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Gamekult reviews Final Fantasy XIII - 7/10

December 30, 2009 in Reviews comments 22

RPGLand gave Final Fantasy XIII a 7/10, and now popular French website Gamekult.com has done the same. They adored the combat system, the graphics and the second half of the game, but were disappointed with the generic plot, linearity and disappointing first 20 hours of the game.

Forgive the online translation below.

[Discuss in the Final Fantasy XIII forum]

To summarize a title like FFXIII is easy. It is not a bad RPG, but a bad Final Fantasy, and a hybrid between the reflection and innovation.

The first half of the game is quite linear. The player crosses a straight line of completely empty, but sublime, environments before demolishing the boss at the end of a corridor and the various monsters which will interpose.

All the interest of the title thus lies in its unique combat system. The combat can be deliciously challenging, obliging the player to find a good formation and strategy with each new enemy. Of course, the engagements against bosses are epic moments during which the players strategy will be strongly put at contribution, finishing to make FFXIII's combat a pleasant strong point.

The first 20 hours of the game feel like a tutorial and may aggravate longtime Final Fantasy fans, but will reassure the beginners to whom the game seems largely aimed towards.
However, the splendid combat and the second part of the game are especially enthralling and impressive. Once the world opens up, the game takes a very drastic turn for the best. Everything that is presented to you up until that point is turned on its head. It is difficult to understand how two different games can cohabit. But will the players who look forward to the second part have patience to cross the first with all its linearity and repetition?

Visually, the game is very impressive, but rather poor on the level of character animations. The game's graphics are a postcard of every moment, an aesthetic challenge taken up with brilliance.

Add to that a scenario which mixes the large SF with a generic fanfic high-school girl story, and you obtain a little empty but mostly well-made plot.

The question, for the traditional RPG fans will be thus the following one: Would you be ready to eat a thick and insipid dish if you had the assurance that the last mouthful will be delicious?
Miss Razz via gamekult.com »
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  • 0
    Zero and X Dec 31, 09
    20 hours of tutorial!? That has to be an exaggeration, because that would really suck.
    • 0
      Miss Razz Dec 31, 09
      I think they're saying the first 20 hours feel like a tutorial. Not that it's an actual tutorial.
      But, yeah, there have been some complaints about the linearity of the first 20-or-so hours apparently. And that the game doesn't open up until the half-way point.
      • 0
        Zero and X Dec 31, 09
        That's pretty much what I assumed, that would sucker either way.

        Although, linearity in and of itself isn't a bad thing, so I dunno if the complaints are justified beyond personal gripes from the reviewers and not objective faults.
    • 0
      Shinobi_razor Dec 31, 09
      20 hours of hand holding...yikes.
    • 0
      vicrabb Dec 31, 09
      Being a French talking native, they're not saying it's looking like a tutorial, they're saying that the first 20 hours are just being too linear, I mean, you're not free to do what you want but what the game wants. And by "compulsif", they're saying that it's compulsive.
  • 0
    chautemoc* Dec 31, 09
    Oh hoooh another 7.
    • 2
      Storm* Dec 31, 09
      One more and we get that big prize...or at least, that's how the casinos work. xD
      • 1
        SebKus Dec 31, 09
        You hit the jackpot on lols.
  • 0
    Slumpy monkey Dec 31, 09
    That's gay. I like open worlds.

    D:

    This would be my First final fantasy game.(Bar FF tactics)
  • 0
    Red 9 Dec 31, 09
    Not to refer to FFXIII, but sometimes (or almost always) find that JRPGs tend to "tart-ify" the girls in their games. To elaborate, they always seem way too excited about everything, and fit snugly into every teeny-bopper high-school skirt-wearing teen girl stereotype known to man.
    • 0
      chautemoc* Dec 31, 09
      Japan loves its stereotypes. FF games especially are one big cesspool of stereotypes. Delicious.
      • 2
        Red 9 Dec 31, 09
        It's also one of the underlying reasons why I have never liked JRPGs.
  • 0
    reaver11 Dec 31, 09
    The linearity really doesn't bother me. Outside of FFVII, I hardly ever ventured away from going from Point A to Point B, other than for leveling up and playing a few games (Blitzball, card games, etc.). I always save my "venturing" for the latter part of the game when I have the means to travel great distances with ease.

    As for the "no towns" thing...I'll have to see it for myself because I'm not sure what exactly there is instead. There weren't a whole lot of towns in FFXII and it didn't bother me in the least (atleast not as much as the previous FF).
  • 0
    Miss Razz Dec 31, 09
    quote
    The question, for the traditional RPG fans will be thus the following one: Would you be ready to eat a thick and insipid dish if you had the assurance that the last mouthful will be delicious?
    Yes.

    Seriously. Even if the first 20 hours do suck, I really want to know what happens after the 20 hour mark that has so many people "wow-ing".
    • 0
      Curt Connors Jan 1, 10
      quote Miss Razz
      Seriously. Even if the first 20 hours do suck, I really want to know what happens after the 20 hour mark that has so many people "wow-ing".
      "Wow, I spent too much money and time on this insipid rubbish" ?
  • 0
    Gamesta100 Dec 31, 09
    FFX was very linear to and that's my favourite of the FF's.But I also LOVED the story so if FFXIII's story is pretty crap then maybe I will dislike the linearity.
  • 0
    Darknet Dec 31, 09
    LOL, how are these nobodies getting a hold of the game?
    • 0
      phowell23 Dec 31, 09
      i think they're just reviewing the japanese version but i can't read french
      • 0
        vicrabb Dec 31, 09
        Yeah they're reviewing the japanese version. I can read french because it's my native language.
    • 1
      vicrabb Dec 31, 09
      I'll be perhaps rude but Gamekult aren't nobodies. With Jeuxvideo.com, they're one of the most known reviewers for France on the net. They're testing on Japanese versions, on North American versions or on European versions.
  • 1
    Shinobi_razor Dec 31, 09
    7/10? Squeenix has its head up its ass this generation.

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