I grew up on Final Fantasy games. Ever since the strategy guide for the first game arrived in my mail box from Nintendo Power, I've been hooked on their story and game mechanics. I've played them all, or at the very least, very rough translations of them.
The last Final Fantasy to come out on the Playstation 2 was Final Fantasy 12, hailed by many gaming publications as the greatest thing to happen to the series in the history of ever. Oddly enough, it's the only Final Fantasy that I played and gave up on because I didn't like the way the game played at all. The combat system felt clunky, and I've never been able to get into political stories. Warring nations is good and all, but there's just too many names to keep up with to know who's the good guys and who's the bad guys.
So it was with some reservation that I picked up Final Fantasy 13. I was hoping that I would enjoy the combat system, which was the major point that I didn't like about the last game, and find myself to be pleasantly surprised with the end results. It FEELS like Final Fantasy in a way that the prior game did not.
The story has drawn me in, and while it's taking some time to get past the tutorials, it's easing me in by letting me become comfortable with an aspect of the system before introducing another.
The areas are totally linear, with very little room for exploration. There's certainly the hidden treasure orb here and there, but for the most part it's a "get from point a to point b while taking out any enemies that are in the way". Personally, I'm fine with this. This is how the FF games have always been in the beginning, and I'm looking forward to getting down to Pulse to really do some looking around.
The leveling system is a reminder of the Sphere Grid system from 10, with the exception that you can choose what kind of role to concentrate on with your characters. There is a cap on how far you can advance each role, but that is raised as the story moves forward. It feels a little linear right now, but I believe that will change as I move further in the story and have more choices to branch into.
Five hours in, and I'm looking forward to the rest. Check back later to see how to game continues to pan out.
