Final Fantasy XIII

The fantasy that is anything but final makes another visually spectacular outing.

It's been 23 years since SquareEnix, then Squaresoft, published the first Final Fantasy game - an attempt to fight off bankruptcy and save the company from going under. Since then Square's just about perfected the RPG and pushed the boundaries of computer generated animation at the same time.

Final Fantasy XIII certainly lives up to its predecessor's reputation for eye-candy, but a franchise that has been going so long cannot necessarily capture lightning in a bottle every time. Despite the various incarnations, which include spin-offs and ventures into the MMO market, FF has really always been about the recreating a similar game experience across the entire series. So... are thirteen games (and more, XIV, an MMO is already in production) just pushing it too far?

In the latest offering SqareEnix has made some interesting decisions concerning game play that, in some ways, make XIII significantly different from its most successful games - whether those changes continue to captivate players' imaginations remains to be seen.

Shellworlds and monsters
The game is initially set in Cocoon, a shell world created for Humanity, which floats above Pulse; a vibrant underworld inhabited by the usual array of bizarre creatures. Originally created after a massively destructive war more than a thousand years ago, humanity has lived in fear of the world below; though few today know anything about it at all. Life on Cocoon is controlled by the Sanctum, the ultimate arbiter of life and death.

Powerful beings known as Fal'Cie are aligned with both worlds and have the power to turn humans into L'cie - minions that must carry out their 'focus', or duty, or face a horrific life as a ghoul. So for inhabitants of Cocoon, the choice is simple; spend life terrified of Pulse and under the control of the Sanctum, or risk contamination and expulsion. In FFXIII the game designers have again created a richly detailed history and background, though one that is complex and not easily understood as well. There are factions and rebels and the usual array of good guys and bad guys - figuring out who is who takes considerable time.

To allay some of this Square has included a Datalog, accessible through the menu system - this updates whenever important bits of information, history or zones are available and also acts as a recorded narrative of how your characters actually got into this mess. It's great if you need a refresher on who is doing what and why.

Humanity is cocooned in more ways than one - they are so isolated from Pulse, and afraid of it, that any contamination is handled by way of a vicious Purge; either relocation to Pulse itself or by death. Our game begins in the midst of one of these Purges, following a determined young soldier named, named Lightning, attempting to stop the relocation of the citizens of Bodhum, apparently contaminated by the presence of a Pulse Fal'Cie in their dozy seaside town - an event that will have immense and very personal ramifications for every major character.

Gameplay
Where would Final Fantasy be without the ability to summon celestial badgers and various gods and goddesses plucked from the world's numerous pantheons? XIII is no different; summoned Eidolons are able to fight for you and with you directly. You will need to face them and defeat them before having access to that technique, however, and doing so utilises a similar function as the stagger bar for regular monsters. Battles with an Eidolon feature a Gestalt bar that fills slowly and, when filled, enables their capture. Different abilities will fill the bar faster or slower depending on which Eidolon you are faced with.

An excellent addition to the generic summon system of previous versions is the combined attacks by the Eidolon and its summoner; the Eidolon Odin, for example, transforms into a horse which carries Lightning into battle for powerful combined attacks. Stringing sequences of these attacks together for chain damage is a welcome addition to the battle system - it's a bit like having a fighting game lodged within a turn-based combat system, and it continues until the Eidolon's gestalt bar diminishes and they are released.

Active Time Battle makes a return in Final Fantasy XIII, which FF vets will recognise from earlier versions of the franchise. But this time it's lifted somewhat by the inclusion of the Paradigm Shift; a technique that changes the specialisation of each team member for best results. Each character has a selection of roles available to them, with different roles becoming available as the character progresses; Commando, Sentinel, Ravager, Medic, Saboteur and Synergist.