game. The main storyline itself is 60 hours long on a first playthrough, and I'm pretty sure that it was Square Enix's most prioritized aspect of the game. And besides, you unlock 64 mark hunts after you beat the game. They're like FFXII's mark hunts.
And now for the main part of this quick review.
Story: 19/20
It's a Final Fantasy game, what did you expect? The writing is amazing. However, some characters lack in development. While Hope's character development is extremely strong along with Fang and Vanille, other characters like Snow and Lightning have an acceptable amount of character development, but it sometimes feels like they could have done more.
The story takes place on a moon called Cocoon, floating above the ground world called Pulse. There are these beings called Fal'cie, who are basically low level gods who oversee the people. Cocoon's government thinks the Pulse Fal'cie are evil, and they deport any who come in contact with them to the lower world. The people are scared of Pulse, thinking it is a cursed wasteland. But later in the story, when the main characters themselves travel to Pulse, they find out that it is a land full of nature and life. The Fal'cie have the power to turn regular humans into L'cie, a group of humans who can use magic. These humans are given a mission by the Fal'cie, if they succeed they will be immortalized in crystal, if they fail they will turn into Cie'th monsters. The story starts when Lightning and the rest of the party try to destroy Fal'cie Anima in hopes of freeing people from the Fal'cie, but they themselves are turned into L'cie and have to fulfill their mission. There is no true "villain" in the story, the fight is against destiny itself. Submit to the will of the Fal'cie, or defy to save the world yet risk death yourself.
Graphics: 10/10
And I'm playing this on a 480i SDTV, it's going to be truly fantastic once I get an HDTV. The screenshots speak for themselves. There'll be some times where you're just going to sit there staring at the scenery.
Music: 19/20
Although lacking the traditional "Final Fantasy" feel, the music is still good. It's done by the same composer who composed for Final Fantasy X, Masashi Hamauzu.
Gameplay: 30/30
A perfect score in an RPG? Nonsense! Well, maybe. I personally have no complaints with this game. Now for a breakdown.
Sub-Category I, Battle System: 20/20
FFXIII's battle system is a hybrid between turn based and real time. Many previous FF games used the ATB (Active Time Battle) system, this game uses yet another variant of ATB. One of the things you'll notice first is the lack of an MP gauge. In order to focus more on strategy, Square Enix removed MP. Why? Well, in an interview, one of the directors said that players wouldn't want to use the best spell in a situation to conserve MP. Without MP limits, players will now have to think and use whatever is appropriate for the situation. Instead of MP, all actions take up ATB "units." Attacking takes one, same with basic spells. Tier 2 spells take up 3, and Tier 3 spells take up 5. A character's "limit break" attack will take up all the units. You start the game with two and eventually get up to 6.
Chaining attacks on enemies will fill up the Break Gauge. While magic attacks raise the gauge the most, it will drain quickly. Physical attacks won't raise the gauge by much, but it will go down very slowly. The best approach is to use physical and magic attacks in about a 1:2 ratio for best results. Once you fill up the gauge, the enemy is put into Break Status, which enables air combos. Combos done in Break Mode will do much more damage (and they look cool too). Square Enix seemed to have built the battle system around this concept, as enemies have loads of HP and will take forever to defeat without the Break mechanic.
Before a battle, you can assign various paradigms to your characters. These paradigms, such as Attacker, Blaster, and Healer, can be changed at any time in battle. For example, if I had two attackers and one blaster, but my party was damaged, I could switch to an attacker, a defender, and a healer until my HP was up to normal and then switch back. This kind of system makes players always on their toes, ready for any situation. Each paradigm also has bonuses, for example just having a defender in your party reduces all damage taken by 10%.
Sub Category II - Character Development and Customization: 10/10
As mentioned earlier, you can assign Paradigms to each character. Outside of battle, you can access the Crystarium to upgrade your characters' paradigms by using Crystal Points (think experience) earned in battle. The Crystarium looks and acts like the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X and the License Grid from Final Fantasy XII. But in this game, every Paradigm has its own "Sphere Grid." You can allocate points into each one of the paradigms for different effects. For example, adding more CP into the Defender paradigm will give a lot of HP. And adding CP into the Healer paradigm will give a lot of Magic. One problem in Final Fantasy XII was that you could give each character the same licenses and they'd essentially be copies of each other. In Final Fantasy XIII, each character has different Crystarium bonuses. For example, Vanille's main paradigms are Healer, Blaster, and Jammer. She will gain more boosts at a lower cost. If I tried to raise her Attacker paradigm, she would gain a very low amount of stats at a very high cost.
Weapons are also customizable, but more in the style of traditional FF leveling. By adding components to a weapon, it will gain EXP and level up. It can then be upgraded into a new weapon with extra enhancements.
Content: 9/10
While being 60 hours long, after beating the game, you're left with little to do besides the 64 mark hunts. But the game will still keep you entertained for a long time.
Quality (voice acting, bugs, etc): 5/6
From what I've seen in the English trailers, the translations are near-perfect. There are no noticeable bugs in the game, and the voice acting is very good in both versions.
Final Score: 92/96 (see what I did there) -> 95.8% (10/10 barely.)
It's definitely worth a play. It might not have the longevity of other Final Fantasy games, but it'll amaze you for the first playthrough.
