'First Impressions' look at Square-Enix's latest instalment in the long running Final Fantasy series, and this time there's Pokemon!
Okay so there aren't actually Pokemon in this game but FFXIII-2's new monster system is as close as your going to get without throwing poke balls and yelling at Pikachu to use one more thunderbolt.
I’ve been a massive fan of the
Final Fantasy franchise since those heady days of FFVII, so picking up the
latest offering from Square-Enix was pretty much a no brainer for me. I should
probably point out that I wasn’t one of those people that considered FFXIII the
worst in the franchise. I did enjoy aspects of it, the story was engaging and I
felt empathy for the characters, even Hope, (the whiny little bastard) towards
the end. My main gripe was that the battle system felt pretty dumbed down
(Dragon Age II anybody) and seemed to be too far removed from what made the
whole franchise, the turn based battle system. FFXIII felt less of a strategy
game and more of a best-tool-the-job kind of scenario, with you picking the
best paradigm for the current battle. That being said I enjoyed it enough to
complete it and here I am ready for the sequel, the second direct sequel
Square-Enix have attempted after X-2. So to hear that they had listened to the
fans and improved on the parts that the majority felt didn’t work was great to
hear.
I picked the game up on release, along with Soul Caliber 5 (review to
come) and wasn’t that motivated to get home and delve right in there as I do
with the vast majority of games. I think the sheer scale of a J-RPG can be
quite daunting, particularly if you don’t have a vast amount of time on your
hands to give the game what it needs. And you do need to put in a fair stint to
get anywhere; you don’t start the monster collection part of the game, which is
perhaps one of the coolest features, until a good hour into the game. The game
starts off in typical Final Fantasy style with an FMV featuring Lightning and
some guy with purple hair, I’m not gonna’ lie he does look pretty awesome, but
at this point you have no idea who he is.
The narrative at this point in
the game is pretty damn confusing and the time travel aspect does serve a
purpose but still feels kind of gimmicky. It also does give the game somewhat of
an open feel as you can keep jumping from place to place but essentially it is
still pretty linear. You then pick up with the games main heroine, Serah, as
the roles are reversed from FFXIII and you are charged with finding Lightning.
From what I can gather so far there has been little change to the battle
system, it still relies on you shifting paradigms to find the best roles for
each character, with one major edition…Pokemon.
Yes, in this instalment you’ve
got to catch em’ all. Replacing the somewhat lacklustre Eidolons is the ability
to ‘capture’ certain monsters that you fight which you can then use in you
party paradigms. Each monster fulfils a different role and said monsters can be
‘lvled up’ to improve their stats through the crystarium, much like Noel and
Serah. The difference being that you use items gained from battle rather than
CP. I have to admit that at this point in the game this is by far my favourite
feature. You can even rename and dress up your monster companions to make them
a little more personal. I’ve only just scratched the surface of this game so
far but I have to say that I’m enjoying it. I’m intrigued to see what monsters
I can catch before I take on the elite four – wait wrong game. Ok, bad jokes
aside if you weren’t a fan of FFXIII then this certainly does a lot to address a
number of the flaws that the previous game had. If you’re not a fan of the
franchise this may well be your way in too. It’s definitely worth a look.
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