| | |  | GameCube | Home » » Final Fantasy XIII | | | | | | | Description: | | From the creative minds behind FINAL FANTASY VII and FINAL FANTASY X comes the latest installment in the critically acclaimed series. As FINAL FANTASY VII was for PlayStation, and FINAL FANTASY X for PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, FINAL FANTASY XIII will be the first numbered FINAL FANTASY title for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360, and will look to once again reestablish the series as the RPG brand. Players will follow Lightning, Snow, and the other heroes who are dealt a hand of fate by the god-like fal'Cie. Cursed and regarded as enemies of society, they have the world against them and nobody to rely on but each other. Will they find the strength within themselves to break free of their curse and determine their own fates, or will they succumb to this higher power? With a story that is sure to connect with players' hearts, diverse new characters from world-renowned creator and character designer Tetsuya Nomura, and exciting new gameplay features centered around an evolved Active Time Battle system, FINAL FANTASY XIII will be the pinnacle in gaming experiences.
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Developed for the PlayStation 3 system and Xbox 360, FINAL FANTASY XIII features the series’ most impressive graphical presentation.
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Summons are stronger than ever before, now with the action-oriented Gestalt Mode.
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The evolved Active Time Battle system presents players with countless methods of putting enemies away.
View larger. | Story
Cocoon — a utopia in the sky. Its inhabitants believed their world a paradise.
Under the Sanctum's rule, Cocoon had long known peace and prosperity.
Mankind was blessed by its protectors, the benevolent fal'Cie, and believed that tranquil days would continue forever.
Their tranquility was shattered with the discovery of one hostile fal'Cie.
The moment that fal'Cie from Pulse — the feared and detested lowerworld — awoke from its slumber, peace on Cocoon came to an end.
Fal'Cie curse humans, turning them into magic-wielding servants.
They become l'Cie — chosen of the fal'Cie.
Those branded with the mark of a l'Cie carry the burden of either fulfilling their Focus or facing a fateharsher than death itself.
A prayer for redemption.
A wish to protect the world.
A promise to challenge destiny.
After thirteen days of fates intertwined, the battle begins.
Features - Take Part in a Gaming Experience that Sets New Standards – The first in the series developed for a simultaneous release on multiple high-definition consoles, FINAL FANTASY XIII pushes new boundaries in cinematic presentation, sound and gameplay.
- Experience the Unity of Speed and Strategy with the Ultimate Active Time Battle system – The familiar system has evolved, granting players the freedom of executing numerous commands in a single turn with the multi-slot ATB gauge. Whether inputting singular commands in each slot for consecutive attacks, or expending multiple slots at once to activate a devastating blow, it’s up to the players to respond effectively to the battle conditions at hand.
- Adapt to the Ever-Changing Tide of Battle with Paradigms – A brand-new game mechanic enabling players to assign roles to their party members at any time during battle, shifting between combat paradigms. Consisting of various combinations of the game’s six roles, ranging from Commando, the offensive specialist, to Medic, the quintessential healer, paradigms allow players to respond and adapt instantly to any given situation to turn the tide and seize victory.
- Witness the Battle Scene Transform with an All-New Summon System – Introducing Gestalt Mode, a powerful dimension of the summon system that elevates the action to a whole new level. In Gestalt Mode, characters and their transformed Eidolons fight as one, dealing massive damage to enemies through simple button commands.
- Delve into an Emotional Experience – An immersive storyline connects players to an intriguing cast of characters. Will they have the strength to confront their cursed fates, or will destiny prevail over all that they believe in?
The Characters
 | Lightning
This solitary young woman speaks little of herself – even her true name is a mystery. She is known to others simply as "Lightning." |  | Snow
An irrepressible, fiery young man, Snow dives headfirst into danger using nothing but his powerful physique as a weapon. |  | Vanille
Vanille is an endearing young woman with a relentlessly sunny disposition. Her bright personality gives no hint of the dark resolve that lies within. |  | Sazh
Sazh is a friendly, cheerful man who is never without his curious companions – a chocobo chick and a pair of pistols. He is quick to banter, but also keeps a mature perspective on matters. |  | Hope
Hope has enjoyed a markedly uneventful youth on humankind's haven of Cocoon. His life is turned upside down at the hands of the Sanctum's Purge. |  | Sera
Sera is Lightning's younger sister and Snow's fiancee. Always showing concern for Lightning, she has an inner fortitude that allows her to make her own decisions without relying on her older sister. |  | Fang
Fang is a mysterious woman who is working with the Sanctum military despite bearing the mark of the detested l'Cie. She has a strong-minded personality and is unconcerned with trivialities. | | | | Features: | |
• Newest installment of Final Fantasy features futuristic civilization illuminated by the Light of the Crystal
• Features the latest in cutting-edge technology
• Provides tangible, intuitive controls
• Delivers seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and stunning in-game cinematics
• Developed by Square Enix
| | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 6.72 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.41 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.59 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.3 pounds | | Package Length:
| 6.7 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.6 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.3 pounds | | Release Date:
| March 09, 2010 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 566 reviews |
| | | Game Information: | | | Platform:
| PlayStation 3 | | Media:
| CD | | Item Quantity:
| 1 |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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 Best FF ever?Sep 01, 2010
Well, to me it's close!
My fave is actually ten.But this one is almost as good!
The characters, first of all, are awesome! They are like real people. And they do develop over the course of the story very well, which is a huge plus.You actually care for them!
The graphics are the best I have ever seen on any game.Ever!Hands down!
The music, while not the best of the series, still does it's job of making the game feel fast paced.
The story is as always with FF games, well done.
And the gameplay is fun.This isn't your normal FF game.You only control on character, but it is still fun.There is a lot of strategy involved.Just don't grow accustomed to auto-battle, as it ruins the fun.
I'm glad I bought it, and I am never selling it.It's a tresaure.
 A good but different Final FantasySep 01, 2010
This game should not be reviewed in comparison to other Final Fantasy games. If you look at it from that perspective, your expectations will not be met as this is a game unlike others in the series. Does that make 13 bad or not worth playing? Absolutely not. The story is quite compelling, detailing the lives of several quirky characters joined by fate (who isn't in RPGs?) as they try to meet their focus determined by the Fal'Cie (deity like creatures). The gameplay is fast paced and requires a lot of shifting between battle modes (called paradigms), which is a welcome break from the typical back and forth RPG gameplay. If you're reading this, you've probably heard that the game is very narrow, unlike other FF's that allowed you to explore at will. Initially this is true, but if you plan on playing the game in depth, it is insignificant. By chapter 11, the world opens up allowing you to explore, back track, and side quest at will. The leveling system is fascinating and you'll spend hours developing your accessories and weapons. FF13 is by no means perfect, but if you've enjoyed previous Final Fantasy games (or RPGs in general), this one is worth looking into. I invested over 100 hours into the game and could have spent 40 more had I wished to go for the platinum trophy. Check out this game!
great game at a great priceAug 31, 2010
i was never really a Ff fan from the beginning. i've watched the two movies that came out and exceeded all my expectations. based on the films, i took the plunge and purchased ff13 just cause it was priced so cheap. Quite honestly, i wasn't expecting much from it as i'm not a die hard RPG fan, but after playing ff13, i'm sold on the idea these RPG games are pretty entertaining and can't wait for ff14 to be released.
As stated from other reviews prior, the game is quite linear but as a novice RPG player, it didn't bother me one bit. I finished the game in 45hrs and still mess around in Gran Pulse just to level up my players and rain hell on all the beast that chewed me up and spit me out the first time i entered Gran Pulse.
All in all, at Amazon's price, it's a nice collection to my PS3 titles.
Great game, loved every minute of it.Aug 30, 2010
It's really fascinating to see how many supposed hardcore fans of the series got their knickers in a twist about this game. Final Fantasy games have been evolving for years, and Final Fantasy XIII corrects many of the mistakes Square-Enix made in FFXII.
FFXII had no character development, or story, it had too much of everything; a battle system cluttered with pointless macros, constant running around doing pointless side quests that gave little to no reward most of the time, and probably the worst soundtrack in the history of Final Fantasy.
Now, FFXIII pretty much corrected all of those things. The battle system is smooth, enjoyable, fast and creative. There are side quests and mini games, but they're not annoying, nor do they get in the way of the actual story. The soundtrack is amazing, it's very reminiscent of FFX's blend of techno and instrumental. The vocal tracks, which are a constant throughout the game not just the cut scenes, are absolutely gorgeous. Probably the best thing about this title is that the characters actually change during the story. The only other FF that had this much character interaction was FFX, but the voice acting in FFXIII is much better, and thank god that the main character for this title is a woman, not a whiny teenage boy like every other modern FF game. The party banter that goes on during fights is a nice addition, it's awesome to hear someone respond to getting a heal when they're critically injured.
The biggest complaint about this game seems to be that it's linear. Well, every FF is. You didn't make any choices in FFVII, or VIII, or IX, or X or any other FF game. The good guys always win, the bad guys always lose, the world is saved, sometimes there's a sacrifice that's made for it, but in the end, every FF game is linear. It's true that with character development and environmental interaction the game could really improve. They should have made the Crystarium a bit more diverse, instead of making it a grind to get all of the crystals for all your roles. Then again, it's not that bad either, since it saves you from wasting half the game getting the wrong abilities. I remember how confusing and completely terrible the character progression in FFX was. I always ended up making the wrong turns and spending a lot of time trying to correct it.
With that said, FFXIII really is quite friendly to new players. Not having to start over completely when you die, having the option to restart encounters when you mess up, having a mostly linear ability progression, and having an auto-battle system that isn't completely fail will help new players get into RPGs. My wife, who has never played an RPG in her life absolutely loves this game. I tried to get her interested in other games, but she never cared. Teaching her about strategy and paradigm shifting while watching her play is actually one of the best gaming experiences I've had.
Like every other FF game, you have to grind for items and crystal points to make your characters awesome. I really don't see that as a chore, it's something that's part of just about every RPG. It's nowhere near as bad as FFVII where you spend 70 hours leveling up your damn materia.
My last point is regarding graphics. I honestly have never played an RPG that looked this good. The transition between cut-scenes and actual gameplay is barely noticeable. The FFXIII world is gorgeous, and the art department really went out of their way to make it looks alive and realistic. The monsters and bosses have meticulous detail, the characters, including the NPCs, have amazing facial expressions and the clothing and hair look realistic, which isn't easily accomplished.
I love this game, I loved playing through it twice, I enjoyed the experience and I hope future Final Fantasy games can take all the positive and wonderful things for this title and make it even better. To me it's a huge improvement over the last FF title, and I look forward to future FF games since Square-Enix really impressed me with this one.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Much more enjoyable than I expected after reading reviews.Aug 29, 2010
I have never written a review before, but since I almost did not purchase the game due to all the negative reviews I thought I should share a more objective perspective from someone who has played a LOT of JRPGs and discuss a few points raised in the negative reviews that almost turned me off from trying out the game.
Linearity: After reading several reviews I got the impression that much of the game would be spent running down a subway tunnel, divided into missions like FFX-2, with no option to turn back to grind a few levels. This is NOT the case. Level design IS overly simplified and streamlined, BUT not much more than Final Fantasy X. This makes me wonder if the negative reviewers have EVER played a JRPG with a minimap before. Minimaps always reveal the very limited pathways that MOST JRPGS have. What makes the game SEEM more linear than other Final Fantasy Games is the lack of Towns, World Map, and minigames/sidequests. But this is NOT game breaking. It is, however, somewhat disappointing. The characters are fugitives so it makes sense that they would not be roaming through the towns, but this has never stopped other Final Fantasy games from having towns and mini games. I have seen other reviewers describe this game as mission based with no chance to return to other areas, this is very misleading. The game is NOT "mission" based, it plays out just like FFX the story line takes you from one area to another, and just like several other FF games I have played areas become inaccessible after certain story events. (There is little point to revisit though, since there are no towns or mini games.) You can, however, turn back and fight creatures you have already defeated (enemies re-spawn after re-loading the game) to farm items (some enemy loot, particularly shrouds, is very handy).
Leveling: Leveling in this game is much like it was in FFX. However, instead of having all abilities on a SINGLE grid with blocks keeping characters from learning each others abilities until endgame, each character has their own grids (and a grid for each ROLE). I have read some reviews criticizing the game for level caps, but the level caps are much like the "blocks" on the FFX sphere grid, except instead of requiring Keys which can only be obtained at certain points in the story line, in XIII the level caps are automatically released once the right points in the storyline are reached. It FEELS like they are restricting you more than they did in FFX, but not by much.
Battle: I have read several reviews complaining about battle: that battle consists of press X, rinse and repeat, that you can only control the leader of the party, that the game is over once the party leader is dead, and every battle gives you the option to retry if lost. Well let me address these complaints one by one. There is an Auto-Battle option where one would expect to find ATTACK. This was disappointing, at first, but battle is so fast paced that the Auto-battle option is usually best. (There is an option to slow down battle for those who wish to input individual commands.) You do NOT get the sense of disconnect between yourself and the character like you did in FFXII, here you press a button and the character attacks. For the harder battles, you focus on managing ROLES through Paradigm Shifts to adjust which abilities are available to each character. Like several more recent JRPGs you only control ONE character at a time (the other party members Auto-Battle without you telling them too) but the AI is OKAY. Once enemy intel is recorded the AI attacks enemies based on their weaknesses. Supporting ROLES focus on status boosts most helpful to the Party's current Roles and enemies weaknesses. The game is "over" when the leader is dead (an aspect I always loathe in any game), but you get the option to retry (which I feel counterbalances the whole game over if one character dies thing). MY main gripe is that early game you do not get to select the Party Leader or even Party Members, the reason for this is connected to the plot structure which I will discuss next.
Cut-scenes: I have seen several complaints about the cut-scenes being too plentiful, but COME ON this is FINAL FANTASY. Every FF since VII has cut-scenes in abundance. The cut-scenes aren't much more plentiful than in FFX. But here is the difference: In XIII cut-scenes not only show up for the ongoing storyline, but also pop up in the form of flashbacks. If you have ever read books with multiple perspectives or have seen a full season of Lost then you will be having a familiar experience. FFXIII is constantly switching perspective characters (who also serves as party leader), and showing flashbacks for that character every time the perspective changes. (You are going to get really sick of seeing that fireworks show, that ALL of the characters seem to have been at before meeting.) I always have a love/hate relationship with multi-perspective stories, just when things start to get interesting the perspective changes perhaps going back to an earlier point in the story. (Worse yet perhaps switching to a character you find annoying.) But muli-perspective does allow for much more character development.
Annoying Characters: VANILLE is very annoying. Apparently the character dives deeply into denial and puts on a "happy" persona to deal with the darkness around her. However this is executed quite poorly. Instead of having a complex character who keeps her true feelings bottled up, you have a perky cheerleader that urges EVERYONE to PRETEND to be happy despite being surrounded by death and destruction all the while making inappropriate groans and moans and speaking with the most inconsistent accent I have every heard. (At times it seems as though the voice actor had one accent, and was trying to fake another.)Then the character cries in her sleep (I suppose to reveal that she has some depth, but I am not convinced.) The other characters and voice actors are pretty solid. HOPE starts out annoying, but once the perspective switches to him (I actually rolled my eyes at this point) the character gets a little stronger (both in story line and battle).
GIL and Equipment: GIL is SCARCE early game, and items/equipment are expensive. Early game you ONLY get GIL by FINDING it in Treasure Chests or selling loot, but you need the loot to upgrade your equipment. I assume the reason to restrict Gil was to prevent people from buying items to upgrade equipment. This could have been handled much better. Much of the loot has no use but to upgrade equipment, and by upgrade I don't mean certain items can be added to equipment to change its qualities. Loot is converted into EXP to level up the weapons. Organic loot gives little EXP but creates an EXP bonus and Inorganic loot gives lots of EXP but reduces the EXP bonus gained from organic loot. Once you can upgrade weapons, you gain access to a shop where you can buy both kinds of loot, and for that reason you will not be finding much Gil until endgame. It would have been better to gain EXP for the weapons directly from battle, but then people might grind and FFXIII does NOT want you to GRIND.
Overall, the game has its flaws, but if you enjoyed FFX and can handle no towns or mini-games you will like FFXIII. If you need towns and mini-games I suggest trying out Rune Factory Frontier for the WII you will be so sick of doing things BESIDES fighting that you will welcome the streamlined nature of FFXIII.
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