The Final Fantasy franchise has a rabid and enthusiastic fan-base, and for good reason. Each game in the series reinvents the role-playing game genre conventions of its time, and does so in the midst of a captivating story and compelling gameplay.

And to think, that the developer of the series, Square-Enix, created the first “Final Fantasy” as a swan song for their dying company. Square-Enix was almost out of business after a series of commercial failures, and their designers created “Final Fantasy” as just that – the final adventure before the collapse of the company. The game, thankfully, was a huge hit, and it saved the company.

From these humble beginnings, the Final Fantasy series grew steadily in popularity to become what is today one of the top five bestselling gaming franchises of all time. This success is due in large part to “Final Fantasy VII,” the series’ first entry on the Playstation console. It was in this game that Square-Enix broke entirely new ground in the role-playing field, creating a more cinematic game that brought mainstream gamers into the world of RPGs.

Since then, each Final Fantasy game has reinvented the series, in some cases more drastically than others. “Final Fantasy X” added voiceovers, so gamers no longer had to read what the characters were saying and imagine what they might sound like. Final Fantasy XI was an online game, and focused less on story, and more on a gigantic, interconnected world to explore.

Then, in 2006, “Final Fantasy XII” was released. Fans of the series have always disagreed over which FF games are the best, but no game in the series thus far has been as divisive as FFXII. The game drastically changed the battle system, which is the foundation of any RPG.

All of the previous single-player FF games had relied upon some type of turn-based battle system, i.e. each player takes a turn, decides to attack, use magic, whatever, and then the next player takes their turn, and then the enemy, and so on.

FFXII instead adopted a real-time battle system similar to massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft, wherein all of the characters are attacking, healing, casting, etc., all at once. Each action took a certain amount of time, but there was no longer a “his turn, then my turn” order to things.

In order to make this work, and allow a single player to control multiple characters at the same time, gambits were introduced. Gambits were basically lists of actions that the player set up for each character before setting out for battle that defined what that character would do in various situations.

It was extremely satisfying if you took the time to learn its intricacies, but also extremely complicated and frustrating at times. Where “Final Fantasy VII” had brought RPGs into the mainstream, “Final Fantasy XII” took ten steps in the opposite direction. Even the story was different in FFXII, focusing on political intrigue instead of characters and emotional relationships.

And that brings us to “Final Fantasy XIII,” Square Enix’s much delayed new entry in the famous franchise. FFXIII was designed to be everything that FFXII was not. It is an appeal to the mainstream, saying “come back into the Final Fantasy pool, the water’s nice and warm again.”

But I’m a relatively hardcore Final Fantasy fan who doesn’t want to play a dumbed-down game aimed at the masses. So the question becomes, was Square-Enix able to make a game that exists within that happy medium between hardcore and hand-holding?

The answer is a resounding yes. “Final Fantasy XIII” is that rare game that offers excitement, depth and challenge, as well as a slow learning curve to let non-RPG aficionados join the party. Like any great game, FFXIII is a slow-cooked, finely-seasoned stew, combining multiple aspects to achieve an enjoyable final product. The ingredients in this stew are the characters and story, the battle system, and the overall polish and refinement, and I will discuss each one individually.

Characters and Story

Coming up with an original story for each FF game must be an extremely difficult process. They all have certain things in common – an evil empire of some kind, multiple worlds that are somehow linked – and FFXIII is no exception. But what is impressive is that the story here never feels like a retread.

The tale involves six characters who are thrust together by fate and embark on a quest to save their world, each for their own individual reasons. Lightning, the game’s main protagonist, harbors feelings of regret and a desire to make things right with her sister. Snow, who is the leader of a rebel group called N.O.R.A., is out to save the woman he loves, and is driven by his desire to be a true hero.

In every Final Fantasy game, there is the requisite high-pitched, overly energetic girl who adds levity to the game’s serious nature. Usually, this girl is extremely annoying, but FFXIII’s Vanille is an exception to this rule. She is my favorite character in the game, and it’s because she is actually quite emotionally conflicted and multi-dimensional underneath her candy-coated sheen.

The game’s comedy relief is provided by Sazh, a black character with an adorable chocobo chick living in his afro. He is witty and well-written, but his charm is offset by a serious personal dilemma (which lies deep in spoiler country and thus will not be discussed here). Then there is Hope, the whiny, teen-angst representative on the team. He loses his mother in the first hour of the game and this informs his character to a significant degree. I don’t really like Hope, and from what I have heard, neither does anybody else.

The final character isn’t introduced until a little later in the game, so I won’t discuss her here, except to say that she is tough and cool, and I like her as well.

Above and beyond the characters as written, the character designs are all top notch. The colors are so varied and well implemented, and the design aesthetic, which is a cross between future-chic and native-american earthy, really works in the context of the world and the story. Most importantly, each character is very distinctive and recognizable, not only amidst their companions in this game, but among the multitude of game characters throughout gaming.

The Battle System

The battle system makes up the majority of FFXIII’s gameplay, and thankfully, it is extremely satisfying. Most RPGs revolve around micromanagement, tasking the player with making a million decisions about every little thing. These considerations include: when to cast which spell, when to use which attack, and whether to use a cure spell that heals one party member a lot, or one that has a large area of effect, healing everyone a little.

FFXIII’s battle system, incredibly, is an entirely new experience. As the player, you control only one character at a time, and the others are computer-controlled. But this does not mean that you don’t have input into what they are doing. FFXIII introduces what is called the paradigm system, or in other words, a way to make decisions about the overall flow or direction of battle.

A paradigm is a group of roles that each character will play. There are six total roles in the game, including magic focused, attack-focused, medic-focused, etc., and a paradigm is a combination of any three roles. The player sets up a group of six paradigms before heading into battle — one to start the battle with, and five more to switch to when the situation demands it.

Some paradigms, like “Relentless Assault” and “Aggression,” focus on damaging the enemy, while others focus on defense or healing. For example, you might start with “Relentless Assault” to do heavy damage at the beginning of battle. Then, when the enemy has done some damage to your party and you are low on hit points, you might perform a “Paradigm Shift” to “Combat Clinic” to heal your party before continuing your attack.

There are other battle considerations, such as Preemptive Strikes and Stagger Gauges, but you’ll find out all about that when you play the game. And that’s really the point here: You need to play this game.

Polish and Refinement

Square-Enix has made a masterpiece of a role-playing game with FFXIII. It is often said that other game companies wait for Square-Enix to put out the next Final Fantasy game in order to figure out how to make their own RPGs. Final Fantasy is all about innovation and refinement, and both are omnipresent here.

The game world that you explore is beautiful and lush, and at times, you want to just stop and pan the camera around your character to take it all in. These are fully-realized environments in a world that has no point of reference. The game’s artists can use certain real-life places as inspirations, but this is a fantasy world, so the main ingredient here has to be imagination.

And what I really love about the FFXIII experience is how I feel like I am there. After a long day at school or work, what could be better than travelling to a majestic world and diving into a high-stakes adventure where life itself hangs in the balance. The pure escapism that this game provides is simply unmatched.

The voice work in FFXIII is also astounding. It took over three-and-a-half months just to record the English voices for the six main characters. There have been some minor complaints about the on-again, off-again Australian accents of two of the characters, but I hardly noticed.

In general, the voices are appropriate and compelling, two things that voices in Japanese RPGs often aren’t. In addition, the game’s animators went the extra mile and re-animated the characters’ mouths to move in sync with the English audio. Playing this game, it can sometimes be easy to forget that it began life in Japan.

One thing that some critics have cited as a significant drawback is the linearity of many of the game’s environments. In general, you do progress down a straight-line path from one point to another, fighting battles with creatures and acquiring treasures in between. But due to the fact that the developers were focused on the presentation of the narrative first and foremost, this is a limitation I can overlook.

Another omission is the lack of towns and shops in the game. All purchasing of items is done in a menu at the save kiosks which are scattered throughout the world. I did miss talking to NPCs in a village environment, an act that has been present in RPGs since the dawn of time.

Conclusion

The simple fact is that “Final Fantasy XIII” is a compelling game full of great characters, an enthralling and cohesive plot, and a battle system that is equal parts addictive and groundbreaking. To create a game that is so different from those that came before it was a huge risk for Square-Enix, but the result is a sight to behold.

Some Final Fantasy series staples, such as towns and non-linear exploration, have been omitted from this entry, but only in service of loftier goals such as plot and accessibility. But if you are looking to leave your world behind and embark on a 40-60 hour, epic adventure with fully-realized and colorful characters, “Final Fantasy XIII” is the perfect prescription.

 If you want to hear more about “Final Fantasy XIII,” stay tuned to Technicianonline.com for the first episode of our video game podcast!