Final Fantasy XIII

Details

Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Reviewed Platform: PS3
Game Modes: Single Player
RPVP: $19.99*
Release Date: March 9, 2010

Overview

Lightning on Gran Pulse, Cocoon is seen floating in the sky.

Final Fantasy XIII takes us to a universe where humans live in an artificial sphere called Cocoon that floats around a planet called Gran Pulse. Cocoon is ruled by the Sanctum, a theocratic government, and both Cocoon and Gran Pulse are controlled by the fal'Cie, entities of godlike power. These entities are able to mark humans as their servants, who become l'Cie, and give them a task that they must complete known as the Focus. If the l'Cie completes their Focus they turn to crystal, but if they are unable to do it in a certain amount of time then they become monsters called Cie'th. The problem is that they receive their Focus in the form of visions that must be interpreted.

One hundred years before the events of the game, a war called War of Transgression took place between both worlds where l'Cie from Gran Pulse attacked Cocoon and destroyed part of it, which had to be patched with materials lifted from Pulse. The citizens of Cocoon have since lived in fear of another invasion, fear that is used by the Sanctum to remain in power.

There are two main military forces in Cocoon overseen by the Sanctum, the Guardian Corps, responsible for keeping order in Cocoon, and PSICOM, responsible for dealing with any Pulse related threat. The fal'Cie have also given the humans advanced technology. There is also a form of magic which normally is only accessible to l'Cie, fal'Cie and various monsters but humans can also use a distilled chemical form of it. 

Plot

The purge exiles, being protected by NORA.

The game begins two of the main characters, Lightning and Sazh, being Purged (being sent to Gran Pulse) because they had been in contact with something from there. Lightning derails the train to arrive in the zone where a Pulse fal'Cie had been discovered around 13 days earlier, in an attempt to rescue her sister, Serah, that was turned into a l'Cie during that event.

Snow and his resistance group, NORA, try to rescue the Purge exiles but during that process several people are killed, including Hope's mother, which he witnesses, powerless, together with Vanille who was also to be purged. Meanwhile, Snow is trying to rescue Serah, his bride-to-be, from the fal'Cie.

Vanille encourages Hope to follow Snow to confront him about his mother's death and because of that they also end up inside the fal'Cie. They all meet up with Serah, who asks them to save Cocoon and then she turns into crystal, an indication that she completed her Focus.

In an attempt to save Serah from her current state Snow and Lightning go to the fal'Cie, followed by Sazh, Vanille and Hope. After a quick battle with them, they all turn into l'Cie, giving them the same Focus, and visions showing the monster called Ragnarok.

The game then continues with the characters trying to understand their Focus in an attempt to save themselves from their fate.

Gameplay and Difficulty

Ingame battle system.

The player is able to control any character(s) he wants (in some sections of the game that's not possible but in the majority it is). The controls feel fluid and easy to use but the camera can be annoying in closed spaces (almost the entire game is played in closed spaces) but it can be controlled easily with the right analog stick (there is the option to invert the camera control if desired). It isn't possible to jump which can be frustrating sometimes because the player has to find a marked position to be able to perform a sort of scripted jump, in order to navigate through certain areas (to jump over a bunch of boxes for example).

The maps are very linear and there isn't much to explore, at least not until the player reaches Gran Pulse, which can be explored freely. But most of the time the map is just a corridor or something similar. In Gran Pulse there are 64 side quests to do which involve killing a specific target. In Gran Pulse its also possible to ride Chocobos.

The player is able to level up a character in different roles, and in the end all roles become available to every character. The roles are: Sentinel (aka tank), Commando (melee fighter), Ravager (magic fighter), Medic (healing role), Synergist (a support role to enhance party status) and the Saboteur (this one specializes in inflicting negative status effects to enemies).

Paradigm shift.

The battle system is similar to the ATB system used in other entries like FFIX, but the player only controls one character and there is a feature called 'Paradigm Shift', where the player can quickly change the role of each party member. The party is composed of a maximum of three characters and there is a limit of six different paradigms that the player can set up to use in battle. The paradigms are a set of roles for each party member and activating that particular paradigm in battle will change each character's active role accordingly.

The game itself isn't very difficult if the player uses the Paradigm Shift feature well. The system is very easy to learn and it doesn't take long to get used to it. Each character is able to unlock an Eidolon and use it in battle by summoning it.

It is quite hard to earn in-game currency because the battles do not give any. It can only be obtained from chests or by selling items. All the equipment in the game is upgradable and every character's ultimate weapon is obtainable by upgrading any weapon that they can use. Depending on the weapon upgraded the ultimate version may have different stats.

Opinion

Chocobo riding in the open plains of Gran Pulse.

Well, in my opinion this is a good game, true its linear but that doesn't have to be something bad. Personally it isn't something that bothers me much. Although I do think that having "virtual" stores to buy/sell items in save points, practically no cities and almost nonexistent interactable NPCs is a shame, thankfully Square Enix addressed this in the sequel, FFXIII-2.

Other than that, the story can be a bit confusing if the player does not pay enough attention but its interesting and the ending is satisfactory (yeah I like endings where everything ends well, you can see my face when I finished FFXIII-2, but that's another review).

Some side quests where challenging (like the trials and the last one) which kept me from leaving the game after finishing it, so that's a plus, but the replay value is very low, mainly because the game's linearity and only one possible ending.

The Breakdown

Positive Aspects	Negative Aspects	Needs Improvement
Story and overall world. Battle system and Paradigm Shift. Side quests.	Lack of interactable NPC, including the virtual stores. No actual cities.	It might be too linear. A jumping skill would be great. The replay value.

My Playing Statistics

Time Played: 121,5 hours

Trophies Unlocked: All

Difficulty played the most: Default

*RPVP based on GameStop retail price for PS3 (New)

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

So I just finished this game called Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch and what a journey!

To start this review I have to start to talk about the soundtrack. It is beautiful, the whole soundtrack is based on a few basic melodies, which could make the soundtrack sound repetitive, but that's the thing, it doesn't. The melodies fit so well with the feel of the game that it never gets old. I'd recommend the reader to go hear some tracks.

Oliver casting "Gateway", to go to the Other World.

Next, I will talk about the characters and the voice acting. A good thing about the game is that you can choose to keep the voice acting in Japanese or change it to English. The main character (Oliver) has a child has a child voice (well duh) but the studio managed to not make it too sweet. The sidekick (Drippy, Lord High Lord of the Fairies) is a character that doesn't worry about almost anything and speaks with a Welsh accent which I think is unusual and the expressions he uses just make him even more funny. The writing is excellent as well, Drippy is dropping puns all the time and it doesn't make the game too melodramatic (Square-Enix could learn a thing or two with this game). The rest of the characters have voice acting just as good as well.

One thing that annoys me a lot is the excessive amount of dialogues you have to go through to get pieces of heart (I'll talk about them later on) and to do side-quests. I mean, it's nice to have context for everything that happens but you get a little annoyed after a while and start pressing the skip button all the way through.

The story in the beginning starts off with a tragedy which ultimately leads Oliver to the "Other World" to try to fix what happened. There he learns that an evil wizard is stealing pieces of people's hearts, like a person's enthusiasm, which leaves them brokenhearted. Oliver's goal is to stop the evil wizard and try to fix the tragedy that happened in the beginning. The story seems simple but closer to the end there are some twists that really makes it unique.

Oliver and Drippy in Ding Dong Dell

In terms of gameplay there is a lot to talk about, and I mean A LOT. The amount of content this game has is just amazing. There is an open world you can explore, first by foot, then by boat and later on by flying. The battle system allows you to select any character in your party and then fight with the character itself or with one of the familiars available to them. You can give some equipment to the characters and familiars, or give treats to the familiars to optimize the stats. The familiars can learn tricks, they can evolve (Methamorphize) and you can actually "catch" wild enemies to have them as familiars.

Oliver can use spells outside of battle, like "Chart Chests" and "Veil", to show chests that are close to him and to hide himself from enemies. There is alchemy, with which you can produce armor, weapons and consumables. There are rewards for doing side-quests too, you get stamps on cards for completing quests, and when you have a certain number of fully stamped cards you can trade them for perks, like increased battle experience and more rare drops, or increased speed while walking.

This huge amount of content can be a down side because it can be overwhelming for some people.

The battle system can be annoying and the game itself is not easy at some points. You have to be fast to block attacks, so you're able to survive through boss battles, and mana is something you will want to hold back, because you don't have much of it. There are "orbs" that drop from enemies (Drippy provides them as well) that restore a bit of health or mana, but its not much, and because only some familiars can learn a trick to resurrect you will want to keep all the consumables that can do that. Also, since you don't recover HP or MP after a battle, while on dungeons you will want to have consumables or it will be very difficult to survive.

Oliver fighting with a familiar.

The graphics are stunning, the cel-shading art style that is used in the game just fits so well with this type of

game that I couldn't think of any other way that should have been done. All in all the world looks amazing and the quality of the animation is excellent. I have just one small complaint about the cutscenes. They used still image animation and while it does look amazing the "non-fluidity" of the animation wasn't a plus to me.

This game also has end-game content, mainly a bunch of side-quests where you can side upgraded versions of bosses and such. You can also fight the last boss again if you'd like to. There is also the trophy collection for the PS3 which I might try to complete one day and it adds to the replay value.

In short, this game is a must buy for any fans of a good JRPG. The beautiful world, amazing soundtrack, clever writing and huge content will have you glued to the screen and you will want to just keep playing. 

ICO (HD)

Details

Developer: Team ICO

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Reviewed Platform: PS3

Game Modes: Single Player

RPVP: $19.99* (Includes Shadow of the Colossus) Release Date (PS2): September 24, 2001 (North America)

Release Date (PS3): September 30, 2011 (Europe)

Overview

ICO starts with a horned young boy being imprisoned inside a castle.

The game itself is basically his attempt at escaping from the castle, where the player has to solve puzzles and fight mysterious beings to protect a young lady that is also imprisoned in the castle. She ,in turn, has the power to open special doors.

Plot

The Queen

There's not much to say here, the boy finds the girl at the beginning of the game and finds out that she can open special doors. So then, they try to escape the castle. Since she can't jump, climb, and fall as well as the boy, the player will have to change the environment so that she can progress as well.

She will be constantly under attack by "shadow creatures", so you have to stay on your toes.

Halfway through the game the "queen" appears, and she looks like a combination of the girl with the shadow creatures. Obviously she doesn't want the girl to escape, but you won't know why until you reach the end of the game.

Gameplay and Difficulty

Boy and girl on a saving bench

In the game you can jump, grab things such as wood sticks, swords, bombs, etc, pull and push boxes, activate switches, grab the girl to take her with you and also call her to go near you.

You will have to use this to create paths for the girl to progress across sections of the game, and  you might need to help her jump across gaps by grabbing her or push her from a higher spot.

The game isn't very difficult or very long and there's even a trophy to complete the game in less than 2 hours (even though it took me almost 7 hours to complete it on my first playthrough). The save system is also interesting because you can only save while sitting on special stone benches and you need to sit down with the girl to be able to do it.

The attacks on the girls normally happen when they arrive at a new zone or when a puzzle is completed. Also, if the girl is left alone in a room for a long time or the boy gets too far away a spontaneous attack will occur.

There are different types of shadow creatures, some climb walls and become "shadows" for a time, becoming immune to attacks, others are human shaped and some even fly.

They will try to take the girl to their spawning points and start to dragging her inside. The boy will have to fight the creatures with his horns if he is unarmed, or with a stick/sword. If the creatures manage to take the girl to their spawning points the boy will have to push her out before she disappears and you lose.

Opinion

I think that the best word to describe this game is the word 'different'. The music is very calm and fits into the desolate castle perfectly. The puzzles are good and the whole boy/girl interaction is interesting.

The controls aren't bad, with R1 you grab or call the girl, pretty much like in Shadow of the Colossus, where you use R1 to grab on to your enemies. The graphics aren't bad for a 2001 game and the overall ambience is pretty good.

The end is amazing considering the type of game: the normal turn of events near the end, the well though last boss mechanics and the satisfactory ending make this game something that you should not miss if you're into a different type of game.

Verdict: Recommended!

The Breakdown

Positive Aspects	Negative Aspects	Needs Improvement
Good gameplay. Has a good level interaction with the environment. Seamless transition between rooms. Good puzzles. Nice soundtrack. Amazing and beautiful castle design.	Occasional pathfinding issues on the girl's AI. The speed at which she climbs ladders...	The back story could have been better explored, although it gives the whole game a nice, mysterious aura.

My Playing Statistics

Time Played: 7 Hours

Trophies Unlocked: 9/16 (43%)

Number of Times Played: 1

*RPVP based on GameStop retail price for PS3

by Regateiro (Sabexbem)

Darksiders

Details

Developer: Vigil Games
Publisher: THQ
Reviewed Platform: PS3
Game Modes: Single Player
RPVP: $19.99*
Release Date: January 5, 2010

Overview

Darksiders is a type of game that combines God of War style with The Legend of Zelda. To advance in the game you’ll have to kill hordes of demons and angels in a hack and slash combat style while having to solve puzzles and mazes where you’ll ultimately end up fighting the boss.

Plot

The game’s intro begins by telling you that heaven and hell have been always at war until an entity called The Charred Council, bound by laws to preserve balance and order, was drawn to the conflict.

The council was powerful and its enforcers were feared, a brotherhood known as The Four Horsemen, so both heaven and hell came to honour the council and a truce was forged. This truce was bound by seven seals that, if broken, would start the End War.

Then you see demons and angels falling from the sky in a contemporary world, fighting. After that you take control of one of the four horsemen, WAR, and the game begins.

Gameplay and Difficulty

WAR - The playable character

The game features three difficulty modes: easy, normal and apocalyptic, they affect the health of the enemies as well as their damage output.

The graphics are detailed and fluent and the background music blends with the scenery. The battles happen in the world so you don’t experience any kind of transition starting or finishing one. You can focus on an enemy so you are always facing him and the camera is very easy to manipulate. When the enemies are almost defeated you get the chance to kill them with a special move pressing circle, there is no mini-game if you do that but the rewards are different.

There are several dungeons where you need to complete several tasks using items you’ve collected to unlock the boss battle. Boss fights consist in doing specific objectives to harm or to be able to harm them with your weapon, so you can’t just swing your weapon until its defeated.

You can explore the whole map at any time you want (except zones that you need a specific item to access) but there really isn’t anything else to do after you’ve completed the main story. You can, however, try to collect all the pieces of the abyssal armour, because once you get it you can use it right from the start of a new game.

The game let’s you use three different weapons, a blade, a scythe and a glove. All of them can be enchanted with enchantments you find in the world. There are also four legendary enchantments that usually combines some of the normal enchantments powered up. The weapons have a level system which increases its power and they level up by being used in combat.

Combat situation with WAR's horse, Ruin

Its possible to use consumables as well and special abilities that use a “mana” system called Wrath. Your health and wrath bars can be upgraded by finding the respective health or wrath shards.

There is a special NPC that allow you to purchase combat moves, upgrades, consumables and wrath abilities, using the in-game currency. This NPC is located at specific places in the world and you will be able to use those locations to fast travel.

The controls are simple enough but the aim and throw system can become a bit confusing if you’re trying to do it fast. Fortunately you’re not required to use it much.

Opinion

WAR using the abyssal armour

For me, it is a good game. I’ve actually played it three times and got the platinum trophy, I think it has a good balance of cut scenes and playable time. The game isn’t very long nor short, which helps in its replay value.

There are a few things that I don’t like in the game though, you can fall easily from edges even if you are trying to jump over them, and if you’ve got the Power Strike move of your main weapon then sometimes you do it when you don’t want to and have to wait for the move to finish or to get hit.

The game could benefit from side quests and more NPCs because there aren’t many, although I think the world would have to be a little bit bigger for that.

Other than that, the story and gameplay were good enough to keep me playing for hours. The platinum trophy is fairly easy to get.

Verdict: Recommended!

The Breakdown

Positive Aspects	Negative Aspects	Needs Improvement
Its possible to explore the world at any time. Upgradable and enchantable weapons. Lots of abilities, powers and items. Fluent combat system. Good graphics and blending soundtrack. Well designed dungeons.	No side quests available. Low number of NPCs in the world.	Easily falling from edges. Plot could have been better explained.

My Playing Statistics

Time Played: 41 Hours
Trophies Unlocked: 43/43 (100%)
Difficulty played the most: Apocalyptic


*RPVP based on GameStop retail price for PS3