In Final Fantasy's realm there are ethereal spirits, or elemental guardians you might call them. There's names like Shiva and Ifrit, the fire and ice magical beings that can be summoned in Final Fantasy XIII. The evolution in this game saw these beings transformed into ridden vessels such as a motorcycle or a horse.
Final Fantasy XIII's and XIII-2's line of events do fire up on the emotions story-wise. You'll be dealing with a cast of characters in the first game each with their own positions for how they see the situation, how they react, and how some of them are angry with one another. It's definitely not the best story the series has ever seen (in fact, it's one of the worst), but it's entirely possible to live through it if you don't mind dealing with acts of heroism taken the wrong way.
The battle system in the series is essentially a mixture of Final Fantasy X-2's and Final Fantasy XII's battle strategies. These games will be challenging along the way for sure, but the more you level up the less likely you'll be able to fall. I spent more than twenty hours just grinding and doing what I could at this later point in Final Fantasy XIII. One of my favorite aspects of Final Fantasy XII was the monster hunts. There'll be many game afoot to hunt down in a more spacious portion of the game, and it's by doing this that I actually only died once or twice in the final section of the game. By that point I just kept on using the same battle tactics. If you learn how to work the battle system the right way, you'll eventually be able to find a repetitive rhythm that will work for you.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is said to be an improvement over the first game. However, I didn't see it this way at all. The game has the same kind of story structure, only it's weirder because of the way the game starts out and how it proceeds. You'll only be using two characters in battle with a third creature that you've beaten on the battlefield. If say you fought a purple Chocobo you can now add it to your third party member slot or select any other monster all together. This is where some of the game's customization opens up for you. You can use certain items to enhance the monsters you've collected. You'll also be tweaking your party members under the Crystarium, which is a multi-level upgrade format. You'll be spending quite a bit of time here spending the points you've gained from battle to enhance your characters in one way or another.
For RPGs the latest Final Fantasy has to offer is less satisfying overall for different reasons, but judging by what you're looking for these games will likely please you in some ways. You should check out the demos for these games first to ensure you'll find either of the games intriguing enough to buy. Head to the PlayStation Store to download the demo for yourself.
Personally, one of the brightest RPG titles I've played in a while was this year's edition of Tales of Graces f. It's the first Tales game I've tried, and luckily it actually pleases in more ways than one. A more action-oriented combat suit is what you'll be wearing. The battles are in real-time. There's different abilities for each member of the party to learn, where even more than one person can join in the battle if you have an extra controller at home.
This Tales game does have anime-influence. Its anime cinematics have some emotion to deal with, but it doesn't get too depressing. It has just the right amount of flavor in **bleep** and seriousness to balance things out. This is really one of the best games I've played this year and would recommend it.
GrayGargoyle wrote:
Final Fantasy XIII's and XIII-2's line of events do fire up on the emotions story-wise. You'll be dealing with a cast of characters in the first game each with their own positions for how they see the situation, how they react, and how some of them are angry with one another. It's definitely not the best story the series has ever seen (in fact, it's one of the worst), but it's entirely possible to live through it if you don't mind dealing with acts of heroism taken the wrong way.
Hmmm speak for yourself amigo. Final Fantasy XIII's story is one of the strongest story lines in the franchise. Doesn't compare to FF IX but far stronger than most of the rest. Of course that is a matter of opinion.
You have a cast of characters whom each have a reason for doing what they are doing. Granted they were ultimately manipulated but isn't that the way it generally goes? Each character was in it to protect someone they love. Lightning - her sister, Snow - his fiance, Vanille - Fang, Fang - Vanille, Hope - revenge for his mother (ok so he's the only who didn't fit initially) and finally Sazh who was trying to protect his son. As a father that alone made the story connect and drove it home deeper for me than it likely did for the average non-parental gamer.
There were other subtle tones to the story line such as power and religion but they were secondary attributes to the overall story line. The Purge was reminscent of the Holocaust with it's removal of citizens for the "betterment of society" or the "protection of society". Citizens were told the Purged had volunteered to relocate but in truth were to be killed. The lack of concern by the populace at large closely mirrors most societies today, including our own where people would rather follow blind adherence than to question what goes on.
All of these factors woven together made Final Fantasy XIII a very powerful story.
With that said, it is not for everyone. But to say it's the worst of the franchise? That is nothing more than opinion.
Brozz65 wrote:
Papa, after reading that, I almost want to play the game.
You should be writing online game reviews. Well said.
Thank you. 
Actually I have written a few game reviews. Primarily here but they were in the old MVP Game Review Forum. I can repost the Final Fantasy reviews here if you'd like.
Final Fantasy XIII was good,and Final Fantasy XIII-2 was & is a tad-bit better then FFXIII;however FFXIII did give Me more of a "Grand Scale Feeling,at times.." mor then FFXIII-2,despite FFXIII linearity.
...Either way, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII seems like it's going to outshine both of the previous FFXIII;in it's own lavish way!
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